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. I was told it would mean a great deal to him, so 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 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, and I knew about overcoming obstacles(阻碍) 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 weights with me. When we had finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had 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:
Dick,
My mum 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 any more, but I still smile as much as I can.
I told you someday that I would go to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I
will never get to do that. However, 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.
Yours,
Matthew
【小题1】 How old was Matthew when they met?

用括号内所给动词的适当形式填空（共5小题；每小题1分，满分5分）

1. It is difficult to imagine his       (accept) the decision without any consideration.

2. There is no need for you       (think) too much about it.

3. Though       (lack) money, his parents managed       (send) him to university.

4.        (have) a good rest and you’ll feel much better.

5. A serious earthquake is reported       (strike) this area last night,       (cause) a lot of damage.

用所给动词的适当形式填空（每空一分，满分10分）
【小题1】After a big snowfall, the town ________ (lie) clean and quiet.
【小题2】Our manager would like to have you _______ (give) a speech at the meeting.
【小题3】We are told _________(not throw) waste paper everywhere.
【小题4】We have been good friends ever since we _______ (meet) on the first day of school this term.
【小题5】____­­­­_____ (judge) from what he said, he must be an honest man.
【小题6】Finally they got their child _________ (interest) in study.
【小题7】Can you wait for me for another second? I __________ (finish) my work.
【小题8】After the floods, some survivors __________( trap) at the top of the houses.
【小题9】It was the second time that the artist _______________ (come) to this mountain village.
【小题10】We should love and respect our parents who ______ always _________ (concern) about us and have done so much for us.

Sandstorms hit northwestern China's Gansu Province and North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on the first day this year. According to Sun Landong， a meteorologist with the Lanzhou Meteorology Observatory，visibility was less than 100 meters in Minqin， a Gansu county near Inner Mongolia， because of sand. When visibility drops to less than 1 kilometer，it is called a sandstorm. The sandstorm in Minqin blew up dust in neighboring towns， such as Baiyin， Wuwei， Jinchang and Lanzhou， the capital city of Gansu Province. Dust-laden winds also swept into Beijing. Brought by northwesterly blowing at more than 20 meters per second，dust first reached the capital's suburbs at 7 a. m，downtown areas at 9 a. m. The winds，which died down during the night，brought the temperature down to as low as 80C below zero and many flights put off their planned time from the city's airport.

It is quite rare for sandstorms，which are frequent between March and June，to happen in winter，when the earth is frozen. The sandstorms in Gansu and Inner Mongolia do not necessarily mean there will be more of them in the spring than last year，when they were serious，but Beijing is taking it very seriously. It is reported that Beijing will spend 6 billion yuan ( US 725 million) in preventing sandstorms in the capital and has already set up a spe­cial team to make sure what causes them.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Sandstorms took place in Gansu.

B. Sandstorms happened on the first day of the new year.

C. Sandstorms are very serious，compared to last year.

D. Experts are trying their best to determine the cause of the sandstorm formed this year.

2.Suppose the dust was 300 kilometers away from Beijing， it would reach Beijing about

         hours later if it travels at a speed of 20 meters per second?

A. 4. 2     B. 1. 5     C. 2. 0     D. 2. 5

3.Why did sandstorms begin in the winter this year?

A. Because there was little snow this season.

B. Because a lot of trees have been cut down.

C. Because people took few measures to control them.

D. It is not mentioned in the passage.

4. Which of the following doesn't belong to the bad effect the sandstorms have done in Bei­jing?

A. The temperature fell.    B. Flights put off their time to take off.

C. The air is dirty.    D. People had three days off.

5.The author wrote the passage to        .

A. tell us the environments are becoming worse and worse

B. explain what measures people have taken to control sandstorms

C. make people realize the need to protect the environment.

D. call on us to do what we can to save the earth

_________ to the efforts by the headmaster, I can go back to school now.