Last Sunday, I waked into the house in the afternoon to find my brother rushing around in a hurry. As soon as I took my coat off, my little brother placed a bunch of papers in my hands and asked me to fold them up so they could fit into an envelope as quickly as possible. He said it needed to get done quickly before it turned dark.
I was a little surprised that something could be so urgent on a Sunday. It wasn’t until I was halfway through that I actually looked at what I was folding. After I read it, it put the biggest smile on my face. It was a lovely letter to all the residents （居民）in my neighborhood. My brother was asking everyone to let him know if anyone needed help. He left his contact information and said that anyone that needed help should get in touch with him and he would figure something out. He also asked people to get in touch if they were able to help out.
London received an unusual amount of snow last week, and the city was completely under- prepared for it. So it was quite difficult to get anywhere. Only the major roads had been cleared, and smaller roads and pavements could be quite treacherous. There are a good number of old people in our little community. So my brother thought that the snow may have posed （造成）some difficulty for some of them, particularly because we live on a hill.
A few elderly people got in touch with him asking for help for things they needed. One of them was especially grateful because his caregiver couldn’t make it. To our surprise, he got more responses from people offering to help. Then he received help from people who wanted to help. Everyone was really touched and wrote to my brother wonderful email. One of our neighbors wrote email saying that although she wasn’t able to help, she was “very proud of having a neighbor like him who puts other people’s interests first.”

1. 1.

   The author’s brother wrote the letter to _______.

   1. A.
      ask for help from his neighbors
   2. B.
      give a hand to those in need of help
   3. C.
      require his neighbors to clear the snow
   4. D.
      raise money for the old people in his community
2. 2.

   What can we learn from the text?

   1. A.
      Few people were willing to help out.
   2. B.
      The snow was unexpectedly heavy.
   3. C.
      Most residents in the community are elderly people.
   4. D.
      The community was completely cut off from the outside world.
3. 3.

   The underlined word “treacherous” in Paragraph 3 probably means “_______”.

   1. A.
      dirty
   2. B.
      dangerous
   3. C.
      safe
   4. D.
      crowded
4. 4.

   One of their neighbors sent email to the author’s brother to ________.

   1. A.
      express thanks
   2. B.
      lend a hand
   3. C.
      show appreciation
   4. D.
      ask for help

    A famous foreign company that invested in China wanted to employ a reception secretary for its public relation department.

    A beautiful girl with a master degree in electric engineering became a winning candidate(候选人) through the difficult process of employment. At its last stage she faced an oral test together with another girl who was her equal not only in good looks but also in education standard. The girl we talk about was confident in herself and successful in the oral test. It seemed that she would get the chance. The examiner told her on behalf of the company that she could come to office of company next Monday as a new employee. At last he asked her, “Have you anything else to say? Shocked by the unexpected question, the beautiful girl was quite at a loss, saying with hesitation(犹豫不决),”“I have to talk with my parents before I give an answer.”Surprised, the examiner said calmly,“In that case, let’s wait till you are ready.”

    The next day the girl came to tell that her parents agreed to her beginning work next Monday. But the examiner said regretfully,“Sorry, the job position is filled by another suitable candidate. You had better have a try in another place.”The beautiful girl was surprised. She asked for an explanation and was told,“What is needed here is a person who knows her own mind.”

 That was how a good opportunity slipped away right under the nose of a beautiful girl.

What did the examiner value most?

A．One’s beautiful looks.    B．One’s knowledge.

C．One’s young age.          D．One’s independence.

It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．the other girl who failed at the last oral test was most likely to get the job

B．another girl chosen in next test held the company

C．the company lost its best employee

D．the examiner was surprised at his first choice

Why did the beautiful girl want to ask her parents for advice?

A．She didn’t know what to do.

B．She couldn’t answer the question.

C．She hadn’t expected the examiner would ask such a question.

D．Her parents would scold her if she agreed without their permission.

The best title of this passage probably is ________.

A．Make your decision quickly    B．Have your own judgment

C．Seize your chance in time      D．Hesitation leads to failure     

Last year, my boyfriend suggested that I should run the London marathon, and I laughed. He laughed too, but he laughed too long and too loud. That made me think. I realized that he didn’t believe that I could do it. That made me angry, and determined. Now he knows that I can!                     

Training wasn’t easy, but I kept going. I didn’t need special training but I did need to buy very good shoes. Each day, I went a little further. By the end of three months, I was running five days a week. Sometimes in the evenings I ran 10 km; on Sunday mornings, I sometimes ran about 30 km. I used to come home, have a shower and eat my breakfast. I felt wonderful!

On the day of the race in London, I lined up with about 30,000 other runners. The faster runners were at the front, while slower runners like me were placed further back. In that way, the professional runners and club runners were not slowed down by the amateurs.

    At first, there were so many runners close together that we were almost falling over each other. We could only run very slowly but that was a good thing because it meant that we didn’t rush off too quickly. Gradually the runners spread out and there was more space. There were thousands of people watching us along the route and they cheered and clapped everyone, even the slowest runner. It was wonderful!

    For the first 10 km I felt very happy and my legs felt very comfortable. However, at 15 km I got a pain in my side and running became difficult, but I kept going and the pain disappeared. At the 30 km mark, I felt extremely tired, and wanted to stop, but I kept on going. I covered another 3 km and then I began to feel better again.

     By the time I reached the 35 km mark, I knew I was going to get to the end of the course. Somehow that confidence made me feel lighter and faster and it seemed as if my legs flew over the last few kilometers. I passed hundreds of slower runners, some of whom had passed me earlier, and I felt wonderful! As I came round the last bend and saw the finishing line, I could see three runners ahead of me. I raced past all of them to finish the race in just under four hours. The winner had completed the race in 2 hours and 10 minutes, but I didn’t care! I had run 42 km and completed my first marathon!

The writer’s boyfriend laughed at her because        .                      

A. he thought she could run the marathon

      B. he didn’t think she could run the marathon

      C. he wanted her to run the marathon

      D. she wanted to run the marathon

When the race began      .                                                       

   A. all the faster runners were asked to stand before those slower ones

   B. many runners fell over each other

   C. all the runners were asked to run slowly

   D. the professional runners and club runners ran very fast

The hardest time for the writer was when she     .                                 

A. had run for 15 kilometers

   B. got a pain in her side

   C. reached the 30 kilometer mark

   D. was about to reach the finish line

The passage suggests that it is better to start a long race slowly        .                         

   A. than to run at the same speed all the time

   B. than to run too fast at the beginning

   C. than to run slowly at the end

   D. than to run very fast all the time

Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer（扫盲志愿者）. The training I received, though excellent, did not tell me how it was to work with a real student, however. When I began to discover what other people’s lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.

My first student Marie was a 44-year-old single mother of three. In the first lesson, I found out she walked two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she didn’t know which bus to take. When I told her I would get her a bus schedule. She told me it would not help because she could not read it. She said she also had difficulty once she got to the supermarket, because she couldn’t always remember what she needed. Since she did not know words, she could not write out a shopping list. Also, she could only recognize items by sight, so if the product had a different label, she would not recognize it as the product she wanted.

As we worked together, learning how to read built Marie’s self-confidence, which encouraged her to continue in her studies. She began to make rapid progress and was even able to take the bus to the supermarket. After this successful trip, she reported how self-confident she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son, Tony, a shy first grader, with his reading. She sat with him before he went to sleep and together they would read bedtime stories. When his eyes became wide with excitement as she read, pride was written all over her face, and she began to see how her own hard work in learning to read paid off. As she described this experience, I was proud of myself as well. I found that helping Marie to build her self-confidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.

As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.

What did the author do last summer?

A. She worked in the supermarket.

B. She helped someone to learn to read.

C. She gave single mothers the help they needed.

D .She went to a training program to help a literacy volunteer.

Why didn’t Marie go to the supermarket by bus at first?

A. Because she liked to walk to the supermarket.    B. Because she lived far away from the bus stop.

C. Because she couldn’t afford the bus ticket.       D. Because she couldn’t find the right bus.

How did Marie use to find the goods she wanted in the supermarket?

A. She knew where the goods were in the supermarket.  B. She asked others to take her to the right place.

C. She managed to find the goods by their looks.       D. She remembered the names of the goods.

Which of the following statements is true about Marie?

A. Marie could do things she had not been able to do before.

B. Marie was able to read stories with the help of her son.

C. Marie decided to continue her studies in school

D. Marie paid for her own lessons.

A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspapers. “Last week,” said he, “my umbrella was stolen from a London church. As it was a present, I spent twice its worth in advertising ,but didn’t get it back ”

 “How did you write your advertisement ?”asked one of the listeners ,a merchant .

“Here it is,” said the man ,taking out of his pocket a slip cut from a newspaper. The other man took it and read, “Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening a black silk umbrella .The gentleman who finds it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No 10 Broad Street .”

“Now ,”said the merchant, “I often advertise ,and find that it pays me well .But by the way in which an advertisement is expressed is of extreme importance .let us try your umbrella again ,and if it fails ,I will buy you a new one. ”

The merchant then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote :“If the man who was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening doesn’t wish to get into trouble, he will return the umbrella to No. 10 Broad Street .He is well known .”

This appeared in the paper ,and on the following morning ,the man was astonished when he opened the front door. In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colors that had been thrown in and his own was among the number. Many of them had notes fastened to them saying that they had been taken by mistake, and begging the loser not to say anything about the matter

This is a story about ________.           

       A．how a man lost and found his umbrella.

       B．how to make an effective advertisement.

       C．how to find lost things.

       D．how to put an advertisement in the newspaper.

“If it fails, I will buy you a new one ” suggested that _______.

       A．he was rich enough to afford an umbrella

      B．he was not sure he would get the umbrella back

      C．he was quite sure of his success .

      D．he was ready to help others .

The result of the first advertisement was that ________.

      A．the man got his umbrella back .

      B．the man wasted some money advertising .

      C．the man found his umbrella   

      D．someone found his umbrella .

According to the first advertisement ,anyone who ___would receive ten shillings.

      A．left the umbrella in the City Church                    

      B．found the umbrella at No. 10 Broad Street

      C．gave the message to the man

      D．left the umbrella at No. 10 Broad Street