Mum, what does it mean when someone tells you that they have a skeleton(骨骼) in the closet (衣橱)?” Jessica asked. “A skeleton in the closet?” her mother thought for a while. “Well, it’s something that you would rather not have anyone else know about. For example, if in the past, someone in Dad’s family had been arrested for stealing a horse, it would be ‘a skeleton in his family’s closet’. He really wouldn’t want any neighbor to know about it.”
“Why pick on my family?” Jessica’s father said with anger. “Your family history isn’t so good, you know. Wasn’t your great-great-grandfather a prisoner who was brought to Australia for his crimes?” “Yes, but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors（祖先） arrived as prisoners.” “Gosh, sorry I asked. I think I understand now,” Jessica cut in before things grew worse.
After dinner, the house was very quiet. Jessica’s parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and from time to time she looked angrily at her husband, who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica’s closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt, a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica’s mother sank in a faint(晕倒), waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead. She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.
“What happened? Where am I?” she asked. “You just destroyed the school’s skeleton, Mum,” explained Jessica. “I brought it home to help me with my health project. I wanted to tell you, but it seemed that as soon as I said something about skeletons and closets, it caused a problem between you and Dad.” Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. “They’re both crazy,” she thought.According to Jessica’s mother, “a skeleton in the closet” means ________.
| A．a family honor | B．a family secret |
| C．a family story | D．a family treasure |
Why did Jessica bring a skeleton home?
| A．She was curious about it. |
| B．She planned to keep it for fun. |
| C．She needed it for her school task. |
| D．She wanted to scare her parents. |
Jessica’s parents laughed madly at the end of the story probably because ________.
| A．they realized their misunderstanding |
| B．they were crazy |
| C．they were over excited |
| D．they both thought they had won the quarrel |
The koala is small and cute. It spends most of its lifecycle (生命周期) in the trees. It eats, sleeps and nurses (养育) its baby there, and it only comes down to the ground if necessary. The koala is loved by many people for its small size and cartoon-like feature.
A mother gives birth and raises only one baby koala at a time. During the mother’s lifecycle, she will produce up to six baby koalas. A newborn baby koala does not look like an adult because it is born blind with undeveloped features.
After the baby koala is born, it makes its way to the mother’s pouch (育儿袋) and lives inside. Then it develops its eyes, legs and fur. In fact it lives in the mother’s pouch for about six months.
At last the baby koala gets out of its mother’s pouch, and the mother carries her baby on her back. Some baby koalas want to use the safety of the pouch longer than necessary, but their size is too big for them to climb back inside. When the next baby koala is born, it is time for last season’s baby to say goodbye.
根据短文内容，判断句子正（T）、误（F）。The koala spends most of its lifecycle on the ground.
A mother koala gives birth and raises six baby koalas at a time.
A baby koala lives in its mother’s pouch for about half a year.
Baby koalas can’t get back to their mothers’ pouches again if they are too big.
This passage mainly tells us how baby koalas are born.
Everyone worries. But how do you deal with your worries? Whether your worries are big or small, you can take these three steps to deal with your worries:
1. Try to find out what you're worried about
Sometimes, you will know what you're worried about. Other times, you might not. Try to find it out first; if you can't, you can ask for help.
2. Think of ways to make it better
There is always something you can do to help you feel less worried. Sitting there worrying is no fun and it won't solve your problem.
Grades at school are often top worries for kids. If you're worried about grades, ask yourself these questions:
★ Why are grades important? What do grades mean to me?
★How do I get ready for class? Do I go over my notes even when there isn't a test?
★ Do I have a good place to do my homework?
★ Have I tried different ways of studying?
If your worry is about a fight you had, you might write down all the things you could do: write a note to him or her, invite him or her to a basketball game, say sorry to him or her, etc. Once you have a list of things you could do, you can choose the one that gets your friend back.
3. Ask for help
When you're worried, it can help to find someone to talk to. You can ask your parents, friends, or teachers for help.
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。How should you deal with the worry first if you don't know what we're worried about?
| A．We should try to find it out. | B．We should ask others. |
| C．We should help others first. | D．We should sit there worrying. |
When can you ask “What do grades mean to me”?
| A．When my friends don’t like me. |
| B．When I don’t try different ways of studying. |
| C．When I finish my homework. |
| D．When we're worried about grades. |
Which is the meaning of the underlined phrase “go over” in the passage?
| A．翻滚 | B．复习 |
| C．转向 | D．越过 |
According to the passage, what will you do if you have a fight?
| A．I will make a new friend. |
| B．I don’t want to talk to him or her any more. |
| C．I will have another fight |
| D．I will invite him or her to a basketball game. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．who is often worried | B．when people are worried |
| C．how to deal with our worries | D．what kind of worries people have |
Henry was a carpenter（木匠）of our village. Once I asked him to make a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I arrived home that evening, Henry was drinking a cup of tea and writing his bill for his work. .
My wife said to me，quietly，“That’s his ninth cup of tea today.” But she said loudly, "It's a beautiful table, dear, isn't it?"
"I won't decide about that until I see that bill.” I said.
Henry laughed and gave me his bill for the work. It said：
| BILL One dining table June 10，2013 Cost of wood $ 17.00 Paint（油漆） $ 1.50 Work，8 hours（1 an hour) $ 8.00 Total（总计） $ 36.50 |
When I was looking at the bill，Henry said，"it’s been a fine day，hasn’t it? Quite sunny.”
"Yes,” I said. "I’m glad it is only the 10th of June.”
"Me too” , said Henry. "If you wait, it'll be a bit hotter by the end of the month.”
"Yes. Hotter and more expensive. Dining tables will be 20 more expensive on June 30th, won't they，Henry?”
Henry looked hard at me for half a minute. There was a little embarrassed smile in his two blue eyes. It seemed that he had done wrong. I gave his bill back to him.
"If it isn't too much trouble, Henry, ” I said，"Please add it up again. You can forget the date.”
I paid him $26. 50 and he ran away in a hurry.When the writer got home, Henry _______.
| A．was talking with the writer’s wife | B．was waiting for him |
| C．had finished the dinning table | D．had drunk ten cups of tea |
Henry talked about weather when the writer was looking at the bill because _______.
| A．he didn’t know how to say except weather |
| B．he wanted the writer to look at the bill carefully |
| C．he wanted to tell the writer what the weather was like |
| D．he didn't want the writer to go through the bill carefully |
The writer thought Henry would ask for ______dollars if he made a dining table on the last day of June.
| A．26.50 | B．56. 50 |
| C．46.50 | D．20.00 |
When the writer gave him the money, Henry was _______．
| A．embarrassed | B．angry |
| C．surprised | D．sad |
From the story we know that Henry _______．
| A．didn’t make a mistake in the bill |
| B．got $36. 50 for his work in the end |
| C．had written out the bill before the writer got home |
| D．wanted to try to get more money for his work |
Sports, drama, and all kinds of organizations keep students busy during high school. Where do they get the money to do these things? Not everyone gets it from parents. Most have to work for at least some of the money to pay for these activities. Some adults question if high school students should have jobs. I say yes, they undoubtedly should.
Some people worry that teens with after-school jobs will have difficulty finding time for schoolwork. Actually, having a job helps teens make better use of their time. Many jobs take only a couple of hours on weeknights. According to an article, 86 percent of high school students have an after-school, weekend or summer job and students who work between 10 and 20 hours per week during the school year get higher grades than those who do not work at all. Instead of considering working after school a hindrance, it should be looked at as real-world education.
Other people think that work adds too much stress（压力）, which may be somewhat true, but whether having a job or not, there is always stress. Better to learn how to deal with busy schedules（日程表）in a controlled environment like high school than to be out on your own and alone in the future, experiencing stress for the first time. I personally would be worried about the teenager who has to become independent without having any experience of working.
The biggest reason teens should work is that it is a healthy way of making money. There are many things teens need to pay for and they cannot do it if they don’t have a job. Not all parents can pay for these activities. My dad told me, “Having a job is a good way to save up for things you are going to need or want to do. You get a lot more out of things if you pay for them yourself.” The sooner kids make money, the sooner they can learn how to use money wisely. If they are not allowed to work in high school, they may have a hard time in the future. Teens should, without a doubt, be allowed to work on school nights.The word “hindrance” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.
| A．something that encourages teens to study |
| B．something that helps teens improve study |
| C．something that prevents teens from studying |
| D．something that makes teens lose interest in study |
What can we learn from Paragraph 3?
| A．Teens are too busy with study to work at high school. |
| B．Teens experience stress for the first time at high school. |
| C．Teens are worried about being independent in the future. |
| D．Teens who work will deal with stress better in the future. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Working makes teens get lower grades. |
| B．Working teaches teens to spend money more wisely. |
| C．Working helps teens to get on better with their parents. |
| D．Working stops teens from taking part in after-school activities. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．What money means to teens. |
| B．Why teens should work after school. |
| C．Whether parents should help teens find jobs. |
| D．How teens get money for after-school activities. |
At the age of sixteen, I went on my first volunteer program in West Virginia to repair or build homes for poor families. When we arrived, we discovered that the family we were going to help was living in a trailer（拖车式活动房）that was in poor condition, no bigger than two parking spaces. A group of people had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another appeared.
We soon decided that the only way was to build a new house. It was something unusual because normally our goal was to repair old homes. The family was pleased with their new house that was 20 by 30 feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.
On Tuesday of that week, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, “What do you want for your new room?” Kids in the families we had helped usually wanted toys or posters, so we were surprised when Josh, the oldest boy said, “We just want beds.” The boys had never slept in a bed. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.
On Friday when we saw the truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. They were very excited.
That afternoon, while we were setting up the beds, Eric ran into the house to watch us with wide eyes. As Maggie, a member of our group, put one of the pillows on the bed, Eric asked, “What is that?”
“A pillow,” she replied.
“What do you do with it?” Eric went on asking.
“When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” Maggie answered softly. Tears came to our eyes as she handed Eric the pillow.
“Oh . . . that’s soft,” he said, holding it tightly.
Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems very urgent（急迫的）, my dad always asks, “Do you have a pillow?” We know exactly what he means.Why did the writer’s group build a new house for the family?
| A．Because it was their normal work. |
| B．Because the family asked them to do it. |
| C．Because the trailer could no longer be repaired. |
| D．Because they thought it was a perfect gift for the family. |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．The family needed two parking spaces. |
| B．The boys of the family wanted toys and posters. |
| C．The family were excited about the beds and bedding. |
| D．The writer’s group made some furniture for the family. |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．The Pillow | B．A New House |
| C．The Family | D．An Interesting Program |
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