If you live in the United States,the law says you can't have a fulltime job until you are 16 years old. At 14 or 15,you can work parttime after school or on weekends,and during summer,you can work 40 hours each week. Does that mean if you are younger than 14 ,you can't earn (賺) your own money? Of course not!Kids who are between the ages of 10 and 13 can earn money by doing lots of things.

Valerie,11. told us that she made money by cleaning up other people's yards. Lena,13 ， makes money by knitting (织) dog sweaters and selling them to her neighbors. And Reisa,12 ， said she had started taking art classes and showing her work to people. People have asked her to draw pictures for them and they pay her for them. Jasmine,13. writes articles for different magazines ！

Earning is learning. By working to earn your own money,you are learning the skills you will need to succeed in life. These skills can include things like getting along with others,using technology (技术) and using your time. Some people think that asking for money is a lot easier than earning it. However,when you make your own money,you don't have to depend on someone else. The five dollars that you earn will probably make you feel a lot better in your hand than the twenty dollars you ask for.

(   ) 11. Kids can have fulltime jobs at the age of        in the USA.

   A. 17   B. 14   C. 13   D. 10

(   ) 12. If you are 15 years old,you can't work         .

   A. after school   B. on weekends

   C. during summer   D. on weekdays

(   ) 13. Reisa makes money by         .

   A. cleaning up other people's yards

   B. drawing pictures for others

   C. writing articles for different magazines

   D. knitting dog sweaters and selling them to her neighbors

(   ) 14. According to the passage,which of the following is NOT true?

   A. You are learning how to succeed by working in your teens.

   B. Kids are encouraged to live independently in the USA.

   C. Earning one's money is better than asking for money from others.

   D. Kids don't need to get along with others when making money.

(   ) 15. From the passage we know that         .

   A. parents won't let their children earn their own money

   B. it's hard for kids under 14 years old to earn money in the USA

   C. kids can learn skills if they try to earn money on their own

   D. if kids try to earn money,they won't have enough time to study

(       )6. How many bedrooms are there on the second floor of the house?

A. Four.                          B. Five.                          

 C. Six.                                D. Seven.

(       )7. Which is NOT true about the house?

A. It has a garden around it.                              B. It is by the beach.

C. It is by a busy street.                                       D. It is large.

(       )8. Which is true about the apartment?

A. It is good for a big family.                             B. It is in a city.

C. It is in an old building.                                    D. It has a beautiful garden.

(       )9. If you want to see the house, how could you see inside of it?

A.     Call Jim and he will show you.

B.     Ask people living there to show you.

C.     Go there. The door is open.

D.     You can only see pictures.

(       )10. What does it mean if you are "eager" to do something?

A.     You are careful doing it.

C.     You often do it.

D.     You want to do it very much.

At school many things happen to us. We may feel excited when we have success in a school play. We may feel sorry if we lose an important game. We want to keep the memory for the rest of our lives.

How to keep the memory? Our English teacher, Miss Wang, has taught us a good way of remembering things. It is to make our own yearbook. What is a yearbook? A yearbook is a kind of book which is used to keep the memory of exciting moments. It's usually made at the end of the year.

Last December, we began to make our yearbook. First we chose the persons who had done something special. Then some students interviewed(采访)them. Some wrote down their stories. Others took photos of them. Everyone in our class had something to do. Finally our teacher helped us to put the things together. We had our first yearbook.

All of us put a lot of love into making the yearbook. It is so wonderful that not only the
students but also our parents and teachers will remember the special time for ever.
(       )1. When we have success in a school play ， we may feel_____

A. sorry               B. angry               C. excited       D. interested

(       )2. Miss Wang's good way of remembering things is to________ .

A. buy a new book                                               B. write down stories

C. take a lot of photos                                         D. make a yearbook

(       )3. A yearbook is made to______ .

A. take notes                                                         B. keep the memory

C. do our homework                                            D. remember English words

(       )4. Usually a yearbook is made in______ .

A. January                                                             B. February

C. May                                                                   D. December

(       )5. We made our first yearbook       .

A.     without any help

B.     without putting our love into it

C.     with the help of our teacher

D.     with the help of our parents

Every year people in many countries learn English. Some of them learn it at school. O1       study it by t 2       But it is not so easy to learn another language w 3       People must work hard at it.

Why do all these people w 4       to learn English? It is difficult to a 5       that question. Many boys and girls learn English at school or at university b 6       it is one of their s 7       . They study their own language,math and English. Many grownups (成年人) learn English because it is u 8       in their work. They want to read newspapers,books,and some other t 9       in English to get more knowledge. And that is why more and more people in the world are 1 10       English.

1. O         2. t          3. 4. w                     5. a         

6. b       7. s       8. u          9. t            10. 1         

Jess really felt very happy. When he arrived at his seat in the classroom that morning,he found an invitation (请帖) on his desk. It was from several of his classmates asking him to join them on a camping trip. This was the first time he was asked to join in an out-of-school activity. Why were they asking him now? Nobody seemed to like him. In fact,he had been so lonely that he drowned his feeling with food. As a result,he had put on a lot of weight (体重) ，and this gave the kids something more to make fun of him.

Cindy,who was standing near Jess when he read the invitation,went out quickly to tell the others that the trick (戏弄) had worked. Everyone was pleased that Jess thought that was true. But there was no camping trip. The whole thing was made up.

At first,Cindy thought it was fun. But later,when Jess told her that he was going to buy a sleeping bag with his savings,Cindy had second thought. She knew that Jess's family had little money,and she hated to see him spend his savings on something he would never use. Cindy also hated to tell Jess the truth. Her close friends would be angry with her.

What could she do now?

(   ) 11. Choose the best title for this story.

   A. Jess and His School

   B. Jess and His Friends

   C. An Invitation for Jess

   D. Jess and His Camping Trip

(   ) 12. The sentence "he drowned his feeling with food" means         .

   A. he ate a lot to make himself less lonely

   B. he asked for a lot of food from his classmates

   C. he brought his food to his classmates

   D. he had a lot of food to put on his weight

(   ) 13. What would happen if Cindy told Jess the truth?

   A. Jess would go on the camping trip himself.

   B. Everyone would be angry with Cindy.

   C. Cindy might have trouble with her friends.

   D. Jess might be thankful to his classmates.

(   ) 14. If Jess really bought a sleeping bag,       .

   A. everyone else would also buy one

   B. it would be the best in the class

   C. Cindy would pay for it

   D. he would have it for no use

(   ) 15. From the story we can guess         .

   A. everybody would go camping except Jess

   B. Jess had few friends in the class

   C. Cindy was Jess's best friend in the class

   D. Jess joined in many out-of-school activities

(       )6. What is Li Ming's dream?

A.     Inventing a language machine.

B.     Visiting the moon.

C.     Being a doctor.

D.     Watching the 2008 Olympic Games.

(       )7. A bad earthquake broke out in Sichuan on_______ .

         A. May 12                                                             B. May 22

C. July, 2                                                                D. July 12

(       )8. Who is fromTibet?

A. Wei Hua.                                                           B. Wang Hao.

C. Joma.                                                                 D. Wu Dong.

(       )9. People in Tibet can get to Beijing_______ in about 48 hours now.

A. by train                                                             B. by bus

C. by plane                                                            D. by car

(       )10. The best title (标题)for these passages would be "______

A. A Doctor                                                         B. My Dream

C. An English Teacher                                      D. A News Reporter

One midnight, a little girl woke up to pass water. She by herself got up and down her bed, walked to the bedroom door and opened it. She looked outside and walked back, for it was so dark in the hall that she feared.

Her mother said, "Don't be afraid, honey. Take courage！"

"What's courage?" she asked, running to her mother's bed.

"Courage is the brave breath," her mother answered.

"Mum, do you have courage?"

"Certainly.，，

The girl held out her little hands ， saying ， " Mum ， blow some of your breath of courage (胆量）to me."

After her mother blew out two mouthfuls of breath into her little cold hands ， the little girl clenched her fists(握拳)nervously, afraid that the "breath of courage" would run away. Then with her fists clenched, she walked out of the bedroom towards the bathroom with nothing to fear.

Her mother said to herself, "It will be nice if someone can blow some kind of ' breath' to me. Then I can hold it in my hands too when I feel terrified or lost."

In fact, mostly, what we are terrified of is nothing but the fear in our mind. Who we
should defeat(战胜)is nobody but ourselves.
(       )1. The girl walked back because________ .

A.     the bathroom was too far away

B.     her mother wouldn't go with her

C.     she was too afraid of the dark

D.     the bedroom door was locked

(       )2. We learn from the reading that_______ .

A.     the girl went to the bathroom by herself

B.     the girl pretended to be terrified of nothing

C.     the girl's mother was able to blow brave breath

D.     the girl's mother was very proud of herself

(       )3. To stop "mother's breath" from running away, the girl_________ 

A. held out her little hands                                 B. clenched her fists

          C. talked to her mother                       D. held her own breath

(       )4. The writer mainly wants to tell us that_______ .

A.     adults are always brave enough

B.     children learn to be brave quickly

C.     the fear in one's mind is the real problem

D.     the mother can deal with anything with breath 

(       )5. Which is the best title of the passage?

       A.     The Fearless Mother

B.     One Lonely Girl

C.     One Midnight

D.     The Breath of Courage

二、短文填词

There is a new kind of robots. These robots don't run on batteries. I 1      ,they run on dead flies,rotten apples,or sugar. These robots were made by s 2       in England. At first,scientists just w 3       to invent robots that could work for a long time in the dark,dirty or d 4       places. But many of t 5       don't have electrical sockets (电源插座) .So Chris Melhish,one of the i 6       ,came up with a better idea: build robots that get their energy (能 源) just like animals d 7          by hunting and e 8         food from their environment.

One robot,which works Ecobut I,could run for 12 days on a diet of eight flies!Melhuish says his team is w 9          on a new and improved robot called Ecobut H It will have a b 10       digestion system (消化系统) .

1. I          2. s          3. w       4. d       5. t         

6. i       7. d       8. e       9. w         10. b      

It was a Friday. A poor young man stood at a gate of the railway station. He played his violin and many people put money into the hat in front of him.

The next day,the young man came to the gate again,and put his hat on the ground. But different from what he always did in the past days,he took out a large piece of paper with some words in it and laid it on the ground. It said, "Last night,a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistake. Please come soon,Mr. Sang."

After about an hour,a middleaged man ran to the young man in a hurry and said, "It's you ！ You do come here. I know that you're an honest man and will certainly come here." The young man asked, ^uAre you Mr. George Sang? Did you lose anything?" "A lottery (奖券) ticket, ” answered the middleaged man. The young man took out a lottery ticket and gave it to the man.

The prize of the lottery ticket was $500,000. On that Friday,when the middleaged man knew he won,he was very happy. He took out 50  dollars and put it in the hat. However,the lottery ticket was also thrown in.

Later,someone asked the young man, "You play the violin at the railway station every day to make money. Why didn't you just take the prize of the lottery ticket for yourself?" The young man said, " Although I don't have much money,I live happily. But if I lose honesty,I won't be happy forever."

(   ) 11. The poor young man was playing        at a gate of the railway station.

   A. his guitar   B. his piano

   C. his violin   D. his flute

(   ) 12. Many people put        into the poor young man's hat.

   A. money   B. paper

   C. nothing   D. tickets

(   ) 13. The middleaged man put        into the poor man's hat.

   A. $50

   B. his lottery ticket

   C. both $50 and his lottery ticket

   D. his ID card

(   ) 14. What did the young man put on the ground on the next day?

   A. His old hat. B. A large piece of paper.

   C. A lottery ticket. D. His violin.

(   ) 15. Which of the following is true?

   A. The young man was honest.

   B. The young man was not honest.

   C. The young man didn't give the lottery ticket back to the middleaged man.

   D. The young man didn't live happily.

B

Welcome to Robot Toy Store ！ We've got some new robots. You will love them ！

(       )6. Tom wants a toy from the store, and he has 100 dollars. Then he can buy________ .

A. Robodog                                                    B.  Robopanda

C. Mr. Strong                                                  D.  Mr. Cool

(       )7. Jim wants a robot toy to talk with him. Then________ is a good gift for him.

A. Robodog                                                    B.  Robopanda

C. Mr. Strong                                                  D.  Mr. Cool

(       )8. Robodog can_____ .

A. play video games                                     B.  play with children

C. tell interesting stories                                D.  speak different languages

(       )9. Which robot toy is for older children?

A. Robodog.                                                    B.  Robopanda.

C. Mr. Strong.                                                 D.  Mr. Cool.

(      )10. What do you know about Robopanda?

        A.     It's very popular in 2011.

B.     It will ask you for food.

C.     It feels happy if you play with it.

D.     It can talk with you in English.