A thief entered the bedroom of the 30^th President of the United States, who met him and helped him escape punishment.
The event happened in the early morning hours on one of the first days when Calvin Coolidge came into power, late in August,1923. He and his family were living in the same third-floor suite (套房) at the Willard Hotel in Washington that they had moved in several years before. The former President’s wife was still living in the White House.
Coolidge woke up to see a stranger go through his clothes, remove a wallet and a watch chain.
Coolidge spoke, “I wish you wouldn’t take that.”
The thief, gaining his voice, said, “Why?”
“I don’t mean the watch and chain, only the charm (表坠). Take it near the window and read the words on its back, ” the president said.
The thief read, “Presented to Calvin Coolidge.”
“Are you President Coolidge?” he asked.
The president answered, “ Yes, and the House of Representatives（众议院）gave me the watch charm. I’m fond of it. It would do you no good. You want money. Let’s talk this over.”
Holding up the wallet, the young man said in a low voice, “I’ll take this and leave everything else.”
Coolidge, knowing there was 80 dollars in it, asked the young man to sit down and talk. He told the President he and his college roommate had overspent during their holiday and did not have enough money to pay their hotel bill.
Coolidge added up the roommate two rail tickets back to the college. Then he counted out 32 dollars and said it was a loan (借款).
He then told the young man, “There is a guard in the corridor(走廊).” The young man nodded and left through the same window as he had entered.
【小题1】What caused the thief to meet the President?

A rich man was ill in hospital, and the doctor feared that his life was ending soon. He called together his three sons and gave them the challenge, ‘One of you will get all my money. To decide which of you can get the money, I am going to give each of you a dollar. Go today and buy something that can fill this room.”

     In the evening, they all came back. Child number one went to his friend’s farm and bought two bales of hay (两捆干草) with the dollar. He brought the hay and threw it up into the air. But it couldn’t fill the room.

Child number two went to a shop and bought two pillows made with feathers(羽毛). He then opened them and threw the feathers all over the room. All the feathers settled down on the floor and the room was still not filled.

The third son took out a candle and said, “I bought a box of matches and a candle then I gave the rest to a charity.” He lit the candle and turned off the lights, and the room was filled.

“ Well done, my son. You will get all my money because you understand a very important lesson about life. You understand how to let your light shine. That is good.” said the father.

1.The rich man wanted to give all his money to one of his sons because _______.

A. he was dying

B. he was too old to work

C. he wanted to know which son was the cleverest

D. he want something special

2.Child number two ________.

A. asked his father for help        B. bought nothing

C. gave the money to charity       D. got feathers in a shop

3.From the passage we can know _______.

A. the third son is honest and friendly  

B. the father is satisfied with the third son

C. child number one is the cleverest     

D. candle is a good gift for family

4.What’s the best title of the passage?

A. Let Your Light Shine      B. A Rich Man and His Three Sons

C. How to Get Money        D. The Cleverest Son

D

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person.

When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled (宠坏)them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on.

He talked about how watering trees made for shallow(浅的) roots, and the trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important.

So he never watered his trees. He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They’re very big and strong now.

I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray(祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won’t be beaten down.

1. We know from the reading the doctor _________.

2. When Dr. Gibbs said, “...pick out the weaker trees early on.” he means that ______.

3.The passage tells us that the writer _______.

4. The writer wants to change his prayer, hoping that ________.

5.Which can be the best title of the reading?