My husband and I sat outside. A small child about three came up the street, accompanied by her mother. As she saw another girl a few feet away, she gave her admiring comment, “Mommy, I like her dress.” Her mom   21 , “Well, why don’t you go and tell her?”

The little girl walked   22  toward the girl wearing the pretty dress. The other one,

  23  the same age, was standing with her   24  turned, alongside her parents. They had not heard the compliment (赞美). Receiving no answer, this little one   25 . My husband said to the other girl, “  26  wants to tell you something.” As she turned around, connection was made. Once again, the little one   27  “I like your dress,” and upon hearing those words, the other one gave her a big smile and excitedly   28  “Look, it’s a spinning (旋转) dress!”, at which moment she began to spin in  29. Both of them smiled widely.

Now, the one stopped spinning and said, “It’s my favorite dress and I have (a)   30  that match!” She   31  running toward a stroller (婴儿车) parked nearby.

The mom and the daughter started to   32  down the street,   33  the encounter (邂逅) had ended. Moments later, the “spinning dress girl” reappeared, shoes in hand,   34  her new friend who had seemingly disappeared. Now, an elderly couple, seated on a bench, had obviously been  35  of all this. The man   36  the child, saying, “There’s someone coming behind you.” Then we saw one showed and the other   37  the beautiful shoes.

If you can make a   38  better, do it. I have no idea how many others that evening might have   39  this act, hoping to help good things to happen. But such brief moments,  40  together, make up what might very well be the important times in our lives.

Even after several weeks, every time I read this little story I start to cry:

My sister-in-law teaches physically and mentally handicapped children at a private school in Brooklyn. She recently   21   a Special Olympics and went to the starting line of the 100-metre dash with six   22   contestants.

As the starting whistle sounded, a boy tripped, fell and began to cry. All the other   23  stopped, turned and went back to help. Then they all   24   hands and went on to the finish line together. Needless to say, everyone in the stands   25  .

Why am I so moved? There are tears of joy   26   with tears of sadness. Tears of joy, just for the   27   friendship, selflessness and love embodied (体现) by these children. Tears of sadness, just for how   28   from such behavior we adults have wandered. Wouldn’t it be nice if, at least once in a while, we could pause in our race for money and power; turn around to see the   29   of those we have left behind; go back and   30   these less able ones to their feet; and then walk forward together with them, arm in arm.

A. witnessed       B. reported    C. interviewed       D. attended

A. eager      B. smart        C. breathless D. active

A. players B. members   C. runners      D. cheerleaders

A. held       B. shook        C. took   D. clapped

A. shouted   B. cheered     C. cried D. yelled

A. filled    B. mixed       C. joined       D. associated

A. mature B. unusual     C. common    D. pure

A. long       B. easily        C. far     D. much

A. suffering        B. shortcoming     C. surrounding      D. behaving

A. comfort       B. support      C. carry D. help

It was early in the morning, on a lonely road. It's  36   heavily. A 9-year-old boy was in the car with his mother, who was  37   him to school. Suddenly, the car went off the road,  38  several times, and came to rest upside down in a ditch(沟渠) filled with water.

Luckily, both the mother and son were  39  seatbelts. The mother suffered a blow to her head and was unable to move. The boy was frightened but  40 . As water came through broken windows in the car, he  41  unbuckled (解开) himself, climbed out of the  42  window, made his way around to the driver's side, and reached inside the  43  to free his trapped mother. With great effort, he managed to  44  her, pull her through the window and up to the road, where they were soon  45  .

His mother later recalled her experience of the  46  . Being unable to move or even  47  to offer instructions ( 指导) or encouragement to her son, she was  48  by her little son's action. She recalled  49  her boy saying out loud as he pulled her through the water, “I think I can, I think I can!”

It seemed  50  that this little boy's act of courage was from one of his favourite books: The Little Engine that Could. In that  51  , when everyone else had  52  hope, the Little Engine carried the heavy load of toys and good things to eat over the hill to the children waiting on the other side. He had  53  and took action. Obviously this book had left a  54  impression before the accident that rainy  55  and motivated ( 激励) the son to take action if the terrifying moments.

1.A.  snowing               B.  smoking             C.  blowing            D. raining

2.A.  ordering                   B.  driving              C.  pushing              D. flying

3.A.  rolled                    B.  fell                  C.  moved              D. stopped

4.A.  making                   B.  watching          C.  wearing          D. missing

5.A.  afraid                   B.  dead                 C.  tired             D. unhurt

6. A.  quickly                 B.  carefully             C.  nearly        D. happily

7.A.  student                    B.  passenger             C.  family             D. worker

8. A. box                         B.  room                  C.   car           D. ditch

9.A. respect                    B.  introduce                C.  recognize            D. free

10.A. accepted                   B. rescued                   C.  welcomed          D. fed

11.A. accident                     B.  experiment              C.  travel              D. fire

12. A. listen                       B.  sleep                   C.  speak               D. look

 13. A. excited                B. frightened              C.  wounded      D. amazed

14.A. seeing                   B.  hearing                 C.  smelling           D. feeling

15.A. clear                     B.  sorry                  C. useful        D. necessary

16.A. poem                       B.  notice                 C.  story               D. dream

 17. A. realized                     B.  waken               C.  kept up             D. given up

18.A. courage                     B.  food            C.  space                 D. time

19. A. bad                   B.  deep             C.  false                   D. general

20. A. afternoon                   B.  night             C.  morning                D. evening

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to play the character of Ronald McDonald for the McDonald's Corporation.

One day each month，we visited hospitals bringing a little happiness to the children there. But there were two rules placed on me during a visit. First, I could not go anywhere in the hospital  without permission. And second, I could not physically touch anyone within the hospital. They did not want me to carry germs(细菌)from one patient to another. Breaking either of these rules, I was told, I could lose my job. One day, as I was heading down a hallway and on my way home, I heard a little voice coming through a half­opened door，“Ronald，Ronald.”

I stepped in and saw a boy，about five years old, lying in his dad's arms, Mom with a nurse on the other side. I knew by the feeling in the room that the situation was grave. I asked his name. He told me it was Billy and that I did a few simple magic tricks for him. As I stepped back to say good­bye, he asked me “Ronald, would you hold me？”

At such a simple request, my heart was screaming, “Yes！”But my mind was screaming louder. “No！You are going to lose your job！”

 “Hold me” was such a simple request, and yet I searched for any reasonable excuses that allowed me to leave, but none. It took me a moment to realize that in this situation, losing my job may not be the disaster I feared. Then, I picked up this little boy. He was so weak and so scared. We laughed and cried for 45 minutes. With tears in my eyes, I left them. Less than 48 hours later, I received a phone call from Billy's mom that Billy had passed away. She and her husband simply wanted to thank me for making a difference in their little boy's life.

Billy's mom told me shortly after I left the room. Billy looked at her and said, “Momma, I don't care any more if I see Santa this year because I was held by Ronald McDonald.”

For the record, McDonald's Corporation did find it out, but, given the situation，permitted me to go on with my job. I continued as Ronald for another year before leaving the corporation to share the story of Billy and how important it is to take risks.

1. The underlined word “grave” in Paragraph 3 means “________”.

     A. weak     B. serious   C. interesting   D. exciting

2.When Billy asked the author to hold him, at first the author ________.

     A. was unwilling to do so      B. was glad to do so

     C. hesitated to do so          D. hurried to do so

3.What lesson did the author draw from his experience?

     A. To amuse others is enjoyable.       B. To take risks is important.

     C. To break rules is necessary.         D. To be fired is not fearful.

4. We learn from the story that ________.

     A.the author left the corporation because he broke the rules

     B.the author left the corporation because he didn't like the rules

     C.the boy was quite happy with the experience with the author

     D.the boy was quite happy with Santa at Christmas

Rocky Lyons was five years old when his mother，Kelly，was driving along the country road with him.He was asleep on the front seat of their truck，with his feet resting on her lap.As his mom drove carefully down the winding country road，she turned onto a narrow bridge.The truck hit a rock and slid off the road.She attempted to bring it back up onto the road by pressing hard on the gas pedal(踏板) and turning the steering wheel(方向盘) to the left.But Rocky’s foot got caught between her leg and the steering wheel and she lost control of the truck.

The truck fell into a 20?foot ravine(峡谷)．When it hit bottom，Rocky woke up.“What happened，Mama？” he asked.“Our wheels are pointing toward the sky.”

Kelly was seriously wounded and blinded by blood.“I’ll get you out，Mama，”announced Rocky，who had surprisingly escaped injury.He climbed out from under Kelly，slid through the open window and tried to yank his mother out.But she didn’t move.

“Just let me sleep，” begged Kelly，who was out of consciousness.Rocky insisted，“Mom，you can’t go to sleep.”

Rocky managed to push Kelly out of the truck and told her he’d climb up to the road and stop a car to get help.Fearing that no one would be able to see her little boy in the dark，Kelly refused to let him go alone.Instead they slowly moved up to the road.The pain was so great that Kelly wanted to give up，but Rocky wouldn’t let her.

Rocky kept repeating the inspirational phrase，“I know you can，I know you can.”When they finally reached the road，Rocky broke into tears seeing his mother’s torn face clearly for the first time.Waving his arms and shouting, “Please stop！” the boy stopped a truck.His mother was sent to hospital.

It took 8 hours to rebuild Kelly’s face.She looks quite different today—“I used to have a straight long nose，thin lips and high cheekbones；now I’ve got a flat cheeks and much bigger lips”—but she has few scars and has recovered from her injuries.

Rocky’s heroics were big news.Everyone was surprised at this little boy’s power.“It’s not like I wanted it to happen，” the boy explained.“I just did what anyone would have done.” “If it weren’t for Rocky，I’d have died，” said his mother.

1.According to the text，Rocky and Kelly ________.

A．were lost on a country road

B．were involved in a truck accident

C．had limited time to find their way

D．knew little of what happened to them

2.When he woke up，Rocky ________.

A．found the truck was turned over

B．found his mother had fallen asleep

C．was stuck against the door of the truck

D．was frightened by his mother’s blood

3.The underlined word “yank” in Paragraph 3 most probably means “________”．

A．pull? B．drive

C．follow? D．carry

4.What is the best title for the text?

A．A Boy and His Mother

B．How to Behave Well?

C．Nothing Is Lost

D．I Think You Can