【推荐1】I go grocery shopping nearly every day. That day I was trying desperately to find a good tomato. I finally grabbed the best one I could find. Backing away from the counter with it in hand. I wasn’t paying attention. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” I said as I nearly fell over a woman in an electric cart. Many stores have started providing electric cars for those who have difficulty getting around. “Oh, that’s okay. I’m used to it. they need to put horns(喇叭)on these things,” she said with a smile. “We are positioned a bit lower and somewhat out of view. They are also so quiet that often people just don’t hear us coming. But I don’t know what I’d do without one. Oh, what a beautiful tomato it is ! I used to grow tomatoes. But this year I just couldn’t do it any more.”

“I’m sorry for your challenges. It must be frustrating.” I said.

“Well, it all requires a change in attitude, I could spend my time thinking about what I can’t do any more, or spend it on what new things I can do. I loved gardening. Besides my vegetable I also planted many flowers. All those years of love and attention kept them strong, so my work paid off,” the old woman replied.

“I love your attitude,” I added. “But tell me, what new things have you discovered? You said you needed to focus on new things you could do.” “Well, I can go to the grocery store and make new friends by running into perfect strangers with my cart,” she said. “What I’ve discovered is that I can’t grow flowers any more, but I can paint flowers. When I hang my flowers paintings on the wall, the fresh scent stays in my soul. Since I can’t get around as much and they are just there, we are a perfect match.”

“Just like meeting you, my friend. You added beauty to my day and will brighten the dark corners of my memory just when I need it most,” I told her.

1. The electric cars in the stores are used to _________.

A．give short people a good view	B．help the disabled get around easily
C．carry goods out of the store	D．warn people of danger

2. The woman gave up growing tomatoes probably because __________.

A．she didn’t like growing vegetables	B．she liked planting flowers
C．she had difficulty in gardening	D．she had no room to do so

3. According to the text, which of the following words can NOT be used to describe the old woman?

A．Hard-working	B．Friendly
C．Optimistic	D．Bored

4. The underlined part “a perfect match” in Paragraph 4 refers to the old woman and ________.

A．her electric cart	B．the flower in her garden
C．her flower paintings	D．the strangers she met in the stores

【推荐2】I entered high school having read hundreds of books. But I was not a good reader. Merely bookish, I lacked a point of view when I read. Rather, I read in order to get a point of view. I searched books for good expressions and sayings, pieces of information, ideas, themes-anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated. When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a "complicated idea" until he had read at least two thousand books, I heard the words without recognizing either its irony (嘲讽)or its very complicated truth. I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read. Strict with myself, I included only once a title I might have read several times. (How, after all, could one read a book more than once?) And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length. (Could anything shorter be a book?)

There was yet another high school list I made. One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college. The article had a list of the "hundred most important books of Western Civilization." "More than anything else in my life, "the professor told the reporter with finality," these books have made me all that I am." That was the kind of words I couldn't ignore. I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles. Most books, of course, I hardly understood. While reading Plato's The Republic, for example, I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about. However, with the special patience and superstition (迷信)of a schoolboy, I looked at every word of the text. And by me time I reached the last word, pleased, I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic, and seriously crossed Plato off my list.

1. On heating the teacher's suggestion of reading, the writer thought     .

A．one must read as many books as possible

B．a student should not have a complicated idea

C．it was impossible for one to read two thousand books

D．students ought to make a list of the books they had read

2. The underlined phrase "with finality" probably means     .

A．firmly	B．clearly
C．proudly	D．pleasantly

3. The writer's purpose in mentioning The Republic is to     .

A．explain why it was included in the list

B．describe why he seriously crossed it off the list

C．show that he read the books blindly though they were hard to understand

D．prove that he understood most of it because he had looked at every word

4. The writer provides two book lists to     .

A．show how he developed his point of view

B．tell his reading experience at high school

C．introduce the two persons' reading methods

D．explain that he read many books at high school

【推荐3】China produces 58,000 tons of silk each year．Yet one of the most popular silk companies in the world is Jim Thompson, a brand based in Thailand．Thompson, a Delaware native, was trained to be an architect in the mid－1920s, but then joined the United States army during the World War II．He was soon appointed to the CIA and traveled around the world, including Thailand, where he fell in love with the people and their country．
Being aware of the potential in silk trade, Thompson returned to Thailand to start his own silk business upon his retirement in 1946. At that time, silk production was becoming weaker due to the slow collection process. To revive（振兴）the business, in 1947, he took a variety of silk clothes back to New York City to see if the product would be marketable to foreign consumers. He received a positive response, so the Jim Thompson Silk Company was founded in 1948．
After the establishment of his company, silk costumes soon appeared in Broadway plays and popular films such as Ben Hur, and Thai royalty, such as Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, began wearing silk often．Many also think his work contributed greatly to the Thai economy, since the silk industry continues to employ thousands of Thai citizens even today．
Jim Thompson’s success is no mystery．However, his disappearance on March 26, 1967 certainly is one．Thompson made a trip to Malaysia to visit friends and one day , ventured into the jungle (丛林) on an afternoon walk．He was never seen again despite search parties sent out by the Royal Army Air Corps and British troops．Many have their own theories on his disappearance, but none have been completely confirmed．
1. Which statement about Jim Thompson is Not True according to Paragraph 1? ____

A．He was born in Delaware.

B．He became an architect after the war.

C．He was deeply attracted by Thailand when he traveled there.

D．His company plays an important role in the global silk market.

2. Which of the following is the correct order of the events that happened to Thompson? ____
a. Returning to Thailand to set about his own silk business．
b. Making a trip to Malaysia to visit friends.
c. Taking various silk clothes back to New York City.
d. Creating the Jim Thompson Silk Company.

A．a-c-d-b

B．d-c-a-b

C．a-d-c-b

D．d-a-c-b

3. What does the author think of Thompson’s disappearance? ____

A．Expected

B．Unbelievable

C．Alarming

D．Confusing

【推荐2】Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia, I saw a water puddle ahead on the path. As I reached the puddle, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack was so unpredictable and from a source so totally unexpected. I was being attacked by a butterfly!

Having stopped attacking, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. I retreated a step while my attacker relented in his attack. Yet again, I tried moving forward and I was rammed in the chest over and over again. I wasn’t sure what to do, other than to retreat a third time. After all, it’s just not every day that one is attacked by a butterfly. This time, though, I stepped back several paces to look the situation over. My attacker moved back as well to land on the ground. That’s when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying. She was beside the puddle where he landed.

Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it upon himself to attack me for his mate’s reason, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life in case I was careless to step on her. Now I knew why and what he was fighting for. There was really only one option left for me. I carefully made my way around the puddle to the other side of the path, though it was only inches wide and extremely muddy. His courage in attacking something thousands of times large r and heavier than himself just for his mate’s safety justified it. I couldn’t do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the puddle. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed.

I left them in peace for those last few moments, cleaning the mud from my boots when I later reached my car. Since then, I’ve always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge obstacles facing me. I use that butterfly’s courage as an inspiration and to remind myself that good things are worth fighting for.

1. Why did the butterfly attack the author?

A．To let him rescue his mate.	B．To teach him about love.
C．To protect the puddle.	D．To warn him off his mate.

2. What was the attitude of the author to the butterfly in the end?

A．Admiring.

B．Annoyed.

C．Absent-minded.

D．Indifferent.

3. What did the author finally do with the butterflies?

A．He cured the dying butterfly.	B．He left the butterflies alone.
C．He stepped on the butterfly carelessly.	D．He fought with the butterfly.

4. Which is the best title of the passage?

A．A battle with a butterfly	B．A walk around a puddle
C．A true story of courage and love	D．A travel in Georgia

【推荐3】Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. Like pairs of dogs in most any neighborhood, these two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their houses.

One evening, Brownie’s family noticed that Brownie hadn’t returned home. They went looking for him with no success. Brownie didn’t show up the next day, and, despite their efforts to find him, by the next week he was still missing.

For several days, Spotty showed up at Brownie’s house alone, barking, crying and generally pestering (纠缠) Brownie’s family. Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous little neighbor dog.

Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an answer, keeping bothering Ted, Brownie’s owner. Spotty followed Ted about, barking insistently, then darting toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, “Follow me! It’s urgent!”

Eventually, Ted followed the anxious Spotty across the empty ground as Spotty stopped to run back and bark encouragingly. The little dog led the man under a tree, past clumps of trees, to a desert place a half mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, lying in the bottom of a deep hole with one of his hind leg injured. Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable. Spotty had done more than simply led Brownie’s human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog. Ted found plenty of dog food and realized that Spotty had been feeding Brownie that week!

Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in a single minded quest to keep his friend alive by giving up his own comfort. Spotty had evidently stayed with Brownie to protect him from being killed, sleeping next to him at night to keep him warm and comforting him to keep his spirits up.

1. Why did Spotty bark toward Brownie’s family?

A．He hated the family for they lost Brownie.

B．He tried to get their attention and love.

C．He wanted to lead the family to save Brownie.

D．He wanted to ask for some food for Brownie.

2. Which words can best describe Spotty?

A．Brave and confident.	B．Anxious and noisy.
C．Dependable and helpful.	D．Smart’ and curious.

3. What will be probably written in the following paragraph?

A．Brownie soon died because of the injury.

B．Brownie was treated and recovered eventually.

C．Spotty was allowed to play with Brownie later.

D．Spotty gave up his own comfort to save Brownie.

4. Which may be the best title of the text?

A．Every dog has its day

B．Better late than never

C．A friend in need is a friend indeed

D．Actions speak louder than words