Twenty-three-year-old Michael Phelps has become a phenomenon (神话) in swimming.
At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, he won eight gold medals. That was more than the whole Australian team could put together. He beat (打败) Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven wins in the pool at the one Olympics. Phelps has put his name next to seven world records.
Nine days, 17 games, morning and night he competed and won. He had to beat former (从前的) world record-holders and gold medalists. He had to turn their wins into old news.
Michael Phelps started to swim at the age of 5. Guess which stroke (动作) he first tried? The backstroke. It’s because he didn’t want to put his face in the water.
By the age of 7, he had taken part in a lot of swimming competitions. At 11, he met Bob Bowman who saw the kid’s great talent.
How did Phelps become so good? He was born with the body of a swimmer. He stands 1.87meters high and has a wide wingspan (臂展). He knows how to use his body to full advantage. His hands and feet are like paddles (踏板) in the water and he has a strong kick.
But that’s not all；he also has the heart and will to win. He thinks that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it.
Swimming is Phelps’ life. Every day he spends five hours in the water, swimming about 11 kilometers. He never takes a day off. This is a young man who knows what he wants.
“If I didn’t swim my best, I’d think about it at school, at dinner, and with my friends. It would drive me crazy,” he said.
“There are no limits (限制). The more you dream, the further you get.”
【小题1】Who did best in swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games?

请根据句意从方框中选择合适的动词, 并用其适当时态填空，使句子通顺。

1. The changes of our life ______________ us much happiness over the past 30 years.

2. Bob ______________ with his friends in the river when it suddenly started to rain.

3. I ______________ out who did it even if you don’t tell the truth.

4. Don’t disturb him. He ______________ for tomorrow’s test.

5. Mrs Zhang ______________ some fresh vegetables and put them in the basket.

An old farmer lived with his little grandson. Every day the farmer got up early to read books.

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I want to read books just like you, but I don’t understand them. What are the advantages of reading?” The grandfather said, “Take this litter basket to the river and bring me back a basket of water.” the boy did, but all the water leaked out（漏出）before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “ You’ll have to walk faster next time.”

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. The boy said, “ See, Grandpa, it’s useless（无用的）!”

“You think it is useless?” the old man said. “ Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he found that the basket was different. It was cleaner, inside and out.

“That’s what happens when you read books. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read them, you will be changed, inside and out.”

1.Who did the old farmer live with?

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2.What did the old farmer do every morning?

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3.Did the grandson know the advantages of reading at first?

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4.What did the grandfather ask his grandson to do?

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5.How was the basket after the grandson took water with it?

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The owner of a missing cat is asking for help. “My baby has been missing for over a month now, and I want him back so badly,” said Mrs. Brown, a 56-year-old woman. Mrs. Brown lives by herself in a trailer park near Clovis. She said that Clyde, her 7-year-old cat, didn’t come home for dinner more than a month ago. The next morning he didn’t appear for breakfast either. After Clyde missed an extra-special lunch, she called the police.

When the policeman asked her to describe Clyde, she told him that Clyde had beautiful green eyes, had all his teeth but was missing half of his left ear, and was seven years old and completely white. She then told the officer that Clyde was about a foot high.

A bell went off. “Is Clyde your child or your pet?” the officer suspiciously asked. “Well, he’s my cat, of course,” Mrs. Brown replied. “Lady, you’re supposed to report missing PERSONS, not missing CATS,” said the sppeadeotoned policeman. “Well, who can I report this to?” she asked. “You can’t. You have to ask around your neighborhood or put up flyers,” replied the officer.

Mrs. Brown figured that a billboard would work a lot better than an 8”x11” piece of paper on a telephone pole. There was an empty billboard at the end of her street just off the interstate（州际公路） highway. The billboard had a phone number on it. She called that number, and they told her they could blow up a picture of Clyde (from Mrs. Brown’s family album) and put it on the billboard for all to see.

“But how can people see it when they whiz（快速移动） by on the interstate?” she asked. “Oh, don’t worry, ma’am, they only whiz by between 2 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. The rest of the day, the interstate is so full of commuters that no one moves.” They told her it would cost only $3,000 a month. So she took most of the money out of her savings account and rented the billboard for a month.

The month has passed, but Clyde has not appeared. Because she has almost no money in savings, Mrs. Brown called the local newspaper to see if anyone could help her rent the billboard for just one more month. She is waiting but, so far, no one has stepped forward.

1.How long has the cat been missing?

A．More than a month                      B．More than two months

C．More than three months                  D．It’s been back.

2.Who did the old lady finally turn to for help?

A．A billboard company                     B．The police

C．The phone company                     D．The interstate telephone line

3.How is the old lady like?

A．Stupid            B．Loving            C．Smart            D．Decisive(有决断力的)

4.The underlined word was mistyped（打错了）. But we can still guess it’s most probable meaning:____________.

A．angry            B．surprised          C．happy            D．excited

5.What’s the best title for this passage?

A．An advertisement                       B．A missing cat

C．A pet’s story                          D．Life without cat

“Who did this?” asked my teacher. Thirty children tried to think about not only what they had done, but also what our teacher         have found out.
“Who did this?” she asked         . She never became         , but she was this time. She help up a piece of broken glass and asked, “Who broke the window?”
“Oh, no,” I thought. I was the one who broke the window. I did not do it on purpose (故意地). It was caused by a         throw （投，掷）of a baseball. But         did it have to be me?
If I admitted （承认）it, I would        into a lot of trouble. How would I be able to      a big window like that? I didn’t want to raise my hand.         , something much stronger than me pulled me up. “I did it.” Then I kept quiet.         was hard enough to say what I felt.
My teacher went to the           and took down a book. She then began walking to my desk. I         she was going to punish （惩罚）me.
“I know           you like birds,” she said as she stood looking down        my face. “Here is a book about birds. It is         now. You will not be punished. But remember, it’s only for your honesty.”
I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t punished and I was getting a book. I had been saving up all my money to buy       .