“Do you like my dress?” She asked a lady. “My Mum made it just for me,” she said with tears in her eyes.

   “Well, I think it’s very pretty, so tell me, little girl, why are you crying?”

   The little girl answered in a low voice, “After Mum made me this dress, she went away. My Dad says that she’s up in heaven with grandfather.”

   Finally the woman realized why she was crying. She felt very sorry for the little girl and held the child in her arms.

   Just before the lady wanted to go, the girl stopping crying, walked back from the woman, and showed her a spot (点) on her dress, and said, “Right here is where my Mum kissed my dress, and here,” pointing to another spot, “and here is another kiss, and here, and here. Mum said that she had put all those kisses on my dress so that I would forget my sadness.”

   The lady realized that she wasn’t just looking at a dress, no, she was looking at mother. The mother knew that she was going away. So she gave all her love to her lovely daughter and put it into the dress.

   The lady no longer saw a little girl wearing a simple dress. She saw a child in her mother’s love.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。

1.The little girl was crying because her mother           .

   A. died                     

B. went out with her grandfather       

C. was ill

2.The girl told the woman the spots on her dress were           .

   A. the strange designs      

B. her sadness                     

C. her mother’s kisses

3.The little girl showed the lady           .

   A. how beautiful her dress was

   B. how happy she was

   C. how great the mother’s love was

4.According to the passage, it’s clear that the woman was           .

   A. the girl’s relation     

B. a careless woman                

C. kind to the girl

5.From the story, we learn that           .

   A. a mother should take her child with her

   B. mother’s love is the greatest in the world

   C. a girl should wear a dress made by her mother

The story behind the shopping cart

Characters

Sylvan Goldman – owner of a grocery shop

Fred Young – Sylvan’s friend, a mechanic(机械师)

One night in 1936, in an American city. Inside Fred’s workshop, Sylvan sits next to Fred, who is making adjustments(调试) to their new i? 1. – a shopping cart.

Sylvan:????????????? My customers don’t like our shopping cart.

Fred:????????????? Really? So they p? 2. shopping with those heavy baskets?

Sylvan:????????????? (nods) I’ve got a huge crowd of customers every day, b 3. none of them wants to use the cart.

Fred:????????????? I don’t understand. We invented the cart so that people don’t need to carry a basket around the shop.

Sylvan:????????????? (laughs) And so that they will buy more groceries!

Fred:????????????? So why don’t they like the shopping cart?

Sylvan:????????????? Young men think that pushing a cart around makes them look w 4. and slow, and young women think it’s unfashionable.

Fred:????????????? Of course it isn’t fashionable right now. It’s only just been invented! But I’m sure older people will appreciate it.

Sylvan:????????????? Um…

Fred:????????????? What? They don’t like the cart e? 5.? ?

Sylvan:????????????? Well, they think pushing it makes them look helpless!

Fred:????????????? Oh no. We need to do something, Fred. We can’t just g? 6. up on this invention!

Sylvan:????????????? We won’t. (He gets up and walks around the room. Suddenly, he stops.) Aha! I’ve got an idea.

Fred:????????????? What is it?

Sylvan:????????????? I’ll hire(雇佣) some good-looking guys and girls to push the carts around and pretend they’re shopping.

Fred:????????????? Oh! So the real shoppers will see these attractive people using the carts and think, “Hey, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!”

Sylvan:????????????? E 7. .

Fred:????????????? Hey! Maybe you could get one of the girls to greet your customers and encourage them to use the cart.

Sylvan:????????????? Great idea!

It was a beautiful spring morning. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun was warm but not too hot. Mr. White saw an old man at the bus stop with a big and black umbrella in his hand.

Mr. White said to him, “Do you think it’s going to rain today?”

“No,” said the old man, “I don’t think so.”

“Then are you carrying the umbrella because the sun is too hot?”

“No, the sun is not very hot in spring.”

Mr. White looked at the big umbrella again, and the man said, “I am old man, and my legs are not very strong. I must have a walking-stick. But people will say, ‘Look, the man is so old, and I don’t like that.’ When I carry an umbrella in fine weather, people only say, ‘look at that stupid man.’”

1.The story happened         .

2.It was a very        day.

3.There was         in the old man’s hand.

4.There was something wrong with the old man’s             .

5.Which is TURE according to（根据）the story?

口语交际

根据上下文补全对话，将所缺少的内容写在相应的横线上

Tony: Excuse me.                    1                           ?

Mary: My hobby is reading story books, especially English stories.

Tony:                          2                     ?

Mary: Because it can help me develop the reading skills and learn knowledge (知识) as well. What’s your hobby, Tony?                    3                            ?

Tony: No, I think it’s hard to read books. I’m interested in playing computer games.

Mary:                       4                        ?

Tony: One hour a day.

Mary: Really? So much time! I think                  5                    .

Tony: Yes, you are right. I decide to do something new and different next school year.