"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the baby was lying in her arms and she moved the cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped(吃力地喘着气). The doctor turned quickly and looked out of the hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Luckily, time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. Though the misfortune(不幸)happened to him, he grew into a handsome boy. Yet he felt ashamed when he communicated with others.
“You should get in touch with other young people,” his mother told him, with a kindness in her heart. The boy’s father talked with the family doctor about his ears. “Could nothing be done?” the father asked. “I believe I could give him a pair of outer ears, if they could be got,” the doctor replied.
Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, “You are going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need, but it’s a secret.” The operation is a big success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic(外交的)service. One day, he asked his father, “Who gave the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her.”
“You could, my son,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know…not yet.”
The years kept their secret, but one of the darkest days did come. He stood with his father over his mother’s casket(棺材). Slowly, the father stretched forth(伸出) a hand
and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
"Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"
【小题1】Why did Mother gasp when she saw her newborn baby?

One day a man saw an old lady standing by her expensive car, clearly in need of help. So he stopped his old truck and got out. Although he was smiling, the old lady was worried. Was he gong to hurt her? He didn’t look safe.

The man could see that she was frightened, so in his friendliest voice he said, “I’m here to help you, madam. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.” Bryan quickly fixed the car and the lady thanked him. Then she asked how much she should pay him.

But Bryan wanted no money. He was just giving a hand to someone in trouble. This was normal for him. He said, “If you really want to repay me, next time you see someone in need, help them and think of me.”

After saying goodbye, the lady continued down the road until she reached a small café where she decided to stop for something to eat. As the pretty waitress took her order, the lady noticed she was nearly eight months pregnant(怀孕). Although the waitress looked tired she was very kind. As the lady was going to pay the $10 bill she remembered Bryan’s words.

She paid with a hundred-dollar bill. But when the waitress returned with the change the lady was gone. On the table she saw a small note. There ware tears in her eyes when she read it: “Somebody once helped me the way I’m helping you. If you want to pay me back, continue being kind to others.” Under the note were nine more $100 bills.

Was the old lady an angel? The waitress was so excited that she called her husband to tell him the news. “Bryan Anderson my dear…you’re not going to believe what just happened…”

1.When the lady saw Bryan, she was worried because she thought_____ .

A. he may hurt her            B. he wasn’t going to stop

C. he couldn’t help her         D. she didn’t have enough money

答案: A

【解析】

2.What can we learn about the old lady from the story?

A. She was never kind to others.

B. She was usually quite careless.

C. She was probably very rich.

D. She was not a very good driver.

答案: C

【解析】

3.The underlined expression “giving a hand to(Paragraph 3)is closest in meaning to “____”.

A. questioning       B. helping         C. hurting         D. calling

答案: B

【解析】

4.The underlined word “it” (Paragraph 5) refers to “____”.

A. the change        B. the bill         C. the note          D. the order

答案: C

【解析】

5.Which of the following shows the relationship between the man, the lady and the waitress?

答案:D

【解析】

John has a pet dog named Sunlight. He loves him very much. He ever told others that Sunlight was one of his family members.

One midnight, John’s house was on fire suddenly. John was sleeping and didn’t know what was happening. At that time, Sunlight noticed the fire and woke up John. John called the police. Soon the fire was put out by the police.

Now John often says to others, “ The dog is really my good friend. In the thick smoke and big fire, he could have run out of the house first, but he didn’t. No matter how dangerous it is, he first thinks of his owner.”

Today more and more dogs are wandering ( 流浪 ) in the street. Many people don’t want to keep their dogs because they move to another place. Even some people say that they can’t stand the dogs’ dirtiness. Animals are one part of our society. Maybe our pets will give us a hand like Sunlight someday.

1.We knew Sunlight is John’s son from the passage.

2.The police put out the fire that night.

3.Sunlight ran away because he was afraid of the fire.

4.Some people don’t want to keep dogs because they move to another place.

5.The passage mainly told us when something is on fire, you must call the police first.

I was cleaning out an old box when an old card caught my eye: Queen City Casket Company（公司）. “What is it?” I wondered. I turned it over. There, in faded ink, was a hand-written address. Immediately my mind traveled many years back.
I was nine years old, walking down the cold and wet streets of Springfield, with a bag of magazines on my shoulder. That day, I came to the company finally, the owner, Mr. Rader, had always taken me there to ask his workers if they wanted any magazines.
Shaking off the rain like a wet dog, I went into Mr. Rader’s office. After a quick look he took me over to the fireplace. Noticing the hole in the top of my shoe, he said, “Come with me!” pulling me into his car. We stopped in front of a shoe shop. Inside, a salesman fitted me with the finest pair of shoes I had ever seen. I felt about 10 feet tall when I got up in them. “We’d like a pair of new socks, too.” Mr. Rader said.
Back in his office, Mr. Rader took out a car, wrote something on it and handed it to me. With tearful eyes, I read, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” He said kindly, “Jimmy, I want you to know I love you.” I said good-bye, and for the first time I sensed a piece of hope that things would be better. With people like Mr. Rader in the world, there was hope, kindness and love, and that would always make a difference.
【小题1】The writer went to Queen City Casket Company to         .