An eight-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother. All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money. Only a very expensive operation could save him now and there was no one to lend them the money.
When she heard her daddy say to her tearful mother, “Only a miracle can save him now,” the little girl went to her bedroom and pulled her money from its hiding place and counted it carefully.
She hurried to a drugstore (药店) with the money in her hand.
“And what do you want?” asked the salesman. “It’s for my little brother,” the girl answered. “He’s really, really sick and I want to buy a miracle.” “Pardon?” said the salesman.
“My brother Andrew has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?” “We don’t sell a miracle here, child. I’m sorry,” the salesman said with a smile.
“Listen, if it isn’t enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs.”
A well-dressed man heard it and asked, “What kind of a miracle does your brother need?”
“I don’t know,” she answered with her eyes full of tears. “He’s really sick and mum says he needs an operation. But my daddy can’t pay for it, so I have brought all my money.”
“How much do you have?” asked the man. “$ 1.11, but I can try and get some more,” she answered.
“Well, what luck,” smiled the man. “$ 1.11, the price of a miracle for little brothers.”
He took up the girl’s hand and said, “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.”
That well-dressed man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a famous doctor. The operation was successful and it wasn’t long before Andrew was home again.
How much did the miracle cost?What was the trouble in the little girl’s family?
A. Her brother was seriously ill.
B. They had no money.
C. Nothing could save her brother.
D. Both A and B.In the eye of the little girl, a miracle might be _______.
| A．something interesting |
| B．something beautiful |
| C．some wonderful medicine |
| D．some good food |
The little girl said again and again “...I can try and get some more.” That shows _______.
| A．she had still kept some money |
| B．she hoped not to be refused |
| C．There was no need to worry about money |
| D．she thought money was easy to get |
What made the miracle happen?
| A．The girl’s love for her brother. |
| B．The girl’s money. |
| C．The medicine from the drugstore. |
| D．Nobody can tell. |
From the passage we can infer (推断) that _______.
| A．The doctor didn’t ask for any pay |
| B．A miracle is sure to happen if you keep on |
| C．The little girl is lovely but not so clever |
| D．Andrew was in fact not so sick as they had thought |
Jean is a clever young woman who comes from a rich and famous family. She goes to a good university and has everything that money can buy. Well, almost everything. The problem is that Jean’s family are so busy that they can hardly find time to be with her . In fact, Jean is quite lonely. So Jean spends a lot of time on her QQ. She likes being anonymous（名字不公开的）, talking to people who do not know about her famous family and her rich life. She uses the name Linda on QQ and has made a lot of friends who she keeps in touch with quite often.
Last year Jean made a very special friend on QQ. His name was David and lived in San Francisco. David was full of stories and jokes. He and Jean had a common interest in rock music and modern dance. So it always took them hours to talk happily on QQ and sometimes they even forgot their time. Of course, they wanted to know more about each other. David sent a picture of himself: He was a tall , good looking young man with big , happy smile. As time went by, they became good friends and often sent cards and small things to each other.
When Jean’s father told her that he was going on a business trip to San Francisco, she asked him to let her go with him so that she could give David a surprise for his birthday. She would take him the latest DVD of their favorite rock singer. But when she knocked on David’s door in San Francisco, she found that her special friend was a twelve-year-old boy named Jim!Jean is a clever young woman who comes from a _________ family.
| A．poor and big | B．rich and famous |
| C．big and rich | D．big and famous |
Jean thought “David” was special because _________.
| A．he made her quite happy on QQ . |
| B．he was from San Francisco. |
| C．he was tall and good-looking . |
| D．he could sing and dance well. |
Both Jean and Jim are interested in __________.
| A．pop music and sports |
| B．music and science |
| C．stories and jokes |
| D．rock music and modern dance |
From the passage, the writer mainly tell us _________.
| A．not to spend much time on QQ |
| B．not to use real names on QQ so often |
| C．not to go to meet those we get to know on QQ |
| D．not to believe those we get to know on QQ so easily |
This Cutting Food Box has 31 pieces, including 8 pieces of wooden food, a cutting board and two wooden knives. It lets kids cook on their own and hear real cutting sounds. The toy is for children 3 years to 6 years. It helps a lot. Here are some activities.
◆ Ask the child to tell the name of each food and whether it is a fruit or
vegetable.
◆ Place the food in a row to ask the child to count the number of food.
◆ Ask the child to place the watermelon on the cutting board to cut
it into four pieces.
We care about your comments (评论). Please call us! 800-284-3948. If you buy it before May, you can save up to 50%.
How many pieces of wooden food, cutting boards and wooden knives does the Cutting Food Box have ?
| A．Two. | B．Eight. |
| C．Eleven. | D．Thirty-one. |
What can the Cutting Food Box help kids to do?.
| A．To learn how to eat food. |
| B．To learn the names of some food. |
| C．To learn how to place food. |
| D．To learn to draw pictures of food. |
Who might be most interested in this passage?
| A．School students. | B．School teachers. |
| C．Young parents. | D．Young reporters |
If you knew a bottle of water had been recycled from urine (尿), would you drink it? Astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) may soon do so. NASA (美国航空航天局) said it would use a high-tech machine (高科技机器) to recycle wastewater at the ISS. The machine will recycle everything from sweat (汗), the water for washing hands, shower water, water used for brushing teeth, and even urine, to make drinking water.
It will save NASA millions of dollars each year. At present, each ISS astronaut uses about 4.4 liters (升) of water every day. It costs about $24 million a year to transport water up to ISS. NASA says that a liter of water costs about $11,000.
The machine will be sent to the ISS in October 2008. NASA hopes it will recycle about 93% of all water used on the station. Will the water be clean? Scientists say the wastewater will go through a very complicated process (复杂的过程). For example, different chemicals will be put in the wastewater; the water will be heated to 130℃to get rid of bacteria (细菌). The recycled water is thousands of times better than the water from a city tap, scientists say.NASA will use a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater at the ISS to __________.
| A．protect the ISS |
| B．make astronauts at ISS work harder |
| C．provide better water and food for ISS astronauts |
| D．save the cost of transporting water up to the ISS |
At present it costs NASA about ______ dollars to transport water up to an astronaut at the ISS a day.
| A．4.4 thousand | B．11 thousand |
| C．48.4 thousand | D．24 million |
Scientists plan to get rid of bacteria in the wastewater by ______.
| A．freezing | B．heating |
| C．shaking | D．precipitating (沉淀) |
The reading mainly tells us something about ______.
| A．water recycling | B．the International Space Station |
| C．a high-tech machine | D．the cost of NASA |
Which of the following sentences is true, according to the passage?
| A．The recycled water is much better than that from a city tap. |
| B．The high-tech machine will recycle all the water used on the station. |
| C．At present, each ISS astronaut uses more water than the people living on the earth. |
| D．The high-tech machine can only recycle urine to make water at present |
In his lowest days when few people bought his records, Taiwan singer Steve Chou lived alone in Canada and did little. One day, he passed by a local CD store and heard a song that greatly attracted him.
“My heart tells me that music is the thing I truly want to do, not for fame(名誉)or money,” Chou said. That’s how we luckily have such a music genius, who has since then composed(作曲)lots of hits for the pop music charts (排行榜).
“Sometimes we need to get close to nature to look deeply into our souls and see what we really want to follow,” he said.
Recently he has made public his latest work Lovers Genesis. In this album, he explores human relationships in the Internet age. “Technology itself is a good thing, but it depends on how you’re going to use it,” is Chou’s advice to teenagers.
Chou often gets his music ideas from trips. He has traveled to many places around the world and believes that learning a country’s language is the fastest way of experiencing the culture behind it.
Chou has worked hard on learning English to push forward his music career(事业). He has flown to the UK to attend month-long English training schools three times. There he lives with local families and practices daily conversations.
“So I could easily read the English instructions on recording machines and communicate with the local music producers,” said Chou, “The music reviews of the US or British singers that I appreciate could help me learn and grow with them.”. Which of the following about Steve Chou is the correct order?
a. He made public his work Lovers Genesis.
b. He passed by a local CD store and heard a song that greatly attracted him.
c. He composed lots of hits for the pop music charts.
d. Few people bought his records.
| A．abcd | B．dbca | C．acbd | D．dacb |
Why has Chou flown to the UK to learn English?
| A．Because he wants to live in the UK. |
| B．Because his record company asks him to. |
| C．Because he wants to sell his album in the UK. |
| D．Because he thinks it will be helpful for his music career. |
. Which of the following statements is right?
| A．Steve Chou loves music and he sings for fame. |
| B．The human relationships in the Internet age he explores is that Technology itself is a good thing, but it depends on how you’re going to use it. |
| C．Steve Chou lives with local families in Canada and practices daily conversations. |
| D．Steve grows up with some Americans. |
Steve Chou may agree with the following except that.
taking trips gives him some ideas of music
what we really want to follow is the most important.
music is a thing that can bring him fame and money.
in International age,technology itself is not a bad thingWhat is Steve Chou like according to the passage?
| A．Kind and helpful. | B．Proud and confident. |
| C．Active and hard-working | D．Calm and disappointed |
“Cool” is a word with many meanings．Its old meaning is used to express a temperature(温度) that is a little bit cold．As the world has changed，the word has had many different meanings now．
“Cool” can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything．
When you see a famous car in the street，maybe you will say，“It’s cool．”You may think，“He’s so cool，”when you see your favorite footballer．
We all maximize（扩大） the meaning of “cool”．You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”．Here’s an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used．A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall（瀑布）they had visited．On one student’s paper was just the one sentence，“It’s so cool’’．Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt．
But the story also shows a scarcity（缺乏）of words．Without “cool”，some people have no words to show the same meaning．So it is quite important to keep some credibility（可信性）．Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word “cool”？ I can．And I think they are also very cool．We know that the word “cool’’ has had ________.
| A．only one meaning | B．no meanings |
| C．many different meanings | D．the same meaning |
In the passage，the word “express” means “________”.
| A．see | B．show |
| C．know | D．feel |
The writer takes an example to show he is ________ the way the word is used．
| A．pleased with | B．strange to |
| C．worried about | D．careful with |
In the passage，the writer suggests（暗示）that the word “cool”________．
| A．can be used instead of many words |
| B．usually means something interesting |
| C．can make your life colorful |
| D．may not be as cool as it seems |