With the weather , ten to one it will rain presently.A.as close as thisB.as close as thatC.is as close as thisD.as closely as that 题目和参考答案——青夏教育精英家教网—

There are good Santas and there are bad Santas. The good Santas all realize one thing: In the mind of a child, Santa Claus is perfect.

That’s difficult. And so they come from around the world to attend the Charles W. Howard School in Midland, Mich. The school offers a three-day, 40-hour course for Santas hoping to be excellent. There’s a real range to what Santas earn, from big bucks for large events to no pay for charities^①. One thing for them all is a pure love for children.

A former Macy’s Santa named Charles Howard founded the Michigan school in 1937. “Many people will think if you have a suit and you’re a Santa,” said Tom Valent, the school’s current dean. “It’s more than that.” So with a pet reindeer^②, his properly named wife Holly and a workshop full of wonder.

The school teaches everything from breathing techniques for carol singing to the beard maintenance. There are lessons in child psychology, sign language and even media training for talk-show appearances and call-in shows. Santas also need to make sure they know all the names of the reindeer. What’s harder to deal with, however, is children who ask for Christmas gifts like bringing daddy home or making mommy happy again.

After spending time in the classroom, Weir went to the mall to test his training. However, at one point, his hat fell off, and he was unsure how to react. “You’re the real Santa,” Valent said. “Pick that hat up, slip it back on, keep smiling and do your job. You’ve got to stay on top of your game. Even the last one at night, when you’re tired, you’ve got to remember: This one’s forever, so do a good job.”

Notes:

charity n. 慈善，慈善团体

reindeer n. 驯鹿

According to the passage, good Santas should be the ones that ________.

A. can offer the children some gifts B. help adults look after their children

C. have ability to make children happy D. should be perfect in the mind of children

The underlined words “big bucks” should refer to ________.

A. lots of money B. many gifts C. loves for children D. gifts from children

The Michigan school was founded by Charles Howard with the purpose to ________.

A. train the pet reindeer for the Santas B. earned money from its students

C. train perfect Santas for the world D. show the world’s concern to the poor

According to Weir’s performance, we can conclude that ________.

A. Weir was short of experience B. Weir was not fit for the job as a Santa

C. Weir did very badly in the game D. Weir was not a good student in school

短文填词（共10小题，每空1分，满分10分）

I’m writing to tell you my imagination about life in the future.

No one can tell exactly what kind of life will be a__________ of

___________

us. But I can ____________ (宣布) with certainty that life will

___________

be m___________ easier. I’m sure there will be more educational

___________

programs on the radio or TV. So children will get _____________

___________

at home w_____________ going to school every day. Besides, most

___________

of us will have videophones at home through __________ we can

___________

have a medical exam or do some _________ (购物) at home. Meanwhile,

___________

we’ll have robots to _______ (帮助) us in doing housework, allowing

___________

us more time to enjoy life. With the development of ___________ (科学)

___________

researches, ordinary people may soon be able to spend their holidays

in space and a great __________ of people may live in space or undersea.

__________

During the years of depression(萧条), food and money were very hard to find and people had to trade things with each other.
One day I was 36  some potatoes from Mr Miller. I noticed a small poor boy hungrily   37  a full basket of freshly picked green peas. Then I was 38  to see that Mr Miller sold the boy a bag of peas for just a marble (弹球).
Mrs Miller, who had been standing nearby,   39_ and told me that Mr Miller loved to trade with the three boys in the village for peas, tomatoes, and other things 40  he didn’t really need any marbles. I left the stand, smiling to myself,   41  by this man.
Several years went by. One day I learned that Mr Miller had died. I took part in the funeral(葬礼), 42_ three young men . They came over to Mrs Miller, hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke with her and moved on, _43_ their eyes.
Our _44_ came to meet Mrs Miller. I mentioned _45   she had told me about the _46. She told me, “Those three young men above were the boys I told you about. They just told me  47 they appreciated the things Jim ‘traded ’with them. Now, at last, they came to pay their debt.”
“We’ve _48   had a great deal of the wealth in this world,” she _49_, “but right now, Jim wouldW#W$W%.K**S*&5︿U consider himself to be the _50_ man.”
Then she gently lifted the  51   fingers of her husband. Resting underneath were three red marbles.
At that time I realized that we would not be 52   by our words, but by our kind 53 . It is said that it takes a minute to find a 54 person, an hour to appreciate him, a day to love him, but an entire life to 55  him.