One morning, a blind* boy sat in front of a building with a hat by his feet .He held a sign* which said,“I am blind. Please help me. There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat .He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps* and ask,“Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”

The man said,“I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way.”

What he had written was,“Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty* of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.

The first is: Treasure*what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help.

The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.

1.On the sign what the man wrote was,“_______.”

A. Treasure what we have already had.

B. Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.

C. We are so lucky that we are not blind.

D. Try your best to help those who need your help.

2.The word“recognized”here in Chinese means______.

A.承认                                    B.接受

C.表扬                                    D.认出

3.From the passage we know that _____.

A. the boy always has a hat on his head.

B. the man is one of his friends.

C. the boy is blind and needs help.

D. the boy works for the man.

4.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A .The hat began to fill up after the man wrote some words on the sign.

B. The man took away all the few coins from the hat.

C. The boy wanted to get enough money to go to school.

D. Nobody wanted to give any coins to the blind boy.

In New York,on a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a train station.He was playing his violin.His music was so great that many people put money into his?? ?? .

The next day ,the young artist came to the ?? ?? place, and played the violin as usual. Different from the day before,he took out a piece of paper and put ? ?? on the ground.The paper read ,“Last night ,a man named George Sang put an important thing into my hat ?? ?? .Please come to get it soon..”

After  about half an hour,a(an) ??? ?? man there in a hurry, “Oh ,it’s you . You did come here.”The young violinist asked calmly, “Are you Mr George Sang?” “Yes!Yes!”Then the violinist asked , “Did you lose something?” “Lottery(彩票).It’s the most valuable lottery in my 70 years of life,”said the man.

The violinist ? ? a lottery ticket. George Sang’s name was on it, so the violinist? ? ? it to him.

Later someone asked the violinist, “Since you ?? ?? play the violin every day to make your tuition (学费)in the university, why didn’t you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?”

The violinist said, “Although  I don’t have much money, I live happily; but if I lose honesty, I won’t be happy forever.”

Through our lives , we can get a lot and lose so much . But being ?? ?? should always be with us. If we act in a dishonest way, we may ?? ?? in a short period. However, from the long-term view, we will be a loser.

1.A. bowl    ????????????? ????????????? B. hat     ????????????? C. pocket   ????????????? D. hands

2.A. similar   ????????????? B. different  ????????????? C. strange   ????????????? D. same

3.A. it     ????????????? ????????????? B. its    ????????????? ????????????? C. they   ????????????? D. them

4.A. by then   ????????????? B. by mistake   ????????????? C. by the way ? ????????????? D. by hand

5.A. young  ????????????? B. old  ????????????? ????????????? C. small    ????????????? D. tall

6.A. took out  ????????????? B. took off ????????????? C. took back  ????????????? D. took away

7.A. sold  ????????????? ????????????? B. bought  ????????????? C. gave  ????????????? ????????????? D. lent

8.A. could  ????????????? B. had to   ????????????? C. should ????? ? D. must

9.A. kind  ????????????? ????????????? B. rich   ????????????? ????????????? C. honest  ????????????? D. poor

10.A. fail  ????????????? ????????????? ? B. relax   ????????????? ????????????? ? ? C. suffer  ????????????? ????????????? D. succeed

A girl complained to her father about her hard life. She didn't know what she had to do and wanted to 36 . She felt tired for fighting and fighting. One problem had been finished but another came.

Her father,  a cook,  took her 37 the kitchen. He poured water into three pans(锅)and boiled(煮)it. When the water was boiling,  in the first pan he put some carrots,  in the 38 he put some eggs and in the last he put some coffee. He     39      them for a few minutes without any words.

The girl closed her mouth and waited impatiently,  not knowing   40   her father was doing that. After about 20 minutes,  her father turned     41   the stove,  took out the carrots and put them in a bowl. He took out the eggs and put 42    in another bowl. After that the   43   was poured into a cup. Turning back to his daughter,  he asked,  "What do you    44   ?" "Carrots,  eggs,  and coffee, " she answered.

Her father told her to 45 her eyes and let her touch the carrots. She did and felt that the carrots were soft. After that he asked her to take the eggs and 46 them. Then,  she got the eggs,  cooked and hard. At last,  the father asked her to smell the coffee. "What's the meaning,  Father?" He 47 that each had suffered the same unlucky experience— the boiling water,  but 48 had a different reaction(反应). The strong and hard carrots had become soft and weak after being in the boiling water. The eggs became hard 49 being cooked. The coffee was very special and it changed the wa­ter. "Who are you?" asked her father,  "When calamity(厄运) 50 your door,  what's your reaction? Are you carrots,  eggs,  or coffee?"

1.A. grow up       B. give up          C. set up            D. pick up

2.A. into           B. within           C. out of            D. away from

3.A. first          B. second           C. third              D. fourth

4.A. looked for     B. searched for      C. waited for          D. called for

5.A. that          B. what            C. where             D. why

6.A. on           B. over            C. off                 D. in

7.A. it            B. its              C. them              D. themselves

8.A. eggs         B. carrots           C. coffee             D. water

9.A. hear         B. taste              C. smell              D. see

10.A. close        B. open             C. wash              D. drop

11.A. keep        B. protect           C. break               D. drink

12.A. complained  B. explained          C. told                D. expected

13.A. every      B. all                C. each               D. either

14.A. before      B. after              C. behind              D. under

15. A. lies in     B. comes across       C. meets with           D. knocks at

One night , a poor young artist stood at the gate of the subway station, _____ his violin . Some passers-by（行人） slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.
The next day the young artist came to the same place. Different from the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and _____ it on the ground and put some stones on it . Then he began playing. Before long , many people were attracted by the words on that paper which said, “ Last night a gentleman ______George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Please come to claim（认领）it soon.”
A middle-aged man ran there _____ and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed （抓住）his shoulders and said, “ Yes, it is you. You did come here. I knew that you are an( a ) _____ man and would certainly come here.”
The story turned out to be this: George Sang bought a lottery ticket a few days ago. The award opened yesterday and he won a prize of 5000,000 dollars. _______ his way home, he took _____ 50 dollars and put it in the violinist’s hat. However, the lottery ticket was also thrown in . The violinist was a student at an Arts College . He had booked the ticket to flight and came back to ____ he was given the lottery ticket.
Later someone asked the violinist _____ he didn’t take the lottery ticket for himself. The violinist said, “ Although I don’t have much money, I live happily. _____ if I  lose honesty, I won’t feel happy forever.”

One morning, a blind boy sat beside a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, “I am blind. Please help me.”
There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognizedhis footsteps and asked, “Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way.”
What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”
Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?
Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beautiful day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.
The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.
There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.
The first is: Treasure (珍惜) what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help.
The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.
【小题1】From the article we know that________.