A few years ago I had an“aha!”moment regarding handwriting．

    I had in my hand a sheet of paper with handwritten instructions on it for some sort of editorial task．It occurred at first that I did not recognize the handwriting，and then I realized whose it must be．I finally became aware of the fact that I had been working with this colleague for at least a year，maybe two，and yet I did not recognize her handwriting at that point．

    It was a very important event in the computerization of life―a sign that the informal．friendly communication of people working together in an office had changed from notes in pen to instant messages and emails．There was a time when our workdays were filled with little letters，and we recognized one another's handwriting the way we knew voices or faces．

    As a child visiting my father’s office，I was pleased to recognize，in little notes on the desks of his staff，the same handwriting I would see at home in the notes he would leave on the fridge― except that those notes were signed“dad”instead of“RFW”．

    All this has been on my mind because of the talk about The Rise and Fall of Handwriting，a book by Florey．She shows in her book a deep concern about the fall of handwriting and the failure of schools to teach children to write well，but many others argue that people in a digital age can’t be expected to learn to hold a pen．

    I don’t buy it．

    I don’t want to see anyone cut off from the expressive，personal associations that a pen still promotes better than a digital keyboard does．For many a biographer，part of really getting to know their subjects is learning to read their handwriting．

    What some people advocate is teaching one of the many attractive handwritings based on the handwriting of 16th―century Italy．That may sound impossibly grand―as if they want kids to learn to draw by copying classical paintings．However，they have worked in many school systems．

51．Why was the author surprised at not recognizing his colleague’s handwriting?

    A．He had worked with his colleague long enough．

    B．His colleague’s handwriting was so beautiful．

    C．His colleague’s handwriting was so terrible．

    D．He still had a lot of work to do．

52．People working together in an office used to ____________．

    A．talk more about handwriting

    B．take more notes on workdays

    C．know better one another's handwriting

    D．communicate better with one another

53．The author’s father wrote notes in pen _________．

    A．to both his family and his staff

    B．to his family in small letters

    C．to his family on the fridge

    D．to his staff on the desk

54．According to the author，handwritten notes _______．

    A．are harder to teach in schools

    B．attract more attention

    C．are used only between friends

    D．carry more message

55．We can learn from the passage that the author __________．

    A．thinks it impossible to teach handwriting

    B．does not want to lose handwriting

    C．puts the blame on the computer

    D．does not agree with Florey

The man ____ you are going to make friends is my father’s neighbour.

________________ I wrote a poem, I felt confident and placed it right on my father’s plate before dinner.

A．At first            B．First of all          C．The first time       D．For the first time

Time is very important in our lives. It organizes our everyday moments. However, time never had any importance in my life until I  16  a watch from my father, which organized my life and made me more responsible. It’s round in the center with two silver bands(带) that   17 around my wrist and all of it is made of silver.

I received this   18 on a gray – sky day. I had to go to the airport at 9:00 am to  19  up my Uncle Ali and take him to my father’s house.  20  , I was late because I was   21 out with my friends. Later on that day, around 11:00 am, I   22 my uncle, but I was very late for him. He had   23 the airport and taken a taxi to my father’s house.

I got to my father’s house at 2:00 pm that day and felt ashamed of myself at that moment. After I said hi to my   24 father and tired uncle, my father asked me to sit next to him and handed me this watch as a gift from him. Then he said, “Peter, did you have   25 with your friends today?” I answered, “Yes, father, and   26  apologized for not meeting my Uncle Ali.” He said, “What you   27  was not very nice and you should be sorry for your action.” I was ashamed and said, “Father, I’ll never do it again . I promise.” He said, “I hope today you learned something important, and this watch will be a   28  for you.” He told me to take this watch and use it as an organizer of my  29  .

I learned a very important lesson from my father: to respect time and never to be late to get someone. This watch is   30  to me, not because of its price, but because of the lesson that I learned from it.

I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1994, but I can remember my mother’s words as if it were yesterday: “Kerrel, I don’t want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”

AIDS wasn’t something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition worsened. My father’s other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.

We couldn’t afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for school supplies and often couldn’t even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher’s words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.

I did not share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.

I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of keeping his condition a secret. I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the non-profit National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.

I was 15 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn’t want to call attention to AIDS. I do.

1.What does Kerrel tell us about her father?

   A. He had stayed in the hospital since he fell ill.

   B. He depended on the nurses in his final days.

   C. He worked hard to pay for his medication.

   D. He told no one about his disease.

2.What can we learn from the underlined sentence?

   A. Kerrel couldn’t understand her teacher.

   B. Kerrel had special difficulty in hearing.

   C. Kerrel was too troubled to focus on the lesson.

   D. Kerrel was too tired to bear her teacher’s words.

3.Why did Kerrel keep her father’s disease a secret?

   A. She was afraid of being looked down upon.

   B. She thought it was shameful to have AIDS.

   C. She found no one willing to listen to her.

   D. She wanted to obey her mother.

4.Why did Kerrel write the passage?

   A. To tell people about the sufferings of her father.

   B. To show how little people knew about AIDS.

   C. To draw people’s attention to AIDS.

   D. To remember her father.