This is a story that can teach us a good lesson. One day, a man in rags begged from door to door along the street. With an old wallet in his hand, he was asking for a few coins to buy something to eat. He kept complaining about his bad fortune and kept __36__ why those who had so much money were never __37__ and were always desiring more.
“As far as I'm concerned, if I had only enough to ___38__ and to wear, I would not want anything more.”
Just at that moment Goddess Fortune, who came down the __39__ saw the beggar and said to him, “Hi, I have wished to __40__ you for a long time. Now, open your __41__ and I will pour my gold into it. But I will do that only on this __42__ : All that falls into the wallet will be pure gold; but every piece falling upon the __43__ shall become dust. Do you understand？”
“I see.” said the beggar.
“Then you should __44__ ！It's obvious that your wallet is a(an) __45__ one, so don't load it too heavily，” said the Goddess Fortune.
The excited beggar could hardly __46__ to have gold. He quickly opened his wallet, and a __47__ of yellow coins was poured into it. The wallet grew heavier and heavier.
“Is that enough? Isn't it cracking？” asked Fortune.
“Never __48__ .It's still strong enough now.”answered the beggar.
The wallet was filled with so many coins that the beggar's hands began to __49__. “Ah, if only the golden stream would __50__ forever! Just a little more，” said the beggar, “__51__ just a handful or two.”
“There! It's full. The wallet will __52__ .” warned the Goddess, but the beggar requested, “It will __53__ a little more, just a little more.”
One more piece was added and the wallet split. The __54__ fell upon the ground and became dust. The greedy beggar had now __55__ but his broken bag.

Ⅲ. 阅读（共两节，满分40分）

第一节　阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从41—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the sound and lightning that can go with those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.

The reason these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, do you know that the lightning we see flashing down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes trick us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way round. But then, if we believed only what we think and we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night.

Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on earth every second.

Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of lightning flashing reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval(间隔) between the flash and the crash to learn how close they are to the actual spark(闪光).

1. According to the author, in the area of the Central Valley, ___________.

A. rains usually come without thunder and lightning

B. it is usually dry in April

C. children pay no attention to the two natural wonders

D. parents are not interested in thunder and lightning

2. We believe that lightning is a downward motion because ___________.

A. we were taught so by our parents from our childhood

B. we are taken in by our sense of vision

C. it is a common natural sight

D. it is a truth proved by science

3. What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage?

A. Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth.

B. Lightning travels 5 times faster than thunder.

C. Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another.

D. There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we can imagine.

4. The underlined word “activity” is most closely related to the word(s)___________.

A. “cloud”                                       B. “lightning strikes”        

C. “lightning flashes”                              D. “thunderstorms”

5. It can be concluded from the passage that____________.

A. we should not believe what we see or hear

B. things moving downward are more noticeable

C. people often have wrong ideas about ordinary phenomena (现象)

D. adults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena

This is a story that can teach us a good lesson. One day, a man in rags begged from door to door along the street. With an old wallet in his hand, he was asking for a few coins to buy something to eat. He kept complaining about his bad fortune and kept __36__ why those who had so much money were never __37__ and were always desiring more.

“As far as I'm concerned, if I had only enough to ___38__ and to wear, I would not want anything more.”

Just at that moment Goddess Fortune, who came down the __39__ saw the beggar and said to him, “Hi, I have wished to __40__ you for a long time. Now, open your __41__ and I will pour my gold into it. But I will do that only on this __42__ : All that falls into the wallet will be pure gold; but every piece falling upon the __43__ shall become dust. Do you understand？”

“I see.” said the beggar.

“Then you should __44__ ！It's obvious that your wallet is a(an) __45__ one, so don't load it too heavily，” said the Goddess Fortune.

The excited beggar could hardly __46__ to have gold. He quickly opened his wallet, and a __47__ of yellow coins was poured into it. The wallet grew heavier and heavier.

“Is that enough? Isn't it cracking？” asked Fortune.

“Never __48__ .It's still strong enough now.”answered the beggar.

The wallet was filled with so many coins that the beggar's hands began to __49__. “Ah, if only the golden stream would __50__ forever! Just a little more，” said the beggar, “__51__ just a handful or two.”

“There! It's full. The wallet will __52__ .” warned the Goddess, but the beggar requested, “It will __53__ a little more, just a little more.”

One more piece was added and the wallet split. The __54__ fell upon the ground and became dust. The greedy beggar had now __55__ but his broken bag.

1.                A．showing        B．explaining       C．proving   D．wondering

2.                A．relaxed         B．satisfied        C．worried  D．depressed

3.                A．learn　         B．watch          C．eat  D．play

4.                A．street　        B．bridge          C．yard D．forest

5.                A．praise　        B．forgive         C．help D．comfort

6.                A．coat           B．pocket         C．box  D．wallet

7.                A．occasion        B．suggestion       C．situation  D．condition

8.                A．hand           B．feet            C．ground   D．street

9.                A．look out        B．look after       C．look up   D．look down

10.               A．small　         B．empty          C．worn 　　　   D．full

11.               A．stand　        B．wait           C．breathe　 D．think

12.               A．stream         B．piece          C．pair D．variety

13.               A．stop           B．request        C．fear D．insist

14.               A．spread         B．close          C．loose　　　    D．shake

15.               A．pour　　　     B．end           C．dry   D．bury

16.               A．take　　       B．add            C．lend D．send

17.               A．flow           B．break          C．disappear　    D．change

18.               A．attract         B．permit         C．include　  D．hold

19.               A．wallet 　       B．food           C．gold 　　 D．bag

20.               A．nothing        B．anything        C．everything D．something

Ⅲ. 阅读（共两节，满分40分）

第一节　阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

       阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从41—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the sound and lightning that can go with those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.

The reason these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, do you know that the lightning we see flashing down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes trick us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way round. But then, if we believed only what we think and we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night.

Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on earth every second.

Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of lightning flashing reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval(间隔) between the flash and the crash to learn how close they are to the actual spark(闪光).

1. According to the author, in the area of the Central Valley, ___________.

  A. rains usually come without thunder and lightning

  B. it is usually dry in April

  C. children pay no attention to the two natural wonders

  D. parents are not interested in thunder and lightning

2. We believe that lightning is a downward motion because ___________.

A. we were taught so by our parents from our childhood

B. we are taken in by our sense of vision

C. it is a common natural sight

D. it is a truth proved by science

3. What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage?

  A. Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth.

  B. Lightning travels 5 times faster than thunder.

  C. Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another.

  D. There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we can imagine.

4. The underlined word “activity” is most closely related to the word(s)___________.

A. “cloud”                                         B. “lightning strikes”         

C. “lightning flashes”                               D. “thunderstorms”

5. It can be concluded from the passage that____________.

  A. we should not believe what we see or hear

  B. things moving downward are more noticeable

  C. people often have wrong ideas about ordinary phenomena (现象)

  D. adults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena