A friend of mine told me a story about Thanksgiving, a holiday American people celebrate on the fourth Thursday of November. It is their custom to give thanks to God for the harvest. A big dinner is prepared, and turkey is the main dish.
One Thanksgiving Day, a teacher of a primary school asked her first graders what they were grateful for. She asked them to draw a picture of it. These children were from poor neighborhoods. Their families could hardly provide them with a big dinner most of them would draw pictures of turkeys on tables, because they had looked forward to having turkey for a long time. The teacher was surprised and puzzled by the picture that Jack handed in — a hand, a simple childishly (幼稚地) drawn hand!
But whose hand? The class was excited by the strange painting. “I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,” said one child. “It must be the farmer’s hand,” said another, “because he raises turkeys.”
Finally, when the others were back at work, the teacher bent over Jack’s desk and asked whose hand it was. “It’s your hand, Teacher,” he said in a weak voice.
She remembered she had taken Jack, a poor shy child, by the hand several times. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Jack. Perhaps this was everyone’s Thanksgiving, not for the material things given to us, but for the chance, in whatever small way, to give to others.
1. What does Thanksgiving mean to Americans?2. What happened on Thanksgiving Day at a primary school?
3. Why was the teacher surprised?
4. What did the class say about it?
5. It is the teacher’s hand, isn’t it?
6. What is the true meaning of Thanksgiving according to the author?
2 . Peter and Tom are good students and good friends. Peter is a good basketball player. Tom studies very well.
At the beginning of last term, Tom said to himself, “School is easy, so I don’t have to work hard at my studies. I’ll spend more time playing sports.” At the end of last term, all his marks were low except for (除了) PE. Tom found that school became more and more difficult. Peter was both happy and sad. He was sad because his friend had got low marks and he was also happy because his own marks were good. Peter told Tom to study first and then to play.
根据短文内容，判断正(T)误(F)。
1. Peter is good at playing basketball.
2. Last term, Tom played sports a lot and hi.s marks were still good.
3. Tom felt the school became more and more difficult at the end of last term.
4. Peter was happy because his friend got low marks.
5. From the story, we know as students, we should work hard and then play.
3 . It’s nice to be invited to birthday parties, but sometimes you have to say no. How do you politely (礼貌地) refuse an invitation?
◆Send it in.
If you get a written (书面的) or an e-mail invitation to a party, refusing politely is easy. All you have to do is to give a polite answer.
◆Ask for time to think.
Refusing a face-to-face invitation can be difficult. The polite way is to ask for time to check your calendar. Then, you have time to find a polite answer. Just make sure that if you’ve been invited in person, you’d better refuse it in person. It’s polite.
◆Be thankful.
Even if you have to refuse the invitation, thank him or her for the invitation all the same. If your only reason is a conflicting (冲突的) event, tell the host that you will come if the dates are different.
◆Be honest (诚实的).
This may be the most important thing in politely refusing an invitation. You wouldn’t want people to lie (说谎) to you, so it’s correct etiquette (礼节) to give an honest reason. Just say it in a polite way.
根据短文内容，判断下列句子正误。正确的用“A”表示，不正确的用“B”表示。
1. The writer gives us five pieces of advice.
2. We can refuse a face-to-face invitation by asking for time to check our calendar.
3. If an invitation conflicts with another event, you can tell the host that you will come if the dates are different.
4. To be thankful is the most important to refuse an invitation.
5. The main idea of the passage is how to politely turn down an invitation.
4 . If life can be compared to a meal, I think the mistakes are like salt and the success is a candy.
“Hey,” said the boy whose name I couldn’t remember, sitting next to me. “Don’t worry. Take your time.” And so I did. But I still couldn’t pronounce my Chinese name that was given by the teacher. I was so embarrassed on my first day of learning Chinese.
I took Chinese classes during my summer vacation. Every morning I walked for 25 minutes to the class while having a Chinese pancake from one of the breakfast carts(推车) on the way. Learning Spanish in school was a cushy job for me, because I could speak French and Italian which helped me with it. However, learning Chinese was difficult at first. As a boy who was born in America and grew up in America, I knew nothing about the language and had no experience of learning the language. I chose it mainly because my goal was to teach and work internationally.
As the classes went on, I slowly found that I was making connections. My 10 years of playing the piano has allowed me to perform for others. My several years of writing has led me to become a school reporter. I knew that my Chinese classes would allow me to speak Chinese well. As the teachers helped me build up the confidence, I soon began tasting the sweetness.
So what did my summer really taste like? It tasted like the Chinese food that, for the first time, I did not order in English, my mother language.
1. Why did the writer feel embarrassed in his first Chinese class?| A．Because he had no Chinese name. | B．Because he forgot his Chinese name. |
| C．Because he had bad Chinese pronunciation. | D．Because he couldn’t write his Chinese name. |
| A．common | B．easy | C．popular | D．interesting |
| A．French | B．English | C．Italian | D．Spanish |
| A．He is good at playing the piano. | B．He doesn’t like Chinese food at all. |
| C．He is interested in writing and painting. | D．He wants to be a Chinese teacher in the future. |
| A．An unpleasant day at school. | B．How to get on with Chinese teachers. |
| C．How to develop an interest in Chinese. | D．A sweet experience of learning Chinese. |
5 . Here comes Junior 3 year! This means that the high school entrance exam will arrive in less than a year. How will you get through the final year of middle school and get ready for the big exam?
We invited two students to share their thoughts.
Zeng Qingmian, 15, Jiangxi
I got a score of 730 out of 750 on the big exam. Junior 3 was quite stressful and it was even harder for a boarding school（寄宿学校）student like me. I needed to make detailed plans-not only for studying, but also daily chores like washing my clothes.
I was highly focused during class and tried to remember everything my teachers said. To me, this is far more effective（有效的）than spending time doing exercises after class. During self-study time at night, I took every chance to ask teachers questions. I also counted time while doing quizzes（测试）. This helped improve my learning efficiency.
I didn’t have many review materials. My method was to make up my own questions. After solving a math problem, for example, I would design my own problems that used the same concepts（理念）share their thoughts.
Huang Ziyi, 15, Beijing
I got a score of 560 out of 580 on the high school entrance exam. For me, knowing my strengths and keeping a stable（稳定的）mind are necessary to make progress. The competition in Beijing is fierce（激烈的）. Many students have tutors. I once took a coding（编程）class, but found that I wasn’t good at it. So I gave up and focused more on what I’m good at.
I have applied this principle（原则）to my studies. I go over the key points of each unit to strengthen my skills in subjects like physics and math. When taking a test, I usually don’t pay attention to the questions I don’t know and try to solve them at the end if there is still some time left. One should learn to stay calm in situations like these. Don’t worry too much about the result of one test as long as you are learning and improving.
1. What does Zeng try to do in class?| A．Make a study plan. | B．Ask the teacher questions. |
| C．Listen to the teacher carefully. | D．Do as many exercises as possible. |
| A．To put extra pressure on himself. | B．To make full use of his time. |
| C．To practise his handwriting. | D．To save time for asking questions. |
| A．Keep a clean mind. | B．Ask for help if necessary. |
| C．Focus on what you are good at. | D．Spend more time on difficult questions. |
| A．Yes. | B．No. | C．Sure. | D．I don’t know. |
| A．Unforgettable memories from one’s final year. |
| B．How to deal with pressure and worries. |
| C．Ways to stay calm during big exams. |
| D．How to study in Junior 3. |
6 . When you feel sad, don’t worry too much. There are many ways to make you happy again. Here are some suggestions for you.
1. Try to get to know your neighbors and do them a favor if they need any help.
2. Join a local sports or social（社会的）club and take part in their activities. You may forget your unhappy feeling in this way.
3. Travel to another place to learn more about our beautiful world. This will help you increase（增加）your feeling of enjoying natural beauty and you would become more interested in the new environment（环境）.
Anyway, it’s important to have an enjoyable and relaxing（轻松的）heart. If you always think of happy and good things, you will never feel lonely when you are in trouble. Tell your sad feelings to your true friend when you are unhappy. He can deal with it for you and help you at any time. In this way, you can become a happy person forever.
1. The three suggestions can help make you feel ________ again.| A．pleased | B．terrible | C．sad | D．excited |
| A．ask them for money | B．laugh at them | C．make friends with them | D．help them |
| A．Joining a local sports club. |
| B．Taking part in social activities. |
| C．Traveling to another place to learn more about our beautiful world. |
| D．Staying at home and thinking of your sad things all the time. |
| A．have a healthy body | B．tell your sad feelings to your true friend |
| C．thinking of happy and unhappy things | D．never let your friend help you |
| A．how to get along with your friends | B．how to become successful in life |
| C．how to keep a happy feeling | D．how to make true friends |
7 . When you want to go shopping, you will decide how much money you can pay for new clothes and think about the kind of clothes you really need. Then you just only look for those clothes. There’re labels（标签）inside all new clothes. The labels tell you how to take care of your clothes. The labels may say “dry-clean only”. If you put these clothes into the water to wash them, you may ruin（损坏）them.
Many clothes today must be dry-leaned. Dry-cleaning is expensive. So when you buy new clothes, check if they will need to be dry-cleaned. You’ll save money if your clothes can be washed in water.
You can also save money if you buy clothes that are well-made. Well-made clothes last longer. They look good even after they have been washed many times. Clothes that cost more money are not always made better. They don't always fit better. Sometimes the less expensive clothes look and fit better than the more expensive ones.
1. Before you buy clothes, the first thing for you to do is ________.| A．to get advice from others |
| B．to decide how much money they cost |
| C．to decide what color you like |
| D．to think about what style you want |
| A．The labels | B．The colors | C．The styles | D．The materials |
| A．that can be washed in water | B．that need to dry-cleaned |
| C．that look good | D．that is the cheapest |
| A．dry-cleaning is cheap |
| B．sometimes the cheaper clothes can fit you better |
| C．expensive clothes last longer |
| D．cheap clothes last longer |
| A．how to choose label | B．how to wash clothes |
| C．how to save money | D．how to buy clothes |
It’s not true that only women wear skirts. Men can wear them, too.
In Scotland, men wear a kind of skirt called kilt. The kilt is their national dress and an important part of their tradition.
A kilt is a colored skirt reaching down to the knees. It has checks（方格）on it with different colors, like red and blue. Each family in Scotland has its own colors.
How did the Scots start to wear kilts? There are many stories about it. One story is that the kilt was invented in the 1720s by an English factory owner, Thomas Rawlinson.
Rawlinson had a number of Scottish workers in his factory and he thought their clothing got in the way of their work. So he cut their long clothes into shorter skirts.
Today, most Scotsmen look the kilt as a formal dress. They usually only wear them at weddings or big dinners. There are only a few men who still wear a kilt every day.
Scots also wear kilts in parades（游行队伍）when they play their traditional musical instrument bagpipes. The army still has kilts as the dress uniform, but they no longer use them when fighting.
1. Which of the following is a kilt?A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．colors | B．checks | C．sizes | D．shapes |
| A．At weddings. | B．At big dinners. | C．In parades. | D．All of the above. |
| A．The kilt was first made in the 1720s. |
| B．The kilt was invented because it could make the workers work fast. |
| C．The kilt is Scotland’s national dress. |
| D．The kilt is not the battle（作战）dress uniform of Scotland’s army. |
| A．things about Scotsmen’s traditional kilts |
| B．how to wear kilts |
| C．when to wear kilts |
| D．Scotsmen’s important tradition |
9 . The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you’ll get your words mixed up and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can’t understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor（幽默）, you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you make. Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes. It’s better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don’t understand what you are saying. The most important thing for learning English is: “Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes.”
1. The writer thinks that the best way to learn a language is________.| A．writing | B．listening | C．using it |
| A．Be careful not to make any mistakes. |
| B．Speak English as much as you can. |
| C．Laugh more often. |
| A．not care | B．be happy | C．feel worried |
| A．keep quiet | B．keep your sense of humor | C．get angry |
| A．people never make mistakes |
| B．few people make mistakes |
| C．there is no one who doesn’t make mistakes |
10 . Peter was an English boy. His hobby was collecting stamps. He had stamps from many countries. Peter’s favorite stamps came from France. He had every French edition (版本) from 1960 to 2006 except a 1974 special edition stamp. It was very hard to find. He looked for it everywhere-even in stores, at street markets and on the Internet. He asked his friends and relatives to help him. But nobody could find the stamp. It made Peter very sad.
“Don’t worry. Please have patience (耐心),” his father said to him. “You’ll find it one day. ”
“I hope so,” Peter said.
Peter also liked making friends. He had a pen friend named Victor who was in France. They wrote to each other every month. Victor knew Peter liked collecting stamps. One day Victor’s mother Laura gave him an old French stamp. It was a big, green one. He used it to post a letter to Peter.
As soon as Peter received the letter, he looked carefully at the stamp. He was very amazed to see that it was the 1974 special edition stamp. Peter was so happy! He told the good news to his sister and his parents.
“You see,” his father said. “You did found the stamp in the end. So you know, it’s good to have two things in life.”
“What are they?” Peter asked.
“Friends and patience!” his father answered.
1. Peter’s favorite stamps came from ________.| A．China | B．England |
| C．France | D．Germany |
| A．sad | B．happy |
| C．worried | D．excited |
| A．Phillip | B．Victor |
| C．Thomas | D．Laura |
| A．blue | B．red |
| C．brown | D．green |
| A．money and time | B．books and food |
| C．friends and patience | D．beautiful clothes and wine |
