When his wife died，the baby was two．They had six other children--three boys and three girls，ranging in age from 4 to 16． A few days later he became a widower, the man’s parents and his wife’s parents came to visit the family．“We’ve been talking，”they said，“about how to take care of all these children and work to make a living．So，we’ve arranged for each child to be placed with a different uncle and aunt．We’re making sure that al1of your children will be living right here in the neighborhood，so you can see them anytime…”

     The man appreciated their thoughtfulness but refused their kindness. Over the next few weeks the man worked with his children，assigning them chores(杂务)and giving them responsibilities ．

   But then another misfortune happened．The man developed arthritis (关节炎)．His hands swelled，and he was unable to hold the handles of his farm tools. He would not be able to continue the work on his farm. He sold his farming equipment, moved the family to a small town and opened a small business．  

    The family was welcomed into the new neighborhood．Word of his pleasant personality and excellent customer service began to spread in the town．People came from far and wide to do business with him．And the children helped both at home and at work．Their father’s pleasure in his work brought satisfaction to them，and he drew pleasure from their successes ．

The children grew up and got married. Five of the seven went to college and they were married. The children’s successes were a source of pride to the father．Then came grandchildren. No one enjoyed grandchildren more than this man. As they became older, he invited them to his workplace and his small home. They brought each other great joy. Finally, the youngest daughter, the baby, who had been two years old at her mother death, got married. Finally，the man，with his life’s work completed ，died．

This man’s work had been the lonely but joyful task of raising his family．This man was my father．

I was the 1 6-year—old，the oldest of seven．

1. How old was the writer when his mother died?

A. 4               B. 2              C. 16              D. not mentioned

2. Which of the following is TRUE?

A. There were six children in the family.

B. The father wanted to give his children to his relatives.  

C. The father didn’t farm any longer because of his illness.

D. The father’s life work was lonely and sadly.

3. The underlined word “widower” means ________.

A. a worker     B. a farmer    C. a man with many children   D. a man without wife

4. The main idea of the passage is ________.

A. The father’s life work: raising his family               

B. Why the father wanted to raised his family                     

C. How the children grew up after their mother died                 

D. the father’s sadness and happiness in his life

5. what is the writer’s attitude to his father?.

A. unconcerned                B. critical               C. doubtful         D. respectful

Three Boys and a Dad
Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother. Expecting a whole day to relax, he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favorite TV talk show on his first day off in months. “This will be like a walk in the park,” he’d told his wife. “I’ll look after the kids, and you can go visit your mom.”
Things started well, but just after eight o’clock, his three little “good kids”—Mike, Randy, and Alex—came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted “breakfast, daddy.” When food had not appeared within thirty seconds, Randy began using his spoon on Alex’s head as if it were a drum. Alex started to shout loudly in time to the beat（节拍）. Mike chanted “Where’s my toast, where’s my toast” in the background. Brad realized his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds.
Life became worse after breakfast. Mike wore Randy’s underwear on his head. Randy locked himself in the bathroom, while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants. Nobody could find clean socks, although they were before their very eyes. Someone named “Not Me” had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes. Brad knew the talk show had already started.
By ten o’clock, things were out of control. Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter. Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his color pencils. Randy, thankfully, appeared to be reading quietly in the family room，but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands. Brad realized that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible.
At exactly 11:17, Brad called the daycare centre (日托所）.“I suddenly have to go into work and my wife’s away. Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes?” The answer was obviously “yes” because Brad was smiling.
【小题1】When his wife left home. Brad expected to           .

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。

The Pillow

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.

1．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

2．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

3．From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen       before.

         A．a trailer      B．a truck        C．a pillow      D．a house

4．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

They were going to Fort Lauderdale — three boys and three girls — and when they boarded the bus, they were carrying sandwiches and wine in paper bags, dreaming of golden beaches and sea tides as the gray, cold spring of New York went behind them.

As the bus passed through New Jersey, they began to notice Vingo. He sat in front of them, completely in silence.

Deep into the night, outside Washington, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson’s, and everybody got off except Vingo. The young people began to wonder about him. When they went back to the bus, one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.

    “Want some wine?” she said. He smiled and took a swig from the bottle. He thanked her and became silent again. After a while, she went back to the others, and Vingo nodded in sleep.

In the morning, they awoke outside another Howard Johnson’s, and this time Vingo went in. The girl insisted that he join them. He ordered black coffee and some cookies as the young people talked about sleeping on beaches. When they returned to the bus, the girl sat with Vingo again, and after a while, slowly and painfully, he began to tell his story. He had been in prison in New York for the past four years, and now he was going home.

“Are you married?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” she said.

“Well, when I was in prison I wrote to my wife,” he said, “I told her that I was going to be away for a long time, and that if she couldn’t stand it, if the kids kept asking questions, and if it hurt her too much, well, she could jus forget me. I’d understand. Get a new man, I said — she’s a wonderful woman. I told her she didn’t have to write me. And she didn’t. Not for three and a half years.”

“And you’re going home now, not knowing?”

“Yeah. Well, last week, when I was sure the parole (假释) was coming through, I wrote her again. We used to live in Brunswick, just before Jacksonville, and there’s a big oak (橡树) just as you come into town. I told her that if she didn’t have a new man and if she’d take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree, and I’d get off and come home. If she didn’t want me, forget it — no handkerchief and I’d go on through.”

“Wow,” the girl exclaimed, “Wow.”

She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, looking at the pictures Vingo showed them of his wife and three children.

Now they were 20 miles from Brunswick, and the young people took over window seats on the right side, waiting for the approach of the great oak. Vingo stopped looking, tightening his face, as if protecting himself against still another disappointment.

Then Brunswick was ten miles, and then five. Then, suddenly, all of the young people were up out of their seats, shouting and crying.

Vingo sat there astonished, looking at the oak. It was covered with yellow handkerchiefs — 20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds, flying in the wind. As the young people shouted, Vingo slowly rose from his seat and made his way to the front of the bus to go home.

1.At the beginning of the story, the young boys and girls ______.

A. showed a great interest in Vingo     B. didn’t notice Vingo at all

C. wanted to offer help to Vingo        D. didn’t like Vingo at all

2.The underlined part “Howard Johnson’s” is most probably a(n) ______.

A. bus station  B. apartment      C. hospital   D. restaurant

3.How did Vingo feel on the way home?

A. Ashamed.     B. Relaxed.     C. Nervous.     D. Disappointed.

4.The paragraphs following this passage would most probably talk about ______.

A. Vingo’s experience in prison

B. the young people’s travel to Fort Lauderdale

C. Vingo’s three lovely children

D. the dialogue between Vingo and his family

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