Two weeks before Christmas,Mother told me we were going to my grandmother's house for the holiday.Grandma and Uncle Henry lived on a farm some 15 miles out of town.They had no electricity or running water and__1__what I considered the “good things” in life.They__2__made no plans for Christmas.When Christmas Eve arrived,Mom told me in her “I-mean-it” voice to__3__all the decorations(装饰物)from our tree.She packed those up,__4__all the trimmings(配料)for a __5__turkey dinner.

Christmas morning__6__perfectly,with the sun shining brightly across a fresh blanket of snow.__7__I sulked(生气)silently in the backseat of the car as we made our__8__to grandma's.This was going to be the __9__Christmas ever!

Grandma was__10__to see us as we walked up to her door.“What on earth are you doing here?”she stammered.“We weren't expecting__11__.It's Christmas,and I don't even have a turkey to cook for you.”“I knew__12__.”Mom said as we set boxes of goodies on the kitchen table.“That's__13__we brought one with us.”“We__14__have a tree,”Mom insisted.“__15__,what will we do with all these decorations?”

Uncle Henry quickly caught Mom's spirit.He called me to join him,and we found a perfect Christmas tree in the woods.Soon the house __16__fresh and piney as we decorated the tree,and the day__17__a festive air.The turkey dinner was very good,too.I was actually beginning to enjoy this unusual Christmas day!

Dessert was forgotten__18__Mom came out with the final surprise—a flaming(燃烧的)pudding! “Merry Christmas,Mother,”Mom said.“Dear me!” Grandma gasped.“I haven't seen a flaming pudding since I left England before I was married.”Tears of__19__filled her eyes.

I could not keep the tears__20__my eyes,either.I knew then that Mom had also given me the best Christmas present ever—she had taught me what a beautiful thing it is to give.

1.A.prepared      B.lacked 

C.refused  D.desired

2.A.also      B.still 

C.never      D.hardly

3.A.replace        B.collect 

C.remove  D.show

4.A.instead of    B.by the side of

C.along with      D.in spite of

5.A.normal        B.complete 

C.fresh       D.separate

6.A.dawned       B.passed 

C.broke      D.happened

7.A.But      B.So 

C.And        D.Then

8.A.decision       B.way 

C.wish       D.plan

9.A.last      B.busiest 

C.best        D.worst

10.A.expected    B.eager 

C.surprised        D.ready

11.A.anyone       B.others 

C.someone        D.no one

12.A.you    B.it 

C.that         D.this

13.A.how  B.why 

C.where     D.when

14.A.may  B.will 

C.can         D.must

15.A.Meanwhile        B.Therefore

C.However        D.Otherwise

16.A.improved  B.smelled 

C.became  D.changed

17.A.showed up        B.carried on

18.A.until  B.after 

C.because  D.unless

19.A.sadness     B.joy 

C.regret      D.worry

20.A.inside        B.back 

C.into         D.from

Christmas Eve was tomorrow. I hoped one of the packages that held a camera had already been placed under the Christmas tree. It was the only thing I wanted. I had been dropping hints to my parents. I love taking photos. My bedroom walls are covered with photos I had taken with my mom’s old camera. I’m always trying to capture (捕捉) those perfect moments in which you can hear the laughter or touch the beautiful scene, but my camera has always seemed to fall short.

I knew Mom had put a few presents under the tree this morning, so I went on a hunt in my mom’s room. I opened the door and found my Christmas present was lying unwrapped on the floor — a big pink cat. I felt so disappointed.

Mom seemed to notice that, and she tried to cheer me up. “Stacy, I got your present today. I am so excited to surprise you!” “I can’t wait,” I said.

The next day I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to tell her.

“Mom, may I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, dear. What do you need to talk about?” she asked.

And so it came — how upset I was that I was getting a cat.

“Stacy, that cat is for your sister Julia!” she said with a smile.

“Then what am I getting?” I asked.

She just smiled. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

Next morning, I happily got into the living room and sat next to the tree. I pulled out the box with my name on it and opened the wrapping paper to find ...

My camera! “Thank you!” I said to both Dad and Mom.

Dad picked up the camera and took a picture of Julia, Mom and me. It has become one of my favorite pictures. Just on that Christmas morning, I took lots of photos with my camera — my little sister making a face, my parents giving me a soft smile — and all of these photos have come to mean one thing to me: love.

1.The underlined phrase “dropping hints” in Para-graph 1 means _____.

A.talking often                           B.suggesting indirectly

C.sending presents                        D.taking pictures

2.Why did Stacy feel disappointed at first?

A.Her mother couldn’t understand her at all.

B.Her mother didn’t buy her any Christmas gift.

C.She mistook her sister’s Christmas gift for hers.

D.She didn’t find her present in her mom’s room.

3.We can learn from the passage that _____.

A.her mother bought Stacy a camera after discovering her disappointment

B.her mother knew what gift Stacy wanted for Christmas

C.Stacy thought it’s OK to have an old camera

D.Stacy finally got her gift on Christmas Eve

4.What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A.The family happiness captured by the camera.

B.The nice Christmas that Stacy spent.

C.The beautiful pictures that Stacy took.

D.The true love that Stacy got from her parents.

5.What would be the best title for the passage?

A.A Christmas gift as wished

B.Love is more important than gifts

C.A wonderful Christmas

D.Love can not be bought

 

When my grandfather died, my 83-year-old grandmother, once so full of life, slowly began to fade. No longer able to manage a home of her own, she moved in with my mother, where she was visited often by other members of her large, loving family. Although she still had her good days, it was often hard to arouse her interest.

But one chilly December afternoon three years ago, my daughter Meagan, then eight, and I were visiting her, when she noticed that Meagan was carrying her favorite doll.“I, too, had a special doll when I was a little girl,” she told a wide-eyed Meagan. “I got it one Christmas when I was about your age. I lived in an old farmhouse in Maine, with Mom, Dad and my four sisters, and the very first gift I opened that Christmas was the most beautiful doll you’d ever want to see.”

“She had an exquisite(优美的,高雅的), hand-painted face, and her long brown hair was pulled back with a big pink bow. Her eyes were blue, and they opened and closed. I remember she had a body of kidskin, and her arms and legs bent at the joints.”

GG’s voice dropped low, taking on an almost respectful tone. “My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, decorated with fine lace. … Getting such a fine doll was like a miracle for a little farm girl like me — my parents must have had to sacrifice so much to afford it But how happy I was that morning!”

GG’s eyes filled and her voice shook with emotion as she recalled that Christmas of long ago. “I played with my doll all morning long. And then it happened. My mother called us to the dining room for Christmas dinner and I laid my new doll down gently on the hall table. But as I went to join the family at the table, I heard a loud crash.”

“I hardly had to turn around — I knew it was my precious doll. And it was. Her lace skirt had hung down from the table just enough for my baby sister to reach up and pull on it. When I ran in, there lay my beautiful doll on the floor, her face smashed into a dozen pieces. She was gone forever.”

A few years later, GG’s baby sister was also gone, she told Meagan, a victim of pneumonia(肺炎). Now the tears in her eyes spilled over — tears, I knew, not only for a lost doll and a lost sister, but for a lost time.

Subdued(沉默的) for the rest of the visit, Meagan was no sooner in the car going home than she exclaimed, “Mom, I have a great idea! Let’s get GG a new doll for Christmas. Then she won’t cry when she thinks about it.”

My heart filled with pride as I listened to my sympathetic little daughter. But where would we find a doll to match GG’s fond memories?

Where there’s a will, as they say, there’s a way. When I told my best friends, Liz and Chris, about my problem, Liz put me in touch with a local doll-make. From a doll supply house I ordered a long brown hair and a kidskin body to copy the outfit GG had so lovingly described. Liz volunteered to put the doll together, and Chris helped me make the doll’s outfit. Meagan wrote the story of the lost doll by giving examples.

Finally our creation was finished. To our eyes it was perfect. But there was no way it could be exactly like the doll GG had loved so much and lost. Would she think it looked anything like it?

On Christmas Eve, Meagan and I carried our happily packed gift to GG, where she sat surrounded by children, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. “It’s for you,” Meagan said, “but first you have to read the story that goes with it.”

GG no sooner got through the first page than her voice cracked and she was unable to go on, but Meagan took over where she left off. Then it was time to open her present.

I’ll never forget the look on GG’s face as she lifted the doll and held it to her chest. Once again her tears fell, but this time they were tears of joy. Holding the doll in her frail arms, she repeated over and over again, “She’s exactly like my old doll, exactly like her.” 

And perhaps she wasn't saying that just to be kind. Perhaps however impossible it seemed, we had managed to produce a close copy of the doll she remembered. But as I watched my eight-year-old daughter and her great-grandmother examining the doll together, I thought of a likelier explanation. What GG really recognized, perhaps, was the love that inspired the gift. And love, wherever it comes from, always looks the same.

1.GG moved in with her daughter because ______.

A.she wanted to live with a large family

B.she was not able to live on her own due to her weakness

C.her husband passed away

D.she thought it was the children’s obligation to take care of her

2.Why did GG become very emotional on a December afternoon?

A.Because she saw her great granddaughter’s doll.

B.Because she recalled her long deceased parents.

C.Because she was surrounded by her offspring.

D.Because she felt lonely during the Christmas season.

3.What can we infer from the underlined sentence in paragraph 4? 

A.GG’s doll was important and was a symbol of many things.

B.GG showed great respect for his husband’s love.

C.GG missed the great old days she spent with her family

D.GG was grateful for her long life.

4.What happened to GG’s baby sister?

A.She envied her sister all her life.

B.She felt guilty for breaking GG’s doll and decided to go.

C.She left home at a young age.

D.She died of some disease at a young age.

5.Why did Meagan’s mum feel proud of her daughter?

A.Because she was clever.                  B.Because she was loving.

C.Because she was amiable.                 D.Because she was imaginative.

6.This passage implies that ______.

A.treating the elderly well is moral

B.it is impossible to copy the exact doll for the elderly

C.love, the permanent rhythm of life, will always remain in the elderly’s heart

D.physical comfort from children rather than psychological care is important

 

Bobby was sitting out in his back yard in the snow. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them. Try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother’s Christmas gift.

    Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, his mother worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage could only be stretched so far.

    What the family lacked in money and material things, they more than made up for in love and family unity. They ran the household in their mother’s absence. All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother.

    It was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing. Bobby started to walk down to the street. He walked from shop to shop. Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get dark, then suddenly his eyes caught a shiny dime. Never has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby did at that moment.

    He went inside a flower shop. When the owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower. The shop owner looked at Bobby, then said, “You just wait here and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

    The shop owner returned holding red roses all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby’s heart sank as the owner placed them gently into a long white box. “That will be ten cents, young man,” said the shop owner, reaching out his hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime.

    Then the shopkeeper’s wife appeared. “Where are the roses you were fixing?”

    The shop owner replied, “A strange thing happened to me this morning. I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn’t sure at the time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was.”

1.According to the first three paragraphs we know that _____.

    A. Bobby’s sisters didn’t help Bobby to buy a gift

    B. Bobby had known what gift he’d give to his mother

    C. the children in the family all loved their mother

    D. Bobby’s family was rich before his father died

2.Why did Bobby walk along the street?

    A. Because he didn’t know what to do. 

    B. Because he wanted to try his luck there.

    C. Because he wanted to get some money.

    D. Because he hoped to see what he could get.

3.What could he buy with a dime then?

    A. A flower.            B. Nothing.     C. A piece of cake.       D. Many flowers.

4.Bobby slowly gave the dime to the shop owner because _______.

    A. he did not want any rose flowers

B. the flowers weren’t worth a dime

    C. the shop owner would cheat him

D. he hardly believed what had happened

5.From the last two paragraphs we can infer that the shop owner ______.

    A. was shocked by the voice he heard       

B. was always ready to help others

    C. didn’t know how to run a business      

D. was good at making up stories

 

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