It was the old lady’s eightieth birthday. She was sure Myra wouldn’t forgot her mother’s birthday, even if she was busy. After all, eighty was a special birthday. Perhaps Myra might come. Even if Myra did not come, she would send a present. The old lady was sure of that. Two spots of colour brightened her cheeks. She was excited like a child.

    Mrs. Morrison had brought a card and a bunch of flowers when she came to do the breakfast. Mrs. Grant downstairs had made a cake. Johnnie, the little boy next door, was now up with her with a packet of sweets.

    “I guess you’ll get lots and lots of presents, ” he said. “I did last week when I was six.”

    What would she like? A pair of slippers, perhaps. A blue new cardigan. Or a table lamp. Or a little clock, with clear black numbers. So many lovely things.

    She stood by the window, watching. The postman turned round the corner on his bicycle. Her heart beat fast. Johnnie had seen him too and ran to the gate.

    “Granny, granny, ” Johnnie returned. “I’ve got your post!”

    He gave her four envelopes. Three were from old friends. The fourth was in Myra’s writing.

    “No parcel(包裹), Johnnie?”

    “No, granny.”

    Almost reluctantly, she tore the fourth envelope open. Folded in the card was a check. Written on the card was a message: Happy Birthday—Buy yourself something nice with the check, Myra and Harold.

    The six-figure check fell to the floor like a bird with a broken wing. Slowly the old lady bent to pick it up. Her present, her lovely present. With trembling fingers she tore it into little bits.

As can be inferred from the passage, _______.

    A. the old lady lived alone in a flat away from her daughter

B. the friends sent the old lady many lovely presents by post

C. Myra was stopped by her husband from seeing her mother

D. the neighbours cared little about the old lady in daily life

The old lady felt _______ when she saw no packet came with her daughter’s card.

    A. excited      B. happy                C. disappointed     D. impatient

Which of the following might serve as the best title for the passage?

    A. The Present      B. The Check            C. The Birthday     D. The Daughter

The reason why the old lady tore the check into small pieces was that _______.

    A. she was sure her daughter would come, not the check

B. she didn’t notice there were six figures on the check

C. she didn’t think the check was large enough for a present

D. she would prefer a present with love from her daughter

Many of us already know about several American superstitions(迷信). Having a black cat cross your path, walking under a ladder, and breaking a mirror are all bad luck. In addition, there are many other superstitions that are worth knowing. Understanding them will keep you safe from evil spirits —if you believe in such things —and impress your American friends when you mention them.

Like the superstitions in other cultures, American superstitions often involve the things important in daily life, such as health, numbers, and marriage. For example, have you ever had a cough that would not go away? According to one American superstition, you should take a piece of your hair and put it between two slices of buttered bread. Next, feed this hair sandwich to a dog and say, “Eat well, you hound, may you be sick and I be sound.” This will trick the evil spirits and help your cough. It will also raise some eyebrows if you try it.

In American superstitions, the number three is very important. Often, Americas will say, “All things come in threes.” Three is lucky because it represents the traditional family: mother, father, and child. Therefore, gifts, letters, and guests will often arrive at your home in groups of three. However, it is also possible for bad events, like accidents and funerals, to come in threes as well.

Another time people pay attention to superstitions is when they get married. During a wedding, brides must wear or carry “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue”. The old and borrowed things will bring luck to the person who gives them to the bride. The new and blue things will bring good fortune to the bride herself. The next time someone you know is getting married, be sure to recite this phrase.

As it would be unlucky to discuss one more superstition, we will wind things up here. Keep your fingers crossed, and stay lucky!

The passage is most probably entitled        .

    A. American’s Bad Luck                 B. Cross-culture and Superstitions

    C. American Superstitions               D. Daily Life in Superstitions

The underlined sentence in the second paragraph “It will also raise some eyebrows if you try it.” means        .

    A. when you try it, the dog will raise its eyebrows.

    B. you will make people surprised when you try this trick

    C. only if you raise your eyebrows can the trick work

    D. you will believe in the trick after you try it

In American’s view, the number three is a(n)         number.

    A. lucky                B. unlucky          C. special              D. ordinary

On the wedding, the bride often uses old and borrowed things so as to          .

    A. save some money for the wedding         

B. bring good luck to the people who give them to the bride

    C. give the good luck to the bride herself

    D. pass the bad luck to others

After reading the passage, we may feel it is written in a         tone.

    A. formal               B. serious          C. humorous         D. critical

When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground. I was living in Conyers, Georgia the summer it all happened. I was a second grader, but my best friend Stephanie was only in the first grade. Both of our parents were at work and most of the time they let us go our own way.

It was a hot afternoon and we decided to have an adventure in Stephanie’s basement. As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes. I ran downstairs, and spotted red steel can. It was paint. I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green.

“Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day. Get some paintbrushes. We are fixing to paint.” She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work. We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard. There on the road in front of my house, we painted bit stripes (条纹) of colors across the pavement (人行道). Stripe by stripe, our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow. It was fantastic!

The sun was starting to sink. I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car. It was my mother. I couldn’t wait to show her my masterpiece. The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother’s face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble.

My mother shut the car door and walked towards me. Her eyes glaring, she shouted, “What in the world were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors’ trees, but this! Come inside right now!” I stood there glaring hack at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted (侮辱) my art. 

“Now go clean it up!” Mother and I began cleaning the road. Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement.  

Though years have now passed, I still wonder where my rainbow has gone. I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away. I guess we all need sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful.

What did the writer want to do when his mother came home?

       A. To introduce Stephanie to her.       

       B. To prevent her from seeing his painting. 

       C. To put the materials back in the yard.      

       D. To show his artwork to her.

In his mother’s eyes, the writer_______.

       A. was a born artist              B. always caused trouble

       C. was a problem solver       D. worked very hard

The underlined word “rainbow” in the last paragraph refers to ______.

       A. the rainbow in the sky  

       B. the stripes on the pavement

       C. something imaginative and fun      

       D. important lessons learned in childhood

It can be learned from the passage that parents should ________.

       A. encourage children to paint    

       B. value friendship among children

       C. discover the hidden talent in children     

       D. protect rather than destroy children’s dreams

Geena David knew she wanted to be a movie star when she was very young.She was not sure what gave her the idea, but she wanted to look like a movie star.“I have a lot of pictures from my childhood of me wearing sunglasses,”she says.“I used to wear them to watch TV.”
Early movie actors started wearing sunglasses not because they looked good, but because their eyes hurt.The lights used on movie sets were extremely bright and could cause a painful problem known as “Klieg eyes”.It was named after the Klieg brothers who invented the lights.Actors wore sunglasses to give their eyes a rest.But when movie stars began wearing their sunglasses in public, they quickly became a must.
Eventually actors started wearing sunglasses in their movies as well as on the street.Audrey Hephburn wore ultra-cool Ray-Ban sunglasses in the 1961 movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.As a result, Ray-Ban sunglasses started to appear more and more in the movies.In 1979, Ray-Ban “Wayfarers” were worn by Jake and Elwoo d in The Blue Brothers.Tom Cruise wore Ray-Ban “Aviator” sunglasses in the 1986 hit, Top Gun.Then in 1997, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones made Ray-Ban “Predator” sunglasses famous in Men in Black.
Of course sunglasses aren’t just a fashion statement.The main reason to wear sunglasses is to protect our eyes against UV radiation.UV radiation can damage our eyes, so people now choose their sunglasses carefully.But you don’t have to give up style for safety.The choice of frames and lenses available these days is huge.So you can protect your eyes and still be the coolest person on the beach.
【小题1】What is mainly discussed in this passage?

A.The use of sunglasses.B.The history of sunglasses.
C.The sunglasses wearing.D.Why movie stars like to wear sunglasses.
【小题2】Why did Geena David like to wear sunglasses?
A.She was a movie star.
B.She wanted to follow a movie star.
C.Wearing sunglasses was good for her eyes.
D.It was good to wear sunglasses when watching TV.
【小题3】Early actors’ eyes hurt because ______.
A.they wore sunglassesB.they went out in the sun too much
C.the lights on movie sets were too brightD.their scripts were written in very small writing
【小题4】We may know from this passage that ______.
A.Audrey Hephburn was a famous film star
B.Ray-Ban is the name of sunglasses maker
C.Sunglasses made Top Gun the hit in 1986
D.Men in Black must be an advertisement of sunglasses
【小题5】Now people wear sunglasses ______.
A.just to protect their eyesB.for fashion and to protect their eyes
C.because of bright lightsD.because movie stars wear them

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