题目内容
The baby tried his hands into the hot water ________ his mother could stop him．
while
when
if
before
A Faithful Father
My husband ,kissed me goodbye ，stroked, the baby’s cheek and then rushed out of the door ，into his busy day. With the cold of the morning fading, I fed my baby and it fell fast asleep. Usually I would place it in bed and quickly have the house somewhat in 36______ ,
This morning ，however, I stayed seated ,just 37_____,with the baby in my arms ,The thoughts ran into 38______ of the mornings with my husband, a father rushing out of the door to meet the obligations of life. It was only a small jump to thoughts of my own 39______
My mother passed away when I was ten, and as I looked 40 ______I could see how much of a family man my dad was. He went to work every morning and 41______ to his family every evening. He 42______ food, clothing, warmth ，and protection. He was a faithful father.
Setting the baby down ,I dialed the 43 ______ number. I had just realized the 44 ______ of the ordinary—the daily life going on around us that we often took for granted, and that it needed to be 45______
“Hi ，Dad. ” I said, 46______ back tears.
“Hey, Bud- How are you? ” 47______ was in his voice.:
“ Fine, Fm just calling to say. ,, thank you. ” I got it out before my throat 48______ too much for me to speak.
"What for?”
— For getting up and going to work every morning of ray life. Now that I have my' own 49______ and I see my husband doing the same ，I just wanted to thank you for being 50______ ”
There was 51______ for a moment as my dad composed himself ，and with a small . .52______ in his voice he said, “You’re welcome, Bud. ”
I don’t remember much of the rest of the call, 53______ that moment of revelation (显露） about my father, I will never forget. There are those who are known for their heroic 54 ______，and also those who are known for their fortunes and fame ，but it is the 55 ______everyday fathers who are the true heroes. I’m thankful that my father was one of them.
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As a young boy, I sometimes traveled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mill carrier, and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure: There were animals to see, people to visit, and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did.
In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens, and when 1 was a boy it was such a fun to stick your finger 'through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.
On Dad' s final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. "Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route." he used to say, "and a story at every one. " One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.
Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read. "Nat, take these eggs to Marian; she's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs. " Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the groom:. bat the mail was always delivered On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate. A young wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few button on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank. Once, the amount came to 8 32,000.
A dozen years ago, when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad’s death, the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't the case.
As I drove home, I noticed two lamp poles, one on each side of the street. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground. One box was painted green and the other was red, and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.
I made a turn at the comer and drove past the post office and across the railroad tracks to our house. Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps. There, at the door, stood Frank Townsend, Dad's postmaster and great friend for many years. So we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.
At one point Frank looked at me with tears in his eyes. " What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas?" he asked.
"The letters?"
'I guess you never knew. "
"Knew what?"
" Remember, when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in those green and red boxes on Main Street? It was your dad who answered all those letters every year. "
I just sat there with tears in my eyes. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one. I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood, and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had known so much about their homes and families.
For me, just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime.
【小题1】It can be inferred from the passage that the writer regarded his travels with Dad us_____.
| A．great chances to help other people |
| B．happy occasions to play with baby chickens |
| C．exciting experience* with a lot of fun |
| D．good opportunities to enjoy chocolate cookies |
| A．Dad had a strong sense of duty |
| B．Dad was an honest and reliable man |
| C．Dad had a strong sense of honor |
| D．Dad was a kind and generous man |
| A．Dad read letters for a blind lady for years. |
| B．Dad paid for the stamps for a young girl. |
| C．Dad delivered some eggs to Marian. |
| D．Dad answered children's Christmas letters every year. |
| A．offering analyses | B．providing explanations |
| C．giving examples | D．making comparisons |
| A．Santa Claus lived alone in the cold North Pole. |
| B．Santa Claus answered all their letters every year. |
| C．Santa Claus had unique mailboxes for the children. |
| D．Santa Claus had so much information about their families. |
| A．The Mail | B．Christmas Letters |
| C．Special Mailboxes | D．Memorable Travels |
The koala(考拉) is possibly one of the best known Australian animals, and is found in four states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The word “koala” comes from an Australian aboriginal word meaning “no drink”.
Sometimes people call them “koala bears” but koala is not a bear. It belongs to a special group of Australian mammals, called marsupial(有袋类). Female marsupials have a pouch where the baby animals live after they are born.
Koalas have soft, thick, grey or brown fur on their backs. The fur on the stomach is white. Koala that live in the south have thicker fur than those in the north because of the cold winters, whereas the koalas in the northern part of the country live in warm to hot weather most of the year so have thinner fur. A koala has a large hairless nose and round ears. Koalas don’t have tails. Adult koalas measure between 7 and 14 kilograms.
Koalas spend nearly all their time in the trees using their sharp, curved claws and long toes to climb about and to hold on to the tree branches. They sleep most of the day, and feed and move from tree to tree mainly at night.
The reason koala sleep for much of the day is because their food eucalyptus(桉树) leaves are very tough so they use a lot of energy to digest. Sleeping saves energy. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to almost every other animal. Koalas rarely drink water; they get water from the leaves they eat.
Each koala has a home range made up of several trees that they visit regularly. They normally do not visit another koala’s home trees except that a male is looking for a female to mate with.
【小题1】Which of the following statements is NOT true about the name “koala bear”?
| A．The name was given by the native in Australia |
| B．The word “koala” is an original English word |
| C．The name describes one of its living habits |
| D．The name is partly false |
| A．House | B．Cave | C．Pocket | D．Nest |
| A．The thicker fur can protect them from the colder weather |
| B．It’s always hot in summer in the north |
| C．It’s always cold in the winter in the south |
| D．They have to move to the north in the winter |
| A．Their foods are poisonous |
| B．They want to save energy for the activities at night |
| C．They can’t get enough energy from their tough foods |
| D．They can’t get enough water from their leaves |
Goldie’s Secret
She turned up at the doorstep of my house in Co
rnwall. No way could I have sent her away. No way, not me anyway. Maybe someone had kicked her out of their car the night before. “We’re moving house.” “No space for her any more with the baby coming.” “We never really wanted her, but what could we have done? She was a present.” People find all sorts of excuses for abandoning an animal. And she was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen.
I called her Goldie. If I had known what was going to happen I would have given her a mo
re creative name. She was so unsettled during those first few days. She hardly ate anything and had such an air of sadness about her. There was nothing I could do to make her happy, it seemed. Heaven knows what had happened to her at her previous owner’s. But eventually at the end of the first week she calmed down. Always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.
That’s why it was such a shock when she pulled away from me one day when we were out for a walk. We were a long way from home, when she started barking and getting very restless. Eventually I couldn’t hold her any longer and she raced off down the road towards a farmhouse in the distance as fast as she could.
By the time I reached the farm I was very tired and upset with Goldie. But when I saw her licking (舔) the four puppies (幼犬) I started to feel sympathy towards them. “We didn’t know what had happened to her,” said the woman at the door. “I took her for a walk one day, soon after the puppies were born, and she just disappeared.” “She must have tried to come back to them and got lost,” added a boy from behind her.
I must admit I do miss Goldie, but I’ve got Nugget now, and she looks just like her mother. And I’ve learnt a good lesson: not to judge people.
【小题1】.
How did the author feel about Goldie when Goldie came to the house?
| A．Shocked. | B．Annoyed. | C．Sympathetic. | D．Upset. |
. In her first few days at the author’s house, Goldie .
| A．sat by the fire | B．was angry |
| C．ate a little | D．felt worried |
Goldie rushed off to a farmhouse one day because she .
| A．found her way to her old home | B．heard familiar barkings |
| C．wanted to leave the author | D．saw her puppies |
The passage is organized in order of .
| A．effectiveness | B．time | C．importance | D．complexity |
Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new baby. They find out that the new baby is going to be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael sings to his sister in Mommy's stomach.
In time, the labor pains come. But complications arise during delivery. Finally, Michael's little sister is born. But she is in serious condition. With alarm in the night, the ambulance rushes the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mary's Hospital, Knoxville, Tennessee. The days go by. The little girl gets worse. The pediatric (儿科的) specialist tells the parents, “There is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst.”
Karen and her husband contact a local cemetery about a burial plot. They have fixed up a special room in their home for the new baby, but now they plan a funeral. Michael keeps begging his parents to let him see his sister, "I want to sing to her," he says. But kids are never allowed in Intensive Care. Karen makes up her mind. She will take Michael whether they like it or not. If he doesn’t see his sister now, he may never see her alive.
She dresses him in an oversized suit and marches him into ICU. He looks like a walking laundry basket, but the head nurse recognizes him as a child and shouts, "Get that kid out of here now. No children are allowed. Never disturb patients here.” The mother rises up strongly and said," He is not leaving until he sings to his sister!"
Karen leads Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazes at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. And he begins to sing. In the pure hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sings:" You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray…" Instantly the baby girl responds. The pulse rate begins to calm down and becomes steady.
“Keep on singing, Michael.”encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes. "You never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away."
The next day, the very next day, the little girl is well enough to go home! Woman's Day magazine called it "the miracle of a brother's song". The medical staff just called it a miracle. Karen called it a miracle of Gods love!
Never give up on the people you love.
【小题1】What may the underlined words "the infant" refer to?
| A．The baby | B．Karen | C．Mary | D．Michael |
| A．She was driven to St. Mary's shop. | B．A doctor came to see her in her house. |
| C．She was very thin and couldn't speak. | D．She was in great danger. |
| A．Because he could make his sister alive. |
| B．Because his sister would be sent to a far hospital. |
| C．Because his sister was going to die soon. |
| D．Because his father wanted to take him away. |
| A．The head nurse was careful. | B．The head nurse was rude. |
| C．The head nurse was responsible. | D．The head nurse had no sympathy. |
| A．A boy’s singing saved his sister’s life. |
| B．The little girl is well enough to go home. |
| C．Michael's little sister is born with a serious disease. |
| D．No children are allowed to enter the intensive care unit. |