If the rose can be said to be a special flower, then the apple can be said to be a special fruit. It is very important in American culture. American stories speak of Johnny Appleseed, who went throughout America collecting apple seeds and planting apple trees. He had a great love for nature and went through fields and farms adding richness and beauty to the country.

One of the first sayings taught to school children is, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” This short saying encourages children to eat fresh fruit to keep healthy. If someone always says good words to a person, people will call him an “apple polisher”. This, however, is not a good name. If someone is very dear to us, we say that he or she is the “apple of our eye”.

Most people believe that the fruit which Eve gave to Adam was an apple, even though the Bible(圣经) never says so. The apple, therefore, is a deep part of the language and stories of America.

An apple is also delicious. Apples can be cooked in many ways, used as a dessert, and made into sweet juice.

In many parts of the country during the harvest season, a popular activity is to go into an apple garden to pick apples. Washington, D. C. and New York are both famous for their apples.

Finally, when it’s time to take a vacation to American cities, one can always visit New York, which is “the biggest apple” of all the American cities.

1.What does the underlined phrase “apple polisher” mean?

2.Which of the following is TRUE with apples?

3.The passage is mainly about                             .

Almost everyone likes to eat apples. Apples trees grow in nearly every part of the world. The United States produces (出产) more apples than any other country except(除外) France. The states of Washington and New York grow the most apples.

Apples are red, yellow or green. They are very popular in the United States. Many people like to carry apples to work or to school to eat with their lunches. Most American people are often too busy or too tired to cook dinner, so they often have their dinners very simply(简单地). Apple juice is also a popular drink and apple pie is the favorite dessert for many Americans.

　 The state of Washington is proud（骄傲） of its apples. The trees there produce about five billion apples every year—nearly one apple for every man, woman and child in the whole world.

1.Almost everyone likes to eat _______________.

A.     B.      C.      D.

2.___________ produces the most apples in the world.

A. The United States   B. Canada     C. China    D. France

3.Many Americans like to eat apples during lunch because they _______ at noon.

A. eat nothing but apples      B. feel it better to eat apples

C. often eat simple food       D. can get apples easily

4. “The trees there produce about five billion apples every year.” One billion is ­­­__.

A. 100,000  B. 1,000,000   C. 10,000,000  D. 1,000,000,000

5.The state of Washington is proud of its apples because they think_____________.

A. everyone in the world can share (分享) their happiness

B. they can produce as many apples as people all over the world

C. their apples are better than any of the other fruits

D. their apple trees are the best in the world

Tom was three years old. He liked to watch TV with his parents after supper, but his parents never let him stay long. Mother would say, “It’s eight o’clock now. It’s time for you to go to bed, Tom.”

“But why don’t you go to bed, too?” Tom always asked.

“We are adults (大人),” mother would say, “And adults go to bed late.”

One evening Tom asked his mother for an apple.

“But it’s too late,” his mother didn’t want to give him anything to eat at bedtime. “The apples are already asleep.”

“But not all of them, Mom.” Tom said, “The baby apples are perhaps asleep, but their parents are surely awake.”

1.Tom liked to watch TV with_________ after supper.  

A. his father and mother                B. his sister 

C. his grandparents                     D. his brother

2.His parents _______let him stay long.  

A. never        B. sometimes        C. often            D. usually

3.One evening Tom asked his mother for_________.

A. an egg       B. an apple             C. an orange    D. a pear

4.His mother didn’t want to give anything to him to eat________.

A. in the morning                   B. in the afternoon        

C. at bedtime                       D. at noon

5. From the story we know__________.

A. Tom was a quiet boy              B. Tom was a bad boy

C. Tom was a lazy boy                   D. Tom was a clever boy

I’m lying on my back in my grandfather’s orchard (果园), looking up at the branches above me. It is one of the last days of summer. Already the days are shorter and the nights are cooler. Some kinds of apples are already ripe(成熟的). Others will be ready to pick soon. I think of my grandmother’s apple pie, and how I used to make it with her. She died last year, before the apple harvest, and I have not had her pie since then. I really miss her. I hear bees busily humming about, visiting the late summer flowers. The gentle hum of their wings nearly sends me to sleep.
The sky is as blue as my grandfather’s eyes. Above me, big white clouds ran across the sky like pieces of cotton blowing in the wind. School starts in another week, and time seems to have slowed down.
“Sophie!” calls my grandfather. “Is that you?” I stand up, take his hand, and tell him all about my day as we walk through the orchard. We talk about apples, and bees and Grandma. He tells me that he misses her too.
He puts his rough, brown farmer’s hand around my shoulder and pulls me close. “ You know, Sophie,” he says, “ I spent the morning in the attic (阁楼), and you’ll never guess what I found. It’s the recipe(烹饪法) for Grandma’s apple pie. I used to help her make it sometimes. I can’t do it all alone, but you used to help her too. Maybe between the two of us, we can work it out. Want to try?”
“ But it won’t be the same without Grandma,” I tell him.
“That’s true,” he says, “but nothing is the same without Grandma. Still, I don’t think that she would want us never to have another apple pie. What do you say?” I nod yes, and we walk towards home…toward an afternoon in the farmhouse kitchen, making Grandma’s famous apple pie.
【小题1】We learn from the passage that Sophie        .