One afternoon, my son came home from school and asked me, “Are all people the same even if their skin color is different?” I thought for a moment, then I said, “I’ll explain. Let’s go to a fruit store first. I have something interesting to show you.”
At the store, I told him that we needed to buy apples. And we bought some red apples, green apples and yellow apples.
After we got home, I told Adam, “It’s time to answer your question.” I put one of each type of apple on the table: first a red apple, followed by a green apple and then a yellow apple. Then I looked at Adam, who was sitting on the other side of the table.
“Adam, people are just like apples. They come in different colors, shapes and sizes. See, some may not even look as delicious as others.” As I was talking, Adam was examining each one carefully.
Then, I took each of the apples and peeled them, placing them back on the table, but in a different place.
“OK, Adam, tell me which one is the red apple, the green apple and the yellow apple.”
He said, “I can’t tell. They all look the same now.”
“Take a bite(一口) of each one. See if that helps you tell which one is which.”
He took big bites, and then a huge smile came across his face. “People are just like apples! They are all different, but if you take off the outside, they’re pretty much the same on the inside.”
“Right,” I agreed. “Just like everyone has their own features but they are nearly the same.”
He completely got it. I didn’t need to say or do anything else.
Now, when I eat an apple, it tastes a little sweeter than before. What perfect fruit it is!I took Adam to buy apples for .
| A．supper | B．his question | C．a party | D．a present |
As soon as we got home, I put on the table.
| A．all the apples | B．three apples of different colors |
| C．three red apples | D．three peeled apples |
After Adam took big bites, he found they .
| A．looked the same | B．tasted good | C．tasted the same | D．weren’t delicious |
In the end, Adam understood that .
| A．people are much the same even if their skin color is different |
| B．people are different if their skin color is different |
| C．the apples look the same after they are peeled |
| D．apples of different colors taste different |
I feel that apples taste a little sweeter than before because .
| A．they are delicious enough | B．they are perfect fruit for thinking |
| C．they are safe fruit | D．my son falls in love with them |
Thomas Edison was a great American inventor. He was born to a poor family in 1847. His mother taught him at home. He often observed things carefully and he made over 1,300 inventions during his life time. He was often said to be the greatest genius(天才) of his age. There are only a few men in all of history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be happy only because someone said he was a genius. “There is no such thing as genius,” Edison said. He also said that what people called genius was mostly hard work. But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. Nature, he often said, is full of secrets. He tried to understand them; then, he tried to learn what could usefully be done with them.
Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people will do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking can give men enjoyment and pleasure.
Edison could not understand how anyone could be uninterested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what ideas he had about life. “Work, ” he answered back, “discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.Edison was______________.
| A．interested in changing people’s ideas |
| B．interested in discovering the secrets of nature |
| C．very much uninterested in nature |
| D．uninterested in making people happier by discovering the secrets of nature |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Many other people have changed Edison’s life. |
| B．Edison has changed the lives of many other people. |
| C．Only a few men in history can change other people’s lives. |
| D．Edison invented the electric light. |
The last sentence in the passage most probably implies(意指)___________.
| A．people of his time were ready to give Edison another 100 year’s work |
| B．Life is too short for Edison to invent more for human beings |
| C．Edison made 100 inventions in his life |
| D．Edison was able to live and work for 100 years |
Mr. Carrey worked at a big company. He went to work by bus. One day when he was standing at the bus-stop, he watched cars go by. Many of the cars were new Sherry 700s, and most of them were yellow.
Mr. Carrey was a person who did not like to be different from other men. He always wore the same clothes as other men, ate the same food as other people, and did the same things after work as they did.
Two months later, Mr. Carrey bought a new yellow Sherry 700. He was very pleased with it, and drove to work in it the next morning. When he saw all the other Sherry 700s, in front, behind and on both sides of him, he was even more pleased with his car.
Mr. Carrey parked his car in a big car-park near the office building, and walked to his office. But when he came back at five o’clock, there were so many yellow Sherry 700s in the car-park that Mr. Carrey did not know which car was his. He tried his key in some of the cars, but people passing by gave him a look which he did not like. So he stopped.
Mr. Carrey could do nothing but wait nearly forty minutes until his car was the only yellow Sherry 700 left in the car-park.Mr. Carrey bought a new yellow Sherry 700 because__________________ .
| A．he did not like taking a bus |
| B．he liked to be different from other men |
| C．he liked to do the same things as other people |
| D．the bus did not always come on time. |
In the car-park, “people gave him a look” because _____ .
| A．he could not open the door of his car |
| B．he was trying to open the door of more than one car |
| C．he was in the wrong car-park |
| D．he had a new yellow car |
Mr. Carrey had to wait until _____ in the car-park.
| A．there was only one car left |
| B．there was no one about to look at him |
| C．there was only one yellow Sherry 700 left |
| D．there were no yellow Sherry 700s left |
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完形填空 （共12分，每小题1分）
阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。
Once a young man was traveling by train. It was a long and boring journey. As the train was moving through a wilderness(荒野), the passengers looked out of the windows 1 . When the train reached a bend(弯道)，it slowed down and then a simple house 2 . It was so easy to notice that everybody on the train turned to “enjoy” with eyes wide open. Some passengers even began a discussion about it. The young man was also 3 by the scenery. On his return he 4 the train at the nearest station and found his way to the house. Its owner said that he was troubled by the 5 of the train. He wanted to sell the house, but 6 would buy it.
7 the young man spent 30,000 dollars on the house. He thought it was a good place for 8 because it was facing the railway bend. When the train moved slowly past, the tired passengers would 9 the house.
He tried to 10 some big companies and told them that could be used for advertisement. At last the Coca-Cola Company took it to put up their 11 . To everyone’s surprise, the young man was afforded 180,000 dollars for a three-year rent.
This is a true story. It tells us that discovery is very 12 . Many people have got new ideas from it.
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阅读短文，根据短文内容回答问题。（共10分，每小题2分）
There was a story many years ago of a school teacher—Mrs. Thompson．She told the children on the first day that she loved them all the same．But that was a lie．There in the front row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard．He didn’t play well with the other children and he always needed a bath．She did not like him．
Then Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother．Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself．She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present, too．It was his mother’s perfume（香水）
Teddy said ,“Mrs. Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to．”After the children left , she cried for at least an hour．On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math．Instead, she began to teach children．
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy．The boy’s mind seemed to come alive．The more she encouraged him, the faster he improved．By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class．
Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy．He wrote that he had finished high school and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life．He went to college．Mrs. Thompson got two more letters from him with the last one signed: Theodore Stoddard ,M．D．（医学博士）．
The story doesn’t end there．On his wedding day, Dr．Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear ,“Thank you, Mrs.Thompson, for believing in me．You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference．”
Mrs.Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back ,“ Teddy, you have it all wrong．You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference．I didn’t know how to teach until I met you．”Did Mrs. Thompson like Teddy at first?
When did Teddy give his teacher a present?
What did Mrs. Thompson do after the children left the classroom?
Why did Teddy thank Mrs. Thompson at his wedding?
What does the passage want to say?