In the busy city of New York, such an astonishing thing ever happened.

On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of the underground station, playing his violin. Many people slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.

The next day, the young artist came to the gate of the underground station, and put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different from the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Before long, the young violinist was surrounded with people, who were all attracted* by the words on that paper. It said, "Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Please come to claim it soon."

After about half an hour, a middle-aged man ran there in a hurry and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed his shoulders and said, "Yes, it's you. You did come here. I knew that you're an honest* man and would certainly come here."

The young violinist asked calmly, "Are you Mr. George Sang?"

The man nodded. The violinist asked, "Did you lose something?"

"Lottery. It's a lottery," said the man.

The violinist took out a lottery ticket on which George Sang's name was seen. "Is it?" he asked.

George nodded and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it.

The story turned out to be this: George Sang is a manager in a big company. He bought a lottery ticket issued by a bank a few days ago. It opened yesterday and he won a prize of $500,000. So he felt very happy after work and felt the music was so wonderful, that he took out 50 dollars and put it in the hat. However the lottery ticket was also thrown in. The violinist was a student at an Arts College and had planned to study in Vienna. He had booked the ticket and would fly that morning. However when he was cleaning up he found the lottery ticket. Thinking that the owner would return to look for it, he cancelled* the flight and came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.

Later someone asked the violinist: "At that time you were in need of money. Why didn't you take the lottery ticket for yourself?"

The violinist said, "Although I don't have much money, I live happily; but if I lose honesty I won't be happy forever."

1.Where did the poor young artist play the violin?

A.In a nice hall of a big company. B.On the playground of Arts College.

C.Outside the meeting room of a bank. D.At the gate of the underground station.

2.George Sang put _____ into the young artist's hat on Friday night.

A.some stones B.a piece of paper

C.50 dollars and a lottery D.his air ticket and some money

3.The young artist cancelled the flight to Vienna because he thought ______.

A.the owner would return to look for the lottery

B.he didn’t have enough money to pay for his study

C.Arts College asked him to wait for Mr. George Sang

D.people in the underground station didn’t let him leave

4.What do you think of what the young violinist said in the last paragraph? (请用约40词回答)

任务型阅读

The summer vacation means long days, sleeping in or enjoying the summer sun. It is quite true for students to enjoy a rest after a long and difficult year. But more and more parents fear their kids forgetting a lot of knowledge, so they send their children to summer schools. Because summer schools can help children go over the knowledge that they have learnt during the school year.

In summer schools, students probably study in a more relaxing situation and can come up with interesting topics for discussion with their teachers. Usually, the number of students attending summer schools is smaller, so this gives them a good chance to connect with other students and teachers better. If a student has failed a course, summer schools may help him or her. Moreover, they are building their creativity (创造力) and imagination (想象力) as well as learning social skills.

On the other hand, summer schools bring children problems at the same time. It takes children the whole summer vacation to learn without playing. That is too long. As a result, it may make them less interested in school during the coming year.

For many students, taking summer classes can be a tiring experience. Teachers teach the subjects too quickly, which only harms the whole education of students. Summer schools are usually expensive. They usually offer only a few subjects. So many students have to take classes that they don’t like.

A summer school can be a good chance for students who need it, but it can be difficult for students who need a rest. So you can decide whether a summer school is suitable for your children.

1.Summer schools help children ________ a lot of knowledge that they have got.

2.With the small number of students, summer schools give students a good chance to ________ other students and teachers.

3.Summer schools may make students ________ in school during the coming year.

4.Summer schools help students build their creativity and imagination and ________.

5.You can decide _________ to send your children to summer schools or not.

Choose the best answer. (根据短文内容选择最恰当的答案)

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and put them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to be full of coins. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(辨认出) his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”

What he had written was: “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first one simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. However, the second one told people that they were able to enjoy the day. It told them they were lucky and they were not blind.

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.

The first is: Be thankful for what you have. Someone else has less. Help whenever you can.

The second is: Think differently. There is always a better way!

1.The blind boy _________ on the steps of a building.

A.sold his old hat B.asked for money

C.was busy collecting coins D.showed his good handwriting

2.The blind boy recognized the man by his _________.

A.footsteps B.voice

C.words D.figure

3.The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refers to _________.

A.the words on the sign B.the money in the hat

C.the step of a building D.the beautiful day

4.The man who helped the blind boy must be _________.

A.polite and patient B.honest and funny

C.kind and clever D.careful and rich

5.The best title for the passage should be _________.

A.A man who helped a boy B.A blind boy in the street

C.Let’s help the blind people D.power of different words

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