One of the most famous nursery rhymes(摇篮曲) in the English language is Mary Had a Little Lamb(羔羊). It has touched many children who have read it. It is about the deep love between a young girl and her pet lamb. The poem is from a true story that happened in the early part of the 19th century in the town of Sterling, Massachusetts, in the USA.
Mary Sawyer (1806－1889) lived on a farm with her family. One day, when she was about nine years old, she saw a little lamb that had just been born and left behind by its mother. It was very weak and looked as if it would die at very moment. Mary took pity on the lamb and spent the whole night looking after it. Eventually, it grew strong and became a very close friend with Mary, following her everywhere she went.
One day, the lamb even followed Mary to school. At first she wanted to turn it back but her brother suggested that it would be fun to take the lamb to school. During the class, she hid the lamb under her desk. But when she was called to go to the front of the class, to her surprise, the lamb followed her. Though the students and the teacher thought it was funny to see a lamb at school, the teacher had to ask Mary to keep the lamb outside of the school.
That very day, a young man called John Roulstone was visiting Mary’s school. He was so moved by the love between the child and her little pet lamb that he wrote a poem which he handed to Mary the next day. His poem contained twelve lines.
Later, Sara Josepha Hale added another twelve lines to the poem and published it in 1930 under the title “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. The poem has become a classic, loved by children all over the world. The appeal (吸引力) of the poem lies not only in the funny idea of a sheep going to school but also in the true love between the little girl and her pet. The town of Sterling has honoured Mary’s lamb by building a statue (雕像) of the lamb with Mr Roulstone’s poem below the statue.
【小题1】The underlined word “eventually” in the second paragraph most probably means         .

Talk about a real-life hero! Ten-year-old Larry Champagne from St. Louis，Missouri, hit the brake (刹车) on a runaway school bus. He saved himself and 20 other kids on board from disaster.
It all happened in one terrible accident. On the way to school, the bus driver, Ernestine Blackman, suddenly fell ill. Seeing the car was running away, the other kids started to scream, but Larry ran to the front and stopped the bus.
“At first I thought, ‘We’re going to die,’” says Larry, “but after I pressed the brake, I felt safe.”
Larry’s speedy reaction made news all over the country. He appeared on TV shows as a hero. The bus company gave Larry a big gift. His school hung a medal of honor around his neck.
“My grandmother always tells me to do what’s right,” says Larry. He thanked his brother, Jerrick, 9, who “helped me get the bus driver up” during the emergency（紧急情况）. How did he know how to stop the bus? Larry is something of a mechanic（机械师）. He helps his grandfather work on his old truck. “He gets his hands dirty,” says his grandfather. One thing is for certain: Larry knows where to find the brakes.
【小题1】What did Larry do to save the runaway bus?

Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer (扫盲志愿者). The training I received, though excellent, didn't tell me how it was to work with a real student, however. When I began to discover what other people’s lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.
My first student Marie was a 44-year-old single mother of three children. In the first lesson, I found out she walked two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she didn't know which bus to take. When I told her I would get her a bus schedule, she told me it would not help because she couldn't read it. She said she also had difficulty once she got to the supermarket because she couldn't always remember what she needed. Also, she could only recognize items by sight, so if the product had a different label, she would not recognize it as the product she wanted.
As we worked together, learning how to read built Marie’s self-confidence. She began to make rapid progress and was even able to take the bus to the supermarket. After this successful trip, she reported how self-confident she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son, Tony, a shy first grader, with his reading. I found that helping Marie to build her self-confidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.
As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.
【小题1】What did the writer do last summer?

Ideas about polite behavior are different from one culture to another．Some societies, such as America and Australia, for example, are mobile and very open．People here change jobs and move house quite often．As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last only a short time, and they need to get to know people quickly．So it’s normal to have friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you can talk about things that other cultures would regard as personal．
On the other hand there are more crowded and less mobile societies where long – term relationships are more important．A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want to get to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business．But when you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper than it would in a mobile society．
To Americans, both Europeans and Asians seem cool and formal at first．On the other hand, as a passenger from a less mobile society puts it, it’s no fun spending several hours next to a stranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sorts of questions that you don’t want to answer．
Cross-cultural differences aren’t just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights that carry them．All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about good service are different from place to place．This can be seen most clearly in the way that problems are dealt with．
Some societies have ‘universalistic’ cultures．These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person and situation in basically the same way．
‘Particularistic’ societies, on the other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society’s unwritten ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or a particular person．So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of the situation or the importance of the person．
This difference can cause problems．A traveler from a particularistic society, India, is checking in for a flight in Germany, a country which has a universalistic culture．The Indian traveler has two much luggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time and the suitcases are full of presents for his family．He expects that the check – in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him．The check – in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage, it wouldn’t be fair to the other passengers．But the traveler thinks this is unfair, because the other passengers don’t have his problem．
【小题1】Often moving from one place to another makes people like Americans and Australians _____．

Andy Tomas is proof of the typical case that life-changing disaster awaits the drunken driver.
“A lot of teachers say, ‘Don’t drink,’ but I’m not going to say that, because I know that students are going to do it,” Andy says. “I just say, ‘Don’t get in a car.’”
As an 18-year-old, he could be a classmate or a friend, and that familiarity adds to the power of his words. He has spoken to more than 2500 high school students so far, and he has noticed their unusual silence.
One year ago, Andy, having been with friends drinking, lost control of his car and was thrown into trees 20 feet away. He was found covered in blood, with many bones broken. He was diagnosed with a severe brain injury and remained in an unconscious state and on life support for nearly three weeks. His skull was opened to reduce pressure on his brain.
At Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick, Doctor Erin Leahy initially found Andy unable to move the right side of his body. But by the end of his six-week stay, he was able to walk out of the building. Leahy called that an inspiration and a surprise.
Yet Andy’s recovery is incomplete. Brain and muscular therapy(治疗) has helped him regain movement in his right arm, but he still struggles with right hand.
In the process of recovery, Andy has thought deeply about what happened and why, and decided to share his story. Encouraged by his doctor, he began to attending meetings, delivering speeches.
He said he was nervous at first, but has grown used to the spotlight. “I feel like I know how to talk to people.” He said. And his recovery and visible injury help him draw serious attention from students.
Drunk driving, he tells students, is like playing gambles. “You might do it a bunch of times, but something is going to happen.”
Now his days are all about the therapy, work and going to the gym. Mentally, he says, “ I’m a lot happier in my life.”
【小题1】 What’s the main purpose of the author?