A lesson in caring

It was a cold evening. My daughter and I were walking up Broadway. I didn’t notice a guy sitting inside a cardboard box. But Nora    36    . She wasn’t even four, but she   37    at my coat and said, “That man’s cold. Daddy, can we take him home?”

    I don’t remember my   38    . But I do remember a sudden   39    feeling inside me. I had always been delighted at how much my daughter noticed in her   40     , whether it was     41    flying or children playing. But now she was noticing   42    and beggary.

    A few days later, I saw an article in the newspaper about volunteers who picked up a food package from a nearby school on a Sunday morning and   43     it to an elderly person. It was quick and easy. I signed us up. Nora was   44    about it. She could understand the importance of food, so she could easily see how   45    our job was. When Sunday came, she was ready, but I had to    46    myself to leave the house to fetch the food package. On my way to the school, I fought an urge (强烈愿望) to turn    47    . The Sunday paper and coffee were waiting for me at home. Why do this?   48    , we phoned the elderly person we’d been appointed. She   49    us right over.

    The building was in a bad state. Facing us was a silver-haired woman in an old dress. She took the package and asked us to come in. Nora ran inside. I unwillingly followed.   50     inside, I saw that the department belonged to someone poor. Our hostess showed us some photos. Nora played and when it came time to say goodbye, we three hugged. I walked home    51    .

Professionals call such a(n)   52    “a volunteer opportunity”. They are opportunities and I’ve come to see. Where else but as volunteers do you have the opportunity to do something    53     that’s good for others as well as for yourself? Nora and I regularly serve meals to needy people and   54     clothes for the homeless. Yet, as I’ve    55     her grow over these past four years, I still wonder—which of us has benefited more?

A. did             B. was                           C. has              D. had

A. pulled    B. replaced                C. waved   D. aimed

A. debate        B. reply                         C. explanation D. expression

A. general  B. funny                          C. heavy           D. magical

A. web    B. dream            C. castle           D. world

A. insects        B. animals     C. plants   D. birds

A. coldness   B. illness               C. suffering  D. appearance

A. sent       B. returned          C. devoted  D. posted

A. concerned  B. sorry                C. worried       D. excited

A. creative  B. valuable            C. shocking  D. simple

A. warn    B. stop             C. allow    D. push

A. back    B. away                C. up     D. out

A. Therefore  B. But                   C. Anyhow   D. Also

A. requested   B. promised           C. invited    D. helped

A. Although    B. Once            C. Because   D. Though

A. in tears       B. in surprise                  C. in reality       D.in disappointment

A. stay            B. visit                C. reception  D. challenge

A. fair            B. famous            C. difficult   D. enjoyable

A. collect        B. make           C. order     D. design

A. let              B. made           C. watched       D. affected

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

I sometimes wonder if old Finchley has the right personality to be a research scientist. He keeps asking when he’ll be coming back. After all, it was his own fault. Nobody tries out what has just been invented on themselves any more but Finchley. Well, he must have pumped about a thousand c. c. s into himself before I noticed he was clearly becoming smaller.
It was funny watching him, because his clothes remained the same in size. They simply piled up around him so that he looked like a small boy in his father’s clothes. But he kept getting smaller and smaller. As my colleague Dawson and I watched him, he disappeared! All we could see was Finchley’s clothes on the floor. They looked so strange, because the lab coat was on top, shirt and trousers inside and, I suppose, underclothes inside again. It gave me a strange feeling, and I think Dawson was a bit shaken, too.
Dawson was sitting on his chair in front of a microscope he’d been using to examine a family of mites(螨虫). He looked through the scope kind of absently again, and was nearly scared to lose awareness when he found old Finchley waving back from the other end.
It seems as if Finchley had taken a free ride on a dust mite and landed on the land of the mite family. Of course, we didn’t know till Finchley told us later. But anyhow, as I said, Dawson nearly passed out. He jumped off his chair and pointed at the microscope, to shocked to speak.
【小题1】Finchley disappeared because ________.

A.he took something poisonous
B.he was changed into a dust mite
C.his father’s clothes totally covered him up
D.what he and his colleagues invented resulted in his disappearace
【小题2】 It frightened Dawson to see Finchley _______.
A.got into his scope by accidentB.was waving through his telescope
C.suddenly got lost in his clothesD.gradually disappeared in the lab
【小题3】 It can be inferred that Finchley, Dawson and the writer have possibly invented _____.
A.some kind of medicineB.a new powerful microscope
C.a machine to make people smallD.a new way to make a culture of mite
【小题4】 It can probably be concluded that Finchley ________.
A.passed out there and thenB.is not fit to be a scientist
C.is a devoted scientistD.will remain tiny all the time

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.
【小题1】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.
【小题2】 In his mother’s eyes, the writer_______.
A.was a born artistB.always caused trouble
C.was a problem solverD.worked very hard
【小题3】The underlined word “rainbow” in the last paragraph refers to ______.
A.the rainbow in the skyB.the stripes on the pavement
C.something imaginative and funD.important lessons learned in childhood
【小题4】It can be learned from the passage that parents should ________.
A.encourage children to paintB.value friendship among children
C.discover the hidden talent in childrenD.protect rather than destroy children’s dreams

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