Once we got home, there was barely time to enjoy our presents. We had to go off to our grandparents' house for our annual Christmas dinner. As we drove down the highway through town, I noticed that the family was there, standing outside the closed gas station.
My father was driving very slowly down the highway. The closer we got to the turnoff for my grandparents' house, the slower the car went. Suddenly, my father U-turned in the middle of the road and said, "I can't stand it!"
"What?" asked my mother.
"It's those people back there at the gas station, standing in the rain. They've got children. It's Christmas. "
When my father pulled into the service station, I saw that there were five of them: the parents and three children- two girls and a small boy.
My father rolled down his window. "Merry Christmas," he said.
"Howdy," the man replied.
"You’re waiting on the bus?" my father asked.
The man said that they were.
"Well, that bus isn't going to come along for several hours, and you're getting wet standing here. Winborn's just a couple miles up the road. They've got a shed with a cover there, and some benches," my father said. "Why don't y'all get in the car and I'll run you up there."
The man thought about it for a moment, and then he beckoned to his family. They climbed into the car. They had no luggage, only the clothes they were wearing.
Once they settled in, my father looked back over his shoulder and asked the children if Santa had found them yet. Three glum faces mutely gave him his answer.
"Well, I didn't think so," my father said, winking at my mother, "because when I saw Santa this morning, he told me that he was having trouble finding all, and he asked me if he could leave your toys at my house. We'll just go get them before I take you to the bus stop."
All at once, the three children's faces lit up, and they began to bounce around in the back seat, laughing and chattering.
When we got out of the car at our house, the three children ran through the front door and straight to the toys that were spread out under our Christmas tree. That was the Christmas when my sisters and I learned the joy of making others happy.
When they left, my father reached into his pocket and pulled out two dollars, which was all he had left. He pressed the money into the man's hand. The man tried to give it back, but my father insisted. “Take it. I've been broke before, and I know what it's like when you can't feed your family." We left them there at the bus stop in Winborn. As we drove away, I watched out the window as long as I could, looking back at the little girl hugging her new doll.For the majority, what the story impresses most on us is __________.
| A．father’s kind offer to the family in the rain |
| B．mother’s generosity to give all our Christmas presents away |
| C．that my sister and I had no alternative as to my parents’ decision |
| D．that the family who got help seemed to be indifferent |
The writer didn’t get the Christmas presents, but he/she was happy. The reason was_________.
| A．his/her parents taught his/her a good lesson |
| B．they learned the joy of making others happy |
| C．they would get another presents somewhere else |
| D．they were likely to get more presents from others |
We can draw a conclusion from the story that _________.
| A．only you help others heart and soul can you feel more happy |
| B．God helps those who help themselves |
| C．Present rose to others with fragrance lingering at hand. |
| D．Happiness takes no account of time |
After reading the story, you will have the feeling of _________.
| A．great happiness | B．light sadness |
| C．little sorrow | D．some warmth |
LONDON---A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake（假冒的）bomb detectors（探测器）to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn’t cared about potentially deadly consequences.
It is believed that James McCormick got about $ 77.8 million from the sales of his detectors---which were based on a kind of golf ball finder---to countries including Iraq, Belgium nd Saudi Arabia.McCormick, 57, was convicted（判罪）of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.
“Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death
and injury to innocent people,” Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. “You have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt.”
The detectors, sold for up to $ 42, 000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they “lacked any grounding in science”
and were of no use.McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.
“I never had any bad results from customers,” he said. Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?
| A．He sold bombs. |
| B．He caused death of people. |
| C．He made detectors. |
| D．He cheated in business. |
According to the judge, what McCormick had done .
| A．increased the cost of safeguarding |
| B．lowered people’s guard against danger |
| C．changed people’s idea of social security |
| D．caused innocent people to commit crimes |
Which of the following is true of the detectors?
| A．They have not been sold to Africa |
| B．They have caused many serious problems. |
| C．They can find dangerous objects in water. |
| D．They don’t function on the basis of science. |
It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick .
| A．solo the equipment at a low price |
| B．was well-known in most countries |
| C．did not think he had committed the crime |
| D．had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text |
On a stormy day last August, Tim heard some shouting. Looking out to the sea carefully, he
saw a couple of kids in a rowboat were being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search a football. Once they’d
rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the
boat into open water. The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore. But they were no match for
it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves.
“Everything went quiet in my head,” Tim recalls（回忆）. “I’m trying to figure out how to
swim to the boys in a straight line.”
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water. Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head
to judge his progress. “At one point, I considered turning back,” he says. “I wondered if I was
putting my life at risk.” After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys,
“Take down the umbrella!”
“Let’s aim for the pier（码头）,” Jack said. Tim turned the boat toward it. Soon afterward,
waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink. “Can you guys swim?” he cried. “A little bit,”
the boys said.
Once they were in the water, Tim decided it would be safer and faster for him to pull the boys
toward the pier. Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs. Tim swam
toward land as water washed over the boys’ faces.
“Are we almost there?” they asked again and again. “Yes,” Tim told them each time.
After 30 minutes, they reached the pier.Why did the two boys go to the sea?
| A．To go boat rowing |
| B．To get back their football. |
| C．To swim in the open water |
| D．To test the umbrella as a sail. |
What does “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．The beach |
| B．The water |
| C．The boat |
| D．The wind |
Why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．To take in enough fresh air . |
| B．To consider turning back or not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys. |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella. |
How can the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
| B．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| C．They were washed to the pier by the waves. |
| D．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
Fear may be felt in the heart as well as in the head, according to a study that has found a link between the cycles of a beating heart and the chance of someone feeling fear.
Tests on healthy volunteers found that they were more likely to feel a sense of fear at the moment when their hearts are contracting(收缩) and pumping blood around their bodies, compared with the point when the heartbeat is relaxed. Scientists say the results suggest that the heart is able to influence how the brain responds to a fearful event, depending on which point it is at in its regular cycle of contraction and relaxation.
Sarah Garfinkel at the Brighton andSussexMedicalSchoolsaid: "Our study shows for the first time that the way in which we deal with fear is different depending on when we see fearful pictures in relation to our heart."
The study tested 20 healthy volunteers on their reactions to fear as they were shown pictures of fearful faces. Dr Garfinkel said, "The study showed that fearful faces are better noticed when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxed. Thus our hearts can also affect what we see and what we don't see - and guide whether we see fear."
To further understand this relationship, the scientists also used a brain scanner(扫描仪) to show how the brain influences the way the heart changes a person's feeling of fear.
"We have found an importantmechanismby which the heart and brain‘speak’to each other to change our feelings and reduce fear," Dr Garfinkel said.
"We hope that by increasing our understanding about how fear is dealt with and ways that it could be reduced, we may be able to develop more successful treatments for anxiety disorders, and also for those for those who may be suffering from serious stress disorder."What is the finding of the study?
| A．One's heart affects how he feels fear. |
| B．fear is a result of one's relaxed heartbeat. |
| C．fear has something to do with one's health. |
| D．Ones fast heartbeats are likely to cause fear. |
The study was carried out by analyzing _______.
| A．volunteers' heartbeats when they saw terrible pictures |
| B．the time volunteers saw fearful pictures and their health conditions |
| C．volunteers' reactions to horrible pictures and data form their brain scans |
| D．different pictures shown to volunteers and their heart-brain communication |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to "mechanism" in Paragraph 6?
| A．Order. |
| B．system. |
| C．Machine. |
| D．Treatment. |
This study may contribute to _______.
| A．treating anxiety and stress better |
| B．explaining the cycle of fear and anxiety |
| C．finding the sky to the heart-brain communication |
| D．understanding different fears in our hearts and heads |
Home to me means a sense of familiarity and nostalgia(怀旧). It's fun to come home. It looks the same. It smells the same. You'll realize what's changed is you. Home is where we ran remember pain, live, and some other experiences; We parted here; My parents met here; I won three championships here.
If I close my eyes, I can still have a clear picture in mind of my first home. I walk in the door and see a brown sofa surrounding a low glass-top wooden table. To the right of the living room is my first bedroom. It's empty, but it's where my earliest memories are.
There is the dining room table where I celebrated birthdays, and where I cried on Halloween-when I didn't want to wear the skirt my mother made for me. I always liked standing on that table because it made me feel tall and strong. If I sit at this table, I can see my favorite room in the house, my parents' room. It is simple: a brown wooden dresser lines the right side of the wall next to a television and a couple of photos of my grandparents on each side. Their bed is my safe zone. I can jump on it anytime - waking up my parents if I am scared or if I have an important announcement that cannot wait until the morning.
I'm lucky because I know my first home still exists. It exists in my mind and heart, on a physical property(住宅) on West 64th street on the western edge of Los Angeles. It is proof I lived, I grew and I learned.
Sometimes when I feel lost, I lie down and shut my eyes, and I go home. I know it's where I'll find my family, my dogs, and my belongings. I purposely leave the window open at night because I know I'll be blamed by Mom. But I don't mind, because I want to hear her say my name, which reminds me I'm home. Why does the author call her parents' bed her "safe zone"(Paragraph 3)?
| A．It is her favorite place to play. |
| B．Her needs can be satisfied there. |
| C．Her grandparents' photos are lined on each side. |
| D．Her parents always play together with her there. |
What can be learned from the passage?
| A．The old furniture is still in the author's fist bedroom. |
| B．The author can still visit her first physical mome in Los Angeles. |
| C．The author's favorite room in her first home is the dining room. |
| D．Many people of the author's age can still find their first physical homes. |
Sometimes when she feels lost, the author will _______.
| A．Open the window at night |
| B．lie down in bed to have a dream |
| C．try to bring back a sense of home |
| D．go to Los Angeles to visit her mom |
What is the author's purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To express how much she is attached to her home. |
| B．To declare how much she loves her first house. |
| C．To describe the state of her family. |
| D．To look back on her childhood. |
LONDON - A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake(假冒的) bomb detectors(探测器) to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn't cared about potentially deadly consequences.
It is believed that James McCormick got about $77.8 million from the sales of his detectors - which were based on a kind of golf ball finder - to countries including Iraq, Belgium and Saudi Arabia.
McCormick, 57, was convicted(判罪) of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.
"Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent people," Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. "you have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt."
The detectors, sold for up to $42,000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they "lacked any grounding in science" and were of no use.
McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.
"I never had any had results from customers," he said. Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?
| A．He sold bombs. |
| B．He caused death of people. |
| C．He made detectors. |
| D．He cheated in business. |
According to the judge, what McCormick had done _______.
| A．increased the cost of safeguarding |
| B．lowered people's guard against danger |
| C．changed people's idea of social security |
| D．caused innocent people to commit crimes |
Which of the following is true of the detectors?
| A．They have not been sold to Africa. |
| B．They have caused many serious problems. |
| C．They can find dangerous objects in water. |
| D．They don't function on the basis of science. |
It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick _______.
| A．sold the equipment at a low price |
| B．was well-known in most countries |
| C．did not think he had committed the crime |
| D．had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text |