After a hard campaign, Barack Obama won the US president election on November 4. He will become the 44th President of the United States---the first African-American in the country’s history.
On the election eve, Obama’s grandmother died---only a few days before seeing her grandson’s victory. Tears ran down the face of Obama as he spoke about his grandmother. “She taught me about hard work.She was the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me.”
In his first speech as the president, Obama declared to tens of thousands of cheering supporters, “…The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even one term, but America---I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you: We as a people will get there…” The crowd broke out into the same chant(咏唱，吟诵), “Yes, we can!”Those three short words have become the defining phrase of Obama’s campaign.
Forty-five years ago, Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. Today the dream has come true.
【小题1】When will Obama begin to work as a president?

Have you ever complained why life is so tiring? Does the sky sometimes seem dark to you? Do you sometimes think your studies are not   1  enough? Well, friends, cheer up and smile all the time. If you   2   the world with your warm heart, you’ll find that the whole world smiles to you.

While in school, sometimes you are tired of your lessons, but have you ever noticed   3  happy smile on your teacher’s face when you did a good job?

One day it is fine. Just  4  you want to go out, it suddenly starts to rain. Maybe you would feel very sad and start complaining about the weather. But dear friends, why don’t you sit down and listen to the free concert   5  the nature offers you? And with the timely rain, crops in the fields will grow better and better and farmers will have a good harvest.

Although everyone wants to succeed in  6  he tries to do, sometimes failure can’t   7  . I think failure is not terrible, and the terrible thing is that we are afraid of it and give up  8 . When we face failure, we must be confident in ourselves, draw a useful lesson from it and try our best    9  what we have decided to do. As a popular saying goes, “Failure is the mother of success.”

Attitude means 10 . Let’s smile to whatever we meet and the whole world will smile to us.

1.                A．success         B．succeed        C．successful D．successfully

2.                A．sees           B．see            C．will see   D．saw

3.                A．/              B．a              C．an   D．the

4.                A．before         B．after           C．and  D．soon

5.                A．where         B．when          C．that  D．what

6.                A．what           B．how           C．when D．which

7.                A．avoided        B．be avoided      C．avoid D．avoids

8.                A．hopes          B．hope           C．hopeful   D．hopefully

9.                A．finish          B．finishing        C．finishes   D．to finish

10.               A．nothing        B．something      C．everything D．anything

I bought a jasmine（茉莉花）plant for my office. When I bought it, I was told it would bloom（开花）and the sweet smell would fill my office. I had the plant for two months, and every day I looked at it, but there weren’t any flowers or pleasant smell. I was not happy, so I gave the plant to my friend Linda.
One day, another friend Mary called and invited me to her office. When I walked in, her jasmine flowers surprised me. I reached out to touch the flowers. Mary cut some and gave them to me. I couldn’t help smelling them. Surrounded by the sweet smell of only a handful of these flowers, I suddenly understood something.
Mary bought her plant the same time I did. It took a year for her jasmine to bloom. I was so impatient for mine to bloom; regretfully, I gave it away.
In a way my life is like the jasmine plant. I need to be patient and let things happen.
Last Sunday Linda told me that she was going abroad the next week. Before she left, she returned the plant to me. This time I am going to wait. I have learned that when we want something in our life, we have to be patient. I am slowly learning to have that patience to wait for my jasmine to bloom.
【小题1】 Before she gave the jasmine away, the writer had it for.

The clock struck(敲) eleven at night. The whole house was quiet. Everyone was in bed except me. Under the strong light, I looked sadly at a huge pile（堆） of those trouble things —books.

I was going to have my exam the next day. “When can I go to bed?” I asked myself. I didn’t answer. And I could not. The clock struck twelve. “Oh, dear! Ten more books to read before I go to bed!” We students are the most wretched ones in the world. Dad does not agree with me on this. He did not have to work so hard when he was a boy.

The clock struck one. I was quite hopeless now. I forgot all I did learn. I was too tired to go on. I did the only thing I could. I prayed（祈祷）, “My god, please let me pass the exam tomorrow. I will work hard next time, Amen.” My eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them. A few minutes later, with my head on the books, I fell asleep.

1.The word “wretched” in Line 6 means _______.

A．very happy                            B．forgetful

C．unlucky                               D．hopeful

2.What do you think happened to the writer?

A．He was late for the exam.

B．He passed the exam luckily.

C．He failed in the exam.

D．He fell asleep during the exam.

3.The best title for the passage is _______.

A．The Night Before The Exam                B．Working Far Into Night

C．A Slow Student                         D．Going Over Lessons

根据下列短文内容，在短文后的空格处填上一个恰当的词，使短文完整、通顺。

Life is a learning process(过程). Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a better person. With each passing day, we learn to   1 with different   problems.

◆ Happiness and sadness

True happiness comes   2   hard work. Whatever we do, do it well. Putting on a happy face and thinking interesting things are helpful to have happy feelings. Helping others is   3   a good way. When happiness comes, sadness goes away.

◆ Failure and Success

Failure shows   4   the right way, makes us grow up and teaches us how to be successful. As the old saying goes, ”Failure is the mother of success”. Don’t be   5  of failure.

◆ Hope and Despair(绝望)

Hope is what keeps life going. Hope makes us dream. Life teaches us not to

give up hope even in the darkest hours, because    6   every night there is a new day. Whatever   7  , just keep moving on in life and be hopeful.

Life teaches us not to feel sorry for    8   , for it has passed and can not be called back. Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be bright or dark. So the only choice is to work hard today, so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.