It was early afternoon and the harbor (海港) was quiet. Mr Bates, the keeper of the lighthouse (灯塔), went
to the village. He left his daughters Rebecca and Abigail to look after the lighthouse.
     As Rebecca was about to prepare some water for the evening meal, she noticed a strange ship coming to
the harbor. It stopped and lowered two little boats, which turned and started toward land: At that time people
feared every ship they did not know, for the year was 1814 and America and Britain were at war.
     Rebecca and Abigail held their breath to see what these two boats would do. Closer and closer they came,
until finally they entered the harbor. They were full of British soldiers!
     No help was to be seen. What could they do? How could they warn the town soldiers? They had no boat,
and there would be no time to run to the village. Rebecca thought fast and then she had an idea. Calling to
Abigail to follow, she ran to the room where the guns were stored. But instead of reaching for the guns, she
took hold of the fife (军笛 ) and the drum(战鼓 ).
     Then the two young women ran along the wooded path to the shore (海岸). Hiding behind tall trees, they
started to play the fife and the drum. Abigail beat out Roll Call. Rebecca joined in with Yankee Doodle. Soon
 Rebecca saw the boats had stopped!
The girls went on playing. A moment later, a flag was raised on the warship-the signal for the boats to return.
Once everyone was on board, the enemy ship set sail for the open sea.
     The British were fooled, and the" American Army of Two" won the day.

1. Why did Rebecca take the fife and the drum instead of the guns?

A. She would leave the guns for the soldiers.
B. She would welcome the British soldiers.
C. She loved to play the fife and the drum.
D. She wanted to frighten the British soldiers away.

2. The underlined part " American Army of Two" in the last paragraph probably refers to____.

A. Rebecca and Abigail
B. the two British boats
C. the fife and the drum
D. the two town soldiers

3. The British ship left the harbor because____.

A. the British found the weather was too bad
B. a lot of American ships came to stop the British
C. the British thought the American soldiers were coming
D. some of the British soldiers were killed by the American

4. Which of the following words could NOT be used to describe Rebecca and Abigail's action?____

A. Brave.
B. Honest.
C. Clever.
D. Great.

      Christmas was just a week away and I had five people left to shop for and only three dollars.
     "Let's set a price limit(限制)on our gifts this year," I suggested to my best friend Joanie.
     "That's a good idea,"Joanie agreed."How about nothing over five dollars?"
      "How about sixty cents?" I felt like the biggest cheapskate in the world.
     "I guess this is where I'm supposed to say it's not the gift but the thought that counts,"Joanie smiled.
     It is almost impossible to buy anything under sixty cents, so it was really going to have to be very small
gifts with very big thoughts.
     Finally, Christmas Day arrived. I gave my mother a candle with a note that said," You are the brightest
light in my life." She almost cried when she read the note.
     I gave my brother a wooden ruler. On the back of it I had painted,"No brother in the world could measure
up to (比得上) you." He gave me a bag of sugar and had written on it, " You ' re sweet."
     For Joanie, I painted a pair of shoes with a note that said, " No one could ever fill your shoes (代替你)."
She thanked me and said I always tickted (搔) her and made her laugh. 
     To my other two friends, I gave Annie a paper fan and a note on it,"I' m your biggest fan." I gave Helen a
calculator (计算器) that cost one dollar and I painted a message on the back,"You can always count on(依靠)
me." My mother knows she is the most important person in my life.
     My brother thinks I' m sweet. Joanie thinks I' m funny and make her laugh, which is important because her
dad moved away last year and she misses him and is sad sometimes.

1. When Christmas neared, the author worried that she _____.

A. had few friends to give her gifts
B. had little money to buy gifts for others
C. didn' t know what gifts her friends would like
D. didn' t have enough time to shop

2. The underlined word "cheapskate" in Paragraph 4 may mean a person who _____.

A. is the poorest in the world
B. buys the cheapest skateboards
C. spends as little money as possible
D. buys the cheapest things in the world

3.The author gave her mother a candle because it represents  _____.

A. her life
B. her mother' s life
C. her role in her mother' s life
D. her mother' s role in her life

4. What lesson can we learn from the passage?

A. It is an art to choose gifts.
B. It is the thought not the gift that matters.
C. How to choose cheap gifts.
D. Giving gifts improves friendships.

     My father works for the Coca-Cola Company, and as a result of that, I am always changing schools to go
to new places for his job. Right before I moved to California, I had lived in Ohio for six years. I had many
close friends, and it was very hard for me to be able to leave them. When I first moved, my friends and I
talked all the time.
     Then I noticed I started to call my friends less and less each week as I had begun to make friends out here
in California. It came to the point where I never called any of my friends from Ohio anymore, because I felt
that I did not need to talk to them anymore.
     After one of my friends from Ohio called me and told me not to forget who my real friends were, I realized
that I had become a completely (完全地 ) different person. I had adapted (适应) to the new "California" ways
and completely left all of my friends who really cared about me in Ohio behind out of my life. They were the
friends that always cared for me and were there when I needed them the most and I almost let that slip away
(溜走 ).
     As soon as I realized my huge mistake, I started to make more and more calls to my friends from Ohio to
try to keep our friendships.

1. The author moved from Ohio to Califomia _____.

A. to make more friends
B. to start a new life
C. for his father's work
D. for his own study

2. The author's attitude towards friendship changed ______.

A. before he left his friends in Ohio
B. as soon as he arrived in California
C. after he made more calls to his friends in Ohio
D. after he received a friend's call from Ohio

3. What do the underlined words in the last paragraph refer to?

A. The author forgot his old friends in Ohio.
B. The author quarreled with his friends in Ohio.
C. The author disliked his friends in California.
D. The author made too many friends in California.

4. Which sentence shows the main idea of the passage?

A. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
B. Make new friends, but keep the old.
C. Books and friends should be few but good.
D. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

     A sense of humor is just one of the many things shared by Alfred and Anthony Melillo, 64-year-old twin
brothers from East Haven who made history in February 2002. On Christmas Eve, 1992, Anthony had a heart
transplant from a 21-year-old donor. Two days before Valentine's Day in 2002, Alfred received a 19-year-ok
heart, marking the first time on record that twin adults each received heart transplants.
     "I'm 15 minutes older than him, but now I'm younger because of my heart and I'm not going to respect
him," Alfred said with a grin, pointing to his brother while talking to a roomful of reporters. who laughed
frequently at their jokes.
     While the twins knew that genetics might have played a role in their condition,they recognized that their
eating habits might have also contributed to their heart problems. "We'd put half a pound of butter on a steak. 
I overdid it on all the food that tasted good, so guess I deserved what I got for not dieting properly."
     The discussion moved to Anthony's recovery. In the five years since his heart transplant, he had been on
an exercise program where he regularly rode a bicycle for five miles, swam each day, and walked a couple
of miles. He was still on medication, but not nearly as much as Alfred, who was just in the early stage of his
recovery.
     "Right now I feel pretty young and I'm doing very well," Anthony said. "I feel like a new person."
     Alfred said his goal, of course, was to feel even better than his brother. But, he added, "I love my brother
very much. We're very close and I'm sure we'll do just fine."

1. This article is mainly about _____.

A. the danger of heart transplant surgery
B. becoming young by getting a new heart
C. the effect of' genetics on the heart
D. the twin brothers who received heart transplants

2. What did Alfred and Anthony have in common?

A. Lifespan. 
B. Career goals.
C. A sense of humor.
D. Love for bicycling.

3. What did Alfred and Anthony think caused their heart problems?

A. Exercise.
B. Diet.
C. Surgery.
D. Medicines.