Babysitter Wanted

Do you like children? Do you have free time in the afternoon? We need a babysitter for our son.He is five years old. Hours are 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm from Monday to Friday. Sometimes you have to work on the weekend. Pay (薪水) is $10 each hour.

For the job, you will: Watch our son. Read to him. Play with him.

You will work at our house. We live in Fourth Road, near Huaxing Clothes Store.

Please call Mr. Wang at 010-58899333.

1. On Friday, the babysitter will ________.

A．not work	B．get $10
C．live there	D．work three hours

2. ________ is not a part of the job.

A．Cooking for the child	B．Working at the child’s house
C．Taking care of the child	D．Reading books to the child

3. Which of the following is true? _______.

A．The child is less than ten years old.

B．The babysitter must be a college student.

C．The babysitter must work six days a week.

D．The babysitter can get more pay on weekends.

A Turning Point

Seventy years ago I was quite a small little girl. My father was very ill then, and my mother took in sewing(缝纫) of any kind so we could live. She would sew far into the night with an old sewing machine. She never complained even when the food would be very scarce(稀少).

Things were very bad that winter. Then a letter came from where her sewing machine was bought, saying that they would have to pick up her machine the next day unless payments were brought up to date. I remember when she read the letter I became frightened, I could picture us starving to death and all sorts of things that could come to a child's mind. My mother did not appear to be worried. However, she seemed to be quite calm about the matter. She said God would not disappoint her. I couldn’t see how God was going to help us keep this old sewing machine.

The day when the men came for our machine arrived. There was a knock at the kitchen door. I was frightened as a child would be, for I was sure it was those men who would take away our sewing machine. Instead, a nicely dressed man stood at our door with a darling baby in his arms.

He asked my mother if she was Mrs. Hill. When she said she was, he said, "I’m in trouble this morning and you have been recommended（推荐)by the neighbors as an honest and wonderful woman. My wife was rushed to the hospital this morning, and since we have no relatives here, and I must open my dentist office, I have nowhere to leave my baby. Could you possibly take care of her for a few days?" He continued, "I will pay you in advance." With this he took out ten dollars and gave it to my mother.

Mother said, "Yes, yes, I will be glad to do so," and took the baby from his arms. When the man left, my mother turned to me with tears streaming down a face that looked as though a light was shining on it. She said, "I knew God would never let them take away my machine."

4. The turning point in the story may refer to ______.

A．a letter to the family	B．the man’s coming for help
C．the man’s wife being rushed to the hospital	D．the man’s trouble

5. Why did the man turn to the writer’s mother for help?

A．The people around him recommended the mother to him.

B．He was familiar with the mother.

C．The mother had sewn for him.

D．The mother was hired by the man.

6. According to the text all the following are true to the man EXCEPT _____.

A．his wife stayed in hospital	B．he was a dentist
C．he had no relatives here to turn to for help	D．he came for our sewing machine

7. What does mother mean by saying “I knew God would never let them take away my machine?”

A．God can’t live without the machine.	B．The sewing machine is my only support.
C．Never give up when in trouble.	D．Everybody should believe in God.

Elizabeth and I are 18 now, and about to graduate. I think about our elementary school friendship, but some memories have blurred(模糊). What happened that day in the fifth grade when Beth suddenly stopped speaking to me? Does she know that I’ve been thinking about her for seven years? If only we could go back, and discover what ended our relationship.
I have to speak with Beth. I see her sometimes, and find out school is “fine”. It’s not the same. It never will be. Someone says that she’s Liz now. what happened to Beth?
I can’t call her. Should I write? What if she doesn’t answer me? How will I know what she’s thinking?
Yes, I’ll write her a letter. These things are easier to express in writing. “Dear Be-,” no, “Dear Li-” no, “Dear Elizabeth,” I begin. The words flow freely, as seven-year-old memories are reborn. I ask her all the questions that have been left unanswered in my mind, and pray she will answer. I seal my thoughts in the perfect white envelope, and imagine Beth looking into the mailbox. Will she know why I’m writing? Maybe she once thought of writing the same letter.
As the mailman takes my envelope from me forever, I wonder if I’ve made the right decision. Do I have the right to force myself into Beth’s life again? Am I simply part of the past? I have taken the first stop____________________.
One day has passed. Are my words lying on the bottom of the post office floor.
Two days are gone. I’m lost in thought and don’t even hear the phone ring.
“Hello? It’s Elizabeth”
8. What can we learn about Beth?

A．She had a quarrel with the author in the fifth grade.

B．She moved to another school in the fifth grade.

C．She is now called Liz instead of Beth.

D．She hasn’t seen the author for seven years.

9. Why does the author decide to write a letter instead of calling?

A．She is sure that Beth will not answer.

B．She’s afraid that they’ll quarrel on the phone.

C．She doesn’t know Beth’s telephone number.

D．It is easier to express her feelings in writing.

10. What does the underlined sentence mean in the fifth paragraph?

A．It’s up to Beth to decide what to do next.

B．Beth is to be blamed for the ending of their friendship.

C．Beth is in the same situation as the author is.

D．The author is completely in the hands of Beth now.

11. What might happen at the end of the story?

A．Beth answers her letter two day later.

B．The letter doesn’t reach Beth at all.

C．They make up their friendship.

D．Beth refuses to make peace with her.

Some people asked me how I could suggest the expenses of billions of dollars for a voyage to Mars, at a time when many children on this Earth are starving to death. I know that they do not expect an answer such as “ Oh, I did not know that there are children dying from hunger, but from now on I will stop any kind of space research until mankind has solved that problem! ”In fact, I have known of this long before.

But I firmly believe that by working for the space program we can make some contributions to the relief and eventual solution of such serious problems as poverty and hunger on the Earth. Two basic factors causing the poverty and hunger problems are the production of food and the distribution (分布) of food. In fact, large areas of land could be used far better if efficient methods of farming, fertilizer use, weather forecasting, field selection, planting, crop surveys, harvest planning and so on were applied. The best tool for the improvement of all these methods undoubtedly, is the artificial Earth satellite. Circling the globe at a high altitude, it can screen wide areas of land within a short time; it can observe and measure a large variety of factors indicating the status and condition of crops, soil, droughts, rainfall, snow cover, etc.

Besides, in the modern society, there is a continuing great need for new basic knowledge in the science if we wish to improve the conditions of human life on the Earth. We need more knowledge in physics and chemistry, in biology and physiology, and particularly in medicine to cope with   all these problems which threaten man’s life: hunger, disease, overpopulation, pollution of water and the environment. In a way, the space age not only holds out a mirror in which we can see ourselves, it also provides us with the technologies.

12. The passage is mainly discussing about        .

A．whether the children’s dying from hunger is the major problem

B．whether it is worth spending much money on the space research

C．whether the author’s suggestion has been taken into serious consideration

D．whether there is an effective way to avoid the global starvation

13. According to the author, what plays an important part in dealing with poverty and hunger?

A．Government support.	B．Methods of farming.
C．Food supply.	D．Modern technology.

14. The second paragraph is mainly developed by             .

A．making comparison	B．giving explanation
C．offering advice	D．giving examples

15. From the last paragraph, we can infer that         .

A．technologies can help to improve our living quality

B．more basic knowledge is required to be learned

C．we can live a more peaceful and happier life

D．there are different views on the space age