1 . Books Kids Should Read Before They're 12

The Snowy Day　　　By Ezra Jack Keats

A young boy wakes to a world of freshly fallen snow and goes exploring throughout the cityscape in this gentle, shining classic. With simple text and imaginative collages (拼贴图), Ezra Jack Keats catches the delight kids feel in the simplest pleasures.

Goodnight Moon　　　By Margaret Wise Brown

As the moon rises in a winter night sky, a young rabbit settles down for the night. An old lady rabbit rocks quietly in a nearby chair sewing, two cats playing on the carpet. The room grows gradually darker as the rabbit says goodnight to each object in his room and outside the window, and then falls asleep.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit　　　By Beatrix Potter

Despite his mother's warning, Peter Rabbit enters Mr McGregor's garden. Sure enough, Mr McGregor tracks Peter with a spade. Peter loses his shoes among the potatoes and cabbages. Frightened and out of breath, Peter finally sees the gate and slips back home. He is put to bed with a cup of tea while his three well­behaved sisters enjoy fruits and milk.

Frog and Toad (蟾蜍) Are Friends　　　By Arnold Lobel

Once Frog convinces the sleepy Toad that winter is actually over, the two friends run outside to see how the world is looking in spring. With each new season comes new journeys. Even though the characters are fictional, the feelings they share are very real, and the care they show for each other and the world around them stands out as a good example of friendship.

1. Which book can help children develop a bedtime routine？

A．The Snowy Day.

B．Goodnight Moon.

C．The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

D．Frog and Toad Are Friends.

2. What does Peter Rabbit do?

A．He explores a forbidden garden.

B．He has an argument with his mother.

C．He robs a garden of some vegetables.

D．He is too frightened to slip back home.

3. What does Arnold Lobel intend to tell children in his book？

A．Friendship.	B．Fiction writing.
C．Information sharing.	D．Animal protection.

3 .

How Grandpa Tata Caught a Ginormous Fish without a Hook

By Dhan Reddy
Rating (等级): 4.6 out of 5 stars

Many children are lucky enough to go fishing. The luckiest ones get to go fishing with their grandpas! In this story, Dinesh and his grandpa go in search of a really big fish and catch the world’s biggest fish with nothing but a piglet (小猪)! This book is a funny story of going out and getting what you want — if you’re willing to go beyond what others do.

Merely

By Cate Davis
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Born in the Kalahari Desert in Africa, Merely the Meerkat is the only child of her mother, Mernie, who teaches her to keep an open heart, to be kind, and to look for the best in others. But Merely is unluckily taken from her home and family, along with many other animals, and transported across the ocean to an American zoo where her young life changes forever.

The Way Things Never Were

By Norman H. Finkelstein
Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

It seems like kids are always hearing stories about America in the “good old days.” But, in fact, the 1950s and 1960s were not as carefree (无忧无虑的) as they sometimes seem. Through interesting stories, advertisements, facts and photographs, Norman H. Finkelstein invites people of all ages to decide for themselves.

Silent Days, Silent Dreams

By Allen Say
Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars
This picture book tells the story of James Castle, an artist who grew up unloved by his family and community because of his deafness. This book is a story as much about acceptance and understanding as it is about perseverance (坚 持).
1. Which word can best describe the story told in the first book?

A．Boring.

B．Touching.

C．Worrying.

D．Interesting.

2. Who would be most interested in Merely?

A．Those who care about animals.	B．Those who love making friends.
C．Those who want to know about desert.	D．Those who were born in an unlucky family.

3. Which author’s book tells readers the truth about America in the mid-20th century?

A．Allen Say’s.

B．Cate Davis’s.

C．Dhan Reddy’s.

D．Norman H. Finkelstein’s.

4. Which book has the highest rating?

A．Merely.

B．Silent Days, Silent Dreams.

C．The Way Things Never Were.

D．How Grandpa Tata Caught a Ginormous Fish without a Hook.

4 . That was how the adventures began. It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of, and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms, as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures; and after that was a room all hung with green, with a harp in one corner; and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out on to a balcony. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe, the sort that has a looking-glass in the door.

“Nothing there!” Everybody rushed out but Lucy stayed because she thought it would be worthwhile trying the door of the wardrobe, even though she felt almost sure that it would be locked. To her surprise, it opened quite easily, and two mothballs dropped out.

Looking into the inside, she saw several coats hanging up — mostly long fur coats. There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, leaving the door open, of course, because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe... She took a step further in — then two or three steps, always expecting to feel woodwork against the tips of her fingers. But she could not feel it.

“This must be a simply vast wardrobe!” thought Lucy, going still further in. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet. “Is that more mothball?” she thought, stooping down to feel it with her hand. But instead of feeling the hard, smooth wood, she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. “This is very queer,” she said, and went on a step or two further.

... And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; ... A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．The discovery of mysterious rooms.

B．The complex structures of the house.

C．The unexpected search of the house.

D．The adventurous exploration in a house.

2. Why didn’t Lucy go out of the room?

A．She wanted to explore the wardrobe.

B．She found her favourite fur coats.

C．She was attracted by mothballs.

D．She liked the smell of the room.

3. What can we infer about Lucy from the third paragraph?

A．Careful and cowardly.	B．Cautious and curious.
C．Foolish but brave.	D．Adventurous but casual.

4. What does the underlined word “queer” mean?

A．Terrifying.

B．Empty.

C．Strange.

D．Impressive.

5 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

In May, J. K. Rowling published a new fairy tale called The Ickabog. It is free to read online to entertain those     1     are stuck at home due to the COVID - 19 pandemic.

The stand - alone story centers around rumors of a monster     2     ( know) as the Ickabog, who lives in the northern tip of     3     imaginary land called Cornucopia. The monster is fierce and child - eating, and     4    ( have) an extraordinary power.

Though the book is written for    5     (child), it is also fascinating to adults. “The Ickabog is a story about     6     (true) and the abuse (滥用) of power,” Rowling     7     (write) on the website. “The themes are timeless and could suit to any era or any country.”

Rowling posted the first two chapters online on May 26, with daily chapters to follow    8    July 10. She is also planning     9     (publish) the book in print later this year and then donate the royalties (版税) from its sales     10     projects and organizations helping the groups most impacted by COVID - 19.

6 . Deep down in the sea there is the palace of the Sea King. It is said that once the Sea King had six daughters. The youngest was the most beautiful of them all. Though they were   beautiful, they had no _______, only a fish's tail. They were called mermaid.

_______ gave the youngest Princess greater pleasure than to hear about the world of human beings up above. One day the youngest Princess _______ up above the water. She saw so many beautiful things. She was most _______ in a big ship. There was a young and handsome Prince _______.

There was suddenly a _______ on the sea, and the ship sank. The Prince was _______ drowned. In order to save him the mermaid stayed with the Prince and carried him to the shore. She kissed the _______ Prince and sadly returned to her father's palace under the sea.

In order to win the love of the Prince, the mermaid wanted to _______ her fish's tail and to have a pair of legs. She went to the Sea Witch for help.

“It is very ________ of you.” said the witch. “But I will help you. Take the bottle of ________ with you, sit down on the shore and drink it. You will have legs, but it will hurt as if a sharp sword were ________ through you.”

“I'm willing to stand all the ________,” said the mermaid.

“But remember,” said the witch, “If you do not win the love of the Prince, and if he marries someone   ________, punishment will fall on you and you will become ________.”

“I am willing.” said the mermaid.

“But you have the most beautiful ________,” said the witch., “so I must have that in ________.” then the witch cut out the tongue of the little mermaid, who could not speak from then on.

The next morning, the mermaid did ________ the witch had told her to do. When the Prince saw her, he fell in love with her at once ________, before long, the Prince was going to a neighboring kingdom to   marry another princess. And the mermaid's heart seemed to be ________.

She decided to wish for the Prince's happy life with his beautiful wife. And she herself turned into foam on the sea .

1.

A．skin

B．hair

C．feet

D．heart

2.

A．Nothing

B．Something

C．Anything

D．Everything

3.

A．jumped

B．stood

C．flowed

D．rose

4.

A．anxious

B．eager

C．interested

D．longing

5.

A．on show

B．on board

C．on sale

D．on holiday

6.

A．darkness

B．lightning

C．storm

D．wind

7.

A．nearly

B．suddenly

C．immediately

D．instantly

8.

A．unanswered

B．untouched

C．unconscious

D．unspeakable

9.

A．get rid of

B．live along with

C．let alone of

D．give up to

10.

A．determined

B．brave

C．foolish

D．attractive

11.

A．pills

B．medicine

C．ash

D．soup

12.

A．putting

B．digging

C．going

D．cutting

13.

A．pain

B．difficulty

C．trouble

D．sorrow

14.

A．beautiful

B．better

C．later

D．else

15.

A．fish

B．foam

C．mermaid

D．wave

16.

A．shape

B．legs

C．voice

D．hair

17.

A．award

B．exchange

C．price

D．cost

18.

A．what

B．that

C．which

D．each

19.

A．Besides

B．In addition

C．Moreover

D．However

20.

A．breaking

B．beating

C．burning

D．sliding

7 .

A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens. The first 6,000 copies of the book were sold out in a week. And the book has inspired many plays and movies. The first play was put on in 1844. The first two movies were silent films made in 1901 and 1908. Since then, the story has been remade more than 60 times for television and cinema. What makes such a tale so attractive? Audiences have always loved a good plot, a villain(反面人物) who harms other people or breaks the law, and the ending of right over wrong. The book offers all three.

The book tells the story of a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. He is mean and cruel(残忍的) to his clerk and turns away his only living relative. One night, Scrooge is visited by three spirits. The first shows scenes from Scrooge’s youth that led to this present state. The second takes him to the homes of his clerk and his nephew. Here Scrooge sees that people can be happy without lots of money. The spirit also shows him the desperate poor people of London. The third spirit shows Scrooge will die alone, and no one will care if he continues to live as he has. At last the message is understood, and Scrooge repents. He becomes generous and caring to all around him, especially to his clerk’s sick son, Tiny Tim.

Every year, thousands of people watch A Christmas Carol. Why? They may be touched by its lessons on the true meanings of wealth and happiness. They may enjoy the special effects and feelings or watching every year may be just a habit. Viewers never seem to grow tired of the old miser(守财奴), Scrooge, and his dramatic message of hope and change.

1. What do we know about the book A Christmas Carol?

A．It was written in the early 19th century.

B．Dickens completed the book in a week.

C．It has been adapted for cinema and television.

D．It didn’t attract readers when published for the first time.

2. The third spirit shows Scrooge         .

A．where he will die and who will care about him	B．how others care about his present life
C．when and how he will die alone	D．what his future life will be like

3. The underlined part “Scrooge repents” probably means          .

A．Scrooge feels sorry for what he has done	B．Scrooge does things as he did before
C．Scrooge is angry with the three spirits	D．Scrooge gives the three spirits a hand

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Once upon a time ...

Once upon a time there lived in Germany two brothers. At school they met a wise man who led them to a treasure — a library of old books with tales more fascinating than any they had ever heard.       1    (inspire), the brothers began collecting their own stories, listening to the folktales people told them. Soon they produced their own treasure — a book of fairy tales that would charm millions in faraway lands for generations       2    (come).

The brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, named their story collection Children’s and Household Tales and published it in Germany in 1812. The collection     3    (translate) into more than 160 languages up to now. The stories and their characters continue to feature in virtually every media: theatre, opera, comic books, movies, paintings, rock music, advertising and fashion.

Such fame would have shocked the modest Grimms. During their lifetimes the collection     4    (sell) few copies in Germany. The early editions were not even aimed at children. They had no illustrations, and scholarly footnotes took up almost as much space as the tales     5    . Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm began their work at a time     6     Germany had been occupied by the French under Napoleon. The new rulers restricted local culture. As young scholars, the brothers Grimm began to work on the fairy tale collection in order to save the endangered oral storytelling tradition of Germany.

    7     the brothers implied that they were just keeping records of tales, Wilhelm continued to polish and reshape the stories up to the final edition of 1857. In an effort to make them more acceptable to children and their parents, he stressed the moral of each tale and emphasized gender roles. To this day, parents still read them to their children because they approve of the lessons in the stories: keep your promises, don’t talk to strangers, work hard, obey your parents.

Yet     8     all Wilhelm’s additions, the most important part of these stories was left untouched. The cruel treatment of children and the violent punishments handed out to the stories’ bad guys are too much for some parents.

So what accounts for their popularity? Some have suggested that it is     9     the characters are always striving for happiness. But the truth probably lies in their origin. Grimms’ tales were born out of a storytelling tradition without boundaries (界限) of age or culture. The brothers’ skill was to translate these into a universal style of writing that seems to mirror     10     moods or interests we bring to our reading of them. And so it was that the Grimms’ fairy tales lived happily ever after.

9 . Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were two young men from Germany who loved a good story. As university students, they became interested in folktales—traditional stories that people memorized and told again and again. They began to collect traditional folktales from storytellers all over Germany. Many were similar to stories told in France, Italy, Japan, and other countries. Between 1812 and 1814, the brothers published two books in German.These included stories like "Hansel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood."

Despite the fact that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are often associated with Snow White and Rapunzel, the brothers didn’t actually write any of those stories. In fact, the stories existed long before the two men were born in Germany in the mid 1780s. The fairy tales, in fact, were part of a rich oral tradition—passed down from generation to generation, often by women seeking to pass the time during household chores. In 1812, Jacob and Wilhelm published the stories as part of a collection titled Nursery and Household Tales, or what is now known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

The Grimm brothers’ tales were about traditional life and beliefs. For example, forests are common in Germany, and this image often appears in the Grimms’ stories. In the past, many people believed forests were dangerous places. In the Grimms’ stories, a forest is the home of evil witches, talking animals, and other magical beings.

Although most people today think of these stories as fairy tales for children, the brothers first wrote them for adults. Many of their early tales were dark and a little scary. Later, the brothers changed the text of some of the original stories. They "softened" many of the tales and added drawings. This made them more appropriate(合适的) for children. Like the early tales, though, each story still has a moral: work hard, be good, and listen to your parents.

Actually, university-trained philologists (语言学者) and librarians, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published more than fairy tales. They wrote books about mythology, and published scholarly works on linguistics and medieval studies.

1. What is the main purpose of the reading?

A．To compare the Grimms’ stories to modern children's stores.

B．To explain why storytelling is important in Germany.

C．To examine two of the Grimms' fairy tales.

D．To give information about the Grimm brothers and their stories.

2. Which of these statements is true about the Grimm brothers?

A．They invented the fairy tales in their books.

B．They wrote their books in different languages.

C．They became interested in folktales as students.

D．They traveled to many countries to collect stories.

3. Which of the following best explains “moral” underlined in Paragraph 4 ?

A．interest	B．text
C．story	D．message

4. What do we know about the Grimms' stories?

A．The later stories had morals, like the early ones.

B．The early stories were written for children.

C．The early stories had a lot of drawings.

D．The later stories reflected German life, but the early ones didn't.

10 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Which would you rather be, a mathematician or    1    author? Perhaps you will never be     2    (face)with this kind of choice. Lewis Carroll was a mathematician and author. He was a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University. But he is    3    (good)known as the writer of two of the most famous children’s books    4    have ever been written(Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass). The author’s real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, but he    5    (prefer)to use the pen name“Lewis Carroll”when he wrote, and this is the name we remember him by. Alice in Wonderland,    6    (publish)in 1865 when the author was 33 years old, was followed by Through the Looking Glass in in 1871.    7    books were written for a real girl called Alice and they    8    (read)by millions of children since they were first published. These stories are about a dream world in which Alice meets strange creatures and has    9    (interest) adventures. I’m sure you know this already,    10    if you don’t, you’d better read the stories yourselves.