For years I wanted a flower garden. I spent hours and days thinking of different things I could plant that would look nice together.

    But then we had Matthew. And Marvin. And the twins, Alisa and Alan. And then Helen. Five children. I was too busy raising them to grow a garden.

    Money was tight, as well as time. Often when my children were little, one of them would want something that cost too much, and I’d have to say, “Do you see a money tree outside? Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.”

    Finally, all five children got through high school and college and were off on their own. I started thinking again about having a garden.

I wasn’t sure, though. I mean, gardens do cost money, and after all these years I was used to living on a pretty poor, no-frills budget (预算).

Then, one spring morning, on Mother’s day, I was working in my kitchen. Suddenly, I realized that cars were tooting their horns as they drove by. I looked out of the window and there was a new tree, planted right in my yard. I thought it must be a weeping willow, because I saw things blowing around on all its branches. Then I put my glasses on—and I couldn’t believe what I saw. There was a money tree in my yard!

I went outside to look. It was true! There were dollar bills, one hundred of them, tied all over the tree. Think of all the garden flowers I could buy with one hundred dollars! There was also a note attached: “IOU eight hours of digging time. Love, Marvin.”

Marvin kept his promise, too. He dug up a nice ten-by-fifteen foot bed for me. And my other children bought me tools, a trellis (绷架), a sunflower stepping stone and gardening books.

That was three years ago. My garden’s now very pretty, just like what I wanted. When I go out to weed or tend my flowers, I don’t seem to miss my children as much as I once did. It feels like they are right there with me.

I live up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where winters are long and cold, and summers are too short. But every year now, when winter sets in, I look out of my window and think of the flowers I’ll see next spring in my little garden. I think about what my children did for me, and I get tears in my eyes---every time.

I’m still not sure that money grows on trees. But I know love does.

1.By saying “Do you see a money tree outside?”, the mother actually means _____.

  A. Observation is the best teacher            B. Seeing is believing

  C. The outsider sees the most of the game     D. It is not easy to gain money

2.The underlined word “no-frills” in the fifth paragraph is similar in meaning to _____.

  A. wasteful       B. tight        C. deserted     D. helpful

3.From the last two paragraphs we can infer that the mother is _____.

A. divorced when she was young          B. not caring for her kids any longer

C. alone but not at all lonely          D. prouder with her garden than with her kids

4.The best title for the passage would probably be _____.

  A. My flower garden                       B. Marvin helps to realize my dream

  C. Love in Michigan                       D. Money grows on trees

For years I wanted a flower garden. I’d spend hours thinking of different things I could plant that would look nice together.

But then we had Matthew. And Marvin. And the twins, Alisa and Alan. And then Helen. Five children. I was too busy raising them to grow a garden.

Money was tight, as well as time. Often when my children were little, one of them would want something that cost too much, and I'd have to say, "Do you see a money tree outside? Money doesn't grow on trees, you know."

Finally, all five got through high school and college and were off on their own. I started thinking again about having a garden.

I wasn't sure, though. I mean, gardens do cost money, and after all these years I was used to living on a pretty lean, no-frills budget.

Then, one spring morning, on Mother's Day, I was working in my kitchen. Suddenly, I realized that cars were tooting their horns as they drove by. I looked out the window and there was a new tree, planted right in my yard. I thought it must be a weeping willow, because I saw things blowing around on all its branches. Then I put my glasses on - and I couldn't believe what I saw. There was a money tree in my yard!

I went outside to look. It was true! There were dollar bills, one hundred of them, taped all over that tree. Think of all the garden flowers I could buy with one hundred dollars! There was also a note attached: "IOU eight hours of digging time. Love, Marvin."

Marvin kept his promise, too. He dug up a nice ten-by-fifteen foot bed for me. And my other children bought me tools, ornaments, a trellis (棚架), a sunflower stepping stone and gardening books.

That was three years ago. My garden's now very pretty, just like I wanted. When I go out and weed or tend my flowers, I don't seem to miss my children as much as I once did. It feels like they're right there with me.

I live up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where winters are long and cold, and summers are too short. But every year now, when winter sets in, I look out my window and think of the flowers I'll see next spring in my little garden. I think about what my children did for me, and I get tears in my eyes - every time.

I'm still not sure that money grows on trees. But I know love does!

By saying “Do you see a money tree outside .….,” the mother actually means “     ”

A．Observation is the best teacher.

B．Seeing is believing.

C．The outsider sees the most of the game.

D．It is not easy to gain money

The best title for the passage would probably be          .

A．My flower garden           B．Marvin helps to realize my dream

C．Love in Michigan           D．Money grows on trees

The underlined word “no - frills” in the fifth paragraphs is similar in meaning to        .

A．wasteful   B．tight  C．absurd      D．helpful

From the last but the third paragraph we can infer that the mother is         .

A．divorced when she was young B．not caring for her kids any longer

C．alone but not at all lonely       D．prouder with her garden than with her kids.

Then        we had been looking forward to.

文中共有10处语言错误，要求你在错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。

增加：在缺词处加上一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词；

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）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，多者（从11处起）不计分。

I have two foreign friends, Kari and Vance, and they come from the USA. Now they are teaching English in the university in Nanjing. Last year they paid a visit to our school. I have never met any foreigners before and wanted very much know that I was getting on with my spoken English. So I went over to talk with him. All of them were surprising a school student could speak English so well. They suggested to taking a photo together. Since then we had been good friends and now write English letter to each other often.  

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Recently I gave my adult students homework．It was to "go to someone you love and tell them you love them．It has to be someone you have   25  said those words to before or at least haven't   26  those words with for a long time．"
Since most of the men were over 35 and were raised in the   27  of men that were taught   28  feelings is not "manly", this was very   29  homework for some．
In our next   30  , I asked if someone wanted to share his story with us．I fully   31 one of the women to volunteer, as was   32  the case, but on this evening one of the men raised his hand．As he   33  out of his chair （all 1．85 metres of him）, he began by saying, "Dennis, I was quite   34  with you last week when you gave us this homework．   35  were you to tell me to do something that personal? But as I began driving home my heart started talking to me, telling me that I knew   36  who I needed to say 'I love you' to．"
"My father and I had a severe   37  five years ago, and since then we had  38 seeing each other unless we had to at Christmas．But even then, we hardly   39  to each other．So last Tuesday I drove to my parents' house after work and said, "Dad, I just    40 to tell you that I love you. '"
"Dad reached out and    41   me and said, 'I love you too, son, but I've never been able to say it．' Two days after my visit, my dad had a heart attack and I don't know if he will  42   it．So, I'm here to tell all of you that my    43   in this is: Don't wait to do the things    44    it is too late．Take the time to do what you need to do and do it now!"

【小题1】

A．ever B．always C．never D．even