One terribly cold day, a snowstorm hit our area. Needing firewood, I quickly set out with my best friend, Bruce, to look for a tree to cut down. Cutting down a tree in a snowstorm can be dangerous. So it was important to have a friend who could warn me of dangers.

When I chose a big 23-meter-tall tree and prepared to cut it down, Bruce suddenly warned me, “Don’t cut down that tree! It’s too close to the power line!” I wasn’t sure about it. So I decided to disregard his warning. I couldn’t wait to finish the job and go back home. I began cutting down the tree. When the tree fell, there was no longer any doubt whether my friend was right.

The tree caught the power line, bringing it to the ground. I considered cutting the tree off the line. After all, electricity can’t travel through wood. As I reached out my finger to touch the tree, pain ran up my arm and through my head. I had been shocked!

After I returned home and told my mother what happened, she quickly called the power company. Workers from the power company soon arrived. One of them asked if I had touched the tree, and when I told him I had, his face turned pale. “You should have been killed,” he said. It was my boots that saved my life.

Within two hours, the workers removed the tree. Soon the snowstorm calmed down——but not my mother. Even though she was glad that I wasn’t hurt, my mother was still serious with me. After all（毕竟）, I shouldn’t have brushed off my friend’s warning.

1. Although Bruce warned him, the writer still cut the tree down because ____________.

       A. he was sure there would be nothing to happen

       B. he wasn’t sure if Bruce was right and expected to go home earlier

       C. he didn’t hear his friend’s warning at all because of the blowing wind

       D. he knew electricity can’t travel through wood

2. The underlined phrase “brushed off” in the last paragraph may mean “____________”.

       A. pay no attention to     B. give up        C. think over         D. give in

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

A. Without his boots, the writer would have been killed by electricity.

B. The writer’s mother was angry with what he had done.

C. When the tree was cut down, the writer realized his friend was right.

D. When the tree caught the power line, Bruce called the power company.

4. In the passage, the writer mainly wanted to tell us ____________.

A. one of his terrible experiences when cutting down a tree

B. not to cut trees down any more to prevent dangers from happening

       C. it’s important to listen to other people’s opinions

D. to be careful while we’re working with friends

When school began, many classmates asked me __ during the winter holidays.

A. where I had gone  

B. what I have done

C. where I had been 

D. where I went

“Sixteen,” I said. I have forgotten the math question my second-grade teacher, Joyce Cooper asked that day, but I will never forget my _1_ . As soon as the number left my mouth, the whole class started _2_ . I felt like the silliest person in the world.
Mrs. Cooper fixed them with a firm (严格的) look. Then she said: “We’re all here to _3_ .”
Another time, Mrs. Cooper asked us to write a _4_ about what we hoped to do with our lives. I wrote: “I want to be a _5_ like Mrs. Cooper.”
She wrote on my report, “You would make an outstanding(杰出的) teacher _6_ you are determined(坚定的) and you try hard.” I was to carry those _7_ in my heart for the next 27 years.
After I graduated from high school, I got married and had children.
We needed every penny just to get by. College – and teaching – was out of the question.
Then one day I thought of my _8_ of how I wanted to help children. I talked it over with my family and _9_ to attend college classes in the mornings before work. And when I got home from work, I would _10_ . Finally after seven years, my dream had been realized and I became a teacher.
Not long after I started _11_ , something happened that brought the _12_ rushing back to me. I had written a sentence with grammatical(语法的) mistakes on the blackboard. Then I asked students to come and _13_ the mistakes.
One girl got halfway through, became confused(迷乱的) and stopped. As the other children laughed, _14_ rolled down her face. I gave her a hug and told her to get a drink of water. Then, remembering Mrs. Cooper, I fixed _15_ of the class with a firm look. “We’re all here to learn,” I said.

首字母填空（共10分）

I think that the most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. When people are talking, there's no need to do a   1.    but receive them. Listen to what they're saying. Most times letting someone talk is more i    2.     than understanding it.

When I was teaching in a middle school, one of my s    3.    told me that sometimes when she tried to tell her story, people often interrupted (打断) to tell her that once had something just like that h    4.    to them. Finally she stopped talking to most people and became very l    5.     . We connect through listening. When we l    6.    , they know we care. Many people with cancer can talk about the relief (安慰) of having someone just listen.

I have n   7.    learned to respond (反应) to someone crying by just listening. I just listen. When they have cried all they need to cry, they find me there w   8.     them.

This simple thing has not been that easy to learn. It certainly went a    9.     everything I had been taught since I was very young. I thought people listened only because they were too s    10.     to speak or did not know the answer. A loving silence often has far more power than words.