In 1989 an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened America, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the middle of complete damage and disorder, a father rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be,   36   that the building was   37  .

After the unforeseeable shock, he   38   the promise he had made to his son: “No matter   39  , I’ll always be there for you!” And tears began to   40   his eyes. As he looked at the pile of ruins , it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his   41  to his son. He rushed there and started   42   through the ruins.

As he was digging, other helpless parents arrived,   43  : “It’s too late! They’re all dead!

  44  , face the reality, there’s nothing you can do!” To each parent he responded with   45  : “Are you going to help me now?” No one helped. And then he continued to dig for his son, stone by stone.

Courageously he went on alone because he needed to know   46  : “Is my boy   47   or is he dead?” He dug for 8 hours...12 hours...24 hours...36 hours...then, in   48  hour, he pulled back a large stone and heard his son’s   49  . He creamed his son’s name, “ARMAND!” He heard back, “Dad! It’s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d   50  me and   51  you saved me, they’d he saved. You promised, ‘No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you!’ You did it, Dad!”

“What’s going on in there?” the father asked.

“There are 14 of us   52     53   33, Dad. We’re scared, hungry, thirsty and thankful you’re here.  When the building collapsed, it made   54  , and it saved us.”

“Come, out, boy!”

“No, Dad! Let the other kids out first,   55   I know you’ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you’ll always be there for me!”

A．only discovering                      B．only to discover      

            C．only realizing                        D．only to realize

A．as flat as a pancake                   B．as high as a mountain

            C．as strong as an ox                      D．as weak as a kitten

A．memorized    B．forgot               C．kept            D．remembered

A．what          B．what happen         C．which           D．who

A．fill            B．fill in               C．come           D．burst

A．picture        B．promise             C．present         D．encourage

A．digging        B．digging through       C．digging out      D．digging into

A．to say         B．said                C．and saying      D．saying

A．Come out      B．Come again          C．Come on       D．Come off

A．one word      B．one sound         C．one row        D．one line

A．for himself    B．of himself           C．by himself      D．to himself

A．live               B．living               C．alive            D．lively

A．38            B．the 38               C．38 th         D．the 38 th

A．sound         B．voice               C．noise           D．tone

A．will save       B．would save           C．save            D．would have saved

A．when          B．because             C．even if          D．thought

A．remained       B．missing             C．left            D．gone

A．for            B．behind              C．out of           D．over

A．a promise      B．space             C．room          D．a triangle

A．because        B．though              C．when           D．even though

It was so cold that I couldn’t feel my legs. There was going to be a racing contest that night so I was 36 my horse, Skippy, up. I was simply running laps(跑道的圈) around the ring. The  37  cold air had been blowing past me, freezing my limbs, but every second I  38 it. You could hear the faint  39  of the people up at the clubhouse eating their dinner. My parents were also there, not knowing that my little sister had slowly wandered her way down to the ring. It was  40 because there was no moon or stars. Nobody else was in the ring at the time. I was really enjoying the  41  and I was able to  42  what Skippy was doing. As I took my last lap it  43 . Everything rapidly slowed down as I saw my little sister step 44   the ring. I saw true fear on her face because she knew she wouldn’t be  45  to move out of the way fast enough. She knew that she was going to get hit. She tried to  46 but nothing came out of her fear-dried throat. When my horse got to her, he was still in a full out run.  47  , miraculously(奇迹般地), he slid so hard on his back feet that he  48 . It really made the  49  seem absolutely unreal. I thought that maybe I was 50 . I had  51  in my mind that I wasn’t seeing what was happening. I knew I had hit my sister. There was no way I could have  52  her. My horse was rising straight up and while he was in the air I couldn’t breathe. It’s like I forgot  53 . As all of this happened I watched my sister’s face transform (变形) through many different  54 : terror, confusion, curiosity, and then a sort of relief. Then she was laughing.
As I held my sister into my arms, Skippy stood right behind me knowing that I actually owed him my life  55 he saved my sister’s.

【小题7】

A．rely on B．focus on C．insist on D．put on

Once many years ago, I pulled a family out of a burning car somewhere in Wyoming. Last week I received a telephone call from a woman who could not stop crying as she told me that one of my stories had saved her son from committing suicide. In closing she called me a hero.
That got me thinking about what a hero is. Was I a hero because I pulled a family from a burning car? If so, how could I be a hero just because I wrote a story that saved someone’s life?
Today I looked up the word “hero” in the dictionary to see exactly what it meant. It read “a person who does something brave” and also “a person who is good and noble”.
That statement impressed me more than the part about being brave. So I thought about something very important. And I remembered what happened to me years ago.
After my marriage of twenty years ended, I was in such a condition. I was within hours trying to get up enough courage to end the pain and misery. When I returned home, someone had sent me a card in the mail which told me how much they would appreciate me as a friend. That wonderful card probably saved my life. That person, without even knowing it, saved a life and became a hero.
The many stories I kept writing in the following years saved the life of a teenage boy. In turn that makes the person who sent me the card a double hero. I suppose that is why I fight so hard to help the children now living in orphanages (孤儿院). Most children come out of these institutions with a very hard and bitter attitude against the world. The gifts we send them let them know that they have not been forgotten. Hopefully, most of them will never hurt anyone because of the kindness shown to them by those of us who cared. If it works, we will also become "heroes".
【小题1】The main idea of the passage is _______________.

四、阅读理解 （2分×15=30分）阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

Talk about a real-life hero! Ten-year-old Larry Champagne from St. Louis，Missouri, hit the brake (刹车) on a runaway school bus. He saved himself and 20 other kids on board from disaster.

It all happened in one terrible accident. On the way to school, the bus driver, Ernestine Blackman, suddenly fell ill. Seeing the car was running away, the other kids started to scream, but Larry ran to the front and stopped the bus.

“At first I thought, ‘We’re going to die,’” says Larry, “but after I pressed the brake, I felt safe.”

Larry’s speedy reaction made news all over the country. He appeared on TV shows as a hero. The bus company gave Larry a big gift. His school hung a medal of honor around his neck.

“My grandmother always tells me to do what’s right,” says Larry. He thanked his brother, Jerrick, 9, who “helped me get the bus driver up” during the emergency（紧急情况）. How did he know how to stop the bus? Larry is something of a mechanic（机械师）. He helps his grandfather work on his old truck. “He gets his hands dirty,” says his grandfather. One thing is for certain: Larry knows where to find the brakes.

1. What did Larry do to save the runaway bus?

A. He parked it for the sleeping bus driver. 

B. He helped all the kids climb out through the windows.

C. He dialed 911.              D. he pressed the brake.

2. When did Larry finally feel safe?

A. When the kids finally stopped screaming.        B. When the police officers arrived.

C. Once he pressed the brake, and the bus stopped.   D. When the bus driver started driving again.

3. Larry got the following as praise for his hero action Except            .

A. appearing on TV shows                                   B. a scholarship from his school

C. a big gift from the bus company                    D. a medal of honor

4. Larry thanked his brother Jerrick for             .

A. helping him get the bus driver up                           B. helping him work on his old truck

C. teaching him how to find the brake              D. teaching him how to stop the bus

5. The underlined sentence“Larry is something of a mechanic” tells us that               .

A. Larry’s job is a mechanic                                 B. Larry knows something about machines

C. Larry is a robot                                                   D. Larry knows nothing about machines

Was it from the lake ________ he often went fishing ________ he saved the drowning girl?