When Christie Andrews was born, she weighed less that half of one kilogram. Her heart was the size of a large coin. Her mother said Christie was so small that she could hold her in the palm of one hand.
Christie couldn’t breathe without a machine to give her oxygen. If she had been born 20 years earlier, she would probably have died at once. She needed two operations, but she survived without serious damage.
Twenty years ago , 90% of all premature(早产) babies died. Today, doctors manage to save four out of every five, because they have better machines for breathing and better ways to feed the babies.
But saving Christie’s life cost more than $ 400,000. In some cases, doctors spend 1 million dollars saving a single child. The parents usually don’t have enough money to pay. The government, an insurance company or the hospital picks up the bill. Even after a baby goes home from the hospital, it may require medical care.
Some people think it makes more sense to spend money saving 10 adults who have cancer or other diseases than saving one small baby. But nobody wants to be the doctor who has to tell parents to their faces, “Sorry, I won’t save your new child.”
【小题1】 Parents don’t pay their babies’ hospital bills because        .

用方框中词的适当形式填空，每空限填一词。
are  pencil  a  she  he  on  cousin  family  parent  good
Hello , I’m Kate. Today is Sunday . My __1___are all at home. My grandparents are in the living room （客厅）. They like watching TV. They have _2___color TV. Look, that is my __3___. She is a nice girl . ___4__ name is Mary Smith. She has two erasers and three___5___. My little brother Jack is __6__ the sofa. __7___ is playing computer game. My __8____ are in the kitchen(厨房). They are cooking. Mary and I __9___ in the same school . We are ___10___students.

A man has a cat. He likes her very much. At mealtime the cat sits at the table with him. The man eats with a knife and a fork, but the cat eats from her plate. Sometimes, when she finishes her dish, her master will give her a bit of his food. He shares his meal with her. One day the cat is not at the table at mealtime.

“Ah! Where is my cat?” asks the man.

His wife says, “Can’t you eat without her?”

So the meal begins without the cat. Before lunch is over, the cat rushes into the room and jumps onto the chair quickly. She has two mice in her mouth, and before anyone can stop her, she drops(扔下) one into her own plate, and the other into her master’s plate.

“Dear me!” cries the woman, “A mouse is in your plate!”

“Hush(安静)!” says her husband. “This shows that she is a nice cat. She knows what friendship is. She wishes me to share her dinner as I often share mine with her.

根据短文内容，判断正误，正确（T），错误（F）。

1.The master loves his cat very much.

2.The cat always shares her food with her master.

3.One day the cat is not at the table at mealtime.

4.The cat hurries home with two mice in her mouth when the master and his wife are having lunch.

5.The story tells us the cat also loves her master.

用方框中词的适当形式填空，每空限填一词。

 are  pencil  a  she  he  on  cousin  family  parent  good

 Hello , I’m Kate. Today is Sunday . My __1___are all at home. My grandparents are in the living room （客厅）. They like watching TV. They have _2___color TV. Look, that is my __3___. She is a nice girl . ___4__ name is Mary Smith. She has two erasers and three___5___. My little brother Jack is __6__ the sofa. __7___ is playing computer game. My __8____ are in the kitchen(厨房). They are cooking. Mary and I __9___ in the same school . We are ___10___students.

Helen loved small animals. One morning while she was walking in the forest, she found two weak birds in the grass. She took them home and put them in a small cage. She looked after them with love and the birds both grew well. They thanked her with a wonderful song every morning.

But something happened one day. Helen left the door of the cage open. The larger bird flew from the cage. She thought that it would fly away, so she grasped it. She was very excited to catch it. Suddenly she felt strange. She opened her hand and looked sadly at the dead bird. Her great love had killed the bird!

The other bird was moving back and forth (来回地) in the cage. Helen could feel the bird want to go out. It wanted to fly into the blue sky. At once, Helen took the bird out of the cage and let it fly away. The bird circled, twice, three times…

Helen enjoyed watching the bird flying and singing happily. Suddenly the bird flew closer and landed softly on her head. It sang the sweetest song that she had ever heard.

The easiest way to lose love is to hold too tight. The best way to keep love is to give it freedom.

1.What was Helen doing when she found two weak birds?

A. Singing     B. Walking

C. Dancing    D. Playing

2.The underlined word “grasped” in the second paragraph means _____________.

A. 抓住 B. 控制

C. 保护    D. 击打

3.Something happened one day, _______________ .

A. the larger bird was moving back and forth in the cage

B. the smaller bird was dead in Helen’s hand

C. Helen left the door of the cage open. The larger bird flew from the cage

D. the other bird thanked Helen with a wonderful song every morning

4. Why did Helen let the second bird fly away?

A. Because Helen hated the bird.

B. Because Helen could call the bird back again.

C. Because Helen thought the bird could fly back itself.

D. Because Helen realized the bird wanted freedom very much.

5.What is the best title for this passage?

A. How to feed birds. B. Helen’s favorite birds.

C. How to keep love. D. The story of the two birds.