Once there was a parrot on sale in a pet store. It was a beautiful red and blue bird. It sat on a perch in the middle of the store, so that everyone could see it when they came in. The owner was very proud of it and asked a high price for it.

     One day a man went into the store. "That's a beautiful bird,"he said to the pet store owner, "But why is it so expensive? Is it unsual bird?"

     "No, it's not very unusual. It's expensive because it can talk," the pet store owner said.

     "I see. How can I make it talk?" the man asked.

     The pet store owner asked him, "Do you see those string tied to each of the bird's legs?"

     "Yes," the man answered.

     "Well, you pull those strings," the pet store owner told him."That will make the parrot talk."

     The man asked,"Do you mind if I try?"

     "Not at all," the pet store owner said.

     The man walked up to the parrot and pulled the string on its left leg. The parrot said, "Good morning."

     The man pulled the string on the parrot's right leg. This time the parrot said, "How are you today?"

      "That's not very interesting, " said the man. "Any parrot could do that." Then he laughed, "But what wold happen if I pulled both strings at the same time?"

     "I'll fall off my perch, you fool!" the parrot said.

1.The parrot was expensive because________.

A.it was pretty beautiful

B.it could talk with the people

C.it was a very unusual bird

D.it was in the middle of the store

2.The parrot would talk when _________.

A.people came into the pet store

B.it was the pet store owner

C.people said it was beautiful

D.people pulled the strings on its legs

3.Which is the first sentences that the parrot said to the man?

A.Good morning.

B.How are you?

C.That's wasn't interesting.

D.I'll fall off my perch, you fool.

4.From the story we know the parrot was_______.

A.kind     B.silly    C.clever    D.crazy

5.The best title for the passage should be _________.

A.Unusual Parrot     B.Parrot Talk      C.Silly man    D.Clever Owner

When someone says, “Well, I guess I’ll have to face the music”, it doesn’t mean that he is going to hear a singer. It is something far less happy, as you are called in by your leader to explain why you did this and did that or why you did not do this or that.

   At some time or another, every one of us has to “face the music”, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry words “I want to talk to you.” And only because we did not listen to him. What a bad thing it was!

   In the middle or at the end of every term, we students have to “face the music”. The result of the exam will decide whether we will face the music or not. If you got a “D” in the exam, that means parents’ cold faces and the contempt(轻视) of the classmates.

   “To face the music” is well-known to every American, young or old. It is at least 100 years old. It really means that you have to do something, no matter how terrible the whole thing might be, because you have no choice.

1.“To face the music” means “to         ”.

A. do something that we don’t like to

B. go to the theatre

C. go to the music show

D. do something we want to

2.After the exam, we’ll have to “face the music”. That’s why          .

A. we like to take the exam

B. we are afraid of taking the exam

C. the exam is very important

D. we are afraid of passing the exam

3.Which of the following is wrong?

A. “To face the music” is well-known in the US.

B. “To face the music” has a history of more than 100 years.

C. The young Americans know the meaning of “to face the music”.

D. Only the old in the US know the meaning of “to face the music”

I live with my grandmother in a Beijing yard house. One day last year, I was surprised to see a big foreigner coming out of the house next door to ours. He was very tall with short brown hair and a pair of glasses.

The first time I saw him, I was too shy to speak to him. “My English is too poor!” I thought. My grandmother told me that he had just moved into our yard. “I don’t like it!” she said. “Foreigners aren’t like us. Maybe he’ll play loud music and parties every night! I’m sure he’s going to cause trouble.”

Several days later, I met the foreigner as I was walking home after work. “Hello!” he said (in Chinese！). “My name’s Tony. I’ve just moved into the house next door to yours.” While I was wondering what to say, he continued, “There’s a nice bar down the road. Why don’t you and your family come and have dinner with me?” “Bars are bad places,” said my grandmother when I told her, but we decided to go.

The bar was not at all what I had expected. It was in a beautiful little yard house, with several large bookshelves and pictures of Tibet on the walls. Several Chinese people and foreigners were sitting drinking or reading books. I noticed that some of the foreigners were speaking Chinese in a low voice to each other! “Oh, what a civilized place!” my grandmother exclaimed.

The bar served special “hutong pizzas”. As we ate, Tony told us about himself-he is an English expert in environment. He always likes to be quiet. My grandmother said to me, “He really seems like a very nice young man.”

1.When the writer first saw the foreigners, she______.

2.From the sentence “Bar are bad places”, we can know that the grandmother______.

3.What’s the meaning of the word “civilized” in the passage?

4.Which of the following sentence is Not true?

5.The best title for this story is______.

Before I even started school, people felt that I was not going to amount to much. At the age of four, I started speech lessons because even I could not speak well enough to be understood.
First grade was a struggle. I not only had difficulty speaking, but I was expected to learn to read and I just couldn't do it. My parents grew more and more frustrated. They bought books and offered great rewards if I could read one of them from start to finish to them. Well, with my speech problems and now my reading problems, I did not like to do reading and so refused to do it whenever possible.
Second grade was not much better. It was in the second grade that the teacher decided that I needed special education. I remember the days of taking the physical exams. However, after all that, they decided that I did not qualify for special education.
It was in third grade that a new school was built close to where I lived. I remember going there with my parents and helping to get the school ready so that we could transfer(转学). It was a happy day that we started school at Vandalia. However, things did not get better as my parent expected.
It was now time for fifth grade. Mrs. Wakefield was my teacher, and if ever there was a teacher that deserved a gold star, it was her. She did not make me feel upset. Instead, she helped me in so many ways and built my self-confidence so that I actually did believe that I could do something special. And that is just what I did.
For the past 22 years, I have been a fifth grade teacher. Because of Mrs. Wakefield's influence in my life, I am now encouraging students who have had difficulties in their lives to believe that they can overcome and become someone. I have won a large number of awards but I know that all of them belong to one fifth grade teacher who believed in me and challenged me to be all that I could be.
I still have a class picture of her with her fifth grade class hanging on the wall of my office, encouraging other teachers to reach out to their students.
【小题1】 What does the underlined phrase “amount to much” mean in Paragraph l?

Mum went to Peter’s bed and said, “I want to borrow Tim’s radio for you?” Peter touched the letter in his pocket (口袋) and said, “Thanks, Mum!” “Today I want to send you a special gift on the radio. It’ll surprise you. I will come back soon,” she said and quickly left in the heavy snow.
Peter took out the letter. He got it this afternoon. Mum didn’t know about it. Mum wrote in the letter: The 26^th of this month is my son Peter’s birthday. Could you bless（祝福）him? He has been ill for one month. The radio station wrote in the top: I’m sorry that we have cancelled（取消） this program.
Mum came back with a radio. There was lots of snow on her clothes. And the program began quickly. Next, Peter got very surprised. “At first, we planned to cancel this program, but lots of people like it very much. Now, let’s bless the following（下列的） people together. Kate, Martin, Linda┅” The list was very long. Mum was too tired and she fell asleep. Peter didn’t hear his name to the end. But he was quite moved. He woke up Mum, “Mum, I heard my name just now. Thank you for your gift, Mum!” Mum smiled with tears. Peter also smiled with tears. He believed it was his best gift.
【小题1】It was ____________ in Peter’s birthday.
A. rainy              B. snowy                  C. windy
【小题2】 What was Mum’s special gift to Peter?
A. She wrote a letter to him.           B. She blessed him in the radio.
C. She asked the radio station to bless him.
【小题3】Why didn’t Peter give the letter to his mother?   Because _________________.
A. he was ill for a month             B. his mother was very tired
C. his mother would be disappointed
【小题4】How did Peter’s mother feel after the program?
A. Moved              B. Tired              C. Surprised
【小题5】 What do you think of Peter?
A. He is a brave boy.     B. He likes telling lies.       C. He loves his mother.