Dear Dad,
Today I was at the shopping mall and I spent a lot of time reading the Father’s Day cards. They all had a special message that in some way or another reflected how I feel about you. Yet as I selected and read, it occurred to me that not a single card said what I really want to say to you.
You’ll soon be 84 years old, Dad, and you and I will have had 55 Father’s Days together. I haven’t always been with you on Father’s Day but I’ve always been with you in my heart.
You know, Dad, there was a time when we were separated by the generation gap. You stood on one side of the Great Divide and I on the other.
The Father-Daughter Duel shifted into high gear（档位）when you taught me to drive the old Dodge and I decided I would drive the 54 Chevy(雪佛兰) whether you liked it or not. The police officer who sent me home after you reported the Chevy stolen didn’t have much tolerance（容忍） for a stubborn 16 -year- old girl, while you were so tolerant about it, Dad, and I think that was probably what made it the worst night of my life.
Our relationship picked up when I married a man you liked, and things really turned around when we began making babies. Somewhere along the line, the generation gap disappeared. I suppose I saw us and our relationship as aging together, rather like a fine wine.
But the strangest thing happened last week. I was at a stop sign and I watched as you turned the corner in your car. It didn’t immediately occur to me that it was you because the man driving looked so elderly and weak behind the wheel of that huge car. It was rather like a slap(打) in the face delivered from out of nowhere. Perhaps I saw your age for the first time that day.
I guess what I’m trying to say, Dad, is what every son and daughter wants to say to their Dad today. Honoring a father on Father’s Day is about respect and sharing and acceptance and tolerance and giving and taking. It’s about loving someone more than words can say, and it’s my wish that it never had to end.
I love you, Dad.
Love,
JennyWhat caused Jenny to write the letter?
| A．Getting along well with her father. |
| B．Failing to find a satisfactory card. |
| C．Visiting a card exhibition at a mall. |
| D．Being away on previous Father’s Day. |
What does the underlined phrase “ turned around ” in Para. 5 mean?
| A．Became better. | B．Changed unexpectedly. |
| C．Went worse. | D．Progressed unsteadily. |
What can we learn from Para. 6?
| A．Jenny seldom saw her father drive that huge car. |
| B．Jenny knew her father’s real age from that day on. |
| C．Jenny’s father slapped her on the face somewhere. |
| D．Jenny had never realized her father’s being weak. |
Jenny wrote her father this letter to __________ .
| A．inform him of their conflicts |
| B．apologize for her being stubborn |
| C．express her deep love to him |
| D．remind him of the early incident |
In Mexico, girls mark their fifteenth birthday with a celebration called Quinceanera. In the morning, the birthday girl goes to the church with her family and her best friends. She wears a beautiful dress. Later in the day, there is a huge party, with a big cake that matches the girl’s dress, and a night filled with music and dancing.
Becoming an adult is a very important life change, and Japan has a special holiday to celebrate this. The second Sunday in January is Coming-of-Age Day. On that day, everyone who had their twentieth birthday in the last year goes to their Town Hall for a special activity. Everyone dresses up, and many women wear beautiful dresses. The mayor makes a speech and gives presents to all the new adults.
Some kids are afraid to start school, but six-year-olds in Germany can’t wait. For them, Schulanfang is a big holiday. To celebrate a child’s first day of school, parents or friends give the child a Zuckertuete, a big color box filled with candy and little presents. People take pictures of the kids holding their Zuckertuete, and there is a school party later for the parents with cake and coffee.What happens at Quinceanera?
| A．The birthday girl buys many gifts. |
| B．The birthday girl goes to the church. |
| C．Parents give a Zuckertuete to the child. |
| D．Parents make speeches in the church. |
When is Coming-of-Age Day celebrated?
| A．On one’s first day of school. |
| B．On one’s twentieth birthday. |
| C．On a girl’s fifteenth birthday. |
| D．On the second Sunday in January. |
Schulanfang is celebrated when German children ______.
| A．start school | B．reach the age of 15 |
| C．grow into adults | D．are born |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Celebrating birthdays. |
| B．Celebrating school holidays. |
| C．Celebrating life changes. |
| D．Celebrating national holidays. |
We lived in a very quiet neighbourhood. Early one evening, my wife asked me to go to the to get some soft drinks. My daughter Holly had just got her permit, so I asked her to drive my truck for the shopping instead, as a chance of .
While we were waiting for Holly, my son talked about how much he liked my truck, and I told him I enjoyed having it, too. But I was more or less about Holly. Just then, we heard a loud noise outside. My son looked out and , “Daddy! Daddy! Holly … Truck!”
“Oh, my God!” I ran to the door, I found that the truck had been brought to a stop.
The had happened in our own driveway. With experience, Holly had my truck hit our garage wall. , Holly was unhurt, but when I reached her, she was crying and saying, “Oh, Dad, I’m sorry. I know how much you this truck.” I held her in my arms as she cried.
I remember how Holly was the night she had my truck damaged, and how I her. The repaired truck reminds me of what really in my life. One day, when Holly her life, she will certainly know that I love my a thousand times more than anything else.
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The World's Largest Insect
This giant insect can be used as a toy.
A child ties one end of a string to a stick and the other end around the "neck" of an insect. Holding the stick, the child lets the insect go. With a loud whirring sound, the insect takes off, pulling the string in a large curve over the child's head. The child laughs as the stick jumps around. The child is African, and the toy is the African Goliath beetle, the largest insect in the world.
The Goliath is a true insect because it has six legs and a body that is divided into three parts. Like all beetles, it has two pairs of wings. The front pair are thick and stiff and protect the back pair, which are soft. It is these soft back wings that make the beetle fly forward. They also cause the loud whirring sound the beetle makes when it flies. To steer, the beetle twists and turns its legs the same way you steer a bike by turning its front wheel.
African children often use the Goliath beetle as a toy. Although it is over 15 centimeters long, it is quite harmless.The African Goliath beetle is _______.
| A．the world's largest insect |
| B．a toy used in many parts of the world |
| C．the only insect found in Africa |
| D．the world's smallest insect |
What made the whirring sound that the child heard?
| A．The curved string. |
| B．The beetle's soft wings. |
| C．The beetle's six legs. |
| D．The beetle's body. |
We know the Goliath beetle is a true insect because it _______.
| A．makes a whirring sound when it flies |
| B．has both soft and hard wings |
| C．has six legs and a body with three parts |
| D．can fly |
When flying, the Goliath steers by_______.
| A．turning its soft back wings |
| B．twisting and turning its hard front wings |
| C．twisting and turning its legs |
| D．twisting and turning its whole body |
Earthquakes are something that people fear．There are some places that have few or no earthquakes．Most places in the world，however，have them regularly（有规律的）.Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous（多山的）. The most talked about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. Over 700 people died in it．The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska．
Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people．In 1755，one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal．Around 2,000 people died．
In 1923，a very strong earthquake hit the Tokyo，Yokohama area of Japan．A hundred and forty thousand people died．Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake．
One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 1976．It killed a large number of people．The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China，in which 400,000 people were killed or injured．This earthquake happened in 1556．
Earthquakes worry people a lot．The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming．People can not prepare for it．Earthquakes happen .
| A．in all the places in the world |
| B．only in the countries that have a lot of mountains |
| C．regularly in most places in the world |
| D．only in a few places along the coast |
When and where was the worst earthquake ever reported？
| A．1964; Alaska. | B．1556; China. |
| C．1923; Japan. | D．1976; China. |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true？
| A．The stronger the earthquake is, the more people are killed. |
| B．Earthquakes often come unexpectedly （出乎意料地）． |
| C．Earthquakes can cause fires． |
| D．People still don’t know how to tell when an earthquake will come． |
What may be talked about in the sixth paragraph？
| A．How do earthquakes worry people？ |
| B．What will people do to prepare for earthquakes？ |
| C．How can we save people when earthquakes happen？ |
| D．How do earthquakes happen？ |
Along the river banks of the Amazon and the Orinoco there lives a bird that swims before it can fly, flies like a fat chicken, eats green leaves, has the stomach of a cow and has claws (爪) on its wings when young. They build their homes about 4.6m above the river, an important feature (特征) for the safety of the young. It is called the hoatzin.
In appearance, the birds of both sexes look very much alike with brown on the back and cream and red on the underside. The head is small, with a large set of feathers on the top, bright red eyes, and blue skin. Its nearest relatives are the common birds, cuckoos. Its most striking feature, though, is only found in the young.
Baby hoatzins have a claw on the leading edge of each wing and another at the end of each wing tip. Using these four claws, together with the beak (喙), they can climb about in the bushes, looking very much like primitive（远古的） birds must have done. When the young hoatzins have learned to fly, they lose their claws.
During the drier months between December and March hoatzins fly about the forest in groups of 20 to 30 birds, but in April, when the rainy season begins, they collect together in smaller living units of two to seven birds for producing purposes.What is the text mainly about?
| A．Hoatzins in dry and rainy seasons. |
| B．The relatives and enemies of hoatzins. |
| C．Primitive birds and hoatzins of the Amazon. |
| D．The appearance and living habits of hoatzins. |
Young hoatzins are different from their parents in that____ ．
| A．they look like young cuckoos |
| B．they have claws on the wings |
| C．they eat a lot like a cow |
| D．they live on river banks |
What can we infer about primitive birds from the text?
| A．They had claws to help them climb. |
| B．They could fly long distances. |
| C．They had four wings like hoatzins. |
| D．They had a head with long feathers on the top. |
Why do hoatzins collect together in smaller groups when the rainy season comes?
| A．To find more food. |
| B．To protect themselves better. |
| C．To keep themselves warm. |
| D．To produce their young. |
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