Changsha,
Hunan Province
May 6, 2010
Dear editor,
Under China’s current educational system, there are those who do nothing but study. They of course are thought to be model students.
But I feel that there is another type of student who, perhaps not as diligent (勤奋的) as the first type, uses his time more efficiently and achieves a lot academically.
Last year, a classmate of mine was accepted by a top university. It surprised all of us. It was because, unlike most of us, he didn’t spend too much of his time studying.
When I asked him the secret of his success, he said that the key was properly and scientifically arranging his time.
“ I spent a lot of time keeping fit and as a result, I was able to better concentrate (集中) on my class work.”
The moral of the story is: it isn’t necessary to sit at your desk all day long to get high academic (学术) grades.
Yours,
Zhang Zishu
【小题1】What does the letter-writer (a reader) think leads to the fact that many students do nothing but study?

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two survivors agreed that they had no alternativethan to pray to God.

However, to find out whose prayers were more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its fruit. But the other man’s parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man became lonely and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. But on the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon thereafter the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these things were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could leave the island, and in the morning he found a ship docked at his side of the island.

The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island, considering the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he doesn’t deserve anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me,” the first man asked the voice, “what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers would be answered.”

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us. So what you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself.

1.The first man’s wife is _____.

A．a swimmer who got to the island by accident

B．an angel sent by God to keep him company

C．a survivor from another wrecked ship

D．a native person on the desert-like island

2.The underlined word “barren” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____.

A．isolated           B．unproductive       C．fertile            D．dry

3.Which of the following is true about the second man?

A．He didn’t deserve any blessing from God.

B．None of his prayers was answered by God.

C．He is not brave enough to tell God his needs.

D．His prayer helped his companion get out of trouble.

4.What’s the moral of the story?

A．Never judge a person by appearance.

B．Don’t lose heart in trouble.

C．Helping others is helping ourselves.

D．Greed is the root of all evil.

（Reuters）--- A Michigan man credited his dog with saving his life by chewing off his diseased big toe as he lay passed out in a drunken stupor(昏迷)

Jerry Douthett, 48, who woke up on a Saturday night in late July in his Rockford, Michigan home to find his Jack Russell Terrier, Kiko, had gnawed off his right big toe.

“The dog always lies with me on the bed”, said Douthett. “That night, I woke up and looked down at my foot, and it was wet. When I looked, it was blood and there was the dog looking at me with a blood moustache.”

Douthett’s wife, Rosee, rushed him to a hospital where doctors found he was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. His toe was badly infected and surgeons amputated(截)the remainder of the toe.

Douthett’s wife, a registered nurse, had been urging him for weeks to have his infected toe examined by a doctor.

On the night Kiko ate his toe, Douthett said he had been out with his wife and drank about six or seven beers and a pair of giant margaritas—big enough to put goldfish in.

“I was self-medicating at this point,” he said. “The moral of the story is that the dog saved my life, because otherwise I would never have gone to see a doctor.”

The couple said they were amazed that Kiko appeared to know Douthett had an infection that needed treatment.

“He kind of chewed off the infected part and stopped at the good bone,” said Rosee. “We joked that we shouldn’t have had to pay the co-pay because he did half the job by chewing off half of the toe.”

1.What does the underlined phrase “gnawed off” probably mean?

2.It can be learned from the text that________________.

3.From the text we know that Kiko ______________.

4.Which is NOT true according to the text?

Dine with General St. Amour
General St. Amour was famous for his bravery, but he was born into the family of a poor peasant. Even when he became a general, he never   【小题1】  his humble origin（卑微的出身）. 
While his   【小题2】  was stationed in his hometown, he invited some of his principal officers to a dinner party at a   【小题3】 . They had just sat down at the table when his father   【小题4】  to drop in on him. When the guard   【小题5】  it to the general, he   【小题6】  rose and told his guests that his father had   【小题7】 .
He said that he knew the   【小题8】  he owed to them, but at the same time he hoped they would  excuse him   【小题9】  he withdrew (退出) because he would like to   【小题10】  with his father in another room.
Hearing what he said, all the guests present   【小题11】  that the father should be introduced to them, 【小题12】  that they would be very pleased to see one who was so closely   【小题13】  to him. But to their 【小题14】 , General St. Amour replied, “Ah, no, gentleman. You are   【小题15】  wrong. I mean my father would find himself so   【小题16】  in company with so many people who are unsuited to his rank.   【小题17】 , it would deprive(剥夺) us both of the only pleasure of the   【小题18】  ——the natural intercourse(交流) of a parent and his son.”
He then   【小题19】  himself from the table and spent the evening dining with his father.
The moral of the story is: you can’t give people   【小题20】 , but you can provide the kind of understanding that makes people keep their pride.

Dine with General St. Amour

General St. Amour was famous for his bravery, but he was born into the family of a poor peasant. Even when he became a general, he never   1.  his humble origin（卑微的出身）. 

While his   2.  was stationed in his hometown, he invited some of his principal officers to a dinner party at a   3. . They had just sat down at the table when his father   4.  to drop in on him. When the guard   5.  it to the general, he   6.  rose and told his guests that his father had   7. .

He said that he knew the   8.  he owed to them, but at the same time he hoped they would  excuse him   9.  he withdrew (退出) because he would like to   10.  with his father in another room.

Hearing what he said, all the guests present   11.  that the father should be introduced to them, 12.  that they would be very pleased to see one who was so closely   13.  to him. But to their 14. , General St. Amour replied, “Ah, no, gentleman. You are   15.  wrong. I mean my father would find himself so   16.  in company with so many people who are unsuited to his rank.   17. , it would deprive(剥夺) us both of the only pleasure of the   18.  ——the natural intercourse(交流) of a parent and his son.”

He then   19.  himself from the table and spent the evening dining with his father.

The moral of the story is: you can’t give people   20. , but you can provide the kind of understanding that makes people keep their pride.

21.               A．forgot          B．knew          C．minded   D．cared

22.               A．family          B．army           C．company  D．organization

23.               A．park           B．school         C．restaurant D．cinema

24.               A．agreed         B．promised       C．decided   D．happened

25.               A．explained       B．whispered      C．reported  D．shouted

26.               A．strongly        B．immediately     C．simply D．suddenly

27.               A．resigned        B．started         C．left   D．arrived

28.               A．respect        B．understanding   C．support   D．love

29.               A．before         B．until           C．if D．unless

30.               A．chat           B．dine           C．walk  D．dance

31.               A．demanded      B．commanded     C．stressed   D．requested

32.               A．saying          B．complaining     C．admitting  D．reminding

33.               A．used           B．opposed        C．related    D．devoted

34.               A．joy            B．disappointment  C．excitement D．surprise

35.               A．terribly         B．completely      C．slightly    D．partly

36.               A．embarrassed    B．frightened      C．disturbed  D．disappointed

37.               A．Above all       B．After all        C．In addition D．In time

38.               A．party          B．interview       C．appointment   D．discussion

39.               A．defended       B．allowed        C．introduced D．excused

40.               A．time           B．money         C．pride D．confidence