I’m Very Sorry to Hear It

Mr Smith was old, so it was often difficult for him to remember(记) things.However(可是), he still liked travelling very much, so he and his wife(妻子) went to Spain(西班牙)every year. One summer when they were there, they went to visit their friends, the Tarners.They had two young daughters.

One afternoon Mr Smith was talking to one of the girls in the garden after lunch. “You and your sister were ill when my wife and I were here last year, weren’t you?” he said to her.

“Yes, we were,” answered the girl. “We were very ill.”

The old man said nothing for a moment, because he was thinking.Then at last he said, “Oh, I remember now! One of you died(死了).Which (哪一个)one of you was it, you or your sister?”

The girl answered, “ It was me.”

“Oh?I’m very sorry to hear it,” said the old man.

阅读以上短文,判断正(T)误(F)

1.The old man had a good memory(记忆力)

2.What the old man said was true.

3.The girl was very ill and died.

4.The girl didn’t die last year.

5.The girl and her sister were both very ill last year.

When my family moved to America from a small village in Guangdong, China, we brought not only our luggage, but also our village rules, customs and culture. One of the rules is that young people should always respect(尊敬) elders. Unluckily, this rule led to my very first embarrassment in the United States.
I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One time, when I was serving food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so quickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always respect the elderly. As soon as I said that, her face showed great displeasure. My manager, who happened to hear what I said, took me aside and gave me a long lecture about how sensitive(敏感) Americans are and how they dislike the description “old”. I then walked back to the table and apologized to the wife. After the couple heard my reason, they understood that the problem was caused by cultural differences, so they laughed and were no longer angry.
In my village in China, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and experience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn from their rich experience.
However, in the United States, people think “growing old” is a problem since “old” shows that a person is going to retire(退休) or that the body is not working well. Here many people try to keep themselves away from growing old by doing exercises or jogging, and women put on makeup, hoping to look young. When I told the couple in the restaurant that I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young. I had told them something they didn’t want to hear.
After that, I changed the way I had been with older people. It is not that I don’t respect them any more; I still respect them, but now I don’t show my feelings through words.
【小题1】Jack brought the couple their food very fast because______.

Although I love my life, it hasn’t been a lot of fun as I’ve been ill for 28 years.

Music has always been a great love of mine and, in my 20s, when my ? ?  was more manageable , I ? ?? ten years as a professional singer in restaurants, playing and singing folk songs. ? ??   it was years ago and times have changed. ? ?  I live with mother on a country farm.

Two years ago, I decided that I would need to have some kind of extra work to make up for my disability pension (残疾抚恤金). ? ?  I needed to sleep in the afternoons, I was limited(限制) in my choices. I decided that I would consider ? ?  to singing in restaurants.

My family are all musicians, so I was ? ?  when I went into our local music store. I explained that I wanted to sing again but using recorded karaoke music. I knew that discs were very expensive and I really didn’t have a lot of ? ?   to get started. And often you find only three to four songs out of ten on a disc that you can ? ? use.

When I told the owner of the shop about my ? ? , he gave me a long thoughtful        . “This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?” he said. “Come with me.”

He led me ? ?  the crowded shop and to a bench with a large professional karaoke box on it. He placed his large hand ? ? on his treasure(财宝) and said, “I have 800 karaoke songs in here. You can take your pick and I’ll record them for you. That should get you started.”

I could have cried. Thanking him, I made a time with him to listen to all the songs and choose    ?  that I could sing. I have come full circle with his help.

His     still warms my heart and makes me do just that bit extra, when I have the chance.

1.A. loneliness  ????????????? B. sadness          ? C. tiredness            D. sickness

2.A. set       ????????????? ??? B. enjoyed??? ????????????? C. kept    ????????????? ??? D. shared

3.A. Gladly           ????????????? B. Finally        ?? C. Unfortunately    D. Surprisingly

4.A. Now             B. Then??  ????? C. Sometime          ????????????? D. Meanwhile

5.A. If                   ????????????? B. As         ????????????? ??? C. Though        ????????????? D. Before

6.A. reaching out    B. living up     ????????????? C. getting on????????????? ??? D. going back

7.A. recognized    B. interviewed   ????????????? C. found      ????????????? ??? D. invited

8.A. money          ????????????? B. time          ? ????????????? C. energy            ????????????? D. knowledge

9.A. actually       ????????????? B. hardly            ????????????? C. nearly         ????????????? D. mainly

10.A. job                B. family                C. idea             ????????????? D. offer

11.A. face        ????????????? B. view             ????????????? C. look                 ????????????? D. sight

12.A. over              ????????????? B. along               ????????????? C. towards            ????????????? D. through

13.A. unhappily     B. lovingly     ????????????? ??? C. pitifully         ????????????? D. gratefully

14.A. more        ????????????? B. the ones    ???? C. few            ????????????? D. the rest

15.A. courage         B happiness            C. kindness       ????????????? D. trust 

It’s not easy to be an astronaut’s son．Everybody expects you to be special or perfect. I often wonder how my father ever had a son like me. I mean he’s so special and so good at everything he does. Even in middle school he was monitor and captain of the football team.

Well, to be honest, I often dream about being some kind of hero or doing something special—like saving a child from a burning building One morning my teacher said there would be a Father’s Day writing competition for the whole school．“I hope we have a winner right here in my class.”

When I got home，I started to think about what to write．My father is an astronaut. No, I wouldn’t start like that. That was the way others saw him．How did I see my father?

Hmm…I saw him sitting with me in the dark when I had a terrible dream．I remembered how he hugged me for hours when my dog Spotty was killed by a car. Yes, these were the things I was going to write. To me，he wasn’t just a famous astronaut. He was my dad．

My parents and l went to school Thursday night. There were so many people in the big hall! My dad looked at me, and I shrugged(耸肩).

The third prize was announced and it was not me．1 was relieved(释然)and disappointed(失望) at the same time. The second prize was announced.  I t  was me. I went up to the stage and read what I had written，“My father’s son”．When I finished，Dad put his hand on my shoulder．“Son，this is the proudest moment of my life.’’

It was the proudest moment of my life, too. Maybe I’ll never be a great hero or win a Nobel Prize, but it was enough just to be my father’s son.

1.The writer felt it        to be the son of a famous person．

A．1ucky            B．natural            C．hard             D．pleasant

2.In order to_       the writer would like to save a child from a burning building．

A．become astronaut                       B．become a great hero

C．be made school team captain              D．be made monitor

3.What did the boy probably write in his composition?

A．A lot of special things he had done．

B．The story of his father as an astronaut．

C．The unforgettable time he spent with his father．

D．The experiences his father had in middle school．

4.What is the best title for the passage?

A．My daydream                          B．My father’s son

C．My famous father                       D．My happy family

I had to          my little sister when my mother was not at home.