3 . My mother is a diligent and kind woman. She is very busy from morning till night. As a teacher, she works hard.     1     Both my brother and I love her dearly as she loves us.

My mother has been teaching math at a middle school in my hometown. She goes to work early in the morning and does not return home until late in the afternoon.     2     She treats them with patience and teaches them well. For her excellent quality and very good teaching results, she has been elected as a model teacher several times.

    3     Every day, when she comes back home from work, she sets about doing housework, sweeping the living room and bedrooms or cleaning the furniture, and putting everything in good order. She seems to be busy all the time. As she has been very busy working every day, she looks older than her age. But she looks as cheerful and happy as ever. Mother never buys expensive dresses for herself, but she often buys some inexpensive but high-quality clothes for us.     4     She just eats a plain meal outside when she is too busy to cook herself. She lives a busy yet simple life, without any complaints.

Often, she says to us, “work while you work, and play while you play. That is the way to be happy and gay. If you do not work, you will become lazy and be of no use to society”. What a piece of good advice this is!     5     This advice of hers will always serve as a guide to my behavior. My mother is great indeed, and I always feel proud of her.

A．As a mother, she takes good care of us and gives us every comfort.

B．She enjoys listening to classic music.

C．She never goes to expensive restaurants to enjoy meals.

D．She loves her students and cares for them.

E．My mother is hard-working and never wastes money.

F．Can you tell us something about your mother?

G．I never forget it and always bear it in my mind.

4 . 阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题.

I started drawing houses at six. Unlike most girls, my dream was to build a backyard clubhouse-an unrealistic dream because we lived in an apartment. By high school I continued drawing and my dreams broadened—to become an architect. My elder brother told me that took a university education. But my family couldn't afford that kind of education. Still, I fanned the name of hope.

I got a part-time job at Bayside Bowl and started saving money. My bank account however, was growing quite slowly. When I looked at college catalogues, I couldn't imagine how I would ever get there. I decided to shrink（缩小）my dreams to a more realistic size.

Soon after that, a newcomer started frequenting Bayside Bowl. She arrived alone and always carried a pink hag with a hall inside. Her dark, wrinkled skin and curly gray hair made her stand out among our younger customers. She talked to me whenever I cleaned near her lane（球道）. I learned her name was Bessie. She had been a singer for as long as she could remember. In her 20s she had tried to get a job as a restaurant singer, "I was a young black woman, and in the early 1950s doors didn't exactly open wide for me. Zilch!（无价值之人）" she said.

But I appreciated her advice. "Life's like bowling," she would say. "Set your eyes on your target and follow through. " Indeed, Bessie hadn't let the "zilches" stop her. She had saved up and enrolled in the Brightwood Music Academy. It turned out this lady with the pink bowling bag was the Bessie Richards, a recording artist of the 1960s.

Before leaving, Bessie left me some lines of poetry she had copied from a book. Bessie said, "Read this when the going seems tough. It'll help you follow through and reach for your goal." These are the lines:

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

A year has passed since I last bowled with Bessie, and I've restarted my drawing. I'm working and saving money, taking drafting classes, and applying for internships（实习）. Whenever I'm discouraged, I reread those lines of poetry, There'll be no barren（盆脊）field of frozen snow nor zilches for me. Inspired by Bessie and the poem, I plan to continue to dream.

1. What was the author's dream when she was in high school?（no more than 5 words）
2. Why did the author shrink her dream to a realistic size?（no more than 10 words）
3. How do you understand the underlined sentence "Life is like bowling"?（no more than 20 words）
4. Describe one of Bessie's characteristics and explain why.（no more than 15 words）
5. Who is the "Bessie" in your life? How does he or she help you to pursue your dream?（no more than 30 words）

5 . 阅读下面的短文和问题，根据短文内容，在相应题号后的横线上写下相关信息，完成对该问题的回答。答语要意思清楚，结构正确，书写工整。

I was only one year older than my sister Jeanne, but by the time we were old enough to drive, we had parted ways. When I was 19, I moved away from our Wisconsin home to Virginia. My father had a horse farm there and that's when I began to work as a veterinary assistant, helping him around the farm. Jeanne got married at 18, moved to Chicago and became-- well, I didn't know what.

Fast-forward about five years. I was 24 and went to New York City with my fiancé to see the sights. We saw Little Italy, the Statue of Liberty and Chinatown. I had never seen so many taxicabs in one spot in all my life. It was overwhelming. I was used to riding my horse to the corner store where everyone knew everyone in the quiet little town of Driver, Virginia.

During a day of sightseeing, we were crossing a very busy street. Everyone was in a hurry. I had laughed at something my fiancé said, and I suddenly heard my name yelled from somewhere behind me: “Cheryl!” I froze in my steps in the middle of the road. Tears welled up in my eyes. I knew without a doubt that it was my sister Jeanne. I yelled back before even turning to look. “Jeanne?" And there we were, standing in the middle of a Manhattan street, facing each other and smiling. I couldn't believe it.

I later asked how she'd known it was me-- -she never saw me! She said it was my laugh. I wouldn't say my laugh is all that unusual, but I guess to a family member it's infectious. It hits your heart and resonates in your mind.

I asked her what she was doing in New York, and she said she had come for an opera show and was there for only a week. Both our visits were trips planned just a week earlier.

Since that time, my sister and I have never lost touch. We both moved back to Wisconsin. We talk daily. Many years have passed, and we are now in our 50s. But our meeting by chance wasn't just a sign. I see it as more of a lesson, a reminder to stay connected with loved ones.

1. Why did Cheryl go to New York City?（不多于4个单词）
2. How did Jeanne recognize Cheryl?（不多于3个单词）
3. Use one word to describe the sisters' meeting.
Explain why you chose this word.（单词数不限）
4. What life lesson can we learn from this story?（单词数不限）

6 . 阅读下面的短文和问题，根据短文内容，完成对该问题的回答。答语要意思清楚，结构正确，书写工整。

I always dreamed of pulling off the surprise prank (玩笑) of a lifetime. Well, thanks to a little determination, some luck, and the power of love, my dream became a reality.

My family is Canadian, although my sister studied in Australia. She was graduating just before Christmas, but because my school schedule was busy, I would not be able to make it down in time for her graduation. She was understandably disappointed, and I felt guilty that I couldn’t be there for her on this most special occasion.

While I was talking to my teacher the week before the big event, I mentioned that I would be missing my sister’s graduation. Surprisingly, she commented, “Well, if you want to go, I have no problem with it, so go ahead!” I couldn’t believe my luck! I nearly jumped for joy.

Immediately, I called the airline. Amazingly, even during the busy Christmas season, I was able to change my ticket to arrive the day before my sister’s graduation.

With this fantastic news, I was bursting to tell my sister. But, wait. For a grand surprise, I needed a much more dramatic arrival than just a ring of the doorbell. What if I could arrive in a box? That would be the best Christmas present for my sister.

Although I was leaving in less than seventy-two hours, I started searching for delivery companies. The only one willing to go along with my Christmas surprise, was CouriersPlease. At first the manager said no, because Christmas was their busiest season. But then later, he kindly volunteered to deliver me himself.

Upon arrival in Australia, the manager and his colleagues loaded me in the box and carried me all the way up to my sister’s, where they rang the doorbell and announced they had a delivery for her. I couldn’t see the look on my sister’s face, but I could tell from her voice that she was both shocked and excited to receive such a huge gift box. I will never forget the look on her face as she opened the box.

It was such a great Christmas present for my sister, that is, for me to be able to go to her graduation, and in the process, show her how much I loved her. It also served as a lesson for me: _____________________.

1. Why was the author unable to go to his sister’s graduation? (不多于7个单词)
2. Who delivered the author to his sister’s? (不多于5个单词)
3. How did the author’s sister feel when she received the box? (不多于6个单词)
4. What lesson does the author learn from the experience? (单词数不限)

7 . I've loved my mother's desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat doing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.

Years later, during her final illness, Mother kept different things for my sister and brother. "But the desk,” she said again, “is for Elizabeth."

I never saw her angry, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me; she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter.

They never happened. And a gulf opened between us, I was "too emotional". But she lived "on the surface".

As years passed, I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family, I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive me.

I posted the letter and waited for her answer; none came.

My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace. It seemed that nothing happened. I couldn't be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

Now the present of Her desk told me, as she'd never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside — a photo of my father and a one — page letter, folded and refolded many times.

Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose. Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.

1. The passage shows that___________.

A．Mother was cold on the surface but kind in her heart to the author

B．Mother was too serious about everything the author had done

C．Mother cared much about the author in words

D．Mother wrote to the author in careful words

2. The underlined word "gulf "in the passage means_________.

A．deep understanding	B．difference between ideas
C．free talks	D．part of the sea

3. What did Mother do with her daughter's letter asking for forgiveness?

A．She had never received the letter.

B．For years, she often talked about the letter.

C．She didn't forgive her daughter at all in all her life.

D．She read the letter again and again till she died.

4. What's the best title of the passage?

A．My letter to Mother	B．Mother and Children
C．My Mother's Desk	D．Talks between Mother and me.

8 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Oliver is a host of a TV programme on food. He says food    1    (play) a big role in his life. "My mum was a great cook, and she'd sometimes let me have a try," he said. The first dish Oliver prepared for his family was fried chicken wings. He made it with his mum's help. Oliver says if you're    2    (luck) enough to have someone close to you who enjoys cooking, ask them    3    you can join in when it's possible.

9 . Learning to Accept

I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. _______, he did not teach me acceptance when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was   _________ and ill.

My father was _______ a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness _______ all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit quietly in a chair all day. Even talking is   _______. One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started _______ about life, and I told them about one of my_______. I said that we must very often give things up _______ we grow --- our youth, our beauty, our friends --- but it always _______ that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father ________ up. He said, “But, Peter, I gave up ________! What did I gain?” I thought and thought, but I couldn’t think of anything to say. ________, he answered his own question: “I ________ the love of my family,” I looked at my sisters and saw tears in their eyes, along with hope and thankfulness.

I was also ________ by his words. After that, when I began to feel irritated (愤怒的) at someone, I ________ remember his words and become ________. If he could replace his great pain with a feeling of love for others, then I should be ________ to give up my small irritations. In this ________, I learned the power of acceptance from my father.

Sometimes I ________ what other things I could have learned from him if I had listened more carefully when I was a boy. For now, though, I am grateful for this one ________

1.

A．Afterwards

B．Therefore

C．However

D．Meanwhile

2.

A．tired

B．weak

C．poor

D．slow

3.

A．already

B．still

C．only

D．once

4.

A．took

B．threw

C．sent

D．put

5.

A．impossible

B．difficult

C．stressful

D．hopeless

6.

A．worrying

B．caring

C．talking

D．asking

7.

A．decisions

B．experiences

C．ambitions

D．beliefs

8.

A．as

B．since

C．before

D．till

9.

A．suggests

B．promises

C．seems

D．requires

10.

A．spoke

B．turned

C．summed

D．opened

11.

A．something

B．anything

C．nothing

D．everything

12.

A．Surprisingly

B．Immediately

C．Naturally

D．Certainly

13.

A．had

B．accepted

C．gained

D．enjoyed

14.

A．touched

B．astonished

C．attracted

D．warned

15.

A．should

B．could

C．would

D．might

16.

A．quiet

B．calm

C．relaxed

D．happy

17.

A．ready

B．likely

C．free

D．able

18.

A．case

B．form

C．method

D．way

19.

A．doubt

B．wonder

C．know

D．guess

20.

A．award

B．gift

C．lesson

D．word

10 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空，在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

I have a younger brother     1     is working abroad now. I love him very much. However,   when I was a kid, I tried everything to get rid of him. I tried to sell him to the neighbours. I tried to leave him with another family at the supermarket. I even placed him in a box and     2     (mail) him to Alaska! He was so noisy that he was heard by others that they sent him back.

As time went by, I appreciated that I had a younger brother.I missed him when he was at college. I missed him even more when he got a job away from home. Now I can only wish he would mail     3     (he) to Beijing so we could hang out.