I have to make a choice．Princeton, along with its significantly better financial （财政的）aid package．Or Yale, which wrote me a letter praising my writing skills and saying that his university is prefect for me．

    First of all, I sent e-mails to some friends, asking for advice．The feedback was half and half． I also sought opinions from current students．The Yale Website was friendlier, giving me the names of Yalies from China．

    I sent my questions and concerns to all of them．From their replies, I could tell that these Chinese students, whether they are American Chinese or native Chinese, were all enthusiastic(热心的)about Yale．Their love for the school shone through their words．I was beginning to lean toward Yale．

    The next deciding factor （因素）is the Spring Visit．I went down to New Haven, Connecticut, and was very excited to see Yale．I think it is the most beautiful campus, though most people would disagree．(Princeton is said to have the most beautiful campus of all the Ivy League universities．) Compared with the red brick buildings at Harvard or Andover, I appreciate the Gothic(哥特式的) styles of Yale much more．

    The culture in Yale is also more attractive than Princeton’s．I went to an event held by CASA( Chinese American Students Association), and met many Chinese Americans there．I discovered Yale’s Chinese population is very active and often stages cultural  events．I even bought a shirt that reads “ Ye Lu Da Xue” in traditional Chinese．

    I enjoyed Yale so much that I began to feel glad that Harvard had refused me． I used to think it was Harvard or nothing．Had I been accepted, I wouldn’t have given Yale or Princeton a chance．

1． _________made me begin to like Yale in some way．

A．The letter from the university           B．My e-mail’s feedback

C．The Yale website                    D．The Chinese students’ interest in it

2．_________finally made me choose Yale．

A．The Spring Visit                     B．The Gothic styles of Yale

C．The Yale community                  D．The shirt that reads“ Ye Lu Da Xue”

3．What does the underlined sentence mean?

A．My friends’ advice is not worth listening to at all．

B．My friend didn’t tell me the truth completely．

C．Only half of my friends wrote back to me on line, giving me advice．

D．Half of my friends suggested Princeton while others suggested Yale．

4．What do you think “Ivy League” refer to most probably?

A．An organization of universities and colleges in the United States．

B．An organization of universities and colleges in the world．

C．A football league in the United States．

D．A student union in an American university．

Sheila bought a new lunch bag for school.

On the way to school, she looked inside. She hoped that a new lunch bag meant something new for lunch,   16   she found the same lunch as always---a sandwich.

When the lunch bell rang. Sheila found her bag and carried it to the dining hall. She opened it and   17   two pieces of fried chicken, several strawberries, and an egg.

“Wow!” Sheila said, “That’s what I call   18   !”

The next morning, Sheila opened her lunch bag and looked inside. Sure enough, she found another   19   . But when she opened the bag at lunchtime in the dining hall, she discovered a piece of pizza, an orange, and a cake.

“My lunch bag  20   be magic,” Sheila said.

“There’s no such thing as magic,” her friend Douglas  21   .

“There is,” Sheila said. “My mother   22   packs me a sandwich. But ever since I got this new lunch bag, the sandwich has changed into something I like.”

“Maybe your mother’s packing   23   things for a change.”

“No,” Sheila said. “I checked in the morning. The sandwich changes   24   .”

“You are not the   25   one with a magic lunch bag,” Beatrice said, turning around from the table behind her. “I have one, too. See? This is my magic bag.”

“Hey,” Sheila said. “My lunch bag really looks like yours.”

“Mine is magic,” said Beatrice. “Every day my dad  26   leftovers(剩饭), but at lunchtime I find a sandwich---my favorite!”

Sheila started   27   .

“What’s so funny?” Beatrice asked.

“That’s the sandwich my mother packs,” Sheila said. “We’ve been getting our lunch bags   28   up.”

Sheila and  29   shared their lunches every day after that. Sheila loved making new discoveries each time she opened her lunch bag. But her best discovery was magically finding a new   30   .

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

2.A. showed          B. discovered         C. wanted           D. offered

3.A. lunch bag         B. dining hall         C. breakfast         D. lunch

4.A. sandwich         B. chicken            C. egg             D. orange

5.A. can              B. must              C. may            D. need

6.A. disturbed         B. discovered          C. disappeared      D. disagreed

7.A. never            B. seldom             C. often           D. ever

8.A. different          B. same              C. easy            D. delicious

9.A. at home          B. during school         C. on the way       D. after lunchtime

10.A. last              B. next                C. extra            D. only

11.A. packs            B. cooks               C. leaves           D. checks

12.A. shouting          B. nodding             C. laughing         D. finding

13.A. fixed             B. used                C. broken          D. mixed

14.A. Douglas          B. Beatrice              C. Sheila’s mother   D. Beatrice’s father

15.A. friend            B. classroom            C. classmate        D. school

My mum only had one eye. She cooked for students and teachers to    16   the family when I was young.
One day my mum came to　17  hello to me in primary school. I was so embarrassed（尴尬的） that I threw her a hateful  18 and ran out.
The next day at school, one of my classmates said, “Your mum only has one eye!” and   19     at me.
I hated my mum and decided to leave her, so I studied very hard. Later I got a chance to go abroad to study and I left my mother.　20　graduation I worked, bought a house and got    21 there. Then I had kids of my own. I was happy with my wife and my kids. But one day someone knocked at my door. It was my  22  !When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I   23  at her, “How dare you come to my house and scare my children! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!” And to this, my mum　24   answered, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have got the wrong   25  ,”and she disappeared.
One day, a letter regarding a school reunion（聚会） came to my house. So I　26  to my wife that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old house.
My neighbors said that she    27   . I did not have a single tear. They handed me a letter that she had wanted me to have.
My dearest son,
    I am thinking　28　 you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your 　29　 .
     I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was still an embarrassment to you when you were growing up.
   You see…when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you grow up with one eye. So I gave you    30   .
   …  With all my love to you!
                                                               Your mother

If I ask you to shut your eyes and gave you a piece of apple to eat, would you be able to tell me what it is just by tasting it? Of course, you could. Your tongue is covered with tiny “taste buds” which help you know what different foods taste like. Do you know that foods would taste different if you did not have a nose? This experiment shows how important your nose is when you taste things.

What You Need:

• a friend to help

• small pieces of any food like carrot, orange, banana

• small pieces of apple, raw(生的) potato, and onion

What You Do:

There are actually three different experiments. You and your friend should take turns to try them on each other.

Experiment 1:

Have your friend close her eyes and open her mouth.

Give her a piece of the food and ask her to taste it.

Then, ask her what she thinks it is. She will probably guess correctly.

Experiment 2:

While your friend has her eyes closed, give her a piece of the raw potato. At the same time, hold a piece of apple right under her nose. Ask her to eat the potato (but don’t call it by name) and tell you what she thinks it is. She will say it is a piece of apple!

Experiment 3: (for the brave)

Take a piece of raw onion. You don’t have to close your eyes this time. Squeeze your nose closed with your other hand so that no smells can get into your nose. Now take a nibble of the onion. Surprise! As long as you hold your nose, you will not be able to taste the onion.

The Science Secret

You already know the science secret. Your nose and your tongue work together to make food taste the way it does. Your tongue, however, can taste only certain flavors like salty, bitter, sour, and sweet. All of the other “tastes” are actually “smells,” and you need your nose to “taste” them. Oh, and you might use this science secret the next time you are told to eat something you don’t like the taste of. If you hold your nose while you eat it, you won’t “taste” it at all.

1.According to this article, what could a reader know about food?

A. People hold their noses to eat onions.           

B. If you can smell potatoes, you will taste apples.

C. People need a sense of smell to taste some food.  

D. If you close your eyes, food will taste better.

2.What is the most likely reason Experiment 3 is called “for the brave”?

A. You keep your eyes open.                           B. You have to eat a raw onion.

C. You have to squeeze your nose.                   D. You do the experiment alone.

3.What’s the best title of the passage?

A. Your Eyes Knows                               B. Your Nose Knows  

C. Your Mouth Knows                             D. Your Tongue Knows

A king had a wonderful talent for growing flowers. He became old and didn’t want to deal with big things anymore. So he began to look for someone to take his place. But who could he trust for the job? He thought for a while and got an idea. He would let the flowers decide. He gave everyone a little seed (种子). The one who could grow the most beautiful flower from the seed would be the next leader.

    A girl called Serena was very beautiful and wanted to grow the most beautiful flower. She planted it in a nice pot and took great care of it, but nothing would grow.

    The next year she saw everyone come to the palace with pots full of beautiful flowers. She was disappointed but also went to the meeting with her empty pot. The king looked through all the flowerpots and then stopped at hers.

    “Why is your pot empty?” he asked.

    “Your Majesty (陛下), I did everything to make it grow, but I have failed,” she answered.

    “No, you didn’t,” he said.

“You see, the seeds I’ve given out were all roasted (烤过的), so nothing could come out of them. I have no idea where all these flowers come from. But you have been honest and by being so, you will become my successor (继承人).”

1.The king wanted to choose a person to _____.

A. be the next leader             B. grow beautiful flowers for him

C. be his daughter or son          D. make friends with him

2. How did the little seed show who was the right person?

A. It had some special power.

B. The king knew nothing could grow from it.

C. A special flower could grow from it.

D. Only a good person could grow beautiful flowers from it.

3.The king knew that those with pots of beautiful flowers _____.

A. worked hard          B. cheated him

C. were kind to plants     D. were good at growing flowers

4.In this passage the underlined word “given out” means ______.

A. 收到        B. 拿来         C. 分发       D. 奖励

5.From the story, we learn that _____ is a good quality.

A. Kindness     B. carefulness     C. honesty     D. politeness