There are no words to describe_______ I miss my hometown.

A．how much         B．how many         C．how soon         D．how long

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could do to help her 3-year-old son Michael prepare for it. She and her husband found out that the new baby was going to be a girl. Day after day, night after night, Michael sang to his sister in his mom’s tummy(肚子).
Finally, Michael’s little sister was born. But she was in a very serious condition. The doctor told the parents there was very little hope. They kept the baby girl in the ICU(重症室). Karen was so sad. She decided to say goodbye to the baby. Michael, however, kept asking his parents to let him see his sister. “I want to sing to her,” he would say. Finally Karen decided to take Michael to his sister. This might be the last time he saw her alive.
Michael looked at his baby sister. After a moment, he began to sing. In the lovely voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sang: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray.” Suddenly the baby girl seemed to be better. Her heart beat well little by little.
“Keep on singing, Michael,” encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes. “You never know, dear, how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away.” As Michael sang to his sister, the baby’s breath(呼吸) became smooth.
After a few days, the little girl was well enough to go home. The doctors called it a miracle(奇迹).
【小题1】What can we learn from the first paragraph?

When I was in the third grade, I was chosen to be the princess in the school play. For “weeks my mother had helped me practise my lines. But once on the stage, every word    11  from my head. Then my teacher asked me to change my role to be a narrator (解说者) for the play.    12  I didn’t tell my mother what had happened that day, she noticed my    13  and asked if I wanted to take a walk in the garden.
It was a lovely spring day. We could see dandelions (蒲公英) popping (炸开)   14   the grass in bunches (束). I watched my mother bend down by one of the bunches. “I think I’ll dig up (挖光) all these weeds (野草),” she said. “From now on, we’ll   15  have roses in this garden.”
“But I like dandelions,” I protested(抗议). “All flowers are   16  —even dandelions !”
My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?” she asked thoughtfully. I nodded. “And that is   17  of people, too,” she added.
When I   18  that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry and told her the truth. “But you will be a wonderful narrator,” she said,    19  me of how much I loved to read stories’ aloud.
Thanks to my mother’s encouragement, I got to know everybody had his or her own    20  in the world. I felt proud of the role in the play.

It was Mother’s Day. John was so busy with his work that he couldn’t go back home. When he walked by a flower shop in the evening, an idea came to his mind. “I’ll send Mum some roses (玫瑰).”

While John was picking his flowers, a young man went inside. “How many roses can I get for only five dollars, Madam?” he asked. The shop assistant told him that roses were as expensive as forty dollars a dozen (一打). Maybe he would be happy with carnations(康乃馨). She told him they were a lot cheaper than roses.

“No, I have to have red roses,” he said, “My mum was badly ill last year and I didn’t get to spend much time with her. Now I want to get something special, it has to be roses, as the rose is her favorite.”

After hearing this, John said he would pay the rest of the money for the young man. Moved by both of them, the shop assistant said, “Well, lovely young men, thirty dollars a dozen, only for you two.” Taking the roses, the young man almost jumped into the air. He thanked John, and ran out of the shop. It was well worth twenty-five dollars John paid to see the exciting moment. Then John paid for his dozen of roses and told the shop assistant to send them to his mother.

As he walked out, he felt nice. Suddenly he saw the young man crossing the street and going into a park. But soon he realized it was not a park but a cemetery (墓地). Crying, the young man carefully laid the roses, “Mum, oh, Mum, why didn’t I tell you how much I loved you? God, please help me find my mum and tell her I love her.”

Seeing this, John turned and quickly walked back to the shop. He would take the flowers home himself.

1.The shop assistant tried to ask the young man to buy carnations instead of roses because _____.

A. there were not enough roses in the shop

B. carnations were much nicer than roses

C. roses were more expensive than carnations

D. carnations were special flowers for Mother’s Day

2.John spent _______ in the flower shop that day.

A. $5                  B. $25                     C. $ 45                 D. $ 55

3.The young man cried at the cemetery because he _______.

A. had spent all his money on the roses

B. wasn’t able to tell his mother he loved her himself

C. felt sorry to ask John to pay for his flowers

D. hadn’t got enough money for his sick mother

4.At last John decided to take the roses home himself because he wanted to _______.

A. tell his mother he loved her

B. ask his mother for more money

C. tell his mother the young man’s story

D. ask his mother if she liked roses

5.The writer wrote this passage to tell us “_______”.

A. Buy roses for your mother when she is ill

B. Let your mother know how much you love her

C. Work hard to get more money for your mother

D. Send your mother flowers on Mother’s Day