A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high rains, smelly and dirty.

Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was, “No charge.” She said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.

As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage(抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d began to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kemmedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for state, the online magazine and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans. It sounded a good to her return, but I replied, thinking him for his exceptional generosity, then we to go back. Then the University of Florida offered to let him house to me. While he want to England on his one year, paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kemdedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.

Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing you wordy possessions to be reminded that people really when given had a channel.  

The garage employee’s attitude toward the author was that of        .

A. unconcern               B. sympathy        C. doubt               D. tolerance

What do we know about James Kemnedy?

A. He was a written of an online magazine

B. He was a poet at the University of Florida

C. He offered the author a new house free of charge.

D. He learned about the author’s sufferings.

It can be inferred from the text that        .

A. the author’s family was in financial difficulty

B. rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster

C. houses were difficult to find in the hurricane stricken area

D. the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank

The author learned from his experience that        .

A. wordy possessions can be given up when necessary

B. generosity should be encouraged in some cases  

C. people benefit from their sad stories

D. human beings are kind after all.

Which would be the best title for the text?

A. Terrible Hurricane Katrina.

B. Hurricane Is Heartless While Strangers Are Kind.

C. Study in Florida.

D. The Importance of Helping Others.

Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own.My mom was one of those people.

My father died when I was nine months old,making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen.While I was growing up,we lived a very hard life.We had little money,but my mom gave me a lot of love.Each night,she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life,“Kemmons,you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”

At fourteen,I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again.Every day,my mother spoke to me in her gentle,loving voice,telling me that no matter what those doctors said,I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough.She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her.A year later,I returned to school—walking on my own!

When the Great Depression(大萧条)hit,my mom lost her job.Then I left school to support the both of us.At that moment,I was determined never to be poor again.

Over the years,I experienced various levels of business success.But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951.I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child.That was too expensive for the average American family.I told my wife that I was going to open a motel(汽车旅馆)for families that would never charge extra for children.There were plenty of doubters at that time.

Not surprisingly,mom was one of my strongest supporters.She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style.As in any business,we experienced a lot of challenges.But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul,I never doubted we would succeed.Fifteen years later,we had the largest hotel system in the world—Holiday Inn.In 1979 my company had 1759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $1 billion a year.

You may not have started out life in the best situations.But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself,nothing can stop you.

What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was_______.

A.caring                                                          B.moving

C.encouraging                                                  D.interesting

According to the author,who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again?

A.Doctors.                    B.Nurses.                            C.Friends.                    D.Mom.

What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?

A.His terrible experience in the hotel.

B.His previous business success of various levels.

C.His mom’s support.

D.His wife’s suggestion.

Which of the following best describes Kemmons’ mother?

A.Modest,helpful and hard-working.

B.Loving,supportive and strong-willed.

C.Careful,helpful and beautiful.

D.Strict,sensitive and supportive.

Which of the following led to Kemmons’ success according to the passage?

A.Self-confidence,hard work,higher-education and a poor family.

B.Mom’s encouragement,clear goals,self-confidence and hard work.

C.Clear goals,mom’s encouragement,a poor family and higher education.

D.Mom’s encouragement,a poor family,higher education and opportunities.

I believe that my country,Poland,is a perfect example for a place where food is particularly important.When we were little children,we began to understand how much a loaf of bread meant to our parents—to some it might sound silly but for me the custom of kissing bread before you started cutting it was simply amazing.It’s not so common nowadays to treat food that way,since you hardly ever bake your own bread.Besides,everyone would call you crazy if you tried to kiss every bread roll before you ate them!But though we no longer make our food from scratch(起点),some customs have been kept—that’s why I feel so sorry every time I have to throw any food away—even though I no longer live with my parents and nobody would blame me for this anymore!

Many people of our nation are still working as farmers,eating what they grow and harvest and therefore enjoying everything more.It’s widely known that you value more anything that needs your effort in the first place.In most homes in Poland,especially those of farmers,the whole family would try and have their meals together—extremely difficult now,but so rewarding(值得)!You can share other members’ troubles and successes,give your children some attention,or just sit down for a moment instead of rushing through life aimlessly.Furthermore,your body,and stomach in particular will be very grateful(感激) for such a time!

In Poland,a wedding,Christmas or even a birthday is celebrated with a great meal.Women in the house get together and cook,sometimes for a few days before the event,and the extremely good or unusual food will be remembered and widely talked about.

You cannot over-value the importance of food in the country.What’s more,almost everyone in Poland will be as interested in the topic as I am.

When the writer was a child,he/she ______.

A.found people were crazy about bread

B.began to realize the importance of food

C.thought that cutting bread was amazing

D.learned people hardly baked their own bread

The writer feels very sorry when he/she has to throw away any food because ______.

A.he/she makes food from scratch

B.his/her parents would blame him/her

C.some customs still have effect on him/her

D.many people are still working hard as farmers

From the text,we can learn that,in Poland,_______.

A.most meals can be interesting topics for a long time

B.the whole family often have meals together nowadays

C.it’s common for women to get together to cook for a few days

D.family members can know more about each other by having meals together

When I met him, I had a lot of anger inside of me. I’ve lived my whole life in Spanish Harlem, but in my neighborhood, there are shoot-ups all the time. I know kids who have been shot or beaten up. I have friends who ended up in prison. I could have ended up that way, too, but Mr. Clark wouldn’t let that happen.

Mr. Clark worked long hours, making sure I did my work. My grades rose. In fact, the scores of our whole class rose. One day, he took our class to see The Phantom of the Opera, and it was the first time some kids had ever been out of Harlem. Before the show, he treated us to dinner at a restaurant and taught us not to talk with our mouths full. We did not want to let him down

Mr. Clark was selected as Disney’s 2000 Teacher of the Year. He said he would draw three names out of a hat; those students would go with him to Los Angeles to get the award. But when the time came to draw names, Mr. Clark said, “You’re all going.”   

On graduation day, there were a lot of tears. We didn’t want his class to end. In 2001, he moved to Atlanta, but he always kept in touch. He started giving lectures about education, and wrote a bestselling book based on his classroom rules, The Essential 55. In 2003,

Mr. Clark took some of us on a trip to South Africa to deliver school supplies and visit the orphanages(孤儿院). It was the most amazing experience of my life. It’s now my dream to one day start a group of women’s clubs, helping people from all backgrounds.

Without Mr. Clark, the writer         .

A. might have been put into prison

B. might not have won the prize

C. might have joined a women’s club

D. might not have moved to Atlanta

The Essential 55 is_____________

A. a show                                          B. a speech

C. a classroom rule                             D. a book

How many students’ names were finally drawn out of a hat by Mr. Clark?

A. None                B. Three                C. Fifty-five.         D. All.

What can we learn in the short reading?

A. It was in Harlem that we saw The Phantom of the Opera for the first time.

B. Mr. Clark taught us not to talk with our mouths full, and we did.

C. Mr. Clark was selected as Disney’s 2000 Teacher of the Year in Los Angeles.

D. In 2003, Mr. Clark moved to Atlanta, and he always kept in touch with us.

In the passage, the writer intends to tell us that         .

A. Mr. Clark went to South Africa because he liked travelling

B. Mr. Clark helped to set up a group of women’s clubs

C. a good teacher can help raise his or her students’ scores

D. a good teacher has a good influence on his or her students

短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

文中共有10处语言错误，每处错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出增加的词。删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在其下面写出修改的词。

注意：1.每处错误及其修改均限一词。

      2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第十一处起）不计分。

      Welcome to our English Corner. It set up four years before. Since then many high school students have joined in it. Students from different school gather round here every Sunday morning, and there are also some college students or foreigners. We talked about everything we are interested in. We also exchange our effective experience in English study. We think we have learned much here. It is a really addition to our English class and it is popular in students. And it is supporting by parents and teachers. They all believe it is in great help to students. If you want to know much about it , you may talk to the students here.