At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer(拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.

We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house – something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.

On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, "What do you want for your new room?" Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were surprised when Josh responded, "I just want a bed."

The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.

When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.

That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.

As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, "What is that?"

"A pillow," she replied.

"What do you do with it?" Eric continued to ask.

"When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” I answered softly. Tears came to our eyes as she handed Eric the pillow.

"Oh . . . that's soft," he said, hugging it tightly.

Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my Dad gently asks, "Do you have a pillow?"

We know exactly what he means.

1.The writer’s first volunteer project was         .

A．working on a poor trailer

B．helping a poor family

C．donating beds and bedding

D．dealing with a housing problem

2.On hearing Josh’s answer, the writer was shocked because         .

A．the family lived in a trailer

B．he expected to get some toys

C．he didn’t know what a bed was

D．the boys had no bed to sleep in

3.From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen       before.

A．a trailer           B．a truck            C．a pillow           D．a house

4.By saying “Do you have a pillow?”, the writer’s father means that        .

A．what they want to get may be unnecessary

B．they should not waste money on small things

C．they should do more volunteer work for the poor

D．what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow

 

At the end of eight grade, our class went to Washington, D.C. For a group of 14-year-olds, this was a big deal!

The first day was so tiring; we could hardly remember where we were and what we were seeing. The next morning, we were off to see monuments (纪念碑)，starting with Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson. We walked along the paths through trees. Then the Wall came into view—the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

As I moved slowly closer to the Wall, I heard a bagpipe（风笛）in the distance, which seemed to show respect to the lives lost in the jungles of Vietnam .

We continued walking and felt surprised at the number of names carved in the black stone. I was determined to find a soldier with my last name, but my hunt was stopped when a man caught my eyes. He was kneeling(跪着) at the Wall, a single rose at his feet. His head was bowed and he was rubbing his fingers over one name. I thought how sad he was, and then moved on .

After a few minutes I found one with my last name, but my eyes returned to the kneeling man. He was still rubbing his fingers over the same name. He never knew I was watching him, lost in deep sorrow. It was time for me to leave the kneeling man and the Wall. On the way home, I couldn’t help thinking of the kneeling man and his sad face. I wasn’t sure of the effects of war before, but at that moment I realized how much that man suffered from losing his loved one. Maybe he was the only one of so many families who experienced the same .

I never knew the full effects of war until I saw that man. I only know about war from history classes. The kneeling man taught me more about war and the effects it has on people than any history book .

Which of the following makes the author feel the suffering that war brings to human beings?

A. The kneeling man.                                       B. The sound of a bagpipe.

C. The number of names carved in the stone.      D. The jungles of Vietnam.

The man continued to rub his fingers over the name probably because_____.

  A. he found it covered with dust                            B. he missed the loved one who died in a war

C. he intended to remove it completely        D. he recalled the fierce war he fought in

What did the author learn from the trip?

  A. How fierce war is in history.                   B. How people remember those who died in wars.

C. What bad effects war had on many families.   D. What we should do to prevent war.

According to the last paragraph, the author probably thinks that _____.

A. he should have studied history hard in class

B. history books don’t tell readers the truth

C. there is more in history than books tell us

D. the kneeling man should be a history teacher

 

第二部分：阅读理解（本题有两小节，第一节共20小题，每小题2分；第二节共5小题，每小题2分；满分50分）

第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

The Pillow

         At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer (拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.

         We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house—something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.

         On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, “What do you want for your new room?” Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were astonished when Josh responded, “I just want a bed.”

         The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.

         When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.

         That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.

         As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, “What is that?”

         “A pillow,” he replied.

         “What do you do with it?” Eric continued to ask.

“When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” I answered softly. Tears came to my eyes as my father handed Eric the pillow.

         “Oh…that’s soft,” he said, hugging it tightly.

         Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my dad gently asks, “Do you have a pillow?”

We know exactly what he means.

1. The writer’s first volunteer project was ______.

         A. working on a poor trailer   B. helping a poor family

         C. donating beds and bedding          D. dealing with a housing problem

2. On hearing Josh’s answer, the writer was shocked because ______. 

   A. the family lived in a trailer           B. he expected to get some toys

   C. he didn’t know what a bed was           D. the boys had no bed to sleep in

3. From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen ______ before.

         A. a trailer       B. a truck         C. a pillow       D. a house

4. By saying “Do you have a pillow?”, the writer’s father means that ______.  

         A. what they want to get may be unnecessary       B. they should not waste money on small things

         C. they should do more volunteer work for the poor     D. what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow

 

When we visited Zhou Zhuang again ten years later, we found it changed so much that we could hardly ________ it.

A. request     B. recognize        C. swap         D. realize

 

If I were writing a history of my family, some of the darkest moments recorded would be those surrounding Christmas trees. One would certainly think otherwise; selecting and putting up our trees have always been filled with risk. For example, one afternoon dangerously close to Christmas Eve my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain, a glorious tree that was so full and tall that we could hardly get it into the house. Once we did, my father immediately realized that we would have to hire a carpenter to build a stand for it. Another December, perhaps the very next one, we bought a tree earlier than we ever had before. We were happy with its shape and delighted that its size was manageable. We easily placed it in a stand, decorated it from top to bottom, and then self-satisfiedly sat back by the fire in its soft light. Two or three days passed and the truth could not be hidden; we had bought a tree cut so long ago that its needles were coming off. There was nothing to do but undecorate it, take it down, and begin tree shopping again. Our most recent Christmas tree offered still another difficult task. When we brought it home, once again it seemed larger than it was in the great outdoors. To complicate matters, we had bought a new stand, one whose nuts （螺帽） and bolts （闩子） worked more mysteriously than those of our old stands. I persuaded two young neighbors to stop playing basketball and to help us get the tree into the house and set it correctly in the stand. Unfortunately, no one noticed the mud on our helpers' shoes, so only after removing several reddish brown spots from the carpet were we able to discuss the question of where the lights and ornaments （装饰）were stored. Perhaps those who cut their own trees have tales more painful than these. I don't care to hear them, as my family's experiences are enough to cause me to make the following suggestion:" Let's forget the tree next Christmas. Let's simply hang some flowers on the front door and over the mirror in the hall. "

1.The darkest moments in the writer's family were with the fact that _____.

A．the family bought big Christmas trees

B．they had problems decorating their Christmas trees

C．they had problems picking suitable Christmas trees

D．they had problems finding carpenters for putting up Christmas trees

2.We can learn from the passage that the writer would like to _____.

A．forget about Christmas stories

B．get the neighbors to put up their trees

C．buy a better tree to celebrate Christmas

D．make other decorations rather than Christmas trees

3.When the writer said " my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain", he means ____.

A．she bought the tree at a cheap price

B．she didn't really want to buy it

C．she had to bargain hard with the salesman

D．she couldn't afford a more expensive one

4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A．How to Select a Christmas Tree

B．No More Christmas Tree for Us

C．Dark Moments of Life

D．Christmas Without Trees