One day, a man found the cocoon (茧) of a butterfly and he brought it home.
A few days later, the man saw a small hole in the cocoon. He sat and watched for several hours as a butterfly struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it stopped.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a knife and cut a bigger hole in the cocoon. The butterfly came out of the cocoon but it had a weak body and small, thin wings. The butterfly didn’t start to fly.
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬行) around with a weak body and thin wings. It was never able to fly.
The man acted with kindness but he didn’t understand that he had done something wrong. When a butterfly crawls out of the cocoon, it must struggle. The hard work of getting out of the cocoon forces the fluid(液体) from the butterfly’s body into wings. It helps the butterfly be ready to fly. If the butterfly never has to force itself out of the cocoon, its wings never get the fluid and it can never fly.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we lived our lives without any problems, we would never learn or grow. We would not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly.
So, the next time you are faced with a challenge or a problem, remember the butterfly.
Struggle a little – then fly!
【小题1】Why did the man cut a bigger hole in the cocoon?

A．To catch the butterfly easily.

B．To play with the butterfly.

C．To help the butterfly come out.

D．To make the butterfly stronger.

【小题2】What happened after the butterfly got out of the cocoon?

A．It died soon.

B．It had a strong body and wings.

C．It could fly after a few days.

D．It couldn’t fly during the rest of its life.

【小题3】Why couldn’t the butterfly fly?  Because ___________ .

A．it got out of its cocoon without struggle

B．nobody had taught it to fly

C．all newborn butterflies could not fly

D．the man broke its wings

【小题4】What does the writer want to tell us?

A．Kindness in our lives can help us grow.

B．Try to be ready to help others.

C．Without other’s help we can still succeed.

D．Hard work leads to success.

【小题5】Which is the best title for the passage?

A．The Old Man and the Butterfly	B．Life Struggle
C．How To Help a Butterfly Fly	D．Kindness and Rush

What do you think are the most important inventions of the past 2,000 years? The TV? The printing? The telephone? Or the computer? A report shows that these are not the only important inventions. Here are four other important ones.

Paper is one of the most important inventions. You can’t have printing without paper. In 105 AD, Cai Lun invented paper in China. Long before the printing and Internet, Cai Lun’s invention allowed us to write down information, stories and history.

One of the simplest (最简单) inventions to save life is the toilet. Before toilets, waste ran into the rivers from people’s houses. Illnesses were common (普通的) in big cities, and it was often difficult to find clean drinking water.

Animal food is another invention. Before the invention, most animals were killed every autumn because there was not enough food for them in the winter. After hay (干草) became a kind of common animal food, animals could live through the long winter.

Reading glasses is the fourth invention. People start getting far-sighted (远视) from the age of 45. Glasses mean that anyone can read, write and do “close work” after that age. Without glasses, the world would be difficult for the people above 45.

1.Cai Lun’s invention of paper makes it possible to ______.

A．have printing                           B．feed animals

C．drink clean water                       D．do “close work”

2.The invention of the toilet can stop people from ______.

A．saving water                           B．getting ill

C．living in big cities                        D．finding clean water

3.Why couldn’t the animals live through the winter?

A．It was very cold in winter.                 B．They didn’t have enough food to eat.

C．They had no drinking water.               D．They died of illness.

4.From the last paragraph we learn that ______.

A．all people need reading glasses

B．anyone must do “close work” after 45

C．reading glasses are useful

D．life is more difficult for the people under 45

 

C

“Everything happens for the best.” Whenever I faced disappointment, my mother would say this to me.

After I graduated form college in 1932, I decided to find a job in radio as a sports announcer(广播员). I went to Chicago and knocked at the door of every station. But unluckily, I was refused every time.

At one station, a kind lady told me that big stations wouldn’t hire(雇佣) a person without any experience and suggested that I try my luck at smaller stations. Following her advice, I went back to Dixon, where I had grown up. There were no such jobs in Dixon, and my father said a newly-opened store wanted a local athlete to work for it. I wanted this job, but I was refused again.

“Everything happens for the best,” Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to look for a job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.

As I left his office, I felt so frustrated. “How can I become a sports announcer if I can’t get a job in a radio station?” I asked aloud.

While I was waiting for the elevator, I heard someone calling. It was MacArthur. “What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?” Then he asked me to have a try. He was pleased with my performance, and he offered me a chance to work there.

On my way home, I thought of my mother’s words: “If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn’t have happened if without the failure before.”

1.Why couldn’t the writer find a job at big radio stations?

A．Because he never graduated from college.

B．Because he didn’t work hard in college.

C．Because he didn’t have much experience.

D．Because he didn’t know about sports.

2.Which of the following is the correct order of events?

a. The writer got a job as a sports announcer at a radio station.

b. The writer was refused when he wanted jobs in Chicago.

c. The writer graduated from college.

d. The writer went back to his hometown to look for a job.

A．cbda

B．cbad

C．bcda

D．bcad

3. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The writer’s parents didn’t want him to be a sports announcer.

B．There were no radio announcer jobs in the writer’s hometown.

C．The writer became uninterested in being a sports announcer.

D．The writer got a job as a sports announcer in Dixon at last.

4. According to the last paragraph, what did the writer’s mom want to tell him?

A．He shouldn’t be a sports announcer.

B．Disappointment leads to failure.

C．He should be proud of himself.

D．Everything will be OK if he keeps trying.

 

There was a man who had a little son. He loved him very much. Every day after work the man would come home and play with the little boy.
When the man came home from work one night, he found that he had some extra work to do. And he wasn’t able to play with his little son. He wanted to give the boy something to keep him busy. So, looking around his study, he saw a magazine with a large map of the world on the cover. He got an idea. He patiently tore the map up into pieces. Then he led his son into the dining room and spread the pieces on the table. He explained to the boy that it was a map of the world. He told the boy to put it back together and they could play together when he finished. Surely this could keep the child busy for hours, he thought.
After about thirty minutes, the boy came to the man and said, “Okay, it’s finished, Dad. Can we play now?”
The man was surprised, saying, “That’s amazing! How did you do that?” The boy said, “It was easy. On the back of the page was a picture of a man. When I put the man together, the whole world appeared completely.”
【小题1】 Why couldn’t the man play with his son that night? 

A．He had to read a magazine.	B．He had some extra work to do.
C．He had to learn something about a map.	D．He had to stay at his office for extra work.

【小题2】What did the man ask his son to do?

A．To read the magazine to find the map.

B．To tear the map of the world up into pieces.

C．To put the pieces of the map of the world back together.

D．To clean the dining room first, and then read the map of the world.

【小题3】 How long did it take the boy to finish the work?

A．A few hours.

B．About an hour.

C．About half an hour.

D．The whole night.

【小题4】Which of the following is TRUE about the passage?

A．It’s a report about a father’s extra work.

B．It’s a story between a father and his clever son.

C．It’s an advertisement for the map of the world.

D．It’s a poster about how to deal with parents’ problems.

根据短文内容，回答问题

The best holiday of my life was two years ago. My parents, my aunt and uncle, my three cousins and I all went to India together. We spent two weeks traveling around and we visited many interesting places. The night before we left for India, I was so excited that I could not sleep. Our plane left at 1 p.m. and it took nearly six hours to fly to New Delhi. It was raining when we arrived. We were all very tired so we went straight to our hotel.

The next day, we went on a sightseeing tour. I took lots of photos and we all bought souvenirs at the markets. I learned that there is also a place called Delhi which is the oldest part of the city.

On the third day of our trip, we went to a place called Jaipur. At Jaipur we visited the Palace Museum and rode elephants. The elephant I rode was so big that I almost fell off. While my cousins and I were riding elephants, our parents went to look at the pink buildings that Jaipur is famous for.

Some people think that all Indian food is very spicy. But there are some dishes that are not spicy at all. My favourite dish is chicken. It is delicious. It tastes a little bit sweet. We ate rice every day, just like at home.

India is so big that it is impossible to see all of it in one trip. I hope that I can visit it again some day.

1.How many people went to India for their holiday two years ago?

____________________________________________________

2.What was the weather like when the writer arrived New Delhi?

____________________________________________________

3. Why couldn’t the writer sleep the night before they left for India?

____________________________________________________

4.New Delhi and Delhi are two different cities, aren’t they?

____________________________________________________

5.What is the best title of this passage?

____________________________________________________