Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man,” she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice (临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter (计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to _____.
| A．show she was familiar with the city |
| B．see some places for the last time |
| C．let the driver earn more money |
| D．reach the destination on time |
The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he _____.
| A．wanted to do her a favor |
| B．shut off the meter by mistake |
| C．had received her payment in advance |
| D．was in a hurry to take other passengers |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Giving is always a pleasure. |
| B．People should respect each other. |
| C．An act of kindness can bring people great joy. |
| D．People should learn to appreciate others’ concern. |
It was once thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and/or heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is actually worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating a “greenhouse effect" - holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world's average temperature. If this view is correct and the world's temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate (废气排往空中而形成的微粒、颗粒) matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth's temperature ─ a result that would be equally disastrous. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to new ice age and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we are very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world's temperature will stay about the same as it is now. As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ______.
| A．caused widespread damage in the countryside |
| B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States |
| C．had damaging effects on health |
| D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas |
As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author ______.
| A．shares the same view with the scientists |
| B．is uncertain of its occurrence |
| C．rejects it as being ungrounded |
| D．thinks that it will destroy the world soon |
The underlined word “offset" in Para. 2 could best be replaced by______.
| A．slip into | B．make up for | C．set up | D．catch up with |
This passage is mainly concerned with ______.
| A．the greenhouse effect | B．the burning of fossil fuels |
| C．the potential effect of air pollution | D．the possibility of a new ice age |
When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground. I was living in Conyers, Georgia the summer it all happened. I was a second grader, but my best friend Stephanie was only in the first grade. Both of our parents were at work and most of the time they let us go our own way.
It was a hot afternoon and we decided to have an adventure in Stephanie’s basement. As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes. I ran downstairs, and spotted red steel can. It was paint. I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green.
“Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day. Get some paintbrushes. We are fixing to paint.” She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work. We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard. There on the road in front of my house, we painted bit stripes (条纹) of colors across the pavement (人行道). Stripe by stripe, our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow. It was fantastic!
The sun was starting to sink. I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car. It was my mother. I couldn’t wait to show her my masterpiece. The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother’s face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble.
My mother shut the car door and walked towards me. Her eyes glaring, she shouted, “What in the world were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors’ trees, but this! Come inside right now!” I stood there glaring hack at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted (侮辱) my art.
“Now go clean it up!” Mother and I began cleaning the road. Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement.
Though years have now passed, I still wonder where my rainbow has gone. I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away. I guess we all need sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful. What did the writer want to do when his mother came home?
| A．To introduce Stephanie to her. |
| B．To prevent her from seeing his painting. |
| C．To put the materials back in the yard. |
| D．To show his artwork to her. |
In his mother’s eyes, the writer_______.
| A．was a born artist | B．always caused trouble |
| C．was a problem solver | D．worked very hard |
The underlined word “rainbow” in the last paragraph refers to ______.
| A．the rainbow in the sky |
| B．the stripes on the pavement |
| C．something imaginative and fun |
| D．important lessons learned in childhood |
It can be learned from the passage that parents should ________.
| A．encourage children to paint |
| B．value friendship among children |
| C．discover the hidden talent in children |
| D．protect rather than destroy children’s dreams |
Life gets noisier every day and very few people can be free from noise of some sort or another. It doesn’t matter where you live—in the middle of a modern city, or a faraway village—the chances that you will be disturbed by jet aeroplanes, transistor radios, oil-powered engines, etc. are almost everywhere .We seem to be getting used to noise, too. Some people feel quite lonely without background music while they are working.
Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be very frightening experience for human beings. However ,some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud, and this can do harm to their eardrums(耳鼓).The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.
One recent report about noise and concentration suggested that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration, what really affects t
heir ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise, which doesn’t change too much (music, for example) may even help people to concentrate.The best title for this passage is _______________.
| A．Noisy Life | B．Background Noise |
| C．Disturbed Concentration | D．Changeable Noise |
“Background music” in the passage means _______________.
| A．music played in the concert | B．a kind of noise coming into your ears |
| C．music helps people to concentrate | D．music played while people are working |
Some people may have their hearing hurt _______________.
| A．while they are in completely silence | B．while they are dancing violently |
| C．while they are listening to pop music | D．while they are listening to soft music |
Scientists have discovered that what prevents people from concentrating is _____.
| A．any kind of noise | B．great changes in level of noise |
| C．background noise | D．various background music |
What may even let people concentrate?
| A．Changeable noise. | B．Fairly stable noise. | C．Loud noise. | D．Some discos. |
When I was six, Dad brought home a dog one day, who was called “Brownie”, My brothers and I all loved Brownie and did different things with her. One of us would walk her, another would feed her, then there were baths, playing catch and many other games.
Brownie, in return, loved each and every one of us. One thing that most touched my heart was that she would go to whoever was sick and just be with them. We always felt better when she was around.
One days, as I was getting her food, she chewed up(咬破) one of Dad’s shoes, which had to be thrown away in the end. I knew Dad would be mad and I had to let her know what she did was wrong. When I looked at her and said, “Bad girl.” She looked down at the ground and then went and hid. I saw a tear in her eyes.
Brownie turned out to be more than just our family pet. She went everywhere with us. People would stop and ask if they could pet her. Of course sh
e' d let anyone pet her. She was just the most lovable dog. There were many times when we'd be out walking and a small child would come over and pull on her hair. She never barked (吠) or tried to get away. Funny thing is she would smile. This frightened people because they thought she was showing her teeth. Far from the truth, she loved everyone.
Now many years have passed since Brownie died of old age. I still miss the days when she was with us. What would Brownie do when someone was ill in the family?
| A．Look at them sadly. | B．Keep them company. |
| C．Play games with them. | D．Touch them gently. |
We can infer from Paragraph 2 that Brownie ________.
| A．would eat anything when hungry | B．felt sorry for her mistake |
| C．loved playing hide-and-seek | D．disliked the author's dad |
Why does the author say that Browrnie was more than just a family pet?
| A．She was treated as a member of the family. |
| B．She played games with anyone she liked. |
| C．She was loved by everybody she met. |
| D．She went everywhere with the family. |
Some people got frightened by Brownie when she__________.
| A．smiled | B．barked | C．rushed to them | D．tried to be funny |
Which of the following best describes Brownie?
| A．Shy. | B．Polite. | C．Brave. | D．Caring. |
Directions：Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are 4 choices marked A，B，C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage．
A
Hi, dear boys and girls! Do you know how to be a healthy kid? Here are some rules you should follow.
First, eat different foods, especially fruit and vegetables. You may have a favorite food, but you'd better eat something different, if you eat different foods, you will probably get more nutrients your body needs.
Second, drink water and milk as often as possible. When you're really thirsty, cold water is the No.l choice. Milk is a great drink that can give you more calcium your body needs to grow strong bones.
Third, listen to your body. How do you feel when you are full? When you are eating, notice how your body feels and when your stomach feels comfortably full. Eating too much will not make you feel comfortable and make you fat.
Fourth, limit screen time. Screen time is the time you watch TV, DVDs and videos, or using computers. It is good to take more exercise such as basketball, bike riding and swimming. You can't watch TV for more than two hours a day.
Fifth, be active. One thing you'd like to do as a kid is to find out which activity you like best. Find ways to be active every day.
Follow these rules and you can be a healthy kid. You should eat different foods especially ___.
| A．meat | B．hamburgers | C．sweets | D．fruit and vegetables |
Which kind of drinks can give you more calcium?
| A．Juice | B．Milk | C．Cold water | D．Tea |
According to the passage, you should follow ＿＿rules if you want to be healthy.
| A．five | B．nine | C．fifteen | D．thirteen |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．When you're eating, you don't have to notice how your body feels. |
| B．You can eat your favorite food as much as possible. |
| C．You can watch TV whenever you like to get more information. |
| D．We should try to live in an active way in our life. |
Which is the best title of the passage?
| A．How to make yourself important |
| B．How to be a healthy kid |
| C．How to be a popular kid |
| D．How to make your parents healthy |
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