【推荐1】“Dad,” I say one day. “let’s take a trip. Why don’t you fly and meet me?”

My father had just retired after 27 years as a manager for IBM. His job filled his day, his thought, his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat across Lake of the Ozarks.

My father sees me drfting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wants me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure.

He agrees to travel with me through the national parks. We meet four weeks later in Rapid City.

“ What is our first stop?” asks my father.

“What time is it?”

“Still don’t have a watch?”

Less than an hour away is Mount Rushmore. As he stares up at the four Presidents carved in granite(花岗岩), his mouth and eyes open slowly, like those of little boy.

“Unbelievable,” he says, “How was this done?”

A film in the information center shows sculptor Gutzon Borglum devoted 14 years to the sculpture and then left the final touches to his son.

We stare up and I ask myself, Would I ever devote my life to anything?

No directions, no goals. I always used to hear those words in my father’s voice. Now I hear them in my own.

The next day we’re at Yellowstone National Park, where we have a picnic.

“Did you ever travel with your dad? I ask.

“Only once,” he says. “ I never spoke much with my father. We loved each other---but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave.”

The last sentence—it’s probably the same thing I’d say about my father. And what I’d want my child to say about me.

In Glacier National Park, my father says, “I’ve never seen water so blue.” I have, in several places of the world, I can keep traveling, I realize--- and maybe a regular job won’t be as dull as I feared.

Weeks after our trip, I call my father.

“The photos from the trip are wonderful,” he says.” We have got to take another trip like that sometime.

I tell him I’ve learn decided to settle down, and I’m wearing a watch.

1. We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that the father _________.

A．followed the fashion

B．got bored with his job

C．was unhappy with the author’s lifestyle

D．liked the author’s collection of stamps

2. What does the author realize at Mount Rushmore?

A．His father is interested in sculpture.

B．His father is as innocent as a little boy.

C．He should learn sculpture in the future.

D．He should pursue a specific aim in life.

3. From the underlined paragraph, we can see that the author________.

A．wants his children to learn from their grandfather

B．comes to understand what parental love means

C．learns how to communicate with his father

D．hopes to give whatever he can to his father

4. What could be inferred about the author and his father from the end of the story?

A．The call solves their disagreements.

B．The Swiss watch has drawn them closer.

C．They decide to learn photography together.

D．They begin to change their attitudes to life.

5. What could be the best title for the passage?

A．Love Nature, Love Life

B．A Son Lost in Adventure

C．A Journey with Dad

D．The Art of Travel

【推荐2】A talented teen painter in Waterbury is helping her very sick father with her love of art. The 15-year-old girl from Waterbury could become a well-known artist one day. For now, though, part of her love for painting is the chance to help her dad, who’s ill. “It’s kind of like an ache—a heartbreak,” she said. “You never want to see one of your loved ones get hurt.”

Her father is suffering from type-one diabetes(糖尿病) and is having trouble affording his mounting medical bills. “I’m suffering from heart disease, and blindness from my diabetes,” her father said. Angie has decided to put her talent as an artist to good use.

On Saturday, Sept. 23 from noon to 4 p. m., she’s hosting her own one-day art exhibition to sell her paintings and raise money mainly for her father’s medical bills. “Angie’s Art Exhibition” will be at the North End Recreation Centre, located at 262 North Main Street in Waterbury. She’s also using it to help the Fairfield Animal Shelter. Angie loves animals—you see that on many of her paintings.

This isn’t the first time Angie has put her paintbrush to good use helping others. Her mother tells News 8 that Angie has also used her work to help her community: a local family who lost their father, and children who needed school supplies.

“She has an angelic heart. If there were more people like her in the world, there wouldn’t be so much chaos and hate. I just look up to her and say ‘I’m very proud of you,’” her father said.

“My dad’s a great person. Though he goes through this, he still loves me and supports me in any way he can. It makes me feel important,” she said.

1. What is the main reason why Angie is hosting her own art exhibition?

A．To help her community.	B．To become a well-known artist.
C．To raise money to treat her father.	D．To support the Fairfield Animal Shelter.

2. What does the underlined word “chaos” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Perfection.

B．Disappearance.

C．Permission.

D．Disorder.

3. Which of the following words can best describe Angie?

A．Independent and proud.	B．Humorous and kind.
C．Artistic and caring.	D．Knowledgeable and helpful.

4. What does the story mainly tell us?

A．It’s never too late to learn.

B．Study first and play afterwards.

C．The company of parents is important to children’s development.

D．Determination and creativity can be powerful tools to help those in need.

【推荐3】If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years of being a kid, it’s that you have ZERO control over your own life.

Ever since school ended, I haven’t had anything I’ve needed to do or anywhere I’ve needed to be. As long as the air-conditioning (空调) was working and the TV remote had batteries in it, I was ready for a relaxing summer holiday.

But then, all of a sudden, this happened—“Pack your bags. We’re going on a road trip!” Mom said excitedly.

This isn’t the first time Mom has sprung a trip on us without any warning. Last year on the first day of summer, she said we were going to visit Aunt Loretta at the nursing home.

It wasn’t exactly my idea of a fun way to kick off the summer. One time when we visited Aunt Loretta, her roommate grasped me and wouldn’t let me go until someone gave her a chocolate cookie!

Mom kept talking about going to the nursing home for a whole day, which made me worry a lot. But at breakfast the next morning, she told us where we were really going—Disney World.

I was very happy, because I was really worried about spending the whole week at the nursing home. So was Dad.

But when my little brother, Danny, heard about the change he became very angry. Mom had talked up the Aunt Loretta trip so much that Danny was actually excited about going there.

We ended up putting off our trip to Disney so we could visit Aunt Loretta.

I tried to talk Mom into letting us do something normal, like going to a water park for the day, but she didn’t want to hear it. She said that spending a lot of time together in the car would be a “bonding” experience for the whole family.

1. What did the writer prefer to do during his summer holidays?

A．Watch TV comfortably at home.	B．Travel with his family.
C．Visit Aunt Loretta.	D．Look after his little brother.

2. From the passage, we can learn that the writer ________.

A．loved his aunt very much	B．got pretty excited about the road trip
C．felt helpless with his mother’s surprise trips	D．blamed Danny for not going to Disney World

3. Who makes the final decision in the family?

A．The writer.

B．Mom.

C．Dad.

D．Aunt Loretta.

【推荐1】There was once a professor of medicine, who was very strict with the students. Whenever he took the chair on the exam committee(担任考试委员会主席), the students would be in fear, because he was seldom pleased with the answers they gave. A student would be lucky enough if he or she could receive a good mark from him. At the end of the term, the students of medicine would take their exam again. Now a student entered the exam room and got seated before the committee. This student was a little nervous as he knew it would not be so easy to get through the exam at all.

The professor began to ask. The student was required to describe a certain illness, his description of which turned to（结果是）be OK.

Then the professor asked about the cure (药剂) for illness, and the student, too, answered just as right.

“Good,” said the professor, “and how much will you give the patient?”

“A full spoon”, answered the student.

“Now you may go out and wait for what you can get.”, said the professor. At the same time, the committee discussed carefully the answers the student had given. Suddenly the student noticed that there was something wrong with his last answer. “ A full spoon is too much,” he thought to himself. Anxiously he opened the door of the room and cried, “Mr Professor, I’ve make a mistake! A full spoon is too much for a patient. He can take only five drops.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Said the professor coldly, “But it’s too late. Your patient has died.”

1. The students were afraid of the professor because _________.

A．they often angered and disappointed him

B．their answers often astonished him

C．their answers seldom satisfied him

D．he often misunderstood (误解) them and give them bad markers

2. The student’s description of the illness was _____.

A．not correct

B．not satisfied

C．completely discouraging

D．accepted.

3. Before he left the room the student was almost sure that ______.

A．he had passed the exam, and the only thing was to wait for the mark

B．his last answer was satisfying

C．he had made a mistake

D．he had not done well in the exam.

4. Which of the following is Not true?

A．The patient will be in danger if he’s taken as much as a full spoon.

B．The doctor will be in trouble if he’s given the patient a full spoon.

C．Since one spoon is less than five drops, the patient will be all right soon if he takes only one full spoon at a time.

D．If the patient wants to remain safe, he should take no more than five drops at a time.

5. Which guess is the most reasonable from the passage?

A．The student must have passed the exam.

B．The students may not have passed the exam.

C．The student must have been very happy when he heard, “Your patient has died.”

D．The professor must have been very pleased and given the student a good mark.

【推荐3】My teenage son Karl became withdrawn after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. At this rate he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.
One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and pleaded for help. “
Please God, I can’t do anything more for my son. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m giving the whole thing up to you.” I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences.” Before he could say another word, I choked up and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. “I love my son but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands.” For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, “Thank you for your time”, and hung up.
Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he even made the honor roll. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, “Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?” I nodded. “That was me. I thought I’d play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”
1. By saying “Karl became withdrawn”, the author means that the boy changed entirely and ________.

A．preferred to stay alone at home	B．lost interest in his studies
C．refused to talk to others	D．began to dislike his mother

2. There was silence on the other end of the line because ________.

A．the speaker was too moved to say anything to the mother

B．the speaker waited for the mother to finish speaking

C．the speaker didn’t want the mother to recognize his voice

D．the speaker was unable to interrupt the mother

3. The sentence “he even made the honor roll” means that ________.

A．he was even on the list to be praised at the parent-teacher meeting

B．he was even on the list of students who made progress in grades

C．he was even on the list of students who had turned themselves around

D．he was even on the list of the best students at school

4. What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Children in single-parent families often have mental problems.

B．Mother’s love plays an important role in teenagers’ life.

C．Being understood by parents is very important to teenagers.

D．School education doesn’t work without full support from parents.