The host poured the tea into the cup and placed it on the small table in front of his guests, who were a father and daughter, and put the cover on the cup. Apparently thinking of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the thermos (热水瓶) on the table. His two guests heard a cupboard opening.
They remained sitting in the sitting room, the ten-year-old daughter looking at the flowers outside the window, the father just about to take his cup, when the crash came, right there in the sitting room. Something was hopelessly broken.
It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor. The girl looked over her shoulder, shocked, staring. It was mysterious. Neither of them had touched it, not even a bit. True, it hadn't stood steadily when their host placed it on the table, but it hadn't fallen then.
The explosion caused the host to rush back. Gawking at the steaming floor, the host said "It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!"
The father started to say something. Then he said softly, "Sorry, I touched it and it fell."
"It doesn't matter," the host said.
When they left the house, the daughter said, "Daddy, did you touch it?"
"No. But it stood so close to me. "
"But you didn't touch it. I saw your reflection in the window glass. "
The father laughed. "What then would you give as the cause of its fall?"
"The thermos fell by itself. The floor is not smooth. Daddy, why did you say that you …"
"That won't do, girl. It sounds more acceptable when I say I knocked it down. There are things which people accept less the more you defend them. The truer the story you tell, the less true it sounds. "
The daughter was lost in silence for a while. Then she said, "Can you explain it only in this way?"
"Only in this way," her father said.
56. Which statement is a possible theme of this story?
A. People rarely tell the truth.
B. You can't always make people believe the truth.
C. If you defend yourself, people will believe you.
D. People should take the blame for what they didn't do.
57. It can be inferred from the story that the father _______.
A. didn't know the host well                    B. felt satisfied that he didn't tell the truth
C. was sorry that he told the truth                        D. didn't think the host would believe the truth
58. From the story we know that the daughter ________.
A. thought her father should tell the truth         B. didn't know why the thermos fell
C. knocked over the thermos                  D. strongly objected to her father's explanation
59. The underlined "gawking at" probably means _______.
A. staring at with anger                  B. looking at curiously
C. glancing at hopelessly                 D. looking at in a dull way

  First Frenchman: I once heard someone shout, "Look out," I put my head out of a window and a basin of water fell on me. It seems that "Look out" may mean "don‘t look out."
  Second Frenchman: Once I was on a ship and heard the captain shout, "All hands on deck," I put my hands on the deck and someone walked on them.
  Third Frenchman: I once visited an English friend early in the morning and the maid who came to the door and said, "He’s not up yet. Come back in half an hour," When I went again for him, she said, "He‘s not down yet."
  "If he’s not up and he’s not down, where is he?" I asked.
  She said, "He’s still in bed. When I say ‘He’s not up ’ I mean ‘he has not yet got up’. When I say ‘He’s not down ’ I mean ‘he has not yet come downstairs,’"
【小题1】"All hands on deck" means “ _______ ”.

A.All the sailors gather on deckB.Give your hands to me
C.Put your right hand and left hand on deckD.Shake your hands with me
【小题2】When the maid said, “He’s not up yet.” She meant that _______ .
A.he has not grown up yetB.he has not yet got up
C.he has not woke up yetD.he has not yet come upstairs
【小题3】When the third Frenchman went back, the English friend _______ .
A.was washing his faceB.was having his breakfast
C.was still in an upstairs roomD.was reading a newspaper
【小题4】Which do you think is the best title for this article?
A.Three Frenchmen and their English Friends
B.The English Language
C.Three French Stories
D.What a Language!

I lost my sight when I was four by falling off a box car in a freight(货物)yard in Atlantic City. Now I am thirty two. I can slightly remember what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a disaster can do strange things to people. I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn’t been blind. I don’t mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.

         Life, I believe, asks constant adjustments to reality. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me—a potential to live, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.

         The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. If I hadn’t been able to do that, I would have become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself, I mean: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the intricate(错综复杂的) pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.

         It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt. “I can’t use this.” I said. “Take it with you,” he urged me, “and roll it around.” The words stuck in my head. “Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a new kind of baseball. We called it ground ball.

         All my life I have set a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good trying for something that I knew at the start was out of reach. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.

1.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______

A. the author lost his sight because of a car crash.             

B. the author wouldn’t love life if the disaster didn’t happen.

C. the disaster made the author appreciate what he had.

D. the disaster strengthened the author’s desire to see.

2.What’s the most difficult thing for the author?

A. How to adjust himself to reality.

B. Building up assurance that he can find his place in life.

C. Learning to manage his life alone.

D. How to invent a new kind of baseball.

3.According to the context, “a chair rocker on the front porch” in paragraph 3 means that the author _________.

A. would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life.        

B. would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair.

C. would lose his will to struggle against difficulties.

D. would sit in a chair and stay at home.

4.What is the best title for the passage?

A. A Miserable Life                           B. Struggle Against Difficulties

C. A Disaster Makes a Strong Person          D. An Unforgettable Experience

 

We live in College Station, Texas and we were on our way home from Houston, Texas around the Weston Lakes area one Saturday or Sunday morning. And when I say morning, I'm talking 1:00 to 2:00 in the morning. We were on our way home and decided to stop at a local gas station to get coffee and something to snack on since it was a good hour and a half before we got home.

When we were done, we got back into our car and before I started it, we noticed a man standing outside in front of the building. You could tell that he was a homeless man. His clothes were worn and it looked like he had gone in and gotten him some coffee or something warm to drink since it was cold this time of the year. He couldn’t have had enough money to get something to eat. That is not something I remember too well, because that is not what "moved" me.

The next thing I remember is a dog that walked up to the front of the building. Being a dog lover, I noticed that she was part wolf and probably part German shepherd. I could tell she was a she, because you could tell that she had been feeding puppies. She was terribly in need of something to eat and I felt so bad for her. I knew if she didn't eat soon, she and her puppies would not make it.

I and my wife sat there and looked at her. We noticed that people walked by and didn't even pet her, like most people do when they walk by an animal in front of a store. She might not have been as pretty and clean as most, but she still deserved better. But we still did not do anything. But someone did. The homeless man, who I thought did not buy himself anything to eat, went back into the store. And what he did brought tears to me and my wife. He had gone into the store and with what money he may have had, bought a can of dog food and fed that dog.

I know that this story isn't as inspirational as most stories, but it plays a great part in our lives. You see, that was Mother's Day weekend. And a lot of people forget that some animals are parents too.

1.From the passage we can know that _______.

A. the author didn't like dogs

B. the dog was not pretty enough to be loved

C. the dog and her puppies were in danger of dying of hunger

D. the author wanted to help the dog but he was unable to

2.What moved the author and his wife to tears?

A. That the man bought food for the dog.

B. That the dog and her puppies could make it in cold weather.

C. That the man got himself some coffee or something warm to drink

D. That people walked by and didn't even notice the dog.

3.According to the passage, we know that the homeless man was _______.

A. poor and hopeless                                              B. brave and caring

C. friendly and clever                                              D. sympathetic and helpful

4.The best title for this passage would be _______.

A. An inspirational story                                         B. Animals Are Parents Too

C.  A Homeless Man                                                 D. A Mother Dog and Her Puppies

 

One day a rabbit ran into an elephant. "Hello," said the rabbit. "Fine day, isn’t it?" The elephant stopped to look down at the tiny(小的) creature and shouted. "Leave me alone. I don’t have the time to waste on someone so small." The rabbit was shocked by the elephant’s words. Then he decided to ask the whale(鲸鱼) what she thought about the elephant’s rudeness. But the whale laughed at this tiny animal. The rabbit said, "You think that I am weak, but in fact, I am strong! I can beat you at Tug-of-War (拔河比赛)." The whale looked at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Very well, little one. Go and get a rope," she said. The rabbit ran off to find a strong and thick rope. Then he went to the elephant, "Elephant, I will beat you at a game of Tug-of-War." The elephant laughed loudly, but agreed to challenge the tiny animal. He tied the rope around his huge waist. The rabbit took the other end and ran away. He called back to the elephant, "When I say 'pull’, you start pulling. "The rabbit took the other end of the rope to the whale, "Tie this to your tail and when I say 'pull’,you swim." The whale tied the rope to her tail after laughing at the rabbit’s foolishness. Then the rabbit called out "PULL!" The elephant and the whale began pulling. After a while, they were too tired to continue. The elephant and the whale never knew how such a tiny creature could beat them. But from that day on, they said "hello" to the little rabbit with great respect whenever they met.

1.Why did the rabbit want a game of Tug-of-War?

   A. He wanted to show he was the best.

   B. He knew that he could do well in this game.

   C. He wanted to get respect from the elephant and the whale.

   D. He wanted to prove he wasn’t the tiniest animal.

2.What do you think of the rabbit according to the story?

   A. Smart and brave.              B. Tiny and stupid.

   C. Pride and naughty.             D. Poor and weak.

3.Why did the elephant and the whale lose the game?

  A. They didn’t prepare for it.

  B. They were not as strong as the rabbit.

  C. They were too impolite to the little rabbit.

  D. They actually fought with each other but not the rabbit.

4.Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?

  A. The elephant was pleased to talk to the rabbit at first.

  B. It was the whale who suggested having a game of Tug-of-War.

  C. The rabbit was stronger than both the whale and the elephant.

  D. The whale and the elephant began to respect the rabbit from then on.

 

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