On my eighth birthday, Dad bought me an accordion(手风琴） and said excitedly, "Once you learn to play, it'll stay with you for life." But I didn't want to play it. I just wanted to play games, But Dad asked me to take accordion lessons.
One day, I found a box in a corner. When I opened it, I saw a beautiful violin. "It was your father's," Mum said. "His parents bought it for him. I guess he got too busy on the farm to learn to play it."
I had to practice half an hour every day, and every day I tried to get out of it. But Dad didn't allow. I asked why. He answered, "Because you can bring people joy. You can touch their hearts." He added softly, "Someday you'll have the chance I never had: you'll play beautiful music for your family. And you'll understand why you've worked so hard." I was speechless.
The lessons stopped after I finished high school. When I grew up, I got married and moved into a new house. I put the accordion in the attic（阁楼）.
One afternoon, my two children found the accordion by accident (偶然). They got very excited. "Play it. Play it," they laughed and said. I started to play some simple songs. I was surprised I could still remember them. Soon the kids were dancing. Even my wife was laughing and clapping to the beat.
At that moment, my father's words came back to me, "Someday you'll have the chance I never had. And you'll understand." I finally knew why Dad had asked me to practice hard. Dad never learnt to play his violin. But I told my family, "This is my father's music."My father didn't learn to play his violin when he was young because _____.
| A．he didn't like to play the violin |
| B．he didn't keep on practicing |
| C．he wanted to play games |
| D．he had to make money for his family |
How might the writer feel when he had to practice playing the accordion?
| A．Bored | B．Excited. |
| C．Delighted | D．Relaxed. |
"Dad didn't allow" means "_______".
| A．Dad didn’t keep me doing it. |
| B．Dad didn't agree with me. |
| C．Dad didn't help me do it. |
| D．Dad didn't see me do it. |
Dad asked me to learn to play the accordion so that _______.
| A．I could go to a better school |
| B．I could give myself much joy |
| C．I could make people happy |
| D．I could be a useful |
BEIJIN—No Car Day was first started by 34 cities in France on September 22,1998.It was started to protect the environment, By now, more than 1,000 cities around the world have had a No Car Day.
The first No Car Day in China was in Chengdu in 2001.Other cities ,including Taipei, Shanghai and Wuhua, also support the day.
In Beijing, more and more people are joining in the activity. It asks the drivers to leave their cars at home for one day each month and walk or ride a bike to work. It also calls on Beijingers not to use cars on June 5(World Environment Day).The slogan(口号) for the day is, “If we drive for one less day, we can have one more nice day.”
So far, more than 200,000 drivers have shown their support. “We can’t control the weather, but we can choose not to drive.’’ said, Wu Zonghua, a car club chairman. Beijing is trying to have 238 blue sky days this year. In the first quarter of this year, Beijing only had 52 blue sky days. This was 11 days less than the number for the same period last year. Much of the dust comes from the desert, but cars cause most of the air pollution. We must do more for No Car Day.There are cities in China that support No Car Day according to the passage.
| A．three | B．four | C．five | D．six |
The activity of No Car Day encourages Beijing drivers .
| A．not to work on No Car Day |
| B．to enjoy having a day off |
| C．to leave their cars at home for repair |
| D．to ride a bike or walk instead of driving to work |
According to the passage there were blue sky days in the first quarter of last year in Beijing.
| A．52 | B．63 | C．41 | D．238 |
The air pollution in Beijing is mostly caused by.
| A．cars | B．dust | C．weather | D．rubbish |
We can know from the passage that .
| A．more and more people in Beijing are joining car clubs |
| B．people will have one more World Environment Day each month |
| C．more and more people won’t drive on Nor Car Day in Beijing |
| D．more people in the world won’t drive any more |
Years ago, I lived in a building in a town. There was another building across form mine, and it was only a few meters away. There lived a woman whom I had never met. I could see her sit by the window each afternoon, drinking or reading.
Several months later, I noticed her window was very dirty. Everything was not clear through the window. I wondered why the woman didn’t wash her window.
One sunny morning, I decided to clean up my apartment, including washing my windows. Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down for a rest by the window. What a surprise! The woman sitting by her window was clearly seen! Her window was clean! Suddenly, I realized I had made a mistake. I was watching her through my dirty window all the time!
That was quite an important lesson for me. Since then, whenever I wanted to judge(判断) someone, I asked myself first, “ Am I looking at him through the dirty window of my heart?” Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world clearly.The writer lived in years ago.
| A．a hotel | B．a village | C．a town | D．the countryside |
The woman often drank and read by the window .
| A．in the morning | B．in the afternoon | C．in the evening | D．the whole day |
One sunny morning, the writer decided to do some .
| A．reading | B．cleaning | C．shopping | D．cooking |
The writer was surprised to find the woman’s window was .
| A．far | B．broken | C．clean | D．dirty |
From the passage(文章), we can learn .
A. we should judge ourselves before we judge others
B. we should judge others through the dirty windows
C. we shouldn’t clean the windows often
It was Mother’s Day. A man stopped his car at a flower shop to order some flowers. He wanted the shopkeeper to send the flowers to his mother, who lived two hundred miles away.
As he got out of his car, he found a young girl sitting on the road crying.
He asked her what was wrong and she replied, “I want to buy a red rose for my mother, but I only have seventy-five cents. A rose costs two dollars.”
The man smiled and said, “Come into the shop with me, and I’ll buy you a rose.”
He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers. As they were leaving, he offered to drive the girl home. She said, “Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.” She brought him to a cemetery(墓地),where she placed the rose on the grave.
The man was moved. He returned to the flower shop, picked up the flowers he ordered, and drove two hundred miles to his mother’s house.
Today is the day for your mother. Send a flower to your kind and beautiful mother.The man went to the shop to .
| A．have a rest | B．help the girl |
| C．buy some food | D．order some flowers |
The man’s mother lived away from him.
| A．2 kilometers | B．75 miles | C．200 miles | D．200 kilometers |
The girl was crying on the road because .
| A．she was hungry | B．she got hurt |
| C．she couldn’t afford a rose | D．she couldn’t find her way home |
After the man bought the girl a rose, they went to together.
| A．the cemetery | B．his shop |
| C．the girl’s home | D．his mother’s house |
We can learn from the passage that .
| A．the girl loved flowers very much |
| B．the girl loved her mother very much |
| C．the shopkeeper sent the flowers to the man’s mother |
| D．the man drove to his mother’s house to look after her |
There are activities that people can do indoors.
| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．five |
People can taste food from different countries .
| A．at Yunhai Square | B．in the City Library Hall |
| C．in the City Museum | D．in font of the City Hall |
If someone wants to find a right job, he should .
| A．listen to the lecture | B．buy presents |
| C．bring food and drink | D．go to the fashion show |
Mr.Lee wants to take two shirts for her wife after the fashion show, he needs to pay .
| A．more than 200 yuan | B．at least 300 yuan |
| C．less than 200 yuan | D．nothing at all |
If people want to get some information about some foreign countries, they can .
| A．see the movies | B．go to the pop concert |
| C．see the fashion show | D．go to the library lecture |
The Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Some parents send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the US or Australia, regardless of how much this costs. Many also want their children to take extra-curriculum activities (课外活动) where they either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes that will give them a better start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is, so parents often spend a large amount of money on education. Even poor parents manage to buy a computer for their son or daughter.
In fact, most parents fail to see that the best education they can give their children is usually very cheap. Parents can see that their children’s skills are different; they will usually be skilled in some areas while poor in others. However, they fail to realize that today’s children are lack (缺乏) of self-respect and self-confidence.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take exams and how to study effectively. They are not teaching them the most important skills they need. They do not teach them to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can help achieve this by teaching their children practical skills like cooking, sewing and other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and finish his job step by step. The result, a well--cooked dinner, will give a child a lot of satisfaction and confidence. All these will help the children step to success in the future.
An old machine such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child as a toy may make him curious and arouse(唤醒) his interest. If he will spend hours looking at it, and try to mend it; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. Such activities do more than teaching a child to read a book. They teach them to think and to use their minds. This is much more important than learning by reading a book.
1．Is the writer satisfied with the Chinese parents’ ideas of educating their children?
2. Put the underlined sentence “the more expensive an education is, the better it is” into Chinese.
3.What are the children lack of today?
4. How is the experience of cooking according to the fifth paragraph?
5.What does the underlined word “They” refer to(所指的是) in the last paragraph?