I sit at my kitchen table, while my daughter, Anna, sits next to my mother. On the wall hangs a photo of my father.
“When is Rick going to be here?” My mother asks, referring to my husband. 
“I don’t know, Mom,” I answer patiently. “He’ll be here for dinner.”
I sigh and get up from the table. This is at least the tenth time she has asked that question. 
While my mother and daughter play, I busy myself making a salad. 
“Don't put in any onions,” Mom says. “You know how Daddy hates onion.”
“Yes, Mom,” I answer. 
I scrub(洗擦) off a carrot and chop it into bite-size pieces.
“Don't put any onions in the salad,” she reminds me. “You know how Daddy hates onion.”
This time I can’t answer. 
My mother had been beautiful. She still is. In fact, my mother is still everything she has
been, just a bit forgetful.
I cut off the end of the cucumber and rub it to take away the bitterness. Cut and rub. This
is a trick I have learned from my mother, along with a trillion other things: cooking, sewing, 
dating, laughing, thinking. I learned how to grow up. 
And I learned that when my mother was around, I never had to be afraid. 
So why am I afraid now? 
I study my mother's hands. Her nails are no longer a bright red, but painted a light pink.
Almost no color at all. And as I stare at them, I realize I am feeling them as they shaped my 
youth. Hands that packed a thousand lunches and wiped a million tears off my cheeks. 
Now my hands have grown into those of my mother's. Hands that have cooked uneaten 
meals, held my own daughter's frightened fingers on the first day of school and dried tears 
off her face. 
I grow lighthearted. I can feel my mother kiss me goodnight, check to see if the window is
locked, then blow another kiss from the doorway. Then I am my mother, blowing that same
kiss to Anna. 
Outside everything is still. Shadows fall among the trees, shaped like pieces of a puzzle.
Someday my daughter will be standing in my place, and I will rest where my mother now sits. 
Will I remember then how it felt to be both mother and daughter? Will I ask the same
question too many times? 
I walk over and sit down between my mother and her granddaughter. 
“Where is Rick?” my mother asks, resting her hand on the table next to mine. And in that
instant I know she remembers. She may repeat herself a little too much. But she remembers. 
“He’ll be here,” I answer with a smile. 
【小题1】What’s wrong with the writer’s mother?

Our three-year-old daughter Becky wanted a dog. But we were too busy to buy one. One day, Becky ran in, shouting, “Mom! Come to see my dog!” Her face was red with   36 .
　　I followed her to the bush and found a   37 ! He was hurt. Seeing me, he stood up   38 ! I could see his teeth! God! My mouth felt dry. “Don’t be afraid. That’s Mom. She  39 you, too.” Becky said. Then he became friendly. It was  40 !
　　I   41  to find my husband and told him about the wolf. We should have 42  the wolf, but Becky loved him. Besides, he was gentle(温柔的) to Becky. So we called the vet finally.
　　Becky named the wolf (狼) Ralph ,  43  she carried food to him every day. Later, Ralph got well. They played together in the daytime. At night, Ralph would return to the mountains. Sometimes he   44  but came back several days later.
　　On Becky’s first day of school, we could see Ralph’s   45 . After the school bus left, Ralph lay by the side of the road and   46  . When Becky returned, he got happy again. This    47  throughout Becky’s school years.
　　Twelve   48  passed.
　　One day we heard that a she-wolf was killed. The other wolf was hurt and ran away. We were   49  about Ralph. That night, Ralph returned with a wound (伤). Fifteen-year-old Becky held his head and   50  him. We hope he could come through. However, he   51 .
　　Becky cried. I noticed something strange in the bush — two little yellow eyes! Ralph’s  52 ! Before he died, Ralph   53  his child to us! He knew he would be  54  here, as he had been. Ralph, Ralph... I was   55 .
“Don’t be afraid, little ... Ralphie. That’s Mom. She loves you, too.”

People have been burying the dead at Salem’s Hope Cemetery since 1833. The place is filled with old gravestones and gothic mausoleums(哥特式陵墓), the spirits of the dead hanging over the land like an early morning fog.
Keeping watch, a few steps from the road with her skirt over the pedestal (基座), is Goldie Belle Taylor, her face weathered but otherwise in good condition. On this day, she is holding a bunch of pink rises because Goldie Belle always holds flowers. Someone makes sure of that.
“And she has had fresh flowers in her hands for the last 150 years.” Karen Biery lives in Damascus, about five miles west of Hope Cemetery. She’s written a book based on the legend of Goldie Belle Taylor titled Believe. In 1886, at the age of two, young Goldie Belle used her hands to sop up (抹去) the left over elderberry juice from her father’s iron kettle. She died not long after from poisoning. She was the love of her dad’s life, and he was so upset that he sold the family farm to buy the Italian made statue, which today marks her grave.
At first, it was her father who brought the flowers and laid them in her hands. When he died in 1896, the flowers kept coming. Her flowers are different per season. Why do the flowers keep miraculously appearing? People have tried to find out by having camped by the statue, but not even the groundskeepers have been able to catch the criminal.
It’s said that a fairy arrives at Hope Cemetery looking for the grave of her birth mother. She comes across Goldie Belle’s statue.

1. 1.

   The underlined word “that” in paragraph 2 probably refers to________.

   1. A.
      her face in good condition
   2. B.
      her bunch of pink roses
   3. C.
      Goldie Belle Taylor is holding pink roses
   4. D.
      Goldie Belle Taylor always holds flowers
2. 2.

   It can be inferred from the third paragraph __________.

   1. A.
      her father was poisonous
   2. B.
      the iron kettle was poisonous
   3. C.
      elderberry juice was poisonous
   4. D.
      it was her father that hated her
3. 3.

   After her father died, the flowers in the hands of Goldie Belle Taylor_______.

   1. A.
      usually change
   2. B.
      were stolen
   3. C.
      are no longer fresh
   4. D.
      come from a criminal
4. 4.

   What would be the best title for the passage?

   1. A.
      A fairy brings the flowers.
   2. B.
      The mystery of Goldie’s flowers.
   3. C.
      What happens to the girl?
   4. D.
      How do the flowers get there?

第二部分 阅读理解
（共25小题。每一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
第一节  阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
It was a spring day for end-of-the-year conferences. Mrs. Lake reminded everyone that both parents and students should take part in these important progress report, 20minutes for each family.
Lauri’s name was at the end of the list. But it didn't matter much to her. Despite the many phone calls her teacher had made, Lauri knew her parents would not be coming. Her father always got drunk , and her mother could do nothing but cry and quarrel with him.
Now Lauri watched all day long as each child went to the door leading into Mrs. Lake’s office, where parents would greet their sons and daughters with proud smiles. Lauri imagined how it might feel to have her parents greet her at the door. When at last everyone else’s name had been called, Mrs. Lake opened the door and signed for Lauri to come in. Silently Lauri went in and sat down on a chair. As she felt rather uneasy that her parents had not come, she looked down. Mrs. Lake had Lauri raise her face so she could see her in the eye. “First of all,” the teacher began, “I want you to know how much I love you ,”Lauri saw things she’d never seen: kindness.
“Second,” the teacher continued, “you need to know-it is not your fault that your parents are not here today.” Again Lauri looked into Mrs. Lake’s face. No one had ever talked to her like this. No one.
“Third,” she went on, “you deserve（应得）to hear how well you are doing and how wonderful I think you are. ”In the following minutes, Mrs, Lake held a conference just for Lauri. She showed Lauri her grades, papers and projects, praising her efforts. She had even saved a pile of watercolors Lauri had painted.
Lauri didn’t know exactly when, but at some point in that conference she heard the voice of hope in her heart. And somewhere a change started. It was then that Lauri realized, for the first time in her life, that she was lovable.
1. Parents were required to take part in the conferences to           .
A. see how important it was to encourage their children
B. learn how their children had performed in their studies.
C. report to the teacher how their children were doing at home.
D. see how their children were getting along with their classmates
2. Lauri’s name was at the end of the list probably because_______.
A. she was shy and didn’t have courage to meet the teacher first
B. Lauri’s parents were always the last to come to the conference
C. Mrs. Lake knew that only Lauri didn’t care about it
D. Mris. Lake wanted to leave time to have a good talk with her
3. How did Lauri feel at the end of the conference?
A. Encouraged   B. Ashamed  C. Satisfied  D. Disappointed.
4. We can learn from the text that______.
A. Lauri didn't expect her parents to attend the conference
B. Lauri was not a hard-working student before
C. Mrs. Lake filled Lauri with hope and self-respect
D. Mrs. Lake was more strict with lauri than any other student,

A gentle breeze blew through Jennifer's hair. The golden red sun was setting. She was on the beach, looking up at the fiery (火红的) ball. She was amazed by its color, deep red in the middle, softly fading into yellow. She could hear nothing but the waves and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.    

The atmosphere relaxed her. After all she had been through, this was what she needed. "It's getting late," she thought, "I must go home. My parents will be wondering where I am."

She wondered how her parents would react, when she got home after the three days she was missing. She kept on walking, directing herself where she spent every summer holiday. The road was deserted. She walked slowly and silently. Just in a few hundred meters she would have been safe in her house.

It was really getting dark now. The sun had set a few minutes before and it was getting cold too. She wished she had her favorite sweater on: it kept her really warm. She imagined having it with her. This thought disappeared when she finally saw her front door. It seemed different. Nobody had taken care of the outside garden for a few days. She was shocked: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy, and now... It all seemed deserted. She couldn't understand what was going on.    

She entered the house. First, she went into the kitchen where she saw a note written by her father. It said: "Dear Ellen, there is some coffee ready. I went looking." Ellen was her mother but－where was she? On the right side of the hallway was her parents' room. She went in. Then she saw her. Her mother, lying on the bed, was sleeping. Her face looked so tired, as if she hadn't slept for days. She was really pale. Jennifer would have wanted to wake her up but she looked too tired. So Jennifer just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up, something was different－she wasn't in her mother's room and she wasn't wearing the old clothes she ran away in. She was in her cozy bed in her pajamas.     

It felt so good being back home. Suddenly she heard a voice, "Are you feeling better now, dear? You know you got us very, very scared."

Three days later Jennifer came back home      .

A. at sunrise         B. at sunset      C. at night              D. at midday

What does the underlined phrase "This thought" most probably mean?

A. The idea of going back home.           

B. Her anxiety about her parents.     

C. The feeling of being warm in her favorite sweater.     

D. The feeling of getting back home safely.

Her father didn't take care of the garden because      .

A. he was busy looking for her   

B. he had to look after his wife

C. he was not strict with his job        

D. he no longer enjoyed working in the garden

What can we infer from this passage?

A. In fact Jennifer's mother had been sick for days.     

B. As Jennifer walked towards home, she became increasingly scared.     

C. When she found the garden deserted, she realized she was wrong.     

D. Having experienced a lot outside, Jennifer felt home was safest for her.