When I was seven, my parents gave me a doll, a doll’s house and a book. The Arabian Nights, came wrapped in red paper. I was just ready to read when my mother walked into my room．

“Isn’t your doll just beautiful?” my mother asked. I looked at the doll, with fair hair in a pink dress----I’ll have to call her “she” because I never gave her a name. I folded my lips and raised my eyebrows, not really knowing how to let my mother down easily.

“This doll is different.” My mother explained, trying to talk me into playing with it.

Thinking the doll needed love, I hugged her tightly for a long time. Useless, I said to myself. Finally, I decided to play with the doll’s house. But since rearranging the tiny furniture seemed to be the only active possible, I lost interest. I caught sight again of the third of my gifts The Arabian Nights, and I began to read it. From that moment, the book was my constant companion.

Every day I climbed our garden tree, nestled among its branches, I read the stories in The Arabian Nights to my heart’s content. My mother became concerned as she noticed I wasn’t playing with either the doll or the little house. She insisted that I take the doll up the tree with me.

Trying to read on a branch 15 feet off the ground while holding on to the silly doll was not easy. After nearly falling off twice, I tied one end of a long vine around the doll’s neck and the opposite one around the branch, letting the doll hang in mid air while I read. I always looked out for my mother, though. I sensed that my playing with the doll was of great importance to her. So every time I heard her coming, I lifted the doll up and hugged her. The smile in my mother’s eyes told me my plan worked.

The inevitable(不可避免的) happened one afternoon. Totally absorbed in the reading, I didn’t hear my mother calling me. When I looked down, I saw my mother staring at the hanging doll. Fearing the worst of scolding, I climbed down in a flash, reaching the ground just as my mother was untying the doll. To my surprise, she didn’t scold. She kept on staring at the doll．

The next day, my father came home early and suggested he and I play with the doll’s house. Soon I was bored, but my father seemed to be having so much fun, I didn’t have the heart to tell him. Quietly I slipped out, picking up my book on my way to the yard. So absorbed was he in arranging and rearranging the tiny furniture that he didn’t notice my quick exit.

Almost 20 years passed before I found out why the hanging-doll incident had been so significant for my parents. By then I was a parent myself. After recalling the incident, my mother said all those years she had been afraid whether I would turn out to be a most loving and understanding mother to my son．

My mother often thanks God aloud for making me a good parent, pointing out that with education I might have been a rich dentist instead of a poor poet. I look back on that same childhood incident, recalling my third gift, the book in red-paper, and I take advantage of the experiences that have made me who and what I am. Sometimes I pause to wonder at life’s wonderful ironies （讽刺）.

1.Why didn’t the author give the doll a name?

A. Because the gift was given by her parents.

B. Because the girl didn’t care much for the doll.

C. Because her parents would give the doll a name.

D. Because the doll had little in common with her.

2.The author’s account of a childhood incident shows that, as a young girl, she viewed her parents as people who         .

A. hoped to shape their children’s future  

B. were unconcerned about their behavior

C. ruined their children’s dreams completely

D. might withdraw their love at any moment

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. The mother is now satisfied with her daughter’s career.

B. The daughter now regrets what she did when she was a girl.

C. The mother thinks the daughter’s achievements are unsatisfactory.

D. The daughter wishes that she had been allowed more freedom as a child.

 

Everybody has one of those days when everything goes wrong. This is what happened to Harry.
He got up one morning very late because he had forgotten to wind up his alarm clock. He tried to shave（刮脸）quickly and cut himself. When he got dressed he got blood all over his clean shirt, so he had to find another one. The only other shirt that was clean needed ironing（熨）, so he ironed it. While he was ironing it, there was a knock at the door. It was the man to read the electricity meter（表）. He showed him where the meter was, said good-bye and found that the iron had burnt a hole in his shirt. So he had to wear the one with the blood on it after all. By this time it was very late, so he decided he couldn’t go to work by bus. He telephoned for a taxi to take him to work. The taxi arrived and Harry got in and began to read the newspaper.
In another part of the town, a man had killed a woman with a knife and was seen to run away in a taxi. When Harry’s taxi stopped outside his office, a policeman happened to be standing there. He saw the blood on Harry’s shirt, and took him to the police station. He was kept till 3 o’clock in the afternoon before the police were sure that he was not the man they wanted. When he finally arrived at the office at about four, his boss took a look at him and told him to go away and find another job.
【小题1】Harry had__________________________.

A．a lucky day	B．an unlucky day
C．a busy day	D．a good day

【小题2】Put the following sentences into correct order according to the passage.
a. The man who read the electricity meter came.
b. Harry ironed his shirt.
c. Harry got blood all over his clean shirt.
d. There was a knock at the door.
e. Harry wore the shirt with blood on it.

A．a, b, c, d, e	B．b, a, d, c, e
C．b, a, c, d, e	D．c, b, d, a, e

【小题3】Why did Harry wear the shirt with blood on it?

A．The iron had burnt a hole in his clean shirt.

B．The only other needed ironing.

C．He had only one shirt.

D．He cut himself and got blood all over his shirt.

【小题4】Harry was taken to the police station because         .

A．his taxi stopped outside his office and a policeman happened to be there

B．there was blood on his shirt and he was in a taxi

C．a man killed a woman with a knife

D．the murderer was seen to run away in a taxi

【小题5】His boss told him to go away and find another job because           .

A．he had been kept by the police

B．there was blood on his shirt

C．he was late for work

D．he had killed a woman

Everybody has one of those days when everything goes wrong. This is what happened to Harry.

He got up one morning very late because he had forgotten to wind up his alarm clock. He tried to shave（刮脸）quickly and cut himself. When he got dressed he got blood all over his clean shirt, so he had to find another one. The only other shirt that was clean needed ironing（熨）, so he ironed it. While he was ironing it, there was a knock at the door. It was the man to read the electricity meter（表）. He showed him where the meter was, said good-bye and found that the iron had burnt a hole in his shirt. So he had to wear the one with the blood on it after all. By this time it was very late, so he decided he couldn’t go to work by bus. He telephoned for a taxi to take him to work. The taxi arrived and Harry got in and began to read the newspaper.

In another part of the town, a man had killed a woman with a knife and was seen to run away in a taxi. When Harry’s taxi stopped outside his office, a policeman happened to be standing there. He saw the blood on Harry’s shirt, and took him to the police station. He was kept till 3 o’clock in the afternoon before the police were sure that he was not the man they wanted. When he finally arrived at the office at about four, his boss took a look at him and told him to go away and find another job.

1.Harry had__________________________.

A．a lucky day	B．an unlucky day
C．a busy day	D．a good day

2.Put the following sentences into correct order according to the passage.

a. The man who read the electricity meter came.

b. Harry ironed his shirt.

c. Harry got blood all over his clean shirt.

d. There was a knock at the door.

e. Harry wore the shirt with blood on it.

A．a, b, c, d, e	B．b, a, d, c, e
C．b, a, c, d, e	D．c, b, d, a, e

3.Why did Harry wear the shirt with blood on it?

A．The iron had burnt a hole in his clean shirt.

B．The only other needed ironing.

C．He had only one shirt.

D．He cut himself and got blood all over his shirt.

4.Harry was taken to the police station because         .

A．his taxi stopped outside his office and a policeman happened to be there

B．there was blood on his shirt and he was in a taxi

C．a man killed a woman with a knife

D．the murderer was seen to run away in a taxi

5.His boss told him to go away and find another job because           .

A．he had been kept by the police

B．there was blood on his shirt

C．he was late for work

D．he had killed a woman

 

【2011·辽宁锦州市质检二】A

I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job, credit, success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing.

One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $56. I searched the countryside for some place I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a deserted cottage in a small remote valley. I hadn’t been alone for 25 years. I was scared, but I hoped the hard work would distract and heal me.

I found the owner and rented the place for $50 a month. The locals knew nothing about me. But slowly they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, tools and canned deer meat and began sticking around to chat. They would ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream, not the one of individual achievement but of neighborliness. Men would stop by with wild berries, ice cream, truck parts to see if I needed some. The women on that mountain worked harder than any I'd ever met. They taught me how to store food in the stream and keep it cold and safe. I learned to keep enough for an extra plate for company.

What I had believed in, all those things I thought were necessary for a civilized life, were non-existent in this place．Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors．

After four years in that valley, I moved back into town. I saw a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker(房地产经纪人) I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people. It’s four of us now, but over time I've had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We’d all be in shelters if we hadn't banded together.

The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It’s not so much about what I can get for myself; it’s about how we can all get by together.

56. Before a series of unhappy events happened, the writer ________.

A. had a well-paid job                   B. worked hard for his American dream

C. worked hard and liked to share            D. felt hopeless about his American dream

57. What does the underlined sentence “I learned to．．．” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A. The writer learned to run a company.

B. The writer learned to share with others.

C. The writer learned to keep enough plates.

D. The writer learned to save money for his company.

58. Why did the writer rent a big house?

A. To make some money.                         B. To show off his wealth.

C. To share with those people in need.        D. To make friends with his neighbors.

59. The writer mainly tells us about ________．

A. his unhappy experiences               B. the friendly people in the valley

C. the change of his living conditions            D. his new idea of the American dream