As Christmas is coming, there are presents to be bought, cards to be sent, and rooms to be cleaned. Parents are ___1___ with difficult jobs of hiding presents from curious young children. If the gifts are large, this is sometimes a real ___2___. On Christmas Eve, young children find the excitement almost unbearable. They are torn between the wish to go to bed early so that Father Christmas will bring their presents quickly and the wish to ___3___ up late so that they will not ___4___ the fun. The wish for gifts usually proves stronger. But though children go to bed early, they often lie ___5___ for a long time, hoping to get a short ___6___ at Father Christmas.

Last Christmas, my wife and I ___7___ hid a few large presents in the storeroom. I ___8___ the moment when my son, Jimmy, would ___9___ me where that new bike had come from, but ___10___ he did not see it.

On Christmas Eve, ___11___ took the children hours to go to sleep. It must have been nearly ___12___ when my wife and I went quietly into their room and began ___13___ stockings. Then I pushed in the ___14___ I bought for Jimmy and left it beside the Christmas tree. We knew we would not get much sleep that night, for the children were ___15___ to get up early. At about five o’clock the next morning, we were ___16___ by loud sounds coming from the children’s room — they were shouting excitedly! ___17___ I had time to get out of bed, young Jimmy came riding into the room on his new bike, and his sister, Mary, followed close behind pushing her new baby carriage. ___18___ the baby arrived. He moved ___19___ the hands and knees into the room dragging a large balloon behind him. Suddenly it burst. That woke us up ___20___. The day had really begun with a band(巨响) !

1. A. faced             B. met                 C. filled             D. pleased

2. A. question           B. matter             C. problem            D. business

3. A. get               B. stay                C. stand              D. wake

4. A. lose              B. break               C. miss              D. leave

5. A. awake            B. wake               C. asleep             D. sleep

6. A. look              B. stare                C. glare              D. watch

7. A. hopefully          B. busily              C. gladly              D. successfully

8. A. liked             B. feared             C. surprised              D. hated

9. A. answer           B. tell                  C. ask                D. search

10. A. sadly            B. unluckily          C. possibly             D. fortunately

11. A. it               B. they                C. I                  D. we

12. A. morning        B. midnight          C. evening              D. daybreak

13. A. filling           B. sewing            C. mending             D. preparing

14. A. present          B. stocking          C. bike                   D. tree

15. A. going           B. sure                C. glad                 D. excited

16. A. troubled         B. frightened        C. woken                  D. shocked

17. A. Before          B. After               C. Until                 D. Since

18. A. Even           B. And                 C. Soon                D. Then

19. A. with            B. on                   C. over                 D. by

20. A. all             B. nearly              C. happily                D. completely

Three Boys and a Dad

Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother. Expecting a whole day to relax, he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favourite TV talk show on his first day off in months. “This will be like a walk in the park,” he’d told his wife. “I’ll look after the kids, and you can go visit your mom.”

Things started well, but just after eight o’clock, his three little “good kids”—Mike, Randy, and Alex—came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted “breakfast, daddy.” When food had not appeared within thirty seconds, Randy began using his spoon on Alex’s head as if it were a drum. Alex started to shout loudly in time to the beat（节拍）. Mike chanted “Where’s my toast, where’s my toast” in the background. Brad realized his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds.

Life became worse after breakfast. Mike wore Randy’s underwear on his head. Randy locked himself in the bathroom, while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants. Nobody could find clean socks, although they were before their very eyes. Someone named “Not Me” had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes. Brad knew the talk show had already started.

By ten o’clock, things were out of control. Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter. Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his colour pencils. Randy, thankfully, appeared to be reading quietly in the family room，but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands. Brad Realized that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible.

At exactly 11:17, Brad called the daycare centre (日托所）.“I suddenly have to go into work and my wife’s away. Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes?” The answer was obviously “yes” because Brad was smiling.

1.When his wife left home, Brad expected to ______            .

A．go out for a walk in the park.	B．watch TV talk show with his children.
C．enjoy his first day off work.	D．read the newspaper to his children.

2.Which of the following did Randy do?

A．Drawing on the wall.	B．Eating apple jam.
C．Feeding the fish.	D．Reading in a room.

3.Why did Brad ask the daycare centre for help?

A．Because he wanted to clean up his house.

B．Because he suddenly had to go to his office.

C．Because he found it hard to manage his boys home.

D．Because he had to take his wife back.

4.This text is developed______       

A．by space.

B．by comparison.

C．by process.

D．by time.

 

A few years ago I asked my children’s governess, Julia Vassilyevna, to come into my study.

  “ Sit down, Julia Vassilyevna,” I said.“Let’s settle our accounts. Although you most likely need some money, you stand on ceremony and won’t ask for it yourself. Now then, we agree on thirty rubles a month…”

  “ Forty.”

  “ No, thirty. I made a note of it. I always pay the governess thirty. Now then, you’ve been here two months, so…”

  “ Two months and five days.”

  “ Exactly two months. I made a specific note of it. That means you have sixty rubles coming to you. Subtract nine Sundays… you know you didn’t work with Kolya on Sundays, you only took walks. And three holidays…”

   Julia Vassilyevna flushed a deep red and picked at the flounce of her dress, but--- not a word.

   “ Three holidays, therefore take off twelve rubles. Four days Kolya was sick and there were no lessons, as you were occupied only with Vanya. Three days you had a toothache and my wife gave you permission not to work after lunch. Twelve and seven---nineteen. Subtract…that leaves…hmm…forty-one rubles. Correct?”

Julia Vassilyena’s left eye reddened and filled with moisture. Her chin trembled; she coughed nervously and blew her nose, but---not a word.

“ Around New Year’s you broke a teacup and saucer: take off two rubles. The cup cost more, it was an heirloom, but---let it go. When didn’t I take a loss? Then, due to your neglect, Kolya climbed a tree and tore his jacket: take off ten. Also due to your heedlessness the maid stole Vanya’s shoes. You ought to watch everything! You get paid for it. So, that means five more rubles off. The tenth of January I gave you ten rubles…”

“ You didn’t ” whispered Julia Vassilyevna.

“ But I made a note of it.”

“ Well…all right.”

“ Take twenty-seven from forty-one ---that leaves fourteen.”

Both eyes filled with tears. Perspiration appeared on the thin, pretty little nose. Poor girl!

“ Only once was I given any money,” she said in a trembling voice, “ and that was by your wife. Three rubles, nothing more.”

“ Really? You see now, and I didn’t make a note of it! Take three from fourteen… leaves eleven. Here’s your money, my dear. Three , three, three, one and one. Here it is!”

I handed her eleven rubles. She took them and with trembling fingers stuffed them into her pocket.

“ Merci,” she whispered.

I jumped up and started pacing the room. I was overcome with anger.

“ For what, this ---‘merci’?” I asked.

“ For the money.”

“ But you know I’ve cheated you, God’s sake---robbed you! I have actually stolen from you! Why this ‘merci’?”

“ In my other places they didn’t give me anything at all.”

“ They didn’t give you anything? No wonder! I played a little joke on you, a cruel lesson, just to teach you … I’m going to give you the entire eighty rubles! Here they are in an envelope all ready for you… Is it really possible to be so spineless? Why don’t you protest? Why be silent? Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws--- to be such a nincompoop?”

She smiled crookedly and I read in her expression: “ It is possible.”

I asked her pardon for the cruel lesson and , to her great surprise, gave her the eighty rubles. She murmured her litter “merci” several times and went out. I looked after her and thought: “How easy it is to crush the weak in this world!”

1.When the employer called Julia Vassilyevna in to talk with him, what he really wanted to do was _______

A. to settle their accounts

B. to criticize her for neglecting her duties as a governess.

C. to play a joke on her so as to amuse himself.

D. to teach her not to be so spineless.

2.The employer made all those criticisms about Julia Vassiliyevna’s work because __________

A. she had neglected her duties.

B. he wanted to pay her as little money as possible.

C. he wanted to make her realize that she was being cheated and protest against it.

D. he wanted to make her feel miserable.

3. Julia Vassilyevna accepted everything her employer said because ________

A. she had in fact neglected her duties.

B. she was a very dumb girl.

C. she thought it was of no use to protest to her employer.

D. she loved the children she taught.

4. The employer became very angry when Julia Vassilyevna said “ Merci” because ________

A. she didn’t say “Merci” loudly.

B. she didn’t protest to him.

C. he thought that by simply saying “ Merci” she wasn’t polite enough.

D. he didn’t like the way in which she stuffed the money into per pocket and expressed her thanks.

5. The text is about _______

A. how a governess was cheated by her employer.

B. how an employer tried to teach the governess a cruel lesson.

C. how a governess was fired by her employer for being a nincompoop.

D. how an employer punished the governess for not having done a good job.

 

I’m an operating engineer, running crane(起重机) in New York City. I was in the countryside, playing golf when we got the call that a plane had   36  the World Trade Centre. We checked out of the hotel immediately and started   37  our way downtown. When I got home, I called the rescue center and they told me to come   38  and get on the   39  list.

The next morning I went down to the   40  at about 5 A. M., and four hours later I   41  the call to come down to West Street. I called my wife and told her not to   42  me, and that I would stay in   43  with her. I took the subway. It stopped at West Fourth Street, so I had to   44  the rest of the way.

And somewhere in there I became   45  when I went into something I   46 . I once worked there in 1966 for the   47  of the World Trade Centre. On halfway on September 12, I was frightened to see the World Trade Centre was a huge pile, maybe ten   48  tall. And it was burning. I started to ask   49  in which my crane might be   50  a whistle blew suddenly warning us of some danger. I saw people running away and I really didn’t know what to do. So I did the same, too. It was as if they had   51  the bulls go in Spain and we were running through the street. People falling down, people   52  them up as they came by, and carrying them, just to get them out of the way, because something was extremely   53 . I didn’t even look back. We stopped running when we got to the Battery Tunnel, and I caught my   54  and said, “Oh, my God, I’m going to die.”

Then I 55  a little bit, thinking about what we should do next. As we started again we knocked into a fire chief officer and we asked, “What can we do to help you?”

1.	A．noticed B．reached C．hit D．passed

 

2.	A．finding B．making C．getting D．losing

 

3.	A．away B．near C．in D．down

 

4.	A．volunteer B．soldier C．police D．fireman

 

5.	A．company B．hotel C．center D．home

 

6.	A．answered B．made C．heard D．received

 

7.	A．be curious about B．forget about C．laugh at D．worry about

 

8.	A．peace B．touch C．connection D．relation

 

9.	A．walk B．complete C．cancel D．smooth

 

10.	A．delighted B．frightened C．embarrassed D．interested

 

11.	A．built B．met C．designed D．had

 

12.	A．construction B．plan C．destruction D．use

 

13.	A．miles B．centimeters C．stories D．floors

 

14.	A．means B．numbers C．position D．directions

 

15.	A．as B．why C．when D．because

 

16.	A．driven B．let C．asked D．enjoyed

 

17.	A．pushing B．giving C．looking D．picking

 

18.	A．dangerous B．urgent C．efficient D．important

 

19.	A．view B．sight C．breath D．sense

 

20.	A．put down B．settled down C．knocked down D．let down

 

I’m an operating engineer, running crane(起重机) in New York City. I was in the countryside, playing golf when we got the call that a plane had       the World Trade Centre. We checked out of the hotel immediately and started       our way downtown. When I got home, I called the rescue center and they told me to come       and get on the       list.

The next morning I went down to the       at about 5 A. M., and four hours later I       the call to come down to West Street. I called my wife and told her not to       me, and that I would stay in       with her. I took the subway. It stopped at West Fourth Street, so I had to       the rest of the way.

And somewhere in there I became       when I went into something I      . I once worked there in 1966 for the       of the World Trade Centre. On halfway on September 12, I was frightened to see the World Trade Centre was a huge pile, maybe ten       tall. And it was burning. I started to ask       in which my crane might be       a whistle blew suddenly warning us of some danger. I saw people running away and I really didn’t know what to do. So I did the same, too. It was as if they had       the bulls go in Spain and we were running through the street. People falling down, people       them up as they came by, and carrying them, just to get them out of the way, because something was extremely      . I didn’t even look back. We stopped running when we got to the Battery Tunnel, and I caught my       and said, “Oh, my God, I’m going to die.”

Then I    a little bit, thinking about what we should do next. As we started again we knocked into a fire chief officer and we asked, “What can we do to help you?”

1.A．noticed    B．reached      C．hit       D．passed

2.A．finding     B．making         C．getting         D．losing

3.A．away         B．near    C．in         D．down

4.A．volunteer         B．soldier         C．police D．fireman

5.A．company B．hotel   C．center         D．home

6.A．answered         B．made  C．heard D．received

7.A．be curious about B．forget about    C．laugh at       D．worry about

8.A．peace       B．touch  C．connection D．relation

9.A．walk          B．complete    C．cancel          D．smooth

10.A．delighted        B．frightened  C．embarrassed       D．interested

11.A．built       B．met     C．designed     D．had

12.A．construction  B．plan    C．destruction D．use

13.A．miles      B．centimeters         C．stories         D．floors

14.A．means    B．numbers     C．position       D．directions

15.A．as  B．why     C．when  D．because

16.A．driven    B．let       C．asked  D．enjoyed

17.A．pushing B．giving  C．looking        D．picking

18.A．dangerous      B．urgent         C．efficient      D．important

19.A．view       B．sight    C．breath         D．sense

20.A．put down        B．settled down       C．knocked down    D．let down