At a nation’s saddest moment, its greatest heroes are born.

      On September 11th, 2001, many police officers and government officials in America worked day and night to save lives from the big fire at the World Trade Centre. And in Japan, after the serious earthquake, a group of workers showed their courage.

      The earthquake on March 11th made Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant(福岛核电站) turn off and stop its protective cooling systems. And later, a fire broke out.  Workers were told that the plant’s radiation(辐射) could be harmful to human health. Hundreds of workers left the plant quickly. However, a group of workers decided to fight against the fire and the damage, though they knew it could cause very serious health problems. There were 50 workers in all, so they were also named the "Fukushima 50". The workers worked in shifts(轮班).

      People knew little about the workers, who were mainly experts (专家) with the skills to control the situation. One woman said that her father had volunteered to stay there. "I heard that he volunteered even though he would retire(退休) in just half a year and my eyes were filled with tears. I am really proud of him. And I pray for his safe return.

1.The passage mainly tells us       

    A. what happened in America on September 1l th, 2001

    B. "Fukushima 50" stayed in the nuclear power plant bravely

    C. who saved many lives from the big fire at the World Trade Centre

    D. what Japanese government did after the nuclear power plant was turned off

2. Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was turned off because

     A. there were no heroes there        B. many workers left the plant

     C. it was destroyed by a big fire      D. the earthquake damaged it heavily

3.        workers stayed in Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant after the earthquake.

     A. 11             B. 50              C. 100             D. 150

4.Which of the following is TRUE?

     A. The woman learned something about her father.

     B. A woman’s father who had retired from work still stayed there.

     C. Little was known about the workers when the passage was written.

     D. The workers didn’t know staying in the nuclear plant was harmful to their

     health.

5. The writer thinks         

     A. American police officers were very strong

     B. the nuclear radiation would do no damage to humans

     C. all the workers who stayed in the plant should return quickly

D. all the workers who stayed in the plant are great heroes

Think back to a time in your life when you tried something new.
When I was a teenager I volunteered to pass out water at a local race. I was so excited to see all the different runners who passed by and quickly took a cup of water. Some ran past，some walked past and a few wheeled past.
I saw so many types of people doing it. I thought maybe I could do it too! The next year I decided to run for the race，but I had little running practice. I just wanted to finish.
On the day of the race，it was terribly hot. After running for about 5 miles，I was thinking，“I must be crazy. Why did I do this? What was I thinking？” And at one moment，I said to myself，“I am never doing this again！”
That first 10 km race was quite an experience. I jogged (慢跑)，I walked，I jogged and walked. At times，I didn’t know if I could finish.
Near the end，a 70­year­old man ran past me，very fast，and I felt a little embarrassed (尴尬的) that I was more than 50 years younger than he and I couldn’t even keep up with him. But then I realized something. He was running his race and I was running mine. How often in life do we compare(比较) ourselves to others when we really shouldn’t? I decided that I would not give up on running races，and that one day I would be one of those 70­year­olds who were still running.
As I crossed the finishing line，I was proud of myself. I didn’t regret (后悔) having such an experience.
【小题1】What did the writer do at a local race as a volunteer?

In one way of thinking, failure is part of life. In       way, failure may be a way towards success. The “Spider-story” is often       .Robert Bruce , leader of the Scots in the 13 ^th century, was hiding in a cave from the English. He watched a spider       a web. The spider tried to reach across a rough        in the rock. He tried six times without success .On the        time he made it and went on to make his web. Bruce is said to have been encouraged by this and to have gone on to       the English . Edison , the inventor of the light bulb, made       models that failed before he found the right way to make one. Once he was asked         he kept on trying to make a new type of battery when he had failed so often, he replied, “Failure? I have         failure. Now I know 50,000 ways it won't        ”.
So what? First，always think about your failure. What caused       ？Were conditions right? Were you in top from yourself? What can you change? So things will go          next time.
Second, is the goal you're trying to reach the right one? Try to do some         about what your real goals may be. Think about this question. “If I do succeed in this, where will it get me?" This may help you prevent failure in things you shouldn't be doing any way.
The third thing to keep in        about failure is that it's a part of life. Learn to “live with yourself" even though you may have       ．

My brother and I often fight with each other over small things. One day our father said to us, “Tomorrow we will take part in the Ray Home Sports Day. Both of you must go with me. Perhaps you can learn something from those children.” My brother laughed, “Dad, Ray is a home for physically disabled children. What can we learn from them?”

?? “You will see,” our father said.

?? Our father works as a volunteer at Ray. The children there have problems with their hands, speech, walking or hearing. Every day, he spends hours helping th em to move or exer cise their legs or arms.

?? The following day, he took us to Ray Home. When we got there, we found a nice place to sit down. Finally, the sports began. There was a 50-meter race to see who could run fastest. All the runners were physically disabled. As the race started, all the children moved as fast as they could. Just then, one of the girls fell over and hurt her leg. She began to cry at the top of her voice.

?? All the children stopped to help the poor girl. Then they? all held hands and finished the race together. My brother and I were surprised to see this: the children weren’t interested in winning the race－they were more interested in helping each other to finish the race.

1.Why did the father take the writer and his brother to Ray Home?

A. The father wanted them to do something at Ray.

B. The father asked them to help the children at Ray.

C. The father wanted them to take part in the Sports Day.

D. The father wanted them to learn something from the children.

2.What does the fat her often do in Ray Home?

A. He works as a teacher there.??????? B. He helps the children there.

C. He watches the games there.??????? D. He does sports with his sons.

3.Why did all the children stop in the 50-meter race stop?

A. All the children were disabled.?????? B. A little girl fell over and got hurt.

C. They stopped to laugh at the girl.???? D. They didn’t want to finish the race.

4.What can we learn from the passage?

A. The children there can help each other.

B. All the runners there can not run fast.

C. All the children don’t want to be winners.

D. The disabled children there were not smart enough.

As we know, there are differences between western culture and Chinese culture. We can see differences when we pay attention to the way words are used. Let’s look at the words about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese about the dog, for example, “a homeless dog”, “a mad dog”, “a running dog” and “a dog catching a mouse”, have negative(消极的)meanings. But in western countries, dogs are thought to be honest and good friends of people. In English, people use the dog to describe positive(积极的)actions. For example, “you are a lucky dog” means you are a lucky person. And “every dog has its day” means each person has good 1uck one day. To describe a person’s serious illness, they say “sick as a dog”. The word “dog-tired” means very tired. However, Chinese love cats very much. But in western culture, “cat” is often used to describe a woman who is cruel(冷酷的). There are many other examples of how “cat” is used differently as well.
The rose(玫瑰)is thought of as a symbol of love in both China and some western countries. People think the rose stands for(代表)love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.
The words about plants and animals are used in positive or negative ways in different cultures. We can learn about many differences in cultures by comparing(比较)how some words are used.
【小题1】The word “dog” in Chinese usually_________.