【推荐1】About 180 years ago, an English man called Rowland Hill passed a small village. He saw a postman gave a letter to a girl. The girl looked at the envelope(信封) for a moment, and then she handed it back to the postman. “I am sorry,” she said. “I don’t have enough money to pay the postage(邮资). ”

Hill came up to the postman and paid the postage for the girl’s letter. When he gave her the letter, she said with a smile, “Thank you very much. This letter is from Tom, my boyfriend. He went to London to look for work. I knew I couldn’t pay the postage. So I asked him to put a cross or a circle on the envelope. The cross tells me that he is well. The circle tells me that he has found work. I don’t need to open the letter because there’s nothing in it. ”

“I must do something about it,” Hill said to himself. At last, he got an idea. “The postage has to cost much less,” he said. “What about a penny(便士) for a letter? The sender of the letter must pay the postage. He has to buy a stamp(邮票) and put it on the envelope. ”

The first postage stamp in the world appeared in 1840. It had a picture of the Queen on it.
1. Why did the girl give the letter back to the postman?

A．Because the letter was not for her.

B．Because she wanted to send the letter.

C．Because she couldn’t pay for the letter.

D．Because she didn’t want to receive(收到) the letter.

2. Who should pay for a stamp now?

A．Rowland Hill.

B．The sender.

C．The girl.

D．The receiver.

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The cross told the girl that Tom had found work.

B．Rowland Hill paid the postage and opened the letter.

C．The first postage stamp in the world appeared in 1841.

D．The first postage stamp had a picture of the Queen on it.

【推荐2】It was a bright Saturday morning. I stopped at a café to enjoy a cup of coffee and read the morning newspaper. Suddenly, I felt a hand on the back of my jacket and heard someone say, “Hey Steve! How are you doing?”
Looking back, I saw a man. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where we had met.
The young man also held a cup of coffee, so I asked him to join me. Very soon, his story began to ____ my memory.
Five years earlier, Johnson was traveling home late on a February night. A heavy snow had arrived that afternoon, and by midnight, the snowdrifts(雪堆)were getting deep. His car was stuck in a snowdrift just down the road from my house.
He walked to my house for help. I helped him pull his car out of the snowdrift and up to the street where the snow had been cleaned away.
This was a normal happening here during the winter. I couldn’t count the times someone has helped me to pull my car from a snowdrift. However, it was an unforgettable experience for him. He was only eighteen at that time, and he said he was very afraid. No one wants to be stuck in a snowdrift at night.
Sometimes, one simple kindness at the right moment can change the direction of a life. So, be kind and helpful.
1. Where did Steve meet Johnson for the first time?

A．At a café.

B．At Steve’s house.

C．At a bus station.

D．On a street.

2. The underlined phrase “thaw out” in Paragraph 3 means “_______” in Chinese.

A．打断

B．珍藏

C．增强

D．唤起

3. Johnson asked Steve for help one night because_______.

A．he lost his way home

B．his friend was injured

C．he was caught in a heavy snow

D．his car broke down on the way

4. According to Steve, helping Johnson was_______.

A．a normal thing

B．a strange thing

C．an unusual behavior

D．an unforgettable experience

5. The writer’s purpose of writing the passage is to tell us_______.

A．friendship is very important

B．even a simple kindness matters

C．meeting an old friend is a pleasure

D．it is better not to drive in a snowy night

【推荐3】Harry and Peter lived in the same village. They were both hard-working and had a happy life with other villagers.

But that year, a serious drought (旱灾) happened in their village. Their fields were all dry and their crops were dying. They couldn't get enough water for their crops until a visitor from a village nearby came. The visitor told them that there was a spring on the mountain near their village and it had a large amount of water to water their fields. So Harry went to find it with two big buckets (桶) at once and later he began to carry water for his field every morning. He earned water from morning to night, but that wasn't enough for his field. Peter also went to find the spring with Harry, but he didn't carry water the next day. He also left the village in the early morning and then came back at night. Three days had passed, many villagers didn't see Peter in the daytime. They began to ask him where he went. Peter smiled and just told them to wait for his good news. Then the next day, at noon, Peter and a line of pieces of bamboo appeared in front of his field. When he joined the last piece of bamboo from the mountain with another one's end, water ran along them into his field. With Peter's help, all the other villagers' fields got water by joining pieces of bamboo with his and were saved. And Harry needn't carry water with two heavy buckets, either.

There's no doubt that being hard-working is a good quality. But hard work with good ideas is much better.

1. There was a serious drought in the village where Harry and Peter lived.
2. Only the crops in Harry's fields were facing the danger of death.
3. A visitor told the villagers that there was a spring with a large amount of water on the mountain nearby.
4. Peter earned water for his field with two big buckets from morning to night.
5. The writer tries to tell us hat we should not only work hard but also use our wisdom.