Hans was an honest fellow with a funny round good-humored face. Living alone, every day he worked in his garden. In all the countryside there was no garden so lovely as his. All sorts of flowers grew there, blooming in their proper order as the months went by, one flower taking another flower’s place, so that there were always beautiful things to see, and pleasant odors to smell.

    Hans had many friends, the most devoted being the Miller. So devoted was the rich Miller to Hans that he’d never go by his garden without plucking a large bunch of flowers or a handful of sweet herbs, or filling his pockets with fruits. The Miller used to talk about noble ideas, and Hans nodded and smiled, feeling proud of having such a friend.

    The neighbors thought it strange that the rich Miller never gave Hans anything in return, though he had hundreds of sacks of flour, many cows and sheep, but Hans never troubled his head about these, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to listen to all the wonderful things about the unselfishness of true friendship.

    In spring, summer, and autumn Hans was very happy, but when winter came, and he had no fruit or flowers to sell, he suffered from cold and hunger. Though extremely lonely, the Miller never came to see him then.

My House

My mother moved a lot when she was growing up on account of Grandpa being in the army. She hated having to adjust to new schools and make new friends. That’s why I thought she was joking when she put forward the idea of moving. But she was completely serious. “For just the two of us,” my mother said, “an apartment in the city will suit our needs much better.” Personally, I think she’s lost her mind. I guess I can understand why she would want to move, but what about me and what this house means to me?

I suppose if you looked at my house, you might think it was just another country house. But to me it is anything but standard. I moved into this house with my parents ten years ago. I can still remember that first day like it was yesterday. The first thing I noticed was the big front yard. To me it seemed like an ocean of grass—I couldn’t wait to dive in. The backyard was full of gnarled (扭曲的, 粗糙的) and scary trees that talk on windy nights. But I grew to like them and the shadows they cast in my room. My father and I even built a small tree house, where I often go to remember all the wonderful times we had before Father’s death.

This house is special—maybe only to me—but special nevertheless. It’s the little seemingly insignificant things that make this house so special to me: the ice-cold tile floors that make me tremble on midnight snack runs; the smell of my father’s pipe that still exists; the towering bookcases of my mother; the view outside my bedroom window.

This house holds too many memories, memories which would be lost if we gave it up.

1.Why did the author’s mother decide to move?

A. Because she hated the countryside.

B. Because Grandpa was on constant move.

C. Because Dad’s death made her lose her mind.

D. Because she thought a city flat more fit for them.

2.What impressed the author when she first moved into the house?

A. The tree house.  B. The big trees.    C. The cold floors.        D. The green grass.

3.How did the author let us feel that the house was special to her?

A. By arguing whether the house was standard.

B. By explaining why the house suited their needs.

C. By describing the small things related to her house.

D. By comparing the differences between country and city life.

4. My mother moved a lot when she was growing up because of   ________.

A. Grandpa being in the army.  B.their family’s liking moving

C. the life’s need             D. Mother’s work

Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16^th century when English rulers fried to conquer(征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921. The British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland. In the north, is part of the united kingdom. The republic of Ireland. In the south. Is an independent country.

In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes ,was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of bunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work , forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.

For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.

The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly, Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”, Since independence, Ireland has revived(复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different are as have different styles of old Irish song which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.

1.what does the author tell us in paragraph 1 ?

A. how the Irish fought against the English.

B. how Ireland gained independence.

C. how English rulers tried to conquer Ireland.

D. how two ”Irelands” came into being.

2.we learn from the text that in Ireland____________.

A. food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population

B. people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside

C. it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker

D. different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments

3.the last paragraph is mainly about____________.

A. the Irish character

B. Irish culture

C. Irish musical instruments

D. a famous Irish writer

4.what can be the best title for the text?

A. Life in Ireland B. A very difficult history

C. Ireland, past and present    D. the independence of Ireland

I’m an operating engineer, running crane(起重机) in New York City. I was in the countryside, playing golf when we got the call that a plane had   36  the World Trade Centre. We checked out of the hotel immediately and started   37  our way downtown. When I got home, I called the rescue center and they told me to come   38  and get on the   39  list.

The next morning I went down to the   40  at about 5 A. M., and four hours later I   41  the call to come down to West Street. I called my wife and told her not to   42  me, and that I would stay in   43  with her. I took the subway. It stopped at West Fourth Street, so I had to   44  the rest of the way.

And somewhere in there I became   45  when I went into something I   46 . I once worked there in 1966 for the   47  of the World Trade Centre. On halfway on September 12, I was frightened to see the World Trade Centre was a huge pile, maybe ten   48  tall. And it was burning. I started to ask   49  in which my crane might be   50  a whistle blew suddenly warning us of some danger. I saw people running away and I really didn’t know what to do. So I did the same, too. It was as if they had   51  the bulls go in Spain and we were running through the street. People falling down, people   52  them up as they came by, and carrying them, just to get them out of the way, because something was extremely   53 . I didn’t even look back. We stopped running when we got to the Battery Tunnel, and I caught my   54  and said, “Oh, my God, I’m going to die.”

Then I 55  a little bit, thinking about what we should do next. As we started again we knocked into a fire chief officer and we asked, “What can we do to help you?”

After studying in a medical college for five years, Jane _______ her job as a doctor in the countryside.

A. set out          B. took over         C. took up           D. set up