Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet fighter pilot in Viet Nam. After 75 missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb parachuted down into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison.

One day, Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant when a man from another table came up and said “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Viet Nam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied. “I guess it worked”. Plumb assured him, “It sure did. If your chute（降落伞） hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said ‘Good morning. How are you?’ or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was ‘just a sailor’”.

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds(伞罩) and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

1.Why didn’t Plumb say hello to the sailor each time he passed him on the Kitty Hawk?

A. He thought the sailor was just an unimportant man.   

B. He didn’t like him at that time.

C. He was very busy then. 

D. He didn’t know him well then.

2. What did the sailor do on the Kitty Hawk at the Viet Nam War?

A. weaved clothes for the pilots.          B. repaired the wooden table in the ship.

C. helped the jets start.                  D. packed the parachutes for the fighter pilots.

3. What does the writer think we should do?

A. We should help each other if they are in trouble. 

B. We shouldn’t look down upon the sailors.

C. We should be thankful to others’ help.

D. We should be honest to our friends.

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A. A story about a sailor.                       B. Who pack your parachutes?

C. Don’t forget your past!                      D. Never forget your friends!

When Mary Moore began her high school in 1951, her mother told her, “Be sure and take a typing course so when this show business thing doesn't work out, you'll have something to rely on.” Mary responded in typical teenage fashion. From that moment on, "the very last thing I ever thought about doing was taking a typing course," she recalls. 

The show business thing worked out, of course. In her career, Mary won many awards. Only recently, when she began to write Growing Up Again, did she regret ignoring her mom, “I don't know how to use a computer,” she admits. 

Unlike her 1995 autobiography(自传), After All, her second book is less about life as an award-winning actress and more about living with diabetes (糖尿病). All the money from the book is intended for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), an organization she serves as international chairman. “I felt there was a need for a book like this,” she says. “I didn't want to lecture, but I wanted other diabetics to know that things get better when we're self-controlled and do our part in managing the disease.” 

But she hasn't always practiced what she teaches. In her book, she describes that awful day, almost 40 years ago, when she received two pieces of life-changing news. First, she had lost the baby she was carrying, and second, tests showed that she had diabetes. In a childlike act, she left the hospital and treated herself to a box of doughnuts (甜甜圈). Years would pass before she realized she had to grow up ---again---and take control of her diabetes, not let it control her. Only then did she kick her three-pack-a-day cigarette habit, overcome her addiction to alcohol, and begin to follow a balanced diet. 

Although her disease has affected her eyesight and forced her to the sidelines of the dance floor, she refuses to fall into self-pity. “Everybody on earth can ask, 'why me?' about something or other,” she insists. “It doesn't do any good. No one is immune (免疫的) to heartache, pain, and disappointments. Sometimes we can make things better by helping others. I've come to realize the importance of that as I've grown up this second time. I want to speak out and be as helpful as I can be.”

1.Why did Mary feel regretful? 

A. She didn't achieve her ambition. 

B. She didn't take care of her mother. 

C. She didn't complete her high school.

D. She didn't follow her mother's advice. 

2.We can know that before 1995, Mary __________.

A. had two books published

B. received many career awards

C. knew how to use a computer

D. supported the JDRF by writing 

3.Mary's second book Growing Up Again is mainly about her__________ . 

A. living with diabetes                    B. successful show business 

C. service for an organization                     D. remembrance of her mother 

4.When Mary received the life-changing news, she_____________ . 

A. lost control of herself                                     B. began a balanced diet 

C. tried to get a treatment                                  D. behaved in an adult way 

5.What can we know from the last paragraph? 

A. Mary feels pity for herself.      

B. Mary has recovered from her disease. 

C. Mary wants to help others as much as possible. 

D. Mary determines to go back to the dance floor. 

Farmer John and Farmer Bob were neighbours. For more than 30 years, they had been getting along very well.

Then their good relationship broke. It began with a small thing, then bitter words, and then weeks of silence. One morning Farmer John woke up to find a stream between the two farms. “It must be Bob,” John thought.

Then one day there was a knock on John’s door. He opened it to find a carpenter(木匠) standing at the doorway.

“I’m looking for a few days’ work,” the carpenter said.

“I do have a job for you,” John said. “Look across the stream at that farm. That’s my neighbour Bob. He dug a stream between the two farms. I want you to build a fence—an 8-foot fence. I don’t want to see his place or his face any more. I don’t have such a neighbour!”

The carpenter said, “I think I know what to do, sir, and I’ll be able to do a job that pleases you.”

Farmer John helped the carpenter get the materials(材料) ready and then he was off for the day.

About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer’s eyes opened wide. There was no fence there at all!

It was a bridge! And the neighbour, Bob, was coming across, with his hand outstretched(伸出). “Hi, John! You’re quite a fellow to build this bridge!”

Then they met in the middle, taking each other’s hands. “I’m terribly sorry for what I have said and done. We should be good to each other.” said Farmer Bob.

Then they turned to see the carpenter, who was ready to go. “No, wait! Stay a few days. I have a lot of other jobs for you,” said Farmer John. “I’d love to stay,” the carpenter said, “but I have more bridges to build.”

1.Just before the carpenter came, John and Bob             each other.

A. didn’t speak to                 B. were friendly to     

C. often fought with                 D. never had bitter words with

2. Farmer John asked the carpenter to build a fence because            .

         A. he wanted to protect his farm   B. he didn’t want to do it himself

         C. he wouldn’t like to see Bob     D. he wanted to find him something to do

3.What does the sentence “You’re quite a fellow to build this bridge!” mean?

A. John was great to build this bridge.

B. John was not good at building bridges.

C. John was foolish to build such a bridge.

D. John should build the bridge earlier.

4.What is the best title for the passage?

         A. What a Big Fence!                    B. A Strong Bridge

         C. Three Kind Men                      D. A Fence or a Bridge?

 “Tom!”

    There was no answer.

    “Tom!”

    Still no answer.

    “Where’s that boy gone? Tom!”

    The old lady looked all around the room. She looked under the bed, but found only the cat.

    “If I catch that boy, …” she murmured to herself.

    She opened the door and looked out into the garden.

    “Tom!” she shouted.

    Then she heard a slight noise behind her. She turned round just in time to catch the boy as he came out of a cupboard.

    “And what have you been doing in there?”

    “Nothing,” said the boy.

    “Nothing! Look at your hands and your mouth! What is that stuff?”

    “I don’t know, Aunt.”

“Well, I know. It’s a jam. I’ve told you forty times that if you touched that jam, I’d skin you.

Give me that stick.”

    “Look out, Aunt! Look behind you!”

    The old lady turned round and Tom was out of the door in a flash, over the garden fence and away.

    “Damn that boy! Will I never learn? He’s always playing tricks on me. And he seems to know just now how far he can go, too. But I can’t take a stick to him. I really can’t. After all, he’s my dead sister’s boy. Ah well, he’ll play truant today and I’ll have to make him work tomorrow.”

At supper Aunt Polly tried to trick Tom into admitting that he hadn’t gone to school.

    “It was rather hot today, wasn’t it, Tom?”

    “Yes,” answered Tom.

    “You didn’t have to open your shirt collar where I sewed（缝） it, then.”

    Tom was confident, now. He opened his jacket. His collar was securely sewed.

    “Oh Tom,” said Aunt Polly. “You’re a good boy really.”

    She was sorry that she had been wrong about him.

    “But Aunt,” came a voice. It was Sidney, Tom’s younger brother. “Didn’ t you sew Tom’s collar with white cotton? Look! Now it’s black.

    Tom was already running out of the door.

                                     ---The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

1.The underlined word “skin” probably mean in the passage?

A. praise             B. cheat                            C. touch                    D. beat   

2.Which of the following words can be best used to describe Tom?

A. stupid             B. clever                       C. naughty           D. brave

3.What can be inferred from Sidney’s words in the passage?

A. Tom made his jacket dirty on purpose.

B. Tom didn’t go to school that day.

C. Tom was a dirty boy.

D. Sidney hated Tom so he wanted to punish him.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Tom’s mother passed away.                            

B. Tom’s aunt was a good sewer.

C. Tom was good at sports.

D. Aunt Polly felt sorry for his misunderstanding to Tom.

My friend Dr. Dong had a wonderful chance to go to Seattle to present a paper at a professional meeting. When he got back to Beijing, he told me his experience.

   Dr. Dong enjoyed his first days very much. At the medical conference, he felt quite confident in his area of research and was able to perform well in his presentation. But after a few days, he began to feel uncomfortable. His medical English was fine, but the social communication skills were different.

   He got more and more worried that he was misunderstanding simple English greetings and table talk conventions(习俗). When someone greeted him with, “Hi, how’s it going?” he thought they had asked him “Where are you going?” and answered with the name of the conference hall, only to get a surprised stare from them. At a western style dinner, a colleague asked, “So how’re you enjoyin’ the States?” he thought he heard, “how are you enjoying your steak?” and answered that he was eating chicken, not beef. That time, they smiled, and patiently repeated the question, then both laughed at the error.

By the end of the meetings, Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” and was worn out from having to pay attention to so many new expressions and ways of dealing with things. He felt his handshake was not as firm as Americans’, found that people reacted unusually when he modestly insisted his English was not good after they complimented(称赞) him, didn’t know how to accept dinner invitations properly and therefore missed out on going to several lunches, and so on. Eventually, he was so confused that he felt the full impact of “culture shock”.

1.Why did Dr. Dong travel to Seattle?

A. To improve his spoken English.  B. To experience culture shock.

C. To give lectures on his research.   D. To attend a medical conference.

2. Which of the following best describes Dr. Dong’s experience in Seattle?

   A. Comfortable—very uncomfortable—uncomfortable.

   B. comfortable—very uncomfortable—comfortable.

   C. Comfortable—uncomfortable – very uncomfortable.

   D. Comfortable—uncomfortable – very comfortable.

3.Dr. Dong felt a deep sense of “cultural stress” mainly because_______.

   A. he was too modest      B. he didn’t understand cultural differences

   C. he lacked confidence     D. he was not good at English listening

4.