I have always been interested in making things. When I was a child, I enjoyed painting, but I also liked malting things out of day. I won a prize for one of my paintings when I was fourteen.

That may be why I went to art school four years later. But I studied painting at first, not pottery. I like being a potter because I like to work with my hands and feel the clay.  I'm happy working by myself and being near my home.  I don't like mass-produced things, for they are made by machines and are all the same. I think crafts(手工艺) are very important and crafts persons(手艺人)make things cleverly with hands. They make our lives colorful. When I left school, I got some money.  I hope to become a full-time craftswoman. This workplace is small, but I wish tot: move to a larger one next year.

1. The writer went to the art school at the age of___________

2. The writer is talking about her workplace_____________

 A. unhappily           B. hopefully

 C. seriously           D. angrily

3. From the passage we know that the writer prefers

A. a long way to work

B. group work

 C. a small workplace

 D. something different

4. What does "mass-produced" mean in Chinese?

5. From the passage we are sure that the writer is a  ________      (man/woman).

Jim, a successful businessman, told the experience of his childhood. When he was 12, his parents died. He was alone and didn't get on well with others. People always laughed at him. No one showed kindness to him. His only friend was a dog named Tige. He gave his dog enough to eat and drink, but sometimes he was not polite to it. He didn't know that an unkind word sometimes could cut one's heart like a knife.

One day as he walked down the street, a young lady was walking in front of him. Suddenly one of her bags dropped from her arms. As she stopped to pick it up, she dropped other bags. He came to help her. “Thank you, dear! You are a nice little boy!” she said kindly, smiling.

A special feeling came to him. These were the first kind words he had ever heard. He watched her until she went far away, and then he whistled (吹口哨) to his dog and went directly to the river nearby.

“Thank you, dear! You are a nice little boy” he repeated the woman's words. Then in a low voice he said to his dog, “You are a nice little dog!” Tige raised its ears as if it understood.

“Unum! Even a dog likes it!” he said. “Well, Tige, I won't say unkind words to you any more.” Tige waved its tail happily.

The boy thought and thought. Finally he looked at himself in the river. He saw nothing but a dirty boy. He washed his face carefully. Again he looked. He saw a clean nice boy. He was amazed. From then on, he had a new life.

After telling this, the businessman stopped for a while, and then he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the very place where that kind woman planted in me the first seed (种子) of kindness. All of us should learn about kindness. What a great power it has!"

1.The boy repeated the words “Thank you, dear! You are a nice little boy!” because______

A. he was thinking about the words   

B. he didn't understand the words

C. he wanted to talk to his dog   

D. he liked talking to himself

2.What made the boy start his new life?

A. The people laughing at him.   

B. The kind words spoken to him.

C. The hard life.           

D. His lovely dog.

3.He was feeling __-__when he whistled to his dog.

A. funny  B. sad   C. lonely   D. excited

4.Which of the following is Right according to the passage?

A. He never took goog care of his friend ,Tige.

B.H usually had many friends around him.

C. He helped a young lady when her bag dropped.

D. He often washed his dirty face in lake.

5.What’s the best tile (题目)of this passage?

A.A Dog and a Boy     B. A poor Boy’s Childhood

C. A businessman and a Boy   D. The Power of Kindness

Your Passport(护照) Please!

Mr. Hill arrives at London Airport at the end of a three-week holiday in France. Usually he wears a beard(留胡须). Since it has been hot there, he has taken it off(剃掉). But his passport photo shows him with his beard.

An office looks at the photo for a moment and says: "Will you excuse me? Please sit down. I won’t keep you long." With this, he walks away, shows the photo to a second office and says: "I know that face." The second officer looks at the passport and asks where Mr. Hill has come from. When he hears that Mr. Hill has arrived back from Paris, the second officer smiled and says: "An Englishman with a beard stole a painting in Paris on Friday, and that man just looks the kind of man ..."

Suddenly it comes to the first officer who Mr. Hill is. He returns to him and asks: "Did you teach at the No.2 . High School?" When Mr. Hill answers in surprise that he did, the first officer smiles and says: "I thought so. I'm Jack Smith. You taught me French. You haven't changed a bit."

1. Mr. Hill ____.

A. has just come back from the airport.

B. is on his way to Paris.

C. spent three weeks in Paris before he went to France.

D. has been in France for three weeks

2. Mr. Hill ____.

A. has a beard on his face but not in his photo

B. grew a beard while he was on holiday

C. has a beard in his photo but not on his face

D. took his beard off long before he went on holiday.

3. The first officer is sure ____.

A. Mr. Hill stole the painting

B. he has seen the face in the photo before

C. he knows the second officer's face

D. a man without a beard stole the painting

4. The second officer says that ____.

A. Mr. Hill stole the painting

B. a man with a beard, from France, stole a painting in English

C. an Englishman took his beard off and stole a painting

D. a man with a beard, from England, stole a painting in Paris.

5. Mr. Hill taught ____.

A. Jack Smith French at the No. 2 High School

B. Jack Smith to be a first officer

C. at the No.2 High School, in France

D. French some years ago and his name was Smith, not Hill

Henry was a carpenter（木匠）of our village. Once I asked him to make a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I arrived home that evening, Henry was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill for his work.. My wife said to me, quietly，“That’s his ninth cup of tea today.” But she said loudly, "It's a beautiful table，dear，isn't it?" "I won't decide about that until I see that bill.” I said.

Henry laughed and gave me his bill for the work. It said：

BILL

One dining table June 10，1995

Cost of wood 17.00

Paint（油漆） 1.50

Work，8 hours（1 an hour) 8.00

Total（总计） 36.50

When I was looking at the bill，Henry said，"It’s been a fine day，hasn’t it?” “ Quite sunny.” "Yes，”I said. "I’m glad it is only the 10th of June.” "Me too，” said Henry, "You wait--it'll be a bit hotter by the end of the month.” "Yes. Hotter--and more expensive. Dining tables will be 20 more expensive on June 30th，won't they，Henry?”

Henry looked hard at me for half a minute. There was a little smile in his two blue eyes. I gave his bill back to him. "If it isn't too much trouble，Henry，”I said，"Please add it up again. You can forget the date.”

I paid him 26. 50 and he was happy to get it.

1.Why did Henry talk about weather when the writer was looking at the bill?

2.Why did the writer say that dining tables would be 20 more expensive

by the end of June?                                      

3.The writer thought Henry would ask for______if he made a dining table on the last day of June.

I started learning to play pipa at the age of four. At that time,I was really   1  of pipa because the four strings always cut my fingers. The cuts were not deep   2  they were long, and they really hurt ! So my parents bought me a roll of tape to protect the  3  of my left hand.After a few days, however, I   4   the tape! When my mother found out the reason, she said   5  and bought a new roll of tape.I had only used the second roll for a few weeks  6  I lost it again! "You should try to play pipa without tape," my father said to me. But I cried and   7 another roll. My father agree and bought me another new roll.After a few months, I lost the third roll! Then the  8  , and then the fifth  After this happened eight times, my mother got really   9 !"I won't buy you any more tape," she said to me. " Now you have to play pipa without tape

You must   10  it is carelessness that hurts your fingers!"

1.A. fond                   B. afraid                  C. proud

2.A. but                  B. and                      C. then

3.A. arms               B. ears                    C. fingers

4.A. sold                 B. lost                   C. bought

5.A. nothing            B. anything                C. something

6.A. until              B. after                   C. before

7.A. asked for          B. worried about           C. thought of

8.A. third                B. fourth                 C. fifth

9.A. happy                B. excited                C. angry

10.A. expect                B. forget                  C. remember