A long time ago, in an Italian city, the people there built a tower which was admired by everyone passing through. A little further down the road, in a neighboring city, they had built a tower of similar beauty. The two towers were equally well known. The people of the second city, envious (妒忌的) and filled with pride, planned to destroy the neighboring tower so it wouldn’t take attention away from their own. One night, they came to the tower and began to quietly undermine its foundations(地基).
The next morning, the tower was leaning(倾斜) slightly ,but nobody noticed. The same happened for the following few days, until a little girl who was passing by pointed up at the tower and said: “ I think the tower is going to fall down.” And everyone around looked closely, and could see that she was right .Nervousness spread through the city. And they tried many methods to try to straighten the tower, but nothing seemed to work. That was, until one day when the same little girl was walking up again, and she put her arm on the side of the tower to rest. She felt the tower shaking slightly. When she took her hand off it, the movement stopped. And when she put it back on again, the same thing happened. The girl spent a while doing this, until she was completely certain of what she had discovered: “ The tower is ticklish ( 怕痒的) ！” She ran to get some plants, and she planted them right next to the tower. Now if the tower leant over any further it would be tickled by the leaves of those plants. Being a ticklish tower, it would then return to where it had been. In this way, the girl managed to make sure that the tower didn’t fall down, but still kept it leaning a little.
The fact that it was leaning made it even more famous, and this taught a fine lesson to the envious people of the neighboring city.
【小题1】Why did the people of the second city plan to destroy the neighboring tower?

A long time ago, in an Italian city, the people there built a tower which was admired by everyone passing through. A little further down the road, in a neighboring city, they had built a tower of similar beauty. The two towers were equally well known. The people of the second city, envious (妒忌的) and filled with pride, planned to destroy the neighboring tower so it wouldn’t take attention away from their own. One night, they came to the tower and began to quietly undermine its foundations(地基).

The next morning, the tower was leaning(倾斜) slightly ,but nobody noticed. The same happened for the following few days, until a little girl who was passing by pointed up at the tower and said: “ I think the tower is going to fall down.” And everyone around looked closely, and could see that she was right .Nervousness spread through the city. And they tried many methods to try to straighten the tower, but nothing seemed to work. That was, until one day when the same little girl was walking up again, and she put her arm on the side of the tower to rest. She felt the tower shaking slightly. When she took her hand off it, the movement stopped. And when she put it back on again, the same thing happened. The girl spent a while doing this, until she was completely certain of what she had discovered: “ The tower is ticklish ( 怕痒的) ！” She ran to get some plants, and she planted them right next to the tower. Now if the tower leant over any further it would be tickled by the leaves of those plants. Being a ticklish tower, it would then return to where it had been. In this way, the girl managed to make sure that the tower didn’t fall down, but still kept it leaning a little.

The fact that it was leaning made it even more famous, and this taught a fine lesson to the envious people of the neighboring city.

1.Why did the people of the second city plan to destroy the neighboring tower?

2.The underlined word“undermine”（in Paragraph1）probably mean “_________”．

3.When local people heard the news that their tower was going to fall down, they were _________.

4.What lesson can we learn from the practice of the envious people in the neighboring city?

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs 1 the pit. When they saw how 2 the pit was, they told the two frogs that they might be 3 .

The two frogs 4 what the other frogs were saying and 5 to jump up out of the pit with all of their physical strength. The other frogs 6 telling them to stop. Finally, one of the frogs 7 the comments, seriously considering them, and gave up. He 8 down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as 9 as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs shouted at him to stop the 10 and just die. He jumped even harder and finally 11 it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not 12 us?” The frog explained to them that he was 13 . He thought they were 14 him the whole time.

This story teaches two lessons: 1. There is power of life and death in the 15 . An encouraging word to someone who is 16 can lift them up and help them make it through the day. 2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be 17 it takes to kill them. Be 18 of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path.

The 19 of words is great. It is sometimes hard to understand 20 an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times.

1. A. jumped over 　 B. collected about 　 C. came down 　　 D. gathered around

2. A. big 　　　 B. deep 　　　　　　 C. dangerous 　　 　 D. wide

3. A. dead 　　　　 B. kind 　　　　　　 C. quiet 　　　　 　 D. safe

4. A. tolerated 　　 B. understood 　　　 C. ignored 　　　　 D. confused

5. A. promised　　　 B. tried 　　　　　 C. managed 　　　　 D. agreed

6. A. kept 　　　　 B. enjoyed 　　　　 C. finished 　　　　 D. stopped

7. A. lived up to 　 　 B. paid attention to 　 C. got used to 　　 D. got addicted to　

8. A. slowed 　　 B. went　　　　　　 C. climbed　　　 D. fell

9. A. hardly 　　 　 B. difficult 　　　 C. hard 　　　　　　 D. difficultly

10. A. pain 　　　　 B. disease 　　　　 C. fear 　　　　　　 D. competition

11. A. worked 　　　 B. turned 　　　 C. left 　　　　　　 D. made

12. A. follow 　　　 　 B. hear 　　　　　　 C. recognize 　　 　 D. consider

13. A. deaf 　　　　 B. blind 　　　　　 C. honest 　　　 D. clever

14. A. respecting 　 　 B. comforting 　　　 C. encouraging 　　 D. beating

15. A. society　　　 　 B. communication 　 C. tongue 　　　 D. misunderstanding

16. A. down 　　　　 B. angry 　　　　 　 C. away 　　　　 　 D. up

17. A. who　　　 B. that 　　 　　　 C. which 　　　　 D. what

18. A. proud 　　 　 B. careful 　　　　 C. afraid 　　　 　 D. free

19. A. function 　　 B. energy 　　　 C. power 　　　　 D. skill

20. A. that　　　 　 B. what　　　　 　　 C. how　　　　 　 　 D. when

A long time ago, in an Italian city, the people there built a tower which was admired by everyone passing through. A little further down the road, in a neighboring city, they had built a tower of similar beauty. The two towers were equally well known. The people of the second city, envious (妒忌的) and filled with pride, planned to destroy the neighboring tower so it wouldn’t take attention away from their own. One night, they came to the tower and began to quietly undermine its foundations(地基).

The next morning, the tower was leaning(倾斜) slightly ,but nobody noticed. The same happened for the following few days, until a little girl who was passing by pointed up at the tower and said: “ I think the tower is going to fall down.” And everyone around looked closely, and could see that she was right .Nervousness spread through the city. And they tried many methods to try to straighten the tower, but nothing seemed to work. That was, until one day when the same little girl was walking up again, and she put her arm on the side of the tower to rest. She felt the tower shaking slightly. When she took her hand off it, the movement stopped. And when she put it back on again, the same thing happened. The girl spent a while doing this, until she was completely certain of what she had discovered: “ The tower is ticklish ( 怕痒的) ！” She ran to get some plants, and she planted them right next to the tower. Now if the tower leant over any further it would be tickled by the leaves of those plants. Being a ticklish tower, it would then return to where it had been. In this way, the girl managed to make sure that the tower didn’t fall down, but still kept it leaning a little.

The fact that it was leaning made it even more famous, and this taught a fine lesson to the envious people of the neighboring city.

63. Why did the people of the second city plan to destroy the neighboring tower?

A. Because the tower blocked the way of their tourists.

B. Because the tower had the same building style as theirs.

C. Because they hoped that the tower could lean slightly.

D. Because they hoped that visitors just liked their own tower.

64. The underlined word“undermine”（in Paragraph1）probably mean “_________”．

A. test　 B. raise　 C. damage　 D. strengthen

65. When local people heard the news that their tower was going to fall down, they were _________.

A. very anxious

B. very happy

C. very ashamed of themselves

D. angry at the people in the neighboring city

66. What lesson can we learn from the practice of the envious people in the neighboring city?

A. All that ends well is well.

B. Every dog has his day.

C. A bad beginning makes a bad ending.

D. A friend is never known till a man has need.

I’d been 16 for six days and was already prepared to deal with failure. I remember when my mum   36  me up that morning, her voice wasn’t as   37  as it usually was.
I stayed in bed for a few minutes. I was   38  to leave its warmth and comfort, and didn’t want to face the problem that I’d let myself   39  for the past six months. Finally, I dragged myself out of    40 .
I finished getting ready and tried to   41 . It didn’t work, so I decided that my   42  should go with me. We had a little time, so I thought we could practice parking. I   43 , with the wheel hitting the fence. After that, the little bit of confidence I’d had was   44 . I tried two more times, but didn’t   45  much. Then we headed to the test site.
I went into a room for some paperwork. And I waited for 20 minutes—just   46  time to make myself believe that I was going to fail. Then, finally, it was my   47 . I just wanted to get it over and make sure that I had to come back next Thursday.
I stepped outside and the sky was the light blue I love. It offered me some   48  and I realized something: something between when I pulled myself off the seat and when I got outside. I had become   49  and confident.
The first thing I had to do was parking, which I did quite   50 . The confidence that came with it hit me like a wave. The rest of the test went well too and I   51  it all. As I drove back, the instructor told me I would not be coming back for a second   52  next Thursday.
Back in the building I didn’t have to say a word. My mum knew just by looking at me. Her    53  made her face softer. And I’m sure it was at least as big as the smile on my face. Her eyes, 54 , looked kind of teary. I knew she was   55  for me.