She is quiet, soft-spoken and has a kind face and a strong heart. She is my mom, Lili.
When I was nine, Lili quitted her job and started her own business. She said she didn’t want to stay at home and work as a housewife: “It’s a waste of life.” Lili became so busy that she spent less and less time with me. She didn’t help me with my schoolwork. It was, in her words, “so that you can develop your independence”. We quarreled because she rarely showed up at parents’ meetings.
Like mother, like daughter. I have many things in common with Lili. I want everything to be under control. I want to be perfect and I don’t expect other people to help me. I push myself hard to achieve my goals.
After I started to go to high school, Lili and I were too busy to communicate much with each other.
In biology class I began to be depressed. When the teacher showed us a picture of a butterfly, I was scared and screamed. I had a vision of thousands of butterflies flying toward me.
That night I told Lili about it. The next morning, I saw that she had red eyes with black circles around them.
She took me to see a therapist (治疗师). Three hours later, the therapist told Lili that my life was like a wheel spinning (旋转) faster and faster and that was the reason for what had happened to me. I only realized it when my body couldn’t stand the pressure anymore. At these words, Lili burst into tears. “It’s all my fault, she’s just a kid and I didn’t have time to take care of her….” To be honest, I had never seen Lili cry before.
After that, Lili began to spend more time at home, cooking and dragging me to do sports. I realized she was the one who would always be there when I was in real trouble. No mom is perfect, but she is the one who really cares about her kid.
【小题1】Lili quitted her job and started her own business because _________.

Anthony Horowitz suffered a lot as a child. He was, as he puts it, “not very bright” and couldn’t win the attention of his very wealthy parents, who preferred his “clever” older brother. At age 8, Horowitz was sent away to an abusive (虐待的) boarding school in his native England, even though he screamed and begged his parents year after year not to send him. “The thought was, ‘It’ll be good for him’,” Horowitz recalls.

It was not. Horowitz did badly in his studies, had few friends and was bullied (欺负) for five years. “My teachers couldn’t have had a lower opinion of me,” he said. “I wasn’t even smart enough to rebel (反抗). The one thing I remember from the very earliest age was this desire to write. When I was 10 years old, I remember asking my parents to get me a typewriter for my birthday because I wanted to be a writer.”

Now, at 55, Horowitz is one of the world’s most successful children’s book authors. His Alex Rider series has sold more than 5 million copies, and the eighth book featuring the young spy, Crocodile Tears, came out this month.

The Alex Rider books tell the adventures of 14-year-old Alex Rider, an agent for the British intelligence agency MI6.

Horowitz said he doesn’t try to write for kids; it just comes out that way. “I have a feeling it’s to do with purity and simplicity. I give as little information as is necessary to describe the room, the character in the room, and get on with the action,” he said.

That style has also made Horowitz a successful writer of television shows for adults in Britain because, he says, writing books for kids is a lot like writing television for grown-ups: In both cases, it’s all about entertaining people with a good story.

Now, Horowitz couldn’t be happier with his life. He sums up his success, “…you can be anything you want to be if you just believe in yourself. I do believe it completely.”

1. In his childhood, Anthony Horowitz _______.

A. was more intelligent than his brother

B. was paid more attention to by his parents

C. hated to be sent to the boarding school

D. led a miserable life because of poverty

2. In the boarding school, Horowitz’s teachers _______.

A. showed great concern for him                                 B. often abused and bullied him

C. taught him how to write stories                    D. thought little of his ability

3. Which of the following is true of Anthony Horowitz?

A. He was the beloved child of his family.

B. Although he is successful, he isn’t very happy.

C. He emphasizes the plot rather than character in stories.

D. He developed his writing ability in the boarding school.

4. What advice does Horowitz give to readers?

A. Confidence is the key to success.                      B. Hardship teaches valuable lessons.

C. Interest is the best teacher.                              D. Diligence is the parent of success.

She is quiet, soft-spoken and has a kind face and a strong heart. She is my mom, Lili.

When I was nine, Lili quitted her job and started her own business. She said she didn’t want to stay at home and work as a housewife: “It’s a waste of life.” Lili became so busy that she spent less and less time with me. She didn’t help me with my schoolwork. It was, in her words, “so that you can develop your independence”. We quarreled because she rarely showed up at parents’ meetings.

Like mother, like daughter. I have many things in common with Lili. I want everything to be under control. I want to be perfect and I don’t expect other people to help me. I push myself hard to achieve my goals.

After I started to go to high school, Lili and I were too busy to communicate much with each other.

In biology class I began to be depressed. When the teacher showed us a picture of a butterfly, I was scared and screamed. I had a vision of thousands of butterflies flying toward me.

That night I told Lili about it. The next morning, I saw that she had red eyes with black circles around them.

She took me to see a therapist (治疗师). Three hours later, the therapist told Lili that my life was like a wheel spinning (旋转) faster and faster and that was the reason for what had happened to me. I only realized it when my body couldn’t stand the pressure anymore. At these words, Lili burst into tears. “It’s all my fault, she’s just a kid and I didn’t have time to take care of her….”  To be honest, I had never seen Lili cry before.

After that, Lili began to spend more time at home, cooking and dragging me to do sports. I realized she was the one who would always be there when I was in real trouble. No mom is perfect, but she is the one who really cares about her kid.

1.Lili quitted her job and started her own business because _________.

2. We quarreled because __________.

3.What can we learn from the passage?

4. Which of the following statements is WRONG?

5. What is the best title for the passage?

The day was warm and the sun shone down like a new beginning on my life. I was waving goodbye to my son, the last one of my fledglings （刚会飞的鸟）to leave home and go to new woods, "University actually" . I felt so lighthearted after spending many years looking after my four children-cooking, washing, ironing, teaching them how to look after themselves and manage their finances-that I actually thought “At long last, freedom".

But, as I watched my last one leave, although it was a joyous occasion, I realized I had not really prepared for this day, I was too tied up with bringing up these adults of the future to realize that they would all leave the nest and lives independently.

At first I didn't know what "I" wanted to do. I tried a part time job, which ended in me running out in tears. I started a business making soft furnishings, but that didn't work either.  I grew my own veggies and fruit, which lasted 3 years, until I was advised by my doctor that my feet couldn't take any more "tools” driven through them. 

I began wondering if I had a future of my own. I cried for the life I was used to, and hadn't known or wanted anything different.

Then one day I saw an ad. For foster parents, I discussed it with my husband who was always behind everything I tried and with great disturbance, I rang up the number.

I now laugh and sing with my 14-year-old foster daughter, even when my cooker is a mess and my bathroom is a disaster area. I now know, 8 years later, what “I” was meant to be doing with all the spare hours, days, and weeks I had on my hands when my last fledgling flew the nest. The sun shines once again in my home.

1.How did the mother first feel when her last child went off to university?

2.The underlined phrase “was tied up with” in the second paragraph means “        ”.

3.In the third paragraph, the poor mother did all the things just to         .

4.What did the empty-nested mother think of her husband?

5.Thanks to the foster daughter, the author         .

“Big boys don’t cry.” I heard those words a lot   36  up in America in the late sixties and early seventies. In those days men were expected to be   37  and rugged and never shed a tear no matter what. Our   38  were all stone faced cowboys who were too   39  to cry. Believing this then I tried my best   40  to cry at all during my teenage and early adult years.
All that changed,   41 , as I was driving home alone one night shortly after my Mom   42 . It was dark and raining outside. I was struggling to   43  the car on the road while at the same time   44  to hold the tears back in my eyes. I remember almost going off the road twice as I blinked back (眨眼控制) the salty water that was burning my   45  and blurring (使模糊) my vision. My hands shook, my heart   46 , and my soul felt dead.   47  I could do it no longer. I stopped, pulled over, lay my head on the steering wheel, and   48 . I cried until the tears couldn’t fall anymore. I cried until the pain that I was holding onto so   49  finally fled my heart.
After that night I   50  something. Big boys do cry.   51 , it is the biggest hearts that cry the most. I realized too that it is our   52  that can release us from our anger and our grief while   53  us to our love and our God. Tears help us to embrace this often bittersweet life. They help us to keep growing   54  to each other in love and joy instead of   55  ourselves up in dull, aching, and lonely hearts.