1 . ''I'd like to play a game. That is so much fun. It's not so very hard to do.''
As soon as I hear ''Simple Simon says put your hands on your head'', I am back in my grandfather's living room on New Year's Day in the early 1970s. It was our family's favorite song to get the party started.
Grandfather's house was the gathering place for my mum, dad, aunties, uncles and cousins to meet up. My mum comes from a big family, so there was always lots of chatter and laughter. Whenever someone told a story they would get up and do all the actions to illustrate it, which was great fun.
Grandfather had a coal fire, so it was always warm, even if it was freezing outside. He sat in his armchair and happily watched everyone dancing while he smoked a pipe.
Once Simon Says had got the party going, other records would follow, such as Sugar, Sugar by the Archies.
Later there would be a sing-along, with everyone taking turns to sing old folk songs such as A Warship Had Landed. I would put my hands over my ears at this one as it was so sad.
Grandfather drove us home as he didn't drink. The road we travelled on was dark. There was one big bump(隆起物) that made us feel as if we were on a roller coaster(过山车). As we approached it, we would shout, ''Go faster, Grandfather! ''
I've been to many New Year parties, but none can match those family get-togethers at Grandfather's. You can keep your Gangnam Style moves—it's much more fun to dance along to Simon Says!
1. According to the text, the song Simon Says _______.| A．was written by the author's grandfather |
| B．was the only song the author could sing |
| C．was the first song the author learnt |
| D．was often played at the author's family's New Year parties |
| A．Explain. | B．Retell |
| C．Represent | D．Comment. |
| A．They never sang sad songs at their parties. |
| B．They were kept warm by a coal fire. |
| C．The author's grandfather liked drinking alcohol. |
| D．Smoking was forbidden at the author's grandfather's house. |
| A．A Beautiful Song |
| B．My Kind Grandfather |
| C．Unforgettable Family Parties |
| D．My Happy Childhood |
2 . When Dominick Cabalo noticed four years ago that his son Nicholas, then in Grade 4, was struggling to make new friends at school, he came up with a creative way to help him “break the ice”. The graphic artist from Glendale, Calif, started creating amazing drawings on his sons brown paper lunch bags.
From Captain America to Darth Vader to Kobe Bryant, Cabalo has drawn about 400 pictures of animals, superheroes, movie characters and pop culture icons (偶像）on his son’s lunch bags. The Grade 8 student told CTV News Channel on Wednesday that he had noticed the influence his father's artwork had on social life at school.
“It would encourage a conversation. If it was a movie, then we would talk about what happened or our favorite scenes,” Nicholas said. “People I don’t talk to would start talking to me about what my father has drawn on bags.”
Although Cabalo said he couldn’t see his son’s schoolmates’ reactions to his drawings first-hand, Nicholas would often let him know which ones were hits at school. “If I do something funny or draw something quite humorous, Nicholas will report back to me and say, ‘Oh yeah, they really liked this one,’”Cabalo said.
Cabalo said his son’s favorite drawings are the ones about superheroes. He explained that, every time a new superhero movie is released (上映）,he will make sure to include that character on a lunch bag. With so many lunch bags and superhero movie series, Cabalo admits there have been a few repeated characters over the years.
1. Why did Dominick Cabalo decide to create drawings on his son’s lunch bags?| A．To become famous. | B．To show his talent. |
| C．To sell them and earn money. | D．To help his son make friends. |
| A．are popular with Nicholas's classmates |
| B．are about the latest superhero movies |
| C．express deep thoughts and feelings |
| D．influence Nicholas's classmates greatly |
| A．Animals. | B．Superheroes. |
| C．Movie characters. | D．Pop culture icons. |
| A．A Son Learns to Make Friends | B．A Son Is Influenced by His Dad |
| C．A Dad Creates Drawings on Lunch Bags | D．A Dad's Artwork on Lunch Bags Helps His Son |
3 . When my son, Tony, was 11 years old, he got a small job helping out with a traveling carnival (狂欢节) in our town. He didn’t come home at lunchtime and got back for supper as usual after he finished his work.
I asked him where he had lunch and he told me he made some new friends at the carnival, some young men who were twin brothers, and their mom and dad. They had paid him a few dollars and invited him for lunch in return for helping them with their chores (杂务).
I was glad Tony found new friends but a little worried about the type of people who might be traveling in a carnival. “Oh, Mom, they’re normal people like anyone else. They just work at a carnival instead of in a store or something”. “Come down tomorrow and meet them yourself,” he said.
So the next day I went to the carnival. The twin brothers turned out to be Siamese (连体的) twins, joined at the chest. Tony didn’t think this fact was noteworthy enough to mention. When I brought it to him, he said, “Yes, I noticed that too. Do you know that their mom has to make all their clothes because it's so difficult to find anything to fit them? They’re also really good cooks. Today, Joe,the one on the right, made me spaghetti (意大利面条) for lunch.”
What others see first in a person is not what a child considers important. Where I saw Siamese twins, he saw people having difficulty buying clothes that fit, and young men who were good cooks. It was a lesson I have thought about many times over the years.
1. Why didn’t Tony go home for lunch?| A．Because his mother hoped not. |
| B．Because he wanted to have a rest. |
| C．Because his friends invited him for lunch. . |
| D．Because he had to finish the work before noon. |
| A．her son found a small job and made money |
| B．her son found new friends during the carnival |
| C．her son didn’t come back home for lunch |
| D．her son could do some help to their travelers |
| A．friendly. | B．rich. |
| C．normal. | D．unreliable. |
| A．Tony is a kind and honest boy |
| B．the author couldn't make clothes for her son |
| C．a child’s opinion is always different from his mother’s |
| D．the author and her son are not getting on well with each other |
4 . A few weeks ago, I picked up my 14-year-old daughter and her friend from dance class. The two girls chatted happily until I reached her friend’s house. And then 1 began the drive home and my daughter, who had been talking nonstop a minute before, went completely silent. I assumed she was lost in thought.
When I came to a stoplight, I looked in the mirror. My daughter wasn’t looking out of the window or staring into space - she was on her phone. I felt my anger rise.
“Get off your phone. That is rude. You make me feel like an Uber driver.” I shouted.
“But I’m texting friends about biology homework!’’ she said.
“That can wait.” I was mad and she was angry.
Back home, she disappeared into her room, and I thought about how I was still trying to take control of my daughter’s growing independence, which was fruitless.
The next day I was thinking about my outburst when a parenting program on TV caught my eye, in which the hosts interviewed Dr. Ken Ginsburg, the author of a famous parenting book. It completely changed my attitude.
Ginsburg said. “Why are our teens pushing us away? It’s not because they hate us - it’s because they love us so much and yet they know they have to become independent. So this is a process of figuring out how to push away the things they love the most. It is crazy to fly from a comfortable nest, so teens get ready for it by temporarily pushing their parents away.”
I need to honor her independence and create space for both of us to face this monumental developmental challenge as teammates, not adversaries((对手).
1. What made the writer mad?| A．She served as an Uber driver. |
| B．The two girls were chatting happily. |
| C．Her daughter was playing with the phone. |
| D．Her daughter forgot her biology homework. |
| A．She is being under her mother’s control. |
| B．She is on the way to being independent. |
| C．She enjoys making friends using social media. |
| D．She hates making conversation with her mom. |
| A．Open-minded. | B．Hardworking. |
| C．Inspiring. | D．weak-willed. |
| A．I was pushed away by my teenaged daughter. |
| B．Life of a teenager is moving at its own slow pace. |
| C．Parents completely rely on parenting experts to educate children. |
| D．My relationship with my daughter was improved by a suggestion. |
5 . America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while - then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans are that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!
1. The writer of this passage must be __________.| A．an American | B．a Chinese |
| C．a professor | D．a student |
| A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| A．strict with time | B．serious with time |
| C．careful with time | D．willing to spend time |
| A．Friendship between Chinese | B．Friendship between Americans |
| C．Americans’ hospitality | D．Friendship between Chinese and Americans |
6 . My daughter Kelly is a cautious person. She needs to warm up to situations, and is hesitant to try new things. But this has been a year of firsts for my girl that has filled her with a new sense of confidence. This year she moved to lap lane in swimming where she was preparing for a swim team. This year she learned to ride a bike without training wheels. And this year she completed her first kids’ triathlon (三项全能).
On Saturday, with a thunderstorm coming soon and my son’s birthday party later in the day, we all went out in the dark of the morning for Kelly to participate in her first triathlon. We practiced transitions from swim to bike to run with her, we got all the equipment she’d need, and we kept talking about the race. But as we waited the two hours for the older kids to finish before her turn, she held my leg a little harder and told me she loved me a few too many times. She was nervous but trying to keep it together.
And then it was her turn. From the second she jumped into the water, my heart soared. My daughter transformed into the most confident human being I had ever seen. She dominated that swim, crushed that bike ride and ran to the finish with the biggest smile on her face.
I can honestly say that I never felt so proud of someone in my entire life. It wasn’t because she did a sport or anything like that. It was because she was afraid of something and conquered that fear with confidence and a fire I hadn’t seen before.
I kept looking at her with smile. She might be wearing the finalist medal but I felt like I won that day. I won the chance to see my girl shine.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．The race began in the early morning. |
| B．Kelly prepared for her brother’s birthday party. |
| C．Kelly was eager for her turn in the race. |
| D．The whole family gave Kelly support. |
| A．worried and hesitant | B．excited and proud |
| C．anxious and uneasy | D．curious and concerned |
| A．to succeed in dealing with or control something |
| B．to take control of an area and its people by force |
| C．to become very popular or successful in a place |
| D．to defeat someone especially in a competition |
| A．expressed love to her | B．won the gold medal |
| C．overcame the fear | D．took part in the sport |
7 . “I have cancer.”Mom said and held me in a tight hug.I could feel her chest shaking as she tried not to cry but failed.
For all of my twenty-four years,my mom had been supportive.Strength and protection had always flowed from her to me.Now I knew it would have to flow the other way.
Mom didn’t stay down for long.After the shock of breast-cancer,she armed herself with a notebook and a pen and a thousand questions for the doctors.She took notes on white blood cell counts and medications(药物)with long names as though she were studying for entrance exams into medical school.”The not-knowing is the worst.”she said.
The operation was successful.The chemo(化疗)was the harder part.I went with Mom to every chemo treatment.She rarely complained,though her hair was gone and her toenails and fingernails fell out one by one.She joked that she could save money on nail polish and put it toward the doctor bills,even though she never wore nail polish.”Cancer can take my hair,my nails,my health,my very life. But it can’t take my smile.”Mom said.
Mom learned to share her fears with me,and it formed an even deeper bond between us.Yet I am certain there were fears she didn’t share because she was still protecting me-worries she only shared with Dad.Even in the darkest hours,she would just joke about the cancer. Mom always said,”When you look your greatest fear in the eye and laugh at it,you take away some of its power.”
Mom was one of the lucky ones.She did beat her cancer,though not without scars.From her,I’ve learned I may not get to choose what I face,but I do get to choose how I face it.
1. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．There were other ways to treat cancer. |
| B．Knowledge of cancer would be helpful. |
| C．Mom had to stay stronger to beat cancer. |
| D．I should be the one being there for Mom. |
| A．Humorous and generous. |
| B．Considerate and ambitious. |
| C．Optimistic and determined. |
| D．Caring and knowledgeable. |
| A．The fear Mom shared with me. |
| B．The ways Mom faced fear. |
| C．The jokes Mom told me. |
| D．The bond Mom and I formed. |
| A．Luck counts in beating diseases. |
| B．Complaint does no good to one’s health. |
| C．Positive attitudes get one through hardship for |
| D．Sharing feelings helps reduce sufferings a lot. |
8 . When a precious baby cow ended up in this family after losing its mom, little Kinley Gray took her in with open arms.
“They are just so cute. My heart cannot even contain in all of that love,” Lacey Gray, Kinley’s mom said.
Lacey is a professional photographer from Michigan City, Mississippi. She had reached out to her husband’s uncle, who owns cows, to see if she could borrow a calf for a photo shoot she was hoping to do.
Initially, her husband’s uncle thought she could just borrow a calf without the mom. She hadn’t thought about that aspect, but understood, and moved on.
But the next morning she got a phone call from him and he was so serious. He said, “Do you really want a calf? The mama fell and she is not going to get up. She will die from this. I'm calling to see if you want this baby, but you have to feed it several times a day.
Without hesitation, Lacey agreed, not having a clue about what she was getting herself into with raising a cow, let alone a 3-day-old calf that had just lost her mom.
“We brought her inside the first night, she slept in the laundry room,” said Lacey. “But Kinley ran in there and was kissing all over her. Kinley read her books and when it was time to walk her, Kinley would walk her all over the yard. Kinley wants to feed her all by herself. It’s really sweet.
Now, just two weeks later, the precious pair is completely inseparable.
“I was almost in tears, shooting the two of them together,” Lacey said. “She just has a connection with her. She just knows that’s her family. This is just so crazy and so sweet. I just hope I can watch them grow all through Kinley’s childhood.”
1. Why did Lacey want to borrow a bay cow?| A．To learn how to raise cows. | B．To take special photos. |
| C．To make it work for her family. | D．To raise cows for making a living. |
| A．She was a little hesitant when making the decision. |
| B．She knew exactly what would happen next. |
| C．She was super excited about having a calf. |
| D．She was firm though not sure how to raise it. |
| A．Kinley likes the baby cow very much. |
| B．Kinley and the baby cow are the same age. |
| C．The baby co will be sent back after shooting. |
| D．Kinley will look after the baby cow all the time. |
| A．A wonderful photo attracts people’s eyes. |
| B．A baby cow lost her mother after she was born. |
| C．A little girl befriends a baby cow who lost its mom. |
| D．Man can have a good relationship with animals. |
9 . Both of my parents worked fulltime when I was a little girl，so my grandmother would stay at our house during the day. We would watch game shows in the living room. Our favorite was The Price Is Right. We would call out our answers along with the contestants.
When I got older and started going to school，we couldn’t watch our game shows regularly. That was okay with me，though，because the one thing I liked better than watching game shows with my grandmother was helping her bake cakes. Watching her in the kitchen was amazing：she never seemed to need the recipes（食谱）but everything she made tasted delicious.
At first I would just sit in the kitchen and watch，even though I didn’t understand what she was doing. As I got older，she let me help with the easy parts，such as measuring the sugar. The day she let me separate the eggs，I felt like I had found complete pleasure.
At last，my parents decided that I could take care of myself，and my grandmother stopped coming over every day. The love of baking，however，stayed with me. I started baking by myself，and even if the cookies ended up burnt sometimes，more often they turned out pretty well. I tried out new recipes，and whenever I got to a thorny part，I would call my grandmother for advice. Sometimes I would call her just to talk too. I felt like I could talk to her about anything.
My grandmother passed away ten years ago，but I still think of her every day. Last week，I found a recipe book she made for me. It included her recipes for brownies，cookies，and my favorite，lemon pie. As I looked through the pages，I thought I could hear her voice. She was the one who taught me not just about baking，but about life.
1. The passage is mainly developed by .| A．analyzing causes | B．making comparisons |
| C．following the time order | D．examining differences |
| A．found it interesting | B．turned out to be a troublemaker |
| C．hoped to make a living by baking | D．regretted missing the game shows |
| A．Basic. | B．Common. |
| C．Special. | D．Difficult. |
| A．To describe her childhood memories. | B．To show her good baking skills. |
| C．To remember her grandmother. | D．To talk about her happy family life. |
10 . It was my mother who first thought of sending me to school．Of course I was of the school going age．When my mother expressed it，I thought that she was a heartless woman．
My mind was disturbed at first．Although I had heard about school，I had not visited it earlier．My father took me to school which was an unknown place for me．Teachers and students were strangers to me．It was a big building with a wide yard．As a small child I could not feel frightened at the sight of the building．The atmosphere of the school was calm and quiet．I was not used to such atmosphere earlier．
It was an old and famous school in our district．My father was student there in his childhood and youth．The headmaster was well known to my father and greeted him with a smile．My father introduced me to the headmaster and requested him to admit me to the school．Then I was enrolled as a student．My father left me in the classroom and went away．I was about to cry．
However，the kind behavior of the headmaster and the class teacher calmed me．The class teacher asked my name and where I lived．He patted me on the back．I replied some of his questions quickly．He became pleased．Other students looked at me curiously．At first，I was not able to understand why there were so many teachers．The bell rang．The class teacher left our class and another teacher came．Then the bell rang again．
1. It can be inferred form the second and third paragraphs that ．| A．I hated the atmosphere of school at first |
| B．I had known nothing about school earlier |
| C．Teacher and students were strangers to me |
| D．I thought my father was as heartless as my mother |
| A．He was famous all over the city． |
| B．He was my father's class teacher． |
| C．He left my father in the classroom． |
| D．My father had known him well． |
| A．Another class began |
| B．A hard maths class began |
| C．Stories about my best friend |
| D．The memory of a pleasant sports game |
| A．My new teachers |
| B．My first day at school |
| C．My terrible childhood |
| D．The first school I studied in |
