He was just an ordinary postman. Day after day, he shuttled(穿梭) back and forth across the village. For him, life was without waves.
One day, he was delivering mail as usual.When he looked up in the sky,he suddenly lost his balance.It was a little stone that tripped him up（绊倒）.He observed the stone that had embarrassed（难堪） him,finding it strange but beautiful.In his eyes,this stone was like a lost jewel（宝石）covered with dust. The postman then placed the stone in his bag carefully. Because of this stone’s arrival,his day was lightened. He suddenly had a bold thought—I can build a castle with such beautiful stones.How magnificent it will be!
His ordinary life started to be different since then. He still delivered mail,but he collected every stone he could find along the way.All those dusty stones,in his eyes,glittered like diamonds.
Gradually,his small bag couldn’t hold his stones anymore and he needed to use a wheelbarrow to carry them.People didn’t understand what happened when they saw the postman delivering letters with a wheelbarrow full of stones.
After collecting enough stones,he started to build his castle.During the daytime,he passed along the dreams of others;and during the nighttime,he built his own dream.No one was willing to join in.But the postman was unmoved,still happily building his castle.Because he knew,the dream and the castle only belonged to him.
After 20 years of working day and night,the postman’s dream castle was finally completed.It was a magnificent castle just as he had imagined.It was a miracle arising from the ordinary.
This is a real story.The postman’s name is Xue Waller.The stone castle has become a famous tourist attraction in France,which is called“ideal palace of Ferdinand Cheval.”At the entrance of the stone castle,there is a sentence—“I want to know how far a dream stone can go.” The postman felt embarrassed because he _______.
| A．lost his balance | B．lost his bag |
| C．delivered mail | D．found a stone |
The postman’s own dream was to _______
| A．collect stones | B．deliver mail |
| C．find diamonds | D．build his castle |
The underlined word “glittered” in the third paragraph may mean ________.
| A．shone | B．cleaned |
| C．posted | D．hid |
. Which of the following is not true?
| A．A little stone tripped the postman up while he was delivering mail as usual. |
| B．The postman collected every stone he would find along the way. |
| C．The postman built his castle with the help of his family and friends. |
| D．The postman spent twenty years building his stone castle. |
The postman named Xue Waller was ________.
| A．German | B．French |
| C．British | D．American |
From the passage we can learn that ________.
| A．The postman had a colourful life before the accident in which he lost his balance. |
| B．The postman gave up his job in order to built his stone castle. |
| C．The stone that tripped the postman up was a real jewel. |
| D．Though people didn’t understand him, the postman continued his dream-building a castle. |
Trudy’s class has an English newspaper. The students write stories, articles and poems for it. Then they type and print their works out. The teacher posts everything on the wall so that it looks like a large, open newspaper.
One day Trudy said to the teacher, “Most newspapers have advertisements. Can we have some small ads in ours?” The teacher thought this was a very good idea. She made Trudy the advertising manager and Trudy asked the other students to offer things for sale in the newspaper. Here are some of the ads she received.
| GOOD HOME WANTED: Six lovely cats need good homes. They are the cutest things you’ve ever seen. Free to the right person. See John. |
CONCERT TICKETS: Has anyone got an extra ticket for the Raiders concert next week? I’m looking forward to and will pay well for a good ticket. See Sheila. |
| Stationery For Rent: Anyone who has left his stationery at home, please come to Mike. No charge. But make sure to return in time. |
LOST: A silver ring with a blue stone in it. Reward. See Patricia. |
| WANTED PC: In good condition. Must be at least a Pentium. See Alan. |
PETER’S HOMEWORK SERVICE: Help you solve the problems in your homework. Not expensive. Quick service. See Peter. |
| WORK WANTED: Strong boy willing to work in the garden or do housework. 3 hours a week. Not expensive. See Tom. |
Exchange Magazines: If you are interested in Chinese magazines and have science magazines at hand，please come to Nina. |
Who wanted to put advertisements in the newspaper?
| A．Trudy. | B．The teacher. | C．Some of the students. | D．Alan. |
What is Tom willing to do?
| A．To do other people’s homework. | B．To work in the garden or do housework. |
| C．To sell six cats. | D．To fix broken PCs. |
What does Alan want to buy?
| A．A lovely cat. | B．A silver ring. |
| C．A PC in good condition. | D．A ticket to the Raiders concert. |
Why will Sheila pay well for a Raiders concert ticket?
| A．Because she is thinking about going to the concert. |
| B．Because she is looking forward to going to the concert. |
| C．Because she doesn’t have homework to do. |
| D．Because her friends are going to the concert. |
What will Patricia give the person who finds her ring?
| A．Nothing. | B．Another ring. | C．A ticket to the Raiders concert. | D．A reward. |
阅读判断(根据短文内容判断正误。正确的用A，错误的用B)
Healthy Eating
Healthy eating is important to us. What and how should we eat to be healthy?
First, we must have enough food, never too much or too little. The food must be clean and we should cook it properly.
Second, it’s very important for us to keep a balanced diet. Different kinds of foods are necessary, such as rice, bread, meat, fish, eggs, milk and vegetables. Rice and bread give us energy. Meat, fish, eggs and milk help our bones grow. Fruit and vegetables make us healthy.
Third, we should eat regularly. It’s said that half of the students don’t have a regular breakfast or don’t eat anything at all in the morning. It is bad for their health. In fact, a good breakfast keeps us strong.
In short, we should not only eat enough food, healthy food but also eat regularly.We eat food freely.
We should eat different kinds of healthy foods.
Vegetables are the most important food for our health.
The more regularly, the healthier we are.
All the students don’t have a regular breakfast.
Dou Kou, a Chinese boy, is called “the youngest writer in the world”. He has written three books till now. Dou Kou was born in Jiangsu in 1994. When he was 7 months old, his partents started working in over 30 different cities, such as Xi’an and Shenzhen. This kind of life gave him things to think and write about. When he was 9 months old, he could speak and at the age of one, he could say five to six hundred words. At three, he could look up words in the dictionary. At four, his father taught him how to learn by himself. His parents like reading very much. So does he. At the age of 5, he began writing fairy tales. At the age of 6, he wrote a novel about his life in different cities with his parents. His fairy tales are all from his life. One day, he found many mice in the house. They only ate their food but also hurt his mother’s hand. So he thought, “If we give mice the stomach of cows, they will eat grass and they will be helpful to people.” This was his first fairy tales Change Stomach for Mice. Now he studies well in a middle school. He has written his third book, the novel called Eyes of Children. He says, “I am not different from other children. I just wrote several books.How many books has Dou Kou written?
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Five | D．Six |
Thanks to his ________, Dou Kou could write his books.
| A．mother | B．father | C．school life | D．life in different cities |
Dou Kou began to use a dictionary __________.
| A．when he wrote fairy tales | B．before his father taught him how to learn something |
| C．after he went to school | D．after his mother taught him how to learn something |
The underlined(划线的) sentences show us that Dou Kou _________.
| A．is different from other children | B．doesn’t tell the truth. |
| C．is the same as other children | D．likes his books |
Which is the best title?
| A．Three Books by a child | B．How to Write a Fairy Tales |
| C．How Clever the Boy is | D．Dou Kou, the Youngest Writer |
Bicycles in China
Bicycles are very popular in China. In our country you can see bicycles almost everywhere. When you walk on the road, you will find a lot of people riding bicycles to school, shops and anywhere else. Therefore(因此), China is known as “the kingdom of bicycles”. In China, many families have one or two bicycles.
Compared(与……比) with cars, bicycles have many advantages. First, they are much cheaper than cars. Most Chinese can’t afford cars, but they can afford bicycles. Second, bicycles are small enough to park anywhere, while cars need a larger piece of land to park. What’s more, with lower speed, bicycles are safer than cars.
However, bicycles also bring some problems. Some riders don’t obey the traffic rules and some riders don’t think about others’ safety. So they ride too fast. During rush hours, too many bicycles may cause traffic jams. We still have a long way to go to solve the problem.Where can you see bicycles in China?
| A．In the big city. | B．In the town. | C．In the country. | D．Almost everywhere. |
“The kingdom of bicycles” here is saying ____.
| A．China has a large number of bicycles | B．China makes bicycles |
| C．bicycles are a kingdom | D．only China has bicycles |
Which of the following is NOT an advantage of bicycles?
| A．Bicycles are much cheaper than cars. | B．Bicycles are easy to park. |
| C．Bicycles are more beautiful than cars. | D．Bicycles are safer than cars. |
What problems can bicycles bring?
| A．Bicycles are more and more expensive. |
| B．Riding bicycles is more dangerous than driving cars. |
| C．There are no places for so many bicycles. |
| D．Too many bicycles may cause traffic jams. |
What does the last sentence mean?
| A．We should drive cars instead of riding bicycles. |
| B．It’s too far to ride bicycles. |
| C．Bicycles are safe enough. |
| D．We still need to do much to solve the problem. |
Long ago, Bluebird’s feathers were the colour of dust. She did not like her ugly colour. She was attracted by the colour of the lake near her home. It was as blue as the sky after a storm. Bluebird wanted to be the colour of that beautiful lake very much. Flapping her wings one morning, Bluebird flew from her tree to the blue lake. Then she bathed in the water three times. After each bath, she sang, “Blue water. Still water. I went in. I am blue.” Bluebird repeated this every morning. On the third day, she came out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers.
Now Coyote was a trickster(骗子)—and hungry too. He stayed behind Bluebird’s tree for a long time every day and watched her go to the lake. He pretended(伪装) to be interested in everything she did. He wanted Bluebird for lunch, but he was afraid of the blue water. On the third morning, Coyote saw Bluebird come out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers. Impressed, he sat next to Bluebird’s tree and waited for her. When she returned, he asked, “How did you get blue feathers? I want to be blue like the mountains too.” Bluebird didn’t believe Coyote, but she taught him how to bathe three times each morning and how to sing her song. Coyote did what she said, and after three days of bathing in the lake, his white fur turned deep blue.
Convinced(确信的) that blue fur was even more beautiful than blue feathers, Coyote forgot all about being hungry. He ran as fast as he could to the top of the hill. Standing on his back legs, he raised his front legs off the ground and howled. But Coyote slipped(滑倒) and rolled down the hill. He couldn’t stop himself, and the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur. He rolled and rolled until he hit into Bluebird’s tree heavily. No matter how much he tried, foolish Coyote could not shake the dust from his fur. And so the fur of all coyotes had the dull colour of dust to this very day.How many times did Bluebird bathe every morning before she had beautiful blue feathers?
| A．Three times. | B．Four times. | C．Five times. | D．Six times. |
Why was Coyote a trickster?
| A．He wanted to fly like Bluebird near the mountains. |
| B．He wanted to eat Bluebird but pretended to be curious. |
| C．He wanted to swim in the lake but was afraid of the water. |
| D．He wanted to sing Bluebird’s song but didn’t know the words. |
Where did Coyote go after his fur turned blue?
| A．To the lake. | B．To the tree. | C．To the cave. | D．To the hill. |
Why did Coyote forget all about being hungry?
| A．Because his fur had the dull colour of dust. |
| B．Because the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur. |
| C．Because he thought blue fur was much more beautiful. |
| D．Because he hit into Bluebird’s tree and hurt himself. |
What words does the writer use to help you imagine the colour blue?
| A．sky, lake, mountains |
| B．bird, coyote, storm |
| C．flapped, climbed, bathed |
| D．fur, feathers, dust |