My name is Ben Mansury. I’m fifteen years old and study in a middle school. In school, I never join in any group discussion or stage (舞台) program. So, I never knew what stage nervousness was.

Our community (社区) has a weekly “Students Ideas” program. About two years ago, I received a(n)   1   from the chairman of our community. He invited me to the “Students Ideas” talk the next morning to speak to the group.

The time between his call to the next morning was like several weeks for me. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many   2   were coming. One of them was to call the chairman, with regret, and tell him that I could not come. But finally, I thought, if I missed this   3  , the community would never invite me again to any of their programs. So, I decided to go.

I reached the hall in time. When my turn came and I started, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to   4   the words on the paper properly. I had no idea where I was standing and what I was talking. That was the day when I   5   my biggest weakness: public speaking.

After I finished, I met with the chairman and   6   what happened to me. He said that this happens to everyone. It is very   7  . He suggested that I should come again the next week.

I   8   a talk carefully. This time when I gave the talk, I was somewhat comfortable but not confident (自信的). Afterwards, I met with the chairman again and told him about the improvement I   9   I had made. He was kind enough to invite me again.

For around one month, I practiced a lot for my talk. This time I was feeling comfortable and both the chairman and my neighbors thought I did a good job.    

I learned that everything is   10   if we take the first step, as the saying goes: A journey of thousand miles begins with first step.

1.                A．letter          B．call            C．card D．email

2.                A．topics          B．regrets         C．thoughts D．words

3.                A．man           B．group          C．stage D．chance

4.                A．read           B．spell           C．see  D．recite

5.                A．had            B．forgot          C．realized  D．improved

6.                A．asked          B．checked        C．explained D．wondered

7.                A．useful          B．successful       C．difficult   D．common

8.                A．wrote          B．prepared        C．gave D．finished

9.                A．knew          B．felt            C．believed  D．hoped

10.               A．easy           B．great          C．helpful    D．possible

Do you know the pretty girl? Her name is Tian Wei. She was born on April 5, 1986. She was from Beijing. She had two big eyes and short hair. She was good at Chinese. And she loved writing.

She was unlucky. When she was in Grade 8, she was seriously ill. Her doctor said she would lose her life anytime. But she wasn't afraid of death. She kept on studying and writing. She died on August 13, 2007. She smiled till the end of her life.

Tian Wei had a great dream. She hoped that people could read her book in the bookshops. In March, 2009, her only book Hua Tian Ban Mu came out. it had more than 5(X) thousand words. In her book she said, " I'm always aching (疼痛). if possible, I'll let my right eye weep (哭泣) but the other one smile."

1.What did Tian Wei do well in?

     _____________________________.

2.Did she love writing?

     ______________________________

3.What happened to Tian Wei when she was in Grade 8?

     _______________________________

4.When did the book Hua Tian Ban Mu come out?

     ________________________________

5.How many words did the book Hua Tian Ban Mu have?

     _________________________________

When my son, Mark, was in the third grade, he saved all his pocket money for over three months to buy holiday presents. The third Saturday in December Mark said he had made his list and had twenty dollars in his pocket.
I drove him to a nearby supermarket. Mark picked up a hand basket and went in while I wailed and watched in the car. It took Mark over 45 minutes to choose his presents. Finally he came to the checkout counter (交款处) and reached into his pocket for his money. It was not there! There was a hole in his pocket, but no money. Mark stood there holding his basket, tears falling down his face.
Then a surprising thing happened. A woman came up to Mark and took him in her arms. "You would help me a lot if you let me pay for you," said the woman. "It would be the most wonderful gift you could give me. I only ask that one day you will pass it on. When you grow up, I would like you to find someone you can help. When you help others, I know you will feel as good about it as I do no."
Mark took the money, dried his tears and ran back to the checkout counter as fast as he could. That year we all enjoyed our gifts almost as much as Mm-k enjoyed giving them to us.
I would like to say "thank you" to that very kind woman, and tell her that four years later, Mark went house to house collecting blankets (毯子) and clothes for the homeless people in the fire. And I want to promise her that Mark will never forget to keep passing it on.
【小题1】When did the story probably happen?

"I didn’t hear them call my name," explained Shelley Hennig to Active Teens (AT) as she talked about that exciting moment on national television when she won the honor of Miss Teen USA 2004. "Are you ready?" is what she heard. Then she said, "I shook my head no, and then they said ‘yes’ and it was announced again."

It was four days after that life changing moment for the seventeen-year-old high school student from Destrehan, Louisiana—she was still on cloud nine.

"I was so shocked! I never believed that it could actually really happen." Present in the audience that day were: her mother and father, older brother, her friends, and her dance teacher.

Understanding why members of her family and her friends would be there, AT asked why her dance teacher had traveled so far to see her compete（比赛）."She’s always been my role model. I’ve danced with her since I was six. She’s been through so many difficulties and came through them all. I’ve learned to get over bad life’s experiences and learned how to move on because of her."

One of those bad life’s experiences for Shelley happened three years ago when her brother Brad was killed in a drunk driving accident. He was 18. She found writing helped her get through the hard days. She said, "I write a lot about my brother. I write a lot, a lot, a lot...”

As Miss Louisiana Teen, she traveled around the state speaking to teens about the dangers of drinking and driving. In her role as Miss Teen USA, Shelley will continue to speak to youth about safe driving, in addition to(除…之外) many other things to help the youth.

When AT asked Miss Teen USA if she had any advice for our readers, she said, "Don’t let anyone change you. Hang out with people that make you feel good about yourself. That way, it is easy to be yourself."

1.What do the words “on cloud nine” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. hard to believe       B. hard to forget

C. very happy       D. very satisfied

2.Shelley’ dance teacher was present in her competition mainly because _______.

A. she just expected to help Shelly to move on

B. she wanted to stay with Shelly when in need

C. she experienced as many difficulties as Shelly