A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a box by his feet. He held up a sign which read, "I am blind,
please help." There were only a few coins in the box. The boy felt sad.
    A man walked by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the box.Then he took the
sign, turned it around and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would
see the new words.
    Soon the box was full. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who
had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you
the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"
    That man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." What he had written
was, "today is a beautiful day and I can not see it." Do you think the first sign and the second sign were
saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.
    Great men say, "In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a
good conscience (良心)."
    It's a beautiful thing to see a people smiling!And it's even more beautiful to know that you are the reason
of a person's smiling!

1. When did the man pass by and change the blind boy's sign?

A.In the morning.
B.At noon.
C.In the afternoon.
D.At night.

2. Why did the second sign have a better effect?

A.It told the truth in a straight way.
B.It told the passing people a lie.
C.It told people to buy some tickets for the boy.
D.It told people to feel lucky for not being blind.

3. What do the first three paragraphs tell us?

A.No pains, no gains.
B.Different ways, different results.
C.The early bird cathches the worm.
D.When the cat's away, the mice will play.

4. According to the last paragraph, the most beautiful thing is _____.

A.to know the reason of a person's smiling
B.to see a person smiling.
C.to be the reason of a person's smiling.
D.to be a person smiling.

     I was waiting for the bus to take me down from the Janiculum Hill into the city of Roma when I turned
and saw black smoke rising into the sky. It seemed to be coming from my studio, a small, cabin-like study
built up against the ancient Roman wall. I'd arrived there three weeks before with my most important thing:
the first draft (手稿) of my new novel. 
    The smoke? I thought of the electric coil (电热棒) I'd been using to heat water for the endless cups of tea
I need to fuel my writing. What if I had started heating water and forgotten about it? I supposed the coil had
turned over from the cup and started a fire that would not only destroy the studio but also the pages of work
I had spent years on and I could never rewrite. 
    I hurried back, but soon saw that the smoke came from the old leaves and branches in the neighbor's
garden. I felt relieved (轻松的). But since I was now so close, I went into my study to have a look anyway.
    The electric coil was red, and the water I'd meant to use for tea before I left had all boiled out of the cup
that had already turned over and the red-hot coil had toppled (倾斜) onto the desk and was burning the wood.
My pages that might have burnt in a second were only inches away. 
    Drawn by the smoke, I'd come back just in time. "Thank God" I said. Of course, thank my luck.

1. The author was leaving for ______.

A. the Janiculum Hill
B. his cabin-like study
C. the ancient Roman wall
D. the city of Rome

2. We can infer (推断) from the passage that the author ______.

A. drank tea to work well
B. stayed there for months
C. often forgot what he had done
D. wrote a number of books

3. In fact, the smoke the author saw was rising from the ______.

A. author's studio
B. neighbor's garden
C. author's apartment
D. author's kitchen

4. The author was worried about that ______.

A. the electric coil couldn't work
B. his valuable things would be burnt
C. the fire would burn down the neighbor's house
D. his first draft would be burnt.

     A mother, surnamed Wang, wondered why her daughter's junior middle school had not held a parents'
meeting over the course of two terms, so she phoned the school. The teacher told her the school had been
meeting with parents every month.
     Faced with her mother's discovery, the daughter, Ping Ping, a 13-year-old Grade-One middle school
student, admitted (承认) that she had hired the aunt of a classmate to play the role of her mother. She paid
the woman 50 yuan per meeting.
     Wang was very angry and slapped her daughter in the face.
     However, the girl appeared not to feel guilty (内疚) and stood her ground.
     "It is not my fault. Your bad behavior and dress style made me lose face," she said.
     Ping Ping complained that as far back as primary school, her mother had attended the parents' meeting
in the same black and white suit and acted as what the daughter described.
     When teachers invited parents to say a few words at the meeting, Wang often spoke with a very strong
local dialect (方言) while the other parents spoke fluent Mandarin and made brief speeches.
     Fearing that her mother would become a laughing stock (笑柄), Ping Ping decided to prevent her from
coming to parents' meeting.
     She hired her classmate's aunt to attend the parents' meeting in her mother's place.
     Mrs. Zhang, a psychologist, said it was common for young people to feel that other people's parents
were more attractive and educated than their own. The incident helps make people realize misunderstanding
can occur between parents and young children when they do not talk to one another. 
     "Teachers should help students understand the hardships parents face and organize more group activities
for parents and children," Zhang said. 
    "Parents also need to communicate with their children regularly and try to behave themselves to become
role models.

     It was Monday. Mrs. Smith's dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.
     Considering that there was no better way, Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following
words on it "Give my dog half a pound of meat." Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently, "Take
this to the butcher (屠夫), and he's going to give you your lunch today."
     Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The
butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked
to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
     At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he
gave it half a pound of meat once more.
     The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth.
This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as
one of his customers (顾客).
     But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more
surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt
a bit puzzled. He said to himself, "This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat
today?"
     Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!

1. The butcher did not give any meat to the dog ______.

A. before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs. Smith on Monday
B. when he found that the words on the paper were not clear
C. because he had sold out all the meat in his shop
D. until he was paid enough by Mrs. Smith

2. From the story, we can know that the dog was very ______.

A. kind
B. clever
C. honest
D. foolish

3. At the end of the story, you'll find that ______.

A. the dog was clever enough to write on the paper
B. the dog dared not go to the butcher's any more
C. the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog
D. the butcher found himself cheated (欺骗) by the dog

     Since her husband died, Mrs. Jackson has lived alone in their big old suburban (郊区的) house. The
house was bought by her husband almost fifty years ago.
     For the sake of safety (为安全起见), her son has tried hard to ask her to sell the house and buy a new
and small one in the town, But Mrs. Jackson doesn't like the idea. She says that she has to look after her
husband's old house. But recently she often hears stories about unknown people stealing things around here.
    That was a cold day before Christmas Eve. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Mrs. Jackson was
enjoying the Christmas music when someone knocked at the door. She heard the sound but didn't move.
Another knock. Who could it be? Mrs. Jackson was a bit afraid. She decided not to answer the door but
keep waiting.
    One minute another minute and yet another minute. Nothing happened and no more knocks, She walked
quietly to the door, and listened. She heard nothing but the wind outside. She slowly unfastened the door
and peeped (窥视) through the crack (小缝). She then gave a surprised cry and threw the door wide open!
At the door she saw a tall, beautiful Christmas tree! In the tree stood a Christmas card with these words:
     Merry Christmas! 
                                                                                                                             Your new neighbor

1. The house bought by Mr. Jackson is ______.

A. in the town
B. small but new
C. outside the town
D. fifty years old

2. Mrs. Jackson doesn't want to sell the house because ______.

A. it is almost fifty years old
B. it is big and old
C. she likes to live alone in it
D. her husband left it to her

3. Why didn't she move when she heard the knock at the door? Because ______.

A. she was enjoying the Christmas music
B. she thought it might be an unknown person
C. it was not her son
D. she hadn't decided to answer the door

4. When she found it was a Christmas tree, she ______.

A. cried in surprise and pushed the door wide open
B. was very surprised to cry
C. threw the door away
D. went out to stand in the tree