Real gift at Christmas
IT was Christmas Eve, 1881. I was 15 years old and feeling like the world was over for me. I didn’t have enough money to buy myself the gift that I had wanted that year.
Dad came back in and there was ice in his beard. “You’ve been by widow (寡妇) Smith’s house recently?” he asked. Widow Smith lived two miles down the road. Her husband died a year ago and left her with three children.
“I rode by just today,” Dad continued. “Little Jack was out looking for wood (木头). They must be out of wood, Tom.”
We filled our sled (雪橇) high with wood. Then we went to the store and Dad bought some food, and a smaller pair of shoes. I tried to think through what Dad was doing. I knew we didn’t have much money, so why was Dad buying them so many things?
We got to the Smith’s house and went in. “We brought you a few things, madam,” Dad said, and put down the bag of food on the table. Then Dad handed widow Smith the pair of shoes. She bit her lower lip (下唇) to keep it from trembling (发抖), and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks.
My throat seemed to be filled with something, and there were tears in my eyes, too. Just then my dream gift seemed very unimportant. Dad had given me the look on widow Smith’s face and the smiles of her three children. He had given me the best Christmas of my life.The writer was not happy on Christmas Eve 1881 because ___________.
| A．he was worried that his father was still not back |
| B．it was the beginning of a new year and he didn’t want to grow up |
| C．he couldn’t have the Christmas gift he wanted |
| D．he didn’t want to go out in the cold |
The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 4 refers to(指的是) “ ___________”.
| A．food and shoes | B．Tom and his dad |
| C．sled and some wood | D．the Smiths |
The father decided to help the Smiths because ___________.
| A．he learned from widow Smith about her trouble |
| B．he saw the little child looking for wood out in the cold |
| C．he realized widow Smith had to raise three children |
| D．he saw their neighbors were not nice or helpful |
How did widow Smith feel when the dad handed her the pair of shoes?
| A． Surprised. | B．Moved. |
| C．Excited. | D．Worried. |
What did the writer learn from that Christmas?
| A．Helping those in need makes us feel good. |
| B．Christmas gifts are unimportant for poor people. |
| C．We should get along with people around us. |
| D．Being helpful sometimes brings people good luck. |
Easter(复活节)is one of the two important Christian festivals．Easter celebrates resurrections (复活) of Jesus Christ(耶稣基督)and Christmas celebrates his birth．It's not a festival as big as Christmas．It starts usually in late March or early April and the Easter holiday is Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday．It’s quite a long holiday for everybody．
The main symbol(象征物)of Easter is Easter eggs．Children like Easter eggs because they are made of chocolate．Eggs are a symbol of new life．
Easter is also a time for families to get together like Christmas．Many people see Easter as a nice long holiday and they have a good time with their families and friends．People love Easter because ___________．
| A．it’s a long holiday |
| B．it’s the birthday of Jesus Christ |
| C．they can have real eggs on that day |
| D．everybody believes in Jesus Christ |
People begin to celebrate Easter in _________．
| A．mid-April or late April |
| B．mid-March or late March |
| C．late March or early April |
| D．early March or mid-March |
Easter eggs are _________．
| A．covered by chocolate | B．chocolate eggs |
| C．a symbol of death | D．not food |
From the passages，we know that ________．
| A．Jesus Christ died on Christmas Day |
| B．Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day |
| C．Jesus Christ was born on Easter |
| D．Jesus Christ died and got his resurrection on Christmas Day． |
I was cleaning out an old box when an old card caught my eye: Queen City Casket Company（公司）. “What is it?” I wondered. I turned it over. There, in faded ink, was a hand-written address. Immediately my mind traveled many years back.
I was nine years old, walking down the cold and wet streets of Springfield, with a bag of magazines on my shoulder. That day, I came to the company finally, the owner, Mr. Rader, had always taken me there to ask his workers if they wanted any magazines.
Shaking off the rain like a wet dog, I went into Mr. Rader’s office. After a quick look he took me over to the fireplace. Noticing the hole in the top of my shoe, he said, “Come with me!” pulling me into his car. We stopped in front of a shoe shop. Inside, a salesman fitted me with the finest pair of shoes I had ever seen. I felt about 10 feet tall when I got up in them. “We’d like a pair of new socks, too.” Mr. Rader said.
Back in his office, Mr. Rader took out a car, wrote something on it and handed it to me. With tearful eyes, I read, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” He said kindly, “Jimmy, I want you to know I love you.” I said good-bye, and for the first time I sensed a piece of hope that things would be better. With people like Mr. Rader in the world, there was hope, kindness and love, and that would always make a difference.The writer went to Queen City Casket Company to .
| A．borrow some money | B．ask Mr. Rader for help |
| C．sell magazines | D．find a job there |
From the passage we can see the writer was to Mr. Rader.
| A．helpful | B．thankful | C．polite | D．kind |
Mr. Rader helped the writer so much mainly because .
| A．he wanted to set a good example to his workers. |
| B．he wanted to show kindness to the boy. |
| C．the writer needed his help. |
| D．he wanted others to return his help. |
What does the underlined sentence “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” mean?
| A．If you want somebody’s help, you have to help him first. |
| B．You should do the things that others want you to do. |
| C．Before you do anything, think about what others do to you. |
| D．If you want others to do kind things to you, you’d better be kind to them. |
Tom was ten years old, and he was a very lazy boy, He didn't like doing any work. He had to go to school of course, but he didn't study hard there and tried to do as little work as possible. His father and mother were both doctors and they hoped that their son would become one, too, when he grew up. But one day Tom said to his mother, "When I finish school, I want to be a dustman." "A dustman?" his mother asked, she was very surprised. "That's not a very pleasant job, why do you want to become a dustman?" "Because then I would only have to work one day a week." Tom answered at once. "Only one day a week?" his mother said, "What do you mean? and how do you know?" "Well", Tom replied, "I know that the dustmen who come to our house on work on Thursday, because I only see them on that day."What kind of boy was Tom?
A. Tom was a clever boy.
B. Tom was a boy who didn't like to work.
C. Tom was a boy who worked very hard.What did Tom say he wanted to be?
A. Tom said that he wanted to be a person who collected rubbish and emptied the dustbins.
B. Tom said that he wanted to be a person who taught the children at school.
C. Tom said that he wanted to be a person who worked in a hospital. Why did Tom think that dustmen only worked one day a week?
A. Because Tom heard of this.
B. Because one of the dustmen had told him before.
C. Because Tom had seen the dustmen only on Thursday at his house.
A young man called Jack has visited many countries. He knows few foreign languages, but he can always find someone who knows enough English to understand what he says. Last summer he went to China. He enjoyed himself in China and liked Chinese food very much.
One day he went into a restaurant in a small village. He knew the Chinese word ‘rice’, so he ordered some rice. The village was famous for its mushrooms, and Jack thought they must be very fresh and delicious. He asked the waiter in English. However, the waiter couldn’t understand at all, so he could do nothing for Jack. Jack thought hard. When he saw a piece of paper on the table, he had a good idea. He took out a pencil and drew a picture of a mushroom carefully. The waiter looked at the picture for a long time, then he smiled and left. A few minutes later, he came back with a black umbrella in his hand.What does ‘mushrooms’ mean?
| A．洋葱 | B．花菜 | C．洋伞 | D．蘑菇 |
The waiter didn’t help Jack because _____________.
| A．he had no mushrooms in the kitchen | B．he disliked the mushrooms |
| C．he didn’t know English well | D．he thought the mushrooms were poisonous |
Jack asked the waiter for ___________.
| A．a pencil | B．a picture | C．an umbrella | D．some mushrooms |
The waiter smiled because __________.
| A．the picture was beautiful | B．he was very happy |
| C．Jack gave a gift to him | D．he thought he understood Jack |
At last the waiter came back with an umbrella, because _______.
| A．it is raining outside | B．it is going to rain |
| C．the mushroom Jack drew looked like an umbrella | D．Jack was good at drawing |
Take a look at our library! Our library is open to everyone and the library card is free!
| BOOKS ·picture books for children ·information about the world ·novels ·books in 36 languages ·stories of kinds You can enjoy newspapers and magazines in the reading room. You can borrow five books at most one time and keep them for three weeks. |
VIDEO ·all kinds of video films ·TV plays ·music video ·special interests You can enjoy yourself and take time to watch your favourite videos at home. You can keep a video for a week for 1 dollar. You can borrow as many videos one time as you like. |
AUDIO（音频） ·music of everyone: classical, rock, pop, jazz, blues , folk ·Language cassettes（磁带）="42" main languages in the world. Special rooms for you to enjoy listening. CDs and cassettes can be borrowed —FREE. You can borrow one CD or one cassette one time and keep it for one week. |
Which of the following can only be enjoyed in the reading room?
| A．Newspapers | B．Music videos | C．CDs | D．Language cassettes |
In the library we can .
| A．borrow the newest magazines | B．watch our favourite video films |
| C．listen to CDs of pop music | D．find books in 42 main languages in the world |
Which of the following is Not True?
| A．You can pay nothing for the library card. |
| B．You can borrow as many videos as you like one time. |
| C．There are rooms for you to enjoy TV plays in the library. |
| D．You can borrow five books at one time and keep them for three weeks. |