Oscar the cat seems to have an unnatural ability for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up (蜷伏) next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live. "Many family members take some comfort from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one," said Dosa, a doctor and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University.

The 2-year-old cat was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a third-floor dementia (痴呆) unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where the facility treats people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. After about six months, the staff noticed Oscar would make his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses. He'd smell and observe patients, then sit beside people who would end up dying in a few hours. Dosa said Oscar seems to take his work seriously. "This is not a cat that's friendly to people," he said.

"Oscar is better at predicting death than the people who work here," said Dr. Joan Teno of Brown University, who treats patients at the nursing home and is an expert on care for the terminally ill. She was convinced of Oscar's talent when he made his 13th correct call. While observing one patient, Teno said she noticed the woman wasn't eating, was breathing with difficulty and that her legs had a bluish color, signs that often mean death is near. Oscar wouldn't stay inside the room, though, so Teno thought bis streak was broken. Instead, it turned out the doctor's prediction was roughly 10 hours too early. Sure enough, during the patient's final two hours, nurses told Teno that Oscar joined the woman at her bedside.

Doctors say most of the people who get a visit from the sweet-faced, gray-and-white cat are so ill that they probably don't know he's there, so patients aren't aware he's a predictor of death. Most families are grateful for the advance warning, although one wanted Oscar out of the room while a family member died. When Oscar is put outside, he paces and meows his displeasure.

No one's certain if Oscar's behavior is scientifically significant or points to a cause. Teno wonders if the cat senses mysterious scents or reads something into the behavior of the nurses who raised him. Nursing home staff aren't concerned with explaining Oscar, so long as he gives families a better chance at saying goodbye to the dying. The staff recently gave Oscar a wall sign publicly praising his "sympathetic care."

1.What makes Oscar the cat so special?

A. He observes the cases of dying patients.

B. He curls up next to the patients.

C. He calls family members to the hospital.

D. He senses when patients are to die.

2.The passage tells us Oscar_____.

A. would go round and observe patients

B. may sometimes fail to predict death

C. is friendly and liked by every nurse

D. was born and grew up in the hospital

3.The underlined words "his streak was broken" probably mean ____.

A. his bones were severely injured

B. his magic power stopped working

C. his devotion to work got changed

D. his friendship with patients ended

4.From the passage, we learn that_____.

A. Oscar's behavior is scientifically significant

B. Oscar can read something of the nurses' behavior

C. Oscar might like to stay with the dying patients

D. Oscar is sympathetic to the dying patients

5.The best title for this passage is "____".

A. Cats Can Be Used for Looking After Patients

B. Oscar, the Sweet-Faced, Gray-and-White Cat

C. As Death Comes Calling, So Does Oscar the Cat

D. Oscar the Cat, the Best Helper of Our Hospital

There is a story about a school teacher named Mrs. Thompson. Standing in front of her   36    grade class on the first day of school, she told the children a lie. She said she   37   them all. But that was   38  , because there was a little boy called Teddy, whom she didn’t like at all.

Mrs. Thompson was    39  that he didn’t play well with other children, that his clothes were    40   and that he always needed a bath.   41    ,  when she received his records, she got a real   42 .

Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a smart child with ready laugh.  He does his work neatly and has good manners.” 

His second grade   43     wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a deadly illness and life at home    44  be a struggle.”

His third teacher wrote, “ His mother’s death has been  45  to him.”

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was 46      herself. She felt even worse when students    47     her beautiful Christmas presents, except for Teddy’s ---- a   48   that was one quarter full perfume（香水）.

After the children left she   49  for at least an hour.

Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the   50    children in the class. Six years went by when she got a letter from Teddy,    51   that he had finished high school.

There followed another letter years later. Teddy    52      Mrs. Thompson to attend his wedding and asked    53   she could sit in the place usually kept for the    54   of the groom.

Teddy  55   in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important”

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back saying “Teddy, you are wrong. In fact, I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”

1.. A. 5th          B. 1st              C.3rd               D. 2nd

2.. A. praised      B. loved                C. punished             D. treated

3.. A. ridiculous       B. unimportant      C. disappointed     D. impossible

4.. A. known            B. scolded          C. told             D. asked

5... A. clean           B. funny            C. dirty                D. strange

6... A. However         B. Therefore            C. Besides          D. Otherwise

7... A. fear            B. problem          C. surprise             D. puzzle

8.. A. classmate        B. teacher              C. friend           D. leader

9... A. must            B. might            C. need                 D. have to

10.. A. easy            B. necessary            C. fair                 D. hard

11.. A. crazy about         B. ashamed of           C. worried about        D. tired of

12... A. brought        B. sold             C. received             D. afforded

13.. A. box             B. bag              C. bottle               D. pack

14... A. laughed        B. sat              C. cried                D. walked

15..A. smartest         B. tallest              C. laziest              D. worst

16.. A. permitting      B. telling              C. praising             D. regretting

17.. A. encouraged      B. invited          C. frightened           D. begged

18... A. when          B. where            C. why              D. if

19... A. father         B. aunt                 C. uncle                D. mother

20... A. shouted        B. acted                C. waved            D. whispered

Molly was a peasant girl. Her parents did not have much money and Molly did not have many nice clothes.

One day Molly’s father said to her, “Molly, take this pot of milk to market and sell it. You may keep the money.”

Molly was very happy. She put the pot of milk on her head and started her journey to market. While she was walking alone she began to think. “I will get quite a lot of money for this milk,” she thought. “What will I do with the money? I will buy a lot of eggs. I will take the eggs home with me. One of our hens will sit on them. Then there will be lots of little chickens. I will not sell the chickens. They will grow into hens. Then there will be more eggs. And these eggs will give me still more chickens. Soon I will have hundreds of hens. Then I will sell them all. They will bring me a lot of money. I will be rich. I will buy lots of new clothes. I will always wear nice clothes. Then a rich man will marry me. We will have a beautiful house, a big car and nice children...”

Molly was very happy. She jumped into the air. The pot of milk fell from her head onto the road. And that was the end of all her dreams.

In English there is a proverb. It says: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched(孵化).

1.Molly was happy to go to market because ________.

2.On her way to market, Molly began to________.

3.What was the end of all Molly’s dreams?

4.The proverb: “Do not count your chicken before they are hatched.” means ____.

Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man.” She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice(临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter(计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said,” I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing.” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
【小题1】 The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to ______.

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 passage from the Bible about husbands being thoughtful of 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 pledge 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, “do you know something I don’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…that medical 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 sink in. Then I burst out laughing.

“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”

1.From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage __________.

A. with his family                              B. with Evelyn

C. all by himself                               D. with his children

2. During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because __________.

A. she looked lovely in her new clothes

B. he could afford time to care for her

C. he was willing to be a good husband

D. she was seriously ill

3.The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What was the one thing that went wrong?

A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.

B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.

C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.

D. He was so good to her that she thought she would be dying.

4.By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that __________.

A. he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life

B. he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband

C. he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change

D. he is beginning to regret what he did to his wife before