Long, long ago there was a very foolish thief. Do you know what he did one day? When he wanted to steal (偷) the bell on his neighbor’s door, he walked up to the door, took hold of (抓住) the bell and pulled hard. The bell made a very loud noise. The thief was afraid and went home.
Then he sat down to think, “I must do something about the noise,” he said. He thought and thought. At last he had an idea. “Ah, I’ll put some cotton in my ears. Then I won’t be able to hear the noise.” The next day he went to the door of his neighbor, and took hold of the bell. This time he pulled even harder. The bell rang loudly, but the thief did not hear anything. With another hard pull he got the bell out. Just then the neighbor came running out. “Steal my bell? I’ll teach you a lesson (教训),”the angry man shouted. And he hit the thief on the nose.
The foolish thief did not know how the neighbor found out he was stealing the bell. “Why did he come out just then?” he wondered (感到疑惑).
【小题1】The thief was trying to get         .

A．his neighbor	B．his neighbor’s doorbell
C．some cotton	D．a door with a bell on it

【小题2】The thief put some cotton in his ears. He thought it would be       for him to steal the doorbell.

A．safe

B．difficult

C．dangerous

D．easy

【小题3】The neighbor ran out probably (很可能) because_________.

A．he knew his doorbell was being stolen

B．he thought someone was eager (渴望的) to visit him

C．He realized (意识到) something strange happened

D．Both B and C

【小题4】The neighbor hit the thief to ________.

A．give him lessons	B．punish (惩罚) him for stealing
C．help him with the bell	D．be his teacher

【小题5】Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The thief understood why he was hit on the nose.

B．The thief knew why the neighbor came out.

C．The thief thought the neighbor could not hear the bell.

D．The thief didn’t want to know why the neighbor ran out just at the time he stole the doorbell.

In New York, on a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a train station. He was playing his  16  .His music was so great that many people put money into his   17  .The next day, the young artist came to the   18  place, and played the violin as usual. Different from the day before, he took out a piece of paper and put   19  on the ground. The paper read ,“Last night ,a man named George Sang put an important thing into my hat  20  .Please come to get it soon.”   21  about half an hour, a(an)   22  man there in a hurry, “Oh ,it’s you. You did come here.” The young violinist asked   23  , “Are you Mr. George Sang?”“Yes! Yes!” Then the violinist asked, “Did you lose something?”“Lottery(彩票).It’s the most valuable lottery in my 70 years of life,” said the man.
The violinist   24   a lottery ticket. George Sang’s name was on it, so the violinist   25  it to him. Later someone asked the violinist, “Since you   26  play the violin every day to make your tuition (学费)in the university, why didn’t you keep the lottery ticket for yourself?” The violinist said, “  27   I don’t have much money, I live happily; But if I lose honesty, I won’t be happy forever.” Through our lives, we can get a lot and lose so   28  . But being   29  should always be with us. If we act in a dishonest way, we may   30   in a short period(短期). However, from the long-term view, we will be a loser.

【小题1】	A．piano B．guitar C．violin D．sax（萨克斯）
【小题2】	A．bowl B．hat C．pocket D．hands
【小题3】	A．similar B．different C．strange D．same
【小题4】	A．it B．its C．they D．them
【小题5】	A．by then B．by mistake C．by the way D．by hand
【小题6】	A．After B．Before C．From D．When
【小题7】	A．young B．old C．small D．tall
【小题8】	A．coldly B．angrily C．calmly D．sadly
【小题9】	A．took out B．took off C．took back D．took away
【小题10】	A．sold B．bought C．gave D．lent
【小题11】	A．could B．had to C．should D．must
【小题12】	A．Although B．Once C．If D．Unless
【小题13】	A．many B．much C．little D．few
【小题14】	A．kind B．rich C．honest D．poor
【小题15】	A．fail B．relax C．suffer D．succeed

Reading Oliver James'Affluenza, I thought about what often happens at home. My 12-year-old daughter is in tears."I have so take a test tomorrow. I don't understand any of it," she cries out. After shouting and shutting her door, she calms down enough to go through her notes. The following dry I ask her how the test went and the just says "OK,I got a nine".

"Wow. well done!" I say, before she finishes with "But I never get a ten!"

According to James, this obsession with getting top marks has been a bad development, which encourages people to think of education in terms of work and money. To test this, I asked my daughter why she was so worried about her tests. She looked at me as if I was thick. "Well, if I don't get good grades, I won't be able to afford nice things like a car and stuff."

I was quite surprised, because I don't consider myself a pushy parent. But James suggests and it leaves students feeling failures even if they are very bright. He points to the Danish system（体制）of education as a better model. Creating happy citizens who have good social skills is seen as more important than high achievements at school or the needs of business.

For me, I cannot remember the last time I had to work out the area of a circle, recite a Shakespeare poem or grammar rules, yet I have lived a happy life. What I really needed to learn at school was how to make polite conversations, or how to avoid getting into debt or how to develop good personality.

This is in fact similar to what Oliver James really has in mind. And he is looking for schools where students are encouraged to find and follow their own interests, something more like Tongjon. Tongjon has been developed in some Korean private schools. It is quite different from the more rigid system of learning things by heart that is used in Korea, and indeed in many other school systems around the world.

As the Russian poet Pushkin said," Inspiration(灵感）is needed in geometry(几何学）just as much as in poetry ",and inspiration does not come from endlessly revising for tests or getting worried about them .

1.What does the writer probably think of his/her daughter?

A. She sets herself a goal too high to reach.

B. She should be more polite to her parents.

C. She is hard-working but not very bright.

D. She takes her grades much too seriously.

2.What does the word "obsession"in paragraph 3 mean?

A.A plain and unavoidable fact.

B.A satisfied and very proud state.

C.A practical and widely-used way.

D.A fixed and often unreasonable idea.

3.What can we infer from the passage?

A. Social skills are as important as high grades.

B. Interest in grades can shake self-confidence.

C. The writer regrets not having studied hard at school.

D. Danish educational system is for very smart students.

4.The writer wants to tell us that____.

A.learning happily is the key to self-development.

B. top marks may be helpful to increase one's interest.

C. tests should be improved to give children inspiration.

D. education should meet one's needs for word and money.

 

通读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后在各题所给的A、B、C三个选项中，选出一个最佳选项。

A young man was going to spend his holiday in a mountain village. That night he  1 at a small hotel ( 旅馆 ) near the train station.  2 going to bed, he went to the owner of the hotel and said, “ Excuse me, sir. Will you please   3  me up at four forty-five tomorrow morning? I’ll take the five o’clock   4  .”

“ Oh, sorry, ” the owner said in a hurry. “ I’m afraid I can’t. I won’t be able to get up so 5  . ”

The young man was going to return to his room   6  he stopped and asked, “ Have you got an alarm clock ( 闹钟 )? Maybe it can help me.”

“ Yes, here you are, young man, ” said the owner.

The young man thanked the owner  7  . But as he looked at the alarm clock closely, it seemed there was   8   wrong with it.

“ Will it  9  on time? ” he asked.

“ Sure! You just give it a good shake ( 摇晃 ) at a quarter  10  five, and it will do! ”

1.A. worked             B. stayed              C. studied

2.A. Before              B. After                C. While

3. A. wash               B. beat                 C. wake

4. A. ship                B. plane                C. train

5.A. early               B. late                  C. quickly

6. A. when               B. because               C. until

7.A. angrily              B. happily               C. sadly

8. A. something           B. nothing               C. anything

9. A. shout               B. cry                   C. ring

10. A. past               B. to                    C. of

 

One morning, Bill said he was ill. His mother called a taxi and took him to the doctor. The doctor asked Bill, “What’s the matter, young man?” Bill answered, “I’m feeling sick. I’m coughing(咳嗽) and having a headache(头痛). I won’t be able to go to school today, I’m afraid.” The doctor looked him over carefully, and then asked his mother, “What did he have for breakfast?” His mother said, “He had four pieces of dread, two eggs, a bottle of milk and an orange.” The doctor smiled, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious. The boy will be all right after the football match.” The mother said, “I don’t understand, Doctor.” The doctor smiled again,” This afternoon, the biggest football game of the year will be on TV. Your boy doesn’t want to miss it. I think he will be fine after the game. You wait and see.”
【小题1】Bill and his mother went to the doctor_________ that morning.

A．by bus

B．by taxi

C．in a car

D．on foot

【小题2】 Bill had _______ for his breakfast.

A．nothing

B．four eggs

C．a lot of food

D．just a little

【小题3】 The doctor didn’t give Bill any medicine(药), because ________.

A．he didn’t think Bill was ill	B．Bill didn’t like having medicine
C．Bill’s mother didn’t have enough money	D．he had no medicine left(剩下)

【小题4】 There was_______ on TV.

A．a volleyball game	B．an English play
C．a funny match	D．a football match

【小题5】 In fact(事实上),_______.

A．there was something serious with Bill

B．Bill liked watching football matches better than going to school

C．Bill was an honest(诚实) boy

D．Bill’s mother was a doctor and she knew Bill was not ill