When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than most of the adults in our community.
　　When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.
　　The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant care and growth. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them so that each successive tree generation would grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out(淘汰) the weaker trees early on.
He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
　　So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr. Gibbs passed away a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re extremely tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now. However, the trees in my garden trembled in a cold wind although I had watered them for several years.
It seems that adversity(逆境) and suffering benefit these trees in ways comfort and ease never could. I stood there deep in thought.
　　Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But I think it’s time to change my prayer(祷词) because now I know my children are going to encounter hardship..
【小题1】According to Dr. Gibbs’ theories, trees will become weaker if they______

 阅读下列短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项A, B, C,和D中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
A young man, a student in one of our universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students’ friend, for his kindness to those who waited on his instructions．
　   As they went along, they saw   21  in the path a pair of old shoes, which they supposed to belong to a poor man who was employed in a field close by, and who had   22  finished his day’s work．
　The student   23  the professor, saying, “Let’s play the man a（n）   24 : we will hide his shoes, and we stay behind those bushes, and wait to see his  25  when he cannot find them.”
　  “My young friend,” answered the professor, “we should never  26  ourselves at the expense of the poor．You are   27 , and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of helping the poor man．Put a  28  into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the   29  affects him.”
　  The student did so,  30  they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by．
　  The poor man soon finished his work, and came   31  the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes．While   32  his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes; but feeling something 33 , he bent down to feel what it was, and found the coin．
　  Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his face．He gazed upon the coin, turned it round, and looked at it again and again．He then looked around 34  on all sides, but no person was to be seen．He now put the money into his pocket, and went on to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was  35  on finding the other coin．
　  His feelings   36  him; he fell upon his  37 , looked up to heaven and let out a sincere thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife, sick and  38 , and his children without bread, whom the timely giving, from some unknown hand, would save from dying．
　  The student stood there deeply affected, his eyes filled with tears．“Now,” said the professor,
“Are you not much better pleased than if you had played your  39  trick?” The youth replied, “You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget．I feel now the  40 of those words, which I never understood before: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
【小题1】．

A．healthy

B．kind

C．mean

D．rich

A．faith

B．fact

C．truth

D．reliability

The True Story of Treasure Island

It was always thought that Treasure Island was the product of Robert Louis Stevenson’s imagination. ___1___，recent research has found the true story of this exciting work.

Stevenson, a Scotsman, had lived　 2　 for many years in 1881 he returned to Scotland for a　 3　 . With him were his American wife Fanny and his son　 4　　 .

Each morning Stevenson would take them out for a long　 5　 over the hills. They had been　 6　 this for several days before the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse, Kept indoors by the heavy rain. Lloyd felt the days　 7　 . To keep the boy happy Robert asked the boy to do some　 8　 .

One morning, the boy came to Robert with a beautiful map of an island. Robert　 9　 that the boy had drawn a large cross in the middle of　 10　 . “What’s that?” he asked “That’s the　 11　 treasure “said the boy Robert suddenly　 12　 something of an adventure story in the boy’s　 13　 While the rain was pouring, Robert sat down by the fire to write a story. He would make the　 14　 a twelve-year-old boy just like Lloyd. But who would he the pirate（海盗）?

Robert had a good friend named Henley, who walked around with the　 15　 of a wooden leg. Robert had always wanted to　 16　 such a man in a story 17　 Long John Silver the pirate with a wooden leg, was　 18　 .

So thanks to a　 19　 .September in Scotland a friend with a wooden leg and the imagination of a twelve-year-old boy we have one of the greatest　 20　 stories in the English language.

难易度：难

1．A．However B．Therefore C．Besides D．Finally

2．A．alone　 B．next door C．at home D．abroad

3．A．meeting B．story　 C．holiday D．jib

4．A．Lloyd　 B．Robert C．Henley D．John

5．A．talk B．rest　 C．walk　 D．game

6．A．attempting B．missing C．planning　 D．enjoying

7．A．quiet　 B．dull　 C．busy　 D．cold

8．A．cleaning B．writing C．drawing D．exercising

9．A．doubted B．noticed C．decided D．recognized

10．A．the sea B．the house C．Scotland　 D．the island

11．A．forgotten B．buried C．discovered D．unexpected

12．A．saw B．drew　 C．made　 D．learned

13．A．book　 B．reply　 C．picture D．mind

14．A．star　 B．hero　 C．writer D．child

15．A．help　 B．problem C．use D．bottom

16．A．praise B．produce C．include D．accept

17．A．Yet B．Also　 C．But D．Thus

18．A．read　 B．born　 C．hired　 D．written

19．A．rainy B．sunny　 C．cool　 D．windy

20．A．news　 B．love　 C．real-life D．adventure

Inventor，physicist，surveyor，astronomer，biologist，artist... Robert Hooke was all these and more. Some say he was the greatest experimental scientist of the seventeenth century. Once he worked with renowned（有名声的） men of science like Christian Huygens，Antony van Leeuwenhoek，Robert Boyle，Isaac Newton and the great architect，Christopher Wren.

Hooke’s early education began at home，under the guidance of his father. He entered Westminster School at the age of thirteen，and from there he went to Oxford，where he came in contact with some of the best scientists in England. Hooke impressed them with his skill at designing experiments and devising（发明） instruments. In 1662，at the age of twenty－eight，he was named Curator of Experiments of the newly formed Royal Society of London. Hooke accepted the job，even though he knew that it had no money to pay him!

Watching living things through the microscope was one of his favorite occupations. He devised a compound microscope for this purpose. One day while observing a cork (软木) under a microscope，he saw honeycomb－like structures. They were cells—the smallest units of life.In fact，it was Hooke who coined the term “cell” as the boxlike cells of the cork reminded him of the cells of a monastery(修道院)．

Perhaps because of his varied interests，Hooke often left experiments unfinished. Others took up where he left off and then claimed sole(独占的)credit. This sometimes led to quarrels with colleagues. One work that he finished was his book MICROGRAPHIA，a volume that reveals the immense potential of the microscope. The book also includes，among other things，ideas on gravity and light which may have helped scientists like Newton while they were developing their own theories on these phenomena.

Hooke made valuable contributions to astronomy too. A crater(陨石坑) on the moon is named after him in appreciation of his services to this branch of science.

1.From the first paragraph，we can know that Robert Hooke __________.

A．was famous because he worked with many scientists

B．liked making friends with the famous people

C．received a lot from other scientists

D．made contributions to many different fields

2.Robert Hooke probably went to school in __________.

A．1647　　　    　B．1634           C．1662          D．1640

3.Robert Hooke made himself known to some of the best scientists in England by __________.

A．learning by himself with his father’s help

B．introducing himself to them

C．designing experiments and instruments

D．refusing any reward from Royal Society of London

4.Robert Hooke couldn’t get along well with his colleagues because __________.

A．he couldn’t finish his work on time sometimes

B．he had all kinds of interests in his daily life

C．he was too proud to look up to them

D．the other scientists took the fruits of his experiments