I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.?
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “ I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”
【小题1】In the first paragraph, “No ifs, ands or buts” probably means ______.

C
What is blood? It is the red liquid which comes out of your finger when you cut it. There are bout thirteen pints(品脱) of blood in a man' s body. He can give a pint of blood at a time to
blood bank for the use of other men who may need it. A healthy body makes up one pint of bloo
quickly.
What does our blood do for us? It takes food to all parts of our bodies and takes waste awa
from them. All the parts of our bodies are made up of cells, and these cells, which are very small
all need food all the time.
The blood is like a stream. The cells take what they need out of the blood stream, as plants an fishes take their food out of water. The blood stream carries food and oxygen which it has taken up our lungs to all the cells in the body.
What makes the blood go on moving round the body in a stream? The heart sends it round.
man' s heart is about the Size of his fist. The heart is a pump. It has rooms in it with doors betwee
them. It pumps blood in and out through these doors by changing the size of the rooms so that th
doors open and shut.
The heart keeps stream of blood going all round the body and back again to itself. Everywhel the blood stream does two things: supplies the cells with food and oxygen and takes away the waste It is as if the blood kept the little fires in the cells burning and took away the ashes.
49. Blood is the_____
A. red liquid which comes from your finger    B. red liquid which we can see
C. red liquid which flows in a man's body     D. red cell
50. The blood in a man' s body__________.
A. makes food all the time
B. takes food to all cells in the body and takes waste away
C. supplies the cells with food and oxygen from them
D. takes waste away from the cells
51. __ makes the blood go on moving round the body in a stream.
A. The heart          B. The lung          C. The cell          D. The pump
52. This article tells us about__________.
A. a stream of blood                        B. the use of the heart
C. a wonderful pump                       D. something about blood

"I've changed my mind．I wanted to have a telescope, but now I want my daddy back．" Lucien Lawrence's letter to Father Christmas, written after his schoolteacher father had been knifed to death outside his school gale, must have touched every heart．Lucien went on to say that without his father he couldn't see the stars in the sky．When those whom we love depart from us, we cannot see the stare for a while．
But Lucien, the stars are still there, and one day, when you are older and your tears have gone, you will see them again．And, in a strange way, I expect that you will find your father is there too, in your mind and in your heart．I find that my parents, long dead now, still figure in many of my dreams and that I think of them perhaps more than 1 ever did when they were alive．I still live to please them and I'm still surprised by their reactions．I remember that when I became a professor,! was so proud, or rather so pleased with myself, that I couldn't wait to call my parents．The reply was a long time in coming, but when it did, all Mother said was "I hope this means that now you will have more time for the children!" I haven't forgotten．The values of my parents still live on．
It makes me pause and think about how I will live on in the hearts and minds of my children and of those for whom I care．Would I have been as ready as Philip Lawrence have been to face the aggressors （挑衅者）, and to lay down my life for those in my care? How many people would want me back for Christmas'' It's a serious thought, one to give me pause．
I pray silently, sometimes, in the dead of night, that ancient cry of a poet " Deliver my soul from the sword（剑）, and my darling from the power of the dog．" Yet I know the death comes to us all,
and sometimes comes suddenly．We must therefore plan to live forever, but live as if we will die
tomorrow．We live on, I'm sure, in the lives of those we loved．and therefore we ought to have a care
for what they will remember and what they will treasure．If more parents knew this in their hearts to
be true, there might be fewer knives on our streets today．
【小题1】According to the whole text we can see that the first paragraph ______．

When I was quite young, I discovered that somewhere inside the telephone lived an amazing
person - "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know.　
One day while my mother was out, I hit my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but
there was no one home to give me any sympathy. I walked around the house, finally arriving at the telephone! Quickly, I called “Information Please" and told her what happened.  She told me to open the icebox and hold a little piece of ice to my finger.
After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. When my pet bird died, I told
"Information Please" the sad story. She tried to comfort me, she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in." Somehow I felt better. Another day I was on the telephone, “How do you spell ‘grateful’? ". All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was 9, we moved to Boston.
A few years later, on my way to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an
hour or so between planes. Without thinking, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information, please."    　　
Surprisingly, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well, "Information." I hadn't planned on
this but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell ‘grateful’?"  
There was a long pause. Then came the soft-spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have
healed by now."   I laughed. "So it's really still you," I said, "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time."  I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and asked if I could call her again. "Please do," she said, "Just ask for Sally."　　
Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered me. I was told that Sally
passed away five weeks before.   　　
Before I could hang up she told me that Sally left a message for me—“Tell him I still say
there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean.”  I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.
Never underestimate the impression you may make on others. Whose life have you touched
today?　
59. What does “Information, Please” refer to in the passage?
A. An amazing girl.
B. A special kind of telephone.
C. A communication system.
D. A service that helps telephone users.
60. What happened to the little boy one day when he was at home alone? 
A. He was amused by the telephone.
B. He hurt his finger with a hammer.
C. He found an amazing telephone.
D. He got a piece of ice from an icebox.
61. What did “Information, Please” give the little boy whenever he was in trouble? 
A. Information and conversation.
B. Good memories and happiness.
C. Sympathy and information.
D. Friendship and cheers.
62. When did the author get in touch with “Information, Please” again after he moved to
Boston?  
A. When he was in trouble on his way to college.
B. When his plane stopped in Seattle for half an hour.
C. When he went back to Seattle to visit his sister.
D. Three months later after he moved to Boston.

American author Mark Twain once noted that “life would be surely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.” Twain’s words were only one of many complaints about aging. The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age “hateful”, and William Shakespeare termed it “terrible winter”.
Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world before he died around 323 B.C., may have been looking for a river that healed the ravages of age. During the 12^th century A.D., a king called Prester John ruled a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth.
But the name linked most closely to the search for a fountain of youth is 16^th-century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. He thought it would be found in Florida. In St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S., there’s a tourist attraction. It is said to be the fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon discovered soon after he arrived in what is now Florida in 1513. However, elderly visitors who drink the spring’s water don’t turn into teenagers.
But the tale of the search for a fountain of youth is so appealing(有吸引力的) that it survives anyway, says Ryan K. Smith, a professor of history. “People are more attracted by the story of looking and not finding than they are by the idea that the fountain might be out there somewhere.”
Still, a few grains of truth have helped to support the story. Kathleen Deagan, a professor of archaeology, says a graveyard and the remains of a Spanish mission dating back to St. Augustine’s founding in 1565 have been discovered near the so-called fountain of youth. Michelle Reyna, a spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in St. Augustine, says the fountain has been a tourist attraction since at least 1901 and may have been attracting visitors since 1860.
【小题1】According to the passage, who searched for a fountain of youth?