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When I was ten, my mother worked all day so I had to take care of my younger brother. At that time my little brother was about four years old and he missed mum all the time.

One day, after I had given him his dinner, he started crying for mum. He was so young and really needed mum. So I dressed him, put on his shoes, carried him on my back and walked out. Soon he fell asleep. About half an hour later, I found that he had lost a shoe while sleeping. I took him off my back and put him down. I knew we needed to find that shoe, for our mother couldn’t afford new shoes. We had to go back to find it, so I told my brother to wait right there. A man heard it and stopped me just before I walked off. He asked me, “You are leaving your brother here to find the shoe? What would you do if he is not here when you return?” I did not know how to answer that question. He continued, “It’s OK if you can’t find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother.” Then he sent us to mum’s workplace by taxi.

My whole life I have depended on the kindness of many strangers, I feel regretful that I cannot find them and say thank you. I do not even remember what the man’s face looked like, but he taught me a lesson—people are more important than things.

1.Why did the younger brother cry for his mother?

A. Because he was hungry.

B. Because he missed his mother. 

C. Because he wanted to sleep.

D. Because he wanted to play outside.

2.What does the underlined word “regretful” in the last paragraph mean?

A. Sorry.           B. Happy.           C. Excited.             D. Angry.

3.What did the man mean by saying “It’s OK if you can’t find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother.”?

A. People are more important than things.

B. Things are more important than people.

C. Both the shoe and your brother are important.

D. The shoe is more important than your brother.

4.According to the passage, which word can best describe the man?

A. Rude.            B. Funny.           C. Silly.               D. Kind.

 

New York is one of the last large American cities to have some of its policemen on horseback. The New York police have 170 horses working in certain parts of the city. The horses are expensive to feed, but it is even more expensive to look after them. Because the horses must walk on the streets, they need special horseshoes. In fact, they need more than 8,000 of them each year. Every police horse in New York gets new shoes every month. Keeping these shoes in good repair is the job of six blacksmiths(铁匠). There are only about thirty-five of these blacksmiths in the whole United States. The cost of shoeing a horse is between twenty dollars and thirty-five dollars, and it takes a good blacksmith two or three hours to do the job.

A blacksmith’s job is not an easy one. He must be able to shape a shoe from a piece of metal and then fit it to the horse’s foot. The blacksmith must bend over all the time when he is fitting the shoe and must hold the weight of the horse’s leg while he works. Clearly, a blacksmith must be very strong. But even more important, he must be able to deal with horses---for before the blacksmith can begin his work, he has to get the horse to lift its leg.

One of the blacksmiths in New York is James Corbin. He came to the country from Ireland in 1948. He not only makes horseshoes for the police but also works for a group of horse owners near the city. Corbin became interested in blacksmithing because his father did it, and, as he puts it, “It’s a good way to make a living.”

1.According to the reading passage, a blacksmith must be likely a ________________ man.

A. clever                               B. rich                                   C. strong                               D. lucky

2.James Corbin became a blacksmith because he ________________.

A. was interested in horses

B. was needed by the policemen

C. drew a picture of the horseshoe

D. had to make a living

3.In the reading passage “to shape a shoe” is to ________________.

A. fit it on the horse’s foot

B. use it for two or three hours

C. make the form of a horseshoe from a piece of metal

D. draw a picture of the shoe

4.The best title for the passage is “________________”.

A. Policemen on Horseback

B. Blacksmiths and Horseshoeing

C. James Corbin, a Blacksmith

D. Horseshoeing is a Good Way to Make a Living

5.Which of the following is true?

A. Only a few large American cities have some policemen on horseback.

B. New York is the only city in America to have some policemen on horseback.

C. Policemen on horseback enjoy travelling around the United States.

D. Policemen on horseback are less expensive than those in cars.

 

A funny thing happened to my sister Tina last month. She lives in Japan and teaches English. In Japan, people don’t usually wear their outdoor shoes in the house or in school, and a lot of buildings have places for shoes. So her school ahs a special place for shoes.      【小题1】         
Tina teaches English in the evening. One Friday, she went to school, and she put her shoes in the shoe box—as usual. Then she had an interesting spoken English class with her students.   【小题2】       But to her surprise, her shoes weren’t in the box. There was only one pair of those there, and they weren’t her hoes! She had to get home in a hurry.     【小题3】         
On Monday, at her next English class, her shoes were in a shopping bag on her desk! There was a note that said, “I’m so sorry. I took your shoes by mistake!”    【小题4】      Somebody felt a lot of shame!

It’s a shoe box. Tina is my sister. So she put on the shoes and left. After class she got ready to leave. But there was no name on the note.

 

When I was ten, my mother worked all day so I had to take care of my younger brother. At that time my little brother was about four years old and he missed mum all the time.
One day, after I had given him his dinner, he started crying for mum. He was so young and really needed mum. So I dressed him, put on his shoes, carried him on my back and walked out. Soon he fell asleep. About half an hour later, I found that he had lost a shoe while sleeping. I took him off my back and put him down. I knew we needed to find that shoe, for our mother couldn’t afford new shoes. We had to go back to find it, so I told my brother to wait right there. A man heard it and stopped me just before I walked off. He asked me, “You are leaving your brother here to find the shoe? What would you do if he is not here when you return?” I did not know how to answer that question. He continued, “It’s OK if you can’t find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother.” Then he sent us to mum’s workplace by taxi.
My whole life I have depended on the kindness of many strangers, I feel regretful that I cannot find them and say thank you. I do not even remember what the man’s face looked like, but he taught me a lesson—people are more important than things.
【小题1】Why did the younger brother cry for his mother?

A．Because he was hungry.

B．Because he missed his mother.

C．Because he wanted to sleep.

D．Because he wanted to play outside.

【小题2】What does the underlined word “regretful” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Sorry.

B．Happy.

C．Excited.

D．Angry.

【小题3】What did the man mean by saying “It’s OK if you can’t find the shoe, but it is not OK to lose your brother.”?

A．People are more important than things.

B．Things are more important than people.

C．Both the shoe and your brother are important.

D．The shoe is more important than your brother.

【小题4】According to the passage, which word can best describe the man?

A．Rude.

B．Funny.

C．Silly.

D．Kind.

The American expression “shoo-in” means someone or something that seems sure to win a race or competition.
Before a big football game, supporters of each are certain to argue about which side will win.
Sometimes, however, one team appears so much stronger than the others that everyone agrees it will win.. The stronger team is a shoo-in. There is no way that it can lose.
The expression “shoo-in” comes from horse racing. It comes from the world “shoo”. That is not the shoe we wear on our feet. It’s another word, S-H-O-O. To shoo is an expression hundreds of years old that means to force an animal to move in a desired direction.
Many years ago dishonest riders sometimes agreed secretly to control their horses so that one chosen horse would win the race. but one of the riders would hold back their horses. The chosen rider would shoo his horse ahead of the others, and win the race.
The other riders would secretly bet large amounts of money that the chosen horse would win. The public soon learned about such about such race. They began to call the winners of such a race a “shoo-in”
These days, people use shoo into describe any athlete or competition that seems certain to win, even without cheating.
American runner Edewin Moses won more than hundred races before he ran the hurdle race in the 1984 Olympic Games. Everyone said Moses was a shoo-in, and that he could not lost. And they were right. He won the gold medal.
阅读上面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出一个最佳答案
【小题1】One of the dishonest riders was sure to win the race because_______.

A．be used to be the best in riding

B．the pubic had belief in him

C．he could not control his horse easily

D．the other riders had agreed to fail in the race

【小题2】The reason why American runner Edewin Moses was regarded as a
“Shoo-in” is _________.

A．due to his honest in the races he ran in

B．duo to his great effort(努力) shown in more than one hundred races

C．that he won over 100 competitions before the 1984 Olympic Games

D．that the old meaning of “shoo-in’ had changed

【小题3】Which is the following statement is not true?

A．“Shoo-in” came from the word “shoo”.

B．The US runner Moses was worthy of (配得上 ) a shoo-in.

C．The public did not know they were being cheated

D．Some riders bet a lot of money on the chosen horse.

【小题4】The main idea of the passage is that “shoo-in” is_______.

A．used for anyone or anything that is certain to win a game

B．used to admire( 钦佩 ) a person who seems to be sure to win a race

C．A word used to describe a dishonest person

D．used for any athlete or competitor that too clever to be cheated

【小题5】In the last paragraph the author means to tell us ________.

A．who Edewin Moses was

B．Moses won a lot of races

C．Moses was the best runners in America

D．We can use “shoo-in” to describe an excellent runner.