One day at a park, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench (长椅) near a playground. “That’s my son over there,” she said, pointing to (指着) a little boy in a red sweater.

   “He’s a lovely boy,” the man said. “That’s my daughter on the bike in the white dress.” Then, looking at his watch, he called to his daughter, “We have to leave for home now, Rosa.”

“Just five minutes, Dad,” Rosa said, “Please, just five more minutes.”

The man agreed and Rosa went to ride his bike happily. Five minutes later, the father stood and called again to his daughter, “Time to go now?”

“Five more minutes, Dad,” Rosa said again, “Just five more minutes.”

The man smiled and said, “OK.”

“Oh, you are really a patient father,” said the woman.

The man smiled and then said, “Her elder brother Tommy died (死) in a traffic accident (事故)last year when he was riding his bike near here,” the man said,  “I never spent much time with Tommy and now I’d like to give anything for just five more minutes with him. I vowed (发誓) not to make the same mistake(错误) with Rosa. She thinks she has five more minutes to ride her bike. In fact, I get five more minutes to watch her play.”

1.The woman’s son was wearing _______________.

A. a red T-shirt                                B. a red sweater           

C. a white sweater                          D. a white dress

2.From the article, we know that Tommy was ____________.

A. the man’s son                            B. the woman’s son

C. Rosa’s younger brother                       C. the man’s elder brother

3.The underlined word “patient” means_____________.

A. 严格的           B. 勤劳的          C. 有耐心的         D.积极的

4.Which of the following sentences is TRUE?

A. The man’s daughter and her brother played at the park.

B. Rosa agreed to go home when her father called her the first time.

C. The woman felt sorry that she didn’t spend any time with her son.

D. The man learned a lot from Tommy’s death(死亡).

 After her husband had gone to work, Mrs. Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too _26_ to do any housework that morning, _27_ in the evening she was going to an interesting fancy dress party with her husband. What she __28_ was a terrible genie（妖怪）and as she had made that special dress of hers the night before, she was anxious to try it on. __29__ the dress was just a big piece of old cloth which was red, green, black and white, it would be very effective to make her like a red genie. After putting it on, Mrs. Richards went downstairs happily. She wanted to find out __30__ it would be comfortable to wear.

　　Just as Mrs. Richards was entering the dining-room there was a __31_ at the door. She thought that it __32 be the baker. She had told him to come straight in if she _33__ to open the door and leave the bread on the kitchen table. Now not wanting to _34__ the poor man, Mrs. Richards quickly __35_ in the small storeroom under the stairs. She heard the front door open and a man came in. When Mrs. Richards  _36_ that it was the man from the electricity board（供电局）who had come to read the meter, she walked out of the hiding-place on a sudden and tried to explain the matter, saying with a smile, “It's only __37_! It is not __38_ for you to be __39_ !” But it was too late. The man let out a sharp cry and jumped back several paces. Then he ran away, __40__ the door behind him with great force and noise.

1.A. angry   B. ready    C. frightened     D. excited  

2. A. for      B. but       C. so              D. and  

3.A. wanted to see       B. wanted to play 

       C. was afraid to see   D. was afraid to play  

4. A. Though     B. But       C. And             D. If  

5.A. that         B. how       C. whether       D. when  

6. A. knock      B. voice      C. man            D. baker 

7. A. may        B. must       C. wouldn't       D. couldn't  

8. A. not         B. had        C. tried            D. failed  

9. A. see         B. frighten    C. help            D. scold  

10.A. went        B. lay         C. appeared       D. hid  

11. A. thought     B. wondered  C. imagined      D. realized  

12. A. me          B. you         C. game           D. play 

13. A. good        B. necessary   C. late           D. early  

14. A. off          B. here        C. afraid         D. sorry  

15.A. pushed      B. locking     C. knocking     D. shutting 

1 

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. “That’s my son over there,” she said, pointing to (指着) a little boy in a red sweater.

“He’s a fine looking boy,” the man said. “That’s my daughter on the bike in the white dress.” Then, looking at his watch, he called to his daughter: “We have to leave for home now, Melissa.”

“Just five more minutes, Dad,” Melissa said. “Please? Just five more minutes.”

The man nodded (点头) and Melissa went on riding her bike happily. Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his daughter, “Time to go now?”

“Five more minutes, Dad,” Melissa said again. “Just five more minutes.”

The man smiled and said: “OK.”

“Oh, you really are a patient father,” said the woman.

The man smiled and then said: “Her older brother Tommy died (死) in a traffic accident last year while he was riding his bike near here,” the man said. “I never spent much time with Tommy and now I’d give anything for just five more minutes with him. I’ve vowed (发誓) not to make the same mistake with Melissa. She thinks she has five more minutes to ride her bike. The truth is, I get five more minutes to watch her play.”

1.The man’s daughter and her brother were playing at the park.

2.The man felt sorry that he didn’t give more of his time to his older son.

3.Melissa wanted to stay longer when her father asked her to go the first time.

4.Melissa agreed to go home when her father called her the second time.

5.The man learned a lot from Tommy’s death.

This year is a leap year. Leap years are years with 366 days, instead of the usual 365. Leap years are necessary because the actual length of a year is 365.242 days, not 365 days, as commonly stated. Basically, leap years come every 4 years, and most years that can be evenly(平均地) divided by 4 have 366 days. This extra day is added to the calendar on February 29^th which is known as a leap day. Why leap is used here? Leap means jump.[来源:]

However, there is one exception to the leap year rule about century years. Century years are only considered as leap years if they are evenly divided by 400. Therefore, 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was a leap year.

A person who is born on February 29^th may be called a "leapling" or a "leap year baby". In non-leap years, some leaplings celebrate(庆祝) their birthday on either February 28^th or March 1^st. In England and Wales or in Hong Kong, a person born on February 29^th, 1996, will have legally(法律上) reached 18 years old on March 1^st, 2014. If he or she was born in the United States, Taiwan or New Zealand, his or her legally birthday will come a day earlier.

There is a popular custom in some countries that a woman may ask a man to marry her on February 29^th. If the man refuses, he then has to give the woman money or buy her a dress.

Since leap days are special days, people nowadays want to do something different within the 24 extra hours. Big jumps are the most popular ones.

Some salaried(领薪水的) workers want to get pay for their extra day’s work. But in my opinion, if you know why there is a leap day, you will get the answer to this problem.

1. The next leap year is          .

A. 2014                         B. 2016                       C. 2018

2. American boy Toby is a leapling. Next year he will probably to have his birthday party on       .

A. February 28^th                  B. February 29^th                C. March 1^st

3. Which picture is about popular custom on leap days?

A.                  B.              C.

4.. Many people like to have a big jump on leap days probably because         .

A. it’s a custom                  B. they are leaplings             C. leap means jump

5.We can learn from the passage that         .

A. 2100 will not be a leap year

B. every year leaplings celebrate their birthday on either February 28^th or March 1^st

C. it is necessary to pay the salaried workers for the leap day’s work