My family moved from Taiwan to a small town in central Georgia, where my dad got a visa for his family and a job. I had just learned English, and from what little I could gather from my classmates, Santa Claus would come down one’s chimney and put toys in one’s stocking on Christmas Eve! What a great country, I thought. After I looked up “stocking” in my Chinese-English dictionary, I knew what I had to do.

On that fateful night, after everyone went to bed, I took my longest, cleanest knee sock and attached it to a nail already on the mantel(壁炉). Obviously, the previous owners of this house were no strangers to this Santa character.

I woke up before everyone else on Christmas Day and ran to the fireplace. To make a sob story short, I was hit with the reality of an empty sock and the biggest lie ever told. I burst into tears, quickly took down the sock, and stuffed it in the back of a drawer. Santa was dead.

Every December since then, the topic of Christmas memories would unavoidably come up, and I would amuse my friends with my poor-little-me story. I had to make it as funny as possible, or else I would cry.

How could I know that Santa was just late? Nine years ago, on Christmas Eve, an older man with a white beard and a red cap knocked on my front door. He said, “I’ve been looking for you for twenty-five years.” He handed me a bulging red stocking, winked, and left. On top of the stocking was a card. It read: “For Becky—I may have missed you in the second grade, but you’ve always lived in my heart. Santa.”

Through tear-blurred eyes, I recognized the handwriting of Jill, a friend I had met just two months before. I later discovered that the older man was her father. Jill had seen the hurt little girl underneath the thirty-something woman and decided to do something about it.

So now I believe that Santa is real. I don’t mean the twinkle-eyed character of children’s mythology or the creation of American holiday marketers. Those Santas annoy and sadden me. I believe in the Santa Claus that live inside good and thoughtful people. This Santa does not return to the North Pole after a crazy delivery but lives each day purposefully, really listens to friends, and then plans deliberate acts of kindness.

1.What does the underlined part “what I had to do” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A. Waiting for Santa Claus.

B. Putting a stocking on the mantel.

C. Asking for gifts from her parents.

D. Looking up “stocking” in the dictionary

2.It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s parents ________.

A. didn’t love their child at all

B. didn’t know the previous owners of the house

C. didn’t know much about Christmas tradition

D. didn’t have enough money to buy the author Christmas presents

3.When the author told her friends about the story, she felt ________ in her heart.

A. proud B. amusing C. hate D. regret

4.The author of the passage is probably ________.

A. a teenager B. a primary school student

C. a middle-aged woman D. a native American

What I like to advise people is to find out what it is that makes them happy. What do you love to do? If you truly love what you do just go ahead and try to make a living by doing it. People will throw money at you to do it. But you will always have to work hard at it. I have to draw every single day of my life. I have to draw about 20 ideas. My advice is to put aside a certain amount of time every day and make you draw or whatever, especially when you don’t feel like it. Only in this way will you be able to perfect your talent.

The first step you take is to go to your local library and ask for the publications issued in the current years. When you get these publications, try to find the names of the top people concerned and their presidents. After you find these, write down their names and addresses. Keep this list and update it every year. Next thing you want to do is to create at least 40 cartoons. Get a grid(格子) from one of the strips in the newspapers, enlarge it to whatever size you wish and draw inside this grid. Now take the best 20 of your ideas and make them into finished pieces. To do this, you would want to copy them in ink because if you were a professional cartoonist, that was what you should do. Now you can reduce the size of the finished cartoons to fit onto a regular comic’s page. By comparing yours with the others already in print, it gives you a good idea of clarity to your cartoon.

The next step is to write letters to presidents of the publication. In the letters, explain who you think would read your work, or in other words, what group do you think you would target. After you complete these, send all of your information enclosed with letters in the appropriate envelope.

Now as soon as you send out these letters, start to create a brand new strip with all new characters. Don’t get married to one idea because if your idea gets turned down then you will give up. And always remember. If you receive a rejection from any of them, keep in mind that you are working on something better. You will be working on something new and more exciting and the rejection letter will not have any impact. With this in mind…

1.What is the advice from the writer in the first paragraph when you want to succeed in your life?

A. Stop doing anything until you find something quite suitable for your future career.

B. Put aside a certain amount of time every day to consider how to make a living.

C. Make a living by something that you truly like to do as your profession and work hard at it.

D. Perfect your talent only by drawing some cartoons.

2.The purpose of writing a letter to the president was to ____.

A. get some money to support the later career

B. enclose the information on how to become cartoonists with the letter

C. focus his attention on the work

D. explain who would be the readers of the work

3.The underlined phrase “get married to one idea” in the last paragraph probably refers to ______.

A. having a strong desire to get married

B. fixing all attention on one idea

C. marrying someone is a good ideas

D. refusing one idea to get married

A.Means of e?waste recycling

B.How e?waste comes into being

C.The benefit of e?waste recycling

D.The technologies of e?waste recycling

E.The importance of the electronic waste recycle

F.Modern technology brings convenience and e?waste

1.

Modern technology does bring us many conveniences(便利),from Wi?Fi(无线网络)enabled cell phones and ever? smaller laptop computers that make entire lives easy to energy? efficient washers that use half the power and time to complete their tasks. However,these new toys and equipment finally become electronic waste ( 电子垃圾)(e? waste)once they are out of use.

2.

E? waste includes everything from empty printer ink containers to broken refrigerators. As people buy new items to replace aging electronics or make upgrades(升级),more electronic waste comes into being. In some cases,such as 2009's switch from analog(模拟)to digital television broadcasting in the United States,changes in technology are so great that old equipment may not even work at all with new systems.

3.

There are many reasons why it is important to recycle electronic waste. Much of the material used to construct electronics,including metal and plastic parts,can be recycled into new items at a discount of the cost and energy use needed to create things from new raw materials(原材料). Additionally,many electronics contain poisonous substances (有毒物质)that are harmful to the environment and could be deadly if they go into an area's groundwater. When properly recycled,they can be reused and will not do harm to the environment. Because of these environmental concerns,many areas require by law that electronic waste be properly recycled.

4.

The availability(可用性)of e?waste recycling programs varies from place to place. In some areas,annual collections are held once or twice a year as a means of dealing with e?waste as well as used engine oil or other waste that is harmful to the environment. There are also some good alternatives (替代品) to recycling your e?waste. Any items that are in working condition can be given to friends or donated to charities(慈善机构)like Goodwill or the Salvation Army,who rely heavily on donations ( 捐赠) . Freecycling ,or passing on your unwanted items to those in need of them,is also a means of finding new homes for used items.

5.

E?waste recycling helps protect the environment by reducing the amount of poisonous materials placed in landfills(垃圾场)and saving recyclable parts to save energy and other resources. Recycling is a way of life. Stick to that choice every single day and recycling will become second nature to us.

Last Friday, I was ing home late after spending time with friends and thought I’d go down to the $99 cent pizza place. On the way, I saw a man sitting on the stairs alone there. I’d seen him before every day I run late to work, but this time I had no place to rush off to.

There was something about him, a quiet manner, different from many of other homeless people I had seen in New York City. I walked past him, went to the pizza place, and those 10 seconds waiting in line was enough to practice stepping outside of my usual, familiar flow. So with a few slices in hand, I went back to join him. I asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, but not for pizza because it made him unfortable. He’d rather have a few bucks for chicken and rice since it was easier on his stomach. It’s funny, in that moment, he became more real to me.

This man I had seen almost every day was someone with specific conditions, needs, and experiences. We exchanged names and ended up talking for a little over an hour that night as Kevin told me stories from his life, how he had done things when “he was younger and didn’t know any better” and how he tried to make amends (补偿) but too much time had passed. He shared his views on the value for young adults to learn the history of other people.

He talked about his one wish being in his 60’s before he leaves this earth, which is to share his story with the teenagers and young adults so they could avoid the mistakes he went through. Throughout the conversation, he eventually got his chicken and rice and gifted me a rose he had been carrying. Shortly afterwards, I made my way home, thinking to myself, “I met an amazing homeless person”.

1.The writer’s purpose in writing the passage is to ____.

A. share his experience

B. show his generosity

C. express his thoughts

D. exchange his opinions

2.The homeless man refused pizza because he ____.

A. did not feel very hungry at that moment

B. had something wrong with his stomach

C. preferred some chicken and rice to pizza

D. might feel ashamed to be given something

3.What’s the homeless man’s last wish?

A. To bee a lot younger again.

B. To make amends for his early life.

C. To have enough chicken and rice to eat.

D. To teach the young not to follow his example.

4.It can be inferred from the text that ____.

A. The homeless man is different from others

B. The writer showed his pity to the homeless man

C. What the homeless man thought shocked the writer

D. What the homeless man did was not very meaningful

5.How do you like the homeless man after reading the passage?

A. Learned. B. Honorable.

C. Determined. D. Promising.

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