As I sat beside the window of our classroom that afternoon, my heart sank further with each passing car. This was a day I’d looked forward to for weeks: Miss Pace’s fourth-grade, end-of-the-year party.
I had happily volunteered my mother when Miss Pace looked for cookie volunteers. Mom’s chocolate chips were well-known, and I knew they’d be a hit with my classmates. But two o’clock passed, and there was no sign of her. Most of the other mothers had already come and gone, dropping off their sweet offerings.
The three o’clock bell soon took me away from my thoughts and I took my book bag from my desk.
I decided I would slam the front door, and refuse to return her hug. But when I arrived, she wasn’t at home.
I was lying face-down on my bed upstairs when I heard her come through the front door.
“Robbie,” she called out a bit urgently. “Where are you?”
I could then hear her rushing anxiously from room to room, wondering where I could be. I remained silent.
Coming through the door, she said: “I’m so sorry, honey,” she said. “I just forgot. I got busy and forgot.”
Then my mother did something completely unexpected. She began to laugh! How could she laugh at a time like this? I rolled over and faced her, ready to let her see my rage (愤怒).
But my mother wasn’t laughing at all. She was crying. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I let you down. I let my little boy down.”
I was moved by her tears.
I tried to remember her kind words from times past when I’d skinned knees or cut myself, times when she knew just the right thing to say.
“It’s okay, Mom. We didn’t even need those cookies. There was plenty of stuff to eat. Don’t cry. It’s all right. Really.”
We didn’t say another word. We just held each other. When we came to the point where I would usually pull away, I decided that, this time, I could hold on, perhaps, just a little bit longer.
1.. The author was pretty down because ______.
A. he couldn’t go to the party he had been looking forward to
B. his mother didn’t turn up at the party as she had promised
C. his mother had refused to make chocolate chips for the party
D. the cookies his mom made was not popular at the party
2.. When the author returned home, ______.
A. he was so angry that he slammed the front door
B. he was silent and refused to return his mother’s hug
C. he rushed from room to room looking for his mother
D. he was disappointed that he couldn’t express his anger to his mother
3.. We can tell from the story that _____.
A. the mother didn’t get to the party because of the traffic jam
B. the mother was sorry for her absence and laughed at herself
C. the author was a caring and thoughtful boy
D. the author was overcome with anger
4.. The article expresses the message that ______.
A. it is silly to be angry with your family
B. everybody should keep his or her promises
C. true love is based on understanding
D. understanding how to comfort people in low spirits is a true skill
I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物). They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favourite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding（资助）medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.
1.. The author loves the charity shop mainly because of _______.
A. its convenient location
B. its great variety of goods
C. its spirit of goodwill
D. its nice shopping environment
2.. The first charity shop in the UK was set up to ____.
A. sell cheap products
B. deal with unwanted things
C. raise money for patients
D. help a foreign country
3.. Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops?
A. The operating costs are very low.
B. The staff are usually well paid.
C. 90% of the donations are second-hand.
D. They are open twenty-four hours a day.
4.. Which of the following may be the best title for the passage?
A. What to Buy a Charity Shops.
B. Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development.
C. Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate.
D. The Public’s Concern about Charity Shops.
下面短文中共有10处语言错误，请在有错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写上该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。
注意： 1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者 （从第11处起） 不计分。
During the summer holidays this year, I thought I should do anything meaningful instead of staying at home, so I have got a job at a KFC fast food restaurant, worked there as a cleaner．I worked seven hours a day for three weeks．
The job was hard and bored and seemed endless, which made me so tired that I nearly gave it in half way, but I stuck to it with determinations．Every day I started off for work early in the morning and got home lately in the evening．Finally I finished the job before the new term begins．
Now, I understand that labor means．I think it is really successful experience．