Grandma celebrated her fiftythird birthday just a few weeks before grandpa died of cancer in 1965. Al?though his death was very difficult for her to accept,I think their shared struggle to make his life longer taught grandma that good health was not to be taken for granted,and she made up her mind to live the rest of her own life as fully and as long as she could. One day,when she announced to attend lessons at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Portland,Oregon,where she lived,we rolled our eyes in embarrassment and wished she would just stay at home and bake cookies as normal grandmas did. Many years filled with countless dance lessons passed before we learned to appreciate the won?der of having a dancing grandma.

  I suppose grandma's primary motivation for want?ing to learn to dance was to develop her social skills. She had been a shy girl,always very tall and heavy,and had married into grandpa's quiet lifestyle before de?veloping any elegance or confidence in her personal ap?pearance. Dancing,on the other hand,filled her life with flash,wonderful parties,beautiful dresses,hand?some young dance instructors,and the challenge of learning. Although the weekly dance lessons did not change her ample,two-hundred-pound figure,grandma surprised everyone with energetic performances on the dance floor,which soon gave her as much elegance and confidence as any Miss America competitor.

  Having taken weekly dance lessons for years,my grandma learned various dances easily and was soon participating in dancing matches all over the North?west. When I was fourteen,grandma proudly invited me to watch her compete in one of these matches to be held in the grand ballroom of the Red Lion Inn. My at?titude was still unenthusiastic at that point,but to make her happy,my mother and I attended the match. As if to prove me wrong,grandma made a wonderful showing in every event she entered. I thought she was truly the queen of the ball during the dance,and my thoughts were shared by the judges a short time later when she was awarded a gold cup for her outstanding performance.

1. What did grandma learn from grandpa's death?

   A. Good health was not there for everyone.

   B. She should take dance lessons.

   C. She had to struggle to live a better life.

   D. She should wear beautiful dresses.

2. How did the author's family feel when grandma de?cided to take Hanre lessons'?

   A. Hopeless. B. Helpless.

   C. Embarrassed. D. Proud.

3. The author felt       when he was invited to watch grandma's match.

   A. happy   B. proud

   C. excited   D. uninterested

4. The text is mainly about       .

   A. grandma's confidence

   B. the author's dancing grandma

   C. grandma's dancing

   D. grandma's gold cup

  English is an important global language,but that doesn't mean it's easy to learn. Many experts have tried to make English easier for students to learn―but they weren't always successful.

  In 1930,Professor C. K. Ogden of Cambridge University invented Basic English. It had only 850 words (and just eighteen verbs) and Ogden said most people could learn it in just thirty hours. The problem was that people who learned Basic English could write and say simple messages,but they couldn't un?derstand the answers in "real" English. It was also impossible to explain a word if it wasn't in the Basic English word list. For example,if you wanted a wa?termelon,you asked for "a large green fruit with the form of an egg,which has a sweet red inside and a good taste".

  R. E. Zachrisson,a university professor in Sweden,decided that the big?gest problem for learners of English was spelling,so he invented a language called Anglic. Anglic was similar to English,but with much simpler spelling. "Father" became " faadher", " new" became " nue" and "years" became "yeerz”. Unfortunately for some students of English,Anglic never became popular.

  Even easier is the language which a ship's captain uses: it's called "seaspeak". Seaspeak uses a few simple phrases for every possible situation. In seaspeak,- for example you don't say, "I'm sorry. What did you say?" or "I didn't understand. Can you repeat that?”It's just "Say again. ” No more gram?mar.

  In the age of international communication through the Internet,a new form of English might appear. A large number of the world's emails are in English and include examples of "NetLingo" like OIC(Oh,I see) and TTYL (Talk to you later) . In another fifty years,English might not exist and we will probably all speak fluent "Internetish".

1. It will take a person about        weeks to learn Basic English if he spends two hours learning it every day.

   A. six   B. four

   C. three   D. two

2. According to Professor Zachrisson,what was the biggest problem for learners of English?

   A. Grammar. B. Vocabulary.

   C. Spelling. D. Speaking.

3. Which of the following is likely to be Anglic?

   A. A graet batl.

   B. IOU.

   C. Long time no see.

   D. Two five,no lights.

4. What might happen to English in another fifty years?

   A. It might become a global language.

   B. It might be replaced by "Internetish".

   C. It might take the place of all other languages.

   D. It might become more and more difficult.

  My husband and I were cleaning windows together yesterday. We have the doublehung (双吊钩) 1       that you can pull forwards and flip (翻转) ， allowing us to 2        the inside and the outside surfaces.

  My husband was 3        one window―and it popped out of its frame!Well,our 4       is for sale and the last thing we needed was for something to 5       .

  He was so 6        and tried with all his strength to get it 7        together* using a few less than pleasant wordsCI am sorry to say) . After twenty minutes he still could not get it 8       . That's when my 23-year-old 9       told his dad to 10        for a minute and he would try to fix it with me.

  It's amazing how you can see things more clearly and do things more 11        when you are 12       . He and I fixed the window in three minutes!I called my husband in to see!He couldn't 13        it!

  I know this isn't really a gift 14      ,in a way,it was. My son 15        my husband to leave,to cool down,and 16       him from the worry for a mo?ment. And my son fixing it with me was a 17       to me,because I saw him as a man instead of the kid he always seems to be in my 18       .

  Calmness is good. Breathe through 19        times and maybe even take a break from stressful times. Return with a clear mind and things will usually 20        much better！

1. A. doors   B. chairs

  C. tables   D. windows

2. A. destroy   B. smooth   C. clean   D. dry

3. A. washing   B. painting   C. repairing   D. changing

4. A. furniture   B. house   C. home   D. car

5. A. break   B. dirty   C. lose   D. fly

6. A. interested   B. delighted   C. worried   D. excited

7. A. up   B. away   C. out   D. back

8. A. separated   B. delivered   C. fixed   D. added

9. A. son   B. nephew   C. student   D. daughter

10. A. put away   B. walk away   C. give away   D. take away

11. A. fortunately   B. difficulty   C. slowly   D. easily

12. A. calm   B. equal

  C. nervous   D. frightened

13. A. hate   B. doubt   C. believe   D. satisfy

14. A. or   B. so   C. and   D. but

15. A. asked   B. forced

  C. ordered   D. promised

16. A. kept   B. freed

  C. saved   D. protected

17. A. surprise   B. wonder   C. gift   D. hurt

18. A. power   B. hands   C. turn   D. eyes

19. A. easy   B. happy   C. exciting   D. difficult

20. A. break out   B. turn out   C. pull out   D. make out

 be similar to  be meant for  a huge number of  an opportunity for 

 a great demand for

1. Please give me        correcting my mistake. I promise I will do well in the work.

2. ―Which share       me?

―You can take either half. They are exactly the same.

3. My opinion about the modern education        that of the other teachers'.

4. There are        products to be sold in the store.

5. Because of the poor condition,there is        excellent teachers to come to change the students' fate.

5. They worked very long hours for many weeks before everything returned       normal.

4. Your company adds        the enjoyment of our visit.

3. With polluted air,water and soil increasing,many kinds of animals and plants die       .

2. At daybreak we arrived at the small village        which we spent ine next day.

1. It will be five years before we meet again.  Let's keep        touch by writing letters.

5. 据估计，世界人口已达到70亿。

            the world population has reached 7 billion.