It was Monday. Mrs Smith's dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.
Considering that there was no better way, Mrs Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it:“Give my dog half a pound of meat.”Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently:“Take this to the butcher(*person whose job is selling meat). and he's going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers (*people who buy sth. from a shop).
But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!Mrs Smith treated her little dog quite_________.
| A.cruelly | B.fairly | C.kindly | D.politely |
It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs Smith gave it_______.
| A.might do it much harm |
| B.could do it much good |
| C.would help the butcher |
| D.was worth many pounds |
The butcher did not give any meat to the dog __________.
| A.before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs Smith |
| B.when he found that the words on the paper were not clear |
| C.because he had sold out all the meat in his shop |
| D.until he was paid enough by Mrs Smith |
From its experience, the dog found that ________.
| A.only the paper with Mrs Smith's words in it could bring it meat |
| B.the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it |
| C.Mrs Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher |
| D.a piece of paper could bring it half a pound of meat |
At the end of the story, you'll find that _______.
| A.the dog was clever enough to write on the paper |
| B.the dog dared not go to the butcher's any more |
| C.the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog |
| D.the butcher found himself cheated(*act in a way that is not honest)by the clever animal |
People believe that climbing can do good to health. Where can you learn the skill of climbing then? If you think that you have to go to the mountains to learn how to climb, you’re wrong. Many Americans are learning to climb in city gyms(体育馆). Here, people are learning on special climbing walls. The climbing wall goes straight up and has small holding places for hands and feet.
How do people climb the wall? To climb, you need special shoes and a harness(保护带) around your chest to hold you. There are ropes(绳索)tied to your harness. The ropes hold you in place so that you don’t fall. A beginner’s wall is usually about 15 feet high, and you climb straight up. There are small pieces of metal that stick out for you to stand on and hold on to. Sometimes it’s easy to see the new piece of metal. Sometimes, it’s not. The most difficult is to control your fear. It’s normal for humans to be afraid of falling, so it’s difficult not to feel fear. But when you move away from the wall, the harness and the ropes hold you, and you begin to feel safe. You move slowly until you reach the top.
Climbing attracts people because it’s good exercise for almost everyone. You use your whole body, especially your arms and legs. This sport gives your body a complete workout. When you climb, both your mind and your body can become stronger.What can we infer from the passage?
| A.People are fairly interested in climbing nowadays. |
| B.It is impossible to build up one’s body by climbing. |
| C.People can only learn the skill of climbing outdoors. |
| D.It is always easy to see holding places in climbing. |
The most difficult thing to do in wall climbing is _______.
| A.to tie ropes to your harness | B.to control your fear |
| C.to move away from the wall | D.to climb straight up |
The word “workout” underlined in the last paragraph most probably means _________.
| A.settlement | B.exercise |
| C.excitement | D.tiredness |
Why does the author write this passage?
| A.To tell people where to find gyms. |
| B.To prove the basic need for climbing |
| C.To encourage people to climb mountains. |
| D.To introduce the sport of wall climbing |
Where do you suppose this text comes from?
A science bookB. A sports magazine
C. A research report D. A sports history book
Today, roller skating is easy and fun. But many years ago, it wasn’t easy at all. Before 1750, people never tried skating on wheels. That changed because of a man named Joseph Merlin. Merlin’s work was making instruments. In his free time he liked to play the violin. Merlin was a man with many ideas and many dreams. People called him a dreamer.
One day Merlin received an invitation to go to an important party. He was very pleased and a little excited. As the day of the party came near, Merlin began to think. He wanted to find a way to make a wonderful entrance at the party. Merlin had an idea. He thought that he would attract a lot of attention if he could skate into the room.
Merlin tried different ways to make himself roll. Finally, he decided to put two wheels under each shoe. These were the first roller skate shoes. Merlin was very proud of them. He dreamed of arriving at the party and skating into the room while playing the violin. He was sure that everyone would be very surprised.
On the night of the party Merlin rolled into the room, playing his violin. Everyone was really surprised to see him. There was just one problem. Merlin had no way to stop his roller skating. He rolled on, playing the violin. Then, with all eyes on him, Merlin hit into a huge mirror on the wall. The mirror broke into many pieces with a very loud noise. But nobody forgot Merlin’s wonderful entrance after that.The story tells us that people began to enjoy roller-skating _______.
| A.before the year 1750 | B.before the invitation |
| C.because of Joseph Merlin | D.because it was dangerous |
People called Merlin a dreamer because ___________.
| A.he slept and dreamed a lot |
| B.he was full of different ideas |
| C.he was a talented violinist |
| D.he always made people’s dreams come true |
___________ made Merlin think of skating on wheels.
| A.Merlin’s work | B.Merlin’s violin | C.A huge mirror | D.An important party |
What was Merlin’s problem after he rolled into the room?
| A.He couldn’t stop his roller-skating. |
| B.He couldn’t attract a lot of attention. |
| C.Everyone was surprised at him. |
| D.He couldn’t play the violin while rolling. |
The text is mainly about_________.
| A.a strange man |
| B.an unusual party |
| C.how roller skating began |
| D.how people enjoyed themselves in the 18th century |
When Ben Franklin was only a boy, he always wanted to know about things. He was always asking his father and brothers ‘What?’ and ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’
They couldn’t always tell him what he wanted to know.
When they couldn’t tell him, Ben tried to find out for himself.
Many times Ben did find out things that no one knew before. The other boys would say, ‘That is Ben Franklin! He’s always finding out something new!’
Ben lived close to the water. He liked to go there to see the boats. He saw how the wind blew them across the water.
One day Ben said to himself: ‘Why can’t the wind help me float across the water? And I’m going to try.’ Ben got his big kite.He took hold of the kite string and ran with it. The wind took the kite up into the air.Then Ben jumped into the water.
The wind blew the kite high into the air.Ben began to float across the water.Soon he was on the other side, and he had not worked at all.
One boy shouted, ‘Look at Ben floating across the water! His kite takes him to the other side without any work!’
‘Yes,’ said another. ‘He’s always finding new ways to do things.’ When he was only a child, Ben____________.
| A.liked to fly a kite by himself |
| B.always asked easy questions |
| C.always liked to play with water |
| D.always liked to find out how things worked |
His father and brothers_____________.
| A.couldn’t answer all his questions |
| B.could answer all his questions |
| C.tried hard to find out something new for him |
| D.were too busy to answer his questions |
How did Ben Franklin float across the water? _______________.
| A.The other boy took him across it. | B.The water carried him across it. |
| C.The flying kite took him across it. | D.A boat took him across it. |
He found out many things that______________.
| A.children didn’t know | B.his father knew |
| C.people didn’t know | D.most people knew |
From the story we can see that young Ben Franklin liked____________.
| A.using his mind | B.using his hands | C.making kites | D.flying kites |
I will never forget the lesson about my window. Four years ago, I moved to a house in a large town. One of my new neighbors’ house was only a few feet away from mine. There lived a woman. Through one of my windows, I could see her reading by her window every afternoon.
Several months later, I found I couldn’t see the woman clearly. I thought her window was too dirty. I said to myself, “Why doesn’t she clean her window? It looks terrible!”
One afternoon, I decided to clean my house including the window. I felt tired after three hours of hard work. So I sat down by the window for a rest. What a surprise! I could see the woman reading there clearly again! By that time, I realized that my own window was too dirty, not hers! I really felt ashamed for myself. I had been watching her through my dirty window in the past days!
The experience is very important for me. So I try to clean the window of my heart before judging others. How long has the writer lived in the house according to the passage?
| A.One years | B.Two years. | C.Three years. | D.Four years. |
What did the woman do every afternoon?
| A.Read by her window. | B.played tennis on the grass. |
| C.Danced in her house. | D.sang in front of the house. |
The writer couldn’t see the woman clearly because ______________.
| A.the writer’s window was dirty |
| B.the woman’s house was too far |
| C.the woman didn’t open her window |
| D.there was something wrong with his eyes. |
The underlined word “ashamed” means _________________.
| A.高兴的 | B.放松的 | C.羞愧的 | D.自豪的 |
According to the passage, the writer has learnt how to __________________.
| A.clean the house | B.judge others | C.help neighbors | D.learn English |
Dreaming is a natural part of who we are. We explore our dreams and develop personal dreams. We even like to dream BIG!
For the most part our dreams and wishes focus on the end result. We see ourselves in love, married, driving a great car, on vacation, with tons of money, in a great career, etc. Dreaming about the end result is just fantasizing and wishing. Wishing relies on some magical force to make our dreams turn into reality, and we become unhappy as we’re not living(实现) our dreams.
So how can we make our dreams come true? That is a question we all often struggle with. Even though we struggle with the answer, the answer is not that clear. We make our dreams come true with the action we take.
In my opinion, if you dream about being in good health, then change your dream to see yourself working out and eating right day by day. See the beginning of the dream and let the dream build day by day with all the action that gets you to the end dream of you being in good health.
If you want riches, then change the dream. Dream of yourself going to school, developing a career, working hard and taking the steps to arrive at the destination. If you want love, love the process. Love the dating process(过程). Love yourself and the journey to find love.
Make all your dreams include the beginning, middle and end. Then when you are doing the action instead of thinking to yourself, “This is a drag. I don’t like working out,” or if you are having any negative thoughts about doing the work it takes to create your visions(梦幻), realize then that every step of the way you are living your dream. You are living your dream because you made the action and journey part of your dream.According to the writer, most of the people____.
| A.pay more attention to developing their dreams |
| B.enjoy the process of their dreams |
| C.are always ignoring the process of living their dreams |
| D.probably dream of making much more money easily |
In order to live our dreams, we must____.
| A.struggle with dreams day and night. |
| B.have great wishes and thoughts. |
| C.have magical forces every night. |
| D.take action or steps. |
If you want to keep fit,______
| A.you’d better dream a sweet dream first. |
| B.you must love the process of the journey. |
| C.you would rather begin with your diet and exercise. |
| D.you should have a good beginning first. |
what can be inferred from the last paragraph?
| A.It’s important to focus on your final result. |
| B.Good mind and action can help you live your dream. |
| C.Think to yourself while living your dream. |
| D.Creating your visions comes first. |