In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand（木架）with a small notepad（记事本）and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.

“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these years.” I say to her, walking back into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible（看不到的）exhibits at every meal.

1．Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

       A．To leave messages.

       B．To list her everyday tasks.

       C．To note down maths problems.

       D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

2．What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

       A．It has great value for the family.

       B．It needs to be replaced by a better one.

       C．It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

       D．It should be passed on to the next generation.

3．The author feels embarrassed for       .

       A．blaming her mother wrongly.

       B．giving her mother a lot of trouble.

       C．not making good use of time as her mother did.

       D．not making any breakthrough in her field.

4．What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

       A．The mother is successful in her career.

       B．The family members like traveling.

       C．The author had little time to play when young.

       D．The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5．In the author’s mind, her mother is      .

       A．strange in behavior.

       B．keen on her research.

       C．fond of collecting old things.

       D．careless about her appearance.

To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.

Common sense is not all that common.

Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?

These three popular misquotes（戏谑的引语）are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature .To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do .The original quote about human nature went like this:” To err is human, to forgive, divine（神圣的）.”This saying mirrors an ideal: people should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite –find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity.

Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Commonsense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine．Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company," the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”

And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary（直接推论）to that: if good excuse is “good” even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?

1．According to tile passage, which of following seems the most human?

       A．To search for truth．

       B．To achieve one’s ideal

       C．To make fun of others’ mistakes．

       D．To criticize others for one’s own error.

2．According to the author, what is a sign of a man’s maturity?

       A．Doing things his own way.

       B．Bearing responsibility for his mistakes.

       C．Making as few mistakes as possible．

       D．Thinking seriously about his wrongdoing.

3．Which of the following is NOT based on common sense?

       A．A man tries to take charge of everything in a large company.

       B．A student goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather.

       C．A company’s next move follows a good plan．

       D．A lawyer acts on fine judgments．

4．What is the author’s opinion about a good excuse?

       A．Making a good excuse is sometimes a better policy.

       B．Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas.

       C．A good excuse is as rewarding as honesty.

       D．Bitter truth is better than a good excuse.

5．What would be the best title for his passage?

       A．A Mirror of Human Nature                           B．To Blame or to Forgive

       C．A Mark of Maturity                                     D．Truth or Excuse

阅读下面短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

When Dan Shaw gets up from the sofa in his home, Cuddles is never far away. When he wants to go outside, he doesn’t take Cuddles out for walk—Cuddles takes him for a walk. Cuddles is clearly no ordinary family pet. It is a two-foot-high miniature horse and serves as the guiding eyes of Shaw, who is blind.

When Shaw lost his sight, his wife suggested he apply for a guide dog. Shaw, an animal lover, said he couldn’t bear to part with a dog （which usually lives about eight to ten years） and get used to a new one, perhaps several times in his life.

Then Shaw heard of a program about the tiny guide horses. He learned that the horse possess many qualities that that make them an excellent choice for guiding people. They are clean, friendly, smart and have great memories. They can be trained to remain calm in noisy and crowded places. Best of all, they live for 25-25years, which would enable Shaw to have the same guide companion for most or all of his life.

Shaw immediately applied to be and was accepted as the first person to receive a guide horse. The instant he met Cuddles, he knew he was making the right choice. Then he began his training.

Through training ,Shaw and Cuddles learned to find way on busy streets, step over curbs（便道沿儿）and find elevator buttons. Cuddles even demonstrated（显示）its ability to step in front of Shaw and block him, to prevent him from walking into a dangerous situation. The little horse also expertly led Shaw through busy shopping malls. They got along without any difficulties. Now Shaw is confident that Cuddles will change his life for the better.

1．What’s the meaning of the underlined word “miniature” in Paragraph 1?（No more than 2 words）

2．Why didn’t Shaw want to choose a dog as his guide?（No more than 15 words）

3．What does Paragraph 3 mainly tell us? （No more than 10 words）

4．How does Shaw feel about his future life with the help of Cuddles? （No more than 10 words）

5．In your opinion, what is the ideal relationship between man and animals? （No more than 20 words）

假设你是晨光中学的高中生李华。你校拟选拔一批优秀学生，利用暑期到晨曦希望小学为学生辅导英语。你希望参加此活动。请根据以下提示，用英语给校评选组写一封申请信：

●对此活动的认识（如对本人、学生级社会的益处等）

●个人优势（如性格、独立生活能力、语言能力等）

●你的计划（如怎样进行辅导等）

注意：

1．词数不少于100；

2．可适当加入细节，以使内容充实、行文连贯；

3．信的开头和结尾已给出，不计入词数。

参考词汇：

晨曦希望小学 Chenxi Hope School

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am Li Hua from Class One, Senior Two.

Yours Sincerely,

Li Hua

You     park here! It’s an emergency exit.

A．wouldn’t              B．needn’t               C．couldn’t            D．mustn’t

The dictionary is what I want, but I don’t have enough money     me.

A．by              B．for               C．in               D．with

He had lost his temper and his health in the war and never found     of them again.

A．neither          B．either               C．each                    D．all

The book has been translated into thirty languages since it        on the market in 1973.

A．had come            B．has come            C．came            D．comes

To improve the quality of our products, we asks for suggestions      had used the products.

A．whoever             B．who           C．whichever            D．which

—Honey, let’s go out four dinner.

—      I don’t have to cook.

A．Forget it!             B．That’s great!          C．Why?              D．Go ahead.