Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. This is about the family standing ahead of us.

The family had eight children. Their clothes were not expensive but clean.

The children were well-behaved. They stood in line, two by two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns, elephants and other acts they would see that night. You could tell that they had never been to the circus before.

The tickets lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly replied, “I want eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets please, so I can take my family to the circus”.

The ticket lady quoted(报）the price. The man stopped holding his hand. The man’s lips started to quiver(颤抖). He leaned toward her and asked again, “How much did you say?”

The ticket lady quoted the price again. The man didn’t have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he couldn’t take them to the circus.

My dad put his hand into his pocket, pulling out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground, though we weren’t rich. Then he reached down, picked up the bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket.”

The man knew what was going on. He looked into my dad’s eyes, he replied, “Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family.”

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. We didn’t get to see the circus that night, but we didn’t care.

74.The children were talking about ________ .

A) clowns　　　　　　　　　 　 B) other acts they would see that night　　
C) elephants　　　　　　　　　　D) all the above

75. 　 The underlined word ‘well-behaved’ in the third paragraph means ________.

A) holding hands　　　 　　　 　 B) talking excitedly

C) showing good manners　　　　 D) showing bad manners

76. How many tickets would the man buy altogether?

A) six　　　　　　　　　　　　 B) eight

C) ten　　　　　　　　　　　　 D) twelve

77. Why was the man disappointed when he heard the price of the ticket?

A) Because he had lost his money. 　　　　

B) Because he didn’t want to buy them.

C) Because he thought the circus was dull.

D) Because he didn’t have enough money for tickets.

78.Which of the following is NOT True?

A) The family didn’t go to the circus that night.

B) The writer and his father helped the family.

C) The father couldn’t afford the tickets.

D) The writer didn’t go to the circus that night.

79.From the passage we know that the big family was poor ________.

A) but worked very hard

B) and they felt very sad

C) but they were very happy

D) and they often asked for help from others

Parents should stop blaming themselves because there’s not a lot they can do about it. I mean the teenager problem. Whatever you do or however you choose to deal with it, at certain times a wonderful, reasonable and helpful child will turn into a terrible animal.
I’ve seen friends deal with it in all kinds of different ways. One strict mother insisted that her son, right from a child, should stand up whenever anyone entered the room, open doors and shake hands like a gentleman. I saw him last week when I called round. Sprawling himself on the sofa in full length, he made no attempt to turn off the loud TV he was watching as I walked in, and his greeting was no more than a quick glance at me. His mother was ashamed. “I don’t know what to do with him these days,” she said. “He’s forgotten all the manners we taught him.” He hasn’t forgotten them. He’s just decided that he’s not going to use them. She confessed(坦白) that she would like to come up behind him and throw him down from the sofa onto the floor.
Another good friend of mine let her two daughters climb all over the furniture, reach across the table, stare at me and say, “I don’t like your dress; it’s ugly.” One of the daughters has recently been driven out of school. The other has left home.
“Where did we go wrong?” her parents are now very sad. Probably nowhere much. At least, no more than the rest of that unfortunate race, parents.
【小题1】 This text is most probably written by ______.

用所给单词的正确形式填空 (10%)

1.How long have you been _______ (collect) shells?

2.I was _______ (annoy) by his bad manners.

3.Why don’t you ______ (buy) a calendar for her?

4.Have you ever ______ (be) to Disneyland?

5.There is nobody in the classroom, ______ (be) there?