A LESSON FROM A FROG TALE

A group of frogs were jumping through the woods when two of them fell into a deep hole. All of the other frogs  1  around the hole to see what could be done to help their   2  . When they saw how deep the hole was, the rest of the group   3  that it was hopeless and told the two frogs in the hole that they should prepare themselves for their fate（命运）, because they were as good as   4  .

Unwilling to accept this terrible fate, the two frogs began to jump with all of their   5  . Some of the frogs shouted into the hole that it was   6  , and that the two frogs wouldn’t be in that   7  if they has been more careful.

The other frogs continued  8  shouting that they two should save their   9 and give up, since they were already as good as dead. The two frogs  10  jumping as hard as they could, and after several hours of hopeless   11  they were quite tired.

Finally, one of the two frogs followed the calls of his fellows. Disheartened, he lay down at the   12  of the hole, and died as the others looked on in helpless sorrow. The other frog continued to jump with every bit of energy he had,  13  he was completely worn out.

His companions began a new shouting to him to accept his fate, stop the pain and   14  die. The frog jumped harder and harder and, wonder of wonders, finally jumped so   15  that he sprang from the hole.  16  , the other frogs celebrated his unbelievable freedom and then gathering around him asked, “Why did you continue jumping when we told you it was impossible?”  17  their lips, the astonished frog explained to them that he was deaf, and that when he saw their gestures and shouting, he thought they were   19  him on. What he had got as   19  inspired him to try harder and finally succeeded.

This simple story contains a powerful lesson. Your encouraging words can   20  someone up and help him or her make it through the day.

1．A．jumped                 B．hung                   C．rushed                D．gathered

2．A．relatives                B．companions         C．neighbors            D．families

4．A．alive                     B．dead                    C．awake                 D．calm

5．A．mind                     B．skill                     C．strength              D．force

6．A．harmless               B．endless                C．careless               D．hopeless

7．A．action                   B．situation              C．direction              D．competition

8．A．sorrowfully           B．painfully              C．carefully              D．helpfully

9．A．time                      B．resource              C．energy                D．supply

10．A．stopped               B．continued            C．avoided               D．started

11．A．climb                  B．wait                    C．fight                   D．effort

12．A．top                     B．edge                    C．bottom                D．side

13．A．while                  B．however              C．therefore             D．although

14．A．just                     B．still                     C．yet                      D．even

15．A．great                   B．well                    C．far                      D．high

16．A．Pleased               B．Satisfied              C．Amazed               D．Amused

17．A．Looking              B．Reading               C．Seeing                 D．Checking

18．A．cheering              B．praising               C．persuading           D．supporting

19．A．treatment             B．entertainment       C．achievement        D．encouragement

20．A．hold  B．lift     C．bring D．build

A recent report has shown that people in the United States have experienced a revolution．This revolution is about the people’s attitude toward the work week and the weekend．Throughout the years, people have traditionally regarded Sunday as the beginning of the week．Now, this is changing.

     Although some calendars today still mark the beginning of the week Sunday, more and more people in the United States are coming to take Monday as the first day of the week．They feel that Saturday and Sunday together make the weekend, because they make up of the two-day period during which people don’t have to work.

    In fact, the word “weekend’ did not even exist in the English language until about the middle of the nineteenth century．In England, at that time, Saturday afternoons had just been added to Sundays and holidays as a time set aside for workers to have time off from their jobs．From then on, people had one and a half days, Saturday afternoon and Sunday, free from work each week: this reform became common in the United States in the 1920s.

However, there came the great depression in 1930s, and there was not so much work to do throughout the country．The work week was therefore shortened, and the weekend expanded from one and a half days to two full days, Saturday and Sunday.

Some people thought that this trend （趋势） of having fewer work days would continue, They  felt that the increasing use of automation （自动化） in many parts of life would finally lead to further shortening of the work week, which, they said, might one day decrease to four days, or ever fewer．However, so far this has never happened, and the work week seems to have become fixed at 40 hours made up of five 8-hour days．Yet some people are even talking about adding Monday to the weekend．Do you think this will ever happen?

1．What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?

A．Attitudes toward employment.                      B．Attitudes toward pleasure activities.

C．Offering job chances.                                  D．The development of the weekend.

2．According to the passage, what is changing in the way people think about the week?

A．Which days people should work.                  B．How the week is divided into days.

C．Which day begins the week.                        D．How many weeks there are in a month.

3．What does the author imply about the work week in England in the early 1800s?

A．It was six days long.                                       B．It didn’t include Saturday afternoon.

C．It always included at least one holiday.          D．It didn’t allow the workers time off.

4．According to the passage what effect did some people think the increasing use of automation would have?

A．It would make the work day longer.

B．It would allow people to work on the weekend.

C．It would make pleasure activities expensive.

D．It would create much more free time.

One Sunday, a picture in the newspaper touched me. A young woman stood in front of a totally destroyed home．A little boy stood beside her with his head   36  .  Holding her skirt tightly was a tiny girl, eyes wide with   37  and fear.

   With growing  38   I noticed that their sizes of each family member closely   39  ours. This would be a good opportunity to   40  my children, so I explained their difficult   41   to my seven-year-old twins and three-year-old Meghan.

   “We have so much, but these people now have nothing,” I said, “we’ll   42  what we have with them.”

   I brought three large boxes and placed them on the living room floor.  Meghan watched seriously,  43  the boys and I filled one box with canned food.

While I   44   through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and   45   some of their less favourite things. Meghan watched  46   as the boys piled up useless toys in the box.

“I’ll help you find something for the little girl,” I said to her.

The boys placed the toys they had   47  to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded,  much-loved toll   48     tightly to her chest. She  49  in front of the box, pressed her little face into Lucy’s face,  gave her a  50   kiss, then , laid her gently on the top of the other toys.

   “Oh , honey,” I said , “You   51   to give away Lucy．You love her so much.”

   Meghan nodded ,eyes shining with tears. “Lucy makes me happy, Mommy.   52   she’ll make that little girl happy too.”

I stared at Meghan for a long moment,   53   how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me.

It’s easy to give what we don’t want any more, but   54  to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it?  55 , the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart.

36．A．off                 B．up                  C．round               D．down

37．A．smile               B．confusion            C．joy                 D．anger

38．A．puzzle               B．interest              C．happiness            D．friendship

39．A．matched             B．suited               C．compared            D．equalled

40．A．teach               B．change              C．help                D．complain

41．A．problem             B．life                 C．suffering            D．situation

42．A．give                B．spare               C．share               D．send

43．A．as                  B．because             C．since               D．though

44．A．got                 B．looked              C．sorted               D．came

45．A．keep                B．donate              C．leave                D．sell

46．A．hopefully      B．quietly              C．depressingly          D．anxiously

47．A．separated            B．chosen              C．supposed            D．bought

48．A．hugged              B．caught              C．held                D．grasped

49．A．regretted            B．stood               C．paused              D．cried

50．A．precious             B．lovely               C．hearty               D．final

51．A．oughtn’t             B．wouldn’t like  C．don’t have             D．had better not

52．A．Though             B．Also          C．Yet                    D．Maybe

53．A．realizing             B．wondering             C．expecting              D．knowing

54．A．hard                B．necessary            C．available               D．important

55．A．Therefore            B．Moreover            C．Otherwise             D．However 

One day a wealthy family went on a trip to the countryside. The father wanted to 1 his son how 2 people live 3 they spent a day and a night in the farm of a very poor 4 .

When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, “My dear son, how was the 5 ?” “very 6 , Dad!” answered the boy. “Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked．“Yeah!” answered the son. “And what did you learn?” asked the father. The son answered,” I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a 7 that reaches to(延伸到) the middle of the garden and they have a creek(小溪) that has no 8 . We have imported lamps(进口灯具) in the garden and they have the 9 . Our patio（天井） reaches to the front yard, 10 they have a whole horizon(旷野).” When the little boy was 11 , his father was speechless.

His son 12 ,”Thanks Dad 13 showing me how 14 we are!”

Isn’t it true that it all depends 15 the 16 you look at things? If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude(乐观的态度) 17 life you’ve got everything! You can’t buy 18 of these things, 19 still you can have all the material possessions(财富) you can imagine, provisions(储备) for the future, etc．But if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing!

Attitude is 20 ! Make a decision to have a good, positive and productive attitude （积极，乐观，上进）every day!

1．A．show　　 　　 B．give　 　　 C．send　　 　　 D．tell

2．A．happy　 　　 B．sorrow 　　 C．rich　　 　 D．poor

3．A．thus　　 　 B．so　　 　　 C．therefore D．when

4．A．house　 　　 B．home　 　　 C．family　 　 D．room

5．A．journey　 　 B．trip　　 　　 C．stay　　 　 D．travel

6．A．bad　　 　　 B．good　 　　 C．well　　 　 D．badly

7．A．river　　 　 B．lake　　 　　 C．canal　　 　 D．pool

8．A．endless　 　 B．ending　 　 C．end　　 　　 D．ended

9．A．sun　　 　　 B．stars　　 　 C．planet　 　 D．electricity light

10．A．yet　　 　 B．however 　 C．so　　　 　　 D．though

11．A．finished 　 B．finishing C．completed 　 D．completing

12．A．adding　 　 B．added　 　 C．saying　 　 D．said

13．A．for　　 　 B．of　　　 　　 C．with　　 　 D．about

14．A．poor　　 　 B．rich　 　　 C．glad　　 　　 D．happy

15．A．in　　　 　 B．on　　 　　 C．for　　 　　 D．about

16．A．method　 　 B．manners 　　 C．way　　 　　 D．means

17．A．of　　　 　 B．for　　 　　 C．towards 　 D．at

18．A．nothing　 　 B．any　 　　 C．some　 　　 D．everything

19．A．then　　 　 B．but　 　　 C．though　 　 D．so

20．A．anything 　B．nothing 　　C．everything 　D．something

 When studying in a middle school，I read a quote that went something like：“If you live each day as if it were your last，someday you’ll most certainly be right. ”It made a deep   36 on me, and since then, for the past 33 years，I have  37 in the mirror every morning and asked myself：“If today were the last day of my life，  3 8 I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a  39 ，I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be  40 soon is the most important tool I’ve ever known to help me make the big  41 in life because almost everything falls away in the face of death，  42 only what is truly important.

About a year ago I was  43 with cancer. My doctor even advised me to go home and get my affairs   44 order，which is a doctor’s way of telling people to prepare to die. I  45 with that diagnosis all day.   46 ，at last an advanced test showed that it was a very rare cancer that is  47 with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

 48 wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all  49 . No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be，because death is very likely the single best invention of  50 . It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to  51 for the new. Right now the new is you. But someday not too  52 from now，you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic，but it is quite true.

Your time is  53 ，so don’t waste it living someone else’s 1ife. Don’t be  54 by dogma(教条) —which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner  55 . And most importantly，have the courage to follow your heart.