We were asked to ________ what the teacher said in class.

[　　]

    Thanksgiving Day was near. Lucy, the first grade teacher, gave her class a fun  36  --- to draw a picture of somebody or something for which they were   37  . When the students  38   their assignment, she found that most of them drew some pictures of their parents, teachers, brothers, sisters, friends or neighbors. “What   39   students! How wonderful the pictures are!” She thought.

   Douglas, however, made a different kind of picture. He was a   40  boy. He didn’t act the same as others. He always seemed to be shy and __41__. He seldom __42__ with other children during the break __43__ they kindly invited him to. Lucy treated him very well. She always helped him and encouraged him to be confident and have a good time with his classmates. Yes, his picture was different. He just drew a __44__. Nothing else. His abstract image _45__ the imagination of his classmates. Whose hand could it be? One guessed it was a mother’s hand，for mother’s hand gives children warmth and __46__. Another child guessed it was a farmer’s hand, because farmers raise turkeys. Still others thought it was a police officer’s hand, because the police __47__ people and care for people. And so the discussion __48__.

   When the children were discussing it, Lucy paused at Douglas’ desk, __49__, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy murmured, “ It’s __50__, teacher.” Douglas was most thankful for her hand. She was __51__ and felt tears in her eyes. She thought of the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here or there. She __52__ how often she had said to him, “Take my __53__, Douglas. We’ll go outside.” or “Let me show you how to hold your pencil.” or “Let’s do this together.”

   The story speaks of __54__ thankfulness. It also says something about teachers teaching and

parents parenting and friends showing friendship, and how much it means to the children like Douglas. They might not always say “__55__” out, but they’ll remember the hand that you reach out to give them love and be grateful to you always.

I must have been about fourteen then, and I put away the incident from my mind with the easy carelessness of youth. But the words, Carl Walter spoke that day, came back to me years later, and ever since have been of great value to me.

Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.

“Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?”

“I try to.”

“Well, don’t, ” he said loudly. “When you grow up, time won’t come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life.”

When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but class periods, theme-reading, and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment, at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript(手稿) ready for revision. Later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal （零碎的）method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were moments which could be caught and put to use.

There is an important trick in this time-using principle: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing, you can’t afford to waste it in chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.

I admit I have never learnt how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a significant influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I throw myself into it without delay.

1.The meaning of “stretch” in the underlined part is the same as that in the sentence “_______”

A. The dog woke up, had a good stretch and wandered off.

B. Bob worked as a government official for a stretch of over twenty years.

C. My family wasn’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

D. This material has a lot of stretch in it.

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The author didn’t take the teacher’s words to heart at first.

B. Rapid concentration is more difficult than people imagine.

C. The author thanked his teacher for teaching him to work in long stretches.

D. Carl Walter has influenced the writer greatly since he was a student.

3.We can infer that the author______.

A. had new books published each year however busy his teaching is

B. is tired of interruptions in life because he always has much work

C. has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels

D. makes mental preparations beforehand so as to focus on work quickly

4.What is probably the best title for this text?

A. Concentrate on Your Work            B. A Little at a Time

C. How I Became a Writer                            D. Good Advice

 (福建省泉州七中2009届高三最后一次模拟考试)

Thanksgiving Day was near. Lucy, the first grade teacher, gave her class a fun  36  --- to draw a picture of somebody or something for which they were   37  . When the students  38   their assignment, she found that most of them drew some pictures of their parents, teachers, brothers, sisters, friends or neighbors. “What   39   students! How wonderful the pictures are!” She thought.

   Douglas, however, made a different kind of picture. He was a   40  boy. He didn’t act the same as others. He always seemed to be shy and __41__. He seldom __42__ with other children during the break __43__ they kindly invited him to. Lucy treated him very well. She always helped him and encouraged him to be confident and have a good time with his classmates. Yes, his picture was different. He just drew a __44__. Nothing else. His abstract image _45__ the imagination of his classmates. Whose hand could it be? One guessed it was a mother’s hand，for mother’s hand gives children warmth and __46__. Another child guessed it was a farmer’s hand, because farmers raise turkeys. Still others thought it was a police officer’s hand, because the police __47__ people and care for people. And so the discussion __48__.

   When the children were discussing it, Lucy paused at Douglas’ desk, __49__, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy murmured, “ It’s __50__, teacher.” Douglas was most thankful for her hand. She was __51__ and felt tears in her eyes. She thought of the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here or there. She __52__ how often she had said to him, “Take my __53__, Douglas. We’ll go outside.” or “Let me show you how to hold your pencil.” or “Let’s do this together.”

   The story speaks of __54__ thankfulness. It also says something about teachers teaching and

parents parenting and friends showing friendship, and how much it means to the children like Douglas. They might not always say “__55__” out, but they’ll remember the hand that you reach out to give them love and be grateful to you always.

36. A. assignment                 B. question                   C. suggestion                D. solution

37. A. sorry                B. regretful            C. thankful           D. responsible

38. A. gave in               B. handed in           C. put off                   D. called off

39. A. lovely                B. honest            C. brave                    D. friendly

40. A. strong               B. kind               C. different          D. humorous

41. A. slow                 B. strict             C. angry                    D. sad

42. A. played                B. exercised          C. joked             D. lived

43. A. because              B. though             C. as                 D. since

44. A. hand                 B. face               C. ear                      D. leg

45. A. reduced              B. ruined            C. inspired           D. used

46. A. comfort              B. praise              C. sorrow                   D. coldness

47. A. search                B. question            C. meet             D. protect

48. A. ended                B. succeeded          C. continued         D. failed

49. A. stood up              B. pulled down         C. looked up         D. bent down

50. A. his                  B. yours                    C. my mother’s              D. my father’s

51. A. disappointed           B. annoyed            C. tired               D. touched

52. A. forgot                B. regretted          C. recalled           D. understood

53. A. hand                 B. book             C. lesson            D. gift

54. A. rather than            B. more than         C. anything but       D. nothing but

55. A. I’m sorry            B. Take care           C. I’m all right         D.Thank you