In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand（木架）with a small notepad（记事本）and a hole for a pencil.
I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.
“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year.” I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”
My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”
Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”
This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible（看不到的）exhibits at every meal.
1．Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?
A．To leave messages.                      B．To list her everyday tasks.
C．To note down maths problems.             D．To write down a flash of inspiration.
2. What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?
A. It has great value for the family.
B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.
C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.
D .It should be passed on to the next generation.
3. The author feels embarrassed for_______.
A. blaming her mother wrongly.
B. giving her mother a lot of trouble.
C. not making good use of time as her mother did.
D. not making any breakthrough in her field.
4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A .The mother is successful in her career.
B. The family members like traveling.
C. The author had little time to play when young.
D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.
5. In the author’s mind ,her mother is_________.
A. strange in behavior.             B. keen on her research.
C. fond of collecting old things.      D. careless about her appearance.

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，选出最佳选项。

    Each of us fails from time to time. If we are wise, we accept these failures as a   36  part of

the learning process. But all too often as parents and teachers we disallow this  37  right to our

children.

    When I see a child  38  to this kind of pressure, I think of Donnie.

    Donnie was my youngest third grader. His   39  of failure kept him from classroom games

that other children enjoyed. He   40  answered questions—he might be wrong.

I tried my best to build his    41    .But nothing changed until midterm , when Mary Anne , a student teacher , was assigned（安排） to our classroom .

She was young and pretty , and she loved children . My pupils , Donnie included , all   42     her.

One morning , we were working on math problems at the chalkboard . Donnie had    43    the problems with pains-taking tidiness . Pleased with his progress , I     44   the children with Mary Anne and went for art materials . When I returned , Donnie was in    45    . He’d missed the third problem .

My student teacher looked at me in despair . Suddenly her face   46     . From the desk we shared , she got a container filled with pencils .

“Look , Donnie,” she said, kneeling beside him and gently   47     the tear-stained face from his arms . “I’ve got something to    48    you.” She removed the pencils , one at a time , and placed them on his desk .

“See these   49     , Donnie,” she continued . “They belong to Mrs . Lindstrom and me . See how the erasers are    50    ? That’s because we make mistakes too . But we erase the mistakes and try again . That’s what you    51    learn to do , too.”

She kissed him and stood up . “Here”, she said , I’ll leave one of these pencils on  52      desk so you’ll remember that everybody makes mistakes,   53    teachers.” Donnie looked up with love in his eyes and a smile .

The pencil became Donnie’s   54  possession . That, together with Mary Anne’s frequent encouragement, gradually    55    him that it’s all right to make mistakes—as long as you erase them and try again .

1.A．small                       B．basic                 C．necessary             D．large

2.A．correct                    B．same                 C．important              D．natural

3.A．suffering                  B．object               C．fall                       D．subject

4.A．fear                        B．lesson               C．chance                  D．sense

5.A．always                    B．often                C．never                   D．seldom

6.A．self protection B．self improvement C．self confidence D．self learning

7.A．respected                 B．disliked             C．avoided                D．minded

8.A．worked out B．copied                            C．gone over             D．learned

9.A．left                         B．offered             C．missed                 D．parted

10.A．surprise                 B．astonishment      C．anger                   D．tears

11.A．darkened               B．brightened         C．pulled                  D．loosened

12.A．lifting                   B．picking             C．holding                D．pushing

13.A．help                      B．show                C．reward                 D．promise

14.A．pencils                  B．mistakes            C．marks                  D．containers

15.A．used                      B．built                 C．worn                   D．damaged

16.A．may                      B．must                 C．will                      D．can

17.A．my                       B．someone’s         C．the teacher’s         D．your

18.A．still                       B．also                  C．even                    D．not

19.A．prized                    B．own                  C．kept                     D．expected

20.A．warned                  B．informed           C．persuaded             D．reminded

Tim is third-grade pupil. Recently he failed in exams. When he     1.  

got his report , he was deep worried. The report should be signed by  2.   

his father in order that his father can know his poor work at school. On   3.   

the way to home, an idea appeared in his mind. When he got home, his 4 

father was reading a newspaper. Tim said jokingly,“Dad ,can you    5.   

write your name without your eyes shut?” His father replied with a smile 6.  

“I can try,son,give a pencil or a piece of paper.”As his father shut his eyes,  7.   

Tim placed a report on the table just beneath the pencil. “okey! His    8. 

father wrote his name in “a piece of paper”,The father went on reading  9.   

his paper and Tim was satisfied with the report sign by his father.    10. 

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Five steps to better handwriting
Some kids love handwriting, but others hate when it’s time to put their pen to paper. Maybe they are worried about their handwriting. Are you one of them?   1  Here are five steps that really work!
Get a great grasp
Try this — hold your pencil at the top and try to write your name. Pretty hard? But when you hold your pencil the correct way, writing is much easier.   2  Hold it in place with your thumb, and your index (食指) and middle fingers.
Let the lines be your guide
Lined paper is your friend! Those lines can help you create letters that are the right size and proportion (均衡).   3  Also be sure to fill up the lined space completely. Those capital letters should be from the bottom line to the top one.
Slow down
If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. If you rush, it’s hard to control where you stop and start your letters.
Lower the pressure (压力)
  4  That makes it harder to make the smooth lines. Try easing up and don’t hold the pencil too tightly.
  5 
Lots of games require you to write or draw pictures. So even though it’s not schoolwork, you’re still using the skills you need to control your pen better.

B
In this age of cell phones, text messages and computer keyboards, one Scottish school has returned to basics．It's teaching youngsters the ignored art of writing with a fountain pen．There is no clicking of keyboards in most classrooms at the Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School, although there is a full range of facilities （设施）for computer lessons and technology isn' t being ignored．The private school' s headmaster believes the old-fashioned pens have helped strengthen the academic （学术的） performance and self-esteem （自尊）of his 1,200 pupils．
"The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children to take care, and better work improves self-esteem", headmaster Bryan Lewis said．" Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has been．" Students as young as 7 have been instructed to give up their ball point pens and begin to deal with its more artful predecessor．By the time they reach grade five, at age 9, they are expected to write mainly with fountain pens．Lewis said the school's 7- and 8-year-olds use fountain pens for 80 percent to 90 percent of their work, returning to pencils for such subjects as math．"I don't see fountain pens as old-fashioned or out of date．Modern fountain pens are beautiful to use? it's not like in the old days of broken metal points and dirtying writing paper," Lewis said．"We have a particular writing style and we have developed it very carefully and found a way that allows left-and right-handed people to write without dirtying paper．"
Some people in wealthy nations argue that handwriting is becoming less important because of the growing use of cell phone text messaging and typing on computers, but the school disagrees．"We talk of the paperless office and the paperless world, but this is not true," Lewis said．"You still need to have proper handwriting skills．"
60．The Scottish school in the passage _____．
A．does not think highly of modern technology
B．values fountain pens more than anything else
C．pays special attention to the use of fountain pens
D．takes an action which is considered to be stupid by a great many people
61．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Schools in Scotland all encourage using pens．
B．Fountain pens today are much more expensive．
C．Lewis thinks the idea of the paperless world impractical．
D．The left-handed can't benefit from the new fountain pens．
62．The underlined word "predecessor" in Paragraph 2 refers to _____．
A．the pencil     B．the fountain pen      C．the keyboard  D．the ball point pen
63．The headmaster Bryan Lewis holds the view that _____．
A．children should be required to use pens when they are five
B．using pens may slow down students' speed of writing
C．pens have helped to build up students' self-respect
D．handwriting skills are more important than typing skills