I can still remember the first day when I met my best friend. She had just moved into the neighborhood and her grandmother brought her down to meet me. I hid behind my mother and she hid behind her grandmother, scared to look at each other.

Soon, we lost the shyness and started playing with each other, bike riding to each other’s house and having sleepovers. In 7^th grade she was going through family problems. However, every summer we would always sit at each other’s house and watch movies on TV and talk about all the boys we liked.

It was last year when I noticed the problem. She suffered from clinical depression（抑郁症）, and had to go to a hospital during the day. I was very sorry for her at first. But with the late night calls, and meeting each other halfway up the street at midnight, we still stayed in touch. I wanted to be there for her since her new best friend left her, and I knew I still cared about her like a sister.

Yesterday she came to me and said this. “I never knew what a best friend was until you were the only person that would stop me from cutting myself; the only person that ever made me feel better about myself and my problems. You didn’t know this but I was trying to kill myself that very night you called me and I was crying. I owe you so much, and you didn’t even know you were helping me. ”

We both cried. And I guess a kind of lesson from my life so far is to never give up your friends. Even if they aren’t as cool as others, or people think they are crazy, they need someone there. If you leave them, you will only be very sorry. So if friends need you, and you care for them, you should be always there for them.

1.Why did the two girls hide behind their family members when they first met?

A．Because they were playing a game.

B．Because they didn’t like each other.

C．Because they quarreled before.

D．Because they were both shy.

2.What would have happened to her friend if the author had not cared about her?

A．She would have lost her new best friend.

B．She would have killed herself that night.

C．She would have run away from her family.

D．She would have stayed in hospital for a long time.

3.What lesson does the author learn from the story?

A．Always care for your friends.

B．Don’t care about others’ opinions.

C．Never owe your friends too much.

D．Try to be as cool as others.

For the 17 years my life was very happy. Then the first sad thing happened. My mother became very ill, and soon she knew that she was dying. Just before she died, she asked Elizabeth and me to go to her room. She held our hands and said, “Victor and Elizabeth, my children, I’m very happy because you love each other, and because one day you’ll get married. Everyone in the family loves you, Elizabeth. Will you take my place in the family, my dear? I can die happy if you look after them when I have gone.”
My mother died and we were very sad, because we loved her dearly. Elizabeth was brave and helped us; her sweet smile gave us some happiness in the unhappy days after my mother’s death. The time came for me to go to university. I didn’t want to leave my sad family, but we all knew that I should go. It was hard to leave, too, because the parents of my good friend Henry would not let him go to university with me. So I had gone alone.
On my first day at university I met my teacher, Professor Waldman, who was one of the greatest scientists in the world. He gave a wonderful talk to all the students who were starting at the university. He ended his talk by saying, “Some of you will become the greatest scientists of tomorrow. You must study hard and discover everything that you can. This is why God made you intelligent—to help other people.”
After the professor’s talk, I thought very carefully. I remembered the storm when I was 15; I remembered how the lightning had destroyed the tree. From then on, I wanted to use electricity to help people, and I wanted to discover the secrets of life. I decided to work on these two things.
I started to work the next day. I worked very hard and soon Professor Waldman and I realized that I could learn to be a very good scientist.
The professor helped me very much, and other important scientists who were his friends helped me, too. I was interested in my work and I did not take one day’s holiday during the next two years, I did not go home, and my letters to my family were very short.
After two years, I had discovered many things and I built a scientific machine that was the best in the university. My machine would help me answer the most important question of all. How does life begin? Is it possible to put life into dead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learn first about death. I had to watch bodies from the moment when they died and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in the university, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, month after month, I followed death, so it was a dark and terrible time.
I built a tall mast about 150 meters high, which is higher than the tallest building in the city, to catch lightning and send the electricity down to my machine in the lab. I believed I could use that electricity to give life to things that were dead.
Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was sure that I knew the secret of life.
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

The wedding took place in a Birmingham hotel.The bride and her father arrived in a new black American sports car.Her father looked nervous and uncomfortable in front of the cameras.The bride wore a silk wedding dress.She smiled nervously at the waiting photographers and went to a room on the first floor where she met her future husband for the very first time.Carla Germaine and Greg Cordell were the winners of a radio station's competition.The aim of the competition was to find two strangers prepared to marry without having met each other.Miss Germaine,23,is a model.Mr Cordell,27,is a TV salesman.They were among the two hundred people who entered for a peculiar “experiment”organized by BMRB radio in Birmingham,England.Greg and Carla were among eight finalists who were interviewed live on radio.They took a lie detector(测谎仪) test and the station also spoke to their friends and family about their personalities.The competition judges included an astrologer (占星家)who eclared that they were suited.

The couple celebrated their wedding with a wedding breakfast and a party for 100 guests in the evening,but not everyone shared their joy.Miss Germaine's mother looked anxious throughout the wedding and Mr Cordell's parents are reported to be less than delighted.

Organizations,including the marriage guidance service Relate,have criticized the marriage.As one person put it,“We have enough problems getting young people to take marriage seriously without this.Marriage should always be about love.”

The couple are now on a Caribbean honeymoon followed by journalists.Their other prizes include a year's free use of a wonderful apartment in the centre of Birmingham,and a car.But will it last?

1.How did the couple's parents react to the wedding?

A.The bride's mother shared their joy.

B.The bride's father felt uncomfortable about the wedding.

C.The bridegroom's parents were quite delighted.

D.The bridegroom's parents were not that joyful.

2.Some experts believe that  _______ .

A.marriage without the couple's meeting each other first ends up in divorce

B.young people nowadays are too careless about marriage

C.taking a lie detector test can not solve all the marriage problems

D.most young people take marriage seriously except this couple

3.One of the prizes for the couple is  _______ .

A.to spend their honeymoon wherever they like

B.to use an apartment free for some time

C.to have a wedding dress free

D.to own an American sports car

4.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A.Two Strangers and a Wedding

B.A Wedding Based on Love

C.A Short?Lived Marriage

D.A Well?Matched Couple

Once upon a time two brothers who lived on neighbouring farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious one in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed .

Then the long cooperoration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.

One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days’ work" he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there I could help with. Could I help you?"

"Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek(河沟) at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow（草地） between us and he took his bulldozer（推土机） to the river levee（堤） and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll go him one better. I want you to build me a fence — an 8-foot fence — so I won't need to see his place or his face any more. Cool him down , anyhow."

The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. I'll be able to do a job that pleases you."

The older brother had to go to town, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing, and hammering.

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped.

There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge — a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work — and his younger brother, was coming across, his hand spread out ..

"You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done."

The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand. They turned to see the carpenter lift his toolbox on his shoulder. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.

"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but, I have many more bridges to build."

1..  What was the life for the two brothers before the conflict ?

  A. They live a poor , miserable life .

B. They were friendly neighbours ,helping each other .

C. They never speak to each other .

D. They live together as one family.

2..  The underlined word “spite” in paragraph 4 probably means ______________.

A. try to please                     B. make angry on purpose

C. laught at                         D. look down upon

3...Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage ?

   A. The younger brother used his bulldozer to dig a creek .

B. After the conflict John was angry with his younger brother.

C. At first the carpenter planned to build an 8-foot fence as John asked him to.

D. The two brothers made peace at last .

4..  The best title for this passage is _______________.

A. A Fine Piece of Work                    B. A Clever Carpenter

C. A Conflict between Two Brothers         D. Two Brothers