第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer(拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.
We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house – something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.
On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, "What do you want for your new room?" Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were surprised when Josh responded, "I just want a bed."
The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.
When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.
That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds tog tether, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.
As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, "What is that?"
"A pillow," she replied.
"What do you do with it?" Eric continued to ask.
"When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” I answered softly. Tears came to our eyes as she handed Eric the pillow.
"Oh . . . that's soft," he said, hugging it tightly.
Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my Dad gently asks, "Do you have a pillow?"
We know exactly what he means.
56．The writer’s first volunteer project was         .
A．working on a poor trailer       B．helping a poor family
C．donating beds and bedding      D．dealing with a housing problem
57．On bearing Josh’s answer, the writer was shocked because         .
A．the family lived in a trailer     B．he expected to get some toys
C．he didn’t know what a bed was      D．the boys had no bed to sleep in
58．From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen      before.
A．a trailer    B．a truck      C．a pillow    D．a house
59．By saying “Do you have a pillow?”, the writer’s father means that        .
A．what they want to get may be unnecessary
B．they should not waste money on small things
C．they should do more volunteer work for the poor
D．what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow

A few years ago I asked my children’s governess, Julia Vassilyevna, to come into my study.
“ Sit down, Julia Vassilyevna,” I said.“Let’s settle our accounts. Although you most likely need some money, you stand on ceremony and won’t ask for it yourself. Now then, we agree on thirty rubles a month…”
“ Forty.”
“ No, thirty. I made a note of it. I always pay the governess thirty. Now then, you’ve been here two months, so…”
“ Two months and five days.”
“ Exactly two months. I made a specific note of it. That means you have sixty rubles coming to you. Subtract nine Sundays… you know you didn’t work with Kolya on Sundays, you only took walks. And three holidays…”
Julia Vassilyevna flushed a deep red and picked at the flounce of her dress, but--- not a word.
“ Three holidays, therefore take off twelve rubles. Four days Kolya was sick and there were no lessons, as you were occupied only with Vanya. Three days you had a toothache and my wife gave you permission not to work after lunch. Twelve and seven---nineteen. Subtract…that leaves…hmm…forty-one rubles. Correct?”
Julia Vassilyena’s left eye reddened and filled with moisture. Her chin trembled; she coughed nervously and blew her nose, but---not a word.
“ Around New Year’s you broke a teacup and saucer: take off two rubles. The cup cost more, it was an heirloom, but---let it go. When didn’t I take a loss? Then, due to your neglect, Kolya climbed a tree and tore his jacket: take off ten. Also due to your heedlessness the maid stole Vanya’s shoes. You ought to watch everything! You get paid for it. So, that means five more rubles off. The tenth of January I gave you ten rubles…”
“ You didn’t ” whispered Julia Vassilyevna.
“ But I made a note of it.”
“ Well…all right.”
“ Take twenty-seven from forty-one ---that leaves fourteen.”
Both eyes filled with tears. Perspiration appeared on the thin, pretty little nose. Poor girl!
“ Only once was I given any money,” she said in a trembling voice, “ and that was by your wife. Three rubles, nothing more.”
“ Really? You see now, and I didn’t make a note of it! Take three from fourteen… leaves eleven. Here’s your money, my dear. Three , three, three, one and one. Here it is!”
I handed her eleven rubles. She took them and with trembling fingers stuffed them into her pocket.
“ Merci,” she whispered.
I jumped up and started pacing the room. I was overcome with anger.
“ For what, this ---‘merci’?” I asked.
“ For the money.”
“ But you know I’ve cheated you, God’s sake---robbed you! I have actually stolen from you! Why this ‘merci’?”
“ In my other places they didn’t give me anything at all.”
“ They didn’t give you anything? No wonder! I played a little joke on you, a cruel lesson, just to teach you … I’m going to give you the entire eighty rubles! Here they are in an envelope all ready for you… Is it really possible to be so spineless? Why don’t you protest? Why be silent? Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws--- to be such a nincompoop?”
She smiled crookedly and I read in her expression: “ It is possible.”
I asked her pardon for the cruel lesson and , to her great surprise, gave her the eighty rubles. She murmured her litter “merci” several times and went out. I looked after her and thought: “How easy it is to crush the weak in this world!”
【小题1】When the employer called Julia Vassilyevna in to talk with him, what he really wanted to do was _______

Robert Fredy was general manager of a large hotel in Ashbury park. New Jersey. One cold day two years ago when he stopped his car at a traffic light, Stephen Pear man, an out-of-work taxi and truck driver, walked up to Fredy’s car hoping to earn some change by washing his windshield．Like many motorists who try to keep the beggars off, Fredy turned on the wipers to show he wasn’t interested．
Pearman put his head close to the window．“Come on, mister．Give me a chance．I need a job,” he said．Something in Stephen Pearman’s voice moved Robert Fredy．In the seconds before traffic started moving again, Fredy handed a business card and told him to call if he was serious．
“My friends told me he was just pulling my leg, ”said Pearman．“But I said, “ No, he’s a
businessman．I need to give it a shot．”
Two days later,29-year-old Pearman appeared in the manager's office of the big hotel．Fredy gave him a job and housing and lent him pocket money while training him．
Today, Pearman works full time setting up the hotel's dining halls for business meetings．In the past two years, he has found a flat, married and repaid Fredy’s loans．
“Mr．Fredy gave me a second chance, “says Pearman, ” And I took advantage of it．I could have just come here a while, eaten up and left．But there is no future in washing windshields．”
Ordinarily, Fredy keeps away from the street people．“But Pearman seemed so honest and open, asking for a chance rather than just money,” Fredy says, “I don’t hand my business card to just anybody．But I’m glad I did in this case．”
【小题1】When Pearman first appeared before Fredy, ．

D
After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me, and it would mean a great deal to him. I agreed.
During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy（肌肉萎缩症）. When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to see five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter(举重运动员), and I knew about overcoming obstacles (障碍) and going for my dreams.
I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, “Why me?” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weight with me.
When we finished talking, I went to my briefcase(衣箱) and pulled out the first gold medal I won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion(冠军). You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.”
Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:
Dear Rick,
My mom said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live anymore. But I still smile as much as I can.
I told you someday I was going to the Olympics and win a gold medal. But I know now I will never get to do that. But I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me.
       Your friend,
       Mathew
72.  The boy wanted to meet the author because ______.
A. he was interested in what the author was doing 
B. he wanted to get a gold medal himself
C. he admired the author very much    
D. he wanted the author to know him too
73.  The underlined part in the third paragraph probably means “______”.
A. Why do you come to see me?    B. Why do I have to stay at home?
C. Why does the disease fall on me?     D. Why not give a gold medal to me?
74.  We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. Matthew was a determined boy and considered himself as normal
B. Rick used to have the same disease and later became a power lifter
C. Matthew was to become a champion before he died
D. After meeting Matthew, Rick regarded him as normal.
75.  The author wrote the passage with the purpose of ______.
A. describing his unusual friendship with a disabled child
B. showing his admiration towards the disabled child
C. telling an experience of meeting a disabled child
D. expressing his pity to all the disabled children

After my 26 second-graders finished reciting the text, they settled back in their seats. But Duane was still __21__ there. Duane was a bright and lovable student, __22__ his mother, a single parent, had many problems such as drinking. __23__ that he might have had a bad night, I walked over to him to see what was wrong. As he looked up, I could see the __24__ in his dark eyes.
“Mrs. Brown, aren’t you going to open my present for you?” he asked __25__. “I put it on your desk.”
Getting back his gift from my desk, he handed it to me. I noticed my gift __26__ to be a matchbox. Duane told me that this was really a jewelry box __27__ a matchbox. As I opened it, the __28__ of two beer caps surprised me. Duane __29__ me that they were two earrings. He had noticed that I __30__ wore earrings and wanted me to have some pretty ones.
I was __31__ by Duane’s creativity and thoughtfulness. __32__ birth, one of my ears was slightly deformed (畸形的). Fearing that wearing earrings might __33__ to the ear, I avoided wearing them. But how could I __34__ to wear these precious earrings given by this __35__ child?
As I placed the earrings on my ears, my __36__ clapped, and Duane stood proudly beside me.
Since then, the matchbox remained on my desk. It __37__ me of Duane’s act of kindness and of the lessons he taught me. Although his __38__ at home was bad, Duane continued to see the good in life. Although poor, he still wanted to __39__. Whenever I see Duane’s gift on my desk, I feel encouraged. If I am having __40__ reaching a student, I’ll try to be like Duane and give that student a piece of my heart.