Two things changed my life：my mother and a white plastic bike basket．I have thought long and hard about it and it's true．I would be a different person if my mom hadn't turned a silly bicycle accessory into a life lesson I carry with me today．
My mother and father were united in their way of raising children，but it mostly fell to my mother to actually carry it out．Looking back，I honestly don't know how she did it．Managing the family budget must have been a very hard task．，but she made it look effortless．If we complained about not having what another kid did，we'd hear something like，"I don't care what so﹣and﹣so got for his birthday，you are not getting a TV in your room a car for your birthday a lsvish sweet 16party．"We had to earn our allowance（零用钱） by doing chores around the house．I can stil l remember how long it took to polish the legs of our coffee table．My brothers can no doubt remember hours spent cleaning the house．Like the two little girls growing up at the White House，we made our own beds （no one left the house unitil that was done）and picked up after ourselves．We had to keep track of our belongings，and if something was lost，it was not replaced．
It was summer and，one day，my mother drove me to the bike shop to get a tire fixed﹣﹣﹣and there it was in the window，White，shiny，plastic and decorated with flowers，the basket winked at me and I knew﹣﹣﹣﹣I knew﹣﹣﹣I had to have it．
"It's beautiful，"my mother said when I pointed it out to her，"What a neat basket．"
I tried to hold off at first，I played it cool for a short while．But then Iguess I couldn't atand it any longer："Mon，please can I please，please get it？I'll do extra chores for as long as you say，I'll do anything，but I need that basket，I love that basket．Please，Mom．Please？"
I was desperate．
"You know，"she said，gently rubbing my back while we both stared at what I believes was the coolest thing ever，"If you save up you could buy this yourself．"
"By the time I make enough it'll bu gone!"
"Maybe Roger here could hold it for you，"she smiled at Roger，the bike guy．
"He can't hold it for that long，Mom．Someone else will buy it．Please，Mom，Please？"
"There might be another way，"she said．
And so our paying plan unfolded．My mother bought the beautiful basket and put it safely in some hiding place I could't find．Each week I eagerly counted my growing saving increased by extra work here and there （washing the car，helping my mother make dinner，delivering or collevting things on my bike that already looked nakedwithout the basket in front）．And then，weeks later，I counted，re﹣counted and jumped for joy．Oh，happy day!I made it!I finally had the exact amount we'd agreed upon…．
Days later the unthinkable happened．A neighborhood girl I'd played with millions of times appeared with the exact same basket fixted to her shiny，new bike that already had all the bells and whistles．I rode hard and fast home to tell my mother about this disaster．This horrible turn of events．
And then came the lesson．I've taken with me through my life："Honey，Your basket is extra﹣special，"Mom said，gently wiping away my hot tears．"Your basket is special because you paid for it yourself．"
55．What can we learn from the first two paragraphs？
| A． |
The children enjoyed doing housework． |
| B． |
The author came from s well﹣off family |
| C． |
The mother raised her children in an unusual way |
| D． |
The children were fond of the US president's daughters． |
56．When the author saw the basket in the window，she ．
| A． |
fell in love with it |
| B． |
stared at her mother |
| C． |
recognized it at once |
| D． |
went up to the bike guy |
57．Why did the author say many"please"to her mother？
| A． |
She longed to do extra work． |
| B． |
She was eager to have the basket． |
| C． |
She felt tired after standing too long． |
| D． |
She wanted to be polite to her mother． |
58．By using"naked"（Paragraph 12），the author seems to stress that the basket was
| A． |
something she could afford |
| B． |
something important to her |
| C． |
something impossible to get |
| D． |
something she could do without |
59．To the author，it seemed to be a horrible turn of events that
| A． |
something spoiled her paying plan |
| B． |
the basket cost more than she had saved |
| C． |
a neighborhood girl had bought a new bike |
| D． |
someone else had got a basket of the same kind |
60．What is the life lesson the author learned from her mother？
| A． |
Save money for a rainy day |
| B． |
Good advice is beyond all price． |
| C． |
Earn your bread with your sweat |
| D． |
God helps those who help themselves． |
Spring is just around the corner and it’s a time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Here is a selection of festivals around the country that are a great excuse to get back in the spring sunshine.
ales to this part of the Pacific Ocean. Festivities include whale-watching, an arts festival and educational hands-on activities for the entire family. Prices start at $ 29 per adult and $ 19 for children. For more information, visit www.dpfestivalofwhales.com.
| A．$77 | B．$ 58 | C．$ 38 | D．$ 48 |
The underlined word “jockeys” in the second ad is closest in meaning to .
| A．judges | B．riders | C．children | D．travelers |
If you want to learn about the history of American colonial period, you can visit .
| A．Tulip Time | B．Houses and Gardens |
| C．Dana Point of the whales | D．Chandler Ostrich |
It can be concluded that .
A. All the festivals are held in March.
B. All the Festivals are concerned with animals
C. All the Festivals are held in the U.S.A.
D. All the Festivals surely interest children.
Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simple because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.
Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. A mother describes her child’s hastily made table as “Perfect!” even though it doesn’t stand 
still. Another way is to shift(转移)blame. If John fails science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
The trouble with failure prevention is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time and that it’s possible to enjoy 
a game even when you don’t win. A child who’s not invited to a birthday party, who doesn’t make the honour roll on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick comfort, prize or say “It doesn’t matter.” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to master it.
Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grownups and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did it fail? Don’t blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about inquiring. Success, which encourages repetition of old behaviour, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second. Even a failure that seems definitive can cause fresh thinking, a change of direction. After twelve years of studying ballet, a friend of mine applied for a professional company. She asked. That ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer,” he said,” you haven’t the body for it.”
In such cases, the way to use failure is to take stock bravely asking “What have I left? What else can I do?” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance treatment center, a field where she’s both able and useful. Failure frees one to take risks because there’s less to lose. Often there is recovery of energy — a way to find new possibilities. The first paragraph tells us ______.
| A．failure is very natural for every person |
| B．the reason why we don’t know how to fail |
| C．the reason why so many people are afraid of failure |
| D．one should be ready to face failure at any time |
How many preventions may parents use when a child fails according to the passage?
| A．only two | B．no more than three | C．less than three | D．more than three |
Which statement below does the writer support?
A．Failure is as good an experience as success. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．Failure is far from a good teacher like success. |
| D．Definitive failure gives us nothing but fresh thinking. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.
| A．failure is the recovery of energy |
| B．failure makes one free to do something dangerous |
| C．failure should be forgotten in our life |
| D．failure is likely to do us good in life |
My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon t
owards evening near my parents’ tomb in the churchyard.
“Hold your noise!” came a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the tombs at the side of the church. “Keep still, you little dev
il(小鬼), or I’ll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. He seized me by the chin(下巴).
“Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!”
“Pip, sir.”
“Show us where you live,” said the man. “Point out the place!”
I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the alder-trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church.
The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.
“You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “what fat cheeks you ha’ got. Darn me if I couldn’t eat em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t!”
I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
“Now then lookee here!” said the man. “Where’s your mother?”
“There, sir!” said I.
He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“There, sir!” I timidly explained, pointed to the tombstone. “That’s my mother.”
“Oh!” said he, coming back. “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
“Yes, sir,” said I; “him too; late of thisparish(教区).” The “voice” in the second paragraph came from______.
| A．the church | B．the man | C．the bank | D．the boy |
The boy probably lived _____.
| A．in the parish | B．in the valley | C．in the city | D．in the country |
We can infer from the passage _____.
| A．the boy was very calm and smart |
| B．the man hit the boy in the face |
| C．the boy would forever remember the raw afternoon |
| D．the man was very kind and considerate |
The passage is most probably adapted from________.
| A．a news report | B．a science fiction | C．a novel | D．a review |
This is the age of being busy．Many of us live in busy pl
aces and have busy lives．Even the roads are busy as we try to get from here to there．Adults are busy going to jobs and taking care of their families．Kids are busy，too，going to school and doing lots of homework after school and on weekends．
Busy isn’t bad，necessarily．If you’re not busy enough you might be bored．But if you’re too busy．you might break down．For instance，if you have a soccer game that runs late on a school night and you haven’t eaten dinner or done your homework．that’s a not—so—fun kind of busy．We wanted to know what kids thought，so we did a KidsPoll about being busy with 882 girls and boys aged 9 to 1 3．
Almost all of them said they felt stressed because they were too busy．About half said they felt this way once in a while or some of the time．But l 7％said they felt this way most of the time and 24％said they felt like this all the time! Oh dear，that’s no fun．
Only 4％of kids said they wanted less free time and l8％said they already had just the right 
am
ount．But，no big surprise，61％of kids wish they had a lot more free time．If they had more time．most would spend it hanging out or playing with friends．
Often，adults plan large parts of a kid’s day，especially during the school year．Kids can’t tell their parents they’ll be skipping school(逃学)today to get more free time!But they can tell their parents they’d like to play a game or read a book during their free time instead of watching TV．．The purpose of the first paragraph is to
A．introduce the  topic |
B．support the main idea |
| C．raise the topic sentence | D．attract the readers’ attention |
．According to the passage，the Kidspoll is done to carry out research on
| A．how kids arrange their free time | B．what kids think of being busy |
| C．how many kids felt stressed | D．what kids do with fheir study |
．According to the KidsPoll，what conclusion can we draw?
| A．91％of the kids think being busy is no fun． |
| B．22％of the kids don’t need more free time． |
| C．61％of the kids spend free time playing． |
| D．24％of the kids like the busy way． |
．From the passage，we can infer that the writer agrees kids can
A．spend their free time hanging or playing ou t |
| B．get a lot more free time from their parents |
| C．have a right amount of free time with permission |
| D．get more free time from school work sometimes |
William H. Gates is chairperson and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation．
the worldwide leader in software services and internet technologies for personal and business computing．
Bill Gates was born on October 28．1 955 in a family having rich business，political and community service background．His great—grandfather was a state legislator(立法者)and a mayor，his grandfather was vice president of national bank and his father was a lawyer．
Bill strongly believes in hard work. He believes that if you are intelligent and know how to apply your intelligence，you can achieve anything．From childhood Bill was ambitious, intelligent and competitive．These qualities helped him to attain top position in the profession he chose．1n school，he had an excellent record in mathematics and science．Bill’s parents came to know their son’s intelligence and decided to send him to a private school，known for its good academic environment．It was a very important decision in Bill Gates’ life where he was first introduced to a computer．Bill Gates and his friends were very much interested in computer and formed “programmer’s Group” in late l968．
Later，Bill Gates and his close friend Allen started a new company of their own，Traf-O-Data．They developed a small computer to measure traffic flow．From this project they earned around$20，000．In 1973．he left home for Harvard University．He did well over there，but he couldn’t find it interesting．He spent many long nights in front of the school’s computer and the next day asleep in class．
Within a year．Bill Gates dropped out from Harvard．Then he formed Microsoft．Microsoft’s vision is“ A computer on every desk and Microsoft software on every computer”．His belief in high intelligence and hard work has put him where he is today．He does not believe in mere(纯粹的)luck，but just hard work and competitiveness．
Bill Gates is not a greedy person．In fact，he is quite a giving person when it comes to computers，internet and any kind of funding．Several years ago, he visited Chicago’s Einstein Elementary School and announced grants benefiting Chicago’s schools and museums where he donated(捐款)a total of $1 1 0，000，a bunch of computers，and provided internet connectivity to a number of schools．Secondly，Bill Gates donated 38 million dollars for the building of a computer institute at Stanford University．Gates has decided to give away 95％of all his earnings when he retires．．How old was Bill Gates when he retired f
rom Microsoft in late 
June of 2008?
| A．52． | B．55． | C．60． | D．62． |
．What does Bill Gates believe are most important in achieving success?
| A．Intelligence and luck． | B．Hard work and intelligence． |
| C．Money and interest． | D．Good education and ambition． |
．What is the most important turning point in Bill Gates’ life?
| A．He left home for Harvard University． |
| B．He dropped out from Harvard University． |
C．He and his friend Allen started a new co mpany． |
| D．He was sent to a private school where he first studied computer． |
．What kind of person can we say about Bill Gates?
| A．Wealthy，greedy and successful． |
B．Ambitious，Intelligent and se lfish． |
| C．Intelligent．successful and generous． |
| D．Lazy，intelligent and competitive． |