A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin was walking around the shining car. “Is this your car, Paul?” he asked.

Paul answered, “Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you nothing? Boy, I wish…”He hesitated.

Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.

“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that.” Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again, “Would you like to take a ride in my car?”

“Oh yes, I’d love that.”

After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes shining, said, “Paul, would you mind driving in front of my house?”

Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbours that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked.

He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.

“There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn’t cost him a cent. And some day I’m going to give you one just like it …then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas window that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”

Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.

注：urchin顽童, hesitate犹豫, , crippled残疾,cent 美分

1.The street urchin was very surprised when _______________

A．Paul received an expensive car             B．Paul told him about the car

C．he saw the shining car                    D．he was walking around the car

2.From the story we can see the urchin _______________

A．wished to give his brother a car

B．wanted Paul’s brother to give him a car

C．wished he could have a brother like Paul’s

D．wished Paul could be a brother like that

3.The urchin asked Paul to stop his car in front of his house ____________

A．to show his neighbours the big car

B．to show he had a rich friend

C．to let his brother ride in the car

D．to tell his brother about his wish

4.We can infer（推断） from the story that___________

A．Paul couldn’t understand the urchin

B．the urchin had a deep love for his brother

C．the urchin wished to have a rich brother

D．the urchin’s wish came true in the end

5.The best name of the story is ____________

A．A Christmas Present                     B．A Street Urchin

C．A Brother Like That                      D．An Unforgettable Holiday Ride

 

用方框中所给词语的适当形式填空，使短文正确、通顺、连贯（每词限用一次）。

During all this time I never stopped thinking about escape. When I traveled   【小题1】 to the other side of the island (岛屿), I could see the other islands, and I said to   【小题2】, “Perhaps I can get there with a boat. Perhaps I can get back to England one day.”
So I decided   【小题3】 myself a boat. I cut down a big tree, and then began to make a long hole in it. It was hard   【小题4】, but about six months later, I had a very fine canoe (独木舟). Next, I had to get it down to the sea. How silly I was! Why didn’t I think   【小题5】I began work? Of course, the canoe was too heavy. I couldn’t move it! I pulled and pushed and   【小题6】  everything, but it didn’t move. I was very  【小题7】 for a long time after that.
That happened in my fourth year on the island. In my   【小题8】 year I did make myself a smaller canoe, but I did not try to escape in it. The boat was   【小题9】 small for a long journey, and I did not want to die at sea. The island was my  【小题10】 now, not my prison, and I was just happy to be alive.

Evelyn Glennie was the first lady of solo percussion in Scotland. In an interview, she talked about how she became a percussion soloist（打击乐器独奏演员）in spite of deafness.

   “Early on I decided not to allow the   1   of others to stop me from becoming a musician. I grew up on a farm in northeast Scotland and began   2   piano lessons when I was eight. The older I got, the more my passion（酷爱）for music grew. But I also began to lose my   3 . Doctors told me that the nerve damage(神经损伤) was the  4  and by age twelve, I was completely deaf. But my love for music never left me.”

  “My   5   was to become a percussion soloist, even though there were none at that time. To perform, I learned to ‘hear’ music differently from others. I play in my stocking feet and can  6  the pitch of a note（音调高低）by the vibrations（振动）I feel through my body and through my imagination. My sound world exists by making use of almost every   7  that I have.”

  “I decided to be a musician even though I was deaf, and applied to the famous Royal Academy of Music in London. No other deaf student had   8   this before and some teachers disagreed with me. Because of my performance, I finally entered the academy and went on to  9   with the academy’s highest honors a few years later.”

  “I’ve been a soloist for more than ten years. 10   the doctor thought I was totally deaf, it didn’t mean that my passion couldn’t be realized. I would encourage people not to allow themselves to be limited by others. Follow your passion; follow your heart. They will lead you to the place you want to go.”

【小题 1】A. conditions     B. opinions         C. advantages   D. recommendations

 A. enjoying        B. choosing         C. taking           D. giving

【小题 3】A. sight          B. hearing          C. touch            D. taste

【小题 4】A. evidence       B. result               C. excuse       D. cause

【小题 5】A. job            B. opinion          C. promise      D. goal

【小题 6】A. tell           B. see              C. hear         D. smell

【小题 7】A. feeling        B. effort               C. sense            D. idea

【小题 8】A. done           B. accepted         C. advised      D. refused

【小题 9】A. study          B. offer                C. graduate     D. educate

【小题 10】A. As            B. Although         C. Because      D. Since

 

I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job. I also think my work is important. I wasn’t an excellent student because I didn’t do much schoolwork. In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn’t have much to offer.

I then found myself a job, looking after two little girls. It wasn’t too bad at first. But the problems began when I agreed to live in. I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening. We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week, she’d give me time off the next. But unluckily, it didn’t often work out. I was getting very tired. Because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children.

One Sunday, I was in the park with the children, and met Megan who used to go to school with me. I told her about my situation. She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children. I didn’t think I would be accepted because I didn’t take many exams in school. She asked me to phone the local college and they were really helpful. My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part-time course. I had to leave my job with the family, and got work helping out at a kindergarten.

Now I’ve got a full-time job there. I shall always be thankful to Megan. I wish I had known earlier that I could have a success, even if I am not top of the class at school.

1.What do you think of the writer when she was a student?

A．An excellent student                     B．A hardworking student

C．A bad student                          D．A lazy student

2.What is the writer’s first job?

A．A cleaner         B．A babysitter        C．An assistant        D．A teacher

3. When staying with the two girls’ family，the writer ________.

A．was paid for extra work

B．often worked long hours

C．got much help from her boss

D．took a day off every other week

4. Why did the writer leave her first job？

A．She found a full-time job.

B．She was fed up with children.

C．She decided to attend a part-time course.

D．She needed a rest after working extra hours.

5.What has the writer learned from her own experiences？

A．Less successful students can still have a success.

B．Qualifications are necessary for a job.

C．Hard work makes an excellent student.

D．One must choose the job she like.

 

Some children are afraid to go to the dentist, but not me. I’m a boy of 8 and I have a funny dentist. His name is Dr. Smileyface. I don’t think that’s his real name, but that’s what he tells all the children who come to see him.
He has a cool waiting room. It has video games and a big toy box. Dr. Smileyface always wears funny hats. Sometimes he has his face painted. He asks funny questions like “Are you married yet?” and “Do you eat flowers to make your breath smell so sweet?” That makes me laugh. One time, he told me this joke, “What has lots of teeth but never goes to the dentist? A comb!” When I laughed, he pulled my tooth. It didn’t hurt at all! He also teaches me how to take care of my teeth in an interesting way. Before I leave, he always gives me a surprise. Last week he gave me a toy ship and I liked it very much.
【小题1】 How does the writer feel when he goes to the dentist?

A．Angry.

B．Afraid.

C．Sad.

D．Happy.

【小题2】What does Dr. Smileyface teach the writer to do?

A．How to laugh.

B．How to take care of his teeth.

C．To eat flowers.

D．To paint his face.

【小题3】 What did Dr. Smileyface give the writer last week?

A．A toy ship.

B．A toy box.

C．A comb.

D．Flowers.