You’d better cook the meat as soon as possible because it won’t s________ fresh in such hot

　 weather.

   When I was young, my parents ran a snack bar in our small town.

   One evening in early April, my mother told me to fill in at the snack bar   36   a worker who had the flu. I told her I would mess it up,   37   I had never worked at the bar before. I   38   that instead of making money, I would end up owing it.

   “You can do it,” said my mother, “  39  , you won’t get much business until lunch.”

   “But I’ll never remember the orders, and I’m no good   40   money. Please, Mom, don’t   41   me.

   “Then I’ll help you,” she said.

   I shrugged my shoulders. I thought my mother’s   42   was a bad one, but I   43  .

   When I got to the bar the next day, I found my mother was   44  . Because the weather that day was rainy and cold, people wanted hot snacks and drinks.   45  , I was really slow at taking the orders and making change. The line of people grew, and everybody seemed   46  , I was so nervous that my hands shook, and I   47   a cup into pieces. What a mess! Then my mother came to   48   me, and she also showed me how to make   49  . If someone gave me $ 5 for something that cost $ 3.25, I handed over

  50   quarters and a dollar and said, “75 cents makes four dollars, plus one dollar makes five.” Things went more   51   after that.

   By the end of the day, I could remember orders,   52   the bill, and make change quickly with a smile. I was even a little   53   when the sun came out and dried up business. My mother said she was proud of me, and when she   54   that I work at the snack bar again next year, I did not even shrug. I was too busy

  55   the restaurant I would open one day.

She had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart．She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful brown haired, freckle-faced image of innocence．Outside, it was pouring so heavily．

We all stood there just inside the door of the Wal-Mart．We waited, some patiently, others annoyed because nature messed up their hurried day．I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world．

Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance （昏昏欲睡） we were all caught in．"Mom, let's run through the rain," she said．

"No, honey．We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied．

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain．"

" We'll get wet totally if we do," Mom said．

"No, we won't, Mom．That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tore at her Mom's arm．

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent．I dare say you couldn't hear anything but the rain．We all stood silently. No one came or left in. the next few minutes,Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say．

Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly．Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's lifetime when innocent trust can be developed so that it will bloom into faith．"Honey, you are absolutely right．Let's run through the rain．If get wet, well maybe we just need washing," Mom said．Then off they ran.

We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they rushed past the cars and they held their shopping bags over their heads just in case．They got soaked．But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars．And yes, I did．I ran．I got wet．I needed washing．

You may lose your material possessions, your money and even your health, but no one can ever take away your precious memories．So don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories．

1.Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined word "affirmation"?

A．happiness         B．approval          C．disagreement      D．love

2.What do we know about the mother in the story?

A．Her husband was cured of his cancer．

B．She was strong-willed and considerate．

C．She was in despair and pretended to forget what she said．

D．Her daughter completely understood the situation her family was in．

3.Which of the following may the author agree with?

A．The mother should not tell her child about the family misfortune．

B．Parents should act more bravely than their children．

C．Parents should grasp every opportunity to influence their children to grow well．

D．Children should learn to show gratitude and understanding to their parents．

4.The best title for the passage might be _____．

A．Run Through the Rain                    B．Be a Determined Mother

C．Wait in the Rain                         D．Have a Wonderful Experience

Texting is a great way to communicate and teenagers are doing just that. New research shows that on average, teens are sending 2,000 text messages a month, and doctors say it’s causing injuries.
13-year-old Bailey Baker keeps using her thumbs, sending text messages to her friends again and again. The past March may have been her best month ever, texting 8,000 times. Now, she says she’s feeling the pain. “Just mainly back and neck problems and thumb numbness,” she says.
Baylor-Garland Dr. Jane Sadler is seeing more and more teens who simply text until it hurts. She says parents, including Bailey’s mom, have no idea how much their kids are texting. “I was thinking she was texting about 25 texts a day,” says Lisa Baker. “Wrong! We’ve uncovered a problem.” It didn’t take Dr. Sadler long to find the problem. She gave Bailey the once-over and learnt that Bailey had developed Texting Teen Tendinitis(肌腱炎)
“A lot of them report pain in their thumbs, back and neck,” says Dr. Sadler. “When we look into it and examine a little bit further, we see texting is the main cause of the problem.” Dr. Sadler says back pain is caused by poor posture while texting. Bailey often texts for up to 2 hours a day; that’s a lot of wear and tear on the thumbs which over time, can break down. Dr. Sadler tells over-texting teens to look into the future. “What I tell them is ‘Hey, you might be normal now, but when you are 40 or 50, you can get arthritis (关节炎).’”
Dr. Sadler recommends limiting texting to 50 a day, and keeping good posture. Dr. Sadler also says touch screens are easier on the thumbs than keyboards and hand exercises are great to build up those muscles, making it easier to text.
1. How many text messages did Bailey Baker send a day on average last month?
A. Less than 226.   B. About 230.        C. About 267.        D. More than 300.
2. Because of texting, Bailey Baker suffers from the following problems EXCEPT ______.
A. back pain          B. neck pain          C. headache           D. thumb numbness
3. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. She gave Bailey Baker a quick examination.
B. She solved Bailey Baker’s problem at once.
C. She gave Bailey Baker a piece of advice.
D. She let Bailey Baker send a text message again.
4. What can we conclude from Paragraph 4?
A. Teenagers won’t get hurt if they stop texting right now.
B. Poor posture while texting is the main cause of injuries.
C. Thumbs won’t ache if teens text for no more than 2 hours a day.
D. Over-texting may have a bad effect on people in the long run.