If I raised the question, “What would be the last thing you would expect to happen while watching your son’s flag football game?” you probably still couldn’t come up with what happened to me and my family.
As we were sitting on the sidelines enjoying the game, a low-flying bird came swooping in attempting to land on my daughter’s head! It honestly came out of nowhere. We were seated by ourselves on the tree lined side of the field. I was able to calm my daughter’s shock and fear once I showed her that the bird was not some wild animal, it was in fact, somebody’s pet!
Now, we’re sitting at the outdoor fields of the Pontiac Silverdome, far from any populated area, wondering where this very social cockatiel, an Australian parrot (澳洲鹦鹉) could have come from. I walked up to the bird and put out my hand. Immediately, it hopped on and chirped in a friendly way. We looked around us and knew that we could not just leave and suppose that the bird would return to where it came from. This was a very domesticated bird that needed help or it would not survive.
The flag football game had ended so we walked the bird over to other groups of adults and asked if they knew of anyone who had lost a bird. All the kids were excited about the bird and fed it with some post game snacks. The bird’s nails were getting long and he was looking pretty dirty, so we knew it had been out here for a long time and was hungry. Since its wings were clipped, it could fly a little but probably not more than 100 yards or so at a try. We all just scratched our heads as a group wondering what to do with the lost bird.
We explained to the kids that this bird needed our help since it was someone’s pet and would not know how to get its own food, and it could not fly well since its wings were clipped. The kids understood, and all of them wanted to take the bird home! The parents however, knew this was not a good choice as one had a large dog, another two cats, etc. We explained to the kids that one of us could take the bird home for the night and then bring it to the Humane Society in the morning in hopes to connect it to its owners. We couldn’t keep the bird. It wasn’t ours. This was tough for the kids to understand at first. We couldn’t just leave the bird either. There was no way it could attend itself. The group of us sat around the Silverdome practice fields for quite a while trying to determine the best course of choice for the lost bird. It was getting dark out but no one was willing to leave that parking lot until we had a game plan for how to help the bird.
The owner of the football league, Chris Novak, offered to take the bird. It was extremely nice of him and he really stepped in to help while all the rest of us who had kids tugging on our shirts and begging to take it home. We took a box and put a bunch of holes in it and he brought it home for the night. Another mom went online and found a family that had lost a bird that looked just like the one we’d found. She emailed the info to Chris who got in touch with the family and the next day, reunited the bird with the family that lost it almost 3 weeks earlier! When Chris emailed us to let us know, we could not believe that this bird had traveled from The Rochester Tienken area all the way to the Silverdome!
We were so happy to be able to save this bird and get it back to its family. I showed my kids the email about how the other family got their pet back. The family has 3 kids who were so happy to see their bird. My kids realized what a nice ending this story had. Not only had we been able to save this bird’s life, but we were able to bring it back to the family that loves and misses him.
The life lesson in the missing bird story seemed to miss its mark with my kids at first. They were a little bummed out that they couldn’t keep the lost bird. I explained to them that when an animal or someone needs help, you just can’t turn a blind eye and hope everything works out OK. The “lost bird incident” was also a reminder to them that teamwork and the kindness of strangers can make a world of difference and that a group of well-meaning strangers can work together to help someone. It wasn’t a heroic act, but one that I knew had sunk in with my kids when they realized that trying to help was the best and only real course of action.  
【小题1】What happened when the author watched his son’s football games?

A.A parrot tried to eat their food.
B.His daughter was hurt by a parrot.
C.A parrot flew towards his daughter.
D.A parrot landed on his daughter’s head.
【小题2】The underlined word “domesticated” in the second paragraph probably means_______.
A.having been abandonedB.having been used to home life
C.having been used to life in the wildD.having been week and hungry
【小题3】Who was the first one to find the bird’s owner?
A.The authorB.Chris Novak
C.The Humane SocietyD.A participant’s mother
【小题4】What can be learned from the “lost bird incident”?
A.Strangers can also work well together.
B.Humane Society helps children in teamwork.
C.Children can keep lost injured pet birds home.
D.Helping others is always regarded as a heroic act.
【小题5】What did the author want to tell in the text?
A.How to help a lost parrot to find home.
B.The experience of watching a football games.
C.The importance of teamwork and helping others.
D.How a parrot can fly a long distance from home.
【小题6】The best title of the text should be________. 
A.What Animals Can Teach Us
B.Complete Care for a Lost Bird
C.Life Lessons When You Least Expect It
D.Love First, Teamwork and Kindness Second

September 21, 2050----At a press conference today it was announced that the first tourist heading for Mars will be the 38-year-old US businessman Patrick Clifford. He will leave the earth in the  launching window of June 2052 and set his foot on the surface of Mars in November, together with the other 6 astronauts assigned for the mission to further explore the planet.
Patrick has now two years of training ahead of him to get ready for the trip. Not only will he spend five months in getting to Mars, but another 600 days there before he can go back home.  Patrick was of course very excited, “ This has been my dream since I was four, and seeing the first man on Mars 20 years ago made me realize that it was possible.”
To be able to pay the $ 1. 3 billion for his ticket for the trip Patrick sold his majority stake (股份) in the company his father had built. “I know that my father would have been proud of me if he had still been alive today, he knew what this means to me”, says Patrick. There is no risk though that you will find Patrick begging in your street corner when he comes back, but it is said that he was paid twice as much for his part of the company.
So, how is he going to spend his 600 days on the red planet? “Well, since I don’t have a job when I get back after selling the company, I have plenty of time to come up with a new business idea”, he says and laughs. If he brings a shovel(铁锹)he can start building the first hotel there, but maybe he shouldn’t expect too many guests until someone can offer a cheaper ticket.
【小题1】How long will Patrick Clifford be away before he comes back?

A.About five monthsB.About two yearsC.About 600 daysD.About 750 days
【小题2】The underlined part in Paragraph 3 means that          .
A.the trip will turn Patrick into a beggar
B.Patrick will get much money from the trip
C.we needn’t worry about Patrick’s economic condition
D.it’s likely that Patrick will be very poor after he comes back
【小题3】What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Patrick is an optimistic man
B.A total of six people will go to Mars
C.Patrick’s father felt excited at the news
D.Patrick will spend all his money on the trip

I woke up this morning. There is an empty feeling that I have had so many times before and it seems to be coming back into my mind. What is it? I can’t figure it out.

I got ready for work. On the way I decide to stop and get a cheese from the little shop just down the road. I have never been there before but I was hungry and it would be 5 hours before I got off work.

    The owner of the store took my order. He asked me what I wanted and I told him I heard he made a great cheese. He seemed pleased to hear that.

    As I was sitting in the small space,there was an elderly gentleman finishing his breakfast. He paid the waitress, received this change and made a small joke. As he turned to get up, which was quite a difficult feat for this gentleman, he looked over at me. I gave a small smile.

    He looked again in my direction for a moment and said to me, “Has anyone ever told you, you have the most beautiful brown eyes?”

    Seeing as I have blue eyes, I can’t say I have ever heard that before. I humored him and said, “No, I can’t say anyone has ever told me that before.”

    He smiled, and said,“Well since they are blue you wouldn’t have heard that, but you have beautiful blue eyes.”

    I laughed and said thank you very much. He began to tell me a few one liner jokes so I smiled and laughed at his jokes.

    He tried to get up to leave again and looked at me and said“Your smile really brightens a room, do you know that?”I said,“Thank you very much.”

    He proceeded to get up, which took him quite some time. As he got up he said,“Take care of that smile.”

    I felt a sense of comfort wash over me and I reflected on my morning and that empty feeling I had. For a moment in time it seemed to be filled.

1.Before the writer went to work, he felt________.

A. sleepy          B. energetic           C. sick          D. unhappy

2.From the text, we can infer the old man __________.

A. was optimistic about life                B. liked to play a joke on others

C. was unwilling to leave                  D. had difficulty in hearing

3.By saying“since they are blue”, the old man meant“_____________”.

A. because they feel cold                  B. because they are sad

C. because they have blue eyes             D. because they are hungry

4.What lesson can we learn from the story?

A. We should find comfort from stranger.

B. We should pay attention to our own business.

C. We should laugh off our worries in life

D. We should show respect to the old people.

 

September 21, 2050----At a press conference today it was announced that the first tourist heading for Mars will be the 38-year-old US businessman Patrick Clifford. He will leave the earth in the  launching window of June 2052 and set his foot on the surface of Mars in November, together with the other 6 astronauts assigned for the mission to further explore the planet.

Patrick has now two years of training ahead of him to get ready for the trip. Not only will he spend five months in getting to Mars, but another 600 days there before he can go back home.  Patrick was of course very excited, “ This has been my dream since I was four, and seeing the first man on Mars 20 years ago made me realize that it was possible.”

To be able to pay the $ 1. 3 billion for his ticket for the trip Patrick sold his majority stake (股份) in the company his father had built. “I know that my father would have been proud of me if he had still been alive today, he knew what this means to me”, says Patrick. There is no risk though that you will find Patrick begging in your street corner when he comes back, but it is said that he was paid twice as much for his part of the company.

So, how is he going to spend his 600 days on the red planet? “Well, since I don’t have a job when I get back after selling the company, I have plenty of time to come up with a new business idea”, he says and laughs. If he brings a shovel(铁锹)he can start building the first hotel there, but maybe he shouldn’t expect too many guests until someone can offer a cheaper ticket.

1.How long will Patrick Clifford be away before he comes back?

A.About five months   B.About two years    C.About 600 days     D.About 750 days

2.The underlined part in Paragraph 3 means that          .

A.the trip will turn Patrick into a beggar

B.Patrick will get much money from the trip

C.we needn’t worry about Patrick’s economic condition

D.it’s likely that Patrick will be very poor after he comes back

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A.Patrick is an optimistic man

B.A total of six people will go to Mars

C.Patrick’s father felt excited at the news

D.Patrick will spend all his money on the trip

 

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