I was loading (装载) my truck to go to the market when I hurt my left eye. The pain was like a hot sword(剑) being shoved through my head. I fell down on my hands and knees, and I knew it was bad.

I was taken to the Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, and the doctors operated on me several times but couldn’t save my left eye. When they told me the news, I wanted to die.

Even after I got my fake（假的） eye, I couldn’t shake the sadness. To make matters worse, I lost my job as a transportation officer because of my lost eye. But one morning, I woke up and the TV was on, and there was a 16-year-old girl who had been badly burned on her face and legs. Her situation was much worse than mine. She wore a big smile and seemed to look right at me and said, “You can’t ever give up.” At that moment, I thought, “This is just an eye. Get over it.” And I did.

It’s been almost 12 years since my accident, and there’s nothing I can’t do now that I used to do. And although I didn’t get my old job back, I got my license again.

I read a story once. In that story, a man was feeling bad because he had no shoes until he met a man who had no feet. No matter how terrible your problem is, remember there’s always someone somewhere who’s worse off. So cheer up and smile at life!

1.Because of the accident, the writer _______.

2.According to Paragraph 2, when the writer heard the bad news, _______.

3.What can we learn from the passage?

4.By writing his story, the writer most probably wants to _______.

As we all know sewing-machine(缝纫机) repair is one of the fastest growing businesses in the world today. Newspapers, women’s magazines, high schools and colleges are all encouraging millions of American women to do their own sewing, not only to make their own shirts and sweaters, but also to make nice clothes for their husbands, sons, or boyfriends. The lattes figures(数字) show that over 89 million American women, because of the high costs of ready-to-wear clothing are now making almost all of their families’ clothes. Most of these women get great satisfaction from making the family clothes on their own sewing machines. So it is natural that the demand(要求) for excellent service of sewing machines is growing.

Think of it! 89 million or more sewing machines, not including another 10 million sewing machines in schools of all kinds, need service at least once a year, and quite possibly four or more times each year. I know some women who return their sewing machines to repairmen time after time to get them fixed properly. I’ve seen sewing machines come out of repair shops in worse condition than they were when they went in.

So I’ve decided to write an introduction book to sewing-machine repair and teach people how to repair their own sewing machines at home. It’s not that difficult. In the book, I will teach you everything you need to know about how to repair your sewing machine.

1.The author wrote the passage to       .

2.American women make clothes by themselves because       .

3.We learn from the passage that sewing machines       .

4.It can be inferred from the passage that       .

Stop thinking that you are too old to learn how to play the piano! You are able to learn the piano or any other instrument at any age. As long as you want to learn the piano, you can. When you decide to learn the piano, think about what you want out of it. Do you want to learn a specific piece of music, or are you more interested in learning techniques and the chord structures behind it? There are no limits, and you will get as much out of it as what you are willing to put into it.
Adults have the ability to learn a musical instrument, although they usually have less time. So no matter what your age, whether you are ten or one hundred and ten, you can learn the piano well. So what are you waiting for? Start learning today! Here are some ways to learn the piano, each with its own advantages.
１．．．．
This allows you personal, face-to-face lessons — usually on a weekly basis where they are able to teach you and correct you. This is a great way to learn the piano, but you are limited in the contact hours you have with your teacher which may slow your learning.
２．．．．
This would have to be the hardest way because you are just working by yourself and you can never be sure if you have understood the books correctly.
３．．．．
These are quite new to the market. They are video or DVD lessons that you can work through at your own pace. The advantage here is that you have the teacher so you know if you are doing it right, and you can work at your own pace — as quickly or as slowly as you like.
1. What is the purpose of the passage?
A. To tell us why we need to learn to play the piano.
B. To tell us never to lose hope at any age.
C. To encourage us to learn the piano and to give some suggestions.
D. To tell us that nothing is difficult if you put your heart into it.
2. Match each of the following titles with each point.
a. Internet and Video Courses.   
b. Hire a Piano Teacher.
c. Teach Yourself with Books.   
A. 1-a 2-c 3-b         B. 1-b 2-c 3-a
C. 1-b 2-a 3-c         D. 1-c 2-b 3-a
3. According to the author, we know that ______.
A. people who are too old can’t learn the piano
B. kids learn much faster than adults
C. learning by oneself, one may misunderstand the books
D. learning with a teacher is the best way
4. Which of the following old sayings sums up the main idea of the first two paragraphs?
A. Every coin has two sides. 
B. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
C. Let’s cross the bridge when we come to it.
D. You are never too old to learn.

You and your friends will have lots of fun with Rabbit

Ears Walkie -Talkies. You can talk to someone who is in another

room at your house or someone who is up to 180

feet away from you. You can take your walkie

-talkie with you when you go camping or walking.

Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies are easy to use. This is what you do:

1. Push the ON button.

2. Hold the TALK button in and say something. If your friend has his/her walkie - talkie on, he/she will hear you.

If you want to talk for a long time, you can lock the TALK button. Just push the button in and up. When you finish talking, push the TALK button down.

3. When you finish talking, let go of the TALK button and listen. When your friend pushes the TALK button and says something, you will hear what your friend says through your walkie -talkie.

4. When you finish talking with your friend, push the ON button again to turn your walkie-talkie off.

1. What are Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies used for?

A．Locating places.                        B．Listening to music.

C．Giving directions.                       D．Talking with others.

2. How can you lock the TALK button?

A．Keep the button on.                     B．Hold the button back.

C．Push the button in and up.                D．Turn the button off and down.

3. Which button will you push when you can't hear clearly?

A．L                B．S                C．TALK             D．ON

4.The author writes this passage to _____.

A．show how to use Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies

B．explain to the readers his camping experience

C．introduce some special ways to make friends.

D．tell how to make Rabbit Ears Walkie –Talkies

What is most likely to affect your success at school or at a job? The ability to read. And that goes for your kids too. The declining literacy(读写能力的下降) of our society has been a main concern of educators for a while now, and yet things are not getting better.

In most cases, how well we learn to read will depend largely on our exposure（接触） to language as children. If we hear people around us talking about all kinds of subjects as children, we naturally pick up the words and phrases they use. If we pick up a lot of words, we will learn to read better.

Much of the traditional advice to struggling readers, theses days, seems to include developing “cognitive strategies”（认知策略）. In this way, readers are asked to centre more, to think, to be interested and ask questions, to analyze, to predict, to reason, and to check their understanding, or worse still to answer questions of what they have read. In other words they are asked to become self-conscious（有自我意识的） readers. I do not agree with this approach.

Here are my several strategies for reading improvement.

Read about things that interest you. If you are interested in what you are reading about, the words will come alive, and you will understand better. The more you read, the better you will become at reading. Just get started and it will become a habit, as long as you are interested in what you are reading.

Read material that is at your level or just a little difficult for you. Read material that you find easy to read, or just a little challenging. Looking up many unknown words in a dictionary is dull, and the results of the dictionary search are quickly forgotten.

_____ If you can hear the new words and phrases that you are reading, you will have an easier time understanding and remembering them. Hearing the rhythm of someone reading a text will help your own reading.

Don’t worry about what you don’t understand. Most of your reading should be for pleasure. You can still enjoy reading without understanding all of what you read. You may even understand some things in your own personal way.

Unfortunately not all reading is just for pleasure. When you are reading a textbook or report or other material for school, you may need to underline, take notes and read some parts over again. However, if you have developed the habit of reading for pleasure, you will find that the skills you need will come naturally, and that you will understand a lot better than before.

1.In Paragraph 2, the author tells us the importance of _____.

    A. hearing people around as children            B. talking ability as children

    C. contacting different people                  D. learning different languages

2.Which sentence is best to be filled in the blank in the passage?

    A. Listen as much as possible.              B. Try to use your imagination.

    C. Great works need to be read out loud.    D. Listen first if you have trouble reading.

3.It can be learned from the last paragraph that _____.

    A. you should find pleasure from reading a textbook

    B. the habit of reading for pleasure is important

    C. reading for school is helpful for reading for pleasure

    D. reading for school requires different skills from reading for pleasure

4.What is the purpose of the author in writing the passage?

    A. To tell us some ways to improve reading ability.

    B. To show that poor literacy has been a big problem.

    C. To teach us how to look for fun in reading.

    D. To tell us some ways to pick up new words and phrases.