Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between the ticket office and us. This family made a big impression on me.
There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money. Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children talked excitedly about the clowns. It was clearly a very important day out for them. The father and mother seemed happy as they could be.
The tickets lady asked how many tickets the father wanted, he proudly answered, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adults’ tickets, so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady told him the price.
The man’s wife lowered her head. There was no longer a smile on the man’s face. He quietly asked, “How much did you say?”
The ticket lady again told him the price.
The man obviously didn’t have enough money. But how could he tell his kids the bad news?
Seeing what was happening, my dad took a $20 note from his pocket and dropped in on the ground. (We were not rich ourselves at all!) He then tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, you dropped this.”
The man understood my father was helping him. He picked up the money, looked straight into my dad’s eyes, and in tears replied. “Thank you. This really means a lot to me and my family.”
Although we did not go to the circus that night, we didn’t go without.Why does the writer say “Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean” ( Paragraph 2)?
| A．To show the children were well looked after. |
| B．To show cheap clothes could be popular. |
| C．To show how hard the mother worked. |
| D．To show how rich the family were. |
Why was the poor man unhappy after he spoke with the ticket lady?
| A．He had lost his money. | B．His children were noisy. |
| C．The tickets were sold out. | D．The tickets were too expensive. |
Who did the $20 note belong to?
| A．The poor man . | B．The writer’s father. |
| C．The poor man’s wife. | D．The ticket lady. |
Why was the poor man in tears at the end of the story?
| A．He found the money he lost. | B．He wanted others to help him. |
| C．He made his children unhappy. | D．He was thankful for the kindness. |
Which of the following statements is probably true according to the passage?
| A．The poor mans saw the circus that night. |
| B．The two families became close friends. |
| C．The writer’s father earned some money. |
| D．The writer saw the circs that night. |
阅读短文，根据短文内容完成表格，每空一词。
Welcome to England! The weather of England is very changeable. It can be rainy, sunny, cloudy, windy, foggy or cold at any time of a year. If it’s raining when you get up in the morning, it can be hot and dry by the afternoon. The west of England is wetter than the east, and the north is cooler than the south. Just be ready for any kind of weather.
In England, shops are usually open from 9:00 in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon. On Sundays some shops are open from 10:00 to 4:00. But most of the shops are closed. Banks, museums or other places are open from 10:00 to 5:00. You can go to the parks at any time.
All the cities have buses, trains and taxis. People wait in line for buses and they are unhappy if you push in at the front. Don’t forget this, traffic goes on the left. Be careful!
Scientists （科学家） are trying to make the deserts （沙漠） into good land again. They want to bring water to the deserts, so people can live and grow food. They are learning a lot about the deserts. But more and more of the earth is becoming deserts all the time. Scientists may not be able to change the deserts. Scientists think that people make deserts. People are doing bad things to the earth.
Some places on the earth don’t get much rain. But they still don’t become deserts. This is because some green plants are growing there. Small green plants and grass are very helpful to dry places. Plants don’t let the hot sun make the earth even drier. Plants don’t let the wind blow the earth away. When a little bit of rain falls, the plants hold the water. Without plants, the land can become deserts much more easily.
| A．Some places don’t get much rain. |
| B．Plants don’t let the hot sun make the earth even drier. |
| C．People don’t keep the earth well. |
| D．Scientists haven’t learnt enough about the deserts. |
| A．carry water | B．grow food |
| C．do nothing | D．study a lot |
| A．The land never stops becoming deserts. |
| B．Scientists ask people to live in the deserts and grow food there. |
| C．People do bad things to the earth. |
| D．Scientists may not be able to change the deserts. |
| A．They can hold the water. |
| B．They can stop the wind from blowing the earth away. |
| C．They can keep the earth wet. |
| D．All the above. |
| A．The Desert Problem |
| B．People Make Deserts |
| C．Green Plants and Grass |
| D．The Deserts, the Tree and the Water |
Franz Schubert was a famous musician in the world.But he lived a very hard life and often suffered(遭受)from being hungry.One day he was very hungry and went to a small restaurant,hoping he might meet some friends there.He looked around but found nobody he could borrow any money from.Then his eyes fell on a paper on one of the tables.In it was a little poem(诗歌).He read the poem.Then he wrote a piece of music for the poem and took his work to the owner of the restaurant.He only received a piece of beef and potato for it.Thirty years after his death,this manuscript(手稿)by Schubert was worth 40,000 francs.It was his famous Berceuse(《摇篮曲》).
| A．write a poem for his Berceuse |
| B．have his dinner together with his friend |
| C．see if he could find some friends who could lend him some money for a meal |
| D．write a piece of music for the owner of the restaurant |
| A．was also a musician |
| B．was very kind |
| C．hated Schubert very much |
| D．didn’t understand music very much |
| A．how old he was when Schubert died |
| B．how poor Schubert was |
| C．why Schubert wrote a piece of music for the little poem |
| D．whether Franz Schubert mastered the poem |
| A．刻苦的音乐家 | B．勤劳的指挥家 |
| C．著名的指挥家 | D．著名的音乐家 |
| A．Musician and Hunger |
| B．Franz Schubert and His Berceuse |
| C．Franz Schubert Died |
| D．A Great Musician |
| A．Diego Ramirez. | B．Kitty Wolfe. |
| C．Sam Mcgee. | D．We don’t know. |
| A．$15 | B．$39.95 |
| C．$12.50 | D．$30 |
| A．Two days. | B．Two months. |
| C．One week. | D．Two weeks. |
| A．Rocket to Space. | B．Pet Companies. |
| C．Icy Journey. | D．Handiwork Make. |
| A．Handiwork Make can teach you how to do housework. |
| B．Rocket to Space is about astronauts’ life in space. |
| C．Pet Companies tells the prices of dogs. |
| D．Icy Journey is the most expensive of the four books. |
This is Cara and Ben. They are twins（双胞胎）。They are twelve. This is their bedroom. It’s a nice room. There are two beds in the room. The yellow bed is Cara’s and that green one is Ben’s. The twins have one desk and two chairs. The chairs look the same. Cara’s sweater is on his bed. Ben’s coat is on his chair. Their clock, books and pencil-cases are on the desk.
Their school bags are behind the chairs.Cara and Ben are ________.
| A．brother and sister | B．brothers |
| C．sisters | D．friends |
Cara and Ben have ________.
| A．two chairs and one desk |
| B．two desks and one chair |
| C．two chairs and two desks |
| D．one desk and one chair |
Cara’s ________ is yellow and Ben’s ________ is green.
| A．chair; bed | B．sweater; sweater |
| C．bed; chair | D．bed; bed |
Cara’s sweater is ________.
| A．on his bed | B．on Ben’s bed |
| C．on the chair | D．on the desk |
Which is right?
| A．Their class is very nice. |
| B．Their two beds look the same. |
| C．Their school bags are under the chairs. |
| D．They live in the same room. |