My wife and I have always enjoyed travelling by ship, and last year decided to go a Mediterranean cruise（地中海航游）.Although our holiday was rather expensive, we thought that the first class food and many interesting places we saw were well worth the price we 1 .

    We found that most of the other passengers were friendly and interesting 2 one man , a Mr.James, who 3 the same table at dinner with us and several others. Whatever subject we talked about , it seemed that he was 4 on it . He had obviously read more books ,visited more countries, and studied more languages 5 anyone else. After a few days ,we ate our meals in silence, because nobody wanted to begin a talk that would soon be taken over by this man .

    Then my wife had an idea. 6 the huge ship had a library ,and she suggested that we think of an 7 subject ,look it up in all kinds of special books and then talk about it at dinner. If it were unusual enough, Mr.James could not possibly know anything about it . The subject we 8 was “English Farming in the Eleventh Century.”At dinner that night we discussed this subject with great interest . Mr.James was silent. We realized we had at last 9 to find something he did not know 10 about.

“It was a11 his own idea，”says Pat Peters，the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto，California high school football coach Bob Peters，39．Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract”-a document(文件)stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couplets four children，plus all household chores(杂务)．Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed，he was quite confident．(He thought the experience would make a nice book．)

      After 40 of the 70 days，he was ready to give up．”I was beaten down，completely humbled” admits Peters．Three weeks later he spoke to the local press(also part of the bargain)，stating，”Not only is motherhood a difficult task，not only is it never—ending，it is an impossible job for any normal human being．”

      Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts、After they got married i11 1 960，she worked as a secretary to help put him through university．Since then Bob has been the football and  wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley high while Pat raised the kids.

     Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley．”I had been around children so much，”she sighs(叹气)．”I couldn’t talk to a grown—up．”She continued to run the household，however—until Bob signed the contract．Where upon she decided to relax and enjoy it .Although Peters had consulted with his school’s home economics teachers and‘he head of the cafeteria(食堂)，his meals were sometimes a disaster．”I tried to slip the butter. I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were flying，”he says．For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot——sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner．

    As for housekeeping．a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made．”I found an easier way-I shut the doors，”he says．Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week．”I made them wear their shirts inside out，and when we went to Dick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”

    Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong，he is routinely(日常地)sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat．The tentative(暂定的)title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day．．．．

1．File couple signed the contract because       ．

  A．Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself

  B．Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest

  C．They agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks

  D．Bob thought it easy to take care of tile family and wanted the experience for a book

2．It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract．he would have to      ．

  A．pay a certain amount of money

  B．do all tile housework for years

  C．say sorry to his wife

  D． admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood

3．What call we 1earn about Pat Peters?

  A．She was hard—working and selfless．

  B．She was pretty and kind—hearted．

  C．She was tired of tile child．raising and household tasks．

  D．She did not love Bob any longer．

4．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

  A．Bob managed to keep the kids’ clothes clean．

  B．Bob tried to cook good meals for his children．

  C．Bob frequently took the kids out to eat because he was too busy at work．

  D．Bob taught the kids to make their beds every day．

5．Which of the following can best end tile story?

  A. “My experience of being a mother．”

  B．”I’ll proud of you all，my dear!”

  C．”Wait till your mother gets home!”

  D．”Motherhood：an impossible job for anyone。”

“Today is the day I start the big diet （节食）,” I told my wife as I raised my hand and   1  , “No chocolate today!”

“Oh, has the hospital gift shop   2   selling it?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “I’ll just have to   3   my strong determination.”

But when I arrived at the hospital, my little friend Benton has been there   4  . I knew my promise would   5   disappear. Because if Benton had things his way, I’d always be eating a piece of candy from the  6   bag he often shared with me.

Benton was an eight – year – old boy who was  7   because of a kind of cancer, which cause him to live in the darkness, when he was fifteen  8   old. For the next twenty – six months, he was in and out of our hospital. For nearly four years, it seemed   9   Benton could beat the disease, until one Friday afternoon in April 2009, when he  10  a headache and lost   11   on his right side. His mom   11  him to the hospital.

Over the next several months, Benton came to our   13   many more times. Each time he came, we   14   say hello, while Benton answered the   15   by holding out a candy from his bag.

So, on that first day of my diet, I went to his room and found Benton lying in his bed, his eyes   16   but not looking into this world.

“We brought his candy bag with us. Would you like to have some?” his mother asked.

Without thinking of my diet, I   17   into the bag and pulled out the first piece my fingers touched. It was my favorite as if Benton had saved one last piece   18   me. At home that evening, I answered a phone about Benton’s   19  . As I   20   it up, I opened the candy and ate it.

1．A．shouted                 B．answered             C．stated                  D．promised

2．A．stopped                 B．continued            C．kept                    D．tried

3．A．base on                 B．depend on            C．insist on              D．keep on

4．A．one                       B．yet                      C．again                   D．early

5．A．suddenly               B．quickly                C．quietly                 D．shortly

6．A．bottomless            B．countless             C．endless                D．belt less

7．A．ill                         B．injured                 C．deaf                    D．blind

8．A．years                    B．seasons               C．months               D．days

9．A．even though          B．as though            C．if only                 D．as with

10．A．found                  B．developed            C．managed             D．provided

11．A．movement           B．touch                  C．motion                D．sight

12．A．hurried                B．brought               C．rushed                D．carried

13．A．home                  B．room                   C．office                  D．hospital

14．A．would                 B．could                  C．should                 D．must

15．A．meeting               B．greeting               C．encouraging         D．praising

16．A．closed                 B．glimpsed              C．glared                 D．opened

17．A．ran                     B．touched               C．reached               D．felt

18．A．at                       B．for                      C．with                    D．on

19．A．illness                 B．blindness             C．death                  D．sadness

20．A．put                     B．hung                   C．set                      D．gave