There is something about New Year's Eve. In Scotland （苏格兰） the last day of the year is the ____1____ important holiday of the winter,more important than ____2____ On New Year's Eve friends and neighbors（邻居）go about from house to house drinking to each other's health and wishing good luck. ____3___ New Year's Day all shops and factories are closed and no ____4___ is done. Families meet ____5___for a big meal and a family party.

　　In England New Year's Day is not ____6___ holiday and people go to work as ____7___ But on New Year's Eve most people sit up till ____8___ “to see the New Year in” or they ____9___to parties and dances. Most of the big London hotels ____10___ a New Year's Eve dance.

Dear Reader,

　　Imagine an 11-year-old child whose days are often spent washing clothes, looking after a baby, working hard in the fields.

　　Imagine a little girl who knows there will not be enough food for dinner, who can't fill her stomach with water because it's polluted, and who has watched life slip away from her father and little brother and sister because the family is too poor to see a doctor.

　　Is it hard to believe? For Maria Pastora, these are the real life.

　　Maria would gladly walk miles to school, but her mother, now alone, needs her badly at home. Maria will grow up without any schooling. What will be her future? In many ways, it will be disastrous.

　　But for just 52 pennies a day, you can sponsor a child like Maria. Show her that somewhere, someone cares about her. Through “Save the Children”, you can help Maria's mother get the tools and ways she needs to turn their poor food into a good dinner and get the money she needs to buy clothes and school things for Maria.

　　To help Maria most, your money is put together with that of other sponsors, so hard-working people can help themselves.Build a school, a hospital, bring in clean water. This is what “Save the Children” has been about since 1932.

　　For you there are many rewards. Have the chance to write to or hear from your sponsored child. Receive photos or progress reports. Know you are reaching out to another person. Not with a hand out, but a hand up. That's how “Save the Children” works.But with-out you, it can't work. Please take a moment now to fill in and post the form below to help a child like Ma-ria and her village.

　　It can make such a difference in her life and yours.

For the children,

David L. Guyer

President

(1) This letter is to ________.

[　　]

(2) We can read. the letter in ________.

[　　]

(3) What is Maria's most serious problem?

[　　]

A．She has no chance to go to school.

B．Her father died of a serious disease.

C．Hard work has made her suffer a lot.

D．Her mother needs her badly at home.

(4) What is “Save the Children”?

[　　]

A．An activity to help poor children go to school.

B．An office of the government to collect money.

C．A program shown at theaters to help the poor.

D．A group who works for children in poor places.

(5) The last sentence in the letter means ________.

[　　]

A．if Maria goes to school, you will be rewarded

B．what you give is more than what you take

C．both Maria's life and yours will change a lot

D．Maria and you can help each other at school

Sally was a student. It was going to be her mother’s birthday. She wanted to buy her a present that would be nice and useful but not expensive.

A week before her mother’s birthday, she went shopping after a quick and simple lunch. When she had been looking for half an hour, she found a shop that was selling cheep umbrellas（伞）, and decided to take a black one, since her mother had lost hers the month before.

She thought, “You could carry that when you are wearing clothes of any color.” So she decided to buy a lovely black umbrella and took it back to school with her until her classes had finished.

On her way back home in the train that evening, she felt hungry because she had such a small lunch that she went along to the buffet car（餐车） for another sandwich and cup of coffee. She had left the black umbrella above her seat in the compartment（车厢）, but when she got back, it had gone! When she had left the compartment, there had been no other passengers（乘客） in it, but now there were three.

Sally began to cry when she saw that the umbrella was no longer there. The other passengers felt very sorry for her and asked what the matter was. She told them that the black umbrella she had bought for her mother was gone, and that she had to get out at the next station. After the three other passengers heard it, they asked her for her mother’s address so that they could sent the umbrella to her if someone had taken it by mistake and brought it back after Sally had got out of the train.

The next week, Sally heard from her mother. It said, “Thank you very much for your lovely presents, but why did you send me three black umbrellas?”

1.Which of the following is the best for the sentence “You could carry that when you are wearing clothes of any color?”

2.What does the story infer（推断）?

3.How many umbrellas did Sally’s mother get at last?

4.The best name of the story is ________.

5.What does the writer want to tell us?