The Pecan Thief
When I was six years old, I was visiting my grandfather's farm in Kansas. Grandpa had sent me into the   36  to gather pecans for us to enjoy later.
Pecan picking was really   37  work and my little basket was only half full. I wasn't about to   38  Grandpa down. Just then something caught my   39  . A large brown squirrel was a few feet away.  I watched as he picked up a pecan, hurried to a tree and   40  in a large hole in the trunk. A moment later the squirrel   41  out and climbed down to the ground to pick up another nut. Once again, he took the pecan back to his hiding place.
Not so   42  anymore, I thought. I dashed over to the tree and looked into the hole. It was   43  with pecans! Golden pecans were right there for taking. This was my   44 . Handful by handful, I scooped all of those pecans into my basket. Now it was full! I was so   45  of myself. I couldn't wait to show Grandpa all the pecans.   46 , I ran back and shouted, “Look at all the pecans!” He looked into the basket and said, “Well, well, how did you find so many ? ” I told him how I'd   47  the squirrel and taken the pecans from his hiding place.
Grandpa congratulated me on how smart I'd been in observing the squirrel and his habits. Then he did something that   48  me. He handed the basket back to me and put his arm gently   49  my shoulders.
“That squirrel worked very hard to gather his winter   50  of food, ” he said. “Now that all of his pecans are gone, don't you think that little squirrel will   51  the cold winter? ”
“I didn't think about that,” I said.
“I know, ” Grandpa said. “But a good man should never take   52  of someone else's hard work.”
Suddenly I felt a bit   53 . The image of the starving squirrel wouldn't   54  my mind. There was only one thing I could do. I carried the basket back to the tree and poured all the nuts into the hole.
I didn't eat any pecans that night, but I had something much more filling—the   55  of knowing I had done just the right thing.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从16~35各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

       My friends and I had just finished lunch at a hotel when it started to pour heavily．When it became lighter．I decided to  16  the rain to get my car．which was parked at my office three streets away．

       My friends  17  that I shouldn't go,  18  I was seven months pregnant (怀孕的) then．I told them that I'd be very  19 ．One of them wanted to come with me but I  20  that she should stay with another friend who needed  21  with her baby．

       I walked out of the hotel and started making my  22  to the car．At the traffic junction (交叉路口), a car  23  and the passenger got off with an umbrella． 24  I knew what was happening, he walked right beside me and told me he'd accompany me to my  25 ．I was very embarrassed and  26 , but he was very persistent (坚持的)．

       During our walk, he kept telling me to walk  27 , as the ground was wet．When we got to the car park．I thanked him and we  28 ．I did not get his name and may not even  29  him now．Did he purposely stop for me? I'll never know．

       So how did I pay it  30 ? I was at home when I  31  two Indian construction workers walking in the heavy rain．They were probably on their way to the construction site near my home, which was a long walk．I went out and  32  them an umbrella．The two men were wet through．They were  33   by my gesture, and I told them they should take the umbrella and keep it．They were very  34  and like me, probably wondered why a stranger was  35  such kindness．

A．carry            B．keep  C．brave       D．collect

A．guessed               B．argued      C．complained     D．promised

A．because               B．though      C．unless      D．if

A．cheerful       B．hopeful     C．careful     D．regretful

A．learned B．insisted     C．begged     D．worried

A．help      B．advice      C．food        D．shelter

A．call       B．change      C．way D．choice

A．disappeared B．left      C．started     D．stopped

A．Before B．Since C．When      D．For

A．home B．station      C．hotel        D．destination

A．agreed        B．declined    C．smiled     D．cried

A．slowly        B．quickly     C．heavily    D．gracefully

A．waited        B．ran    C．parted      D．rested

A．like     B．spot   C．thank       D．recognize

A．up       B．off    C．forward   D．out

A．noticed       B．imagined  C．invited     D．heard

A．made   B．passed      C．bought     D．sold

A．disturbed B．impressed     C．encouraged      D．surprised

A．scared        B．grateful    C．sad   D．anxious

A．appreciating B．repaying   C．accepting        D．offering

July 21st, 2007 was a typical English summer’s day — it rained for 24 hours! As usual, I rushed home from work at midday to check on the house. Nothing was amiss. By the time I lift work at 5 pm, however, the road into our village was flooded. Our house bad never been flooded but, as I opened the front door, a wave of water greeted me. Thank God the kids weren’t with me, because the house was 5 feet deep in water. We lost everything downstairs. And the plaster had to be torn off the walls, ceilings pulled down.

At first we tried to push on through. We didn’t want to move the children out of home, so we camped upstairs. we put a sheet of plastic across the floor to protect us from the damp. But after three months, we felt very sick, so we moved to a wooden house in a park. The house was small, but at first we were all just delighted to be in a new place. Unfortunately, things took longer than expected and we were there for 10 months. The life there was inconvenient. What surprised me most was how much I missed being part of a community（社区）.We had lived in a friendly village with good neighbours, and I’d never thought how much I’d miss that.

Although-our situation was very bad, it’s difficult to feel too sorry for yourself when you look at what’s happening elsewhere. I watched a news report about floods in Northern India and thought , “We didn’t have a straw hut（茅草房）that was swept away , and our house is still sanding . We’re lucky .”

We moved back home in August. With December coming, there’s reconstruction work to be done, so it’s difficult to prepare for Christmas. But I can’t wait — I’m going to throw a party for our friends in the village to say thanks for their support. This year , I won’t need any gifts — living away from home for months has made me realize how little we actually need or miss all our possessions . Although we are replacing things, there’s really no rush — we have our home back, and that’s the main thing.

1.What does the underlined word “amiss” in the first paragraph mean?

A. Wrong.   B. Missing.   C. Right.    D. Found.

2.It can be inferred from the text that the author                    .

A. was sick of staying upstairs

B. cared much about her children

C. could not stand living a wooden house

D. did not deal well with her family affairs during the flood

3.Why does author say that they were lucky in the third paragraph?

A. Because her situation was not serious.

B. Because many other places were flooded.

C. Because she had been to Northern India.

D. Because some others suffered even more.

4.What does the author mainly want to express by telling her story?

A. She valued human feelings more than before.

B. She realized she almost didn’t need possessions.

C. She found Christmas gifts no longer badly needed.

D. She thought her own home was the most important.

One girl decided to study judo(柔道) although she had lost her left arm in a car accident.

The girl began lessons with an old Japanese judo instructor. The girl was doing well. So she couldn’t understand why, after three months of training, the instructor had taught her only one move.

“Instructor,” the girl finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?”

“This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the instructor replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in her teacher, the girl kept training.

Several months later, the instructor took the girl to her first tournament. Surprising herself, the girl easily won her first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, her opponent became impatient and charged. The girl skillfully used her one move to win the match. Still amazed by her success, the girl was now in the finals.

This time, her opponent was bigger, stronger and more experienced. For a while, the girl appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the girl might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. She was about to stop the match when the instructor intervened(干预).

“No,” the instructor insisted, “Let her continue.”

Soon after the match restarted, her opponent made a serious mistake: she dropped her guard. Instantly, the girl used her move to pin her opponent. The girl had won the match and the tournament. She was the champion.

On the way home, the girl and her teacher reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the girl gathered the courage to ask what was really on her mind.

“Instructor, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”

“You won for two reasons,” the teacher answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. Second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”

The girl’s biggest weakness had become her biggest strength.

1.What can we learn about the girl?

A．She was disabled in an accident.            B．She disliked judo training.

C．She learnt several moves.                 D．She won the first two matches hard.

2.The underlined word “overmatched” probably means       .

A．impatient         B．depressed         C．defeated          D．trapped

3.The girl won the championship because of       .

A．her bravery        B．her skills          C．her tricks          D．her strength

4.Which of the following is probably the best title of the story?

A．The Story of a Girl.                      B．A Disabled Girl.

C．Defense Matters.                       D．Weakness Becomes Strength.

My elder brother Steve, in the absence of my father who died when I was six, gave me important lessons in values that helped me grow into an adult.

    For instance, Steve taught me to face the results of my behavior. Once when I returned in tears from a Saturday baseball game, it was Steve who took the time to ask me what happened. When I explained that my baseball had soared through Mrs. Holt’s basement window, breaking the glass with a crash, Steve encouraged me to confess to her. After all, I should have been playing in the park down Fifth Street and not in the path between buildings. Although my knees knocked as I explained to Mrs. Holt, I offered to pay for the window from my pocket money if she would return my ball.

    I also learned from Steve that personal property is a sacred thing. After I found a shiny silver pen in my fifth-grade classroom, I wanted to keep it, but Steve explained that it might be important to someone else in spite of the fact that it had little value. He reminded me of how much I’d hate to lose to someone else the small dog my father carved from a piece of cheap wood. I returned the pen to my teacher, Mrs. Davids, and still remembered the smell of her perfume as she patted me on the shoulder.

Yet of all the instructions Steve gave me, his respect for life is the most vivid in my mind. When I was twelve, I killed an old brown sparrow in the yard with a BB gun. Excited with my accuracy, I screamed to Steve to come from the house to take a look. I shall never forget the way he stood for a long moment and stared at the bird on the ground. Then in a dead, quiet voice, he asked, “Did it hurt you first, Mark?” I didn’t know what to answer. He continued with his eyes firm, “The only time you should ever think of hurting a living thing is if it hurts you first. And then you think a long, long time.” I really felt terrible then, but that moment stands out as the most important lesson my brother taught me.

31. What is the main subject of the passage?

A. The relationship between Mark and Steve.

B. The important lesson Mark learned in school.

C. Steve’s important role in Mark’s growing process.

D. Mark and Steve’s respect for living things.

32. In the story about the pen, which of the following lessons did Steve teach his brother?

   A. Respect for personal property.                         B. Respect for life.

   C. Sympathy for people with problems.                D. The value of honesty.

33. According to the writer, which was the most important lesson Steve taught his young brother?

   A. Respect for living things.                  B. Responsibility for one’s actions.

   C. The value of honesty.                       D. Care for the property of others.

34. The underlined word “knocked” in the second paragraph means ______.

   A. tapped            B. beat          C. struck            D. trembled

35. From the passage, we can infer the following statements EXCEPT that ______.

   A. Mark benefited a lot from Steve after their father passed away.

   B. Mark was not as excellent as his elder brother Steve.

   C. The small wood dog carved by his father meant a lot to Mark.

   D. Mark used to be a naughty boy in his childhood.