2 . Bertie knew there was something in the wind. His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick, just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him, his head warm on Bertie’s feet, when Father cleared his throat and began, “You’ll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We’ve found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England.”

His heart filled with a terrible fear, all Bertie could think of was his white lion. “But the lion,” he cried, “What about the lion?”

“I’m afraid there’s something else I have to tell you,” his father said. Looking across at Bertie’s mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus owner from France, who was over in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.

“No! You can’t send him to a circus!” said Bertie. “He’ll be shut up behind bars. I promised him he never would be. And they will come to see him and laugh at him. He’d rather die. Any animal would!” But as he looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.

Bertie felt completely betrayed. He waited until he heard his father’s deep breathing next door. With his white lion at his heels, he crept downstairs in his pyjamas, took down his father’s rifle from the rack and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his legs could run no more. As the sun came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion’s neck. The time had come. “Be wild now,” he whispered. “You’ve got to be wild. Don’t ever come home. All my life I’ll think of you, I promise I will.” He buried his head in the lion’s neck. Then, Bertie clambered down off the hill and walked away.

When he looked back, the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then he stood up, yawned, stretched, and sprang down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.

There was only one thing left to do. Tears filling his eyes and his mouth, he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired over the lion’s head.

1. Bertie’s mother was sad probably because she________.

A．had lied about her good health condition	B．had decided to send Bertie to a new school
C．knew selling the lion would upset Bertie	D．knew Bertie would hate to go to England

2. The underlined word “they” in Paragraph 4 probably refers to________.

A．some audience

B．other animals

C．Bertie’s friends

D．circus’s owners

3. In the last paragraph, the boy lifted the rifle at the lion to________.

A．kill the lion out of helplessness	B．protect himself from being chased
C．threaten the lion back to the wild	D．show his anger towards his father

4. The passage intends to show that________.

A．circuses are the last places for animals to live

B．animals belonging to the wild should be set free

C．parents are sometimes cruel to their children

D．people and animals can be faithful to each other

4 . Two-year-old Nancy is deaf. However, that hasn’t stopped her from being a(n) _________ little girl trying to “chat” to anyone she meets. As soon as she goes out into town with her parents, she starts _________ in the hope that the person she is talking to knows sign language too.

Normally, hearing loss is a social _________ for those who don’t know how to use sign language. Anyone Nancy tried to talk to _________ this and felt so sorry they couldn’t respond. They wished they could _________ her and say something back, but they found themselves completely at a loss.

Then, something amazing happened. Instead of causing a/an _________, this barrier brought the community together. Determined to learn sign language so that they could talk to Nancy, her neighbors hired an instructor on their own, and now they are _________ to taking classes together. The teacher admits that this is really remarkable because, quite often, even the parents of deaf children don’t want to learn the language. But here Nancy has a full community that is signing and communicating with her, and it is a/an _________ story.

The teacher also says that this level of inclusion will make a huge difference in Nancy’s life. It almost certainly ensures that she will be a happier and more _________ individual in the future. Nancy’s parents are already noticing a __________ in their daughter and they have no words to express how grateful they are to their neighbors.

With a little girl and a lot of love, the neighbors truly make the neighborhood a community.

1.

A．independent

B．persistent

C．outgoing

D．generous

2.

A．signing

B．cheering

C．waving

D．smiling

3.

A．absence

B．barrier

C．stress

D．interaction

4.

A．discussed

B．ignored

C．realized

D．predicted

5.

A．inspire

B．protect

C．trust

D．understand

6.

A．conflict

B．separation

C．complaint

D．incident

7.

A．devoted

B．opposed

C．used

D．addicted

8.

A．appealing

B．fascinating

C．rewarding

D．moving

9.

A．well-adjusted

B．healthy

C．normal

D．grateful

10.

A．potential

B．belief

C．strength

D．difference

6 . 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。

When my father was celebrating a milestone birthday, I pulled together a surprise gift that he would never forget.

On his 60^th birthday, I had a fun idea: What if I could get the memories people had of him, put each one into an envelope—60 in total—and have him open them, one by one, on his birthday? So, I wrote an e-mail to family and friends, explaining my idea.

I sent the e-mail and waited. And then the replies started coming in and I was very, very astonished. There were so many memories, and they were all so lovely. They came from the 50s, 60s, 70s, from every decade between now and the day my dad was born. They came from my mother, my siblings, my grandma, my dad’s friends from high school, his sister, my dad’s first boss, a colleague at his first job, from people who hadn’t seen my dad in 40 years, from people I myself hadn’t even informed. They typed them and handwrote them. They mailed them and e-mailed them.

The night before Dad’s birthday, my sister and I stayed up late, putting the mails into envelopes.

The next morning, after breakfast and presents and cake, we gave the pile of envelopes to him. “Just one more thing for you,” we said.

It took him a long time to open them and read. Each one was a brief ticket to another time, a leap backward over years and decades. There was a lot of laughter and a few tears on his face.

I was kind of sad when the project of the memories about my father was over because it was great fun to collect these memories.

1. When did the author give her father a surprise gift? (no more than 5 words)
________________________________________________________________
2. Why did the author and her sister stay up late the night before their father’s birthday? (no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________
3. How did the author’s father most probably feel when he read the mails? (no more than 2 words)
________________________________________________________________
4. What was the surprise gift? (no more than 6 words)
________________________________________________________________

7 . It was Saturday. As always, it was a busy one, for “Six days shall you labor and do all your work” was taken seriously back then. Outside, Father and Mr. Patrick next door were busy chopping firewood. Inside their own houses, Mother and Mrs. Patrick were engaged in spring cleaning.

Somehow the boys had slipped away to the back lot with their kites. Now, even at the risk of having Brother caught to beat carpets, they had sent him to the kitchen for more string (线). It seemed there was no limit to the heights to which kites would fly today.

My mother looked at the sitting room, its furniture disordered for a thorough sweeping. Again she cast a look toward the window. “Come on, girls! Let’s take string to the boys and watch them fly the kites a minute.”

On the way we met Mrs. Patric, laughing guiltily as if she were doing something wrong, together with her girls.

There never was such a day for flying kites! We played all our fresh string into the boys’ kites and they went up higher and higher. We could hardly distinguish the orange-colored spots of the kites. Now and then we slowly pulled one kite back, watching it dancing up and down in the wind, and finally bringing it down to earth, just for the joy of sending it up again.

Even our fathers dropped their tools and joined us. Our mothers took their turn, laughing like schoolgirls. I think we were all beside ourselves. Parents forgot their duty and their dignity; children forgot their everyday fights and little jealousies. “Perhaps it’s like this in the kingdom of heaven,” I thought confusedly.

It was growing dark before we all walked sleepily back to the houses. I suppose we had some sort of supper. I suppose there must have been surface tidying-up, for the house on Sunday looked clean and orderly enough. The strange thing was, we didn’t mention that day afterward. I felt a little embarrassed. Surely none of the others had been as excited as I. I locked the memory up in that deepest part of me where we keep “the things that cannot be and yet they are.”

The years went on, then one day I was hurrying about my kitchen in a city apartment, trying to get some work out of the way while my three-year-old insistently cried her desire to “go park, see duck.”

“I can’t go!” I said. “I have this and this to do, and when I’m through I’ll be too tired to walk that far.”

My mother, who was visiting us, looked up from the peas she was shelling. “It’s a wonderful day,” she offered, “really warm, yet there’s a fine breeze. Do you remember that day we flew kites?”

I stopped in my dash between stove and sink. The locked door flew open and with it a rush of memories. “Come on,” I told my little girl. “You’re right, it’s too good a day to miss.”

Another decade passed. We were in the aftermath (余波) of a great war. All evening we had been asking our returned soldier, the youngest Patrick Boy, about his experiences as a prisoner of war. He had talked freely, but now for a long time he had been silent. What was he thinking of — what dark and horrible things?

“Say!” A smile sipped out from his lips. “Do you remember — no, of course you wouldn’t. It probably didn’t make the impression on you as it did on me.”

I hardly dared speak. “Remember what?”

“I used to think of that day a lot in POW camp (战俘营), when things weren’t too good. Do you remember the day we flew the kites?”

1. Mrs. Patrick was laughing guiltily because she thought ________.

A．she was too old to fly kites

B．her husband would make fun of her

C．she should have been doing her housework then

D．her girls weren’t supposed to play the boy’s game

2. By “we were all beside ourselves” writer means that they all _________.

A．felt confused	B．went wild with joy
C．looked on	D．forgot their fights

3. Why did the writer finally agree to take her little girl for an outing?

A．She suddenly remembered her duty as a mother.

B．She was reminded of the day they flew kites.

C．She had finished her work in the kitchen.

D．She thought it was a great day to play outside.

4. The youngest Patrick boy is mentioned to show that ________.

A．the writer was not alone in treasuring her fond memories

B．his experience in POW camp threw a shadow over his life

C．childhood friendship means so much to the writer

D．people like him really changed a lot after the war

8 . One of the easiest things in the world is to become a fault-finder. However, life can be _________ when you are not busy finding fault with it.

Several years ago I received a letter from seventeen-year-old Kerry, who described herself as a world-class fault-finder, almost always bothered by things. People were always doing things that annoyed her, and _________ was ever good enough. She was highly self-critical and also found fault with her friends. She became a really boring person.

Unfortunately, it took a horrible accident to change her _________. Her best friend was seriously hurt in a car crash. What made it almost _________ to deal with was that the day before the accident, Kerry had visited her friend and had spent the whole time criticizing her choice of boyfriends, the way she was living, the way she related to her mother, and various other things she felt she needed to _________. It wasn’t until her friend was badly hurt that Kerry became aware of her habit of finding fault. Very quickly, she learned to appreciate life rather than to _________ everything so harshly (刻薄). She was able to transfer her new wisdom to other parts of her life as well.

Perhaps most of us aren’t as extreme at fault-finding, _________ when we’re honest, we can be sharply critical of the world. I’m not suggesting you ignore problems, or that you _________ things are better than they are, but simply that you learn to allow things to be as they are— _________ most of the time, and especially when it’s not a really big deal.

Train yourself to “bite your tongue”, and with a little __________, you’ll get really good at letting things go. And when you do, you’ll get back your enthusiasm and love for life.

1.

A．lonely

B．great

C．quiet

D．uneasy

2.

A．anything

B．everything

C．something

D．nothing

3.

A．attitude

B．plan

C．measure

D．explanation

4.

A．urgent

B．unnecessary

C．certain

D．impossible

5.

A．hear

B．contribute

C．express

D．admit

6.

A．discuss

B．realize

C．judge

D．settle

7.

A．so

B．or

C．but

D．for

8.

A．believe

B．know

C．doubt

D．pretend

9.

A．at least

B．at last

C．by far

D．so far

10.

A．practice

B．speech

C．rest

D．pity

9 . Afel was only a very small boy when he first saw snow in a picture book. It had lots of pictures of children playing in big white fields. He asked, “Mum, what are those white fields?” His mother laughed, “That’s snow, and they are making a snowman!” She tried to _________ what snow was. Afel didn’t really understand because there was no real snow where he lived. But he showed great interest.

One day when he was 12, Afel was watching a programme on TV at his uncle’s house. The programme was full of snow. And not only snow-there were people flying across the snow. They looked like fantastic birds. They had hats covering all their heads and big goggles over their eyes. And on their feet, they had _________ shoes. “What are those?” he asked his uncle _________. “Skis,” replied his uncle. “And those people are called skiers.” At that moment, he _________ to be a skier. He asked his uncle what the programme was. “The Winter Olympics,”said his uncle. “It’s like the normal Olympics, but for _________ where you need snow- ski jumping, bobsleigh (长雪橇), those sorts of things. They have it every four years.”

Afel found out that the next Winter Olympics would be in Beijing, in 2022. “Perfect,” he thought. “Enough time for me to become a brilliant skier.” “But there’s no snow here!” people told him. “Where are you going to ski?” Afel _________ them. He made himself a pair of skis from two pieces of wood. He tied them to his feet and practised skiing _________ two sticks in his hands. He practised again and again until he could move quite quickly across the sand. He _________ to fly down the hills like the people on TV, but he couldn’t.

“Never mind,” he thought. “It’s a start.”

“How will you go to the Olympics?” People asked him. “Our country doesn’t _________ have a team that goes to the Winter Olympics. We have good runners and win lots of medals at the Olympics. But no skiing.” Afel didn’t care.

So every night, out in the middle of the desert, Afel now practices skiing down sand hills. He assumes that the yellow sand and brown earth are as gold as the medal he will bring home with him, when he is the __________.

1.

A．announce

B．stress

C．explain

D．state

2.

A．strong

B．strange

C．fashionable

D．comfortable

3.

A．politely

B．hopefully

C．excitedly

D．nervously

4.

A．promised

B．joked

C．agreed

D．decided

5.

A．parties

B．fields

C．sports

D．courses

6.

A．avoided

B．ignored

C．corrected

D．criticized

7.

A．pushing

B．pulling

C．holding

D．waving

8.

A．needed

B．prepared

C．pretended

D．tried

9.

A．even

B．often

C．shortly

D．finally

10.

A．explorer

B．champion

C．genius

D．adventurer