题目内容

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.

He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.

He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find something to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea.

At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.

While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.

Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”

No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.

Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”

Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing.”

“I’m going swimming. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work. You seem to like it very much.”

“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”

Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,

“Tom, let me whitewash a little.”

Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind.

“No, no, it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”

“No — is that so? Oh come, let me just try. Only just a little.”

“Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly ...”

“Oh, I’ll be careful. Now let me try. I’ll give you half of my apple.”

“Well, here — No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afraid ...”

“I’ll give you all of it.”

Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures. The fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.

He had discovered a great law of human action that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get.

1.Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?

A. Because he was tired and wanted to play with his toys.

B. Because he wanted to exchange his toys with his friends.

C. Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends.

D. Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys.

2. Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because ______.

A. Tom wanted to do the whitewashing himself

B. Tom planned to make Ben give up his apple first

C. Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing

D. Tom was afraid Ben couldn’t do the whitewashing well.

3.We can learn from the passage that ______.

A. Tom was fond of whitewashing the fence

B. Tom had a lot of friends who were ready to help him

C. Tom managed to let other boys do the whitewashing for him

D. Tom was better at whitewashing the fence than others

4.Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?

A. The Happy Whitewasher

B. Tom And His Fellows

C. Whitewashing A Fence

D. How To Make Things Difficult To Get

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When Josephine Cooper was growing up,she learned the importance of charity from her parents.Although they made a modest living for their family of 10,they insisted on sharing with those less fortunate.

Half a century later,Mrs Cooper became a beloved volunteer at the San Diego Food Bank,where she devoted herself to helping others.She organized and ran a distribution center from a church,helping it become the organization’s largest emergency food distribution center in San Diego.She was one of 25 outstanding senior volunteers in the nation selected and invited to Washington D.C.to receive the award.

“She was the main person who helped us make that program grow,” said Mike Doody,former director of the Food Bank.“She had a way of getting people to work together and to work hard.She was determined and stubborn,but in a good way.She had a good heart.” People knew her as “Grandma” because of her selflessness and her devotion to helping hungry children and families.“She reminded people of their Grandma.” Doody said.

As a widow with a young child in 1979,Mrs.Cooper was helped through a difficult financial time when the Food Bank provided her with groceries.“She dedicated her life to giving back,” said her daughter,Monica Cooper.It wasn’t unusual for a local church to call Mrs Cooper to ask her to aid a needy family.“She would give people food out of her cupboard.Sometimes we would cook a meal for a family living out of their car,” Cooper said.

Although Mrs Cooper was honored to receive the national award for her volunteer work,she said being able to help others was her reward.She died of liver disease and kidney failure,aged 93.

1.The underlined word “charity” in Paragraph 1 refers to .

A.offering help B.donating money

C.providing services D.showing sympathy

2.Which of the following is true of Mrs Cooper?

A.She died at an early age.

B.She refused the national award.

C.She was kind and devoted.

D.She was not easy to get along with.

3.Mrs Cooper’s story suggests that .

A.everyone needs a Grandma nearby

B.children are what their parents are

C.a sound mind is in a sound body

D.a mother’s love never changes

Even if you think that your parents are mean-spirited at times, loving your parents is a normal and fulfilling part of life. You love them for the fact that they created you,raised you,and are in part a source of who you are. Here are some ways to love your parents.

____1._ A gentle “good morning” and “I love you” will warm a coldest heart. Remember that they brought you into this world. Without your parents,you might still wander at an unknown corner in an unknown world.

Respect them more and cherish these moments. You can use these moments to learn from them for when you’re off on your own. It’s OK to get angry but angry actions don’t help you or your parents. Act calmly, cool off, journal about your feelings,or talk to a friend. ___2.____

Obey their requests. It will make your attitude better and earn you more respect from them. It may seem like you are going through hell when you don’t get what you want or you have to clean. However,you had better remember they keep a roof over your head when it’s cold, raining,snowing,or too hot. Understand that parents are human beings and make mistakes.____ 3.___. Since you can forgive your friends, why not forgive your parents?

Keep company with them. Do things with your parents like watching TV,or go somewhere with them._ 4._ Listen to their old stories and learn from them. You will find they are your teachers in this way or another.

Some people simply may not be able to love their parents. __5.___ Seek help if you are being abused in any way. Parents do not have a right to harm you.

A. There can be realistic reasons for this,family violence for example.

B. Anyway,spend as much time with them as you can.

C. Tell them you love them every morning.

D. Forgiveness is the key.

E. Parents will in turn express their love to you.

F. After this, share your feelings with your parents.

G. Please remember parents are as important as friends.

A few days ago, my sister Liz and I talked about Dad, and we decided to get him a little something for Father's Day. We talked about the times when we were up and how Mom and Dad used to play the ‘good cop, bad cop’ thing on us. Dad has been a person of few words since we were . He raised us more by than anything else. When he spoke, though we listened, he was always mysterious and difficult to understand. There was always a(n) meaning that I never got, but Liz always to decipher(破解) him. By the time I got to high school, I had wanted a skateboard and I I was too old to ask money from my parents, so I worked at a burger joint (美式汉堡店). One day, I was really angry about annoying burgers. I came home huffing and puffing(气喘吁吁). Dad saw me and asked me what was the . I told him that I was fed up with annoying burgers. He said that we all have to start somewhere, that we may not know it now, but the skills we learn even in a burger joint might come in handy __ __in life, ‘Who knows, you might end up having to run a or even own one when you grow up,’ said Dad. He me down and I kept what he said in mind, even though I really didn’t agree with it.

A couple of years later, when I got to college, I worked in a restaurant. During one of the really days that we had, we were short on kitchen staff. Our customers were getting impatient and the were getting delayed. We were sure any minute something terrible would out. I couldn’t stand the any more, so I rolled up my sleeves, got myself a hair net and helped out in the hot kitchen. We caught up with the orders . The owner saw what I did and called me over around time. He said that he was very . He raised my salary and made me the assistant manager even though I could only go part-time. That was I realized that what my dad said to me all those years before was absolutely true.

I’ve never forgotten what my dad said that day. And whenever I have to do something that requires new skills, no matter how insignificant or it seems, I have a new perspective(看法) that it might really help me later on or even right now and I just don’t know it. Experience is everything and it a lot when you take lessons from it. That’s my life’s philosophy.

1.A. getting B. going C. growing D. coming

2.A. schoolboys B. kids C. adults D. graduates

3.A. instruction B. example C. order D. inspiration

4.A. obvious B. clear C. reasonable D. hidden

5.A. failed B. refused C. tried D. managed

6.A. imagined B. promised C. believed D. suggested

7.A. experience B. matter C. event D. accident

8.A. later B. sooner C. latter D. late

9.A. restaurant B. hospital C. school D. plant

10.A. calmed B. wrote C. 1et D. put

11.A. exciting B. worrying C. busy D. happy

12.A. meetings B. parties C. menus D. orders

13.A. break B. show C. go D. set

14.A. quarrel B. 1aziness C. relaxation D. tension

15.A. eventually B. regularly C. obviously D. thankfully

16.A. breakfast B. 1unch C. opening D. closing

17.A. influenced B. interested C. inspired D. impressed

18.A. when B. why C. whether D. where

19.A. important B. impressive C. interesting D. small

20.A. works B. counts C. shows D. studies

An old man in a faded yellow shirt sat in a windowless room on a raised concrete form. The only source of heat came from somewhere beneath the plastic mattress and the rough blanket the blank-faced police woman had handed him after taking his thumb prints. He heard voices and metallic clang as the cell door swung open.

At the front desk a tired looking policeman handed the old man back his belongings, his worn-out cap and the Seiko watch that had stopped working the day his beloved Evelyn left. The policeman dramatically held the blue plastic bag at an arm’s length to the old man who took it and made sure its contents were undamaged: the goat meat, palm oil, leaves and spices. He ignored the confused expression on the officer’s face and signed the document declaring he had been returned the possessions they had taken off him the night before.

No one spoke to him as he walked slowly towards the exit.

“Mr. Easy-nwa?” He stopped and prayed to the God who now took care of Evelyn to please take him far away from this unhappy place of expressionless faces, clipped accents and people who did not even attempt to pronounce his name right.

“Ezenwa,” He said and looked at a woman with tangerine lips, her name tag said Jessica Harlow, Social Services. “A bit far from home”,she said as she drove fast and with confidence the way Evelyn used to. He wondered if she meant the 50 miles from Liverpool or the 50,000 miles from Enugu,a city in Nigeria. He did not bother replying as this woman had plenty to say about the weather, bad drivers, her daughter’s school play...

At last she drew up outside the block of flats where he lived.

“Got here in the end”,said she seriously, “Really Mr. Easy-nwa, if you keep getting lost, we will have to consider moving you into a home”.

“No need, I was not lost,”he answered.

He carefully rolled up the sleeves of the oversize bomber jacket he wore and turned on the tap to wash his hands, relieved the pipes were not frozen. In a clean pan he placed the chopped pieces of goat meat. The herbs and spices that had taken him three months to track down, the uziza seeds had taken him into the heart of Granby Market in Liverpool, his uchanwu leaves down a shady back alley in Manchester, and yesterday, among other food items, the finest goat meat from a Sierra Leonean Butcher in Birmingham. That had taken some time, so much he missed the last train and when the police found him shivering outside the locked up station, so cold he couldn’t answer loudly enough the pink-faced big copper who yelled in his face, “What’s your name sir?” spraying his face with spittle (吐沫)as he did so, leaving them with no choice but to search an exhausted, frozen old black man and finding him in possession of mysterious condiments (调味品)including a bag of dried bitter-leaf which could of course be mistaken for anything that resulted in him getting read his rights and charged with ...possession?

He lifted the lid of the bubbling soup, the room was filled with the rich and spicy scent of his culinary (烹饪的)effort. He served two bowls, taking the chipped one and placing the other opposite where Evelyn would have sat. He would tell her about his adventure, it was their anniversary and this was the perfect pepper soup to celebrate.

Ken Onyia, UK (Nigeria) Commonwealth Sport Short Story Prize

1.Why was Mr. Ezenwa taken to the prison for a night?

A. He was too weak to move.

B. He couldn’t find his way back home.

C. He then had nowhere else to go.

D. He was suspected of possessing drugs.

2.When Mr. Ezenwa was to leave the prison,

A. his thumb print was taken immediately

B. the policeman was confused about what he had

C. a social worker was assigned to drive him back home

D. the policeman was so kind as not to damage his belongings

3.What did Mr. Ezenwa do for his wedding anniversary?

A. He collected all sorts of valuables as presents.

B. He cooked native food as a surprise for his wife.

C. He prepared a special Nigerian pepper soup carefully.

D. He travelled a lot, attempting to get his wife back.

4.What words can be used to describe Mr. Ezenwa?

A. Hopeless and pessimistic.

B. Mysterious and troublesome.

C. Affectionate and persistent.

D. Energetic and sympathetic.

5.What theme does the author want to express through the story?

A. Racial prejudice.

B. Hard life of the elderly.

C. Struggle for freedom.

D. Preservation of tradition.

You can take a selfie with a hand - held digital camera or mobile phone and later share it on the Internet. So selfies have been especially popular over the years. 1. Love them or hate them, selfies show no sign of stopping.

After all, the selfie is the most important way to show off on holiday. Everyone has his own way to take the holiday selfies. How can you take the best holiday selfies? 2.

◆‘Food chew’style

Want to let everyone know how exciting your holiday food choices are? 3. You can also cut off a piece to show off what’s inside. But don’t have food hanging out of your mouth. Remember, food always looks best before being eaten.

◆‘I’ m so adventurous’ style

Rock climbing, hiking, surfing, or skiing? 4. Just let the natural settings make people go “wow”. One commonly used gesture is spreading out an arm to show how thrilled you are. But remember that no one likes a sweaty selfie.

◆‘I am cultured tourist’ style

5. You can also try an optical illusion(视错觉)by making it look like you’re holding up the leaning tower of Pisa, touching the top of the Eiffel Tower, or picking the Sphinx’s nose.

A. Just taking a selfie against a famous cultural site makes you look great.

B. Some people have no idea where to travel.

C. According to a recent survey, haft of the interviewees admitted to taking a selfie while on holiday.

D. These adventurous holiday moments are great for a selfie.

E. Different cultures have different characteristics of food.

F. Hold up some food on your fork or chopsticks.

G. Here are some useful posing tips for you.

When tea was first brought to England between 1652 and 1654, it was so expensive that only the rich could buy it. It was said that an old couple had some sent to them as a great treat. But they did not know how it ought to be used. Eventually they boiled the leaves, put some of them on a piece of bacon for dinner, ate the leaves, and threw the tea soup away. However, tea quickly proved popular enough to replace ale(麦芽酒)as the national drink of England after King Charles II and his Portuguese wife began to follow this foreign tea tradition.

Before the introduction of tea into Britain, the English had two main meals — breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was ale, bread and beef. Dinner was a long, massive meal at the end of the day. It was no wonder that Anna, the Duchess of Bedford (1788 — 1861) experienced a “sinking feeling” in the late afternoon. So she invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at five o’clock in her castle. The menu centered around small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, and, of course, tea. This summer practice proved so popular that the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for “tea and a walking the fields”.

The practice of inviting friends to come for tea in the afternoon was quickly picked up by other social hostesses. A common pattern of service soon came into practice. The first pot of tea was made in the kitchen and carried to the lady of the house who waited with her invited guests, surrounded by fine porcelain(瓷器)from China. The first pot was warmed by the hostess from a second pot (usually silver) that was kept heated over a small flame. Food and tea was then passed among the guests, the main purpose of the visiting being conversation.

1. The story of the old couple in Paragraph 1 is to show ____________.

A. how impolite the old couple were

B. how English people cooked tea

C. how difficult it was to introduce tea to England

D. how little English people knew about tea in those days

2.The underlined phrase “sinking feeling” in Paragraph 2 refers to a feeling of ____________.

A. hunger B. loneliness

C. thirst D. anger

3.According to the passage, the key factors of a typical afternoon tea include ____________.

a. cakes and bread

b. a massive meal

c. tea d. ale

e. fine porcelain

f. silver tea pot

g. a small flame

A. a, b, c, d, f B. a, c, e, f, g

C. a, b, e, f, g D. a, c, d, e, g

4.We can know from the passage that afternoon tea ____________.

A. leads to the wide planting and large production of tea in England

B. helps bring King Charles II and his wife together in their childhood

C. is not only an additional afternoon meal but helps bring people together

D. contributes to the increasingly high price of tea and porcelain in England

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