March 29, 2013                                          Sunny

Today was the Hungry Luncheon (饥饿午餐日). Every year, at our school, there is a lunch event called the Hungry Luncheon.

If you want to join the event, you must pay two dollars at the door of the dining hall and get a letter. All the money is used for helping those poor people who don’t have enough (足够的) food to eat. My letter was “K”.

After all the students sat down, the teachers called the letters for the meals: 15% of the students got to eat a best dinner. 25% of the students got to eat an Okay meal. But 60% of the students just had a small piece of bread and a small cup of water!

The purpose (目的) of this event is to tell us about the unfairness (不公平) of the world, and that we need to start helping the poor!

I was one of the 60% of the students. I was a little hungry for the rest of the day, but I learned something from this special lesson. Now every time I eat, I think about the poor.

On Thanksgiving Day, a teacher asked her class of first-graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought that these children from poor families actually had little to be thankful for. And she found most of them drawing pictures of flowers or tables with food. The teacher was very surprised to see the picture Douglas handed in. It’s a hand, a simple hand.
But whose hand? The class were very interested in the strange picture. “I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,” said one child. “A farmer,” said another, “because he grows beautiful flowers.” Finally when the others were at work, the teacher went over Douglas’ desk and asked whose hand it was. “It’s your hand, Teacher,” he said quietly and shyly.
She remembered that she had often taken Douglas, a dirty lonely child, by the hand while having a class break. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Douglas. Perhaps this is everyone’s thanksgiving, not for the material things we get, but for the chance, in whatever small way, to give to others.
【小题1】Whose hand did Douglas draw?  

Your Junior 3 year will finish soon. Do you want to say something about your junior school life? What were the rewards（收获）of the three years? Teen readers have their stories to share.

Lin Yijian, 14, Xiamen, Fujian

I got through a hard time in Junior 2 when my grades suddenly dropped（下降）a lot. I faced great pressure. In the following summer vacation, I worked really hard by studying from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm every day. It was crazy, but when I got back to the front seat of the class, I felt everything had been worthwhile (值得的).

Luo Shu’er, 14, Hangzhou, Zhejiang

I lived in a dorm during junior school. It was a great challenge since I had never left my parents before that. I had to take care of everything myself. I learned to make my bed and get along with roommates. I also learned to make a schedule to arrange（安排）my time. I’ve done a good job and I feel proud.

Yin Donghui, 13, Beijing

I won first place in the rope skipping（跳绳）competition at our school’s sports meeting in my first year in junior school. The sports meeting is a big thing at our school. To prepare for it, I practiced hard and skipped rope 500 times every day. Finally I skipped over 210 times in one minute. You don’t know how excited I was then!

1.Where can you probably read the passage?

A. In an ad.                         B. In a story book.               C. In a newspaper.     D. In a textbook.

2. Why did Lin Yijian face great pressure in Junior 2?

A. Because his grades were not so good as before.

B. Because he felt everything had been worthwhile.

C. Because he studied too hard.

D. Because he wanted to drop his study.

3.What does the underlined word “dorm” mean in the passage?

A. 旅馆                            B. 宿舍                             C. 会堂                            D. 走廊

4.How many times can Yin Donghui skip in one minute at last?

A. 150 times.                       B. 200 times.                        C. 210 times.                        D. 500 times.

5. How does the writer show the teen readers’ junior school life?

A. By comparing different places.                                B. By describing people’s looks.

C. By giving figures（数据）.                                          D. By using students’ words.

Every day when I enter the classroom, I will take a look at the wall beside my seat. You will find nothing special about this old wall if you just look at it. But for the students in my class, it is a special wall. Take a good look at it, and you will get to know the real feelings and thoughts of us, the 9^th graders.

In the middle of the wall, there is a big “VICTORY”. It was written in pencil. I guess it must have been written by someone who got a good mark in an exam.

A little higher above the formulas, there is a poem. It only has two sentences. It reads: All those sweet memories have disappeared. Like tears dropping in the heavy rain.

Oh! It must have been written at the end of the last semester in middle school. Classmates had to leave school and good friends had to part. What a sad poem!

If you look at the wall more carefully, you will find many other interesting things, like a crying face, or a happy face, and other patterns(图案). There are still some patterns and letters that I can’t understand, but they all show the feeling of the students who drew them.

For years, the wall has witnessed(目睹) all the things that have happened in the classroom. I don’t know how it will be next year, two years from now, or even ten years from now. But I hope more smiling faces will be drawn on it.

1.There is ____ special on this wall.

A. something    B. anything    C. nothing     D. everything

2.What was the “VICTORY” written in?

A. Chalk    B. Pencil    C. Pen    D. Brush

3.When has the poem been written?

A. At the beginning of the last semester.    B. At the end of the year.

C. At the end of the last semester.         D. At the beginning of the last month.

4.What’s the meaning of the underlined word?

A. 部分    B. 分离    C. 和好    D. 聚集

5.What’s the title of the passage?

A. The Pictures of the Wall         B. The Feelings of the Students

C. The Patterns of the Classroom    D. The Hope of the Writer