After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me. I was told it would mean a great deal to him, so I agreed.

   During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy (肌萎缩症). When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles and going for my dreams.

   I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, “Why me?” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weights with me. When we had finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion. You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.”

   Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:

Dear Dick,

My mum said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live any more, but I still smile as much as I can.

I told you someday that I would go to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I will never get to do that. However, I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me.

                                               Your friend,

                                                   Matthew

The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably means that_______.

   A. the boy never complained about how unlucky he was to have this disease

   B. the boy never complained about not being able to go to school

   C. the boy never complained why the author had never come to see him before

   D. the boy never complained about not gettig a medal

From the passage we learn that ________.

   A. Matthew was an athlete

   B. Matthew was an optimistic and determined boy

   C. The author used to have the same disease as Matthew had

   D. Matthew became a champion before he died

Matthew didn’t accepted the author’s medal because           .

   A. he thought it was too expensive

   B. he was sure that he could win one in the future

   C. he thought it was of no use to him as he would die soon

   D. he would not be pitied by others

What would be the best title for this passage?

   A. A sick boy.          B. A special friend.

   C. A real champion.     D. A famous athlete.

A husband-and-wife team from California reached the Pacific Ocean after a 4,900- mile-cross
-country walk, becoming the first to backpack the American Discovery Trail in one continuous
walk. 
Marcia and Ken powers, of Pleasanton, started the travel across 13 states, through 14 national parks and 16 national forests on Feb. 27 from Cape Henlopen in Delaware. Nearly eight months later, the excited couple walked through water into the Pacific Ocean at Point Reyes, a day ahead of time. 
“We are a little sad that a great adventure is over. It was a fantastic adventure. And now we go home and just do housework. It's really sad.” Marcia, who said she's in her 50s, and her 60-year-old husband traversed cities, desert, mountains and farmland before reaching the Pacifics alone with arms around each other' s backpacks.
They overcame deep snow in the East, a quicksand in Utah, close lightning strikes in the Mid- west and strong desert sandstorms in the West while averaging 22 miles a day and taking only four days off. But they enjoyed the French history of St. Louis' the beauty of the Colorado Rockies and the kindness of strangers they met along the way. They particularly remember two brothers ---- a
doctor and dentist-------who put them up in their homes, after terrible days, and a motorcyclist who gave them water after they failed to find any on Utah's lonely Wah Wah Desert.
“Americans are truly warm-hearted and wonderful people.” Marcia Powers said. “We got to meet people that we would never meet in our daily living at home. We got to touch it with our feet and hands and smell all its scents and hear its wildlife. It' s an amazing country,” she added.
【小题1】Which of the following about couple's walk is TRUE?

After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me. I was told it would mean a great deal to him, so I agreed.
During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy (肌萎缩症). When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles and going for my dreams.
I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, “Why me?” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weights with me. When we had finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion. You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.”
Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:
Dear Dick,
My mum said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live any more, but I still smile as much as I can.
I told you someday that I would go to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I will never get to do that. However, I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me.
Your friend,
Matthew
【小题1】The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably means that_______.

After Mom died, I began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail（衰弱） and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed（挤榨的） orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading, “Drink your juice.” Such a gesture（表示）, I knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, I remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom “Why doesn’t Dad love me?” Mom frowned（皱眉）, “Who said he doesn’t love you?”“Well, he never tells me,” I complained. He never tells me either,” she said, smiling. “But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That’s how your father tells us he loves us.”
I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. I still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap（小片） metal business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. Dad handfed scrap steel into a device（装置） that chopped （切）it as cleanly as a butcher（屠夫） chops a rack of ribs（肋骨）. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors（剪刀）, with blades（刃） thicker than my father’s body. If he didn’t feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. “Why don’t you hire someone to do that for you?” Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed（搓） his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment（涂剂）. “Why don’t you hire a cook?” Dad asked , giving her one of his rare smiles.
Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me, I walked over, hugged him and said, “I love you, Dad.” From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave them.
【小题1】What would be the best title for the passage?
A I just couldn’t understand my father      B My father never loved me
C Silent fatherly love      D My hard-working father
【小题2】The author’s father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because ______.
A that was the author’s favorite      B he was sure the author would be thirsty
C the author was always complaining      D that was a gesture of love
【小题3】The author’s father didn’t hire a helper because ______.
A his job was too dangerous      B his job required high skills
C he wanted to save money      D he was not good at communicating with others
【小题4】We may infer from the passage that ______.
A the author’s father lacked a sense of humor
B the author quite understood his father as time went on
C the author’s father didn’t love him very much
D the author’s father was too strict with him

After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a spe­cial student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me. I was told it would mean a great deal to him, so I agreed.
During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy (肌肉萎缩症). When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles(阻碍) and going for my dreams.
I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, “Why me?” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weights with me. When we had finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion（冠军）. You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.”
Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed
away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:
Dick,
My mum said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live any more, but I still smile as much as I can.
I told you someday that I would go to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I
will never get to do that. However, I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me.
Yours,
Matthew
【小题1】 How old was Matthew when they met?