That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was, walking home at one in the morning after a tiring    at the theatre. With opening night only a week away, I was    learning my lines. I was having trouble    my part-time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously    giving up both acting and San Francisco.    had become too much for me.

As I walked down    streets under tall buildings, I felt very    and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers. Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets.

About a block from my apartment, I heard a sound behind me. I turned   , half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty.    I saw was a shining streetlight.   , the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run fast. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.

  I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to    I’d heard the noise.    I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.

Just as I was about    the search, I heard the garbage truck pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice    from the inside. “Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man with an     look in his eyes. “Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked,    a small square shape.

It was nearly 3 a. m. by the time I got into bed. I    get much sleep that night, but I had gotten my wallet back. I    had gotten back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place    people were willing to help each other.

1.A. exercise            B. work             C. practice                          D. training

2.A. still                     B. already                  C. yet                                   D. only

3.A. to deal with      B. to handle with     C. handling with                D. dealing with

4.A. of                        B. about                     C. over                                D. out

5.A. City life              B. Country life          C. School life            D. Modern life

6.A. busy                            B. crowded               C. noisy                      D. empty 

7.A. proud                B. confident              C. small                      D. excited

8.A. fast                              B. immediately         C. rapidly                            D. quickly

9.A. All which                    B. All                          C. That                                 D. Which

10.A. Therefore                B. Still                         C. Consequently                D. Subsequently

11.A. Suddenly                  B. Gradually     C. Absolutely            D. Exactly

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

13.A. Even if             B. Although               C. As if                       D. As though

14.A. to give in                  B. giving in                C. to give up             D. giving up

15.A. called              B. calling                    C. was called             D. to call

16.A. amusing                    B. amazing      C. amazed                           D. amused

17.A. to hold up                B. holding up  C. to hold on                     D. holding on

18.A. couldn’t                    B. wouldn’t               C. didn’t                              D. shouldn’t

19.A. still                            B. already                  C. also                                 D. certainly

20.A. as far as                    B. as well as     C. as soon as             D. as long as

We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests’ coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.
The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.
Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.
I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big “to do” over the younger one because she’s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions. But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.
I said, “What are you doing, my dear?”
She turned to me with a sad expression and said, “Mommy, why don’t people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I’m not pretty? Is that why they don’t say nice things about me as much?”
I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.
Now, whenever I visit a friend’s home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.
【小题1】What were Kristen and Kelly asked to do last Sunday evening? (No more than 20 words.)
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【小题2】Why did the guests praise Kelly so much rather than Kristen? (No more than 15 words.)
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【小题3】The underlined expression “make a big ‘to do’ over” in Paragraph 4 means ________________. (No more than 5 words.)
【小题4】Why did Kristen feel sad and cry? (No more than 15 words.)
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【小题5】In your opinion, how should adults treat children? (No more than 15 words.)
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My teenage son Karl became withdraw after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. At this rate he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.

One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and pleaded for help. “Please God, I can’t do anything more for my son. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m giving the whole thing up to you.”

I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences.” Before he could say another word, I choked up and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. “I love my son but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands.” For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, “thank you for your time”, and hung up.

Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he even made the honor roll. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, “Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?” I nodded. “That was I. I thought I’d play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”

1.By saying “Karl became withdrawn”, the author means that the boy changed entirely and _____.

A．preferred to stay alone at home            B．often escaped school

C．refused to talk to others                  D．began to dislike his mother

2.There was silence on the other end of the line because _____.

A．the speaker was too moved to say anything to the mother

B．the speaker waited for the mother to finish speaking

C．the speaker didn’t want the mother to recognize his voice

D．the speaker was unable to interrupt the mother

3.What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Children in single-parent families often have mental problems.

B．Mother’s love plays an important role in teenagers’ life.

C．Being understood by parents is very important to teenagers.

D．School education doesn’t work without full support from parents.

My mother always says that I’m born to dance ballet．But that September when I was in a ballet  36  and went to do a turn，something just happened. I heard it and I surely   37  it．I went right to a doctor and got an MRI，which  38  a lot of damage to my knee——a(n)  39  injury for a dancer．I had to have a(n)  40  .

Everything had been going so well and now I had this huge injury．Dance was my life，but 41，I wasn’t going to be able to do it for a year or possibly never again．

My dad was really a big inspiration for me. He was  42   a battle against cancer at that time．He showed me how to make it through a  43  situation．I thought that if he could do that，I could handle this，too．  44  my operation，I had great difficulty walking，but I knew that if I really worked hard，my injury would   45  ．

Several months later, I definitely wasn't at my strongest，but I could   46  a class. The dancing I did was basic   47    that my knee could handle．

Once we started practicing in the fall，I was beginning to feel like myself again．One day，I   48   the schedule and my name was next to Eliot Feld．I thought it must be a(n)   49  because he is very famous in the ballet world．But it wasn’t．He  50   me and taught me a lot of things．At l8，I had a solo performance! It was a big  51  ．I was so excited and felt like a real ballerina．After the   52  ，Eliot said，“You know, you have a gift—and you are also made of   53  ．"That，coming from him，was the   54  compliment(赞美)I have ever received．I’d like to think that   55  my injury made me strong．

1.A．school       B．class                  C．team                   D．play

2.A．felt                 B．accepted           C．broke                 D．touched

3.A．pointed                  B．said                 C．showed             D．read

4.A．necessary                B．important          C．practical    D．deadly

5.A．operation    B．cry         C．holiday                D．test

6.A．all of a sudden        B．in time                C．at present D．once in a while

7.A．leading                   B．losing              C．fighting             D．inventing

8.A．wonderful     B．difficult             C．positive             D．heavy

9.A． At                       B．During              C．After       D．Over

10.A．move                B．go                     C．die                    D． heal

11.A．take up                 B．get through        C．break into D．set out

12.A．damages             B．activities           C．moves                 D．breathes

13.A．stole                   B．checked          C．faced                  D．borrowed

14.A．problem                B．opportunity        C．mistake                D．task

15.A．held                B．obeyed            C．received  D．encouraged

16.A．success                B．secret             C．surprise            D．position

17.A．performance       B．speech                C．competition  D．match

18.A．mud                    B．wood              C．steel               D．gold

19.A．simplest                B．greatest           C．deepest   D．smartest

20.A．turning to     B．1etting out         C．setting up           D．dealing with

Lose-Win is weak. It’s easy to get stepped on. It’s easy to be the nice guy. It’s easy to give in, all in the name of being a peacemaker.

     A girl named Jenny once told me about her  16  in the world of Lose-Win during her eighth-grade year before she finally broke  17 :

     My  18  with my mom all started one day  19  she said to me sarcastically (讽刺地) “Wow, you’re surely lively today.” I  20  it so literally (字面地) that then and there I decided to close off from her and never  21  back to her. So every time she would say something  22  I disagreed with her I would just say. “Okay, 23 you want, Mom.” But I really got cold quickly. And my 24 began to build. One night I talked to my mom about the school homework and she said, “Oh, that’s  25 ” and then went back to mop the floor.

     “Don’t you ever  26 ?” I thought. But I didn’t say anything and stormed off. She had no idea I was  27 upset. She would have been willing to talk to me had I  28  her bow important it was to me.

     At last I just blew up. “Mom, this has got to  29 . You tell me everything you want me to do and I just do it because it’s  30  than if fighting. Well, I’m sick of it.” This all came as a  31  to her.

     After my blow up, we felt like we were  32  all over in our relationship. But it’s getting better all the lime. We discuss things now and I always  33  my feelings with her.

     If you adopt Lose-Win as your basic  34  toward life, then people will wipe their dirty feet on you. You’ll also be  35  your true feelings deep inside. And that’s not healthy.

16. A. wanderings       B. disappointment         C. lessons            D. helplessness

17. A. out              B. down                       C. up             D. free

18. A. relationship       B. problems                  C. quarrels         D. improvement

19. A. as              B. since                        C. when           D. before

20. A. regarded         B. treated                  C. received        D. took

21. A. fight          B. struggle                    C. talk            D. turn

22. A. even if          B. only if                            C. which          D. as though

23. A. however         B. whatever                  C. so much        D. too much

24. A. coldness         B. anger                       C. disagreement     D. hope

25. A. true            B. impossible                C. nice           D. important

26. A. care            B. see                           C. say            D. listen

27. A. also            B. still                          C. even           D. already

28. A. warned              B. shown                      C. asked          D. told

29. A. end             B. change                            C. last             D. stop

30. A. worse           B. easier                       C. more           D. less

31. A. surprise          B. pleasure                   C. gift          D. harm

32. A. going           B. starting                    C. thinking          D. reviewing

33. A. share           B. have                        C. discuss          D. improve

34. A. way                  B. method                    C. attitude          D. theory

35. A. hurting           B. waking                     C. storing          D. hiding