“I don’t believe in Santa Claus!” Trogmire announced.

Tremor looked shocked. “Why not?” he asked.

“Because he never leaves me any gifts at all,” Trogmire growled.

Tremor thought about the evidence for a few seconds. “Maybe,” he suggested, “it’s because when Santa checked his list, your name wasn’t in the ‘nice’ column.”

“So, he could at least bring me a lump of coal!” Trogmire replied. “And,” he went on, “Troubled doesn’t believe in Santa, either.”

“Right,” Tremor said, “because he saw his parents putting the ‘From Santa’ presents under the tree. But I know the truth about that. My mother found out from Troubled’s mother. When Troubled’s parents got an e-mail from Santa, saying that he would never bring Troubled another gift, they didn’t want to tell him the truth. So now they buy presents and pretend they’re from Santa.”

“What did Troubled do to get Santa so mad?” Trogmire questioned.

“I think it had something to do with the time he put glue paper all over the living room floor on Christmas Eve, and left a sign that said, ‘Trapped like a rat!’ hanging over the fireplace.” said Tremor.

“I guess Santa doesn’t have a sense of humour,” sighed Trogmire. “Well, at least I’m not the only one who Santa scratched off his name list.”

1.Why doesn’t Santa leave presents for Trogmire or Troubled?

    A．Their parents won’t let him leave gifts.          B．He can’t find their homes.

    C．He often forgets their names.    D．They have behaved badly.

2.Trogmire and Troubled don’t believe in Santa because ________.

    A．Santa has no sense of humor      B．Santa doesn’t give them anything

    C．they are too naughty to believe  D．Tremor convinced them he wasn’t real

3.Troubled’s parents never ________.

    A．told him about the message from Santa              B．loved him very much

    C．cared about how he behaved                   D．bought him anything

4.Trogmire’s last comment could be an example of the saying _______.

    A．Misery(苦难,不幸) loves company        B．Easy come, easy go

    C．Beauty is only skin deep             D．Love me, love my dog

He behaved           nothing had happened.

A. even though    B. because          C. although                    D. as though

His wife has left him, but he behaved _______ nothing had happened.

A. even though           B. as soon as              C. as though        D. as long as

When John Weston awoke that morning, he remembered that his mother was going into hospital. He hadn’t worked out quite what was wrong with her. He knew, though that she hadn’t been well for some time now, and it had become almost familiar to him to see her eyes narrowed in a sudden attack of pain, and her hand pressing against her heart. Their own doctor, who she had finally gone to for advice, had sent her to an expert who knew all about these things. He had told her that just as soon as there was a bed for her, she would have to come into his hospital where he could look after her himself.

During the weeks since then the pains had come even more frequently, and the narrowed eyes became an almost permanent part of her expression. Always rather sharp, she began losing her temper over little things so that John’s father kept his thoughts to himself more and more. John, as ready as possible to make allowances, tried to think what it would be like to have toothache all the time and how bad-tempered that would make you.

So his mother would go into hospital for a few days. He was going to stay with his Aunt Daisy till she came back, and his father would stay on at home by himself. John’s cousin, Mona, was to come in and make the bed and wash the pots and dust round now and again. That was the arrangement, and John didn’t care much for it. Apart from missing his mother(and he was glad she was going away because they would make her better), he wasn’t very fond of his Aunt Daisy because she was even more bad-tempered than his mother.

1.Mrs Weston went to see her doctor_________.

A.as soon as she realized that something was wrong

B.only after her husband advised her to

C.a long time after the trouble began

D.when John asked what was wrong with her

2.what did Mrs Weston’s own doctor decide to do?

A.he decided to send her to hospital

B.he decided to get an expert to examine her

C.He decided to treat her himself

D.He advised her to wait for a few weeks.

3.how did John react to his mother’s bad temper?

A.he tried to imagine himself in her place.

B.He tried not to notice it.

C.He pretended that he had toothache.

D.He behaved himself as well as possible.

4.John regarded ______as most bad-tempered.

A. his father   B. his mother    C. his cousin Mona   D. his aunt Daisy

The teacher was angry about his being late for class, but he behaved ______ nothing had happened.