July 21st, 2007 was a typical English summer’s day — it rained for 24 hours! As usual, I rushed home from work at midday to check on the house. Nothing was amiss. By the time I lift work at 5 pm, however, the road into our village was flooded. Our house bad never been flooded but, as I opened the front door, a wave of water greeted me. Thank God the kids weren’t with me, because the house was 5 feet deep in water. We lost everything downstairs. And the plaster had to be torn off the walls, ceilings pulled down.

 At first we tried to push on through. We didn’t want to move the children out of home, so we camped upstairs. we put a sheet of plastic across the floor to protect us from the damp. But after three months, we felt very sick, so we moved to a wooden house in a park. The house was small, but at first we were all just delighted to be in a new place. Unfortunately, things took longer than expected and we were there for 10 months. The life there was inconvenient. What surprised me most was how much I missed being part of a community（社区）.We had lived in a friendly village with good neighbours, and I’d never thought how much I’d miss that.

 Although-our situation was very bad, it’s difficult to feel too sorry for yourself when you look at what’s happening elsewhere. I watched a news report about floods in Northern India and thought , “We didn’t have a straw hut（茅草房）that was swept away , and our house is still sanding . We’re lucky .”

 We moved back home in August. With December coming, there’s reconstruction work to be done, so it’s difficult to prepare for Christmas. But I can’t wait — I’m going to throw a party for our friends in the village to say thanks for their support. This year , I won’t need any gifts — living away from home for months has made me realize how little we actually need or miss all our possessions . Although we are replacing things, there’s really no rush — we have our home back, and that’s the main thing.

What does the underlined word “amiss” in the first paragraph mean?

A. Wrong.   B. Missing.   C. Right.    D. Found.

It can be inferred from the text that the author                    .

A. was sick of staying upstairs

B. cared much about her children

C. could not stand living a wooden house

D. did not deal well with her family affairs during the flood

Why does author say that they were lucky in the third paragraph?

A. Because her situation was not serious.

B. Because many other places were flooded.

C. Because she had been to Northern India.

D. Because some others suffered even more.

What does the author mainly want to express by telling her story?

A. She valued human feelings more than before.

B. She realized she almost didn’t need possessions.

C. She found Christmas gifts no longer badly needed.

D. She thought her own home was the most important.

I get off the bus and walk a few blocks. I stop when I get to a garage-like place and walk to the metal door with brown paint. I turn the knob(把手)and walk in. A thousand eyes look at me as I take my place at the end of the long line. When I finally get up to the window, I hand the officer my ID. “I’m here to visit Mr C. Yes, I’m his daughter.”
I learn that line by heart. The officer hands me a piece of paper with my name as the visitor and my father’s as the prisoner. It tells me which floor to go to. As I get on the elevator, a rush of excitement runs through me. Then I go to the eighth floor, look around and see the faces I see here every Sunday and Thursday.
There he is. I stand on tiptoe(脚尖)to get a better view since I can hardly see him. He doesn’t look like my father. He’s got a beard now and he looks a lot weaker. He’s the dad that I see through a window. My dad who is separated from the world. The only place he now knows is his room in the prison. When I look deep into his eyes, I see emptiness and pain.
It’s difficult to hear him through the thick glass and over everyone else who is trying to talk. We try to carry on a normal conversation about simple things including my day and what I’m doing in school, but we mostly talk about how we can’t wait until he gets out. After an hour my time is up. We say our good-byes and love-yous.
I get on the bus to go home. My favorite place is where my father is—prison. I know, how can prison be anyone’s favorite place? But it is because my father is there. It’ll no longer be my favorite place once he gets out, though—home will be.
【小题1】The author goes to the prison_________.

—Are you going to have a holiday this year?

           —I'd love to. I can't wait to leave this place ______.      

 A. off                 B. out               C. behind               D. over

What if you could fly like a bird just by thinking happy thoughts? Or you could disappear to a faraway land, never grow old and fight pirates every day? For Peter Pan and his friends, the Lost Boys, these dreams come true.
More than 100 years after this playful boy was “born”, Peter Pan and his friends are to continue their adventure in a sequel(续集)to J.M. Barrie’s original novel. “Peter Pan in Scarlet”(重返梦幻岛),written by British author Geraldine McCaughrean, was published earlier this month.
The sequel brings all the original characters back. Peter Pan’s friends, the Lost Boys, are now grown up and live in the real world. What’s more, at the end of the first book, Peter Pan thinks he has killed his enemy, Captain Hook. But ,new readers discover he is not so dead at all.
For those who are unfamiliar with the original story, Peter Pan lives in faraway Neverland with a group of orphans. But they are eager for a real mother and Peter Pan flies to London with a fairy(仙女), Tinkerbell, to find one. They visit a young girl, Wendy, who loves to read stories, and bring her and her two brothers back to Neverland to live with them. In Neverland, children never have to grow up, and there are no parents to tell them what to do.
Many teenagers dream of a world where they don’t have to grow old and take responsibility. But, the author explains such a world is not the paradise(乐园)when it first appears: adventures can be scary and often dangerous, and, though we all sometimes dream of running away, we all need someone to love and look after us too.
【小题1】The passage is written to ________.

The world can’t wait ________ the film, Inception《盗梦空间》, at the moment.

A．to see            B．seeing            C．seen             D．see