Even before my father left us, my mother had to go back to work to support our family. Once I came out of the kitchen, complaining, “Mom, I can’t peel potatoes. I have only one hand.”

    Mom never looked up from sewing. “You get yourself into that kitchen and peel those potatoes,” she told me. “And don’t ever use that as an excuse for anything again!”

    In the second grade, our teacher lined up my class on the playground and had each of us race across the monkey bars, swinging from one high steel rod to the next. When it was my turn, I shook my head. Some kids behind me laughed, and I went home crying.

    That night I told Mom about it. She hugged me, and I saw her “we’ll see about that” look. The next afternoon, she took me back to school. At the deserted playground, Mom looked carefully at the bars.

    “Now, pull up with your right arm,” she advised. She stood by as I struggled to lift myself with my right hand until I could hook the bar with my other elbow. Day after day we practiced, and she praised me for every, rung I reached. I’ll never forget the next time, crossing the rungs, I looked down at the kids who were standing with their mouths open.

    One night, after a dance at my new junior high, I lay in bed sobbing. I could hear Mom come into my room. “Mom,” I said, weeping, “none of the boys would dance with me.”

    For a long time, I didn’t hear anything. Then she said, “Oh, honey, someday you’ll be beating those boys off with a bat.” Her voice was faint and cracking. I peeked out from my covers to see tears running down her cheeks. Then I knew how much she suffered on my behalf. She had never let me see her tears.

1.Which of the following expressions can be used most suitably to describe Mom’s attitude when she made the child peel potatoes?

A. Cruel.         B. Serious.          C. Strict.            D. Cold.

2.From the passage, we know monkey bars can help a child train _________.

A. the skill to throw and catch things

B. the speed of one’s hand movement

C. the strength and skill to hang and sway

D. the bodily skill to rotate round a bar

3.What does the sentence “I saw her ‘we’ll see about that’ look” imply?

A. Mom believe every aim could be achieved if you stuck to it.

B. The race across monkey bars was not difficult enough for a child to give up.

C. Mom was determined to prove she herself was better than the teacher.

D. What the child had said brought Mom great attraction and curiosity.

4.When the child looked down at the kids, they were standing with their mouths open because          .

A. they felt sorry for what they had done before

B. they were afraid the author might fall off and get hurt

C. they wanted to see what the author would do on the bars

D. they were astonished to find the author’s progress

5.The most probable conclusion we can draw after reading the passage is _________.

A. the last incident was sad enough to make Mom weep

B. the child’s experience reminded Mom of that of her own

C. Mom could solve any problem except the one in the last paragraph

D. in fact Mom suffered more in the process of the child’s growth

Every object tells a story. Even the most ordinary objects can present to us powerful images. Sometimes it is the ordinary nature of these objects that actually makes them so extraordinary. Such is the case with an old leather shoe in a museum in Alaska. At first glance it does not look like much. It is a woman’s shoe of a style popular in the 1890s. But what is unique(独特的) about this shoe is where it was found. It was discovered on the Checkout Pass, the famous trail used by the people seeking gold in Alaska. Who it belonged to or why it was left there is not known. Was it perhaps dropped by accident as the woman climbed up the 1500 stairs carved outface? Or did she throw away goods that she didn’t need in order to travel lighter?
Over 100, 000 people with “gold fever” made this trip hoping to become millionaires. Few of them understood that on their way they would have to cross a harsh wildness. Unprepared for such a dangerous journey, many died of starvation and exposure to the cold weather.
The Canadian government finally started requiring the gold seekers to bring one ton of supplies with them. This was thought to be enough for a person to survive for one year. They would carry their supplies in backpacks(背包) each weighing up to fifty pounds; it usually took at least 40 trips to get everything to the top and over the pass. Whoever dropped the shoe must have been a brave and determined woman. Perhaps she was successful and made it to Alaska. Perhaps she had to turn back in defeat. No one will ever know for sure, but what we do know is that she took part in one of the greatest adventures in the 19th century.
【小题1】The ordinary woman’s leather shoe is considered unusual because ______. 

Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling(赌博) and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn’t listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was hardly sent away. After he came out of lockup(拘留所), he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him.

It was New Year’s Day. Mr. Lang didn’t go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn’t think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly opened the door and in came a few policemen. “I saw there weren’t any policemen outside, daddy,” said the boy, “so I went to the crossing and asked some to come.”

1.Mr. Lang was paid much because _______. 

A．he was a driver                         B．he worked in a factory

C．he had a lot of work to do                 D．he had worked there for a long time

2.Mrs. Lang did all housework because _______. 

A．she couldn’t find any work

B．she thought her husband was tired

C．her husband spent all time in gambling

D．she wouldn’t stop her husband gambling

3.______, so he was put into lockup. 

A．Mr. Lang often gambled

B．Mr. Lang was late for work

C．Mr. Lang didn’t help his wife at home

D．Mr. Lang wasn’t polite to the police

4.The woman had to leave Mr. Lang because _______. 

A．he didn’t love her any longer

B．he wouldn’t stop gambling

C．he had been put into lockup

D．he was hardly sent away by the factory

5.Which of the following is right? 

A．The boy hoped his father to be put into lockup again.

B．The boy thought his father needed some policemen.

C．The boy hoped his father to stop gambling soon.

D．The boy hoped his mother to come back.

阅读填空

Alice always wanted to be a singer. Music was the 1.         important thing in her life but, to tell you the  2.           (true), she took lesson for years, practised every day,  3.          in spite of all this, her voice didn't improve. Honestly, it didn’t get better, it just got  4.(loud).

    Her teacher finally gave 5.         and stopped the lessons, but Alice refused to quit, and one day she decided to give a concert and invited her former teacher to attend.

The teacher was very worried about 6.              to say after the performance. She knew it 7.           be terrible and it was. She didn't want to tell a lie, but she didn’t want to hurt Alice’s feelings8.               . Finally, she got an idea and went backstage to greet her former pupil.

    “Well”, said Alice, “what did you think of 9.             performance?”

    “My dear,” said the teacher, “you’ll 10.        be better than you were tonight.”

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Paris. That’s where the   31 ended.

I was tall and she was small. I was one of the oldest in the class while she was the youngest. I was   32 and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t   33 her, considering her my enemy. But she wanted to be friends.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes — I was too   34  to say no. Actually no one has invited me over to play before. But this girl, who wore the latest  35 , wanted to see me.

She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister. When we got to the room she    36 with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies（芭比娃娃）- which was my next  37 . I would have thought she’d outgrown them. I has never played with them. But we sat on the floor of a walk-in cupboard laughing as we  38 crazy stories about the Barbies. That’s   39 we found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older. We both had wile   40 .

We had a great day that afternoon. Our jaws ached from   41 so much. She showed me her outfits, which had   42  come from a designer clothing store down the block. The woman who owned it used her   43  a model sometimes for her newspaper ads and gave her clothes   44 .

Paris had the whole neighborhood   45 . The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines, the movie theater gave her free   46  and the pizza place let her have free slices. Soon I was   47 in her magic world. We slept over at each other's houses, spent every free moment together. My dark hair grew out and I learned to love being   48 .

Paris, my first real friend since childhood, helped me   49  the through teenage years and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: your “worst enemy” can  50 to be your best friend.