When I was 13 years old, I used to babysit (当临时保姆）for the lady next door. Every two 36  ____ she would pay me 80 dollars. I always looked forward to getting 37 ____  so I could go to the supermarket with my friends on Saturday and spend my money that 38 ____  me a fortnight to earn.

One Friday evening I heard my mom on the phone with our neighbor and I heard her say a few words, “Oh ，that is 39 ____  . ” After my mom 40 ____  off the phone, I asked what was wrong. She said that the neighbors had no 41 ____  in their house and that the lady didn't know what she was going to 42  ____ her daughter on. That night, her husband had spent all their money on gambling (赌博）and got 43 ____  after he came home 44 his wife asked for money to buy groceries. He began to 45 dishes out of the cupboards and threw them at the wall. So on top of not having any groceries, the lady had no dishes.

I had a(n) 46 ____  . I asked my mom to drive me to McDonald's and I bought the lady and her daughter 47 ____  with the babysitting money she had given to me. After that, I asked my mom to take me to the store, 48 I bought the lady dishes and groceries with the 49 ____  of the babysitting money.

When I knocked on the front door the lady gave me a big 50  ____ and told me how 51 ____ she was that I helped her. When Saturday came around, I didn't have any 52 ____  to go to the supermarket and do the shopping with my friends but I didn't 53 ____  because I felt great that I was able to 54 ____  this family.

Since then we have moved away from the area. On three different occasions I have seen our neighbor and she 55 ____  tells me how thankful she is to me for doing so.

36. A. hours         B. days                   C. weeks                 D. months 37. A. charged     B. paid                    C. praised                D. changed 38. K afforded      B. took                   C. spared                D. left 39. A. impossible  B. simple                C. horrible               D. wonderful 40. A. got            B. turned                C. showed               D. went 41. A. food          B. electricity            C. clothes                D. drinks 42. A. give           B. feed                   C. support               D. raise 43. A. tired          B. hungry               C. angry                  D. anxious 44. A. before        B. because              C .if                        D. though 45. A. store          B. keep                   C. push                   D. pull 46. A. idea           B. trick                   C. result                  D  gift 47. A. shoes         B. books                 C. toys                    D. dinner 48. A. where        B. which                 C. when                  D. why 49. A. amount      B. rest                    C. number               D. total 50. A. surprise     B. hug                    C. challenge             D. blow 51. A. generous    B. curious               C. puzzled               D. grateful 52. A. money       B. time                   C. energy                D. interest 53. A. miss          B. worry                 C. care                    D. panic 54. A. understand B. help                    C. meet                   D. remember 55. A. hardly        B. sometimes          C. always                D. never

— Lily complains that she has never gets any mail.

— ____. I will write her right away.

A．She is to blame	B．That’s impossible
C．It doesn’t matter	D．That’s too bad

 

Jane failed to gain a well-paid job due to her poor education, even though she is______ to get one to save money for further education.

  A. looking forward    B. feeling like     C. dying    D. declaring

Children lie on couches or sit on floors, nearly hypnotized(迷住) by all kinds of messages coming from the television. This scene has become all too familiar. Increasingly, young children are adopting a watching-TV lifestyle, at s stage in life when activity is important to their growth. Furthermore, family time is being destroyed by too much TV time. Here are some facts you need to know:
*Research shows that children spend between five and six hours per day watching TV, and they go to bed before having any communication with other family members.
*Time spent in front of a screen is reducing the amount of time children spend sleeping.
*The more time a youth spends in front of a screen, the more likely he or she is to be overweight.
Experts(专家) offer the following advice to parents on how to stop their children from becoming addicted to television:
*Do not put a TV in a child’s bedroom.
*Make meal time, family time -----turn off the TV during a family meal time. Better yet, remove the TV from the eating area.
*Make TV time active time by doing simple exercise during advertisement breaks.
*Help your kids be clever TV watchers by teaching them to recognize a sales trick in advertisements(广告).
*Create family memories by planning fun activities instead of always watching TV with your family.
*_______. Limit your own TV watching to less than two hours per day. The best way to learn is to follow; this is especially true for children.
【小题1】Which fact is not mentioned(提到) as a result of watching TV in this passage?

A．Family time has been destroyed.

B．Children who watch too much TV are often overweight.

C．Children spend less time sleeping because of watching TV.

D．Children’s study can be badly influenced if they watch too much TV.

【小题2】Which of the following is one piece of advice given in this passage?

A．Parents should teach children to judge TV advertisements.

B．TV should be removed from homes that have children.

C．The family should watch TV together while eating.

D．Parents should not allow children to watch TV.

【小题3】The sentence in the blank in the last advice should be “_______”.

A．Be a good role model	B．Limit children’s TV time
C．TV time should not be over 2 hours.	D．Watching too much TV is bad for children

Talking behind someone’s back is considered to be rude and mean. Such a conversation can cover all kinds of criticism, from their looks to their work and personality.

The other day at lunch I was with a group of colleagues, and we were talking about our boss. She is the new headmaster of our middle school.

We talked about how kind she is to us. She handwrites notes to wish us happy holidays or to thank us for jobs well done. She checks on us when she knows we’re facing difficulties outside school with our health or with our families. We talked about the good role model that she is for the young women in our school and the fair but firm way she treats students and parents.

I thought about this after lunch. Sometimes we have the good fortune to be part of another kind of “talking behind someone’s back”. And too often when we say something good about someone behind their backs, they never know about it! That night, I sent her an email to report the conversation. She replied by saying how much she appreciated hearing about this, and how it made a bright spot in a tough week of testing.

Watch for your next opportunity to be the reporter! Make sure you tell them about the nice things said behind their backs! Because how will they know unless we tell them?

1.What do you conclude from the text the writer might be?

A．A student         B．A teacher         C．A parent          D．A boss

2.What is the text mainly about?

A．Conversations about others               B．Rude and mean talking

C．Kinds of conversations                   D．Talking behind someone’s back

3.The author strongly agrees on _________.

A．Don’t talk behind others’ back

B．Talking behind others’ back is rude

C．Do tell the person about the nice things said behind his back

D．There is no one who never talks behind someone’s back