When my father was dying, I traveled a thousand miles from home to be with him in his last days. It was far more heartbreaking than I’d expected, one of the most difficult and painful times in my life. After he passed away I stayed alone in his apartment. There were so many things to deal with. It all seemed endless. I was lonely. I hated the silence of the apartment.

But one evening the silence was broken: I heard crying outside. I opened the door to find a little cat on the steps. He was thin and poor. He looked the way I felt. I brought him inside and gave him a can of fish. He ate it and then almost immediately fell sound asleep.

The next morning I checked with neighbors and learned that the cat had been abandoned by his owner who’s moved out. So the little cat was there all alone, just like I was. As I walked back to the apartment, I tried to figure out what to do with him. Having something else to take care of seemed like the very last thing I needed. But as soon as I opened the apartment door he came running and jumped into my arms. It was clear from that moment that he had no intention of going anywhere. I started calling him Willis, in honor of my father’s best friend.

From then on, things grew easier. With Willis in my lap time seemed to pass much more quickly. When the time finally came for me to return home I had to decide what to do about Willis. There was absolutely no way I would leave without him.

It’s now been five years since my father died. Over the years, several people have commented on how nice it was of me to rescue the cat. But I know that we rescued each other. I may have given him a home but he gave me something greater.

1. When the author first saw the cat, she_____________.

   A. was very happy                  B. felt sympathy for him

   C. didn’t know what to do         D. was angry with his crying

2. The underlined sentence in the third paragraph implies that the author___________.

   A. needed something to fill the empty apartment

   B. was too busy and tired to keep a cat

   C. loved to stay alone in the apartment

   D. needed something to take care of to kill time

3. The cat rescued the author by ____________.

  A. making her feel better in her hard times

  B. giving her courage to go on with her life

   C. helping her tidy the department

  D. telling her what life is

4. We can learn form the passage that _________.

   A. Willis was named after his previous owner

   B. Willis didn’t like staying in the apartment

  C. the author and Willis were both homeless

  D. time passed quickly after the author adopted Willis

5. What’s the best title for the passage?

   A. A little cat                         B. A painful experience

   C. How to take care of animals          D. What I got from a little cat

When middle-aged Alex quit his job and made up his mind to become a self-employed writer, no one could tell for sure whether he would succeed or not．He found a cold storage room in a building, set up a used typewriter and settled down to work．

After a year or so, however, Alex began to doubt himself．He found it was difficult to earn his living by selling what he wrote．But Alex determined to put his dream to the test—even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure．This is the shadowland（虚幻世界）of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there．

One day Alex got a call,“We need an assistant, and we're paying $ 6,000 a year．” $ 6,000 was real money in 1960．It would enable Alex to get a nice apartment, a used car and more．Besides, he could write in his spare time．As the dollars were dancing in Alex's head, something cleared his senses．He had dreamed of being a writer? Full time．“Thanks, but no,” Alex said firmly and swiftly, “I'm going to stick it out and write．”

After Alex got off the phone, he pulled out everything he had: two cans of vegetables and 18 cents．Alex put the cans and cents into a paper bag, saying to himself, “There's everything you've made of yourself so far．I'm not sure I ever felt so low.”

Finally his work was published in 1970．Instantly he had the kind of fame and success that few writers ever experienced．The shadows had turned into focus of attention．

Then one day, Alex found a box filled with things he had owned years before．Inside was a paper bag with two cans and 18 cents．Suddenly he pictured himself working in that cold storage room．It reminds Alex, and anyone with a dream, of the courage and persistence it takes to stay the course in the shadowland．

1.Why did Alex give up his job?

2.What did Alex express when he answered the call?

3.What kind of person is Alex?

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

阅读下面短文,从短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
　　At the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, the sports of canoe (划船) racing was added to the list of international competition. The  31  team in the four-man canoe race was the United States team. One member of that team was a young man named Bill Havens.
As the time for the Olympics  32 , it became clear that Bill’s wife would give birth to their first child at about the  33  that the U.S. team would be competing in the Pairs games. In 1924 there were no planes form Paris to the United States, only  34  ships. Bill found himself in a dilemma (左右为难的困境).
Bill’s wife insisted that he go to Paris.  35 , competing in the Olympics was a lifelong dream. But Bill felt  36  and, after much soul-searching, decided to remain home, where he could  37  his wife when the child arrived. He considered being at her  38  his highest priority (优先考虑的事), even higher than going to Paris to fulfill his  39 .
The team won the gold medal in Paris. And Bill’s wife was  40  in giving birth to their child.  41 , Bill could have competed in the event and returned home  42  to be with he when she gave birth.
People said, “What a shame!” But Bill said he had no  43 . For the rest of his life, he  44  he had made the better decision.
Bill Havens knew what was most important to him. Not everybody  45  that out. Not everybody has the strength to say no to something he or she truly  46  in order to say yes to something that truly  47 . Peace begins to  48  our lives when we learn to say yes to the things that really matter.
Twenty eight years later, Bill  49  a telegram. It was from Finland, where the 1952 Olympics were being held. The telegram read, “Dad, I won. I’m bringing home the gold medal you  50  while waiting for me to be born.”

 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Richard’s father died when he was five. Later on he lost his mother. An old woman felt sorry for the poor boy and often helped him. Of course he had no money to go to school. He had to work for a rich farmer. The man paid him nothing except food and clothes.__ 1._ He found some old books near the school and taught himself to read and write.

_2.__It connected the village and the town. One morning people found there was a big stone on it. It stopped them from going to town. They had to move it away, or they had to cross the mountain if they had something to do in the town. But the stone weighed thirty tons at least and the strongest young men couldn’t do that.  _3.__

Richard looked at it carefully for a while and said, “I have a way to move it away.” But few men believed him. __4.__ Night fell and people went home. Only the boy stayed there. To their surprise, the villagers found the stone was gone the next morning. They didn’t know which spirit had moved it away.__ 5.__

“How could he?” the rich farmer called out. “He’s only fifteen! He couldn’t move it at all!”

“He dug a big hole beside the stone”, said the old woman, “And then he could easily push it into the hole!”

Looking at each other, the farmers couldn’t say a word.

A. The old woman said Richard had done it all.

B. There seemed to be nothing strange in village.

C. There was a narrow path between two mountains.

D. They discussed for a long time, but nobody knew what to do.

E. The boy hoped he could do something for the villagers some day.

F. Some farmers even laughed at the boy.

G. But the boy didn’t lose heart.

John had tried to find a job in the sales department, but he had no__________.