It was Saturday . As always, it was a busy one, for "Six days shall you labor and do all your work" was taken seriously back then. Outside,Father and Mr. Patrick next door were busy chopping firewood. Inside their own houses, Mother and Mrs. Patrick were engaged in spring cleaning.
Somehow the boys had slipped away to the back lot with their kites. Now, even at the risk of having Brother caught to beat carpets , they had sent him to the kitchen for string(线). It seemed there was no limit to the heights to which kites would fly today.
My mother looked at the sitting room ,its furniture disorderd for a thorough sweeping, Agun she cast a look toward the window. "Come on, girls ! Let's take string to the boys and watch them
On the way we met Mrs. Patrick, laughing guiltily as if she were doing something
wrong, together with her girls.
There never was such a day for flying kited! We played all our fresh string into the boys' kites and they went up higher and higher .We could hardly distinguish the orange-colored spots of the kites. Now and then we slowly pulled one kite back, watching it dancing up and down it the wind, and finally bringing it down to earth , just for the joy of sending it up again.
Even our fathers dropped their tools and joined us. Our mothers took their turn, laughing like schoolgirls. I think we were all beside ourselves. Parents forgot their duty and their dignity; children forgot their everyday fights and little jealousies. "Perhaps it's like this in the kingdom of heaven," I thought confusedly.
It was growing dark before we all walked sleepily back to house. I suppose we had some sort of supper. I suppose there must have been a surface tidying-up, for the house on Sunday looked clean and orderly enough. The strange thing was , we didn't mention that day afterward. I flt a little embarrassed .Surely none of the others had been as excited as I. I locked the memory up in that deepest part of me where we keep"the things that cannot be and yet they are."
The years went on, then one day I was hurrying about my kitchen in a city apartment, trying to get some work out of the way while my three-year-old insistently cried her desire to "go park ,see duck."
"I can't go!" I said. "I have this and this to do, and when I'm through I'll be too tired to walk that for."
My mother , who was visiting us , looked up from the peas she was shelling ,"It's a wonderful day,"she offered，"Really warm , yet there's a fine breczc . Do you remember that day we flew kites?"
I stopped in my dash between stove and sink . The looked door flew open and with it a rush of memories. "Come on."I told my little girl. "You're right , it's too good a day to miss."
Another decade passed. We were in the aftermath (余波)of a great war. All evening we had been asking our returned soldier, the youngest Patrick Boy, about his experiences as a prisoner of war. He had talked freely , but now for a long time he had been silent . What was he thinking of - what dark and horrible things?
"Say!" A smile slipped out from his lips . "Do you remember --- no, of course you wouldn't . It probably didn't make the impression on you as it did on me."
I hardly dared speak."Remember what ?"
"I used to think of that day a lot in POW camp(战俘营), when things weren't too good. Do you remember the day we flew the kites?"
| 1． |
Mrs. Patrick was laughing guiltily because she thought.
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| 2． |
By"we were all beside ourselves", the writer means that they all
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| 3． |
What did the writer think after the kite-flying?
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| 4． |
Why did the writer finally agree to take her little girl for an outing?
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| 5． |
The youngest Patrick Boy is mentioned to show that
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Slang is a popular, less official and often very current form of language. It is an important part of a living language and is constantly changing as language changes. Slang is often playful, direct and sometimes less respectful than the more official and traditional version of language. So now I'm going to lay it on you! To “lay it on” is American slang for “to tell” or “to explain.”
Slang can take many forms. For example, slang can be local to one city or area. In Washington, D.C. there is a whole set of slang to describe politics and business in the city. For example, the term POTUS stands for President of the United States. POTUS can often be found with his wife, FLOTUS, the first lady of the United States. “Inside the Beltway” is a popular expression that describes the area of Washington, D.C. The beltway is the large highway that circles the city.
The Internet has helped create a whole new kind of computer-related slang. An “angry fruit salad” is an expression that describes a website with too many bright colors. “Netiquette” is slang for correct behavior when using the Internet.
Young people often develop the latest slang. For example, to say Special English “rocks” or is “phat” means Special English is really great. A “kegger” is a party where beer is served. If something is “wack”, it is wild and crazy.
Different professions often have their own slang as well. For example, medical workers might refer to a complaining patient as a “gomer”. A "tough stick" is someone whose veins are difficult to find when he or she needs to have blood taken.
No matter how well you speak English, there are always new and interesting slang words to discover. There are entire dictionaries for describing slang. Many experts do not even agree on what is and what is not slang. Often slang words later become a part of officially accepted language. Official or not, slang is an energetic and exciting part of the American language that continues to change.Which of the following is NOT true for slang compared with the official language?
| A．Playful | B．Direct |
| C．Less respectful | D．More official |
It can be inferred from the passage that______.
| A．if you speak English very well, there is no problem for you to understand English speakers |
| B．slang words are created by people in their daily life |
| C．English speakers are clear whether it is a slang |
| D．slang words will never be accepted as official language |
Which of the following is not mentioned to have helped create slang?
| A．The internet. | B．Young people. |
| C．President of the United States. | D．Professions |
Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
| A．What is slang? | B．Slang is popular. |
| C．Who creates slang? | D．Slang is a language. |
A cancer-stricken British teenage girl said Thursday she had been moved by messages of support from around the world after writing an online "Bucket List" of things she wanted to do before dying.
Alice Pyne, l5, created an Internet blog in which she described her fight against a cancer of the white blood cells. “I’ve been fighting cancer for almost four years and now l know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one," she wrote.
For her list, the teenager took inspiration from the 2007 film "The Bucket List", in which two terminally ill (患绝症的) men, played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, draw up a list of things they wish to do before they die.
On her list, at the site www. alicepyne. blogspot. com, she has included making everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor (骨髓捐赠者), swimming with sharks, meeting boy band Take That and getting a purple iPad computer.
Messages of support and offers of help quickly flooded her webpage and it became one of the most talked about subjects on Twitter.
“Oh dear, and I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends!" she wrote after her site attracted huge attention. " Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me."
Pyne, who lives with her family in the northwest English town of Ulverston, revealed (透露) that Take That had arranged for her to see the band after reading her blog. A group of local lawmakers have also joined forces with the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity to encourage people to join its stem cell register.What happened after Alice Pyne wrote her "Bucket List"?
| A．The media called on people to help her. |
| B．People sent gifts to her from all over the world. |
| C．A lot of people offered to donate bone marrow to her. |
| D．People around the world sent messages to support her. |
Alice Pyne wrote her "Bucket List" to ____________________.
| A．express her last few wishes |
| B．say goodbye to a few friends |
| C．give comfort to two terminally ill men |
| D．catch people's attention |
It can be inferred from the second paragraph that Alice Pyne ______________________.
| A．is unaware of her own conditions |
| B．is calm to know that death is approaching |
| C．is very sad to know that she will die |
| D．is still quite confident in fighting against cancer |
Which of the following is NOT on Alice Pyne's "Bucket List"?
| A．To meet a boy. |
| B．To get a cool computer. |
| C．To swim with sharks. |
| D．To ask people to donate bone marrow. |
Take That will arrange to _______________________.
| A．invite Pyne to join the band |
| B．help Pyne in any possible way |
| C．donate money to Pyne |
| D．meet Pyne in person |
Treasure hunts （寻宝）have excited people’s imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island .Kit Williams ,a modern writer ,had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues （线索）found in a book when he wrote a children’s story Masquerade, in 1979. The book was about a hare ,and a month before it came out, Williams buried a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire .The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare ,but Williams put in a lot of “red herrings ”,or false clues ,to mislead them.
Ken Roberts ,the man who found the hare ,had been looking for it for nearly two years .Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time ,he found it by logic （逻辑）,not by luck .His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start .He had realized that the words :“One of Six to Eight” under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon ,the first of Henry VIII’s six wives. Even here ,however ,Williams had succeeded in misleading him .Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there .He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea occurred to him. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill ,in Befordshire and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well ,but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon ,until one day he came across two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been built in her honor in 1773.
Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that he decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there .Williams encouraged him to continue ,and on February 24th 1982 ,he found the treasure. It was worth £ 3000 in the beginning ,but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable .The underlined word “them”（paragraph1）refers to .
| A．red herrings | B．treasure hunts |
| C．Henry VIII’s six wives | D．readers of Masquerade |
What is the most important clue in the story to help Ken Roberts find the hare ?
| A．Two stone crosses in Ampthill |
| B．Stevenson’s Treasure Island |
| C．Katherine of Aragon |
| D．Williams’ hometown |
The stone crosses in Ampthill were built .
| A．to tell about what happened in 1773 |
| B．to show respect for Henry VIII’s first wife |
| C．to serve as a road sign in Ampthill Park |
| D．to inform people where the gold hare was |
Which of the following describes Roberts’ logic in searching for the hare ?
a.Henry VIII’s six wives
b.Katherine’s burial place at Kimbolton
c.Williams’ childhood in Ampthill
d.Katherine of Aragon
e.stone crosses in Ampthill Park
| A．a—b—c—e—d | B．d—b—c—e—a |
| C．a—d—b—c—e | D．b—a—e—c—d |
What is the subject discussed in the text ?
| A．An exciting historical event |
| B．A modern treasure hunt |
| C．The attraction of Masquerade |
| D．The importance of logical thinking |
During a recent phone interview with a mom who had just moved to Colorado, the conversation turned to disaster planning.” I am standing here looking out of the window at the smoke from wildfires,” she told me, “and have absolutely no idea what we will do if the wind shifts our way.” Fortunately, the fire was put out, saving her home.
Making a disaster plan isn’t something anyone does for fun. But being caught without one in a time of need is worse. Emergency management officials say too few families have a disaster plan ,even in areas that have been hit hard by hurricanes or flooding.
I have prepared food, water, flashlights, candles, a battery-powered radio and firewood since our family was hit years ago by a hurricane that blocked off streets and knocked out our power for more than a week. Still we lack the medications, emergency contacts, and emergency-meeting and pet-care plans we should also have .Officials in my state of Oregon have warned us that one of us is really ready for the major disaster which is very likely to hit here---- a big earthquake.
Working parents need to coordinate(协调)their disaster plans with their children’s schools or child-care centers. Many parents in the 2003 New York blackout（断电）weren’t able to get home to their children because public traffic was stopped and lights were out. After that, many parents made detailed plans with child-care providers about where to meet in emergencies, an whom to contact if unable to reach each other.
Good emergency planning and training helped teachers at a child-care center in the World Trade Center successfully move children to a safe place during the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Do you have an emergency plan for your home? If not, you know what to do.According to the first paragraph , the mom_____.
| A．lived alone in her home. |
| B．didn’t have a disaster plan |
| C．never thought her house would catch fire |
| D．was not frightened in front of the wildfires |
What can we infer from what emergency management officials said in Paragraph2?
| A．Few people have fully realized the importance of making disaster plans. |
| B．The state of Oregon has been ready for a possible earthquake. |
| C．Hurricanes and flooding cause people to make disaster plans. |
| D．Many people consider making a disaster plan is fun. |
Which of the following things has the writer NOT prepared for disasters?
| A．food | B．Candles |
| C．A radio | D．Medicine |
We can infer that the 2003 New York blackout _____.
| A．was not serious enough to attract parents’ attention |
| B．showed how careful the teachers had always been |
| C．made parents realize the importance of having a disaster plan |
| D．helped parents know the importance of teachers to their children |
The fifth paragraph is mainly written to tell us that_____.
| A．some people have disaster plans |
| B．children may be in danger any time |
| C．a good disaster plan can be helpful |
| D．child-care centers are not that safe |
At the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, the sport of canoe racing was added to the list of international competitions. The favorite team in the four-man canoe race was the Unites States team. One member of that team was Bill Havens.
As the time for the Olympics neared, it became clear that Bill’s wife would give birth to their first child about the time that the US team would be competing in the Paris games. In 1924, there were no jet airliners from Paris to the Unites States, only slow ocean-going ships. Bill found himself in a dilemma. Should he go to Paris and risk not being at his wife’s side when their baby was born? Or should he stay with his family?
Bill’s wife insisted that he go to Paris. But after much soul searching, Bill decided to stay at home, where he could support his wife when the child arrived. As it turned out , the Unites States four-man canoe team won the gold medal in Paris. And Bill’s wife was late in giving birth to their child. In fact, Bill could have competed in the event and returned home in time to be with her when she gave birth. People said ,” what a shame!”
The child finally born to Bill and his wife was a boy, whom they named Frank. Twenty-eight years later, in 1952, Bill received a telegram from Frank. It was sent from Helsinki, Finland, where the 1952 Olympics were being held. The telegram read, “Dad, I won. I am bringing home the gold medal you lost while waiting for me to be born.” Frank had just won the gold medal for the Unites States in a rowing event, a medal his father had dreamed of winning but never did. When people asked Bill about his decision he made twenty-eight years ago, he said he would make the same choice if he was in such a situation again.If we say some is in a dilemma, we probably mean he/she _____.
| A．lives a very hard life |
| B．has to make a difficult choice |
| C．has to give up all that he/she has |
| D．doesn’t know what he/she wants |
From Paragraph3 we know Bill’s wife ____.
| A．knew the baby would be born late |
| B．knew what her husband really wanted |
| C．wanted to support her husband to win the gold medal. |
| D．was not understanding enough to support her husband |
What is the main reason why people said” what a shame!”？
| A．Bill didn’t give his wife any support at home. |
| B．Bill’s decision caused the team to perform badly. |
| C．Bill didn’t know what was more important to him. |
| D．Bill could have returned home with the gold medal in time. |
What happened twenty-eight years later after the baby’s birth?
| A．Bill received a gold medal from Finland. |
| B．Bill’s son helped make his dream come true. |
| C．Bill earned the respect of all the American people. |
| D．Bill took part in the Olympic Games and won. |
After reading the passage, we infer that ____
| A．Bill thought his decision was right. |
| B．Bill trained his son to win the medal. |
| C．Bill loved fame more than his family |
| D．Bill hated his decision very much |