A well-dressed man entered a famous jewelry shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl for his wife’s birthday. The price didn’t matter. Since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a nice black one that cost $5000, he paid for the pearl in cash, shook hands with the jeweler, and left.
A few days later the man returned and said that his wife liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality, as she wanted a pair of earrings made, “Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl?” said the man. The jeweler regretfully replied, “I would say it’s exactly impossible to find one exactly like that pearl.”
The rich man insisted that the jeweler advertise in the newspapers, offering $ 25,000 for the matching pearl. Many people answered the advertisement but nobody had a pearl that was just right.
Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came into his store. To his great surprise, she pulled the perfect pearl from her purse. “I don’t like to part with it,” she said sadly, “I inherited it from my mother, and my mother inherited it from hers. But I really need the money.”
The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man’s hotel to tell him the good news. The man, however, was nowhere to be found.
【小题1】The man said he wanted to buy a pearl for ______.
A. his wife             B. his mother-in–law 
C. his own mother           D. no one
57. He paid $ 5,000 for the black pearl without bargaining because ______.
A. he was very rich           B. he wanted to make the jeweler believe him
C. he was anxious to get it      D. his business had been successful
【小题2】He told the jeweler to get him another pearl that must be ______.

The first day of school we were interested to get to know a new classmate.I looked around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.I found a little old lady with a warm smile.

She said,“Hi ! I’m Rose.I’m 87 years old.Can I give you a hug?”I laughed and I heartily responded,“Of course!”

“Why are you in college at such a young,innocent(天真无邪的)age?”I asked.

She jokingly replied,“I’m here to meet a rich husband,get married,have children, and then travel around.”

“Not seriously,”I asked.I was curious why she took on this challenge at this age.

“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”she told me.We became instant friends.

Over the year,Rose became a campus icon(偶像) and she easily made friends wherever she went.She loved to dress up and she enjoyed the attention from the other students.

At the end of the semester,we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us.

“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.Here are the secrets to staying young.You have to laugh and find humor every day.You’ve got to have a dream.When you lose your dreams,you die.Unfortunately we have many people like this walking around?”she said.

“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.Anybody can grow older.That doesn’t take any talent or ability,”she added.“But growing up requires finding the opportunity in change.Have no regrets.The elederly usually don’t regret what they did,but rather things they did not do.”

One week after graduation that year,Rose died peacefully in her sleep.She taught us by example that__________________.

1.Why was Rose in college at 87? Because        .

2.According to the passage,Rose loved to do the following EXCEPT       .

3.According to what Rose said,we can know that to stay young you must not     .

4.According to the last paragraph but one we know         .

5.Which of the following can be used to fill in the blank at the end of the passage?

A well-dressed man entered a famous jewelry shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl for his wife’s birthday. The price didn’t matter. Since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a nice black one that cost $5000, he paid for the pearl in cash, shook hands with the jeweler, and left.

A few days later the man returned and said that his wife liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality, as she wanted a pair of earrings made, “Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl?” said the man. The jeweler regretfully replied, “I would say it’s exactly impossible to find one exactly like that pearl.”

The rich man insisted that the jeweler advertise in the newspapers, offering $ 25,000 for the matching pearl. Many people answered the advertisement but nobody had a pearl that was just right.

Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came into his store. To his great surprise, she pulled the perfect pearl from her purse. “I don’t like to part with it,” she said sadly, “I inherited it from my mother, and my mother inherited it from hers. But I really need the money.”

The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man’s hotel to tell him the good news. The man, however, was nowhere to be found.

1.The man said he wanted to buy a pearl for ______.

A. his wife              B. his mother-in–law 

C. his own mother            D. no one

57. He paid $ 5,000 for the black pearl without bargaining because ______.

A. he was very rich            B. he wanted to make the jeweler believe him

C. he was anxious to get it       D. his business had been successful

2. He told the jeweler to get him another pearl that must be ______.

A. exactly the same size as the black one

B. exactly the same quality as the black one

C. worth no more than $ 25,000

D. exactly as big and nice as the black one

3. Many people answered the advertisement because they wanted _______.

A. to see the perfect pearl

B. to buy some beautiful pearls too

C. to get in touch with the rich man

D. to sell their own pearl at a high price

4. The jeweler couldn’t find the man anywhere because ______.

A. he died suddenly.

B. He happened to be out

C. He got $ 20,000 by cheating and had run away with the money.

D. He wouldn’t show up until the jeweler called him a second time.

Teary Joe was a boy with a special ability: he could cry in less than a second．If he  36 something or things became difficult, Joe would  37 a pitiful face．In this way he got everything he wanted,  38     no one could resist（抗拒） his sad face．
But one day, Joe met Pipo．Pipo was begging in the street for some  39 ．Pipo was very poor, but he always had the biggest_ 40 on his face．
Joe decided to help Pipo make some money．He went over to Pipo, took off his hat, and started crying with the most pitiful_  41 ．
In a few minutes, Joe's hat was full of coins, but when Joe offered all these to Pipo, Pipo  42      him down．
"I prefer  43 what I receive," answered Pipo with his usual smile．"It's much more fun making a（n）44 to get things．Today I've washed a dog,  45 a blind old lady to the park and helped a stranger to mind his bag．Maybe I haven't gotten what I've wanted, but I've done many  46 things．"
Joe walked  47 away．He had gotten everything he wanted, but he'd done  48  nothing of interest．He hadn't even  49  himself spending almost all his time crying．
That evening, Joe_  50 a delicious cake for his supper．When his mother  51 , Joe tried to cry, but_ 52 how joyful Pipo was, Joe couldn't do it．Instead, he had an idea．He tried to get the cake in another way． Joe spent the whole evening helping his mother water the Plants and   53 the rooms．
In the end there was no  54 ．But that wasn't so bad, because Joe  55 it had been much more fun doing all those than just crying to get a piece of cake．

I grew up in New Hampshire, a small town in South Canada, where in my father’s words for the seasons were “Spring, Summer, Fairtime and Winter!” At that time, a week-long fair was held in the town every autumn. Thousands of people from other towns came to sell and buy things. It was the busiest time of the year.

When “Fairtime” came, my grandma became the most “useful” and busiest person of the family. Grandma was a kind, well-educated old lady. She was good at cooking. All her rrelatives liked the foodshe cooked. During “fairtime”, they would come to live in her house and have meals there. Grandma was always happy to look after them.

Year after year, many people moved to big cities. There was no loner “Fairtime”. Grandma became very old and was gradually going blind. My parents and I moved to live with Granma in her house. We did our best to make her day-to-day life as comfortable as possible. I was at high school then. What I often did at home was to help Grandma with the daily newspaper’s crossword puzzle. However, she didn’t look happy. She often sat in her room for hours, without saying a word.

To attract people to move back, the Town Hall decided to reopen the Fair. One day, when I came back room school, I saw Grandma wearing her glasses, washing the dishes in the kitchen. With a big smile on her face, she looked a lot much younger. She told me that her two nieces would come. “They said the food I cooked was very delicious and they want to stay in my house again.” Grandma said happily. “They will stay here for one week and we can have a big party. That must be the busiest week I’ve had in years!”

I suddenly realized that Grandma didn’t want to be looked after. She wanted to be “useful”, appreciated and helpful.

1.Thousands of people came to the town to __________ at the Fair.

A. enjoy Grandma’s food    B. sell and buy things

C. learn to cook   D. have a big party

2.Why was Grandma unhappy?

A.She was too busy.   B. No one lived with her.

B.She was not “useful”.  D. She couldn’t see anything

3.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. Grandma was good at cooking

B. Many people moved to big cities.

C. Grandma didn’t like “Fairtime”

D. Grandma was a kind old lady.

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Fairtime   B. My “Old” Grandma

C. A Small Town    D. Grandma’s Family