“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school football coach Bob Peters, 39. Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” --a document stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couple’s four children, plus all household chores. Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident.(He thought the experience would make a nice book.)
After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up. “I was beaten down, pletely humbled(挫败的),”  admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press, stating, “Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”
Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids. Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley. “I had been around children so much,” she sighs, “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however----until Bob signed the contract, therefore, she decided to relax and enjoy it. 
Although Peters had consulted(咨询) with his school’s home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria, his meals were sometimes a disaster. “I tried to slip the butter I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were frying, ” he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot—sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner.
As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made. “I found an easier way-I shut the doors, ” he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week. “I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”
Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative(暂时的) title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.
【小题1】The couple signed the contract because _______.

A.Pat plained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself
B.Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest
C.they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks
D.Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book
【小题2】It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to _______.
A.pay a certain amount of money
B.admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood
C.say sorry to his wife
D.do all the housework for years
【小题3】What can we learn about Pat Peters?
A.She was hard-working and selfless.
B.She was pretty and kind-hearted.
C.She was tired of the child-raising and household tasks.
D.She did not love Bob any longer.
【小题4】 Which of the following can best end the news story?
A.“Wait till your mother gets home!”
B.“My experience of being a mother.”
C.“I’m proud of you all, my dear!”
D.“Motherhood: an impossible job for anyone.”

I passed all the other courses that I took at my university, but I could have never passed botany. This was because all botany students had to spend several hours a week in a laboratory looking through a microscope at plant cells, and I could never once see a cell through a microscope. This used to make my professor angry. He would wander around the laboratory pleased with the progress all the students were making in drawing the structure of flower cells, until he came to me. I would just be standing there. “I can’t see anything,”I would say. He would begin patiently enough, explaining how anybody can see through a microscope, but he would always end up angrily, claiming that I could too see through a microscope but just pretended that I couldn’t. “It takes away from the beauty of flowers anyway.”I used to tell him.“We are not concerned with beauty in this course,”he would say.“We are concerned with the structure of flowers.” “Well,” I’d say.“I can’t see anything.” “Try it just once again,” he’d say, and I would put my eye to the microscope and see nothing at all, except now and again something unclear and milky. “You were supposed to see a clear, moving plant cells shaped like clocks.” “I see what looks like a lot of milk.” I would tell him. This, he claimed, was the result of my not having adjusted the microscope properly, so he would readjust it for me, or rather, for himself. And I would look again and see milk.
I failed to pass botany that year, and had to wait a year and try again, or I couldn’t graduate. The next term the same professor was eager to explain cell-structure again to his classes. “Well,”he said to me, happily, “we’re going to see cells this time, aren’t we?” “Yes,sir,” I said. Students to the right of me and to the left of me and in front of me were seeing cells; what’s more, they were . Of course, I didn’t see anything.
So the professor and I tried with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. With only once did I see anything but blackness or the familiar milk, and that time I saw, to my pleasure and amazement, something like stars. These I hurriedly drew. The professor, noting my activity, came to me, a smile on his lips and his eyebrows high in hope. He looked at my cell drawing. “What’s that?”he asked.“That’s what I saw,”I said.“You didn’t, you didn’t, you didn’t!”he screamed, losing control of himself immediately, and he bent over and looked into the microscope. He raised his head suddenly. “That’s your eye!”he shouted.“You’ve adjusted the microscope so that it reflects!You’re drawn your eye!”
【小题1】Why couldn’t the writer see the flower cells through the microscope?     .

A.Because he had poor eyesight
B.Because the microscope didn’t work properly
C.Because he was not able to adjust the microscope properly
D.Because he was just playing jokes on his professor by pretending not to have seen it
【小题2】What does the writer mean by “his eyebrows high in hope”in the last paragraph?
A.His professor expected him to have seen the cells and drawn the picture of them
B.His professor hoped he could perform his task with attention
C.His professor wished him to learn how to draw pictures
D.His professor looked forward to seeing all his students finish their drawings
【小题3】What is the thing like stars that the writer saw in the last paragraph?
A.Real starsB.His own eye
C.Something unknownD.Milk
【小题4】In what writing style did the writer write the passage?
A.Realistic B.RomanticC.SeriousD.Humorous

The worker I hired to repair my house had just finished a difficult first day on the job. A broken wheel made him an hour late; his ladder (????) fell down when he was painting the roof and now his old truck wouldn' t start. With each problem he shouted angrily, more at himself than at his things. As I drove him home, the man didn't say a word.

I tried talking to the man to kill time. I managed to find out that he had come up from Blue Hills in Victoria with his family six months ago to find a job. This was his first job since moving here. I now knew why his price was lower than any other worker I could find in the local newspaper. He really needed the job. His clothes told me as much.

On arriving, much to my surprise, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked through his front garden he suddenly stopped at a small tree and placed his hands on it. Then, when he opened the door he completely changed. Instead of his troubled face, there was now a warm smile, hugs for his two children and a kiss for his wife.

The following day, I asked him about the tree.

"That's my trouble tree," he answered. "Work troubles aren't welcome at home with my wife and the children. So I hang them on that tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again. "

"And you know what else?" he said smiling,"The next morning I find that there aren't as many as I remember hanging up the night before. "

1.Which of the following things did NOT happen to the worker?

A. His truck broke down.       B. He was late for work.

C. He fell onto the roof.      D. His ladder fell down.

2.When did the worker first arrive in this town?

A. Today.      B. Last night.

C. Six weeks ago.       D. Six months ago.

3.Where did the writer find the worker?

A. Through a newspaper.       B. Beside the trouble tree.

C. In his old house.      D. In Blue Hills, Victoria.

4.Why did the worker touch the tree?

A. To get good luck,         B. To leave his trouble outside.

C. To send good wishes to his family.  D. To clean his hands.

 

About ten years ago, a young and very successful businessman named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his shiny, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.

He was watching for kids rushing out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child came out, but a brick sailed out and—WHUMP! —it hit the Jag’s shiny black side door! Immediately Josh stopped the car, jumped out, seized the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you? That’s my new Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it? ”

“Please, mister, please. . . I’m sorry!  I didn’t know what else to do! ” begged the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop! ” Tears were streaming down the boy’s face as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister” he said. “He rolled off the curb (路沿) and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up. ”Sobbing, the boy asked the businessman, “ Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me. ”

Moved beyond words, the young businessman tried hard to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapers and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back to the black, shining 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE—a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent (凹痕) to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. Feel for the bricks of life coming at you.

1.The boy threw a brick at the businessman’s car because _____ .

A.the businessman drove at a high speed

B.he envied the brand-new car very much

C.he wanted to get help from the driver

D.he wanted to ask for some money

2.Which of the following is the right order of the story?

a. The younger brother threw a brick at Josh’s car.

b. The elder brother fell out of his wheelchair.

c. The younger brother begged Josh for help.

d. Josh lifted the elder brother back into his wheelchair.

e. Josh shouted at the younger brother.

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

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

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A.Josh would accept the money from the kids.

B.Josh was a kind-hearted man

C.The two kids were Josh’s neighbors.

D.Josh’s new car broke down easily.

4.According to the passage, the last sentence means _____ .

A.trying to be more understanding seeing others in trouble

B.driving fast in a neighborhood street is dangerous

C.trying to get ready for the trouble in your future life

D.protecting oneself from being hurt

 

Andy loved the first grade. He loved his teacher,Mrs.Parks. He loved playing games on the playground. He loved learning about dinosaurs and the solar system (恐龙和太阳系).

Every morning Andy’s mother dropped him off in front of his school on South Street. One foggy morning,the traffic was so bad on South Street that she decided to drop him off behind the school. Andy walked for about ten minutes and got to the gate. He held the icy handle,but it didn’t move!Using both hands,he tried his hardest and finally the gate opened.

After Andy closed the gate behind him,he looked in the direction of the teaching building. But all he could see was fog. He got to the spot where the slide had always been,but it was not there.“The slide is gone!” he cried. He walked a little more to look for the swings,but they were not where they had always been.“The swings are gone!” he cried again.

Andy kept walking. He was so anxious to see the school that he fell and landed on the ground. He still couldn’t see the school. A terrible thought appeared in his head.“The school is gone!” he cried sadly. No more games with Jennie,Angel and Dillon,he thought. No more reading about dinosaurs. No more watching videos on the solar system...

Suddenly the boy saw something up ahead.“It’s Jennie!”he shouted. Then he saw the outline of a school building. His school was still there!He was full of excitement!

“Hi,Jennie!” he stood up and caught up with the girl.“I couldn’t see the school. I thought it was gone.” Jennie just laughed.“You’re so silly.” “What happened to the slide and the swings?” Andy asked.

“We will have new playground equipment today,” Jennie answered.“The old equipment was taken away last night. Don’t you remember Mrs. Parks telling us about it yesterday?” “I guess I forgot,” Andy said,smiling.“Anyway,I’m glad the school is here.”

1.It can be concluded from the passage that________.

A.Andy’s mother might feel sorry for her son

B.Andy was a boy who loved school very much

C.many students would be late for school on that foggy day

D.Jennie did well in learning and was interested in nature

2.Andy cried the second time probably because________.

A.he couldn’t play on the slide any more

B.he carelessly fell down on the ground

C.it was too cold for him to walk a long way

D.he didn’t find the swings where they had been

3.Why didn’t Andy see the school building before he met Jennie?

A.Because his eyesight was not very good. 

B.Because he went in the wrong direction.

C.Because there was heavy fog that morning.

D.Because he was not concentrated then.

4.According to the passage,when Andy began his class that day he would________.

A.still feel confused              B.have a nice day

C.miss his mother                      D.behave badly

 

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