The first time I saw Carlos I would never have believed he was going to change my life. I had my arms full of books and I was tearing into the classroom when I ran into something solid. It was Carlos.

“My, you’re tall,” he said.

Of course, the class began to laugh. Angry, I walked to my seat without a word.

I glanced back to see if Reed Harrington was laughing with the rest. That would be the last straw. But Reed was studying chemistry and did not seem to be aware of anything else. I didn’t know why I considered Reed my friend. Maybe just because he was a good two inches taller than I. Anyway, every time I blew out my birthday candles and made a wish, it was for a date with Reed Harrington. “Take that seat,” Mr. McCarthy told the proud newcomer Carlos, pointing to the only empty one, in the back of the room.

Carlos smiled broadly. “But I need a couple of dictionaries.” Again the class laughed, but now they were laughing with Carlos, not at him. He had been here only 10 minutes and already he had them on his side.

It was the school elections that made me think of Carlos again. Reed Harrington was voted president and Carlos vice president. “How come?” I kept asking myself. “How come this shrimp(虾) who’s only been in town for a little over a month gets to be so popular.”

So on that morning, I stopped Carlos and said, “It doesn’t seem to bother you—being short.” He looked up at me.“Of course I mind being short. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. When I realized I was going to have to spend my life in this undersized skin, I just decided to make the best of it and concentrate on being myself.” “You seem to get along great,” I admitted. “But what about me? Nobody wants to date a girl taller than he is.” “The trouble with you is you’re afraid to be yourself. You’re smart. And you could be pretty. In fact, you might be more than pretty.” I felt myself turning red...

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

   A. The writer cared much about Reed’s attitude.

   B. Carlos isn’t popular with the classmates.

   C. The writer is always confident with herself.

   D. Carlos always makes fun of the writer.

From the passage, we can conclude _______________.

   A. Carlos is as tall as the writer

   B. Carlos fell love with the writer later

   C. the writer is very tall

   D. Reed, Carlos and the writer became good friends later

What can we use to describe Carlos’ character?

   A. Handsome and proud                         B. Humorous and confident

C. Diligent and helpful                       D. Hardworking and popular

What’s the best title of the passage?

   A. A girl and a boy.                                     B. My shortcomings.

   C. My helpful classmates.                                   D. A change in my life.

In a generous display of maturity and sympathy, one Jewish boy made his first deed as a man in his faith a great act of charity. Joshua Neidorf, a 13-year-old boy from Los Angeles, donated most of his birthday money to Operation Mend, a program that reconstructs the faces of severely burned U. S. veterans（退伍老兵）.

The young man decided to donate his money after getting to know Army Sgt. Louis Dahlman, who was undergoing a series of reconstruction surgeries（手术）at UCLA（University of California at Los Angeles）thanks to Operation Mend. The Neidorfs had signed up to be Dahlman’s “buddy family”, spending time with him whenever he visited Los Angeles for a surgery.

“I just love knowing that it’s going somewhere...to help the people who save our lives and keep us safe every day,” said Neidorf. His mother added, “It makes me feel like our world is going in a good direction with this next generation.”

In all, Neidorf gave $13,000 to Operation Mend. He also encouraged his friends to donate to the cause. He is the organization’s youngest donor so far.

Operation Mend is a privately funded program that works in partnership with the UCLA Medical Center. Ron Katz, a board member at the hospital, started the program in 2006 after seeing a TV programme about Aaron Mankin, a veteran who had gone through dozens of surgeries after a fight in Iraq which completely burned off his face.

Mankin ended up being Operation Mend’s first patient, starting the first of 20 reconstructive facial surgeries at UCLA in Sept. 2007. In a 2011 interview, Katz shared how his experience of helping Mankin made him realize the need to establish a more permanent program. “My wife and I soon realized that there were dozens of Aarons out there,” Katz said. “They deserve the best that we offer them.”

1.Neidorf decided to help veterans because ________.

A. he benefited from Operation Mend                             B. he was afraid of burned faces

C. he thought they deserved help                        D. he didn’t know how to spend money

2.Operation Mend was founded after ________.

A. Neidorf donated part of his birthday money

B. the Neidorfs signed up to be Dahlman’s “buddy family”

C. Ron Katz saw a TV programme about a veteran

D. Mankin was successfully operated on at UCLA

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A. Neidorf’s mother was opposed to his decision to donate money.

B. Mankin’s face was burned in a fire in America.

C. Mankin went through more than 30 facial surgeries at UCLA.

D. Many facial surgeries are needed to reconstruct a seriously burned face.

4.The last two paragraphs mainly tell us ________.

A. the process of Mankin’s surgery       B. how Operation Mend was set up

C. how Katz became famous            D. veterans are respected by people

“Cool” is a word with many meanings．Its old meaning is used to express a temperature that is a little bit cold．As the world has changed，the word has had many different meaning．
“Cool” can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything．
When you see a famous car in the street，maybe you will say，“It's cool．”You may think，“He's so cool，”when you see your favorite footballer．
We all maximize（扩大） the meaning of “cool”．You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”．Here's an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used．A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall（瀑布）they had visited．On one student's paper was Just the one sentence，“It's so cool．Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt．
But the story also shows a scarcity（缺乏）of words．Without “cool”，some people have no words to show the same meaning．So it is quite important to keep some credibility（可信性）．Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word “cool”？ I can．And I think they are also very cool．
【小题1】We know that the word "cool" has had ________.

Billy，a hard-working student，is fourteen years old and in the ninth grade．He has a part-time job that   16 him up every morning at five o’clock，when most people are still  17   asleep．He is a newspaper boy.
Each morning，Billy leaves the house at 5：15 to go to the   18 where the newspapers always are．The newspapers were   19  to the corner by truck at midnight．He always takes a wagon to  20  them．
In the winter it is still dark  21 he gets up every day，but during the rest of the year it is  22 ．Billy must send the newspapers to the houses of people on his  23   in all kinds of weather．He tries to put each paper on the porch(门廊)where it will be  24 from wind and rain or snow．Sometimes his customers give him tips，  25 him very excited．
Billy earns about$70 per month through hard  2 6 ，and he is saving some of the money to go to  27 ，where he has always been longing to go．Besides that，he  28 the rest of the earnings on records and clothes．Once a month，he has to collect the   29   at night since many of them work during the day．That is when he is  30 so that he is full of excitement．Luckily，he gets   31  supported by his family．Sometimes，when Billy is sick，his brother offers to deliver the newspapers for him．Once，his father was too   32 to help him,
Billy has seventy customers now，but he doesn’t feel   33 about the number．
He dreams that he will get  34 customers as possible some day．  35 ，he might win a prize for being an outstanding newspaper boy．He wants to win a trip to Europe，but he will be happy if he wins a new bicycle.