“Mum, what does it mean when someone tells you that they have a skeleton(骨骼) in the closet (衣橱)?” Jessica asked. “A skeleton in the closet?” her mother thought for a while. “Well, it’s something that you would rather not have anyone else know about. For example, if in the past, someone in Dad’s family had been arrested for stealing a horse, it would be ‘a skeleton in his family’s closet’. He really wouldn’t want any neighbor to know about it.”

“Why pick on my family?” Jessica’s father said with anger. “Your family history isn’t so good, you know. Wasn’t your great-great-grandfather a prisoner who was brought to Australia for his crimes?” “Yes, but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors arrived as prisoners.” “Gosh, sorry I asked. I think I understand now,” Jessica cut in before things grew worse.

After dinner, the house was very quiet. Jessica’s parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and from time to time she looked angrily at her husband, who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica’s closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt, a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica’s mother sank in a faint(晕倒), waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead. She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.

“What happened? Where am I?” she asked. “You just destroyed the school’s skeleton, Mum,” explained Jessica. “I brought it home to help me with my health project. I wanted to tell you, but it seemed that as soon as I said something about skeletons and closets, it caused a problem between you and Dad.” Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. “They’re both crazy,” she thought.

(　 )54. According to Jessica’s mother, “a skeleton in the closet” means ________.

　 A. a family honor　　 　　　　　　　 B. a family secret　

C. a family story D. a family treasure

(　 )55. Why did Jessica bring a skeleton home?

　 A. She was curious about it.　　　　　　　　　　B. She planned to keep it for fun.

　 C. She needed it for her school task.　　 D. She wanted to scare her parents.

(　 )56. Jessica’s parents laughed madly at the end of the story probably because ________.

　 A. they realized their misunderstanding　　 B. they were crazy

　 C. they were over excited　　　　　　　 D. they both thought they had won the quarrel

One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, “Look! There's a horseshoe. Pick it up and put it in your bag.” Thomas said, “It isn't worth the trouble.” His father said nothing but picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries.

    The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn't a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time, his father dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son lost some time in picking it up and putting it in his mouth.

    And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the cherries, his father said to him, "My dear son, if you had bent down earlier to pick up that horseshoe. it would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the cherries. Always remember the lesson that anyone who does not worry about the little things will find that he cannot do the great things.

1.Who picked up the horseshoe at last?

   A. Thomas.                           B. The old father.

   C. Both the father and the son.              D. Neither the father nor the son.

2.The farmer bought _______ with the money after he sold the horseshoe.

   A. some food     B. some water           C. some cherries    D. some pennies

3.When the son refused to pick up the horseshoe, the father _______.

   A. felt very happy   B. didn't say anything  C. beat the son     D. became a little angry

4. The father dropped the cherries one by one, because _______.

   A. he wanted his son to eat them all         B. he wanted his son to do more exercise

   C. lie wanted to teach his son a lesson       D. he wanted his son to pick them up

5.From the story, we can learn that _______.

   A. cherries are so delicious that most of us like to eat them

   B. a horseshoe is so expensive that it can bring us a lot of money

   C. if the boy wants to eat cherries, he must pick up the horseshoe

   D. if we want to do some great things, we should start with some small ones

One Sunday afternoon, I went shopping at Wal-Mart . But I never thought I would have a life ­changing experience at WalMart.
Although my thoughts were only on speed, the checkout line I was standing in wasn’t moving as quickly as I wanted, and I looked towards the cashier.
There stood a man in his seventies, wearing glasses and a nice smile. I thought, well, he’s an old guy!
For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before scanning the items. Sure, his words were the usual, “How’s it going？” But he did something different—he listened to people carefully and then he would reply to what they had said
I thought it was strange. I has grown used to people asking me how I was doing simply out of conversational habit. I could say, “I just found out I have six months to live，” and someone would reply, “Have a great day！”
But that wasn't the end.
He gave them the change, walked around the counter (柜台), and hugged them with his right hand in an act of friendship. He looked at the customers in the eyes. “I want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “You have a great day. Bye-bye.”
The smiling looks on the faces of the customers were priceless. All had been touched by his simple gesture—and in a place they never expected. They would gather their things and walk out, smiling.
Of course, he did the same to me and I got to know his name—Marty.
Who was that guy? It was as if Sam Walton (沃尔玛的创始人)had come back from the dead and invaded this old guy’s body.
I had never walked away from that shop feeling like that.

【小题1】The underlined word “customer” mean________ in Chinese.

阅读下面短文，从所给单词中选出适当单词，并用其正确的语言形式填在标有题号的空白处，使语意通顺完整。(每空一词，每个单词只能使用一次)