There was a gardener who looked after his garden with great care. To water his flowers, he used two buckers. One was a shiny and new bucket. The other was a very old and dilapidated one, which had seen many years of service, but was now past its best.
Every morning, the gardener would fill up the two buckets. Then he would carry them along the path, one on each side, to the flowerbeds. The new bucket was very proud of itself. It could carry a full bucket of water without a single drop spilled . The old bucket felt very ashamed because of its holes: before it reached the flowerbeds, much water had leaked along the path.
Sometimes the new bucket would say, “See how capable I am! How good it is that the gardener has me to water the flowers every day! I don't know why he still bothers with you. What a waste of space you are!”
And all that the old bucket could say was, “I know I’m not very useful, but I can only do my best. I’m happy that the gardener still finds a little bit of use in me, at least.”
One day, the gardener heard that kind or conversation. After watering the flowers as usual, he said, “You both have done your work very well. Now I am going to carry you back. I want you to look carefully along the path.”
Then the two buckets did so. All along the path, they noticed, on the side where the new bucket was carried, there was just bare earth; on the other side where the old bucket was carried, there was a joyous row of wild flowers, leading all the way to the garden.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “dilapidated” probably mean?

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

There are many kinds of friends. Some are always ___1___you, but don't understand you. Some say only a few words to you, but understand you. Many people will step in your life, but only ___2___friends leave footprints (脚印).

　　I shall always recall (回忆) the autumn and the girl with the ___3___ . She will always bring back the friendship between us. I know she will always be my best friend.

　　It was the golden season. I could see the yellow leaves ___4___  on the cool ___5___. In such a season, I liked walking alone in the leaves, ____6__ to the sound of them.

　　Autumn is a __7____ season and life is uninteresting. The free days always get me ___8___ . But one day, the sound of a violin  __9____into my ears like a stream (小溪) flowing in the mountains. I was so surprised that I jumped to see what it was. A young girl, standing in the wind, was__10____ in playing her violin.

　　I had __11____ seen her before. The music was so nice that I listened quietly. Lost in the music, I didn't know that I had been ___12___ there for so long but my existence (存在) did not seem to disturb her.

　　Leaves were still falling. Every day she played the violin in the corner of the building  ___13___ I went downstairs to watch her performance. I was the only listener. The autumn seemed no longer lonely and life became ___14___.  __15____ we didn't know each other, I thought we were already good friends. I believe she also loved me.

　　Autumn was nearly over. One day, when I was listening carefully, the sound suddenly ___16___. To my astonishment (惊讶), the girl came over to me.

　　“You must like violin.” she said.

　　“Yes. And you play very well. Why did you stop?” I asked.

　　Suddenly, a __17____ expression appeared on her face and I could feel something unusual.

　　“I came here to see my grandmother, but now I must leave. I once played very badly. It was your listening every day that _18_____ me.” she said.

　　“In fact, it was your playing _19_____ gave me a meaningful autumn,” I answered, “Let's be friends.”

　　The girl smiled, and so did I.

　　I never heard her play again in my life. I no longer went downstairs to listen like before. Only thick leaves were left behind. But I will always remember the fine figure (身影) of the girl. She is like a __20____—so short, so bright, like a shooting star giving off so much light that it makes the autumn beautiful.

1..

2..

Once there was a king. He had two old ministers. One was kind and the other was bad. The bad minister often said bad words about the kind minister before the king. The king was very angry.
One day the king said to the bad minister , “Write two words on two pieces of paper. Write ‘live’ on one piece and ‘die’ on the other . Then put them in a jar and tell him to choose. If he takes out the paper with ‘live’ on it , I will let him go. If he takes out the paper with ‘die’ on it ,I will kill him at once.”
The bad minister was quite happy. He got two pieces of paper ready. He wrote “die” on each piece of paper.
The kind old man came. He knew the bad minister wanted to kill him. He also knew the words on the two pieces both “die”, but he knew what to do. Later the king had to keep his word and let the old minister go. Do you k now what the kind man do about this at that time?
【小题1】The king was angry with              .

Once upon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought that someone would dance on the beach. So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?”
The young man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish in the ocean.” “I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?” “The sun is up and the tide is going out, and if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”
“But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The young man listened politely, then he bent down, picked another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”
There is something very special in each and every one of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can know that gift, we will gain through the strength of our visions the power to shape the future.
We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the world will be better.
【小题1】
One day, the wise man saw the young man          .

Edie was nine years old, and she was tinier than other children of her age. One day, she ran home crying loudly, because she was   36  by the three new girls of her school. They picked her as the object of their   37  and threatened to beat her up. Edie’s mother held her   38  and comforted (安慰)her. She 39  the next day that the girls had been troublemakers at several other schools and they were being given one more   40   at a new beginning.
Edie’s _41  said ,“Be kind to your enemies, Edie.”She _42  said, “When the girls 43   to threatened you next time ,tell them you want to be their friend.”“Are you 44 enough to do that?”Edie’s mother asked. The   45  girl answered, “Yes, Mom, I’ll try.”
Every day, the girls pushed Edie and called her names and  46  to get in a poke(戳) or two. Each time, Edie looked up at them and said, “ I’d really like to be your 47 .”But it seemed that this wasn’t working.
Then one day the following week, Edie ran home as 48   as she could , shouting ,“Mom, guess what happened today ! Just like I 49 did, I said I’d really like to be their friend, and one of the 50  said ,‘Okay, Edie, we  51  and we’ll be your friends’”A short time later, Edie sat at a table with them and  52  their tutor (私人教师).
Towards the end of the school year,   53   Edie’s parents went to school for a parent-teacher conference, the teacher told   54  ,“Because of Edie’s kindness, those girls have completed 55   and are model students in the class.”