On Christmas Eve—the night before Christmas, children are very happy. They put their stockings at the end of their beds before they go to bed. They want Santa Claus to give them some presents.
Mr. Green tells his children that Santa Claus is a very kind man. He comes on Christmas Eve. He lands on (降落) the top of each house and comes down the chimney (烟囱) into the fireplace (壁炉) and brings them a lot of presents.
Christmas Day always begins before breakfast. The children wake up very early. They can’t wait (等待) to open the presents in their stockings. Then they wake up their parents and shout "Merry Christmas!"
Do you know what Christmas means? Christmas Day is the birthday of Jesus Christ. When Christ was born, many people gave him presents. So today, people still do the same thing to each other.
【小题1】Christmas Eve is ____________.

完形填空（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

Having a few days off always sounds so great. Everyone needs a   1 . And so does US President.US President Barack Obama went on holiday with his family in   2  in 2011. Where did they go and did the first family enjoy   3 ? Now, Obama is trying to   4  his experience (经历) with us. Let’s listen to him.

“We travelled to Honolulu, Hawaii, in December 2011 for   5 . Of course we went there by air. We spent 17 days there. Hawaii is my hometown. We had a wonderful time there. This was one of the   6  vacations in my life.

My wife Michelle and I visited US Marines (海军) and their families in Hawaii on Christmas Day. I   7  held the eight-month-old baby of a captain in my arms.

I also spent part of Christmas Eve playing golf with my old friends from Hawaii and some White House staff.

I went to Hanauma Bay Nature Park with my   8  daughters. That’s our favourite place. We dived there,   9  set four sea turtles free.

We all had a good time. And both my daughters said that they wanted to go there for a   10 time later.”

1.                A．friend          B．weekend        C．job  D．vacation

2.                A．winter         B．autumn         C．summer  D．spring

3.                A．himself         B．themselves      C．ourselves D．yourselves

4.                A．tell            B．show           C．share D．solve

5.                                  A．Easter B．Christmas

C．Halloween                        D．Thanksgiving Day

6.                A．sweetest        B．worst          C．saddest   D．cheapest

7.                A．too            B．still            C．even D．as well

8.                A．one           B．two            C．three D．four

9.                A．or             B．so             C．but  D．and

10.               A．fourth         B．third           C．second    D．first

When my son, Mark, was in the third grade, he saved all his pocket money for over three months to buy holiday presents. The third Saturday in December Mark said he had made his list and had twenty dollars in his pocket.
I drove him to a nearby supermarket. Mark picked up a hand basket and went in while I waited and watched in the car. It took Mark over 45 minutes to choose his present. Finally he came to the checkout counter and reached into his pocket for his money. It was not there! There was a hole in his pocket, but no money! Mark stood there holding his basket, tears falling down his face.
Then a surprising thing happened. A woman came up to Mark and took him in her arms. “ You would help me a lot if you let me pay for you,” said the woman. “It would be the most wonderful gift you could give me. I only ask that one day you will pass it on. When you grow up, I would like you to find someone you can help.When you help others, I know you will feel as good about it as I do now.”
Mark took the money, dried his tears and ran back to the checkout counter as fast as he could. That year we all enjoyed our gifts almost as much as Mark enjoyed giving them to us.
I would like to say “thank you” to that very kind woman, and tell her that four years later, Mark went house to house to collecting blankets and clothes foe the homeless people in the fire. And I want to promise her that Mark will never forget to keep passing it on.
【小题1】When did the story probably happen?

This dog was born on Christmas Eve in 2002. He was different from other dogs because he was born with only two legs. The poor dog of course could not walk and even his mother Sarah did not want him. His first owner Michael Johnson also did not think that he could survive and he was thinking of killing him. But then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She decided to teach and train this little dog to walk by himself. She called him “Faith”.
In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard (滑板) to let him feel the movement… Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure (诱惑) and reward for him for standing up and jumping around. Even the other dog at home encouraged him to walk. Amazingly, after only six months, Faith learned to balance on his legs and jump to move forward. After further training in this snow, he could now walk like a person.
Faith loves to walk around now. Wherever he goes, he attracts people’s attention. He is fast becoming famous on the international scene and has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows. A book named With a Little Faith is now being published about him. He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.
Jude Stringfellow, his present owner, has stopped working and plans to take him around the world to tell people “that even without a perfect body, one can have a strong will (意志)”.
Faith is a good example of the strong will and wonder of life. In life there are always unpleasant things. So, in order to feel better, you just need to look at life from another direction. I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone will appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day.
【小题1】Faith is different from other dogs because _______.

On Thanksgiving Day, a teacher asked her class of firstgraders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought that these children from poor families actually had little to be thankful for. And she found most of them drawing pictures of flowers or tables with food. The teacher was very surprised to see the picture Douglas handed in. It's a hand,a simple hand. 

But whose hand? The class were very interested in the strange picture. "I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food," said one child, "A farmer’s," said another, "Because he grows beautiful flowers. " Finally when the others were at work ，the teacher went over to Douglas' desk and asked whose hand it was. "It's your hand, Teacher," he said quietly and shyly. 

She remembered that she had often taken Douglas, a dirty lonely child, by the hand while having a class break. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Douglas. Perhaps this is everyone's thanksgiving，not for the material things we get，but for the chance，in whatever small way, to give to others.

1.When did the story happen? 

A．On Christmas Day.   B．On Teachers' Day.   C．On Mother's Day.    D．On Thanksgiving Day.

2.why did Douglas draw a simple hand?

A．He was good at drawing it.

B．His teacher asked him to draw it.

C．He wanted to show his thanks to his teacher

D．He hoped to get his teacher’s praise.

3.What do you learn about Douglas from the passage? 

A．He liked drawing hands

B．He was very active in class.

C．He always kept his hand clean

D．His family was not rich.

4.According to the passage, which of the following is an opinion,but not a fact?

A．The teacher went over to Douglas' desk and talked to him.

B．Different people show their thanksgiving in different ways.

C．The teacher often took Douglas by the hand after class while having a class break.

D．Most of the students were drawing the pictures of flowers or tables with food.

5.We can infer from the passage that Douglas is a ____boy.

A．shy              B．foolish            C．clever            D．kind-hearted