— Could you take my place and go to meet Smith?  

— _______.

— He is a tall man wearing short hair.

A．Why me this time?                      B．Are you familiar with him?

C．How can I recognize him?                 D．What would you like to tell me?

 

In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand (木架) with a small notepad (记事本)　and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely  the original one.

 “I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these years.” I say to her, walking back into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly  well. I’ve  always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in those days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have travelled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible (看不到的) exhibits at every meal.

1.Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A．To leave messages.

B．To list her everyday tasks.

C．To note down maths problems.

D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

2.What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A．It has great value for the family.

B．It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C．It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D．It should be passed on to the next generation.

3.The author feels embarrassed for             .

A．blaming her mother wrongly

B．giving her mother a lot of trouble

C．not making good use of time as her mother did

D．not making any breakthrough in her field

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The mother is successful in her career.

B．The family members like travelling.

C．The author had little time to play when young.

D．The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5.In the author’s mind, her mother is             .

A．strange in behaviour

B．keen on her research

C．fond of collecting old things

D．careless about her appearance

 

 

In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand（木架）with a small notepad（记事本）and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.

“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year.” I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible（看不到的）exhibits at every meal.

1．Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A．To leave messages.                      B．To list her everyday tasks.

C．To note down maths problems.             D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

2. What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A. It has great value for the family.

B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D .It should be passed on to the next generation.

3. The author feels embarrassed for_______.

A. blaming her mother wrongly.

B. giving her mother a lot of trouble.

C. not making good use of time as her mother did.

D. not making any breakthrough in her field.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A .The mother is successful in her career.

B. The family members like traveling.

C. The author had little time to play when young.

D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5. In the author’s mind ,her mother is_________.

A. strange in behavior.             B. keen on her research.

C. fond of collecting old things.      D. careless about her appearance.

 

Wendy Gallegos writes “concer” on the board. One of her students raises her hand.

“Ms. Gallegos, you should have written ‘conocer’ instead,” she said, referring to the Spanish verb for “to know.”

Gallegos looks at the board, smiles and quickly erases her mistake.

“You see, I have taught you so well, you pick up on my mistakes,” she said with a laugh.

To Gallegos, the scene in her classroom is typical（特有的）of the children she teaches. Gallegos teaches high school Spanish. She became part of their lives and families for three years. She is willing to help her children succeed. After a couple of years, Gallegos’ class becomes like home. Gallegos’ Spanish class is taught mostly in English in sixth grade. By the time the students are eighth-graders, they are speaking fewer words of English and more of Spanish during the 50-minute classes.

“My goal is to get my kids to say something in Spanish every day,” she said, “I want them to be able to talk to me. That’s why I help them, I praise them, I recognize them when they do good work. And we have fun. The day I stop having fun is the day I am going to consider a different job.’’

If a student needs help, Gallegos offers the student a “lifesaver,” which is help from a classmate. The lifesaver gets a piece of candy as a reward. As the students said: “Gallegos’ class is anything but boring.” It is because of Gallegos’ efforts and determination that she is the teacher who they think is most deserving of one of Collier County’s Golden Apple Awards.

“I don’t teach a subject, I teach kids. This is what I was born to do,” Gallegos said.

1.The scene（情景）in Gallegos’ class is mentioned at the beginning of the passage to ____.

A．show Gallegos, as a teacher, makes a mistake

B．tell teachers can help students correct mistakes.

C．show her good teaching method in daily class

D．point out the students’ impolite behavior in class

2.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 6 implies that_____.

A．having fun is Gallegos’ goal in hunting jobs.  B．Gallegos likes her job very much

C．Gallegos is considering changing her job      D．teaching Spanish will not last long

3.What made Gallegos get Golden Apple Award?

A．Her interesting class.                     B．Her determination in study.

C．Rewarding her students with prizes.         D．Her efforts made to teach kids.

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．This is what I was born to do               B．Golden Apple Awards

C．Spanish classes with fun                   D．How to get along with kids

 

 Not until he took off his sunglasses _______ him.

A. I recognized    B. I did recognize                   C. did I recognize       D. do I recognize