“Mommy, I’m a funny bird,” Jack, my almost-4-year-old tells me. He moves his little fingers like wings.
“You are?” I say. I’m sitting across from him while he eats breakfast at our table. I smile; he says the greatest things. A week ago, however, when he had chocolate on his face and I licked (舔) my finger to wipe it off, he said, “Don’t put your dirty water on me.”
A week ago, I wouldn’t have been sitting here with him during breakfast. I wouldn’t have been up, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the kitchen, or answering emails. We always had dinner together at the table, but other meals got much less attention. I work from home, and my husband owns an advertising agency and often travels. We were so busy that we had to do the chores during breakfast or lunch.
Why was I not sitting down with my son? It could take Jack an hour to eat a meal, during which I could feel the tug (猛拉) of unanswered emails, a deadline, and the unswept floor each minute.
Then we went to visit friends for a weekend. They have two kids. They are busy, professional, and good parents. And at every meal -- not just dinner -- we all sat down at the table and ate. When we got home, my husband said, “Maybe we should be doing that.”
I took this as criticism. My husband works a lot, so mealtimes are mostly under my charge. The “we” he was talking about was me.
Then, I remembered myself that I’m a big girl, and took his comment the way it was meant. We both want what’s best for Jack. Yes, I thought. I’m home. I have to eat, too. My husband is Jack’s favorite, which delights and moves me, but I am Jack’s constant. Constants are there. Constants sit down.
So I’ve been sitting. And, surprise, I haven’t missed a deadline. The house has been clean. And Jack seems to like having me there. Two days ago, over lunch, he smiled and stared at me.
“What?” I asked, amused.
“Mommy, I love you so much and I can’t stop loving you.”
I could have missed that.
God, I could have missed that. Before visiting the friends, Jack _________.
| A．didn’t like chocolate |
| B．couldn’t eat by himself |
| C．was sometimes rude to his mom |
| D．preferred his mother to his father |
After visiting the friends, the author _________.
| A．was determined to learn to cook |
| B．asked her husband to have every meal with her |
| C．decided to have dinner together with her family |
| D．was advised by her husband to learn from the friends |
What does the underlined word “that” in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．The best time to visit friends. |
| B．Jack saying sweet words to his mom. |
| C．A deadline for answering emails. |
| D．Jack having lunch with his mom. |
A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She bought a book and a bag of cookies in the airport shop, and found a place to drop.
She was interested in her book, but the man sitting beside her grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid an argument.
So she ate the cookies noisily and watched the clock, as the cookie thief diminished (使……变少) her stock. She was getting angrier as the minutes passed, thinking,“Oh, brother, if I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken your eyes.”
With each cookie she took, he took one, too. When only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half, and he ate the other. She got it from him and thought, “ This guy has some nerve (胆量) and he’s also rude. Why didn’t he even show any gratitude?”
She had never known when she had been so angry. She gathered her bag and headed for the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate (忘恩负义者).
She boarded the plane and then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her bag, she was shocked— there was her bag of cookies. “If mine are here,” she thought, “the others were his. It’s too late to apologize.”Why did the woman ignore it when she found the man eating the cookies?
| A．She didn’t want to get into an argument. |
| B．She was full of pity for the man. |
| C．The man was dangerous and brave. |
| D．She was too careless to notice it. |
When offered her half of the last cookie, the woman______.
| A．felt a bit disappointed. |
| B．felt deeply thankful. |
| C．considered the man unthankful. |
| D．saw the man as his brave brother. |
We can infer that the man________.
| A．might have returned the bag of cookies secretly. |
| B．tried to share his cookies with the woman. |
| C．was thankful for the woman’s kindness. |
| D．was really a thief. |
Hello! My name is Lisa, and I am a lioness. I live on the open grasslands of Africa with my family. Lions living in a group are called a pride.
My father is strong and powerful. He and his cousin are the leaders of our pride. The other members are my mother, her sisters, and their children.
The area where a pride lives is big! We roar (咆哮) to tell each other where we are and to warn strangers to stay away.
Meet my new baby brother. His name is Leon. See the spots on his fur? We lions are born spotted or striped (有条纹的). As we grow older, the spots gradually disappear.
Lionesses usually spend their entire lives with their birth pride, but Leon will leave when he is about three years old. He’ll run around with a male (雄性的) friend or relative for a few years until they take over a pride of their own.
But for now, we have lots of fun together. We often play and fight for hours, which can help us practice skills that we will need for hunting. )
We lions keep ourselves very clean. Just like a house cat, I clean my fur (毛with my tongue. We clean for each other, too, to show we’re friends.
Lions like to sleep for most of the day. We hunt in the cool evening. Female (雌性的) lions hunt more often than male lions. We work together as a team. At the right moment, we attack and kill our prey. Then we share it. Male lions usually eat first. Females eat next. Baby lions are the last to eat. The smallest one gets the least food.
Since we are full, it’s time to go to find a nice place for a sleep. Bye!Lisa in this passage is the name of _____.
| A．a girl | B．a male lion | C．a female lion | D．a pride |
According to the passage, Leon _____.
| A．hunts more often than his sisters |
| B．will have spots on his fur for the whole of his life |
| C．will leave his birth pride when he is about three |
| D．will take over his birth pride when his father dies |
The underlined word “prey” in the passage probably means _____.
| A．the animal that is hunted | B．the animal that is dangerous |
| C．the animal that is powerful | D．the animal that is ill |
The passage is written for _____.
| A．doctors | B．tourists | C．children | D．hunters |
One day a student was taking a walk with his teacher. As they went along, they saw a pair of old shoes lying in the path. They were a poor farmer’s, who was working in the nearby field.
The student turned to the teacher, saying: “we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those trees, and wait to see what he will do.”
“My young friend,” answered the teacher, “we should never make fun of the poor. Why not put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch?” The student did so and they both hid themselves behind the trees. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.
After putting on his coat, he put his foot into one of his shoes, and felt something hard. Then he bent (弯腰) down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Surprised, he looked at the coin, turned it around and looked at it again. He then looked around, but no person was seen. He put the money into his pocket, and continued to put on the other shoe. His surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
He couldn’t control his feelings and fell to his knees, looked up to the sky and expressed his thanks. Then he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread. He said the help would save them from dying.
The student stood there deeply moved, and his eyes filled with tears. “Now,” said the teacher, “are you not much happier than if you had hidden the shoes?”When the student saw the shoes, he wanted to _____.
| A．steal them | B．find their owner |
| C．play a joke on the owner | D．give the owner some money |
According to the passage, the teacher is _____.
| A．quiet and honest | B．kind and friendly |
| C．patient and clever | D．strict and careful |
At the end of the story, the student _____.
| A．was very proud of himself |
| B．was very pleased with his life |
| C．felt very sorry about his first idea |
| D．felt sad for not taking his teacher’s advice |
On a Sunday morning, I was driving down a road and saw something I couldn’t believe. A little girl, less than two, was pushing her stroller (婴儿车) across the road. It was Sunday morning and traffic was not heavy.
I stopped my car at once and ran toward her. This little girl knew enough to run from a stranger. I tried to catch her in order that I could get her out of the road.
Suddenly her father came running down a hill across the road from where I had parked my car. He ran right to her and caught her up, saying “bad girl” to her. I picked up the stroller and gave it to him. The father grabbed the stroller and walked toward where he came from without a word.
I went back and sat in my car for a few minutes with my son. My hands were shaking and tears were about to run out of my eyes. “Do you feel cold, Mom?” asked my son. I just shook my head.
After this happened, I thought about how thankful I am. Even though the father didn’t say thank you, I feel that I did something good. Doing something for someone else is pleasing, even when it’s only a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
I didn’t really “save” her, but I feel like it was important that I happened to be there. It is sad that I was the only one who stopped. It really made me a little disappointed that no one else stopped to help.When the author saw the little girl, _____.
| A．the girl had lost her way |
| B．she was driving to work in a hurry |
| C．the girl feared to go across the road |
| D．there weren’t many cars on the road |
The little girl ran away from the author because _____.
| A．she wanted to stay on the road |
| B．she didn’t know the author at all |
| C．she wanted to look for her father |
| D．she needed to catch her stroller |
Why were the author’s hands shaking?
| A．Because she was not feeling well. |
| B．Because she was too excited to keep calm. |
| C．Because the weather was very cold at that time. |
| D．Because she failed to be understood by the girl’s father. |
The author thought that her help was _____.
| A．really necessary | B．worth praising | C．not welcome | D．not useful |
I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch (大牧场) in San Isidro. He lets me use his house to hold events to raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he greeted me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let you use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of a poor horse trainer who would go from stable (马厩) to stable, farm to farm, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school was continually interrupted (打断). One day in the last year of high school, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to do when he grew up.
“He wrote a seven-page paper about his goal of owning a horse ranch in great detail. He put a great deal of his heart into the project and even drew a detailed floor plan for the dream ranch. Then the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. But he got a low mark with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’ “The boy went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive a low mark?’”
“The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from a poor family. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper, I will reconsider your mark.’
“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’
“Finally, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He wrote, ‘You can keep the low mark and I’ll keep my dream.’”Which of the following statements is TRUE about Monty Roberts?
| A．He was born in a poor family. |
| B．He received a good education. |
| C．He is raising money for the poor. |
| D．He is a horse trainer who owns a big ranch. |
From Paragraph 3, we know Monty Roberts _____.
| A．was just a daydreamer |
| B．decided to follow his father’s example |
| C．expected the teacher to praise him |
| D．had a great plan for his future |
The teacher thought Monty Roberts’s dream was _____.
| A．strange | B．great | C．pleasant | D．impossible |
The purpose of the text is to tell readers that _____.
| A．seeing is believing |
| B．knowledge is power |
| C．all roads lead to Rome |
| D．where there is a will, there is a way |