It was the end-of-year party. I had asked my mother to make us cookies. Mom’s chocolate chips were the best.
But two o’clock passed, and there was no sign of her. Most of the other mothers had come and gone, dropping off their cakes and chips. The party went on, but I wouldn’t leave the window. The three o’clock bell soon took me away from my thoughts（思绪）. I took my bag and walked out for home.
The house was empty when I arrived. My heart was filled with anger(气愤). For the first time in my life, my mother had let me down. I was lying on my bed when I heard her coming. “Robbie,” she called out. “Where are you?” She was looking for me from room to room, but I kept silent.
When she came into my room, I didn’t move, “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I got busy and forgot.” She began to laugh. I couldn’t believe it. I turned over and found that she wasn’t laughing but crying. “I’m so sorry. I let my boy down.” she cried like a little girl. I had never seen my mother cry.
“It’s OK, Mom,” I said, “We didn’t need those cookies. There was plenty of food to eat. Don’t cry. It’s all right.” We held each other in a long hug(拥抱).
【小题1】The story happened __________.

Wang Yani was born in 1975. Even as a baby she loved to draw. Her father was an  1 .Yani wanted to be like him. So she tried to stand like her father as she painted, which made him laugh.
One day, Yani painted lines on her faher’s painting. He got  2 . At the time she was only two and a half years old. She cried and said, “I want to    like you!” Her father looked at her without saying anything. He   4  remembered his childhood(童年). He also wanted to draw and paint, but his parents didn’t understand. They just got angry. He didn’t want to see the same thing happen to his daughter. So he decided to    5  her.
With her father’s help, Yani soon   6  . Her lines became flowers, trees, and animals. Her father took her to parks and zoos to get   7  for her paintings. By the end of six, Yani had made over 4,000 works. Her paintings were very special. People  8  her works. When she was eight, one of her paintings was made into a Chinese postage stamp.
Yani became famous when she was young. Her works were 9  in different countries in Asia, Europe and North America,  10  her parents never sold her paintings. She is well-known in the world, and art is still a great joy in her life..

Annette Kellerman was born in Australia in 1887.She had polio and could not walk easily.She had to wear metal supports on her legs to stand up on her own.To make her legs stronger,her mother took her for swimming lessons every week.Swimming made her legs so strong that when she was 15 she was able to throw away her supports.
Her family was poor so she got work acting as a mermaid.She wore a long tail and fish swam around her.People paid to come and see her.
In 1900 Annette swam in the Paris Olympics and won two gold medals. The next year she tried to swim across the Channel.She was the first woman to try to do it though she had to stop after swimming for six hours.
In 1915 Annette went to Hollywood and was the star of two films.
【小题1】Annette Kellerman was born ________ in 1887.

People fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor in 1944, when she acted in the movie National Velvet — the story of Velvet Brown, a young girl who won first place in a famous horse race. At first, the producers of the movie told Elizabeth Taylor that she was too short to play the part of Velvet. However, they waited for four months until three inches (英寸) added to her height. Elizabeth Taylor’s acting in National Velvet is still considered to be the best and National Velvet became Elizabeth Taylor’s first success.
Elizabeth Taylor was born in London in 1932. Her parents, both Americans, had moved to London for business. When World War II started, the Taylors moved to California, where Elizabeth Taylor started acting in movies. After her success as a child star, Elizabeth Taylor had no trouble moving into adult roles and won the Academy Award twice for Best Actress for her performance in Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (1966).
Elizabeth Taylor is a legend (传奇人物) of our time. Like Velvet Brown in National Velvet, Elizabeth Taylor was very lucky, and she was hard-working, beautiful, famous and rich. When Elizabeth Taylor got older, she seldom acted in movies. Instead, she spent most of time on her business, and she often helped others. Several years ago, she raised more than $40 million for research and education. In March, 2011, Elizabeth Taylor died at the age of 79.
【小题1】The producers didn’t let Taylor play the part of Velvet at first because ______.

One summer evening, a 10-year-old boy was trying to hit a bottle with a slingshot(弹弓). The bottle was about 7 to 8 meters __36__. The boy tried many times but still couldn’t hit it. His mother just kept passing him small stones.
A girl walked by. She __37__ the boy for some time and said to the mother, “Let me show him how to shoot.”
“No, thank you,” said the __38__, “he is blind.”
The girl was surprised and asked, “How can he hit the bottle then?” “I tell him he can do it,” said the mother, “__39__ he tries hard enough.”
The little boy tried again and again. The mother always told him that he was doing __40__. The boy became more confident. After a long time, it __41__ dark. The girl said goodbye to the mother and son. When she turned to leave, she heard a stone hit the __42_! The little boy finally made it!
With confidence and patience, nothing is impossible.
【小题1】A. long            B. tall            C. away          
【小题2】A. said            B. watched         C. wondered     
【小题3】A. mother          B. boy             C. girl          
【小题4】A. before          B. after             C. if             
【小题5】A. good           B. better            C. well           
【小题6】A. went           B. become           C. got           
【小题7】A. bottle           B. slingshot          C. stone