At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer(拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.

We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house – something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.

On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, "What do you want for your new room?" Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were surprised when Josh responded, "I just want a bed."

The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.

When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.

That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.

As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, "What is that?"

"A pillow," she replied.

"What do you do with it?" Eric continued to ask.

"When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” I answered softly. Tears came to our eyes as she handed Eric the pillow.

"Oh . . . that's soft," he said, hugging it tightly.

Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my Dad gently asks, "Do you have a pillow?"

We know exactly what he means.

1.The writer’s first volunteer project was         .

A．working on a poor trailer

B．helping a poor family

C．donating beds and bedding

D．dealing with a housing problem

2.On hearing Josh’s answer, the writer was shocked because         .

A．the family lived in a trailer

B．he expected to get some toys

C．he didn’t know what a bed was

D．the boys had no bed to sleep in

3.From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen       before.

A．a trailer           B．a truck            C．a pillow           D．a house

4.By saying “Do you have a pillow?”, the writer’s father means that        .

A．what they want to get may be unnecessary

B．they should not waste money on small things

C．they should do more volunteer work for the poor

D．what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow

For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They are called latchkey children. They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a subject of concern.
Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school. She said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts. There were so many keys, it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she learned they were house keys.
She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the impact(影响) working couples and single parents were having on their children. Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared. Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety.
The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet. The second is TV. They’ll often play it at high volume. It’s hard to get statistics on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone.
【小题1】The main idea about “latchkey children” is that they _______.

It was unusually quiet in the emergency room on December 25.
I was nurse on duty that day. I didn’t think there would be any patients, sighing about having to work on Christmas. Just then five bodies showed up at my desk, a pale woman and four small children.
“Are you all sick?” I asked suspiciously.
“Yes,” she said weakly and lowered her head.
But when it came to descriptions of their presenting problems, things got a little vague. Two of the children had headaches, but the headaches weren’t accompanied by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still. Two children had earaches, but only one could tell me which ear was affected. The mother complained of a cough but seemed to work to produce it.
Something was wrong, but I didn’t say anything but explained that it might be a little while before a doctor saw her. She responded, “Take your time; it’s warm here.”
On a hunch (出于直觉), I checked the chart after the admitting clerk had finished registering the family. No address---they were homeless. The waiting room was warm.
I looked out at the family huddled by the Christmas tree. The little one was pointing at the television and exclaiming something to her mother. The oldest one was looking at an ornament on the Christmas tree.
I went back to the nurses’ station and mentioned we had a homeless family in the waiting room. The nurses, grumbling about working Christmas, turned to compassion for a family just trying to get warm on Christmas. The team went into action, much as we do when there’s a medical emergency. But this one was a Christmas emergency.
We were all offered a free meal in the hospital cafeteria on Christmas Day, so we claimed that meal and prepared a banquet for our Christmas guests. We needed presents. We put together oranges and apples in a basket. We collected from different departments candies, crayons and other things available that could be presents. As seriously as we met the physical needs of the patients that came to us that day, our team worked to meet the needs, and exceed the expectations, of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas Day.
Later, as the family walked to the door to leave, the four year old came running back, gave me a hug and whispered, “Thanks for being our angels today.”
【小题1】Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

Dear Annie,

I feel betrayed by my friend Hannah. We have been best friends  31 primary school and spend almost every day with each other.

On Monday, we had a surprise math quiz. I thought it was quite 32 and was not worried about the results. The next day after class, my math teacher told me that I had the lowest grade in the class! I felt so ashamed. I 33 Hannah not to tell anyone else, and she said she would 34 my secret.

35, the next day, I noticed that my classmates were  36 at me as I came into math class and, when I went to sit down, I was shocked to find a piece of paper on my desk that said, ‘Stupid Sarah got a D!’ I thought that Hannah  37 have told my classmates about my grade after promising not to.

I was so angry that I went  38 to Hannah and told her we weren’t going to be friends any more. She was really upset and swore that she hadn’t told 39 , but I didn’t believe her explanation. I don’t think I can ever truly forgive her. Now I have 40 my best friend. What shall I do?

Yours sincerely,

Sarah

1.                A．before         B．since           C．when    D．while

2.                A．difficult         B．strange         C．usual     D．easy

3.                A．ordered        B．begged         C．wanted   D．demanded

4.                A．keep           B．break          C．find D．hold

5.                A．Besides         B．Moreover       C．However D．Afterwards

6.                A．talking          B．smiling          C．laughing D．staring

7.                A．must           B．could           C．might    D．should

8.                A．slowly          B．straight         C．down    D．finally

9.                A．everyone       B．no one         C．anyone   D．someone

10.               A．forgotten       B．hated          C．lost   D．understood

此题要求改正所给的短文中的10处错误。要求你在错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），并在该词下写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用（∕）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处, 多改不计分。
Today I together with my classmates went to climb the Yandang Mountain.Early in morning we started out and arrived there two hours late.Then we begin to climb.The mountain was high and some of us got tiring soon, and all of us were very excited.We cheered happily when we got the top.We had our lunch there and had enjoyed ourselves very much.Unfortunately,when we walked down the hill,we were caught by a rain. We remained calmly,shared umbrellas and raincoats and walked carefully.Finally we both reached the parking lot safely.In spite of the unexpected rain and wind,we had a good time.