B

The first time I saw Carlos I would never have believed he was going to change my life. I had my arms full of books and I was tearing into the classroom when I ran into something solid. It was Carlos.

“My, you’re tall,” he said.

Of course, the class began to laugh. Angry, I walked to my seat without a word.

I glanced back to see if Reed Harrington was laughing with the rest. That would be the last straw. But Reed was studying chemistry and did not seem to be aware of anything else. I didn’t know why I considered Reed my friend. Maybe just because he was a good two inches taller than I. Anyway, every time I blew out my birthday candles and made a wish, it was for a date with Reed Harrington. “Take that seat,” Mr. McCarthy told the proud newcomer Carlos, pointing to the only empty one, in the back of the room.

Carlos smiled broadly.“But I need a couple of dictionaries.” Again the class laughed, but now they were laughing with Carlos, not at him. He had been here only 10 minutes and already he had them on his side.

It was the school elections that made me think of Carlos again. Reed Harrington was voted president and Carlos vice?president.“How come?” I kept asking myself.“How come this shrimp(虾) who’s only been in town for a little over a month gets to be so popular.”

So on that morning, I stopped Carlos and said,“It doesn’t seem to bother you—being short.” He looked up at me.“Of course I mind being short. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. When I realized I was going to have to spend my life in this undersized skin, I just decided to make the best of it and concentrate on being myself.”“You seem to get along great,” I admitted.“But what about me? Nobody wants to date a girl taller than he is.”“The trouble with you is you’re afraid to be yourself. You’re smart. And you could be pretty. In fact, you might be more than pretty.” I felt myself turning red...

55.It’s a story about______.

A.a tall boy and a short girl      B.a short boy and a tall girl

C.a tall boy and a tall girl        D.a short boy and a short girl

56.From the story, we can see the boy Carlos is______.

A.handsome and humorous       B.humorous and confident

C.handsome and popular         D.honest and popular

57.The underlined sentence “That would be the last straw” suggests that the writer______.

A.cared much about Reed’s attitude

B.thought Reed was different from the rest

C.couldn’t stand Carlos making fun of her

D.hoped Reed was unaware of the event

58.According to the passage, what happened in the end?

A.Carlos and the author hurt each other.

B.Reed and the author fell into love with each other.

C.The author changed attitude and turned to be confident.

D.Carlos was finally elected president of student committee.

A person has to be sixteen to drive, seventeen to see certain movies, and eighteen to vote. People can get terrific discounts on all sorts of stuff－provided they’re over sixty-five. Everywhere we look there are age limits that define what people can and can’t do. But creativity has no boundaries, no limitations. Anyone can invent. And they do. Inventors are popping up at the youngest ages.

Sitting in the car waiting for her mom to return from shopping, Becky decided she might as well try to finish her math homework. But it was growing dark and getting hard to see the paper.

“I didn’t have a flashlight, and I didn’t want to open the car door because then the whole car would light up.” recalled Becky. “So I thought it would be neat to have my paper light up somehow, and that’s when the idea came to me.”

It isn’t every day that a ten-year-old invents a product eagerly sought by several businesses, but that’s exactly what Becky Schroeder did when she created a tool that enabled people to write in the dark. Her invention? The Glo-sheet.

That night Becky went home, trying to imagine different ways of making her paper glow in the dark. She remembered all sorts of glow-in-the-dark toys－like balls and Frisbees－and wondered how they were made. She was determined to find a solution. So they very next day, Beck’s dad took her on an outing to the hardware store. They returned with a pail (桶) of phosphorescent paint. She took the paint and stacks of paper into the darkest room in the house－the bathroom. There, she experimented.

“I’d turn on the light, turn it off, turn it on,” said Becky. “My parents remember me running out the room saying ‘It works, it works! I’m writing in the dark!’ ”

She used an acrylic board and coated it with a specific amount of phosphorescent paint. She took a complicated idea and made it work rather simply. When the coated clipboard is exposed to light, it glows. The glowing board then illuminates or lights up the paper that has been placed on top. Two years after her initial inspiration, in 1974, Becky became the youngest female ever to receive a U.S. patent.

She didn’t actively market her Glo-sheet. She didn’t need to. The New York Times wrote an article about an incredible invention－patented by a twelve-year-old, and the inquiries and orders streamed in.

1. From Paragraph 1 , we can draw a conclusion that _________.

A. it is illegal for one to drive under sixteen

B. people enjoy privileges when over sixty-five

C. one is never too old or too young to invent

D. people hate the limitations that define our behavior

2. What caused Becky to invent Glo-sheet?

A. She was trying to do homework when it got dark.

B. She was having trouble with math problems.

C. She was trying to earn some money.

D. She was working on a school project.

3. What is the meaning of the underlined words “phosphorescent paint” in paragraph 5?

A. paint that acts as a glue　　　　　　 B. paint that covers a mark

C. paint that becomes hard　　　　　　 D. paint that glows in the dark

4. What does it mean that Beck “didn’t actively market her Glo-sheet” according to paragraph 8?

A. She kept the original one for her own use.

B. Other people came to her for the Glo-sheet.

C. Becky’s father tried to sell the Glo-sheet.

D. She gave away patent to the government.

5. With which statement would Becky most likely agree?

A. Experience is needed to be a good inventor.

B. Only by inventing things can you know what people need.

C. Always try to sell patent rights to large companies.

D. You never know what you can do unless you try.

Just a few hours ago，the Italian ship Andrea Doria was sailing through thick fog toward the city of New York. Captain Piero Calamai kept watch. He knew that many other ships were nearby. He should have slowed down because of the fog but he decided not to. He wanted to arrive on time the next morning.
At about 11∶00 PM，another ship，the Stockholm，suddenly hit the Andrea Doria. It made a huge hole in the Italian ship. Some people were badly hurt. Others fell into the sea. But one girl was saved by the Stockholm.
Linda Morgan was fourteen. She lived in Spain with her mother and her little sister. She was going to visit her father in New York. She was excited about seeing her father.
Linda had loved the trip. She wanted to have dinner with the captain on the last night at sea. The captain did not sit at his table that night，though. He was busy guiding the ship through the fog. Linda did not get to talk to him.
When Linda went to bed，everything seemed fine. Her mother turned off the lights. Linda talked to her little sister. She thought about seeing her father the next morning.
What happened next was a terrible surprise. Linda woke up not knowing where she was. She was not in her bed. When she called to her family，no one answered. Both her knees were broken.
Linda had been saved by an amazing accident. When the Stockholm made a hole in the side of the Andrea Doria，it lifted Linda out of her bed. She landed on the deck (甲板) of the Stockholm instead of falling into the ocean. A sailor heard her cries and found her.
Right now，the girl is in the hospital. She is expected to get better. Her father is at her side，glad that his little girl was saved. The Andrea Doria lies under the waves at the bottom of the sea.
【小题1】Why didn’t Captain Piero Calamai reduce the speed?

Just a few hours ago，the Italian ship Andrea Doria was sailing through thick fog toward the city of New York. Captain Piero Calamai kept watch. He knew that many other ships were nearby. He should have slowed down because of the fog but he decided not to. He wanted to arrive on time the next morning.

At about 11∶00 PM，another ship，the Stockholm，suddenly hit the Andrea Doria. It made a huge hole in the Italian ship. Some people were badly hurt. Others fell into the sea. But one girl was saved by the Stockholm.

Linda Morgan was fourteen. She lived in Spain with her mother and her little sister. She was going to visit her father in New York. She was excited about seeing her father.

Linda had loved the trip. She wanted to have dinner with the captain on the last night at sea. The captain did not sit at his table that night，though. He was busy guiding the ship through the fog. Linda did not get to talk to him.

When Linda went to bed，everything seemed fine. Her mother turned off the lights. Linda talked to her little sister. She thought about seeing her father the next morning.

What happened next was a terrible surprise. Linda woke up not knowing where she was. She was not in her bed. When she called to her family，no one answered. Both her knees were broken.

Linda had been saved by an amazing accident. When the Stockholm made a hole in the side of the Andrea Doria，it lifted Linda out of her bed. She landed on the deck (甲板) of the Stockholm instead of falling into the ocean. A sailor heard her cries and found her.

Right now，the girl is in the hospital. She is expected to get better. Her father is at her side，glad that his little girl was saved. The Andrea Doria lies under the waves at the bottom of the sea.

1.Why didn’t Captain Piero Calamai reduce the speed?

A．He didn’t want to be late.

B．He went crazy because of the bad weather.

C．He thought the fog was not serious.

D．He had rich experience.

2.When the accident happened，________.

A．Linda was asleep

B．the day was about to break

C．few people were killed

D．the Andrea Doria hit a hole in the Stockholm

3.What can we learn from the text?

A．Linda hated the trip very much.

B．Linda was saved by the Stockholm.

C．Linda lived with her father in Spain.

D．The Andrea Doria wasn’t badly damaged.

4.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．A little girl’s braveness moved people.

B．Andrea Doria sailed through thick fog.

C．The Italian ship Andrea Doria was hit by Stockholm.

D．A fourteen­year­old girl was saved by accident after the crash.

I’d been 16 for six days and was already prepared to deal with failure.
I remember that, when my mum 1 me that morning, her voice wasn’t as screaming as it usually was. She had been 2 for more than one hour getting everything ready, and I could feel she was 3 me at the same time.
I stayed in bed for a few minutes. I was 4 to leave its warmth and 5 to face the suffering that I’d rather let myself forget for the past months. Finally, I dragged myself 6.
The first thing I thought of after getting up was to 7. I went to the kitchen and prepared a breakfast that was fairly 8, but was still too big for my appetite that day. I kept telling myself that I 9eat. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this wasn’t a(n) 10 day. Besides maybe it would 11 me a little. But I doubted it. I left the kitchen because even the 12 made me feel sick.
I finished getting ready and tried to settle down. It didn’t 13, so I decided that my mum and I should go. We had 14 time, so I thought we could practise parking. I 15, with the wheel hitting the pavement. After that, the little bit of confidence I had was 16. I tried two more times, but did not improve much. Then we went towards the driving 17 site.
I waited twenty minutes---just enough time to make myself believe that I was going to fail. Then, finally, it was my 18 I wasn’t sure of myself at all. I just wanted to get it over and make sure that I had to come back next Thursday.
The first thing I had to do was parking, which I did quite well. The 19 that came with it hit me like a wave. The rest of the test went well and I passed it.
The 20 of my mum made her face softer. I knew her worry was gone and she was happy for me.

1. 1.
   1. A.
      cried　　
   2. B.
      woke　
   3. C.
      told
   4. D.
      shouted
2. 2.
   1. A.
      up　　　　
   2. B.
      over
   3. C.
      out　　
   4. D.
      in
3. 3.
   1. A.
      smiling at
   2. B.
      worrying about
   3. C.
      looking at
   4. D.
      talking with
4. 4.
   1. A.
      sad
   2. B.
      eager　　　　
   3. C.
      unwilling　
   4. D.
      willing
5. 5.
   1. A.
      convenience　
   2. B.
      friendship
   3. C.
      quiet　　　
   4. D.
      comfort
6. 6.
   1. A.
      out of bed　
   2. B.
      onto bed
   3. C.
      into bed
   4. D.
      in bed
7. 7.
   1. A.
      eat
   2. B.
      rest　　　　　
   3. C.
      drink　
   4. D.
      work
8. 8.
   1. A.
      large　　　　
   2. B.
      small　　　　　
   3. C.
      delicious　
   4. D.
      good
9. 9.
   1. A.
      might
   2. B.
      could　　　
   3. C.
      should
   4. D.
      hated
10. 10.
    1. A.
       important　
    2. B.
       necessary　　
    3. C.
       lucky　
    4. D.
       ordinary
11. 11.
    1. A.
       calm
    2. B.
       hurt
    3. C.
       stop
    4. D.
       like
12. 12.
    1. A.
       milk
    2. B.
       bread　　
    3. C.
       smoke　
    4. D.
       smells
13. 13.
    1. A.
       work　　
    2. B.
       do
    3. C.
       calm
    4. D.
       use
14. 14.
    1. A.
       little　
    2. B.
       plenty of
    3. C.
       no
    4. D.
       a little
15. 15.
    1. A.
       cried
    2. B.
       succeeded
    3. C.
       failed
    4. D.
       left
16. 16.
    1. A.
       back
    2. B.
       gone
    3. C.
       there
    4. D.
       greater
17. 17.
    1. A.
       start　　　　
    2. B.
       office
    3. C.
       race
    4. D.
       test
18. 18.
    1. A.
       try
    2. B.
       turn
    3. C.
       car
    4. D.
       chance
19. 19.
    1. A.
       happiness
    2. B.
       pride
    3. C.
       confidence
    4. D.
       disappointment
20. 20.
    1. A.
       tears
    2. B.
       lines
    3. C.
       smiles
    4. D.
       eyes