He didn’t ________ what I read because his mind was on something else.

A．hold on? B．catch on

C．take in? D．get over

The Quiet Hero 沉默的英雄

    It was Mother’s Day, the day we celebrate everything mothers are and everything we do. But I’ll   1    that Sunday in 2000 was bittersweet for me. As a single mother I   2    to think of my shortcomings — how many evenings I couldn’t spend with my children, and how many things I couldn’t   3    my waitress’ salary to buy.

    But what   4    kids I had! My daughter Maria was a senior in college, and Denny was home visiting from his freshman year at Harvard University. They were   5    impolite enough to complain, but there was so much more I   6    I had done for them. I just hoped they   ___7  .

As I walked into the   8    quietly to start breakfast, I was greeted by a vase   9    a dozen red roses! When had Denny possibly slipped down to leave them? But even their delicate beauty was overshadowed by the note sitting beside them, in the quick, manly   10    of an eighteen-year-old. It was about a story that happened between Denny and me long ago. It   11  :

She took a day off from her busy   12    to take the boy to see his hero in the flesh at the stadium. It took 3.5 hours just to get there, and they had to be there early   13    he could see his hero take batting practice.   14    their arrival, she took her hard-earned money to buy an overpriced T-shirt on which was   15    his hero making a diving catch. After the game, of course he had to   16    his hero’s signature, so she stayed with the little boy    17    one in the morning…

   It took me long enough to   18    it, but I finally know who the   19    hero is. Mom, I love you!

   And suddenly, it was a   20    Mother’s Day, after all.

1. A. admit                B. adopt                    C. deny                   D. refuse

2. A. intended             B. liked                     C. tended                     D. hesitated

3. A. stress                 B. spare                     C. strengthen            D. spend

4. A. poor                      B. great                     C. faithless                   D. pretty

5. A. merely              B. usually                      C. never                       D. often

6. A. wished              B. hoped               C. expected                  D. desired

7. A. supported          B. understood             C. approved                 D. disgusted

8. A. 1iving-room        B. kitchen                  C. bed loom                 D. study

9. A. including                  B. containing             C. possessing            D. pinning

10. A. handwriting    B. description             C. tone                        D. scratch

11. A. wrote               B. recorded                C. memorized              D. read

12. A. event               B. content             C. schedule                  D. circumstance

13. A. or                  B. for                        C. but                          D. so

14. A. At                  B. In                             C. On                          D. By

15. A. impressed        B. printed                      C. presented                 D. pressed

16. A. buy                 B. abandon                C. get                          D. swap

17. A. before             B. until                     C. after                        D. when

18. A. see                         B. hear                      C. realize                     D. tell

19. A. actual              B. true                      C. imaginary            D. visual

20. A. sad                      B. bitter                    C. happy                      D. Exciting

One suicide and three attempted ones that left two seriously injured, all by middle school students in Shanghai last week, cast a gloom (忧郁) over an otherwise happy beginning of a new term there. The terrible things took place even as the Ministry of Education and China Central Television organized the first lesson on TV about personal safety for students last Monday, the first day of the new semester. Such things suggest that this first lesson is more than necessary. Not only should kids be taught how to protect themselves in times of emergency, they should also be made aware of the value of tile2 One student was prevented from killing himself from his school building. He said he just could not accept the fact of not being able to go tip to a higher grade with his classmates, and thus considered life meaningless. Another 12-year-old boy who jumped off a building to his death was said to have been a good student, and no one could say why he chose to end his life. Obviously, their inner worlds were seriously affected. But when they chose to take their own lives, their irresponsible choice was clearly the result of a lack of adequate understanding of the value of life.

    The ancient sage Confucius (孔子) stressed that one must protect even one's hair and skin from being hurt. He meant that the sense of responsibility for one's parents was important as far as the value of life was concerned. When we talk about the enthusiasm of making contributions to our motherland, we are referring to values that constitute the nobler part of the meaning of life. The value of life should be far beyond the concern for personal interest.

    Undoubtedly, those kids who chose to take their own lives were faced only with their own sadness that they could not overcome. If they had a little concern for their parents, for their parents' expectations of them or for their own potential contributions to this world in the future, they would not have gone that far. Difficulties or sufferings are supposed to help kids develop their sense of responsibility and thus help them better understand the value of life.

    Too much attention and care from their parents and grandparents have made most of the only children self-centered. Many think it is natural that they deserve to be taken care of by others in whatever way they want. They expect to have their problems solved by their parents or someone else. With such a false sense, they fail to grasp the tough reality of life. They suffer from the illusion (幻觉) that their life should be nothing but plain sailing, Whenever the illusion is broken, they can hardly gather enough courage to face life as it is. So a hotline is indeed necessary to help those kids who find it hard to accept the tough reality of life. But parents and teachers also need to take lessons from the things. They need to know that life should not always be sugar-coated for kids; they should be made to taste the bitter side too as early as possible.

1.From the passage we know that _________.

A. four students took their lives in Shanghai last week

B. being unable to catch up with other classmates led to the 12-year-old boy killing himself

C. the importance of life lies in the sense of responsibility for parents

D. parents are supposed to tell the kids the bitter side of life as well as the sweet side

2.What mainly causes those kids to take their own lives is that _________.

A. they are worried that they may fall behind others in studies

B. they lack the respect for their parents

C. they may be physically healthy, but mentally unhealthy

D. their parents expect too much from them

3.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

A. An irresponsible choice.           B. The value of life.

C. Weak-minded generation.          D. The reality of life.

 “Tom!”

    There was no answer.

    “Tom!”

    Still no answer.

    “Where’s that boy gone? Tom!”

    The old lady looked all around the room. She looked under the bed, but found only the cat.

    “If I catch that boy, …” she murmured to herself.

    She opened the door and looked out into the garden.

    “Tom!” she shouted.

    Then she heard a slight noise behind her. She turned round just in time to catch the boy as he came out of a cupboard.

    “And what have you been doing in there?”

    “Nothing,” said the boy.

    “Nothing! Look at your hands and your mouth! What is that stuff?”

    “I don’t know, Aunt.”

“Well, I know. It’s a jam. I’ve told you forty times that if you touched that jam, I’d skin you.

Give me that stick.”

    “Look out, Aunt! Look behind you!”

    The old lady turned round and Tom was out of the door in a flash, over the garden fence and away.

    “Damn that boy! Will I never learn? He’s always playing tricks on me. And he seems to know just now how far he can go, too. But I can’t take a stick to him. I really can’t. After all, he’s my dead sister’s boy. Ah well, he’ll play truant today and I’ll have to make him work tomorrow.”

At supper Aunt Polly tried to trick Tom into admitting that he hadn’t gone to school.

    “It was rather hot today, wasn’t it, Tom?”

    “Yes,” answered Tom.

    “You didn’t have to open your shirt collar where I sewed（缝） it, then.”

    Tom was confident, now. He opened his jacket. His collar was securely sewed.

    “Oh Tom,” said Aunt Polly. “You’re a good boy really.”

    She was sorry that she had been wrong about him.

    “But Aunt,” came a voice. It was Sidney, Tom’s younger brother. “Didn’ t you sew Tom’s collar with white cotton? Look! Now it’s black.

    Tom was already running out of the door.

                                     ---The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

1.The underlined word “skin” probably mean in the passage?

A. praise             B. cheat                            C. touch                    D. beat   

2.Which of the following words can be best used to describe Tom?

A. stupid             B. clever                       C. naughty           D. brave

3.What can be inferred from Sidney’s words in the passage?

A. Tom made his jacket dirty on purpose.

B. Tom didn’t go to school that day.

C. Tom was a dirty boy.

D. Sidney hated Tom so he wanted to punish him.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Tom’s mother passed away.                            

B. Tom’s aunt was a good sewer.

C. Tom was good at sports.

D. Aunt Polly felt sorry for his misunderstanding to Tom.