BALTIMORE．MARYLAND—An old postcard changed the lives of an eleven-year-old boy and a very sick woman．The postcard had a picture of the steamship Titanic．The Titanic was the largest ocean ship in the world．It hit an iceberg（冰山） and sank on April 14．1912．More than 1．

500 of the 2,200 people on the ship were killed．

    The postcard was passed from one person to another for more than 80 years．Then it appeared at a card show for people who liked to collect postcards．An eleven．year．old boy，Joey Russell，came to the show with his grandfather．His grandfather knew everything about the Titanic and its trip from England to New York．“Let’s buy that postcard．”he told Joey．“It will be important someday．”

    Two years later，Joey’s grandfather took him on a special trip．They went on a trip to the North Atlantic ocean to watch as workers pulled the Titanic up from the bottom（底）of the ocean．Joey put his special postcard in his bag for the trip．On the ship，Joey met Edith Haisman．This woman was on the Titanic when it sank．She was one of the people who were rescued．Joey pulled the postcard out of his pocket．“Please sign this，Mrs. Haisman．”he said．She was happy to write her name on the back of the postcard．

    When Joey got home．he put the postcard away and forgot about it, Then Kate Shelley，one of Joey’s friends，told him that her mother was very sick．She needed all operation．but there was a problem．The operation was very expensive，and the family needed$80，000 to pay for it．Friends and relatives tried to help．But where could they get so much money?

    Then when Joey went to see the new movie“Titanic”．he had an idea．”Millions of people are seeing this movie and reading about the Titanic．”Joey thought．He remembered the old postcard with Edith Haisman’s signature on it．“Maybe I can sell it for some money．Then I can help Kate’s mom．”

    Joey told his mother and father about his idea to help Mrs. Shelley．His parents helped him try to sell the postcard to the person who would pay the most money for it．Joey’s story was on television and in newspapers．Joey and Kate even went to New York to be on a national TV show．After the show．many people called in to offer money for the Titanic card．Someone bought it for$60．000．

    Joey’s kind heart and the old Titanic postcard worked together to save a woman’s life．

1．Which of the following is NOT true about the old Dostcard?

    A．The Titanic was the largest steamship in the world in 1912．

    B．The steamship Titanic hit an iceberg and sank about a hundred years ago

    C．Over two thousand passengers were killed in the ocean accident．

    D．More than eighty years had passed before the postcard belonged to Joey．

2．Joey Russell _________．

    A．decided to buy the postcard at a shop

    B．showed great interest in collecting postcards

    C．took the postcard wit}l him to see Mrs. Shelley

    D．asked Mrs. Haisman to sign her name on his postcard

3．What does the underlined word“rescued”mean in the sentence?

    A．Be made safe from danger．

    B．Be on an ocean trip．

    C．Be working on board．

    D．Be asked to seⅡthe postcard．

4．When did Joey Rus8eU have the idea of selling his old postcard for money?

    A．When Kate Shelley told him of her mother’s sickness．

    B．When he went to see the new movie“Titanic”．

    C．When he was reading the new book of Titanic．

    D．When he remembered Mrs. Haisman’s signature on his card．

5．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

    A．The Titanic arrived in New York at the end of April．1912．

    B．At the age of l3，Joey Russell got Mrs. Haisman’s signature．

    C．Joey Russell sold out his postcards on a national TV show．

    D．The Titanic card was sold to many people for$60, 000．

In less than two months, Junior 3 students around the country will take the senior high school entrance (入学) exam. They are studying hard for this big challenge. Do they have time to do something in memory of their middle school years? Many do.

Leng Jingze, 15, from Tianjin said that in her class students are already writing goodbye messages for each other. "Even the head teacher has a plan," said Leng. "She plans to put all our class photos and the Chinese compositions we have written onto a CD and give each student one," said Leng. "She will also write something for each student."

Wang Zeyu, 16, in Changchun, Jilin said his classmates are making "lucky stars" as graduation gifts. They are making the cheerful stars from colored paper. "Before making a lucky star, you write some words for the person on the paper," said Wang. "He or she can read the words later." Who does Wang want to make a lucky star for? He said he wanted to make one for his head teacher. "I'll write: Dear teacher, you always look so serious," said Wang. "But we know you have a warm heart. Smile more!"

In Xiao Xia's school in Beijing, each Junior 3 student will get a yearbook (毕业年鉴) , in which the graduating classes will put their photos and self-introductions. "Most classes have written an article as the self-introduction," said Xiao, 15. "We have written a poem in the ancient style!" The poem records the big events of the class's history and is in the shape of the number 9. "Nine is our class number," said Xiao, who felt very proud of the idea. "Our class may be not the one with the best school grade but it must be the most creative one," said Xiao. "I feel lucky to study in such a class!"

1.Leng Jingze's head teacher plans to ____________.

A. put all the class photos onto a CD

B. put the student's Chinese compositions onto a CD

C. give each student a CD

D. all above

2. Wang Zeyu wanted to make a "lucky star" for his teacher because ____________.

A. his head teacher wasn't serious enough

B. he doesn't like his head teacher

C. his head teacher sent him a gift

D. he wanted his head teacher to smile more

3.From the last paragraph, we know that ____________.

A. most classes in Xiao Xia's school have written a poem as the self-introduction

B. 9 is the lucky number for Xiao Xia's Class

C. Xiao Xia's class has very creative ideas

D. each graduating class will get a yearbook to put their photos and self-introductions

4.The passage is probably from ____________.

A. a newspaper     B. a novel         C. a letter      D. a diary

US teenagers may be facing a challenge (挑战) today. A recent survey suggests (表明) that they are less honest than previous generations (上一代人).
The survey was done among 29,760 students at 100 US high schools. The results suggest that in the past year, 30 percent of US high school students have stolen from a store. And 64 percent may have cheated on a test.
However, 93 percent of the students said they were satisfied (满意) with their honesty. And 77 percent said,“when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.”
Some teachers were unhappy about the survey results. Some, however, defended (为……辩护) today’s students.
“The competition is greater and the pressures (压力) on kids have increased greatly,”said Mel Riddle, who was a high school teacher and headmaster for 40 years.“It is the pressures that make it easy for students to be dishonest.”
“I think these students are better than other generations,”he said.“I find them more active, better to work with and more thankful for support.”“ We have to create situations where it’s easy for kids to do the right things, ”he added.“We need to create classrooms where learning is more important than having the right answer.”
【小题1】According to the survey, what challenge do US teenagers face today?

How do you feel when you stay in hospital alone? Jenny, 13, a US student, feels bored. She knows the feeling because she has been in hospital many times herself. One day, she thought of an idea—if patients could get some books to read, they would feel better. So, from May, she and many of her friends began to collect books for hospital patients.
In six months the students collected 1,250 books at school. They decided to donate the books to the North Shore Medical Centre, a children’s hospital next door to their school. “There are books for kids of all ages, from babies up to high school level.” said Jenny.
The students put the books into “early readers”, “middle readers” and “advanced readers”. Then they wrote their best wishes to patients on bookmarks (书签) and letters, put the books in big boxes and donated them to the hospital.
“We wrote things like, “Keep on reading!’ and ‘Hope you feel better!’,” siad John, 14, Jenny’s brother. “And we also wrote some funny things to make them laugh.”
Frank, 12, and Steven, 14, helped carry 16 large boxes of books into a car. “I think these books will make me a lot of patients feel happy.” said Frank. Steven shared his opinion. “It is really the most meaningful thing that I have ever done in my life.”
【小题1】Who first thought of the idea of helping those bored patients in hospital?

Liberal (自由) education is designed not only to teach and learn knowledge, but also to develop a person’s character. Its aim is to   1  each student to think for himself and make wise decisions. Now liberal education has a great    2 on the world.
Much work has been done to  3  a better way of teaching. In a liberal class, students are  4 to have their own thoughts and own ideas when they have  5  which are often held in the form of group discussion. They are properly guided to   6  the knowledge learned. Punishment no longer exists (存在).  7 and students are just like friends.
The idea is of course a perfect one if it can really be carried out. However, it  8 exists in the imagination and will never be realized. We must admit (承认) that  9  should at least be guided properly. Just close your eyes and think how many students will   10  the duties of a student if they are not pushed.   11 is the use of advice only if it is not supported by a reasonable   12  of  control and punishment?
It is   13  for us to judge the success and failure of the kind of education now, but   14  the bad behavior of children, which is really the   15  of liberal education, we can see that something must be done to help these children.