Mr Brown was going away for a week. Before he left, he said to his son, "If anyone asks for me, you can tell him that your father has been out for doing something, and will be back in a week, then be sure to ask him to sit down for a cup of tea."
"OK, Dad," said his son. But he was afraid his son couldn’t remember this, he wrote these words down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. His son put it into his small pocket, took it out and looked at it every now and then.
Four days passed, but no one came to see his father. The boy thought that there was no man to come and that the piece of paper was of no more use for him, so he burnt(烧) it that evening.
The next afternoon, someone knocked at the door. The boy opened it. A man was standing at the door and said, "Where is your father?" The boy put his hand into his pocket at once and looked for the piece of paper. He could not find it. He suddenly remembered he had burnt it, so he shouted, "No more."
The man was very surprised. He asked, "No more? I met your father last week. When did it happen?"
"Burnt yesterday evening."
【小题1】Mr Brown told his son that _____.    

Monty was the son of a horse trainer. When he was in his ninth grade, he was asked to write a __36__ about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

    That night he wrote a seven-page paper saying that someday he’d __37__ a horse ranch (牧场). He wrote about his dream in great detail and he __38__ drew a picture of a 200-acre ranch with all the buildings.

    He put a great deal of his __39__ into the project and the next day he handed it in __40__ his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a __41__ that read, “See me after class.”

    The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, “__42__ did I receive an F?”

The teacher said, “This is an __43__ dream for a young boy like you. You come from a poor family. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of __44__. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for other things. There is no__45__ you could ever do it.” Then the teacher added, “__46__ you rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.”

The boy went home and thought about __47__ long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, “Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important __48__ for you.”

Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the __49__ paper, making no changes at all. He said to the teacher, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my  50  .”

1.A. speech             B. paper                C. notice               D. diary

2. A. paint             B. win              C. own              D. sell

3.A. just               B. almost               C. ever             D. even

4. A. heart             B. life             C. advice               D. trust

5.A. to                 B. with             C. from             D. for

6. A. word              B. letter               C. note             D. post

7.A. How                B. Why              C. When             D. Where

8.A. unusual                B. unforgettable        C. unimportant      D. unrealistic

9.A. money              B. time             C. space                D. effort

10. A. wonder               B. way              C. problem          D. matter

11.A. Though                B. since                C. Until                D. If

12. A. himself              B. him              C. it                   D. itself

13.A. change                B. gift             C. message          D. decision

14.A. long              B. thick                C. same             D. correct

15.A. grade             B. dream                C. duty             D. secret

Bobby was sitting out in his back yard in the snow. There were a few holes in his shoes. He thought hard, but he could not come up with an idea for his mother’s Christmas gift.
Ever since his father had died three years ago, his mother worked nights at the hospital, but the small money she made could hardly be enough for their needs.
Although the family lacked in money and material things, they got more love in the family. The children ran the family when their mother was absent. All three of Bobby’s sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother.
It was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing. Bobby started to walk down to the street. He walked from shop to shop. Everything seemed so beautiful and so far away. It was getting dark. Suddenly he found a shiny dime (一角硬币) on the ground. Never has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby did at the moment. It was enough to buy a rose with one dime.
He went inside a flower shop. When the owner asked if he could help him, Bobby took out the dime and asked if he could buy one flower. The shop owner looked at Bobby, then said, “You just wait here and I’ll see what I can do for you.”
The shop owner returned holding a dozen of red roses in his hand. Bobby’s heart sank (下沉) as the owner put them gently into a long white box. “That will be a dime, young man,” said the shop owner, reaching out his hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime.
Then the shopkeeper’s wife appeared. “Where are the red roses?”
The shop owner said, “A strange thing happened to me this morning. I thought I heard a voice telling me to leave a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was.”
【小题1】The underlined phrase “lacked in” means _____.