A woman repeated a bit of gossip (流言) about a neighbour. Within a few days the whole neighbourhood knew the story. The neighbour was deeply hurt. Later the woman responsible (负责) for spreading the gossip learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
“Go to the marketplace,” he said. “and buy a chicken, and have it killed, then on your way home, pluck (拔) its feathers and drop them one by one along the road. ” Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, “ Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me. ”
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
“ You see, ” said the old man, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back . So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a gossip, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong.”
【小题1】The woman was very _________ the harm she had done to her neighbour.

A．happy about

B．angry about

C．sorry for

D．excited about

【小题2】Which of the following statements is TURE?

A．The gossip didn’t hurt anyone at all.

B．The wise man was not kind enough.

C．The woman found all the feathers at last.

D．The woman was given a lesson.

【小题3】What the wise man said has nearly the same meaning as the Chinese phrase “_________”

A．覆水难收

B．无中生有

C．欲速不达

D．得道多助

A new term has begun. Teachers are   1  about the fact that new students are not easy to deal with(对付). They like to bring telephones（手机） and MP3 players to school. What is   2  , some students even use telephones to do out-of-class matters in class, or sometimes just for fun. Some otherstudents listen to MP3 players when they are having a lesson that they are not interested in.
Are these new students really that  3 ? “Yes.” says Delaney Kirk, a professor at Drake University.   4  she says it’s not their fault(过错).   5 , the teachers should be blamed(责备). Mrs Kirk first began thinking about students’ manners six years ago. “I had my first class in which students were sleeping or talking to each other. It seemed that learning well had nothing to do with them.” she says. “At first, I got worried about this.” but then I said to myself, “You’re giving   6  , and you need to deal with this kind of situation (情况). These students need to know more about manners. It’s time to help them develop some good   7  . They shouldn’t waste time doing nothing when they are young. Sooner or later, they may regret(后悔) the time they have wasted.”
Mrs Kirk also   8  a list of suggestions(建议) to help teachers better manage (控制) their classes. The following are among her suggestions:
l     On the first day of class, tell students how they will benefit(受益) by taking the class and the importance   9  listening carefully in class.
l     Do not allow（允许） them to bring telephones or MP3 players to the class at all.
l     Tell them how to use telephones or MP3 players   10  .

【小题1】

A．excited B．worried C．surprised D．interested

【小题2】

A．bad B．worse C．good D．better

【小题3】

A．rude B．polite C．friendly D．boring

【小题4】

A．But B．However C．And D．So

【小题5】

A．Such as B．For example C．Like D．Instead

【小题6】

A．Math B．English C．Chinese D．lessons

【小题7】

A．ideas B．problems C．habits（习惯） D．classes

【小题8】

A．makes B．produces C．designs D．gets

【小题9】

A．on B．of C．at D．by

【小题10】

A．carefully B．properly C．clearly D．quickly

In the sea there are many islands. In its warm waters there are some little ones. We call them coral(珊瑚) islands.
A coral island is very nice to look at. It looks like a ring of land with trees, grass, and flowers on it. One part of the ring is open to the water. There is a little round lake inside the island.
If you look into this lake, you will see beautiful coral. You may think they are flowers.
If you look at a piece of coral, you will see many little holes in it. In each of these holes a very small sea animal has lived. These sea animals make the coral.
They began to build under the water. Year after year, the coral grew higher and higher. At last it grew out of the water.
Then the sea brought to it small trees and something else. After some years, these things changed into earth. Sometimes the wind brought seeds to this earth. Sometimes birds flew over it and brought seeds to the island. The little seeds grew. In a few years there were plants all over the island. In a few more years there were trees growing there.
So you see, these islands were built little by little. The workers were very small. Don’t they teach us a lesson? Can you think what the lesson is?
【小题1】 In the sea _____.

A．there are no coral islands	B．there are some coral islands
C．the water is always warm	D．we can see many flowers and fishes

【小题2】A coral island looks like ______.

A．a round cake

B．trees, grass and flowers

C．a ring of land

D．a round lake

【小题3】There are ____ in the holes in corals.

A．flowers

B．little corals

C．grass

D．sea animals

【小题4】How did seeds of trees, grass and flowers come to the coral islands?

A．The wind and birds brought them to the coral islands.

B．Only the wind brought them there.

C．People brought them there.

D．Fishes brought them there.

【小题5】From the story we learn that _____.

A．small workers can’t do big things

B．only big workers can do big things

C．small workers can do big things if they work hard and work a long time

D．all small things can do things

On my eighth birthday, Dad bought me an accordion(手风琴） and said excitedly, "Once you learn to play, it'll stay with you for life." But I didn't want to play it. I just wanted to play games, But Dad asked me to take accordion lessons.
One day, I found a box in a corner. When I opened it, I saw a beautiful violin. "It was your father's," Mum said. "His parents bought it for him. I guess he got too busy on the farm to learn to play it."
I had to practice half an hour every day, and every day I tried to get out of it. But Dad didn't allow. I asked why. He answered, "Because you can bring people joy. You can touch their hearts." He added softly, "Someday you'll have the chance I never had: you'll play beautiful music for your family. And you'll understand why you've worked so hard." I was speechless.
The lessons stopped after I finished high school. When I grew up, I got married and moved into a new house. I put the accordion in the attic（阁楼）.
One afternoon, my two children found the accordion by accident (偶然). They got very excited. "Play it. Play it," they laughed and said. I started to play some simple songs. I was surprised I could still remember them. Soon the kids were dancing. Even my wife was laughing and clapping to the beat.
At that moment, my father's words came back to me, "Someday you'll have the chance I never had. And you'll understand." I finally knew why Dad had asked me to practice hard. Dad never learnt to play his violin. But I told my family, "This is my father's music."
【小题1】My father didn't learn to play his violin when he was young because _______.

A．he didn't like to play the violin

B．he had to support his family

C．he wanted to play games

D．he didn't keep on practicing

【小题2】How might the writer feel when he had to practice playing the accordion?

A．Delighted.

B．Excited.

C．Bored.

D．Relaxed.

【小题3】"Dad didn't allow" means "_______".

A．Dad didn't agree with me.

B．Dad didn’t keep me doing it.

C．Dad didn't help me do it.

D．Dad didn't see me do it.

【小题4】What were the writer’s children doing when he started to play simple songs?

A．Singing

B．Dancing

C．Clapping to the beat

D．Screaming

【小题5】Dad asked me to learn to play the accordion so that _______.

A．I could go to a better school

B．I could give myself much joy

C．I could be a useful man

D．I could make people happy

A student newspaper reports that most students go to sleep at 1:30 am. Even if that’s an overstatement (夸张), it’s close to the truth. Scientists say teens should sleep nine hours each night. But that’s hard. Some are even “pulling all-nighters” (开夜车). These students must hand in their homework the next day but they haven’t done it. In the morning they don’t look healthy and you can tell who’s been doing it. One of my classmates did a survey on the topic. She found that most kids pull all-nighters to finish homework, but some do it for other reasons, such as playing computer games!
Maybe our lack(缺乏) of sleep is because of laziness — I think I’m a rather lazy student — or maybe it’s because we have too much to do in American high schools. I usually go to bed around midnight. If I stayed up past 1:30 am, I wouldn’t get any work done. I’d be falling asleep at my computer. My classes begin at 7:30 am. I’m partly awake in my first class. By the second, I’m a little sleepy. By my third class, I’m sleepy. By midday I’m finally fully awake. But by 3:00 pm, I’m slowing down again. Yet I get more sleep than usual students.
Most American high schools seem to have a similar(相似的) problem with sleepy students. High school classes start at 7:30 am, so students have to get up one and a half hours before that to get ready and catch the bus. It’s believed that lack of sleep can be bad for both grades and health. Some schools are paying attention. Classes in those schools start at 8:30 am.
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence “it’s close to the truth” mean?

A．It doesn’t tell the truth.	B．It is quite true.
C．It is impossible.	D．I don’t think it’s right.

【小题2】Why do most of the teens have to stay up late?

A．They play computer games.	B．They watch videos late.
C．They have to do a lot of housework.	D．They have to do a lot of homework.

【小题3】When do students in most American high schools have to get up?

A．At 7:30 am.

B．At 6:00 am.

C．At 9:00 am.

D．At about 7:00 am.

【小题4】Which of the following is TRUE according to the reading?

A．The writer usually stays up past 1:30 am.

B．The writer usually goes to bed around midnight.

C．The writer usually does a survey.

D．Many American students don’t get enough sleep, so they can have high grades.

【小题5】What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Something has to be done to solve the problem of students’ lack of sleep.

B．Many American high school students are sleepy in class.

C．Many kids have too much homework to do.

D．Students can’t play computer games.