In the middle of the first term of school, the entire seventh grade was tested for basic skills. Steve hurried through his tests, and continued to dream of other things. His heart was not in school, but in the woods.

One day, Miss White’s impatient voice broke into his daydreams. “Steve!! Pay attention!”. Steve turned to look at her, fixing his eyes on Miss White, as she began to go over the test results for the seventh grade.

“You all did pretty well,” she told the class, “except for one boy, and it breaks my heart to tell you this, but...” She hesitated, her eyes searching his face. “...The smartest boy in the seventh grade is failing my class!” She just stared at Steve. Steve dropped his eyes.

After that, it was war!! Steve still wouldn’t do his homework. Even as the punishments became more severe, he remained stubborn.

“Just try it! ONE WEEK!” He was unmoved.

 “You’re smart enough! You’ll see a change!” Nothing touched him.

“Give yourself a chance! Don’t give up on your life!” Nothing.

“Steve! Please! I care about you!”

Wow! Suddenly, Steve got it!! Someone cared about him? Steve went home from school, thoughtful, that afternoon. Walking into the house, both parents were out. He, quickly, gathered up a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread, a bottle of water, and this time...his schoolbooks.

   The following Monday he arrived at school on time, and he waited for Miss White to enter the classroom. She walked in, all smiles! God, she was beautiful!

Miss White, immediately, gave a quiz on the weekend homework. Steve hurried through the test and was the first to hand in his paper. With a look of surprise, Miss White took his paper. Obviously puzzled, she began to look it over. Miss White’s face was in total shock! The smartest boy in the seventh grade had just passed his first test!

From that moment nothing was the same for Steve. Life at home remained the same, but life still changed．He discovered that not only could he learn, but he was good at it!

He discovered that he could understand knowledge and translate the things he learned into his own life. Steve began to go ahead!

1．Steve used to be bad at his lessons because___________.

     A．the teacher blamed him from time to time

     B．he was not a smart boy in his class

     C．the test for the seventh grade challenged his confidence

     D．he hadn’t put his heart into his studies

2．The underlined word “stubborn” in the passage probably refers to “_______”.

    A．severely punished                 B．completely unchanged

    C．careless with the homework         D．lost in the test

3．It was the ______that made Steve begin to work hard at his lessons later.

    A．teacher’s encouragement           B．help from his classmates

    C．care from the teacher              D．failure in the test for the seventh grade

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

      A．Steve often helped his parents work in the woods instead of going to school.

    B．The teacher punished Steve for his failure in the test for the seventh grade.

    C．Steve not only made progress but finally became a good student of the class.

    D．Steve was actually a clever boy, but Miss White hadn’t realized it at first.

When I was a kid, my brother dropped the bomb: "No Santa Claus （Father Christmas）!" I fled to Grandma because I knew she would   36   me the truth．I told her everything．"No!" she said．"Ridiculous! Don' t   37   it．"

       After dinner, we went to General Store．Grandma handed me ten   38   ．"Take it and buy something for whoever needs it．I'll wait in the   39   ．" I' d often gone shopping with Mother, but never had I shopped   40   ．For moments, I stood there, confused,   41   what to do with it．I thought of everybody I knew．  42   I thought of Bobbie Decker．His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough．We all knew that Bobbie would have no cough   43   he had a thicker coat．So I decided to buy Bobbie one．"Is this a present for   44  ?" the saleslady asked me kindly．I   45   shyly．She smiled, handed it to me and wished me a merry Christmas．Then Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Santa Claus   46  and ribbons and write "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus " on it．Then she   47   me over to Bobbie's house．Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie' s house．We   48   noiselessly and hid in the   49   by his front walk．"All right, Santa Claus," she   50   ,"get going．" I rushed out, threw the present down at his front door,   51   his doorbell and flew back to the safety．Together we   52   breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open．

       Forty years I haven' t forgotten those   53   I spent shivering （颤抖）in Bobbie' s bushes．That night, I realized that the stories about Santa Clause were really ridiculous ．Santa Claus was alive,  54  we were on his  55  ．

A．tell           B．teach       C．take            D．advise

A．remember     B．believe     C．understand      D．consider

A．bags          B．keys      C．coats           D．dollars

A．home          B．store        C．car             D．bus

A．separately      B．apart        C．singly           D．alone

A．wondering     B．worrying  C．expecting        D．looking -

A．Luckily        B．SurprisinglyC．Suddenly       D．Firstly

A．unless         B．since     C．as              D．if

A．anyone       B．someone   C．others           D．another

A．nodded        B．smiled      C．replied          D．denied

A．gift           B．name     C．paper         D．needle

A．sent           B．drove           C．walked         D．guided

A．stole          B．struggled  C．stepped         D．searched

A．cars ．       B．buildings  C．stairs           D．bushes

A．sighed         B．whispered C．called           D．shouted

A．knocked       B．pushed      C．pounded         D．switched．

A．rushed         B．laughed    C．paused          D．waited

A．nights        B．feelings    C．moments        D．bills

A．and           B．but        C．then          D．therefore

A．side           B．team       C．part           D．staff

When I was a kid, my brother dropped the bomb: "No Santa Claus （Father Christmas）!" I fled to Grandma because I knew she would   36   me the truth．I told her everything．"No!" she said．"Ridiculous! Don' t   37   it．"
After dinner, we went to General Store．Grandma handed me ten   38  ．"Take it and buy something for whoever needs it．I'll wait in the   39  ．" I' d often gone shopping with Mother, but never had I shopped   40  ．For moments, I stood there, confused,   41   what to do with it．I thought of everybody I knew．  42   I thought of Bobbie Decker．His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough．We all knew that Bobbie would have no cough   43   he had a thicker coat．So I decided to buy Bobbie one．"Is this a present for   44  ?" the saleslady asked me kindly．I   45   shyly．She smiled, handed it to me and wished me a merry Christmas．Then Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Santa Claus   46  and ribbons and write "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus " on it．Then she   47   me over to Bobbie's house．Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie' s house．We   48   noiselessly and hid in the   49   by his front walk．"All right, Santa Claus," she   50   ,"get going．" I rushed out, threw the present down at his front door,   51   his doorbell and flew back to the safety．Together we   52   breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open．
Forty years I haven' t forgotten those   53   I spent shivering （颤抖）in Bobbie' s bushes．That night, I realized that the stories about Santa Clause were really ridiculous ．Santa Claus was alive,  54  we were on his  55 ．

Mr. Hadley was my 6th grade teacher. I was a tall thin girl weighing barely a hundred pounds. I ended up taking a lot of  36 especially from the boys, because of my appearance. I became an extremely  37 young lady.

One day  38 in the 6th grade class was told by Mr. Hadley that we would be  39 to stand up in front of the class and read the  40 that we had completed.

When my turn came, I  41 to stand up in front of all those students and  42 to their tricks. Mr. Hadley came over to me and again  43 me to read my report. I gave it back to him. He walked to the front of the  44 and said, "Yvonne has a very good report here and I think everyone  45 to hear her read it. If I hear anyone making  46 noises or making fun of her in any way, I will let you fail right here and now. Understood?"

Mr. Hadley walked back to me and  47 me the paper, asking me to go to the front of the class. I walked to the front of the class on legs  48 were shaking and I felt a(n)  49 in my chest. Everyone were all quiet, including those boys. I stood there trying to gain  50 .

Mr. Hadley walked over to me putting his arm around me, "You can do it. I have  51 in you!" His words helped calm me. I  52 the report and instead of the kids laughing at me and  53 me, they all stood up and clapped their hands.

From that day on the kids never made fun of me again and some  54 made friends with me. I continued to be quite shy all through school  55 from that day on I knew if I had to stand up in front of class again. I could do it.

When I was a kid, my brother dropped the bomb: "No Santa Claus （Father Christmas）!" I fled to Grandma because I knew she would   36   me the truth．I told her everything．"No!" she said．"Ridiculous! Don' t   37   it．"

After dinner, we went to General Store．Grandma handed me ten   38  ．"Take it and buy something for whoever needs it．I'll wait in the   39  ．" I' d often gone shopping with Mother, but never had I shopped   40  ．For moments, I stood there, confused,   41   what to do with it．I thought of everybody I knew．  42   I thought of Bobbie Decker．His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough．We all knew that Bobbie would have no cough   43   he had a thicker coat．So I decided to buy Bobbie one．"Is this a present for   44  ?" the saleslady asked me kindly．I   45   shyly．She smiled, handed it to me and wished me a merry Christmas．Then Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Santa Claus   46  and ribbons and write "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus " on it．Then she   47   me over to Bobbie's house．Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie' s house．We   48   noiselessly and hid in the   49   by his front walk．"All right, Santa Claus," she   50   ,"get going．" I rushed out, threw the present down at his front door,   51   his doorbell and flew back to the safety．Together we   52   breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open．

Forty years I haven' t forgotten those   53   I spent shivering （颤抖）in Bobbie' s bushes．That night, I realized that the stories about Santa Clause were really ridiculous ．Santa Claus was alive,  54  we were on his  55 ．