I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have porridge, eggs or toast. When others had Cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. But at least I wasn’t alone when I was sad. My sister and two brothers had the same mean(刻薄的) mother as I did.?
My mother preferred to know where we were all the time. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. We had to clean clothes and take a bath every day. The other kids got to wear the same clothes for days. We could not lie in bed “sick” in order to miss school.?
The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and get up at eight the next morning. We couldn’t sleep till noon like our friends. So while they slept, my mother was brave to break the Child Labour Law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, and learn to cook and all sorts of things at home. I believe she lay awake thinking up all things for us to do. ?
My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Two of her children received higher education. None of us have ever been arrested(taken away by the police) or divorced. She forced us to grow up into educated and honest adults. I am trying to raise my three children this way. I am filled with pride when my children call me “mean”. Why? Because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the world.?
【小题1】 How many children does the writer’s mother have??

The food in White Rose Restaurant was cheap and good, but nobody seemed to want to eat there. There were very few people going to eat there. The owner was very worried about it.

     Then he thought of a good idea. A few weeks later, his restaurant was always full of men and their girlfriends.  Whenever a gentleman came with a lady, a kind waiter would give each of them a beautiful menu. The menus looked exactly the same on the outside, but there was an important difference inside. The menu that the waiter handed to the man gave the correct price for each dish and each bottle of wine, while the menu that he handed to the lady gave a much higher price! So when the man calmly ordered dish after dish and wine after wine, the lady thought he was much more generous than he really was! The man could make a good impression on the lady.

1.How was the food in White Rose Restaurant?

      A. Cheap and good.                    B. Cheap but bad.

      C. Expensive and bad.                  D. Expensive but good.

2.When a gentleman and his girlfriend went into the restaurant, the waiter would give

                a beautiful menu.

      A. the gentleman  B. the lady        C. each of them    D. neither of them

3. According to the passage, when a gentleman and his girlfriend had a meal at the restaurant, the meal would be paid by     

    A. the lady only                       B. the gentleman only

    C. both of the gentleman and the lady      D. the gentleman or the lady

4.What might the lady think of her boyfriend after having a meal together at this restaurant？

     A. She thought he wanted to impress her.

     B. She thought he pretended to be rich.

     C. She thought he was very generous.

     D. She thought he was the owner of the restaurant.

5.What does the story mainly suggest?

     A. People like to go to expensive restaurants.

     B. A restaurant owner should design different menus for different guests.

     C. The men should pretend to be generous before their girlfriends.

     D. It’s helpful for businessmen to learn customers’ thoughts

I still remember the last time when two of my children and I went to the playground. It had rained during the night and the playground was very muddy (泥泞的). They had just put on clean clothes, so I was a little worried about the pools of water on the playground. It was not long before Kathy got her beautiful skirt dirty on the playground. She dug through the rocks. I was about to blame her for getting her clothes dirty when she ran towards me with a smile on her face. When she got to me, she handed me a little heart-shaped rock and said, “Here Mom! Here is a heart for you－just because I love you! Keep it!” with tears in my eyes, I thanked her.

Should I blame her for getting her clothes muddy? No way! I still have that little heart-shaped rock. It is one of the best gifts that I have ever received. I realize that many times it is not necessary for us adults to worry about the small things our children do. Let them do what they’d like to.

I will spend a lot more time on the playground with my children. I’m sure I will learn a lot from the children. It reminds me of some years ago when my grandfather told me, “You would not enter the kingdom (王国) of happiness until you pretended (假装) to be a small child.”

1.The writer was deeply moved by her daughter’s ____________.

    A. digging task on the playground      

B. love of the muddy playground

    C. special way to show her love        

D. smile on her face when running

2.From Paragraph 2, we can learn that the writer thought parents should _________.

    A. allow kids to do whatever they like 

    B. keep the presents given by children

    C. not give too much care to their own children            

    D. not worry about the small things their children do

3.In the last paragraph, Grandpa’s words imply (暗示) that _____________.

    A. children may find happiness easily in life

    B. children care more about happiness than adults do

    C. adults cannot share children’s happiness

    D. adults should pretend to be a child