Ken and Anthony were childhood friends. They went to elementary and high school together. They went to college in different states, and then they lost touch. That was twenty years ago.
One morning Ken was reading the newspaper with his morning coffee. Inside he saw an announcement for a poetry reading at a nearby bookstore. He was surprised to find that the featured poet was none other than his friend Anthony. Ken decided to see what his old pal was up to.
Ken sat in the last row of the area set up inside the bookstore. When Anthony was introduced and came up the podium, Ken hardly recognized him. Anthony was almost completely bald and had a little potbelly (大肚子). When Anthony was in high school, he was very handsome. What Anthony had lost in looks was made up for in talent. Anthony’s poetry was quite good.
Anthony recognized Ken sitting in the back row. When the reading was over, Ken stood in line with the others waiting for Anthony to sign a copy of his book. When it was Ken’s turn, Anthony stood up and hugged his long lost friend. Anthony invited Ken to stay until he had finished signing books. Ken did, and the two men grabbed a cup of coffee at a nearby café.
Even though so many years had passed since the two had seen each other, both men had a lot in common. Both graduated from college with degrees in comparative literature (比较文学). Both went to graduate school. Anthony got his Master’s of Fine Art in writing. Ken went to law school. Both men married Mexican women. Both men also had sons that were only a year apart. Ken and Anthony decided not to lose touch again. They planned to meet once a month for breakfast on Saturdays.
Ken found his long lost friend from the .
| A．radio | B．TV | C．magazine | D．newspaper |
How did Ken probably feel while seeing Anthony at the bookstore?
| A．Worried. | B．Amazed. | C．Frightened. | D．Relaxed. |
What Anthony had lost in looks was made up for in talent. What is the meaning of the sentence in Paragraph 3?
| A．Although Anthony was out of shape, he became wise and talented. |
| B．Anthony had changed a lot, for writing poetry needed lots of energy. |
| C．Although Anthony was bald and a little fat, he was still very handsome. |
| D．Anthony looked wise because he was completely bald and had a little potbelly. |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Childhood friends | B．Childhood memories |
| C．Changes of friends | D．Ways to get friends back |
Once there was a garden in front of a church gate . Every day a number of children p__ by the garden to go to school , so the flowers were picked from time to time .
That spring , the flowers of the garden were in full bloom ( 开花 ) . One early morning , the pastor ( 牧师 ) stood in the garden to w_____ for the children going to school . Soon , some of them came along . A little boy asked the pastor , “ Can I p_
_ a flower ?”
“ Which one do you want ?” the pastor asked k____ . The boy chose a tulip .
The pastor said ,“Very good . It b_____ to you now .However ,if you leave the flower here ,it can still bloom for several days ; if you pick it now , you can only play for a while . You are a s___
__ kid , so you choose by yourself .
The little boy t_____ for a while and said , “ Then I leave it here . I will come back to see it after school is over .”
On that day , more than 29 children a____ to leave the flowers in the garden . And they all came back to see their favorite flowers after school . However , n_
__ of them picked the flowers from then on .
That spring , the pastor left the whole garden to the people , but he had never l___ one .
That Easter day ( 复活节 ) I found out we were so poor . The minister brought us the money for the poor family , so we must be poor , I thought . I didn’t like being poor . Everyone there probably already knew we were poor ! I thought about school . I was in the ninth grade and at the top of my class over 100 students . I wondered if the kids at school knew that we were poor .
We sat in silence for a long time . Then it got dark , and we went to bed . All that week ,we girls went to school and came home , and no one talked much . Finally , on Saturday , Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money . What did poor people do with the money ? We didn’t know . We didn’t want to go to the church on Sunday , but mom said we had to . Although it was a sunny day , we didn’t talk on the way . Mom started to sing , but no one joined in .
At church we had a speaker . He talked about how churches in Africa built schools and houses for the poor people , but they needed more money to buy foods . The speaker said ,“ Can’t we all give away some money to help those poor people ?” We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week .
Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope . She passed it to Darlene , Darlene gave it to me , and I put it into the offering .
When the offering was counted , the minister announced that it was a little over 500 dollars . The speaker was excited . He hadn’t expected such a large offering from our small church . He said ,＂ You must have some rich people in this church .” Suddenly it struck us ! We had given 420dollars of that “ little over 500 dollars .“
We were the rich family in the church ! Hadn’t the speaker said so ? From that day on , I’ve never been poor again .When the writer’s family was given the money for the poor , she probably felt ____________ .
| A．thankful | B．surprised |
| C．fair | D．embarrassed (难堪的 ) |
The mother decided to go to the church to ________________
| A．hang out with her kids |
| B．donate ( 捐赠 ) the money to poor people |
| C．cheer her kids up |
| D．show other people they were not poor |
What does the underlined word “announced” mean ?
| A．Spoke loudly in public |
| B．Made a hard decision |
| C．Host a good program |
| D．Discovered an exciting result |
Which of the statements is true ?
| A．The writer was born in an African country |
| B．The writer didn’t like going to school |
| C．The mother was helpful to others |
| D．he mother didn’t want the money given by others |
What can we learn from the article ?
| A．It’s not good to receive other’s money |
| B．Being poor ,you still can help |
| C．Churches are good places to learn |
| D．We should regard difficulties as challenges |
In a small village in England about 150 years ago, a mail coach ( 邮车 ) was standing on the street . It didn’t come to that village often . People had to pay a lot to get a letter . The person who sent the letter didn’t have to pay the postage (邮资 ) , while the receiver had to .
“Ｈere’s a letter for Miss Alice Brown , ” said the mailman .
“ Ｉ’m Alice Brown , ” a girl of about 18 said in a low voice .
Alice looked at the envelope（信封） for a minute , and then handed it back to the mailman .
“ Ｉ＇m sorry I can’t take it , I don’t have enough money to pay it＂, she said .
A gentleman standing around were very sorry for her . Then he came up and paid the postage for her .
When the gentleman gave the letter to her , she said with a smile , “ Thank you very much ,This letter is from Tom . I’m going to marry him . He went to London to look for work . I’ve waited a long time for this letter , but now I don’t need it , there is nothing in it .”
“ Really ? How do you know that ? ” the gentleman said in surprise .
“ He told me that he would put some signs on the envelope . Look ,sir ,this cross in the corner means that he is well and this circle means he has found work . That’s good news .”
The gentleman was Sir Rowland Hill . He didn’t forgot Alice and her letter .
“ The postage to be paid by the receiver has to be changed ,” he said to himself and had a good plan .
“ The postage has to be much lower , what about a penny (便士 ) ? And the person who sends the letter pays the postage . He has to buy a stamp and put it on the envelope .” he said .
The government accepted his plan . Then the first stamp was put out in 1840 . It was called the “ Penny Black “ . It had a picture of the Queen on it . The first postage stamp was made ___________ .
| A．in England | B．in America |
| C．by Alice | D．in 1910 |
The girl handed the letter back to the mailman because ______________ .
| A．she didn’t know whose letter it was |
| B．she had no money to pay the postage |
| C．she received the letter but she didn’t want to open it |
| D．she had already known what was written in the letter |
We can know from Alice’s words that _________________ .
| A．Tom had told her what the signs meant before leaving |
| B．Alice was clever and could guess the meaning of the signs |
| C．Alice had put the signs on the envelope herself |
| D．Tom had put the signs as Alice had told him to |
The idea of using stamps was thought of by __________________ .
| A．the government | B．Sir Rowland Hill |
| C．Alice Brown | D．Tom |
From the passage we know the high postage made _____________ .
| A．People never send each other letters |
| B．lovers almost lose every touch with each other |
| C．people try their best to avoid(避免) paying it |
| D．receivers refuse to pay the coming letters |
56. We can see _______ in the butterfly exhibition .
| A．some paintings . |
| B．some pictures of butterflies only . |
| C．some beautiful butterflies . |
| D．some pictures of the towns from all over the world . |
You are going to see the exhibition with your 14 –year –old daughter , you will have to pay __________ .
| A．15 yuan | B．20 yuan |
| C．25 yuan | D．35 yuan |
We can book group tickets ____________ .
| A．by making a phone call |
| B．by sending an e –mail |
| C．by writing a letter |
| D．by filling in an application form |
There are 45 students in our class . How much will they pay if they visit the exhibition ?
| A．￥ 675 | B．￥ 450 | C．￥900 | D．￥400 |
If you go to the exhibition on 1 st , May , you can get ___________ .
| A．a book | B．a ticket |
| C．a butterfly | D．a present |
The pollution of the environment has become an important problem that the world has to face. Luckily, humans have realized it and we have been taking steps to deal with this problem. And many days have been appointed(指定).
On March 12 every year, many Chinese people plant trees because it is China’s Tree Planting Day. It first began in 1979. Different countries made different days as Tree Planting Day. Some countries’ Tree Planting Day is the same day as World Forest Day, such as France.
World Forest Day comes on March 21 every year. It was started by Spain in 1971. And the first World Forest Day was held on March 21, 1972. The purpose of World Forest Day is to encourage everyone to protect(保护) the trees because they are very important to our life.
Earth Day comes on April 22 every year. The purpose of Earth Day is to encourage people all around the world to protect the environment. It was created in America in 1970. But it wasn’t until 2009, April 22 that was named Earth Day by the UN.
Smoking is bad for our health. In order to stop people from smoking, April 7 was made as World No-Tobacco Day(世界无烟日) in 1987. The first World No-Tobacco Day began in 1988. But in 1989, it was made another day, on May 31 every year.
| Day |
Date |
Purpose |
| China’s Tree Planting Day |
March 12 |
|
| March 21 |
To encourage everyone to protect the trees. |
|
| Earth Day |
April 22 |
|
| World No-Tobacco Day |
To stop people from smoking. |
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