When I looked at the grade on my math paper my jaw almost dropped to the ground: a big “65” in bright red ink. I had never received such a terrible grade before.

   I was so ashamed that when I got home that afternoon I lied to my dad. I told him I got 85 and that the report wouldn’t come until the end of the month. Dad smiled. His daughter would never lie about her grade, so he didn’t doubt the unusual delay of my report.

A month later, Dad casually asked me again about the report at the dinner table. He looked right into my eyes and asked for an answer. Having no choice, I told him that I had in fact got just 65 in my math final. I had lied because I didn’t want to let him down.

   For a moment, he just looked at me. I would have preferred a telling off than that silence. Finally, Dad said, in a hurt voice, “You have already let me down, with your lie. I am not disappointed at your math score. That is no big deal – no one can be perfect all the time. But I am very disappointed in you. If you can’t be honest with your dad, who can you be honest with? It’s much easier to achieve a better grade than rebuild someone else’s trust in you.”

   Dad’s words touched my heart. I couldn’t forgive myself for having hurt his feelings. I took out the report that I had been hiding for weeks, handed to him and apologized, sincerely. I realized that my honesty is not only important to me personally, but to those around me that truly care about my well-being.

   In one of Shakespeare’s plays a character says: “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” After the crisis between Dad and me, I began to understand those words.

1.. The first paragraph may suggest that the author ______.

 A. was punished by her father for a bad grade

 B. never expected teachers to give her bad grades

 C. usually got a higher grade

 D. was bad at math

2..  The author lied to her father because ______.

 A. she thought her father would believe her story

 B. she didn’t want to let her father down

 C. her father wouldn’t get her grade report

 D. her father got angry whenever she got a poor grade

3..  Why did her father stay silent after his daughter told him that she had lied?

 A. He didn’t understand what his daughter had said.

 B. He was angry that his daughter lied to him again.

 C. He was unhappy with his daughter’s bad score.

 D. He was hurt that his daughter had lied to him.

4..  The purpose of the article is to tell us that ______.

 A. dishonesty may work sometimes, but there is a price to pay

 B. sometimes a lie can make things easier

 C. we should study hard to make our parents happy

 D. we should accept the fact that we are not perfect

 

Like all other mothers who have small children, I, too, have to steal time-from my own children at home and from the children who know me as their teacher-just to put a few words down on paper. Many times I've wanted to write for myself, for other women, for my parents, for my husband, and especially for my children. I would have liked to leave a legacy (遗产) of words explaining what it has meant to have twins. One reason that there is not a great deal written about being a mother of a new baby is that there is seldom a moment to think of anything else but the baby's needs.

    With twins, I did not have a spare hand to write with.

    Before my twins were born, my days were long and I had nothing to write about. After the twins' birth I did have something to write about, but I found myself facing not a pen and paper but milk bottles.

    Some nights, friends would visit. They would leave at 11 p.m., heading for bed, and for us the night was only just beginning. With twins, there is really no night. Each feeding lasts a long time. At 1:00 a.m., each of them would begin crying from hunger. At 4:00am, when I finally put them down, I felt exhausted.

    Two years have passed since then and we've managed to live through it all. My days are still very full and even now there isn't one evening when I put the twins down for the night that I don't have a break. At last a little time for myself.

1.When did the writer have time but she didn't feel like writing anything?

A. Before the birth of her twins.          

B. When she faced bottles of milk.

C. After her friends visited her home. 

D. When she had to think about the babies' needs.

2.What does the writer mainly write about?

A. Her role as a wife.                          B. Her work as a writer.

C. Her experience as a mother.                  D. Her feeling as a woman.

3.Why did the writer say the night was just beginning (in the 4th paragraph)?

A. Because her friends left her house too late.

B. Because she started to take care of the twins even at night.

C. Because her babies often cried and she woke up.

D. Because she could not sleep till four in the morning.

4. This passage is probably from a(n) _________.

A. blog         B. newspaper        C. guidebook        D. advertisement

5. What can we learn from the passage?

A. The writer was unhappy because of no time for writing.      

B. The writer cared about her babies more than her own interests.

C. The writer hated to be a mother of twins.

D. The writer could steal a little time at night.

 

Every American family has its own traditions on Thanksgiving Day, and mine is no difference. Once the national holiday arrives, my mom rises early to make the meal. She puts a turkey in the oven, chops carrots and bakes pies. I’m sorry to say that the men in the family – my dad, my younger brother and myself – rarely pitch in to help. Our job is to wash the mountain of dirty dishes after the meal is over.

Around 2 pm every Thanksgiving Day, family members seat themselves around the kitchen table. Plates of turkey, vegetables, salad, rolls and pies cover it. At this point, we can hardly keep ourselves from drooling (流口水) all over our fancy clothes, but it’s not yet time to eat.

First, we must bow our heads, close our eyes and say a prayer of thanks aloud to God for giving us everything we have. Under normal circumstances, I would have no problem making a list of things I am thankful for. I grew up in a loving family. My parents, who aren’t wealthy, took out loans to help me pay for university.

But, the funny thing is, every time I sit down for Thanksgiving dinner and try to say a prayer of thanks, my mind usually goes blank. I think it has something to do with my growling (咕咕叫) stomach and all of that food sitting right there under my nose.

Eventually, though, we all finish our short prayers and dig in. To be sure, the day includes other highlights – visiting with family and watching football. But usually around 6 pm we are all ourselves stuffed like turkeys and thankful to have a nice warm bed to sleep in.

1.The purpose of the text is to ________.

A．tell what the family do for Thanksgiving Day

B．tell how the family spends Thanksgiving Day

C．introduce foods served on Thanksgiving Day

D．introduce the American Thanksgiving Day

2.On Thanksgiving Day the author’s family do the following except ________.

A．watching a movie                       B．making visits

C．having a big meal                        D．watching football

3.Why does the author’s mind usually “go blank” when saying a prayer of thanks?

A．He is too thankful to say a word.            B．His mind is on the food before him.

C．He feels too excited to speak.              D．He is shy to speak in public.

4.The underlined phrase “dig in” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．chat with others                        B．make a hole

C．mix things up                           D．start eating

 

In most people’s opinion, the tiger is not an animal that we would ordinarily think of as being chicken. However, one tiger, which lives in an English zoo, turned out to be more cowardly( 胆小的) than his keepers could ever have imagined.

   Tanvir, a two-year-old Bengal tiger, got stuck at the top of a new 5m-high activity tower in the zoo, after climbing it for the first time.

   The wooden tower had been designed to provide mental exercise for Tanvir by testing his ability of dealing with troublesome situations, but after climbing it in just a few seconds, he lost his courage when it came to coming back down. Tanvir went on to spend nearly two days at the top of the tower trying to collect the courage to attempt to get down.

  A spokesperson for the zoo said that several days before Tanvir had taken half an hour to get down a lower tower only 1.5m high, and the taller tower had clearly been too much challenging for him.

 “Every time he got to the edge, he looked out, put a paw over, and thought, ‘no, I cannot make it!’”laughed Samantha Cordrey, Tanvir’s keeper. In the end Tanvir’s hunger defeated his fear, and after almost 48 hours he made his way down. Burying himself in a big meal just like a hungry pig, Tanvir seemed to forget such a shameful experience for a while.

  It appears that his experience would not be the worst in Tanvir’s life if he continued to act like a chicken. It is not known whether he will take courage to go back up his exercise tower again.

  The whole episode(插曲) only serves to show the difficulties faced by zoo staff in creating environments that will improve animals’ living ability in enclosed space.

1.When speaking of Tanvir’s shameful experience, Samantha Cordrey might feel it was_____.

  A. funny      B. surprising    C. exciting     D. unbelievable

2.What made Tanvir get down the 5m-high activity tower at last?

  A. The coldness of the weather.       B. The direction from his keepers.

  C. The sufferings of being hungry     D. The fear of being alone

 

3. Why does the author say “this experience would not be the worst in Tanvir’s life if…”(Paragraph 6)?

  A. Because Tanvir’s keepers will design more difficult exercise for him.

  B. Because Tanvir is so cowardly that he has little courage to meet greater 

    challenges.

  C. Because Tanvir’s bad health will bring him much trouble in practice.

  D. Because Tanvir is always careless and often causes trouble by accident.

4. The zoo designed the 5m-high activity tower to______.

  A. make Tanvir become brave   

B. improve Tanvir’s performance skills

  C. let tourists watch Tanvir better   

D. improve Tanvir’s living ability

 

 

When I was young, my father used to grow carnations(康乃馨) ----- a kind of flower which was red, pink and white. He took care of them with much love and devotion. Every day he came back home from work, he would enjoy watching them. Everyone who saw them admired them for their beauty. And he used to tell us, “No one should touch my flowers.”

One day, my younger sister Clemence, who loved dad very much, wanted to help him. So she cut the carnations from their stems(枝干) one by one and arranged them on the ground. She believed that dad would be very pleased to see them that way.

When mom and I realized what my sister had done, we became completely speechless. However, my sister had no idea why no one showed her any appreciation. When my dad arrived, he went straight to see the flowers as usual. Seeing his flowers lying on the ground like dead animals, he was shocked at first. He looked towards the street to see if it was any of the neighbor’s children who could have done it. Then he looked at mom in silence. Finally mom, who always taught us to tell the truth no matter what, said, “No bad neighbors did this great job, only your lovely daughter Clemence.”

Dad’s face changed into a smile and then he said, “Do I have a better flower than my lovely daughter?” My younger sister smiled and hugged dad strongly.

1.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．No one knew what my sister had done with the carnations.

B．My younger sister told my father the truth about the carnations.

C．Dad asked my sister to help arrange the carnations on the ground.

D．Dad had thought one outsider had cut the flowers from the stems.

2. How did Clemence feel when she had the carnations cut?

A．Lucky

B．Upset

C．Helpful

D．Worried

3.What caused my younger sister to smile and hug dad strongly?

A．dad’s silence

B．mom’s help

C．dad’s love

D．mom’s words

4.Which of the following would be the best title?

A．Telling the truth	B．Dad’s best flower
C．My neighbors	D．Growing Carnations