I was a single parent of four small children, working at a low-paid job. Money was always not enough, but we had a   36  over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and if not a lot, always   37 . Not knowing we were poor, my kids (孩子们) just thought I was   38 . I’ve always been glad about that.

It was Christmas time, and although there wasn’t enough   39  for a lot of gifts, we planned to hold a family party. And the big   40  for the kids was the fun of Christmas   41 .

They planned weeks ahead of time, asking   42  what they wanted for Christmas. Luckily, I had saved $120 for them to buy   43 .

The big   44  arrived. I gave each kid a twenty-dollar bill and   45  them to look for gifts of about four dollars each. Then everyone scattered(散开). We had two hours to shop; then we would   46  again at the “Santa’s Workshop”.

Driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits,   47  my younger daughter, Ginger, who was unusually   48 . She had only one small, flat bag with a few candies　— fifty-cent candies! I was so angry, but I didn’t say anything   49  we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, ready to be   50  again. This is what she told me.

“I was looking   51 , thinking of what to buy, and I   52  to read the little cards on the ‘Giving Trees.’ One was for a little girl, four years old, and all she   53  for Christmas was a doll(玩具娃娃). So I took the card off the tree and   54  the doll for her. We have so much and she doesn’t have anything.”

I never felt so   55  as I did that day.

1.                A．roof           B．hat            C．sky  D．star

2.                A．little           B．less            C．enough   D．more

3.                A．busy           B．serious         C．strict D．kind

4.                A．effort          B．room           C．time D．money

5.                A．improvement    B．problem        C．surprise  D．excitement

6.                A．shopping       B．travelling        C．parties   D．greetings

7.                A．the other       B．each other      C．one by one    D．every other one

8.                A．toys           B．clothes         C．presents  D．bills

9.                A．day            B．chance         C．cheque   D．tree

10.               A．forced         B．reminded       C．invited    D．begged

11.               A．draw          B．stay           C．move D．meet

12.               A．including       B．besides         C．except    D．regarding

13.               A．quiet          B．excited         C．happy D．ashamed

14.               A．since          B．after           C．while D．until

15.               A．happy          B．angry          C．joyful     D．glad

16.               A．out            B．over           C．forward   D．around

17.               A．forgot          B．stopped        C．failed D．hated

18.               A．wanted         B．did            C．got   D．played

19.               A．made          B．searched       C．bought    D．fetched

20.               A．painful         B．rich           C．disappointed   D．angry

If I raised the question, “What would be the last thing you would expect to happen while watching your son’s flag football game?” you probably still couldn’t come up with what happened to me and my family.
As we were sitting on the sidelines enjoying the game, a low-flying bird came swooping in attempting to land on my daughter’s head! It honestly came out of nowhere. We were seated by ourselves on the tree lined side of the field. I was able to calm my daughter’s shock and fear once I showed her that the bird was not some wild animal, it was in fact, somebody’s pet!
Now, we’re sitting at the outdoor fields of the Pontiac Silverdome, far from any populated area, wondering where this very social cockatiel, an Australian parrot (澳洲鹦鹉) could have come from. I walked up to the bird and put out my hand. Immediately, it hopped on and chirped in a friendly way. We looked around us and knew that we could not just leave and suppose that the bird would return to where it came from. This was a very domesticated bird that needed help or it would not survive.
The flag football game had ended so we walked the bird over to other groups of adults and asked if they knew of anyone who had lost a bird. All the kids were excited about the bird and fed it with some post game snacks. The bird’s nails were getting long and he was looking pretty dirty, so we knew it had been out here for a long time and was hungry. Since its wings were clipped, it could fly a little but probably not more than 100 yards or so at a try. We all just scratched our heads as a group wondering what to do with the lost bird.
We explained to the kids that this bird needed our help since it was someone’s pet and would not know how to get its own food, and it could not fly well since its wings were clipped. The kids understood, and all of them wanted to take the bird home! The parents however, knew this was not a good choice as one had a large dog, another two cats, etc. We explained to the kids that one of us could take the bird home for the night and then bring it to the Humane Society in the morning in hopes to connect it to its owners. We couldn’t keep the bird. It wasn’t ours. This was tough for the kids to understand at first. We couldn’t just leave the bird either. There was no way it could attend itself. The group of us sat around the Silverdome practice fields for quite a while trying to determine the best course of choice for the lost bird. It was getting dark out but no one was willing to leave that parking lot until we had a game plan for how to help the bird.
The owner of the football league, Chris Novak, offered to take the bird. It was extremely nice of him and he really stepped in to help while all the rest of us who had kids tugging on our shirts and begging to take it home. We took a box and put a bunch of holes in it and he brought it home for the night. Another mom went online and found a family that had lost a bird that looked just like the one we’d found. She emailed the info to Chris who got in touch with the family and the next day, reunited the bird with the family that lost it almost 3 weeks earlier! When Chris emailed us to let us know, we could not believe that this bird had traveled from The Rochester Tienken area all the way to the Silverdome!
We were so happy to be able to save this bird and get it back to its family. I showed my kids the email about how the other family got their pet back. The family has 3 kids who were so happy to see their bird. My kids realized what a nice ending this story had. Not only had we been able to save this bird’s life, but we were able to bring it back to the family that loves and misses him.
The life lesson in the missing bird story seemed to miss its mark with my kids at first. They were a little bummed out that they couldn’t keep the lost bird. I explained to them that when an animal or someone needs help, you just can’t turn a blind eye and hope everything works out OK. The “lost bird incident” was also a reminder to them that teamwork and the kindness of strangers can make a world of difference and that a group of well-meaning strangers can work together to help someone. It wasn’t a heroic act, but one that I knew had sunk in with my kids when they realized that trying to help was the best and only real course of action. 　
【小题1】What happened when the author watched his son’s football games?

“Hey, Jenna, do you think we’ ll still be friends when we’re eighty-two?” I asked my friend.

    Losing Jenna would be like losing a very close sister.

 “Of course, we’ll still be friends when we’re eighty-two,” Jenna announced loudly

The next year, in Grade Four, we met Jamie. The three of us soon became close friends. We played together almost every day. I thought even time couldn’t pull us apart, but I was sadly mistaken.

The three of us started fighting a lot. Before Christmas, We had a really big fight, and Jamie and Jenna were against me, both saying I was bossy (专横的). I felt helpless and lonely. I thought Christmas would be horrible!

I was surprised when Jenna came to my house and gave me a terrible Christmas card she had made for me. I was so sure that she was still disappointed with me.

 “Wow,” I said, breaking the silence as we stood on either side of my front door. “Thanks.”

 “Okay…well… I have to go,” she said softly.

 “Okay. See you later then…” and I closed the door.

 “Who was that at the door?” my mom asked.

“It was Jenna, my classmate.” I said.

The card started off with “Merry Christmas”, but then it said, “I am so glad we’re friends. I am sorry about what I said when we were fighting. A fight won’t stop us from being friends. Besides, we said we were going to be friends even when we’re eighty-two.”

I stopped reading and started laughing. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten what she said that day in the backyard. I couldn’t believe I had been so selfish in trying to make my friends feel sorry for me.

The best title for this passage would be______________.

A. Jenna and I

B. Friends Forever

C. Friendship is very important.

D. Friendship is very necessary.

How would the author and Jenna get along with each other after Christmas?

A. They would be close friends again.

B. They would not speak to each other.

C. They would lose touch with each other.

D. They would go on fighting with each other.

What can we learn from the underlined sentences?

A. The author was sure Jenna felt sorry for her.

B. The author didn’t think Jenna was still angry with her.

C. The author hadn’t thought Jenna would send her a Christmas card.

D. The author knew Jenna would come to see her and said sorry to her.

Which of the following is the right time order according to the passage?

a. Jamie became the author’s friend.

b. The author felt lonely and unhappy.

c. Jenna, Jamie and the author fought.

d. Jenna brought the author a Christmas card.

e. The author was sorry for what she did.

f. Jenna and the author promised to be lifelong friends.

A. f-a-b-c-e-d                      B. a-c-f-b-d-e

C. a-b-c-f-e-d                      D. f-a-c-b-d-e

When I received my grade on my first writing assignment, I was very disappointed．I met with Dr．Caldwell to discuss my    41 and my work．She gave me lots of _42 and allowed me to rewrite my paper．My grade improved but I was   43 not completely satisfied．Dr．Caldwell decided to help me and  44  me into a good writer, Before each paper was due, I turned in a   45 draft and she corrected it for me, Her dedication to my success was very encouraging because she 46 _ the time to personally help me time and time again．

Dr．Caldwell was behind my dedication to the learning process．Not only did she help me, but also Dr．Caldwell  47 me to become a teacher and dedicate my life to helping children who struggle through school. My most memorable   48  as a teacher was when I tutored a fourth-grade boy, Darnell, in math．He was unable to add, minus, multiply, or divide．He was far 49  his classmates and needed personal  50  to help him work at the same level．

51  we first began our sessions, Darnell was very quiet and  52 _ in learning．I was becoming annoyed and impatient because after two weeks, it seemed as if we had not   53  a thing．To my surprise, Darnell finally _54  __ up to me and began to work hard at his lessons．His progress began to show through and his teacher told me his grades in class had 55  greatly, I was very happy with the progress that we had made and． became even more dedicated to Darnell's success, We had a lot of   56   learning math; we created  many games and played them to make learning more  57  for Darnell． All that Darnell needed was the one-on-one attention that I was able to give him and once he 58   it, his improvement was evident almost  59 . I was able to work with Darnell and encourage him to learn the 60 Dr. Caldwell worked with me to become a better writer．

1.                A．grade          B．study           C．future    D．essay

2.                A．solutions        B．approaches      C．assessments   D．suggestions

3.                A．still            B．also            C．again D．even

4.                A．talk            B．put            C．turn D．build

5.                A．tough          B．similar          C．rough    D．general

6.                A．spent          B．took           C．cost D．paid

7.                A．encouraged     B．forced          C．expected D．begged

8.                A．experiment     B．experience      C．example  D．moment

9.                A．behind         B．below          C．out of    D．ahead of

10.               A．influence       B．sympathy       C．comfort   D．attention

11.               A．When          B．Before         C．While D．Once

12.               A．absorbed       B．delighted       C．concerned D．uninterested

13.               A．conveyed       B．submitted       C．learned   D．accomplished

14.               A．looked         B．opened        C．walked    D．came

15.               A．obtained       B．raised          C．improved  D．decreased

16.               A．trouble         B．patience        C．fun   D．difficulty

17.               A．difficult        B．important       C．reasonable D．enjoyable

18.               A．learned        B．received        C．afforded   D．failed

19.               A．instantly        B．punctually      C．slowly D．gradually

20.               A．skill           B．means         C．knowledge D．way

【小题1】I have seen the famous singer on several ___________(场合).
【小题2】Quitting smoking ____________(减少) the risk of heart diseases.
【小题3】_____________(无论哪一个) book you borrow, you must return it in a month.
【小题4】Lucy said she _____________(后悔) telling lies to her parents and teachers.
【小题5】All my students always ____________(表现) well in the school.
【小题6】Peter works as a(n) ______________(翻译) in this company.
【小题7】Our government is developing ____________(旅游业) in this town.
【小题8】We had a little _______________(误解) over the plan.
【小题9】It’s a bad idea to continue ___________(争辩) with your mother.
【小题10】All labs in our school are ____________(配备) with some instruments.