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 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．talk 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

 

阅读理解

A

The one-child policy in our country has made most families much smaller than before. That is to say, there are fewer children in a family. But the population of China is still growing faster. Why? In fact, it’s a serious problem not only in China, but also in the whole world. It’s reported that the world population is expected to reach 9,200,000,000 by 2050. There are two important reasons. First, there are still more and more babies born every year. Next, people in the world can live much longer than before.

The earth is too tired, but it has to burden(担负) more in the future. Who can save her?

根据所给短文内容，选择正确答案。

1.   The passage tells us that the whole world is suffering from(为……苦恼) the      .

A．pollution

B．population

C．flood

D．hunger

2.The underlined word “expect” means _______ in the sentence.

A．希望

B．祝愿

C．期待

D．预测

3.The population of the world will be about ______ by the year 2050. 

A．92 million

B．92 billion

C．9.2 billion

D．9.2 million

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The population of China is still growing.

B．The number of women keeps growing these years.

C．It’s difficult for us to control (控制) the population in a few years.

D．One of the reasons for the population problem is that people can live longer than before.

5.Which is the best title for the passage?

A．China’s Population	B．The Family Planning
C．The Population Problem	D．China’s One-Child Policy

 

完形填空（共12分，每小题1分）
阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。
Dear Laura,
I just heard you tell an old story of gift giving and unselfish love in your program. You don’t know whether it is true that such unselfish love would happen in today’s world. Well, I’m here to give you   36 .
I wanted to do something very   37  for my fifteen-year-old son, who has always been the perfect child. He worked all summer to earn enough money to buy a used motorcycle. Then, he spent hours and hours on it   38  it looked almost new. I was so proud of him that I bought him the shiniest helmet(头盔)and a riding outfit(全套装备）.
I could   39  wait for him to open up his gift. In fact, I couldn’t sleep the night before. Upon awakening, I went to the kitchen to   40  the coffee, tea, and morning dishes. In the living room was a beautiful keyboard with a   41 :” To my wonderful mother, all my love, your son.”
I was so surprised. It had been a long-standing joke in our family that I wanted a piano so that I could   42  lessons. “Learn to play the piano, and I’ll get you one” was my husband’s   promise.
I stood there shocked(震惊的), crying a river, asking myself how my son could  43  this expensive gift.
Of course, the house awoke, and my son was very pleased with my reaction（反应）. Many kisses were exchanged, and I immediately wanted him to   44  my gift.
As he saw the helmet and outfit, the look on his face was not exactly what I was expecting. Then I   45  that he had sold the motorcycle to get me the keyboard.
Of course I was the proudest mother ever on that day, and my feet never hit the ground for a month.
So I wanted you to know, that kind of love is   46  present and lives even in the ever-changing world of me, me, me!
I thought you’d love to   47  this story.
Yours,
Hilary

【小题1】

A．hope B．advice C．spirit D．courage

【小题2】  

A．strange

B．similar

C．special

D．private

【小题3】  

A．after

B．before

C．unless

D．until

【小题4】

A．perhaps B．really C．almost D．hardly

【小题5】  

A．start

B．cook

C．set

D．serve

【小题6】  

A．sign

B．notice

C．word

D．note

【小题7】

A．give B．take C．draw D．teach

【小题8】

A．present B．find C．afford D．order

【小题9】

A．tear B．open C．check D．receive

【小题10】

A．realized B．remembered C．imagined D．supposed

【小题11】  

A．only

B．still

C．ever

D．even

【小题12】  

A．send

B．publish

C．share

D．write

SPACE is a lonely place. Hundreds of thousands of kilometers from home, astronauts have a hard life. It stands to reason that, once in a while, they need to have a good cry. But this is a lot harder than it sounds.

We still know very little about space, and about living in zero gravity. In fact, we are discovering new things every time astronauts take to the skies (and beyond). As The Atlantic reported in January, crying is not all that simple in space. This is because when a person normally cries,  gravity makes their tears move downwards. But in a spacecraft, this is not the case. Here, there is no gravity, which is why we so often see pictures of astronauts floating around. This means that, strangely, when you cry your tears have nowhere to go. As a result, they just stick to your eyes.

In May 2011, astronaut Andrew Feustel experienced this. “Tears,” as he said, “don’t fall off your eye… they just kind of stay there. ” This can be quite painful. In space, your eyes get very dry, and the added moisture is irritating (气人的). Sometimes, things get even weirder(更怪异的). The astronaut Ron Parise told The Atlantic that when tears get big enough, they “break free of the eye and float around”.

No one can be quite sure why we cry. Why should water in our eyes have anything to do with feeling sad? If you stop to think about it, crying is a very strange thing indeed. And now, thanks to the wonders of space, it just got even stranger.

1.The first paragraph mainly wants to tell us that       .

A．living in space is lonely

B．it’s easy to feel sad in space

C．it’s hard to cry in space

D．nobody wants to live in space

2.If astronauts cry in spacecraft, their tears will       .

A．move downwards                       B．move upwards

C．go out of the window                    D．stick to their eyes

3.Astronauts feel       if tears are always in their eyes.

A．sad              B．comfortable        C．happy            D．uncomfortable

4.What can we learn from the passage?

A．In space our eyes are very wet.

B．Tears will float around if they are big enough in space.

C．People know everything about living in zero gravity.

D．Gravity makes people’s tears move upwards in space.

 

完形填空（共12分，每小题1分）

阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。

Dear Laura,

I just heard you tell an old story of gift giving and unselfish love in your program. You don’t know whether it is true that such unselfish love would happen in today’s world. Well, I’m here to give you   36  .

I wanted to do something very   37   for my fifteen-year-old son, who has always been the perfect child. He worked all summer to earn enough money to buy a used motorcycle. Then, he spent hours and hours on it   38   it looked almost new. I was so proud of him that I bought him the shiniest helmet(头盔)and a riding outfit(全套装备）.

I could   39   wait for him to open up his gift. In fact, I couldn’t sleep the night before. Upon awakening, I went to the kitchen to   40   the coffee, tea, and morning dishes. In the living room was a beautiful keyboard with a   41  :” To my wonderful mother, all my love, your son.”

I was so surprised. It had been a long-standing joke in our family that I wanted a piano so that I could   42   lessons. “Learn to play the piano, and I’ll get you one” was my husband’s   promise.

I stood there shocked(震惊的), crying a river, asking myself how my son could  43  this expensive gift.

Of course, the house awoke, and my son was very pleased with my reaction（反应）. Many kisses were exchanged, and I immediately wanted him to   44   my gift.

As he saw the helmet and outfit, the look on his face was not exactly what I was expecting. Then I   45   that he had sold the motorcycle to get me the keyboard.

Of course I was the proudest mother ever on that day, and my feet never hit the ground for a month.

So I wanted you to know, that kind of love is   46   present and lives even in the ever-changing world of me, me, me!

I thought you’d love to   47   this story.

 Yours,

Hilary

1.A. hope           B. advice           C. spirit               D. courage

2.  A. strange              B. similar              C. special              D. private

3.  A. after            B. before           C. unless           D. until

4.A. perhaps            B. really           C. almost           D. hardly

5.  A. start                B. cook             C. set                  D. serve

6.  A. sign                 B. notice           C. word             D. note

7.A. give               B. take                 C. draw             D. teach

8.A. present            B. find                 C. afford           D. order

9.A. tear               B. open             C. check            D. receive

10.A. realized              B. remembered      C. imagined             D. supposed

11. A. only             B. still                C. ever                 D. even

12. A. send             B. publish              C. share            D. write