During the day, Mercer, is a hard-working dog , helping his owner and making sure she stays safe. But at night, the big, black dog slips out of the house, tries his paws at ice-skating, and even makes hot chocolate for himself .

Or at least that's what he does in Marvelous Mercer, a new book written by the dog's 12-year-old owner, Shea Megale. Shea has spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that makes her muscles very weak. She uses a motorized wheelchair. Mercer is an assistance dog that is specially trained to do many of the things Shea can't.

Shea is writing a series of six books about Mercer Marvelous mercer arrived in stores this fall, and the second book is due out early next year.

Cool Tricks

During his training, Mercer learned to carry out 60 different commands, Shea now uses them to tell Mercer what she needs as she goes about her day. “Under ”tells down. “Car” tells him to get into a vehicle.

Shea’s favorite command is “lap”, which tells Mercer to put his front paws across her lap. “I love that ”, Shea says .

At school, Mercer carries Shea’s backpack and helps her order her lunch in the dining room. During class, he stays under her desk in case she drops her pencil. At night, he pulls the covers up for her and turns out her bedroom light.

Leading a Paw

Shea and Mercer aren’t the only ones benefiting from their special relationship. “Thanks to the book series . We’re helping a lot more people now ,” Shea says.

Some of the books profits are going to help pay for research into the disease Shea is suffering from. Money from the books also will be used to train assistance dogs for U.S. soldiers who were injured in Iraq.

Despite all of the attention –and his star status success hasn’t gone to Mercer’s head. In fact , when WR News interviewed Shea, Mercer slept through the whole thing-most likely dreaming about his next adventure !

67．We know from the passage that Mercer is     .

A．Shea’s pet dog               B．an assistance dog helping Shea

C．a 12-year-old dog          D．a character Shea makes up in her book

68．According to the passage , Shea’s “Cool Tricks ”include the following EXCEPT    .

A．commanding Mercer to lie down           B．commanding Mercer to get into a car

C．telling Mercer to open her backpack            

D．telling Mercer to put his front paws across her lap

69．The underlined expression “Lending a Paw ”is closest in meaning to “       ”

A．giving a helping hand                          B．acting as a guide

C．benefiting from friendship                   D．exploring adventures

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

A．Shea has written 6 books about Mercer

B．Mercer is glad to be the focus of attention    

C．Mercer isn’t allowed in Shea’s classroom

D．Though disabled , Shea helps lots of people

Although Wu Huifei was only a concubine (妃子) of Tang Xuanzong (AD 685-762), the sixth emperor of the Tang Dynasty, her influence was far greater than most in her position.

Historians say that the ruler loved her so much that, in AD 724, he banished his wife and made Wu a royal concubine.

"Although she was only a concubine, she was treated as an empress with palace etiquette (礼节)," explained Shi Xiaoqun, director of relics collection for Shaanxi History Museum. "Tang Xuanzong even wanted to make her his empress but was opposed by the ministers."

The emperor had thousands of concubines in his palace in Chang'an (now called Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province) but, according to Shi, he only loved Wu, the mother of seven of his children.

Wu died in the December of AD 737 at the age of 38 and was buried in Jingling Mausoleum. She was given the title Empress Zhenshun after her death.

"It's rare for a concubine to be given so much posthumous (死后获得的) honor in the history of Chinese feudal (封建) society," said Liu Daiyun, research director at the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute.

Her tomb ---53 meters wide by 56 meters long --- is located in the west of Pangliu village, which is part of Xi'an's Chang'an district.

The recovered sarcophagus (石棺) is 4 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters tall and is decorated with flowers and maiden figures, which archaeologists say is a rare cultural relic of high scientific, historical and artistic value. In ancient times, a sarcophagus was used to house wood coffins in order to preserve the body of the noble person.

“I knew it was precious but I didn’t know it was so beautiful,” said Han Qinglong, who headed the team that brought the relic back to China four years after it was stolen and sold abroad by tomb raiders (盗墓者).

64. The underlined word “banished” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “      ”

  A. killed                   B. removed                 C. divorced                 D. persuaded

65. The passage mainly focuses on          .

  A. the life story of Wu Huifei.     B. the reason why Wu Huifei was favoured by Tang Xuanzong

  C. the scientific, historical and artistic value of the recovered sarcophagus of Wu Huifei.

  D. the influence of Wu Huifei and her posthumous honor.

66. Which of the following descriptions about Wu Huifei is true according to the passage?

  A. She wasn’t made empress by Tang Xuanzong because of the opposition from the ministers.

  B. She was born in 737 AD and died in 775 AD.

  C. No other woman has a greater influence on Chinese history than she does.

  D. Like many concubines, she was given much honor after her death.                      

He told me the news_____, believe it or not, he had earned $1 000 in a single day.?

　　A. that     B. which?    C. as      D. because??

Our little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper，and handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mom dried her hands on an apron，she read it，and this is what it said：

For cutting the grass $5.00     

For cleaning up my room this week $1. 00

For going to the store for you $0. 50

Baby－sitting my kid brother while you went shopping $0. 25

Taking out the garbage $1. 00

For getting a good report card $5. 00

For cleaning up and raking the yard $2. 00

Total owed： $14.75

Well，I’ll tell you，his mother looked at him standing there expectantly，and boy，could I see the memories flashing through her mind. So she picked up the pen，turned over the paper he’d written on，and this is what she wrote：   

For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me，No Charge.

For all the nights that I’ve sat up with you，doctored and prayed for you，No Charge.

For all the trying times，and all the tears that you’ve caused through the years，there’s No Charge.

For all the nights that were filled with dread，and for the worries I knew were ahead，No Charge

For the toys，food，clothes，and even wiping your nose，there’s No Charge，Son.

When you___________________，the cost of my love is No Charge.

Well，friends，when our son finished reading what his mother had written，there were great big old tears in his eyes，and he looked straight up at his mother and said：“Mom，I sure do love you. ”And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote：“PAID IN FULL”.

1.What’s the best title of the passage?      

2.Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?

Although you have broght me hard thimes andmany tears in these years , you needn’t pay for them.

3.Please fill in the blank in the passage with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence.(within ten words)

4.What do you learn after reading the passage?(within 30 words)

5.Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.