Nick Santonastasso has one arm equipped with one finger. He has no legs. He also has no limitations(局限).
“ I know anything’s possible ,” the 12-year-old told TODAY ’s Ann Curry.
He can play baseball and football, play the keyboard and drums, and play video games with his brothers.
When Nick was born, he suffered a disease only found in 11 other people. The Santonastassos had three other children, and they decided to treat Nick the same as others, with love but without excuse
“ We’re supposed to be heroes to our children, but Nick is a hero to us,” his father Michael said. But heroes have heroes, too, and Nick’s is Tiki Barber, the former football superstar who retired last year and became a reporter for TODAY. Curry told Nick that for his birthday, the show wanted to give him a new skateboard. The person who presented it to him was Barber.
“ You’re an inspiration,” Barber said. “ There are a lot of kids who might be at a disadvantage.
You give them strength.”
Curry observed that most parents try to protect their kids from failure, but the Santonastassos didn’t do that with Nick.
“Absolutely not, “Nick’s mother Stacey said. “ If you do have a small failure, it just makes you stronger to succeed at the next stop.”
“ It builds self-confidence in yourself to try it again,” Nick added.
Recently, Nick entered a drawing in a statewide contest in New Jersey. His drawing was a tree with a spreading canopy (树冠) and deep toots. Above the tree were the words, “The roots of a family are…” Below the ground, the roots spelled out the final word for the message: “ Love.”
It won the contest. The judges didn’t know Nick’ physical condition. He won on merit (成绩), the same way he does everything else in life.
【小题1】How did the Santonastassos treat Nick?

A．They gave him much more care	B．They treated him as a normal boy
C．They made excuse for his failure	D．They protected him from failure.

【小题2】In the opinion of Barber, Nick__________.

A．would learn a lot from his failure.	B．would become a star in playing skateboard.
C．set a good example to other disabled kids	D．proved a real hero to other heroes

【小题3】What message did Nick’s drawing express?

A．Love is the “root” of a family.	B．Each family has its own value among its members.
C．Trees without deep roots can’t grow tall and strong	D．Roots are the most important of a tree.

【小题4】According to the passage, ______ other people have the same disease as Nick’s.

A．two

B．three

C．eleven

D．twelve

【小题5】 What might be the most suitable title for the passage?

A．Nothing Is Impossible

B．Keep Trying Forever

C．The roots

D．Nick and his Skateboard

"S. H.E. is going to sing at the CCTV annual Spring Festival Evening Party, is that true?" cried out Peng Weiye, a Senior 2 girl in Shanghai and die-hard S. H.E. fan.
After checking it on the Internet, Peng quickly phoned friends to spread the news. For fans like her, S. H. E. ’s performance is perhaps the only part of the old fashioned evening to get excited about.
The Taiwanese band is made up of Selina, Hebe and Ella. Their name comes from the first letter of each of the singers' English names.
Last week S. H. E. announced they would perform in Las Vegas, US, over Christmas and then in Guangzhou on January 15.
At their Shanghai show on October 30, hundreds of parents waited outside the Hongkou Stadium. Inside, thousands of teenagers sang, cried and shouted as the band performed.
"I love their music, healthy image and everything related to them. Thank God that, although my parents don't understand why I love them so much, they still bought me a ticket for that show," said Peng about the Shanghai performance.
It is not just on the mainland that the three girls have made audiences much excited. In the past year the band has passed through Taiwan, Hong Kong and even Singapore and Malaysia.
When the three high school girls entered a singing contest in Taiwan in 2000, none of them ever dreamed of being a superstar. "We had never met before, and we didn't talk at all at the beginning," recalled Ella.
When asked about the secret of their success, she said, "Our average looks and not-so-expensive clothes keep us close to our fans. We are happy to be the girls next door, your singing sisters."
"It's really a magical journey, from day-dreaming high school girls to singers performing on the same stage as our idols(偶像). Nothing but magical," she said.
【小题1】 Why was Peng Weiye, a Senior 2 girl, so excited?

A．S.H.E. band will get the old fashioned evening exciting.

B．S. H.E. will perform in Las Vegas over Christmas.

C．Her parents bought her a ticket for S. H. E. Is Shanghai show.

D．S. H.E. will perform on the CCTV Spring Festival Evening Party.

【小题2】How did the Taiwanese band get the name?

A．Their fans gave the name to them.	B．Their idols had a deep influence on them.
C．A singing contest gave their idea of the band name.
D．The first letters of Selina, Hebe and Ella form the band name.

【小题3】What do you know about Peng Weiye?

A．She stayed outside the Hongkou Stadium to listen to S. H. E. 's performance.

B．She will watch the performance in Guangzhou on January 15.

C．She pays close attention to everything about S. H. E.

D．She was grateful that her parents understood and supported her.

【小题4】Which is true about S. H. E. ?

A．The secret to their success is their pretty faces and lovely clothes.

B．They were close friends when they entered a singing contest.

C．They caused a storm of excitement in Southeast Asia.

D．They have well prepared to perform with their idols.

【小题5】 Which do you think is NOT the reason for S. H. E’s popularity among their fans?

A．Their music and their healthy image.

B．Their success meets their fans’ day dream of becoming others’ idols.

C．They can make audience much excited

D．Their average looks and not-so-expensive clothes keep them close to their fans.

A great French writer said that we should help everyone as much as possible because we often need help ourselves. The small even can help the great. To this effect, he tells a simple story. 
An ant was drinking at a small river and fell in. She tried hard to reach the side, but made no progress at all. The poor ant, almost tired out, was still bravely doing her best when a bird saw her. Moved with pity, the bird threw her a blade (叶片) of grass, which supported her like a boat, and thus she reached the bank again. While she was resting and drying herself in the grass she heard a man coming near. He was walking along barefooted and carrying a gun in his hand. As he saw the bird he wished to kill her, and he would certainly have done so, but the ant bit him in the foot just before he raised his gun to fire. He stopped to see what had bit him, and the bird immediately flew away. It was an animal much weaker and smaller than herself that had saved her life. 
【小题1】 According to the French writer, we often need help from others, therefore we should________. 

A．not help others	B．help those who may be helpful to us
C．get as much help as possible	D．help others as much as we can

【小题2】The ant finally got on the bank _______.  

A．when the water pushed her	B．with the help of a piece of wood
C．with the help of a blade of grass	D．when the bird reached out a leg for her

【小题3】The French writer tells the story in order to show _______.  

A．how an ant saved a bird	B．how brave the ant is
C．how clever the bird is	D．even the small can help the great

Years after throwing a bottle-up note into a lake for a class project and just one year after his death, a man’s childhood message was found and returned to his mother.
Eleven years ago, a then 10-year-old boy, Joshua Baker, wrote the message, folded and put it in an empty container, his mother, Maggie Holbrook said. He died last February in a motor vehicle accident in California. He had recently returned after a serving in the Middle East as a US marine.
“ I think he was just letting us know he was OK and keep doing what we are doing ,” Holbrook said.
The message surfaced in White Lake in late April, just days after the 11^th anniversary of its being thrown into the lake. It was found by one of Baker’s closest friends, Steve Lieder, she said. Lieder and two friends were chatting near the lake when Lieder looked down and saw the bottle. He broke it open and found the note inside.
“My name is Joshua Baker. I am 10. If you find this, put it on the news. The date is 4/16/95.”
They immediately took it to Holbrook, who said she is now having the note preserved and will display it in her home.
She can remember when her son wrote the message for the school project. She said she always wondered why he didn’t put it in the nearby Wolf River, which has a much stronger current（水流）.
“I still remember the day he wrote it,” Holbrook said. “ I couldn’t understand why he threw it in the lake. No one would never see it again. Now I know.”
【小题1】 What was Joshua Baker when he died in motor vehicle accident in California?

A．An official

B．A soldier

C．A worker

D．A teacher

【小题2】 Who found the bottle according to the passage?

A．Joshua Baker’s mother	B．A fisherman
C．Joshua Baker’s friend	D．Joshua Baker’s mother’s friend

【小题3】What does the underlined sentence mean?

A．The mother believes his son is still living with her in the house.

B．The mother thinks his son will come to see her one day

C．The mother thinks it’s foolish to throw the note in the lake

D．The mother thinks the bottle is her son’s gift only left to her after his death

【小题4】Which of the following statements is correct according to the passage?

A．The man threw the bottle into the lake without any purpose.

B．The man didn’t put the bottle into the nearby river because it had a strong current.

C．Not until recently did his mother understand why he put the bottle into the lake instead of the nearby river.

D．The man made the bottle-up note so as to let his parents know he was OK.

【小题5】The best title for this passage would be ____.

A．A man’s Bottle Message Found After His Death

B．A Ridiculous and Unbelivable Bottle Message

C．A Strange Bottle-up Note Appearing In a Lake

D．An Important Childhood Message 11 Years After His Death

Early in the 18th century, Captain Cook, a famous explorer of Australia, unexpectedly caught sight of an unusual animal during his first visit to Australia. The animal had a large mouse like head and jumped along on its large legs. To his great surprise, the unusual animal carried its young in a special pocket of flesh. Captain Cook pointed to the animal which was eating grass in the distance and asked his native guide what the animal was referred to. The guide seemed not to know that he was pointing at and finally said “Kang-a-roo”, but their requests were met with puzzled looks of the native people. Before long they got to discover that the native guide who made the answer to Cook’s question really meant, “I don’t know what you pointing at. “ Funny enough, the name “ Kang-a-roo”, stuck and it is still in use today.
【小题1】Which of the following sentences best expresses the main idea?

A．captain Cook’s guide made a joke.

B．Native Australians could not speak English in Cook’s time.

C．Some words have rather funny origins (起源).

D．Captain Cook was a lover of wild animals.

【小题2】When the native guide said “Kang-a-roo ”, he really meant “ ______”

A．Ah, it is a special kind of animal

B．I wonder what you have said

C．What do you mean by pointing at that animal?

D．I have no idea of what you are referring to.

【小题3】We can infer from this passage ______.

A．we should learn many different languages

B．Captain Cook made a mistake in understanding

C．Captain Cook was a foolish explorer

D．the importance of a language in common

A new study says that birds living in big cities sing shorter, faster songs that are higher-pitched (高音调的) than those sung by their brothers in the forests. The researchers think that the birds adjust their songs to allow themselves to be heard over the noises of the city, especially the low traffic noise.
To study how urban birds song, Hans Slabbekoorn and Ardie den Bore, biologists at the University of Leiden in Netherlands, travelled around Europe and recorded bird songs in ten major cities and in nearby forests. The species they focused on, the great tit (大山雀), is widespread across Eurasia and one of the few types of birds that thrives in big cities.
Singing is crucial (重要的) for males, which use their songs to attract mates and mark out their territory. The changing songs could play a role in eventually causing the city birds and the forest dwellers to evolve into separate species.
The findings could also help explain why usually only a few bird species thrive in cities. By contrast, many more bird species tend to be found in forests and other undeveloped habitats.
Studies like this could eventually help researchers predict how urbanization (都市化) will affect birds, using this knowledge could help urban planners design more pleasant city environments, study co-author Slabbe-koorn said. “You can make a city much more livable if you pay attention to where the noise goes and where the people go,” he said. “It would be easy to fit the birds into those models.” Then cities wouldn’t be strictly for the people, but also for the birds.
【小题1】 Which is the best title of the passage?

A．Birds Change Songs to Suit Country Life

B．Birds Change Sex to Suit Urban Life

C．Birds Change Living Habits to Suit Urban Life

D．Birds Change Songs to Suit Urban Life

【小题2】 Males usually sing their songs to ____.

A．evolve into another species

B．attract mates and mark out their living area

C．attract city people’s attention and make them supply food

D．allow themselves to be heard over the noises of the city

【小题3】 The underlined word “thrives” in the second paragraph means “____”.

A．dies

B．survives

C．suffers

D．travels

【小题4】What is NOT the effect that studies of birds’ songs have?
A. Predicting how course of the city’s expanding will affect birds.
B. Helping the city planners design more pleasant city environments.
C. Making cities more livable for both the birds and people.
D. Driving the urban birds back to the forest.

Recently a Beijing father sent in a question at an Interact forum(论坛)asking what“PK”meant．
“My family has been watching the‘Super Girl’singing competition TV programme．My little daughter asked me what’PK’meant，but I had no idea，”explained the puzzled father．
To a lot of Chinese young people who have been playing games online，it is impossible not to know this term．In such Internet games，“PK”is short for“Player Kill”，in which two players fight until one ends the life of the other．
In the case of the“Super Girl”singing competition．“PK”was used to refer to the stage where two singers have to compete with each other for only one chance to go up in competition ranking．
Like this father，Chinese teachers at high schools have also been finding their students’compositions using Internet jargons which are difficult to understand．A high school teacher from Tianjin asked her students to write compositions with simple language，but they came up with a lot of Internet jargons  that she didn’t understand．
“My‘GG’came back this summer from college．He told me I’ve grown up to be a‘PLMM’．I loved to‘FB’with him together；he always took me to the‘KPM’，”went one composition．
“GG”means Ge Ge(Chinese pinyin for brother)．“PLMM”refers to Piao Liang Mei Mei(beautiful girl)．“FB”means Fu Bai(corruption)．“KPM”is short for KF．Pizza Hut and McDonald’s．
Some specialists welcome Internet jargons as a new development in language．
If you do not even know what a Kong Long(dinosaur，referring to an ugly looking female)ora Qing wa(frog，referring to an ugly looking male)is，you will possibly be regarded as a CaiNiao!
【小题1】By writing the article，the writer tries to         ．

A．explain some Internet language

B．suggest common Internet language

C．laugh at the Beijing father

D．draw our attention to Internet language

【小题2】What does the writer think about the term“PK”?                       

A．Fathers can’t possibly know it．

B．The daughter should understand it．

C．Online game players may know it．

D．“Super Girl”shouldn’t have used it．

【小题3】The examples of the Beijing father and the Tianjin teacher are used to show that Internet jargons          ．

A．are used not only online

B．can be understood very well

C．are welcomed by all the people

D．cause trouble to our mother tongue

【小题4】The underlined word“jargons”means“       ”in Chinese．

A．行话

B．粗口

C．歌词

D．趋势

If you do not use your arms or your legs for some time, they become weak. When you start using them again, they slowly become strong again. Everybody knows this. Yet there are many people who do not seem to know that one’s memory works in the same way. When someone says that he has a good memory, he really means that he keeps his memory in practice by exercising it regularly. When someone else says that his memory is poor, he really means that he does not give it enough chance to become strong.
If a friend complains that his arms are weak, we know that it is his own fault. But if he tells us that he has a poor memory, many of us think that his parents are to blame, or that he is just unlucky, and few of us realize that it is really his own fault. Not all of us can become very strong or very clever, but all of us can improve our memory by the same means —practice.
Have you ever noticed that people who cannot read or write usually have a better memory than those who can? Why is this? Of course, because people who can’t read or write have to remember things: they cannot write them down in a little notebook. They have to remember dates, prices, names, songs and stories, so their memory is exercised all the time.
So if you want a good memory, learn from those who cannot read or write: practice remembering.
【小题1】 According to the passage, few people know that _____.

A．arms or legs become weak if they are not used for some time

B．when they start using their arms or legs again, they slowly become strong again

C．a person’s memory becomes weak if he does not practice remembering things

D．it is their own fault if their arms or legs are weak

【小题2】The author thinks that if a person has a poor memory, ____.

A．it is his own fault	B．his parents are to blame
C．he is just unlucky	D．his arms must be weak

【小题3】 According to the passage, we learn that all of us can ____.

A．become very strong	B．become very clever
C．improve our memory by practicing	D．know how to improve our memory

It’s great fun to explore new places—it feels like an adventure, even when you know you’re not the first to have been there. But make sure not to get lost or waste time going round in circles.
·Do the map reading if you’re being driven somewhere. It’ll be easier if you keep turning the map so it follows the direction you’re traveling in. Keep looking ahead so that you can give the driver lots of warning before having to make a turn, or you’ll have to move to the back seat.
·Get a group of friends together and go exploring. You’ll need a good map, a compass(指南针), a raincoat, a cellphone to call for help in case you get lost, and a bit of spare cash for emergencies. Tell someone where you’re going before you set out and let them know what time you expect to be back. The test is not in getting lost, not in seeing how fast you can go, so always stick together, waiting for slower friends to catch up.
See if your school or a club organizes orienteering(越野识途比赛) activities, in which you need a map and a compass to find your way. This can be done as a sport, with teams trying to find the way from A to B (and B to C, etc) in the fastest time, or simply as a spare-time activity. Either way, it’s not only good fun, but a great way to keep fit.
【小题1】 Sitting beside the driver, you should _______.

A．direct the driver when necessary

B．look ahead to see where there’s a turn

C．move to the back seat if feeling uncomfortable

D．Keep looking at the map to find a place to go to

【小题2】 Why do you need to tell someone your exploration plan before setting out?

A．To get information when in danger.

B．To be saved in case of an accident.

C．To share the fun with him/her in exploration.

D．To tell him/her what’s going on with the group members.

【小题3】 Orienteering activities can _______.

A．make people work fast	B．help people stay healthy
C．help people organize other activities	D．make people get prepared for sports.

【小题4】 The text mainly talks about _____.

A．the fun of exploration	B．what to bring for exploration
C．the way to use a map in exploration	D．how to prevent getting lost in exploration.

Benjamin Franklin only studied in school for two years. But he liked to read and write very much. Once he discussed a question with his friend in letters. His father found the letters and read them. He felt Ben did not express himself well. Nor did Ben make his meaning clear. He agreed that his father was right, From then on, he paid more attention to the style of his writing so that he could write better.
About that time he bought a copy of the British periodical(周刊) called The Spectator (《观察家》). He read it over and over. He thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to write in the same style.
With this in mind, he studied some of the stories and made a note of the thought in each sentence. Then, a few days later, without looking at the magazine, he tried to write the stories. He tried to express each thought as fully as it had been expressed before. Then he compared his writing with the magazine. He found some of his faults in the compositions.
In this way he discovered he needed to know many more words. He felt that writing poetry would help him since that needed to use many different words which had the same meaning. So he turned some of the stories into poems; and after a time, he wrote them as stories again. He insisted on doing this for a long time.
He learned much from his efforts and went on to practise his writing. Then he became the first famous writer in American history.
【小题1】Benjamin liked ______ very much when he was ______ .

A．languages; young

B．writing; young

C．writing; old enough

D．languages; old enough

【小题2】What did his father do to him?

A．He found his son’s letters written very well

B．He felt his son expressed himself very well

C．He told his son what he wrote wasn’t so good

D．He bought a copy of The Spectator for him

【小题3】How did Benjamin practise writing?
(1) He studied the stories in the magazine and made notes.
(2) He rewrote some of the stories and tried to express their thought fully.
(3) He turned some stories into poems, and then turned them back again.
(4) He tried hard to publish his poems in the periodical The Spectator.

A．(1)(2)(3)

B．(2)(3)(4)

C．(1)(3)(4)

D．(1)(2)(4)