Don’t Wait Until Flowers Fade
Each spring brings a new blossom of wildflowers in the ditches (路沟) along the highway I travel daily to work.
There is one blue flower that has always my eye. I’ve noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours, and the afternoon sun is too warm it. Every day for approximately two weeks, I see those beautiful .
This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I’ve often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditch would look in that bed alongside wildflowers.
Everyday I drove the flowers thinking, “I’ll stop on my way home and dig them.” “Gee, I don’t want to get my good clothes ...” Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband gave me a folding shovel(铁锹) one year to be used for that purpose.
One day on my way home from work, I was to see that the highway department had moved the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, “Way to go, you too long. You it when you first saw them blooming this spring.”
A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a terminal brain tumor(脑瘤晚期). She is 20 years older than my husband and , because of age and distance, we haven’t been as as we all would have liked.
I couldn’t help but see the between the pretty blue flowers and the between my husband’s sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some valuable that will bloom every year for us.
And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I'll stop and them to my wildflower garden
A．sweet B．interesting C．different D．particular
A．fascinated B．struck C．caught D．charm
A．for B．to C．with D．on
A．plants B．flowers C．ones D．wilds
A．open B．main hall C．front D．kitchen
A．great B．well C．horrible D．ugly
A．many B．various C．other D．colorful
A．passed B．past C．pass D．pasted
A．damaged B．ready C．dirty D．smelly
A．ever B．once C．never D．even
A．expressed B．temporary C．unfinished D．permanent
A．annoying B．saddened C．interested D．helpless
A．wasted B．ignored C．thought D．waited
A．would have done B．need have done C．should have done D．muse have done
A．unconsciously B．fortunately C．unfortunately D．consciously
A．close B．closely C．closed D．near
A．connection B．difference C．meaning D．significance
A．friendship B．relationship C．support D．relative
A．trees B．memories C．species D．roses
A．dig B．rescue C．transmit D．transplant
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
My husband, Tom, has always been good with animals, but I was still amazed when he befriended a female grouse (松鸡)．It's impossible for a grouse to have any contact (接触) with people．In fact, they're hard to spot, they usually fly off when they hear humans approaching.
This grouse came into our lives in ．Tom was working out in the field when he her walking around at the edge of the field．She was unafraid and seemed to be curious about what he was doing.
Tom saw the bird several times, and she got more comfortable around him．We quickly grew f the bird and decided to call her Mildred.
One day, as Tom was working, Mildred came within a few feet of him to watch．Tom he didn't see her and kept working to see what she would do next.
Apparently, she didn't like to be ignored．She'd run up and peck (啄) at Tom's hands, then________off to see what he would do．This went on for about 20 minutes, until Mildred became tired of the ________and left.
As spring went and summer came, Mildred started to ________ more and more often．________Mildred felt comfortable enough to jump up on Tom's leg and stay long enough for me to get a picture of the two of them together．This friendly grouse soon felt________ not just with our family, but with anybody who walked or drove by.
When hunting season opened, we put a ________at the end of our driveway asking ________ not to shoot our pet grouse．My father, who lived down the road, ________ warned people not to shoot her．In fact, hunters would stop and take pictures, because they had never seen anything like her.
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阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
An old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and 4-year-old grandson. The old man’s hands , his eyesight was not clear, and his unsteady（不稳定的）. The family were every night at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and sight made this rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, would often spill（洒落）onto the tablecloth. “We must do some-thing about grandfather,” said the husband.
So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There , grandfather ate in the corner while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the dinner table. grandfather had already broken a dish or two , his food was served in a bowl. Sometimes, when the family grandfather, he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. , the only words the couple had for him were sharp when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The 4-year-old boy watched all this .
One evening before supper, the father his son playing with wood scraps（小块）on the floor. He asked the child sweetly :“What are you making?” Just as , the boy answered: “Oh, I am making a little for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up.”The 4-year-old boy smiled and went back to on it.
The words the parents so much that they were . Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. no word was spoken , both knew what they had to do. That evening, the husband took grandfather’s hand and led him back to the family table.
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阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The Value of an Hour
It was Thanksgiving morning. In the crowded kitchen of my small home I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in clothes and thin little sandals(凉鞋), staying together at the door on the top step.
“Any old ， lady？” asked one of them.
I was . I wanted to say “no” until my eye their sandals, which were wet with heavy snow.
“ and I’ll make you a cup of hot cocoa.”
They walked and sat down at the table. Their wet sandals left marks upon the . I served them cocoa and bread with jam to fight the freezing cold outside. I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget for Thanksgiving Day.
The silence in the front room struck me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice，“Lady, are you ？”
I looked at my old sofa covers. The girl put her cup back in its saucer(托盘) and said, “Your cups match your saucers.” Her voice was with a need that no amount of food could supply. They left after that， their papers against the wind. They hadn’t said “Thank you.” They didn’t need to. They had me that I had so much for which to be grateful. Plain blue china cups and saucers were worth five pence. But they matched.
I tasted the potatoes and the meat soup. Potatoes and brown meat soup, a roof over our heads, my man with a good steady job—these ，too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and the living room. The muddy(沾上泥的) of small sandals were still wet upon my floor. Let them be for a while, I thought, just in case I should begin to how rich I am.
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阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从各题所给的四个选项中，选出一个最佳答案。
An old man went to live with his son,daughter-in-law,and 4-year-old grandson.The old man’s hands ,his eyesight was not clear,and his unsteady（不稳定的）.The family were every night at the dinner table.But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and sight made this rather difficult.Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor.When he grasped the glass, would often spill（洒落）onto the tablecloth.“We must do something about grandfather,” said the husband.
So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.There,grandfather ate in the corner while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the dinner table. grandfather had already broken a dish or two,his food was served in a bowl.Sometimes,when the family grandfather,he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. ,the only words the couple had for him were sharp when he dropped a fork or spilled food.The 4-year-old boy watched all this .
One evening before supper,the father his son playing with wood scraps（小块）on the floor.He asked the child sweetly:“What are you making?” Just as ,the boy answered: “Oh,I am making a little for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up.”The 4-year-old boy smiled and went back to on it.
The words the parents so much that they were .Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. no word was spoken,both knew what they had to do.That evening,the husband took grandfather’s hand and led him back to the family table.
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阅读下面短文。从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Music to My Ears
Robby was 10 for his first piano lesson in my class. Much as he tried, he even the basic rhythm. However, he dutifully reviewed the pieces that I required. Over the months he tried and tried while I and encouraged him. At the end of each lesson he'd always say, "My mom's going to hear me play some day." it seemed hopeless. I only knew his mother from a ________as she waited in her aged car to pick him up. Then one day Robby stopped coming. I was secretly ________ that he stopped because of his lack of ability.
Weeks later I informed the students, including Robby, of the coming recital（独奏）. To my
_ , Robby asked me if he could be included. I told him he really did not qualify because he had ________ out. He said his mom had been sick and unable to take him to lessons but he was still________. “I've just got to play!" he________ . Something inside me let me allow him to. Then came the recital night. The gym was________ with parents. I put Robby up________ , thinking that I could save his poor performance through my “curtain closer（谢幕）.”
The recital went off smoothly. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was ________ . "Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?" I thought. Robby pulled out the piano bench and began. I was not________for what I heard next. His fingers were ________ on the keys. Never had I heard Mozart played so well by people of his age. After he ended, everyone was ________ their feet in wild applause. In ________I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby. "I've never heard you play like that, Robby! How did you________ it?" Robby explained, "Well, Miss Hondorf…remember I told you my mom was sick? …________ she had cancer and passed away yesterday. She was born deaf, so tonight she could hear me play in heaven. I wanted to make it special."
There wasn’t a ________ eye in the house. That night I felt he was the teacher and I was the pupil, for it was he who taught me the meaning of perseverance(毅力) and ________ .
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