One day, a man found the cocoon (茧) of a butterfly and he brought it home.
A few days later, the man saw a small hole in the cocoon. He sat and watched for several hours as a butterfly struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it stopped.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a knife and cut a bigger hole in the cocoon. The butterfly came out of the cocoon but it had a weak body and small, thin wings. The butterfly didn’t start to fly.
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬行) around with a weak body and thin wings. It was never able to fly.
The man acted with kindness but he didn’t understand that he had done something wrong. When a butterfly crawls out of the cocoon, it must struggle. The hard work of getting out of the cocoon forces the fluid(液体) from the butterfly’s body into wings. It helps the butterfly be ready to fly. If the butterfly never has to force itself out of the cocoon, its wings never get the fluid and it can never fly.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we lived our lives without any problems, we would never learn or grow. We would not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly.
So, the next time you are faced with a challenge or a problem, remember the butterfly.
Struggle a little – then fly!Why did the man cut a bigger hole in the cocoon?
| A．To catch the butterfly easily. |
| B．To play with the butterfly. |
| C．To help the butterfly come out. |
| D．To make the butterfly stronger. |
What happened after the butterfly got out of the cocoon?
| A．It died soon. |
| B．It had a strong body and wings. |
| C．It could fly after a few days. |
| D．It couldn’t fly during the rest of its life. |
Why couldn’t the butterfly fly? Because ___________ .
| A．it got out of its cocoon without struggle |
| B．nobody had taught it to fly |
| C．all newborn butterflies could not fly |
| D．the man broke its wings |
What does the writer want to tell us?
| A．Kindness in our lives can help us grow. |
| B．Try to be ready to help others. |
| C．Without other’s help we can still succeed. |
| D．Hard work leads to success. |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．The Old Man and the Butterfly | B．Life Struggle |
| C．How To Help a Butterfly Fly | D．Kindness and Rush |
Do you want to live a happier, less stressful life? Try laughing for no reason at all. That’s how thousands of people start their day at Laughter Clubs around the world — and many doctors now think that having a good laugh might be one of the best ways to stay healthy.
The first Laughter Club was started in Mumbai, India, in 1995 by Dr. Madan Kataria. “Young children laugh about 300 times a day. Adults laugh between 7 and 15 times a day,” says Dr. Kataria, “Everyone’s naturally good at laughing. We want people to feel happy with their lives.” There are now more than 500 Laughter Clubs in India and over 1,300 worldwide.
Many doctors are also interested in the effects of laughter on our health. According to a 5-year study at the UCLA School of Medicine in California, with laughing there is less stress in the body. Laughter improves our health against illness by about 40%.
So, what happens at a Laughter Club? I went along to my nearest club in South London to find out. I was quite nervous at the beginning of the class, to be honest — I wasn’t interested in laughing with a group of strangers, and I was worried about looking stupid. Our laughter teacher told us to clap our hands and say “ho ho ho, ha ha ha,” while looking at each other. However, our bodies can’t tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so they still produce the same healthy effects.
Surprisingly, it works! After ten minutes everybody in the room was laughing for real — and some people just couldn’t stop! At the end of the class I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I felt. So if you’re under stress, then start laughing. You might be very pleased with the results!The first Laughter Club was started in _____.
| A．Britain | B．America | C．Australia | D．India |
The writer felt _____ at the beginning of the class?
| A．surprised | B．pleased | C．nervous | D．stressful |
The people in the club began to laugh for real _____?
| A．after ten minutes | B．after ten hours | C．after a few seconds | D．after ten days |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Fake laughter and real laughter are both good for health. |
| B．40% of the people in Laughter Clubs are good friends. |
| C．Adults laugh more often than children in a day. |
| D．Laughing is the best way to prevent illness. |
Here are two letters to George and his replies.
Alice is worrying about ________.
A. her friends B. her marks C. her height D her weightBob should ________ according to George’s letter.
| A．take more exercise | B．talk to his friends |
| C．join a basketball team | D．learn some French. |
George advises Alice to talk to ________ for help.
| A．her mother | B．her teacher | C．Bob’s teacher | D．Bob’s friends |
If you get lost, this is what you should do. Sit down and stay where you are. Don’t try to find your friends—let them find you. You can help them find you by staying in one place. There is another way to help your friends or other people to find you. You can shout or whistle （吹口哨）three times. Stop. Then shout or whistle three times again. Any signal（信号）for three times is a call for help.
Keep up shouting or whistling. Always three times together. When people hear you, they will know that you are not just making a noise for fun. They will let you know that they have heard your signal. They will give you two shouts or two whistles. When a signal is given twice, it is an answer to a call for help.
If you don’t think that you will get help before night comes, try to make a little house with branches（树枝. Make yourself a bed with leaves and grass.
When you need some water, you have to leave your little branch house to look for it. Don’t just walk away. Pick off small branches and drop them as you walk in order to go back again easily. When you are lost, the most important thing to do is to stay in one place.If you get lost in the forest, you should___________.
| A．try to find your friends | B．stay in one place and give signals |
| C．walk around the forest | D．shout as loudly as possible |
Which signal is a call for help?
A shouting here and thereB. shouting or whistling three times together
C. crying twice D. whistling every where in the forestWhen you hear two shouts or two whistles, you know that_____.
| A．someone is afraid of an animal | B．people will come to help you |
| C．someone needs help | D．something terrible will happen |
What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence?(划线句子)
| A．Drop branches to find your way back |
| B．Pick off branches to build another house |
| C．Use branches to make a bed |
| D．Drop branches to look for water |
The main（主要的）idea of the passage is_____________.
| A．how to travel in the forest |
| B．how to spend the night in the forest |
| C．what you should do if you want to get some water |
| D．what you should do if you are lost in the forest |
Two strangers were sitting together in a plane . They were on a long journey . One of the men was a teacher . The other was a farmer .
They sat without talking for a while , then the farmer said , “ Let’s do something to pass the time .”
“ What do you want to do ?” the teacher asked .
“ We can ask each other riddles (谜语 ),” the farmer said, “ You start.”
“ Let’s make the rules first ,” the teacher said . “ And to make the game more interesting , let’s play it for money . If we don’t know the answer to the riddle , we have to pay a dollar .”
The farmer thought about this for a while , then he said , “ That’s not fair（公平 . You are a teacher , an educated ( 受过教育的) man . You know more things than I do . I am just a farmer .”
“ That’s true ,” the teacher said , “ What do you think we should do ?”
The farmer said , “ If you don’t know the answer to a riddle ,you pay me 100 dollars .If I don’t know the answer to the riddle , I’ll pay you 50 dollars.”
The teacher thought for a while , then he said , “ OK. That’s fair . Who’ll go first ?”
“I will ,” the farmer said . “ Here’s my riddle . What has three legs when it walks , but only two legs when it flies ?”
The teacher thought and thought , “ What has three legs when it walks, but only two when it flies ?” Then he said , “ That’s a good one . I don’t know the answer .” He gave the farmer 100 dollars and said , “ Tell me the answer . What is it ?”
“ I don’t know , either .” The farmer said , and gave him 50 dollars .At first the two men sat there without talking because ________ .
| A．the farmer didn’t like the teacher | B．the teacher didn’t like the farmer |
| C．the farmer liked to tell jokes | D．they didn’t know each other |
The farmer wanted to __________ .
| A．make the journey interesting . | B．see if the teacher was lucky |
| C．know if the teacher was clever . | D．make friends with the teacher . |
The teacher thought at first that the farmer __________ .
| A．would fail the game | B．knew more then he. |
| C．could answer any riddles . | D．would win the game . |
From the short story we know that __________ .
| A．the teacher was cleverer than the farmer . |
| B．an educated man is not always clever. |
| C．both of the two men could know the answer |
| D．Neither of the two men was clever. |
The best title of this story is __________ .
| A．How to Answer Riddles . | B．A Rich Teacher. |
| C．A Way of Getting Money. | D．A Clever Farmer. |
One day, my wife and I went shopping. We took the car as we had a lot of things to buy because my brother and his family were going to spend the weekend with us. We stopped the car in front of the shop. An hour later we came back to the car with a lot of things. Then the trouble started. We could not open the car door. “Oh, dear,” said my wife. “What are we going to do?” “Let’s ask that policeman,” I said. The policeman was very kind and glad to help us. Soon he got the door open. Just at that moment an angry man came up and shouted. “What are you doing with my car?” We looked at the number of the car, and our faces turned very red.The husband and the wife went shopping _________.
| A．by bus | B．in their car | C．by bike | D．on foot |
They spent _________ in the shop doing their shopping.
| A．half an hour | B．four hours | C．one hour | D．eight hours |
The _________ opened the car door in the end.
| A．husband | B．wife | C．policeman | D．owner of the car |
The owner of the car was very angry to see _________.
| A．someone had opened his car door | B．the policeman standing by the car |
| C．his car was not there | D．that there was a trouble |
They didn’t know it was the wrong car until they looked at the _____ of the car.
| A．color | B．owner | C．door | D．number |