Jones worked so hard that made the sparks fly from his hammer．The son of Mr．Smith, a rich neighbor, used to come to see the blacksmith and he would enjoy himself watching how the tradesman worked．"Why don't you try your hand to learn to make shoe tacks?" said the blacksmith．"Who knows, one day, it may be of use to you." The lazy boy began to see what he could do．But after a little practice he found that he was becoming very skilled and soon he was making some of the finest tacks.

Old Mr．Smith died and the son on account of the war lost all his goods．He had to leave home and was forced to take up residence in another country．It so happened that in this village there were numerous shoemakers who were spending a lot of money to buy tacks for their shoes and even at times when they paid high prices they were not always able to get what they wanted, because in that part of the country there was a high demand for soldiers' shoes.

Young Smith, who was finding it difficult to earn his daily bread, remembered that he had learned the art of making tacks and had the sudden idea of making a bargain with the shoemakers．He told them that he would make the tacks if they would help to get him settled in his workshop．The shoemakers were only too glad of the offer．"How funny it seems," he used to say, "even making tacks can bring a fortune．My trade is more useful to me than were all my former riches."

From Paragraph 1 we can refer that _______

       A．Jones was a blacksmith from another country

       B．Old Smith wanted his son to learn skill from Jones

       C．Young Smith was too lazy to learn to make shoe tacks

       D．Young Smith was good at making shoe tacks by accident

The reason why young Smith was forced to leave his home town is that ______

       A．he was lazy and wasted all the money from his father

       B．the price of shoe tacks in another country was high

       C．his father died and left nothing for him

       D．there was a terrible which broke his peace

We can learn from the last paragraph that Young Smith _______

       A．made a living in the village by selling bread

       B．worked in the workshop as a shoemakers

       C．was good at making soldier shoes

       D．lived a better life in the village than before 

Which of the following well-known sayings can best tell the main idea of the passage?

       A．Knowledge is no burden.

       B．Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

       C．You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

       D．Time lost cannot be recalled.

Each time I see a balloon, my mind flies back to a memory of when I was a six-year-old girl. It was a rainy

Sunday and my father had recently died. I asked my mom if Dad had gone to heaven. "Yes, honey. Of course." she said.    

    "Can we write him a letter?"

    She paused, the longest pause of my short life, and answered, "Yes."

    My heart jumped. "How? Does the mailman go there?" I asked.

    "No, but I have an idea." Mom drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon. I asked her what it was for.

    "Just wait, honey. You'll see." Mom told me to write my letter. Eagerly, I got my favorite pen, and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink. I wrote about my day, what I learned at school, how Mom was doing, and even about what happened in a story I had read. For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive. I gave the letter to Mom. She read it over, and a smile crossed her face.

    She made a hole in the corner of the letter where she looped the balloon string. We went outside and she gave me the balloon. It was still raining.

    "Okay, on the count of three, let go. One, two, three."

The balloon, carrying my letter, darted upward against the rain. We watched until it was swallowed by the mass of clouds.

Later I realized, like the balloon, that Dad had never let his sickness get him down. He was strong. No matter what he suffered, he'd persevere, dart up, and finally transcend this cold world and his sick body. He rose into sky and became something beautiful. I watched until the balloon disappeared into the gray and white and I prayed that his strength was hereditary. I prayed to be a balloon.

1.When the girl asked her mother if they could write to her father, her mother _________.

A．felt it hard to answer       B．thought her a creative girl

C．believed it easy to do so           D．found it easy to lie

2.When the girl was told that she could send a letter to her father, she _________.

A．jumped with joy

B．became excited

C．started writing immediately

D. was worried that it couldn't be delivered

3.In the eyes of the author, what was the rain like?

A．An incurable disease.

B．An unforgettable memory.

C．The hard time her father had.

D．The failures her father experienced.

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．An unforgettable experience          B．The strong red balloon

C．Fly to paradise                           D．A great father

Hurry! Time to “steal vegetables”

Don't be afraid! We are not encouraging the stealing behavior, but to tell you maybe the most popular topic from white-collars' mouth in cities. Together with "How many vegetables do you steal today," "it's harvest time for your ripe peach," "I bought you a new car today."

   Are there so many people in the city really have their own farms, or are they really so rich to buy someone else cars casually?

   The answer is obviously negative. They just play some games on Social Network Sites (SNS) like kaixin001.com.

   Can you imagine that more than millions of people in Chinese mainland will spend lots of time on SNS to play game and talk to friends, especially white-collars who work in the cities? Take kaixin001.com as an example, the current member of it has already hit 38 million.

   However, the great number of people who would like to use such SNS indicates another social problem. That is lots of people choose to escape from the reality. And SNS just offer them a Virtual space to forget the reality.

   Kinds of games and various of friends do give netizens lots of fun. Though indulging, dreaming, chatting and playing , it seems like people could really escape from all the upsets in reality. But virtual world is not real and no one can live in it forever, and reality is not that simple like noodling around on the internet.

   Since this kind of social phenomenon is so popular on the internet, people start thinking to remove it in the reality.After playing the "happy farm" game on kaixin001.com, would you like to put yourself among the real corps while smelling the fragrance of the countryside? Recently, a farm land service called "happy farm in reality" was opened in the suburbs of Shanghai where white-collar workers from around that region can experience the real farmer's life by themselves

1.What is the topic of the passage?

   A. It’s time to” steal vegetables.”

B. a computer game called “Happy Farm”

C. open a farm in reality

D. something behind the game “Happy Farm”

2.Why are so many people interested in “Happy Farm”?

A. Because they like playing computer games.

B. Because it offers them a virtual space to escape from reality.

C. because they can talk and play with their friends at the same time.

 D. because they can harvest peaches.

3.Which group are the majority playing the “Happy Farm” game?

A. Farmers    B. White-collars    C. workers     D. students

4.What’s the author’s attitude towards the “ Happy Farm” game?

A. positive      B. worried       C. neutral   D. we don’t know

How Room Designs Affect Our Work and Feelings

Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical（经验的，实证的） basis. They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people focused and lead to relaxation.

 Researches show that aspects of the physical environment can influence creativity. In 2007, Joan Meyers-Levy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room's ceiling affects how people think. Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more freely, which may lead them to make more abstract connections. Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed outlook.

 In additions to ceiling height, the view afforded by a building may influence an occupant's ability to concentrate. Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who experienced the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.

 Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to pay off  academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design & Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with unblocked views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily overlooked roads and parking lots.

 Recent study on room lighting design suggests than dim（暗淡的） light helps people to loosen up. If that is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase relaxation. Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.

So far scientists have focused mainly on public buildings. "We have a very limited number of studies, so we're almost looking at the problem through a straw（吸管）," architect David Allison says. "How do you take answers to very specific questions and make broad, generalized use of them? That's what we're all struggling with."

What does Joan Meyers-Levy focus on in her research?

 A. Light.      B. Ceilings.     C. Windows.     D. Furniture.

The passage tells us that ______.

 A. the shape of furniture may affect people's feelings

 B. lower ceilings may help improve students' creativity

 C. children in a dim classroom may improve their grades

 D. students in rooms with unblocked views may feel relaxed

The underlined sentence in the last paragraph probably means that ______.

 A. the problem is not approached step by step

 B. the researches so far have faults in themselves

 C. the problem is too difficult for researchers to detect

 D. research in this area is not enough to make generalized patterns

Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?

 CP: Central Point    P: Point   SP: Sub-point（次要点）   C: Conclusion

Once there was a man who had two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was good-looking but the girl was not.

One day they found a mirror for the first time and they saw what they looked like. The boy was very pleased and he said to his sister, "How handsome I am! I look much nicer than you!"

The girl did not like what her brother said and gave him a hard push.

"Go away!" she said.

Their father saw what was happening. He went up to them and said to the boy,

"You must always BE good as well as LOOK good."

Then to the girl he said, "My dear, if you help everyone and do your best to please him, everyone will love you. It does not matter that you are not as good-looking as your brother."

Once a man had ____.

A. a good-looking boy               B. an ugly girl

C. two good-looking children          D. a boy and a girl

The boy saw what he looked like in the mirror and was pleased because he ____.

    A. found a mirror                    B. knew he looked as nice as his sister

    C. and his sister were good-looking      D. was handsome

The girl gave the boy a hard push because ____.

    A. she was stronger                    B. what he said was wrong

    C. she was not pleased with what he said   D. her father loved her

Father told the girl that ____.

    A. it was important to be good-looking

    B. it was a good thing to be ugly

C. if she did her best to help people, she would enjoy people's love

    D. she was as good-looking as her brother

What can we learn from this story?

    A. To be good to people is more important than to be good-looking.

    B. To be good-looking is very important.

    C. If you want to make yourself good-looking, you must be good to people.

    D. If you often help people, you will become more and more beautiful.