Once again, I had run away and really did not know why. I walked out of the gate to go to school and then kept walking, and walking, and walking. I was 11years old. It was almost dark; I was tired, cold, and all alone. I had not eaten all day and was afraid to turn myself over the police. I knew I would receive another beating once I returned to the Children’s Home Society. There was nothing for me to do, except keep on walking.

As darkness fell, I entered the darkened area in a city park sat down on a wooden bench hoping to avoid the police cars. It was cold and I began to tremble uncontrollably. All was quiet except for the passing cars in the distance.

“Well, hello young man.” A voice came from behind me. I jumped, almost falling off the park bench. My heart was beating ninety miles per hour. I gasped and I could hardly catch my breath. I looked up and saw a woman standing behind me in the shadows.

“You look cold and hungry,” she said. She took off her scarf, wrapped it around my shoulders and asked me to follow her. We walked about twenty feet, and then stopped under one of the park streetlights.

She held out her hand and said, “Here, you take this letter.” Seeing nothing in her hand., I stood still.

“Reach out and take the letter from my hand,” she insisted. Slowly I reached out, acting as though I was taking something from her hand. “Now hold the paper tightly and take it to any store owner,” she instructed.

I closed my thumb and finger as though I were grasping the letter and began walking toward Five Points. Several blocks down the road, I came to a store with a woman sitting behind a counter. I opened the door, walked in, and stopped directly in front of her. Very slowly I held out my hand toward her. I watched her face to see if she might think I was crazy or something.

She reached out and as her hand touched mine, I opened my tightly closed fingers and stood there waiting. She pulled back, smiled, and looked down at her hands.

She immediately turned and walked to the back of the store. After a while, the woman returned holding a paper plate.

“Here is something for you to eat.” She smiled and signaled to me to eat. Within two or three minutes, I downed the entire plate of food and several Coca Colas.

Before I left, she held out her hand and asked me to take the letter. Again seeing nothing, I held out my hand and closed my thumb and finger as though I were taking something from her. Tightly grasping nothing more than air, I walked out into the street and headed back to the park. The old woman was still there.

“It is really magic. Can I have the letter so I can be magic too?” I asked her.

She reached out, took my hand, and opened my tightly closed fingers. Whatever was being held between my fingers, she took and placed into her apron pocket. “Would you help someone if they were hungry?” she asked me.

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Would you help someone if they were hurt, cold or scared?”

“Yes Ma’am. I would be their friend.”        

“You are a very lucky little boy. You will never need the magic letter,” she responded.

1.What can we learn about the boy?

A. Though lost in the city, he didn’t feel worried or lonely.

B. He had nowhere to go and wandered aimlessly in the street.

C. He avoided the police for the fear that he would be sent to prison.

D. He had to run away because of his bad performance at school.

2.What can we infer from paragraph 3?

A. The boy was out of breath as he did some exercises.

B. The boy felt excited at the appearance of the woman.

C. The boy was scared by the sudden voice of the woman.

D. The boy held his breath, waiting for the woman to come.

3.Why does the store owner offer the boy a good dinner?

A. Because she had great sympathy for him.

B. Because she knew the boy and his parents.

C. Because he was a kind boy who deserved it.

D. Because the woman in the park had paid for it.

4.What does the writer want to tell us through the story?

A. It's better to give than to take.

B. Kindness is a universal language.

C. Don't cry even if life cheats you.

D. Life is full of the getting over of suffering.

5.What’s the best title of the passage?

A. A Kind Woman.     B. A Sleepless Night.    C. A Magic Letter.      D. A Lucky Boy.

Helen Keller was born in America in June, 1880. Everything was all right when she was born. But when she was 19 months old, an attack of fever left her blind and deaf for the rest of her life. She was so young when she became blind that as she grew older she did not remember being able to see; and she became deaf before she had any idea of the importance of human speech. She lived in darkness and silence.

As she grew older, she, too, wanted to express her ideas and feelings. But she realized she was cut off from others. Her parents were greatly worried. How could anyone make touch with Helen’s mind and intelligence in darkness and silence without speech? Helen was nearly seven before a teacher was found. Her name was Miss Sullivan.

Miss Sullivan had a lot of difficulties in teaching Helen Keller. As the child could neither see nor hear, she had to use manual alphabet. But Helen’s energy and intelligence and strong spirit as well as Miss Sullivan’s skill and patience, overcame all the difficulties. As Helen grew up, she became an able student, passed examination and finally took a university degree in English literature. She then devoted all herself to helping the blind and the deaf. Her personal success, together with the work she had done for others, made her one of the greatest women in modern times. She wrote many books and “The Story of My Life”is a wonderful one.

1.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Helen Keller was born blind and deaf.

B．She first became blind and then deaf.

C．She became blind and deaf in 1880.

D．She became blind and deaf sometime about January 1882.

2.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A．Helen became blind and deaf because she suffered from a high fever.

B．Helen became blind before she could see anything.

C．Helen became deaf before she realized how important it was to be able to hear and speak.

D．Helen, too, wanted to touch with others with speech.

3.Helen was finally successful mainly because of______.

A．her parents’ help

B．the manual alphabet Miss Sullivan used in teaching her

C．the help she got when she was studying for a university degree

D．her hard work, cleverness and will-power as well as Sullivan’s great efforts

4.Helen Keller finally became______.

A．an able student

B．a writer

C．the greatest woman in modern times

D．a student who took a university degree in English literature

5.Helen Keller’s parents were greatly worried because___.

A．She was growing older

B．She was cut off from others

C．she, too, wanted to express her ideas and feelings but she could not

D．she was almost seven years old and yet they were not sure whether they could find a suitable teacher for her

A Leap(跳跃)to Honor

Leaping on a narrow balance beam(平衡木) is not easy.But Lola Walter, a 13－year－old gymnast, is an expert at it.

To perfect her skills, Lola ____ for four hours a day, five days a week.At the state championships in March, she finished seventh out of 16 girls.

That's especially impressive，____she is legally blind, born with a rare condition that causes her eyes to shift(移动)constantly.She often sees double and can't ____ how far away things are.

When she was little, her mom ___ that even though she couldn't see ____ , she was fearless.So her mom signed her up for gymnastics when she was three.She loved the ____ right away and gymnastics became her favorite.

Though learning gymnastics has been more ____ for her than for some of her teammates, she has never quit.She doesn't let her ____ stop her from doing anything that she wants to.

She likes the determination it takes to do the sport.Her biggest ____ is the balance beam.Because she has double vision, she often sees two beams.She must use her sense of touch to help her during her routine.Sometimes she even closes her eyes.“You have to ____ your mind that it'll take you where you want to go，” says Lola.

To be a top－level gymnast, one must be brave.The beam is probably the most ____ for anyone because it's four inches wide.At the state competition, Lola didn't fall ____ the beam.In fact, she got an 8.1 out of 10——her highest score yet.

Lola doesn't want to be ____ differently from the other girls on her team.At competitions, the judges don't know about her vision ____.She doesn't tell them, because she doesn't think they need to know.Her mom is amazed by her ____ attitude.

Lola never thinks about ____.She is presently at level 7 while the highest is level 10 in gymnastics.Her ____ is to reach level 9.She says she wants to be a gymnastics coach to pass down what she's learned to other kids ____ she grows up.

Lola is____of all her hard work and success.She says it's helped her overcome problems in her life outside gymnastics too.Her ____ for others is “just believe in yourself”．

1.A.runs? B．teaches? C．trains? D．dances

2.A.since? B．unless? C．after? D．though

3.A.tell? B．guess? C．assume? D．predict

4.A.suspected? ????????????? B．remembered? C．imagined? ????????????? D．noticed

5.A.deeply? B．well? C．ahead? D．closely

6.A.task? B．sport? C．event? D．show

7.A.boring? ????????????? B．enjoyable?? C．difficult? ????????????? D．satisfactory

8.A.talent? B．quality? C．nature? D．condition

9.A.doubt? B．advantage? C．challenge? D．progress

10.A.examine? B．express? C．open? D．trust

11.A.fearful? ????????????? B．harmful? C． unfair? ????????????? D．inconvenient

12.A.to? B．on? C．off? D．against

13.A.greeted? B．treated? C．served? D．paid

14.A.pains? B．stresses? C．injuries? D．problems

15.A.positive? B．friendly? C．flexible? D．cautious

16.A.defending? ????????????? B．quitting? C．winning? ????????????? D．bargaining

17.A.standard? B．range? C．view? D．goal

18.A.until? B．as? C．when? D．before

19.A.proud? B．tired? C．ashamed? D．confident

20.A.plan? ????????????? B．advice C．reward? ????????????? D．responsibility

We could hardly believe what she says because she is ________ changing her mind. 

A. regularly       B. constantly       C. eventually         D. steadily

Miss Gogers taught physics in a New York school. Last month she explained to one of her classes about sound, and she decided to test them to see how successful she had been in her explanation. She said to them, “Now I have a brother in Los Angeles. If I was calling him on the phone and at the same time you were 75 feet away, listening to me from across the street, which of you would hear what I said earlier, my brother or you and for what reason?”

Tom at once answered, “Your brother. Because electricity travels faster than sound waves.” “That's every good,” Miss Gogers answered; but then one of the girls raised her hand, and Miss Gogers said. “Yes, Kate.”

“I disagree,” Kate said. “Your brother would hear you earlier because when it's 11 o'clock here it's only 8 o'clock in Los Angeles.”

1.Miss Gogers was teaching her class_________.

A．how to telephone 　                    B．about electricity

C．about time zone(时区) 　                 D．about sound

2.Miss Gogers raised this question because she wanted to know whether______.

A．it was easy to phone to Los Angeles 　       B．her student could hear her from 75 feet away

C．her students had grasped（理解）her lesson. D．sound waves were slower than electricity

3.Tom thought that electricity was _________.

A．slower than sound waves　　              B．faster than sound waves

C．not so fast as sound waves 　　            D．as fast as sound waves

4.Kate thought Tom was wrong because _______.

A．clocks in Los Angeles showed a different time from those in New York

B．electricity was slower than sound waves

C．Tom was not good at physics at all

D．Tom's answer had nothing to do with sound waves

5.Whose answer do you think is correct according to the law of physics?

A．Tom's            B．Kate's            C．Bath A and B       D．Neither A nor B