A little boy invited his mother to attend his school’s first teacher-parent meeting. To the little boy’s ___36___, she said she would go. This ___37___ be the first time that his classmates and teacher ___38___ his mother and he felt ___39___ of her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar(疤痕) that. ___40___nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to ___41___ why or how she got the scar.

At the meeting, the people were ___42___ by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother ___43___ the car, but the little boy was still embarrassed(尴尬) and ___44___ himself from everyone. He did, however, get within ___45___ of a conversation between his mother and his teacher.

The teacher asked ___46___,”How did you get the scar on your face?”

The mother replied, “___47___ my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught fire. Everyone was ___48___ afraid to go in because the fire was ___49___ so I went in. As I was running toward his bed, I saw a long piece of wood coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked ___50___ but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us.

She ___51___ the burned side of her face. “This scar will be ___52___, but to this day, I have never ___53___ what I did. ”

At this point, the little boy came out running toward his mother with tears in his eyes. He held her in his arms and felt a great ___54___ of the sacrifice(牺牲) that his mother had made for him. He held her hand ___55___for the rest of the day.

36. A. enjoyment    B. disappointment  C. surprise      D. excitement

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

38. A. noticed B. greeted       C. accepted     D. met

39. A. sick      B. ashamed     C. afraid  D. tired

40. A. included      B. passed C. covered      D. shaded

41. A. talk about    B. think about C. care about  D. hear about

42. A. impressed    B. surprised    C. excited       D. comforted

43. A. in sight of    B. by means of       C. by way of   D. in spite of

44. A. hid       B. protected    C. separated    D. escaped

45. A. understanding      B. reminding  C. hearing      D. learning

46. A. carefully      B. seriously    C. nervously   D. anxiously

47. A. As B. When  C. Since  D. While

48. A. so B. much  C. quite   D. too

49. A. out of control      B. under control     C. in control   D. over control

50. A. helpless       B. hopeless     C. senseless     D. useless

51. A. pointed B. showed      C. wiped D. touched

52. A. ugly     B. lasting C. serious       D. frightening

53. A. forgot   B. recognized  C. considered  D. regretted

54. A. honor   B. sense   C. happiness   D. pride

55. A. quietly  B. slightly      C. tightly D. suddenly

The Roman Emperor Claudius II was fighting many wars. He wanted a strong army, but many men did not want to be soldiers. Claudius thought the men wanted to stay at home to be with their wives and children instead of leaving to fight wars.
Claudius thought of an awful solution to his problem. He decided to cancel all marriages! No one in all of Rome could get married. Claudius thought that if the men couldn’t get married, the men would ignore the women and want to be soldiers.
Valentine, who was a priest (牧师), believed that people needed to get married. He thought it was wrong for people to live together without being married. So he secretly and illegally married couples anyway. He performed the weddings in secret places, so the Roman soldiers would not find out.
But they did find out. Valentine was arrested and brought before the Emperor. The Emperor thought Valentine was a well-spoken and wise young man, and encouraged him to stop being a Christian (基督徒) and become a loyal Roman. Valentine would not deny his beliefs, and he refused. He was sent to prison and was finally killed. While he was in prison, he sent out letters to his friends and asked to be prayed (祈祷) for by writing Remember your Valentine.
Valentine was killed on the 14th or the 24th of February in the year 269 or 270. We celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th in honor of St. Valentine.
【小题1】The Emperor Claudius II wanted men to __________.     

Sam, an unemployed piano tuner, said it was only the second thing he had ever won in his life. The first thing was an Afghan blanket at a church raffle when he was 25 years old. But this was much bigger: it was $120,000! He had won the Big Cube, a state lottery game. To win, a contestant must first guess which number a spinning cube will stop on. The cube has six numbers on it: 1X, 10X, 50X, 100X, 500X, and 1000X. If he is correct, the contestant must then guess which of two selected variables is going to be greater. So, just guessing which number appears on the cube does not guarantee that you will win any money. Sam correctly guessed 1000X, but he still had to choose between two variables. One variable was the number of cars that would run the stop sign at Hill Street and Lake Avenue in six hours. The other variable was the number of times that a teenage boy would change TV channels in a three-hour period. This was a tough decision.

Finally, Sam flipped a coin. It came up heads, so Sam picked the teenager. He picked right. The stop sign was run only 76 times, but the teen clicked 120 times. Sixty-year-old Sam jumped for joy, for he had just won 1000 times 120, or $120,000. Sam dreamily left the lottery studio. Talking excitedly on his cell phone while crossing the street, he got hit by a little sports car.

Sam is slowly getting better. He was in the hospital for a month. His hospital bill was $110,000. And the insurance company for the little sports car's owner sued Sam for $9,000 worth of repairs. Also, Sam still has to pay federal taxes on his winnings. Sam doesn't play the state lottery any more. He says it's better to be unlucky.

1.When Sam won the second thing that he’d won in his life, he was ______.  

A. 25 years old

B. six years old

C. 76 years old

D. sixty years old

2.To win the game, the contestants had to make ______ guesses.    

A. three           B. two         C. six             D. four

3.Sam won the lottery because ______.

A. he was lucky     B. he was good at math

C. he was smart     D. he was tough

4.Sam’s experience shows that ______

A. everything has its time and that time must be watched.

B. he who risks nothing, gains nothing.

C. everything comes to him who waits.

D. he who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday.

—He was nearly drowned once.?

—When was_________ ??

—_________was in 1998 when he was in middle school.?

A.that;It                B.this;This             C.this;It                 D.that;This?

Although he was in poor health, Robert succeeded ______  other more famous engineers failed.

A. which           B. that        C. what       D. where