As a young boy, I sometimes traveled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mill carrier, and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure: There were animals to see, people to visit, and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did.
In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens, and when 1 was a boy it was such a fun to stick your finger 'through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.
On Dad' s final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. "Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route." he used to say, "and a story at every one. " One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.
Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read. "Nat, take these eggs to Marian; she's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs. " Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the groom:. bat the mail was always delivered On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate. A young wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few button on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank. Once, the amount came to 8 32,000.
A dozen years ago, when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad’s death,  the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't the case.
As I drove home, I noticed two lamp poles, one on each side of the street. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground. One box was painted green and the other was red, and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.
I made a turn at the comer and drove past the post office and across the railroad tracks to our house. Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps. There, at the door, stood Frank Townsend, Dad's postmaster and great friend for many years. So we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.
At one point Frank looked at me with tears in his eyes. " What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas?" he asked.
"The letters?"
'I guess you never knew. "
"Knew what?"
" Remember, when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in those green and red boxes on Main Street? It was your dad who answered all those letters every year. "
I just sat there with tears in my eyes. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one. I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood, and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had known so much about their homes and families.
For me, just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime.
【小题1】It can be inferred from the passage that the writer regarded his travels with Dad us_____.

There is no doubt about it. The best way to learn new words is to do it unconsciously. I don’t mean while you’re unconscious. I mean while you are unconscious of the fact that it is sinking in.
That is how I learnt the 30,000 words in my vocabulary by living in an English-speaking world, mother tongue. I just pick them up. But some of them may be misunderstood. Now, to misunderstand does not mean not to understand. To misunderstand is to understand but incorrectly.
The 5% mislearnt of all the words we “know” will be the least frequently used words, as the more frequently used words are less likely to be mislearnt. Some of the misunderstanding may live with all our lives, without knowing that we got them wrong.
Many English teachers think that this natural method of learning words in one’s own mother tongue can be used for a second language learning. They teach their students how to play the Guessing Game. “There is no time to look up in your dictionaries all the new words you come across,” they will say. “You have to practice guessing what the word means from the context.”
This method of guessing in a second language learning does not work. It may succeed in many cases, but results in hundreds or thousands of wrongly-guessed meanings of words.
And what’s more, there are more separate meanings than there are words themselves. Our learners’ dictionaries usually have many meanings. A good dictionary is what makes self-learning possible.
Don’t guess! Look it up!
【小题1】 It is certain that the best way to learn new words is ______.

There is no doubt about it．The best way to learn new words is to do it unconsciously (无意识地)．I don’t mean while you’re unconscious．I mean while you are unconscious of the fact that they are sinking in．That is how I learnt the

30，000 words in my vocabulary by living in an English-speaking world．I just picked them up．But some of them may be misunderstood．Now，to misunderstand does not mean not to understand．To misunderstand is to understand but incorrectly．

　 The 5％of all the misunderstood words we　 “know”　 will be the least frequently used words，as the more frequently used words are less likely to be misunderstood． Some of the misunderstandings may last all our lives，without knowing that we get them wrong．　

　Many English teachers think that this natural method of learning words in one’s own mother tongue can be used for second language learning．They teach their students how to play the Guessing Game．“There is no time to look up in your dictionaries all the new words you come across，’’they will say．“You have to practise guessing what the word means from the context．’’

　 This method of guessing in a second language learning does not work It may succeed in many cases，but results in hundreds or thousands of wrongly-guessed meanings of words．

　 And what’s more，there are more separate meanings than there are words themselves．Our learners’ dictionaries usually have many meanings. A good dictionary is what makes self-learning possible．

　 Don’t guess! Look it up!

1．It is certain that the best way to learn new words is_________．

A．to 1earn them on TV

B．to learn by living in a French speaking world and using them frequently

C．to guess them from the context

D. to learn them unconsciously

2．The underlined word “them” in the first paragraph refers to_______·

A. the 30，000 words

B．English teachers

C．misunderstood words

D．frequently used words

3．Which of the following is most likely NOT true?

A．Some of the words the writer knows may have been misunderstood．

B．Most of the 30，000 words the writer 1earned are frequently used ones．

C. How many words the writer got wrong are not known．

D．All the words the writer knows were learned by reading them．

4．It can be inferred that________．

A．when somebody is conscious，he or she usually can’t learn new words by heart

B. we must use the words as often as possible in order to master them

C．the best way to learn new words is to guess their meanings from the context

D．only dictionaries can help us learn language well

5．According to the author , it is not right for many teachers________.

　 A to teach their students how to look up new words quickly

　 B．not to teach their students the skills of guessing

　 C．to encourage their students to guess the meaning of new words

　 D．to let their students look up new words in the dictionaries too often　

　　John Denver is world-known as a singer, songwriter and actor. Songs like “Take Me Home, Country Road”, “Rocky Mountain High”and “Annie's Song”have become well-known to people all over the world. But less than thirty years ago, John Denver was a young man with little more than a fine voice, a guitar, and a dream. Growing up in a conservative military family（保守的军人家庭）, he was not expected to leave college and head to Los Angeles, where the music scene was flowering, nor was he expected to succeed.

　　In “Take Me Home”, John Denver talks about his experiences as a Midwestern boy, whose uneasiness with fame has been one of the biggest influences in the first 50 years of his life.

　　In his songs, John Denver writes honestlyabout his childhood, the experience of moving to LA, his first lucky chances, his first songwriting success with “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, and finally a career（事业）that made him well known throughout the world.

　　Honest, insightful（有洞察力）and rich in tales that only a natural-born storyteller could write so well. “Take Me Home”is a fascinating book from beginning to end. It's like spending a number of days with a good friend.

(1)According to the passage, John Denver also ________ besides singing.

[　　]

(2)The passage tells us that John Denver can play the ________.

[　　]

(3)The sentence “the music scene was flowering”means ________.

[　　]

A．the music scene was in its best state

B．the flowers were blooming（开花）for music

C．the scene of musical plays were very beautiful

D．the music was very beautiful

(4)John Denver was born in a family ________ of the United States.

[　　]

A．in the west

B．in the northwest

C．in the Midwest

D．in the southwest

(5)From the passage we can see that the writer considers ________ to be the best of the following four songs.

[　　]

A．Annie's Song

B．Rocky Mountain High

C．Leaving on a Jet Plane

D．Take Me Home, Country Road

I was in a rush as always, but this time it was for an important date I just couldn’t be late for! I found myself at a checkout counter behind an elderly woman seemingly in no hurry as she paid for her groceries. A PhD student with not a lot of money, I had hurried into the store to pick up some flowers. I was in a huge rush, thinking of my upcoming evening. I did not want to be late for this date.
We were in Boston, a place not always known for small conversation between strangers. The woman stopped unloading her basket and looked up at me. She smiled. It was a nice smile –warm and reassuring—and I returned her gift by smiling back.
“Must be a special lady, whoever it is that will be getting those beautiful flowers,” she said.
“Yes, she’s special,” I said, and then to my embarrassment, the words kept coming out.
“It’s only our second date, but somehow I am just having the feeling she’s ‘the one’. Jokingly, I added, “The only problem is that I can’t figure out why she’d want to date a guy like me.”
“Well, I think she’s very lucky to have a boyfriend who brings her such lovely flowers and who is obviously in love with her,” the woman said.” “My husband used to bring me flowers every week –even when times were tough and we didn’t have much money. Those were incredible days; he was very romantic and – of course – I miss him since he’s passed away.”
I paid for my flowers as she was gathering up her groceries. There was no doubt in my mind as I walked up to her. I touched her on the shoulder and said, “You were right, you know. These flowers are indeed for a very special lady.” I handed her the flowers and thanked her for such a nice conversation.
It took her a moment to realize that I was giving her the flowers I had just purchased. “You have a wonderful evening,” I said. I left her with a big smile and my heart warmed as I saw her smelling the beautiful flowers.
I remember being slightly late for my date that night and telling my girlfriend the above story. A couple of years later, when I finally worked up the courage to ask her to marry me, she told me that this story had helped to seal it for her –that was the night that I won her heart.
【小题1】Why was the writer in a hurry that day?