This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a batter future. But the dream didn’t last long.     

The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately.

The villagers decided that they couldn’t just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides(杀虫剂) and medicines. Soon there was no money left.

Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn’t been useless. They had been doing an important job---eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.

   Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.

56. From paragraph one we learn that the villagers __________.

A. worked very hard for centuries     B. dreamed of having a better life 

C. were poor but somewhat satisfied   D. lived a different life from their forefathers 

57. Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?

A. the frogs were easy money        B. They needs money to buy medicine

C. they wanted to please the visitors   D. the frogs made too much noise

58. What might be the cause of the children’s sickness?

A. the crops didn’t do well              B. there were too many insects

C. the visits brought in diseases        D. the pesticides were overused

59. What can we infer from the last sentence of the text?

A. Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country 

B. Health is more important than money

C. The harmony between man and nature is important 

D. good old day will never be forgotten

It was a village in India．The people were poor．However, they were not unhappy．After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries．

Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived．The told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog’s legs．However, they did not have enough frogs of their own ,and so they wanted to buy frogs from other place．

This seemed like money for nothing．There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and  they were no use to the villagers．All they had to do was catch them．Agreement was reached ,and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs．Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money．For the first time , the people were able to dream of a better future ,But the dream didn’t last long．

The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well．More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately．

The villagers decided that they couldn’t just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak．They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides（杀虫剂）and medicines．Soon there was no money left．

Then the people realized what was happening．It was the frog．They hadn’t been useless．They had been doing an important job---eating insects．Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were

increasing more rapidly．They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases．

   Now, the people are still poor．But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs．These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning．

1．From paragraph 1 we learn that the villagers  __________．

A．worked very hard for centuries 

B．dreamed of having a better life 

C．were poor but somewhat content

D．lived a different life from their forefathers

2．Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs ?

A．the frogs were easy money 

B．they needs money to buy medicine

C．they wanted to please the visitors

D．the frogs made too much noise

3．What might be the cause of the children’s sickness?

A．the crops didn’t do well

B．there were too many insects

C．the visits brought in diseases

D．the pesticides were overused

4．What can we infer from the last sentence of the text?

A．Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country

B．Health is more important than money

C．The harmony between man and nature is important

D．Good old days will never be forgotten

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 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. 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.

Your friend,

Matthew

1. The boy looked forward to meeting the author because _________. 

A. he was also good at weight lifting     B. he wanted to get to the Olympics and win a medal 

C. he was one of the author’s students    D. he admired the author very much

2. The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably means that _______.

A. the boy never complained about how unlucky he was to have this disease

B. the boy never complained about not being able to go to school

C. the boy never complained why the author had never come to see him before

D. the boy never complained about not getting a medal

3. From the passage we learn that _________. 

A. Matthew was an athlete                              B. Matthew was an optimistic and determined boy 

C. The author used to have the same disease as Matthew had   D. Matthew became a champion before he died

4.Matthew didn’t accept the author’s medal because _________.  

A. he thought it was too expensive                        B. he was sure that he could win one in the future

C. he thought it was of no use to him as he would die soon     D. he would not be pitied by others

5.What would be the best title for this passage? 

A. A sick boy.       B. A special friend.       C. A real champion.       D. A famous athlete.