Dear editor,

I am writing to ask what has happened to our young people.They are not as polite or hard-working as my generation（一代人I will give you two examples.

Last Friday, I got on the underground at 9:15 a.m. It was very crowded so there was no free seat.There were some boys sitting on the seats near me.I didn't know why they were not at school.They were talking and laughing loudly. It was difficult for me to read my newspaper with all the noise.At the next stop, a pregnant（怀孕的）woman and her daughter got on with lots of shopping bags.I expected the boys to let them sit down.They saw the woman but they did nothing.I had to ask them to give the woman and her daughter seats.   They did so but gave me a rude look.

Last Saturday, I had dinner with my friend’s family.I was glad to see his children, who I hadn't seen for ten years.During the dinner, I started talking about world politics with the children.It soon became clear that they didn't know much about it.They couldn't tell me the name of the King of Spain or President of Italy.All they knew about was the Internet or which singers were the most beautiful.In my days, students knew the kings, the queens and the presidents of every country in Europe.

I worry about the future of Germany.How could these young people become good workers and parents? They sit around McDonald's after school instead of going to the library like I did at their age.Maybe they have too much money.Perhaps some readers can give us some ideas about what to do with this “lost generation”.

Yours sincerely,

Frantz Vogts.

1.Mr. Vogts writes this letter to the editor to _______.

2.When Mr Vogts met the boys on the underground , he_______.

3.Mr Vogts was disappointed at the dinner because _______.

4.By saying “lost generation”, Mr Vogts refers to ________.

基础训练篇（23）

There was once a teacher in a village. He was a man named Goldsmith. He was a kind-hearted man. He was always poor (1)___________. He taught himself  (2)___________, so sometimes people called him Doctor Goldsmith. One day a poor woman asked Mr. Goldsmith to go and see her husband, because he was very ill and couldn’t get up. Mr. Goldsmith did (3)____________. He found that the family needed help very much. The man had been out of work for a long time, but he was not (4)__________. He was just hungry because there was no food in his house.

“Come to my room this (5)_________”said Mr. Goldsmith to the woman, “I will give you some medicine for your husband.”

In the evening the woman came. Mr. Goldsmith gave her a little paper box.

“(6)__________is the medicine,” he said.” Take it and it will (7)_________ your husband a great deal of good, but don’t open the box until you get home.”

“What are the directions for (8) _________ it?” asked the woman.

“You will find them inside the box.” he answered.

When the woman (9)_______________ home, she sat down by her husband’s side, and they opened the box. They found it was full of money. And on the top were the (10)______________(direction)：“TAKE IT WHEN YOU NEED IT.”

Goldsmith had given all the money he had.

There is a wonderful story about a young girl who had no family and no one to love her.

    One day, feeling very sad and lonely, she was walking through a grassland when she noticed a small butterfly caught in a thorn (荆棘) bush. The young girl carefully released the Butterfly. Instead of flying away, the little butterfly changed into a beautiful fairy. The young girl rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

“For your wonderful kindness,” the good fairy said to the girl, “I will give you any wish you would like.”      The little girl thought for a moment and then replied, “I want to be happy.”

The fairy leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. Then the fairy disappeared.

   As the little girl grew up, there was no one in the land as happy as she. Everyone asked her secret of happiness .She would only smile and answer, “The secret of my happiness is that I listened to a good fairy when I was a little girl.”

    When she was very old and on her deathbed, the neighbors all gathered around her, that her unbelievable secret of happiness would die with her. “Tell us, please,” they begged, “Tell us what the good fairy said.” The lovely old woman simply smiled and said, “She told me that everyone, no matter how secure they seemed, no matter how old or young, how rich or poor, had need of me.”

1. ______ the girl felt sad and lonely.

  A. There were many friends but

  B. There was nobody to love her so

  C. There was nothing to do

  D. Seeing the butterfly was caught

2. Noticing the butterfly was caught by the thorn, the orphan girl ______.

  A. helped the butterfly escaped from the thorn

  B. felt sorrow, but she didn’t go up to help it

  C. fell down on it too

  D. failed to help it release from the thorn

3. The butterfly ______ after was saved by the little girl.

  A. flied away                       B. still died

  C. changed into a fairy             D. was more beautiful than before

4.The only thing that the little girl wanted was________.

  A. to be rich                        B. to have her own parents

  C. to have a lot of friends           D. happiness

5. The neighbors all gathered around the old happy woman when she was dying, because ______.

  A. they loved this woman deeply and they didn‘t wanted her to die

  B. the woman had lots of money to be shared as soon as she died

  C. they wanted to know the secret of her lifetime happiness

  D. they wanted to pray for her after her death

I always long for romantic moments, like a little girl longing for candies．However, my husband is my complete  36 . His inability to bring romantic moments into our life has made me get tired of our   37 . One day, I finally told him that I wanted a divorce.
“Why?” he asked,   38 .
“I am tired; there are no  39 for everything in the world!” I answered.
He kept  40 , seeming to be in deep thought, with a lighted cigarette in his hands. Finally he asked, “What can I do to change your   41 ?”
Looking deep into his eyes I slowly answered, “Let’s say, I want a flower on a mountain cliff and picking the flower will cause your  42 . Will you do it for me?”
He answered, “I will give you my answer tomorrow.”
I   43 the next morning, finding a piece of paper on the dining table, which read: “My dear, I would not pick that flower for you, but please allow me to   44  .”
My feeling of disappointment only   45 , but I continued reading:
“You always leave the   46 keys behind, so I have to save my legs to  47 home to open the door for you. You always like to stay indoors and I   48 that you will feel too lonely, so I have to save my mouth to tell you jokes and stories. You always stare   49 the computer and that will do nothing  50 for your eyes, so I have to save my eyes so that when we grow   51 , I can help to clip your nails. Thus, my dear,   52 I am sure that there is someone who loves you more than I do, I could not pick that flower yet, and die.”
My tears fell on the   53 and I continued reading:
“Now that you have finished reading my answer, if you are   54 , please open the front door for I am standing outside   55 your favorite bread and fresh milk.”
Love, not words, wins arguments.

This is a story  that happened 15 years ago but it has always stayed with me since then.On the way back from work every evening,more often than not there would be a homeless man standing at the exit of the freeway.He always waved at every car,he was always happy and smiling and sometimes almost dancing.Every day after work when I got there，I would quickly roll down my window and give him the coins.Occasionally the red light would be on for a minute and we would ask each other about our day.His answer would always be the same，“I’m blessed！”.

It amazed me that even in his situation of being homeless he was so positive，and his answer would remind me of how blessed I was.A single mother of four amazing kids,with a place to call home and with a job to provide for my kids.Then one day I was called into my boss’s office and was told that I was being laid off due to the economy.Needless to say that on my was home that day I was very sad and upset.I didn’t remember to look for my spare change and keep it ready like I usually did.I wasn’t feeling the joy as I got off the ramp where the homeless man would be.Yet there he was as alway，as l turned the ramp.He set his eyes on me，while still smiling and waving at others.

While I was waiting for the red light to turn，he strolled over to my car.He had a big smile he looked me straight in the eyes and said “today I will give you a dollar”.He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill.I was blown away.I burst into tears.I wanted to jump out of my car and hug him！

You see that day he gave me more than a dollar bill，he taught me a valuable lesson.No matter  what material things are taken  from you，no one can take away your choice to be joyful.

What is the passage mainly concerned？

A.A dollar bill from a homeless person.

B.A blessing coming from a homeless person.

C.A woman who lost her job due to the economy.

D.A homeless man standing at the exit of the freeway.

From the lst paragraph，we know the homeless man is         .

A.optimistic        B.brave         C.Iazy          D.kind-hearted

After leaving the boss’s office，the author         .

A.felt relaxed to get rid of the tiring job

B.still felt joyful when coming off the ramp

C.took it for granted that she was fit for her job

D.didn’t put some change aside to give to the man

The underlined phrase“blown away”in the 3rd paragraph most probably  means

         .

A.completely defeated               B.wholly blown down

C.really amazed                         D.murdered by gunfire

It can be inferred from the passage that         .

A.material things are the most important in life

B.people should be encouraged to beg by smiling

C.the author’s ride home that dog was smooth sailing

D.we should wait others’help when faced with challenges