A long time ago, there was an emperor. One day he told his horseman that if he could ride on his horse and 1  as much land area as he liked, he would give him the area of land he had covered.  2 enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse and 3  as fast as possible to cover as much land area as he could. He 4  riding and riding, whipping the horse to go as fast as possible. Even when he was 5  and tired, he did not stop 6  he wanted to cover as much area as possible. When he at last covered a large amount of land, he was exhausted and was  7 . Then he asked himself, “Why did I 8  myself so hard to cover so much land area? Now I am dying and I only 9  a very small area to 10  myself.”
The above story is 11  to the journey of our 12 . We push ourselves very hard every day to make more  13 , to gain power or recognition. We neglect our 14 , time with our family and to appreciate the surrounding 15  and the things we love to do. One day 16  we look back, we will 17  that we don’t really need that much, 18  then we cannot turn back time for what we have 19 .
Life is not about making money. Life is definitely not about work! Work is only 20  to keep us living so as to enjoy the beauty and pleasures of life.

Tom was a black slave and he at last ______ the cotton farm to join the North Army.

　 A. left 　 B. escaped  C. ran away 　 D. fled

"Colour" and "color"，"favourite" and "favorite"... Have you ever wondered why Americans spell those words without a "u"? Is it because they are lazy?

Of course not. In fact，the difference in spelling was created by Noah Webster (1758-1843). He is a teacher who reformed English to make American identity stronger. Linguists (语言学家) celebrated his 250th birthday on October 16. After the Revolutionary War (1775~ 1783)，Webster believed that Americans should have their own dictionary，rather than rely on British versions (版本). He dropped the British "u" in some words. And he changed "centre" into "center" for children to learn English by spelling words more like they sounded.

Webster wasn't shy about expressing his opinions. In defining (定义) preposterous (unreasonable)，he wrote: "A republican government in the hands of females is preposterous."

Webster spent 28 years on the project before completing the 70,000-word dictionary in 1828 with his American-style spellings. He also added local words. His dictionary was widely used in schools. Linguists believed it helped a new nation achieve unity and cultural independence at a time when most were focused on political freedom.

"He was the shaper of our language and the shaper of American identity，"said Joshua Kendall，who is working on a biography (传记) about Webster. "He at last bonded (联合)us through our language."

1.Which of the following would probably be the best title for the passage?

2.According to the passage，when he worked on his dictionary, Noah Webster did all of the following EXCEPT        .

3.Which of the following word can best describe Noah Webster’s work?

4.Why did Noah Webster create these differences in his dictionary?

5.When did Noah Webster probably begin his project of the dictionary?

Staying so many days in the desert without enough water,he                     at last.

A.broke in

B.broke off

C.broke out

D.broke down

Zigfried, a little mouse, blew his breath on the frosty window of the farmhouse and rubbed it to see the outside. Still nobody came. Maybe today, he thought  31 . It was only a few days before Christmas and he was watching for a miracle (奇迹).
This farmhouse had been  32  too long. It needed a family. Zigfried’s  33  made a noise. He realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. He jumped from the windowsill (窗沿), grabbed a  34  from his home, and went next door to Farmer Mike’s.
Farmer Mike’s house had been a great place for the little mouse  35  the farmer married a wife who had a cat. Zigfried  36  when he thought of it. He looked around cautiously as he 37  into the room where grain was stored and was quite  38  as he filled his bag with wheat. He was turning to leave when suddenly he  39  a hot breath about his ear. His heart beat  40  , and without thinking he started to run and luckily  41  the cat’s paws (爪子).
The next afternoon Zigfried heard some good news: a  42  family would be moving into the farmhouse soon. Zigfried’s granny would arrive on Christmas Eve to  43 with him. He hoped that the family would come before his granny came. Before long, a car came  44  the road leading to the house, with butter sandwiches, cheese and chocolate.
Zigfried’s Christmas miracle did arrive!
The house came  45  the next few days. Zigfried  46  every single hour of them.  47 , the day before Christmas when he was drinking hot chocolate with a  48  smile at the door of his home, he heard the  49 of the children of the family about what they might get for Christmas. What? A cat? The  50  froze on his face； his mouth fell wide open. After a long while, he at last found his voice: “Hey! Whose Christmas miracle is this?”