Since I was a child, I called my father my Kong, after King Kong. I believed that he was just as strong as the giant ape(猿猴). As he faced death, I did my best to help release him to the next life.

Two months after he passed away, my sister called to ask if I would like to go see Lisa Williams, a well-known witch（巫婆）. I was familiar with Lisa from her show on Lifetime, and since I was eager to get a sign from my father, I agreed to go.

I took my father’s gold watch and listened as Lisa helped audience members communicate with their loved ones. “I have a grandfather-like figure with me and he is speaking about his granddaughter Jilly,” she announced. The audience was quiet; no one raised a hand. I nudged（用肘轻推） my sister and whispered to her that this was Dad ,for my third child and my father had a deep bond(关系，纽带) and he called her Jilly.

Although I sensed his presence, I wasn’t confident enough to raise my hand. I needed something a bit more concrete, something undoubted.

“This man is letting me know he had cancer,” she continued. I nudged my sister harder and assured her this was our father. Lisa went on to say that this person died in June (my father had died June 8th). There was swelling of the legs.

“Important information,” she called out. My heart beat fast . I jumped up when she asked, “Who is holding his watch?” I waved the watch in the air.

 “He wishes you congratulations.” My fourth child was born three weeks after my father died. I was in shock and could not believe I was getting a chance to hear from him, yet I knew our bond was strong enough that he could come to the world. She banged on her chest like an ape and apologized, saying, “I don’t know why but he wants me to do this like Tarzan.” It didn’t resonate（共鸣） with me until my sister called out “King Kong!” I was convinced. No way could this woman have ever known a detail unless Dad was communicating through her.

Each bit of information she gave us was just as meaningful. She ended our session by informing us that he would send us coins. The very next day I found six coins in various places; they seemed to have come out of nowhere. Even in death he is my Kong, and he remains important in my life.

1.What’s the best title of the passage?

A. Information from Lisa Williams

B. Miraculous Messages from Heaven

C. Strange Things in the Party.

D. Unforgettable memories 

2.What’s the meaning of underlined sentence?

A. I tried my best to make my father feel relieved in another world .

B. I wanted to help my father live a better life in future.

C. I tried to set my father free next time.

D. I wanted to help my father in everything.

3.What do we know about Lisa Williams? 

A. She may be a learned teacher.     

B. She may be a woman knowing witchcraft

C. She may be is a scientist researching Lifetime. 

D. She may be a fairy.

4.From the passage we know that father _________________.

A. cared little about our life                  

B. withdrew from the society and lived alone

C. liked to live with giant ape

D. was still concerned about my family after his death .

5.What kind of writing style did the author use in the passage?

A .Narration            B. Illustration       C. Discussion    D. Description

 

I have a good memory of my grandfather，Jack. He was sitting in his armchair in the front room.

 I sat next to him. We were reading aloud，our heads bent over the page in front of us，a finger marking the words；separated by seven decades，brought together by words. It's a common scene in British families；however，in our case，the usual order of things is reversed（颠倒）．Granddad had been blind since I was tiny，so I was reading to him.When reading aloud，people usually read something that's of interest to the listener. So I didn't read children's books；I read the sorts of things Granddad liked to hear about. Much of the vocabulary in Granddad’s reading material was far beyond me. When I met unfamiliar words，I'd spell them out.

   Granddad would help me. It must have been painful for him to hear news；but he never hurried me along or complained. Our reading wasn't really about getting knowledge. It was a way for us to spend time together.

My grandfather wasn't always blind. He had been a good carpenter（木匠）．The first Christmas of my parents' marriage，he built my mother a bookcase，which now belongs to my son Jonah，providing a link between four generations.

I was a fortunate child；I spent a lot of time with my grandfather，and he opened the world to me in a particular way. Reading was our way of building a relationship that has had a lasting effect on me. In the school holidays，I sometimes accompanied him on trips to the seaside with the local association for the blind. This might seem strange，but I felt that my personal value was realized because I could finally do something for Granddad.

A decade later，I found a position in a nursing home，which reminded me of my early experiences；reading to senior citizens was a connection back to Granddad. More than simple conversation，reading aloud is a connection between two individuals and it can have a big emotional（情感的）effect on elderly people.

1.What can we know from the first paragraph?

A．The author's grandfather was born blind.

B．The author is seventy years younger than her grandfather.

C．The author often sat opposite to her grandfather while reading.

D．It's quite common in Britain that children read to their grandfathers.

2.Why didn't the author choose to read children's books?

A．To expand her  knowledge.

B．To make her vocabulary  bigger.

C．To show off in front of her grandfather.

D．To satisfy the needs of her grandfather.

3.How did the author feel during the trips with Granddad?

A．Proud.        B．Troubled.

C．Curious.      D．Embarrassed.

 

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two survivors agreed that they had no alternativethan to pray to God.

However, to find out whose prayers were more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its fruit. But the other man’s parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man became lonely and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. But on the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon thereafter the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these things were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could leave the island, and in the morning he found a ship docked at his side of the island.

The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island, considering the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he doesn’t deserve anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me,” the first man asked the voice, “what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers would be answered.”

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us. So what you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself.

1.The first man’s wife is _____.

A．a swimmer who got to the island by accident

B．an angel sent by God to keep him company

C．a survivor from another wrecked ship

D．a native person on the desert-like island

2.The underlined word “barren” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____.

A．isolated           B．unproductive       C．fertile            D．dry

3.Which of the following is true about the second man?

A．He didn’t deserve any blessing from God.

B．None of his prayers was answered by God.

C．He is not brave enough to tell God his needs.

D．His prayer helped his companion get out of trouble.

4.What’s the moral of the story?

A．Never judge a person by appearance.

B．Don’t lose heart in trouble.

C．Helping others is helping ourselves.

D．Greed is the root of all evil.

 

I got my first driver’s license (执照) in 1953 by taking driver education in my first year at Central High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Four years later when it was time to renew my license I was a married woman. Henry and I were living in Baltimore, Maryland. Two weeks before my 20th birthday, Henry drove me to the motor vehicle office on a hot July afternoon. When I got to the office and showed to the man behind the counter my North Carolina driver’s license，ready to renew, the man told me that I was under age by Maryland law since I was not yet 21. “Mr. Henry Smith, your husband, will have to sign for you,” he said.
I argued, pointing to a very large belly (肚子) of mine, “I am married. I am having a baby. Why should I have to have someone sign for me to drive?” He answered coldly, “It’s the law, madam.”
Henry encouraged me to calm down, just go ahead and get the license and be done with it. “No,” I said. I refused to have him sign for me. So I left without a Maryland license.
I called the North Carolina Motor Vehicle Office and renewed my NC license by mail — using my name Susan Brown. And thus it was for the next twelve years. Since Henry was in the army I could drive under my home state license. By the time Henry left the army we were once again living in Maryland, and I had to take the Maryland driver’s exam. Since then I just go in and renew every four years—sign the name Susan Brown, have my new picture taken, and walk out with a license to drive.
【小题1】Susan got her first driver’s license _________.

A．before she got married to Henry

B．when she was twenty years old

C．after she finished high school

D．when she just moved to Maryland

【小题2】We can infer from the text that in the U.S. _________.

A．American males should serve in the army

B．different states my have different laws

C．people have to renew their licenses in their home states

D．women should adopt their husbands’ family names after marriage

 I was 13 years old.  My family had moved to Southern California from North Florida a year before.  I hit adolescence with a vengeance.  I was angry and rebellious, with little regard for anything my parents had to say, particularly if it had to do with me.  Like so many teenagers, I struggled to escape from anything that didn't agree with my picture of the world.  A "brilliant without need of guidance" kid, I rejected any overt offering of love.  In fact, I got angry at the mention of the word love.

One night, after a particularly difficult day, I _____________, shut the door and got into bed.  As I lay down in the privacy of my bed, my hands slipped under my pillow.  There was an envelope.  I pulled it out and on the envelope it said, "To read when you're alone."

Since I was alone, no one would know whether I read it or not, so I opened it.  It said "Mike, I know life is hard right now, I know you are frustrated and I know we don't do everything right.  I also know that I love you completely and nothing you do or say will ever change that.  I am here for you if you ever need to talk, and if you don't, that's okay.  Just know that no matter where you go or what you do in your life, I will always love you and be proud that you are my son.  I'm here for you and I love you - that will never change.  Love, Mom. 

That was the first of several "To read when you're alone" letters.  They were never mentioned until I was an adult.

Today I travel the world helping people.  I was in Sarasota, Florida, teaching a seminar when, at the end of the day, a lady came up to me and shared the difficulty she was having with her son.  We walked out to the beach, and I told her of my mom's undying love and about the "To read when you're alone" letters.  Several weeks later, I got a card that said she had written her first letter and left it for her son. 

That night as I went to bed, I put my hands under my pillow and remembered the relief I felt every time I got a letter.  In the midst of my turbulent teen years, the letters were the calm assurance that I could be loved in spite of me, not because of me.  Just before I fell asleep I thanked God that my mom knew what I, an angry teenager, needed.  Today when theseas of life get stormy, I know that just under my pillow there is that calm assurance that love - consistent, abiding, unconditional love - changes lives.

1.What’s the best title of the passage?  

                                                                          

2.Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?

I reached out my hands for the letter under the pillow that night when I went to bed ,and I always felt relief with the letter under my pillow.

                                                                          

3.Please fill in the blank in the passage with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence.(within ten words) 

                                                                             

4.What do you learn after reading the passage?(within 30 words)

                                                                             

5.Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.