When I was 16 years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learnt French at school and I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand English. But when I went to America I was really looking forward to having a nice easy holiday without any language problems.

How wrong I was! The misunderstanding began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Danny a ring and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking like being lost and asked if he could help me.

“Yes,”I said.“I want to give my friend a ring.”

“Well, that’s nice,”he exclaimed (惊呼).“Are you getting married? But aren’t you a bit young？”

“Who is talking about marriage?” I replied. “I just want to give my friend a ring to tell her I’ve arrived. Can you tell me where there’s a phone box?”

“Oh!”he said.“There’s a phone downstairs.”

When at last we did meet up, Danny explained the misunderstanding to me.“Don’t worry,” she said to me.“I had many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from us British. You’ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. But most of the time British and American people can understand each other!”

1.When the writer arrived at the airport, he wanted to _____.

A．buy a ring for his friend	B．ask the way to his friend’s
C．telephone his friend	D．call a taxi

2.The old man thought _____.

A．the writer wanted to find a phone box

B．the writer was old enough to get married

C．the writer didn’t know the way

D．the writer wanted to find his girlfriend

3..At last, the old man _____.

A．understood what the writer wanted to do

B．couldn’t understand the writer

C．bought a ring for the writer

D．took the writer to the phone box by himself

4.Which sentence is wrong according to the passage?

A.The writer’s friend, Danny had a lot of difficulties in the U.S.A. at first.

B.There are some differences between American and British English.

C.British people can’t understand the Americans most of the time.

D.British and American people can understand each other most of the time.

 

   It’s every student’s bad dream: exam time. During the last three days of the term, we had six exams.

    My easiest exam was math. All of its questions were from earlier exams.

    The biology exam was hard. At first, I thought I would fail it. It asked about lots of things we never studied in class, though we could use our textbooks. And there wasn’t enough time to check every question. I guessed at many of them. But my teacher said that I did well in it.

    In the career planning and computer applications（职业规划与电脑应用）exam, we had a lot to do: a PowerPoint presentation, a book report and a class evaluation（评价）. I felt like I needed more time, but some of my classmates didn’t think so. They just quickly wrote down some answers and then played games.

    I don’t think I did very well in the English exam. We had to write an essay（passage）about books we have read in class. But I didn’t study hard enough.

    At our school, we can“test out”of some classes. That means students can study by themselves and then take exam. If they pass, they don’t have to take that class. I tested out in both computer and health classes.

    Studying for those exams was terrible. Those classes would go on for six months, but I had to teach myself everything in three weeks. Also, I had to do three big projects at the same time. I watched no TV for almost three weeks! I am so glad it is over, and now it’s the summer holiday.

    For my classmates, it will be two and a half months for fun without school or homework. But I am a Chinese, and you know what Chinese parent do with their kid’s free time: more homework.

1. How did the writer pass the biology exam?

    A. He checked the biology exam paper carefully.

    B. Because a lot of things had something to do with textbooks.

    C. Although the writer didn’t have enough time to examine every question, he guessed on many of them correctly.

    D. His teacher taught well.

2. The underlined phrase“test out”means ___________.

    A. 免修                                     B. 必修

    C. 选修                                     D. 重修

3. Why did the writer test out the computer class? Because _____________.

    A. he spent more time on it and studied hard by himself

    B. the teacher said he did it well

    C. some classmates didn’t pay attention to it at all.

    D. it was quite easy for him to study and play it.

4. The underlined phrase“go on for”is that ______________.

    A. last                                        B. spend

    C. take                                       D. cost

5. The main idea of the passage is that __________________.

    A. it tells us what the “test out”exam is

    B. if you study hard, you won’t fail exams

    C. there are some differences among different kinds of exams

    D. it’s not easy for students to take exams

Everyone needs friends. Friends bring us happiness and hope in our lives. But the ability (能力)to make friends changes from person to person. To some people, making friends is easy, and to others it’s very difficult.
Making friends is a skill, and the first thing is to know how to get along with others.
If you have trouble in making friends, maybe I can tell you how to do it.
★Realize your own good points. You have skills and talents that others will like.
★Believe that you are a good person and have something nice to share with others.
★Be humorous. Learn to laugh at yourself and your weakness. Remember to smile to others.
★Respect the others. Everyone has his own idea. Learn how to listen to others’ ideas without trying to make them accept yours.
★Be kind. If you are kind to others, they will usually be kind to you. There are hundreds of little things you can do to show kindness. Open the door for someone. Wave to a friend and so on.
★Don’t complain. Learn to accept what you can’t change, and work hard to change what you can. No one is willing to hear your complaining all the time.
★Never give up. Even if you are faced with some closed-minded people, never give up. And try to find someone who will understand you.
【小题1】 Why do we need friends according to the passage?

A．Friends can do everything for us.

B．Friends can bring us happiness.

C．Friends accept our ideas all the time.

D．Without friends we could not live.

【小题2】 What’s the first thing we should learn in order to make friends?

A．To help others.

B．To smile to others.

C．To get along with others.

D．To listen to others’ complaints.

【小题3】. Which of the following shows a sense of humour?

A．Opening the door for someone.

B．Complaining to others all the time.

C．Laughing at ourselves and our weakness.

D．Finding someone who will understand us.

【小题4】 How many pieces of advice does the writer offer when we have trouble in making friends?

A．Five.

B．Seven.

C．Nine.

D．Eleven.

【小题5】 I you don’t want to complain, you are supposed to         according to the passage.

A．Learn to help your parents

B．Learn to make lots of friends

C．Learn to change yourself

D．Learn to accept what you can’t change