I grew up one of ten children on a farm in Wyoming.After my dad’s service in World War Ⅱ，he was ____ again to fight during the Korean War，and when he returned home，he couldn’t drink ____ to numb(麻痹) his terrible memories.He struggled to ____ for his growing family.

On our occasional trips to town，I ____ out boxfuls of books from the library.When I opened a book，I could ____ myself in unknown places—where children weren’t hungry and were in ____ of little.

When I wasn’t daydreaming，my ____ was the life I shared with my brothers and sisters.At night I hid under the covers ____ to silence the sounds of life in an alcoholic home.Classmates asked ____ we didn’t have electricity or a telephone.I suppose my explanations were ____ more than lies，but the stories I told improved ____ every book I read.

Starting at a very young age，my siblings(兄弟姐妹) and I sometimes got jobs to earn money—to put more food on the family table.We ____ newspapers，babysat，and cleaned other people’s houses.

Mom grew vegetables，raised chickens，and baked bread，so we seldom went hungry，even when supper was only a pot of beans.____ my real hunger wasn’t for food—it was a hunger for a better life.It was a hunger for knowledge about the world ___ our simple existence.It was a hunger to prove Dad ____ when he told us we would never amount to anything.

Hunger motivated my brothers and sisters to achieve much ____ than our parents expected ___ us.We devoured(如饥似渴地吸取) the offerings of the public schools because we realized that ____ would be our steppingstone into a brighter future.

Now I’m ____ of the accomplishments of my siblings：an art professor；a well?known doctor；plus business owners.And me，I’m the keeper of the family stores.I’ll never know if we would have so many accumulated successes if we had not known ____ as children.But this I do know：I believe it can be a good thing.

1.A.drafted? B．dismissed

C．invited? D．involved

2.A.well? B．plenty

C．enough? D．heavily

3.A.search? B．provide

C．hope? D．leave

4.A.brought? B．checked

C．gave? D．carried

5.A.remind? B．help

C．devote? D．find

6.A.memory? B．favor

C．possession? D．need

7.A.reality? B．fantasy

C．satisfaction? D．affection

8.A.refusing? B．pretending

C．attempting? D．preparing

9.A.whether? B．how

C．when? D．why

10.A.something? B．anything

C．nothing? D．everything

11.A.as? B．with

C．for? D．at

12.A.sent? B．delivered

C．published? D．released

13.A.But? B．And

C．Then? D．Otherwise

14.A.above? B．around

C．within? D．beyond

15.A.right? B．mean

C．wrong? D．nice

16.A.more? B．further

C．greater? D．better

17.A.in? B．for

C．of? D．on

18.A.ambition? B．dream

C．enthusiasm? D．education

19.A.hunger? B．suffering

C．desperation? D．poverty

20.A.fond? B．proud

C．aware? D．confident

I came to study in the United States a year ago .Yet I did not know the real American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court.

After the accident .my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me, he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I’d have to have a good lawyer. And only a good doctor can help me get a good lawyer .Now that he had helped me find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.

But every day I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time .The final examination report was made up of ten lines, and it cost me $215.

My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss(解雇) him. And he made me pay him $770.

Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience, I told the insurance company（保险公司） the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time…and I left without getting a cent.

1.A good doctor is necessary and important for the author to __________.

A．be properly treated

B．talk with the person responsible for the accident

C．recover before he leaves America

D．eventually get the responsible party to pay for his injury

2.The word “charge” in the third paragraph means_________ .

A．be responsible     B．accuse            C．ask as a price       D．claim

3.Both the doctor and the lawyer in this passage are very__________.

A．friendly           B．selfish            C．professional       D．busy

4.What conclusion can you draw from the story?

A．Going to court is something very common in America.

B．One must be very careful while driving a car.

C．There are more bad sides in America than good sides.

D．Money is more important than other things in the US.

A
On the first day of the 11th grade, our new math teacher Mr Washington asked me to go to the blackboard to do a math problem. I told him that I couldn’t do it. He asked, “Why not?” I paused, and then I said, “Because I’m educable mentally retarded (可教育智能迟滞).”
He came from behind his desk and looked at me. “Don’t ever say that again. Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality,” he said.
It was a very special moment for me. Doctors said that I was educable mentally retarded in the fifth grade, and I was put back into the fourth grade. When I was in the eighth grade, I failed again.
But Mr Washington changed my life. This person always gave students the feeling that he had high expectations of them, and then all of the students did their best to live up to what those expectations were. He often said, “You have greatness within you.”
One day, I caught up with him in the parking place and said, “Mr Washington, is there greatness within me, sir?”
He said, “Yes, Mr Brown.”
“But what about the fact that I failed English, math, and history? What about that, sir? I’m slower than most kids.”
“It doesn’t matter. It just means that you have to work harder. Your grades don’t determine who you are or what you can produce in your life.”
“I want to buy my mother a house.”
“It is possible, Mr Brown. You can do that.” And he turned to walk away.
“Mr Washington?”
“What do you want now?”
“Uh, I’m the one, sir. One day you’re going to hear my name. I’m the one, sir.”
School was a real struggle for me. Mr Washington put many demands on me. He made me believe that I could do it. At the end of that year, I was on the honor roll for the first time in my life.
Years later, I produced five programs on public television. When one of my programs was shown on the educational television channel, I had some friends call him. I was sitting by the phone waiting when he called me. He said, “May I speak to Mr Brown, please?”
“Oh, Mr Washington, is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me. You were the one, weren’t you?”
“Yes, sir, I was.”
【小题1】What does Mr Washington mean by saying “Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality”?

One day in 1965，when I worked at View Ridge School in Seattle，a fourth?grade teacher approached me.She had a student who finished his work before all the others and needed a challenge.“Could he help in the library？” she asked.I said, “Send him along.”

Soon a slight，sandy?haired boy in jeans and a T?shirt appeared.“Do you have a job for me？” he asked.

I told him about the Dewey Decimal System(杜威十进分类法) for shelving books.He picked up the idea immediately.Then I showed him a stack(摞) of cards for long?overdue books that I was beginning to think had actually been returned but were misshelved with the wrong cards in them.He said，“Is it kind of a detective job？” I answered yes，and he became working.

He had found three books with wrong cards by the time his teacher opened the door and announced，“Time for break！”He argued for finishing the finding job；she made the case for fresh air.She won.

The next morning，he arrived early.“I want to finish these books，”he said.At the end of the day，when he asked to be a librarian on a regular basis，it was easy to say yes.He worked untiringly.

After a few weeks I found a note on my desk，inviting me to dinner at the boy’s home.At the end of a pleasant evening，his mother announced that the family would be moving to a neighbouring school district.Her son’s first concern，she said，was leaving the View Ridge library.“Who will find the lost books？” he asked.

When the time came，I said an unwilling good?bye.I missed him，but not for long.A few days later he came back and joyfully announced，“The librarian over there doesn’t let boys work in the library.My mother got me transferred back to View Ridge.My dad will drop me off on his way to work.And if he can’t，I’ll walk！”

I should have had an idea such focused determination would take that young man wherever he wanted to go.What I could not have guessed，however，was that he would become a genius of the Information Age：Bill Gates，tycoon(企业巨头) of Microsoft and America’s richest man.

1.What was the author when the story happened?

A．A teacher.? B．A librarian.

C．A detective.? D．A student.

2.Why was the boy sent to the library by the fourth?grade teacher?

A．He failed to finish his work on time.

B．He challenged the teacher in the class.

C．He disturbed all the other students in the class.

D．He needed something to do to challenge himself.

3.What was the boy told to do on his first day in the library?

A．To rearrange the books according to the new system.

B．To put those overdue books back to the shelves.

C．To find out the books with wrong cards in them.

D．To put the cards back in the long?overdue books.

4.The boy got transferred back to View Ridge because ________.

A．he didn’t get along well with the librarian in the new school

B．he was not allowed to work in the new school’s library

C．he missed his old schoolmates and teachers

D．he had to walk a long way to go to school

It was an autumn morning shortly after my husband and I moved into our first house. Children were upstairs unpacking , and I was looking out of the window at my father moving around mysteriously on the front lawn. My parents lived nearby ,and Dad had visited us several times already. “What are you doing out there?” I called to him .He looked up, smiling. “I’m making you a surprise.” Knowing my father, I thought it could be just about anything. A self-employed jobber, he was always building things out of odds and ends. When we were kids, he always created something surprising for us.

   Today, however, Dad would say no more, and caught ups in the busyness of our new life, I eventually forgot about his surprise. Until one gloomy day the following March when I glanced out of the window. Any yet… I saw a dot of blue across the yard. I headed outside for a closer look. They were crocuses (番红花), throughout the front lawn. Lavender, blue, yellow and my favorite pink ---- little faces moved up and down in the cold wind.

    Dad! I smiled, remembering the things he had secretly planted last autumn. He knew how the darkness and dullness of winter always got me down. What could have been more perfectly timely to my needs?

    My father’s crocuses bloomed each spring for the next four or five seasons, bringing the same assurance every time they arrived: hard times was almost over. Hold on, keep going, light is coming soon.

    Then a spring came with only half the usual blooms. The next spring there were none. I missed the crocuses. I would ask Dad to come over and plant new bulbs. But I never did.

    He died suddenly one October day. My family was in deep sorrow, leaning on our faith. I missed him terribly.

    Four years passed, and on a dismal spring afternoon I was driving back when I found myself feeling depressed. “You’ve got the winter depression again and you get them every year.” I told myself.

    It was Dad’s birthday, and I found myself thinking about him. This was not unusual --- my family often talked about him, remembering how he lived his faith. Once I saw him give his coat to a homeless man.

    Suddenly I slowed as I turned into our driveway. I stopped and stared at the lawn. And there on the muddy grass and small gray piles of melting snow, bravely waving in the wind, was one pink crocus.

    How could a flower bloom from a bulb more than 18 years old, one that had not blossomed in over a decade? But there was the crocus. Tears filled my eyes as I realized its significance.

Hold on, keep going, light is coming soon. The pink crocus bloomed for only a day. But it built my faith for a lifetime.

1.According to the first three paragraphs, we learn that _________.

A. the writer was unpacking when her father was making the surprise

B. the writer knew what the surprise was because she knew her father

C. it was not the first time that the writer’s father had made a surprise

D. it kept bothering the writer not knowing what the surprise was

2.Which of the following would most probably be the worst time of the year as seen by the writer?

A. Spring.  B. Summer.        C. Autumn.        D. Winter.

3.Which of the following is NOT true, according to the passage?

A. The writer’s father planted the crocus to lift her low spirit.

B. The crocuses bloomed each spring before the writer’s father died.

C. The writer often thought about her father since her father died.

D. The writer’s father died some years after he planted the crocus.

4.The writer’s father should be best described as_________.

A. a full-time gardener with skillful hands

B. a part-time jobber who loved flowers

C. a kind-hearted man who lived with faith

D. an ordinary man with doubts in his life

5.Crocus was viewed as the symbol of _________ by the writer.

A. faith      B. family    C. love       D. friendship