When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.
One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching  (紧握)  at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.
“ We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing,” I said.“We’ll share what we have with them.”
I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods.
While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.
“I’ll help you find something for the little girl when I’m done with this,” I said.
The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy’s flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.
“Oh, Honey,” I said.“You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.”
Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. ‘”Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she’ll make that other little girl happy, too．”
Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True generosity is giving that which you value most.
Honest benevolence  (善行)  is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl she doesn’t know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.
The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.
A slow smile spread across Brett’s face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some of his prized Matchbox cars.
Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan’s gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.
Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.
It’s easy to give that which we don’t want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart..
【小题1】Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?

A．To create an atmosphere of fear and depression brought by the tornado.

B．To appeal to unconcerned people to donate for the poor families.

C．To show the helplessness and hopelessness of the family mentioned in the paper.

D．To stress what touched her and made her decide to help the hopeless family.

【小题2】Why did Brad and Brett also donate their favorite things finally?

A．They were encouraged to donate some valuable things by the mother.

B．Meghan’s decision inspired them to donate their favorite things.

C．They also wanted to show generosity by giving away their valuable things.

D．Meghan’s gesture reminded them to replace their favorite things with new ones.

【小题3】By “ swallowing hard”, the writer means that   _   _ .

A．she was deeply puzzled by what the little girl did

B．she had trouble persuading Meghan not to give away Lucy

C．she was greatly moved by Meghan’s unexpected decision

D．she was uncertain what consequences Meghan’s action would bring about

【小题4】It is suggested in the sentence “the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart” that ______.

A．sincere donation means offering help to others whole-heartedly

B．true giving means giving others what you treasure most

C．true generosity means helping others at the cost of your own benefit

D．honest benevolence means devoting yourself to the career of donation

【小题5】What’s the best title for this passage?

A．The Greatest Love	B．A Beautiful Heart
C．True Generosity	D．A Precious Gift

 Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage.

Bicycle rental companies in Beijing are going broken, because nobody wants to hire their services. Major rental operators have invested about 100 million yuan ($14.7 million) in almost 20,000 bicycles but are now struggling to survive.

A spokesman from the Bird of Freedom Bicycle Rental said the company had already sold most of the 400 bicycles.“This is a difficult business, especially when it is cold.The cold weather almost killed the business.” he said.

Bigger rental companies are also facing challenges.Beijing Bicycle Rental Co. Ltd. which owns 8,000 bicycles, has invested more than 30 million yuan over the past year.Wang Yong, chairman of the group, said his company had not made a profit since it began in 2005.

Almost all bicycle rental companies in Beijing require deposits of 300 to 400 yuan and then customers need to pay 10 yuan or more per hour.“I don't want to pay 400 yuan to rent a bike.It's too dear,” said Zhang Yu, a student in Communication University of China, who does not own a bike and often takes motorized rickshaws.“If renting for one day will cost 20 yuan and I rent a bike for five days, I can use the money to buy a new one.”

Although facing economic ruin, some enterprises are still hoping that conditions will improve.

IbikeMedia, one of the biggest bicycle rental companies in China, also invested tens of millions yuan in Beijing and has more than 10,000 bicycles.Li Weiwei, general manager of IbikeMedia Beijing, said his company has a policy of no deposit and no payment.He said the company tried to put advertisements on the bicycles and in this way, they could make profits.But they had not made a profit yet because of its small scale.However, customers must pay 20 yuan per card and also show proof of good personal credit.

In early July, the Beijing municipal government announced plans to develop a 50,000­bicycle rental operation across the city.“The bigger network we have, the more citizens will rent bikes，” Li said.“This will make rental easier to citizens and we strongly need help from the government.”

1.In which season is the bicycle rental business the most difficult in Beijing? (No more than 2 words)

_____________________________________________________________

2.List the reasons why Zhang Yu is not willing to rent a bike.(No more than 6 words)

____________________________________________________________

3.How can IbikeMedia possibly make a profit according to Li Weiwei? (No more than 6 words)

_____________________________________________________________

4.What is the main idea of the passage ？(No more than 10 words)

______________________________________________________________

 

请认真阅读下面对话，并根据各题所给首字母的提示，写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

M=Mary

T=Tom

M:  Hi, I'm going door to door tonight to tell people about the Student Action Union.

T:  I think I read something in the (76)n       last week.

M:  Yeah, we are trying to (77) p       and preserve some of the open spaces on campus.

T:  You are the group that's (78) a　　　　against the extension of the parking lot next to Darwin Hall,

    right?

M:  That's us. We just feel it is important to save some of the (79) n       beauty of the campus.

    Some of those trees are hundreds of years old.

T:  It's a pretty (80) p       . My friends and I had picnics over there by the stream.

M:  We are going to (81) o     a demonstration on Thursday afternoon.

T:  Well, I have a class on Thursday afternoon.

M:　But maybe you could (82) s     this appeal letter. We are going to hand it in to the administration

    to demonstrate how the students feel about this.

T:  Sure, let me get a pen.

M:  I have a pen right here. And let me (83) l        you this little book about the Student Action

    Union. Maybe you could come to some of our meetings. We get (84) t     once a month.

T:  Yeah, I'd like to know more about your group. Let me know (85) w      the next meeting is and I

    will try to be there.

 

Wednesday, October 29,2008.

The United States federal government had two young men in the state of Tennessee arrested on October 22 on unknown charges.

In court documents published on Monday, it came to light that the men had discussed attacking an African – American school and killing 14 of them.

Another crime was about planning to murder Presidential candidate Barack Obama. According to their affidavits (口供), the suspects’ “final act of violence” would be like this: when they attacked Obama they would wear white suits and top hats and drive “their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows.”

The two suspects are Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee. According to the court papers, they met last month over the Internet through a friend. Schlesselman and Cowart are believed to share “very strong views” about White Power.

Schlesselman listed “being racist” as his occupation on his MySpace page. He further wrote: “I'm white. I'm proud. I get angry. I like guns.”

Cowart also had a MySpace page on which photos of guns were presented under a heading of “My Guns”. On his page he wrote, “Better to die quick fighting on your feet than to live forever begging on your knees.”

Some have questioned the pair's ability to carry out the charged plan, but authorities have been very concerned about Obama as the first black presidential candidate from a major party.

“We honestly don't know if they had the ability or the skill to carry out the kind of plan that they talked about.” said Malcolm Wiley, of the United Satates Secret Service in an interview with The New York Times. “But we take any threat seriously no matter how big or how small it is.”

Cowart and Schlesselman are scheduled to appear before a judge on Thursady.

1.The passage is mainly about____________.

 A．Americans’ attitudes towards Barack Obarma        B．two young men planning to commit violence

 C．the violence in the United States                   D．the disadvantages of the Internet

2.From the passage, we can know that the two young men_________.

 A．shot 14 students in an African – American school     B．came from the state of Tennessee

 C．were proud of Barack Obama                     D．have not been sentenced yet

3.Which of the following shows the right order of the events?

 a．The two suspects were arrested.

 b．The two suspects will be tried in the court.

 c．Cowart set up his MySpace page on the Internet.

 d．Malcolm Wiley was interviewed by The New York Times.

 A．a; b; c; d      B．d; c; b; a        C．c; a; d; b        D．c; a; b; d

4.What can we infer from the news?

   A．Most of the white people in the United States don’t like Barack Obama.

  B．The two young men planned to shoot President Barack Obama.

  C．The two young men were innocent in fact.

D．The two young men strongly believed that the president should be a white man

 

Dear Mr. Barton,

I am writing for the residents’ association (业主协会) to inform you of our feelings about your act. We’ve really had enough of you. Although we have tried to speak to you politely on several occasions, you have always answered with a stream of verbal abuse(辱骂).

Ever since you moved in three months ago, you have shown very little consideration for the other residents of this building, though many residents expressed their unhappiness with you. For the past six weekends, you have held very noisy parties, which have not finished until early the next morning. As you know, most of the people here are elderly or have very young children, and the noise keeps them awake all night. You don’t have to be so noisy, do you? Last weekend the situation deteriorated when two of your friends fought with each other on the first floor. The fighting was so bad that the police had to be called. What’s more, your friends left the stairs in a terrible state --- they even broke two windows on their way out! We feel that we can’t bear this type of act.

We strongly demand that you pay for this damage to the window soon. If you don’t and you carry on being a nuisance(令人讨厌的人或物). We will kick you out! Legal steps will be taken if necessary.

Yours sincerely

1.What does the writer feel? 

A．Excited

B．surprised

C．Angry

D．Happy

2.What does the word “deteriorated” mean?

A．Changed

B．Improved

C．Moved

D．Worsened

3.What is the main purpose of the letter?

A．To ask Mr. Barton to leave the building for the peace.

B．To inform Mr. Barton of the noise he made.

C．To talk about what Mr. Barton did.

D．To give a warning to Mr. Barton.

4.Why were the police called?

A．Because Mr. Barton broke two windows.

B．Because Mr. Barton made too much noise.

C．Because Mr. Barton’s friends fought.

D．Because Mr. Barton beat a child and an old man.

5.What is true according to the letter?

A．Mr. Barton paid no attention to the others’ unhappiness.

B．Mr. Barton never replied to the others’ unhappiness

C．Mr. Barton always said sorry to those unhappy with him.

D．Mr. Barton never apologized to the other residents.