It was a bright spring afternoon when Fieda told me she wouldn’t need me any more. I had just finished my four-hour work - 36    up and down the stairs of her three-storey home, cleaning the floor and washing the dishes. She was 37    jeans and a sweater, sitting at the table I had just 38    . a pile of papers spread around her. Her husband’  39    was going to be reduced by thirty percent. And they were trying to live as if it had 40   happened. I felt sorry for her. but I also felt a sense of 41   .

     I had been cleaning Freda’s house for five years and had 42    an unexpected relationship with the family. It was not just 43    I had become an expert at scraping(刮掉)dirt stuck to their wooden floor, 44    that I had learned exactly how to place toys on the girls’ beds. It was  45    than that, for I felt I had become a part of their 46   .Freda stayed at home with the kids, 47    I would often see her in the morning 48   them to school. And I’d be there when they 49   home at lunch for sandwiches and piano practice. I had 50   them grow up. Now I was tired, but the  51 thing was that I still wanted to keep scraping away the dirt and dust for the family.  

     I left Freda’s house that day, wondering about the 52     of my relationship with my clients(主顾). Who am I  53    them? As a matter of fact, I’m  54     an employee - the lowest kind of employee. But I’m also a trusted  55   of the family. I can’t help worrying about what happens around me.

36.A.stepping         B.coming                    C.jumping              D.moving

37.A.hanging               B.making                     C.wearing                    D.changing

38.A.cleaned               B.washed               C.swept                       D.brushed

39.A.duty                    B.money                      C.work                        D.pay

40.A.already                B.seldom                     C.never                       D.yet

41.A.regret                  B.surprise                    C.fear                          D.loss

42.A.started                 B.developed           C.improved            D.broken

43.A.why                     B.what                        C.that                          D.which

44.A.but                      B.and                          C.or                            D.for

45.A.less                     B.least                         C.more                        D.most

46.A.life                      B.story                        C.activity                     D.experience

47.A.as                        B.so                            C.since                        D.however

48.A.taking                  B.bringing                    C.meeting                    D.calling

49.A.left                      B.returned                   C.went                        D.marched

50.A.found                  B.noticed                     C.watched                    D.realized

51.A.possible         B.great                       C.proper                      D.strange

52.A.meaning               B.nature                      C.result                       D.importance

53.A.for                  B.to                         C.with                         D.at

54.A.hardly            B.certainly                 C.probably                   D.merely

55.A.member         B.person                     C.relative              D.companion

A friend and I were standing in line at the grocery store the other day, and I was telling her how lazy my children were.I had come in from work that morning, and like most times, my house was wrecked.
“I believe children nowadays are just out for what they can get.They can never help keep our house clean.” I said, feeling unhappy.
“Do you know how happy you are?” a woman behind us asked.“I would love to go home and find my house a mess.I wouldn’t mind my floor being dirty.Nor would I mind the dirty clothes being piled high.I wouldn’t even mind anyone talking about my dirty home.I would love it.I would love to kick my way through the house just to get to my kids and be able to hug them, kiss them and tell them how much I love them.You see, my two children were killed in an accident. My house stays clean; my clothes stay put up; the dishes are done.”
“There are no fingerprints on my walls.There are no sounds of arguing, either.So you see, you are very lucky.I would give anything to be going through what you are now! How I’d love to be able to hold my kids, wipe away their tears and share their dreams! I wouldn’t care how my house looked.I would be happy just to have them.”
Now if you come into my house and see a big mess, you can think bad thoughts if you want, but I feel greatly blessed.(268 words)
【小题1】The writer was complaining about her children to her friend because they ____.

A.would go out without permissionB.couldn’t keep the house clean
C.made her look dirty and badD.were too lazy to hug or kiss her
【小题2】My house was wrecked in the first paragraph means my house _____.
A.was very dirtyB.was broken into
C.needed to be paintedD.looked beautiful
【小题3】What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Children shouldn’t be left home alone.
B.A mother lost her children in an accident.
C.People should be thankful for what life gives.
D.A mother complained about the mess at her house.

Eddie’s father used to say he’d spent so many years by the ocean, breathing seawater. Now, away from that ocean, in the hospital bed, his body began to look like a beached fish. His condition went from fair to stable and from stable to serious. Friends went from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” to “He’ll be home in a week.” In his father’s absence, Eddie helped out at the pier (码头), working evenings after his taxi job.

When Eddie was a teenager, if he ever complained or seemed bored with the pier, his father would shout, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he’d suggested Eddie take a job there after high school, Eddie almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Eddie went to war, when he’d talked of marrying Marguerite and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”

And now, regardless of all that, here he was, at the pier, doing his father’s labor.

Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later, as the heart weakens, that children understand: their stories, and all their achievements, sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.

Finally, one night, at his mother’s urging, Eddie visited the hospital. He entered the room slowly. His father, who for years had refused to speak to Eddie, now lacked the strength to even try.

Don’t sweat it, kid,” the other workers told him. “Your old man will pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”

When the news came that his father had died, Eddie felt the emptiest kind of anger, the kind that circles in its cage.

         In the weeks that followed, Eddie’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there. She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two. One night, when Eddie offered to help with the dishes, she said, “Your father will put them away.” Eddie put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said, softly, “Dad’s gone.”“Gone where?”

1.In Paragraph four, the writer wants to say that __________.

A. Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support  

B. Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents

C. Children like moving away from their parents

D. Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them

2.The underlined sentence “Don’t sweat it” (Para. 6) probably means __________.

A. Don’t touch it                                              B. Don’t worry about it

C. Don’t let him down                                   D. Don’t give it up

3.Which of the following shows the right order of the story?

   a. Eddie’s father died.

   b. Eddie married Marguerite.

   c. Eddie worked as a taxi driver.

   d. Eddie was bored with his father’s job.

A. dbca                        B. dcab                        C. bcda                        D. bacd

4.From the last paragraph, we learn that __________.

A. Eddie’s mother liked to listen to the radio

B. Eddie and his wife lived in his mother’s apartment

C. Eddie’s mother missed her husband so much that she was at a loss

D. Eddie often helped his mother wash the dishes

 

Each spring brings a new wildflower blooming in the fields along the highway I travel daily to work. There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eye. I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours. The afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day each year for about two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.

This spring, I started a wildflower garden in my yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the fields would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers.

Every day I drove past the flowers, thinking, "I'll stop on my way home and dig them." "Gee, I don't want to get my good clothes dirty…" Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a tool one year for that expressed purpose.

One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had cleared up the fields and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, "Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring. "

A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a cancer. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven't been as close as we all would have liked.

I couldn't help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband's sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.

And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, I'm sure I'll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden.

1. How long might the blue flower bloom in spring?

A.The whole day.                         B.The whole season.

C.About one week.                        D.About two weeks

2. Where did the writer want to transplant the flowers?

A.In the garden                          B.Along the highway.

C.Across the fields.                        D.Outside the yard.

3. Which of the following is NOT true about the writer's sister-in-law?

A.She is seriously ill.

B.She is twenty years old.

C.She lives far away from the writer.

D.She is not in close touch with the writer.

4. What does the writer want to tell us?

A.Refresh our wonderful moments every year.

B.Visit our relatives only after they get ill.

C.Value now and don't lose chances.

D.Plant flowers and don't enjoy them in the field.

 

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