—— It seems that his health is improving．

—— Yes．It is ten years ______ he _______．

A．since；  smoked                  B．since；  did n' t smoke

C．that； smoked                    D．before； smoked

A very old tree had been growing quite slowly for many years. It was nearly the 1 tree in the forest, and it raised its head high above the 　2 　trees towards the sky like a king of trees.

One spring day, the wind brought a little seed and dropped it 3　 the roots of the tree. Soon it grew into a plant. “I’ll climb to the top of the tree,” said 4　 little plant. “They’ll see how quickly I can grow.” So it held tightly to the tree, climbed and climbed 5　 it climbed up to the top branch. It said to the tree, “You have grown for a great many years, and I only began this summer – see 6　 high I have got!”

But the old tree just said nothing at all. Later, a great storm came, bringing snow and heavy winds. The old tree did n’t mind the cold at all, but the poor little plant had grown so fast　 7　 it had forgotten to grow well.　 8　 that cold night it fell onto the ground. And that was the end of the little plant.

    It was a very cold evening．The old man’s beard was almost frozen．He was waiting for a ride across the river．The wait seemed endless．The old man sat on the ground waiting．

Finally，he saw several horsemen coming．He watched them．He 1et the first one．pass by without even asking．Another passed by，and then another．Finally，tile 1ast rider came near the old man．The old man caught the rider’s eye and said，“Sir，would you mind giving me a ride

To the other side?”

    Stopping his horse，the rider replied，“Of course．”But the old man’s body was half-frozen．He could not get off the ground．The horseman helped the old man onto his horse．He took the o1d man not just across the river，but to the old man′s home．

    As they neared the old man’s house，the horseman asked，“Sir，you let several other riders pass by without even asking．Then I came up and you asked me for a ride at once．Why? What if 1 had said‘no’and 1eft you there?”

    The old man looked at the rider straight in the eyes，and said?“1 looked into the eyes of the other riders．I quickly saw that they did n’t care．It would be useless even to ask them for a ride．But when I looked into your eyes，I saw kindness．I knew that you would help me．”

The words touched the rider deeply．“Thank you for what you’ve said，”he told the man．“I hope 1 will never be too busy to help others．”  

With that，Thomas Jefferson，the third president of the US，turned his horse around and made his way back to the White House．

1.What does the underlined sentence mean?

    A．Though 1 will be busy，I’ll sti1l help others．

    B．1’ll not be busy forever，so I can help others．

    C．1 will always be ready to help others．

    D．To help others，1 will not be busy．

2.The writer used the first paragraph；in order to          ．

    A．describe the cold weather                    B．describe the old man’s difficulty

C．stress the 1ast horsemen’s kindness        

D．describe the length of the old man’s beard

3.What did the old man ask the last driver to do?

    A．To take him home．                       B．To take him across the river．

    C．To take him to the capital．             D．To take him to the White House．

4.Who is the last horseman?

    A．The third president of America．         B．The passage does n’t tell us．

    C．A man sent by God．                  D．A unknown fighter of the U．S．army．

—— It seems that his health is improving．
—— Yes．It is ten years ______ he _______．