Give water, save lives

     A bottle of water may not seem like much to you, but thousands of bottles will be of great help for people who live in drought-hit(遭受旱灾) areas in China.

     Since last autumn, there has been very little rain in Southwest China. Some places, especially in Yunnan . Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, have experienced a serious drought. Crops (庄稼) died, the land cracked, and wells (井) and rivers dried up. More than 20 million people are having difficulty in finding safe drinking water.

     After learning about the drought, many people around the country helped by giving water, money and other things.

     Last week, every member of the Communist Youth League (共青团员) and Young Pioneers(少先队员) were encouraged to give one bottle of water to the drought-hit areas. Students in primary schools and middle schools quickly joined the activity. In Yuhua Primary School in Xi' an, 900 students bought over 1,000 bottles of water with their pocket money. They also wrote their wishes on the bottles.

     The serious drought has also made students realize the importance of saving water.

     Students from Nanshan Middle School in Huizhou in Guangdong went on the street to tell people to take part in water-saving activities.

     “I've heard that some children in drought-hit areas don' t have enough drinking water. They have to drink muddy ( 含有泥土的 ) water. I feel really sad about that," said one student. “I decide to take a shower twice a week instead of every day to save water.”he said.

1.Why did a serious drought happen in Southwest China?  

___________________________________________________________________________                      2.What does the underlined (划线的) word "cracked" probably mean in Chinese?

  ______________________________________________                   !

3.What did people do after learning about the drought?

4.Is a bottle of water helpful for the people in drought-hit areas?

5.What can you learn from the passage?                                     

When I was in my ninth grade, I was on a stage-design team for a play and Mrs. Reagan was my director. Almost immediately I loved her. She had an unpleasant voice and a direct way of speaking, __1__ she was encouraging and inspiring. For some reason, she was impressed with my work and me.
Mrs. Reagan would ask me for my __2__. She wanted to know how I thought we should deal with things. At first I had no idea how to answer because I knew __3__ about stage design! But I slowly tried to answer her __4__. It was cause and effect: She believed I had opinions, so I began to make them and I completed them perfectly. She believed in me, so I began to believe in myself.
Mrs. Reagan 's motto that year was, "Try it. We can achieve it __5__!" I began to take the chances. I had been so afraid of failing but suddenly there was no failing. I learned to create something __6__.
The shy, quiet freshman achieved success that year. I was __7__ in the program as "Student Art Assistant" because of the time and effort I'd put in. It was that year that I __8__ I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing stage design.
Being on that stage-design team with Mrs. Reagan changed me completely. Not only was I stronger and more experienced than I had thought, but I also __9_ a strong interest and a world I hadn't known. She taught me not to __10__ what people think I should do. She taught me to take chances and not be __11_. Mrs. Reagan was the person who gave me confidence when I was upset. Her trust in me has encouraged me to do things that I never imagined __12__.

When I was in my ninth grade, I was on a stage-design team for a play and Mrs. Reagan was my director. Almost immediately I loved her. She had an unpleasant voice and a direct way of speaking, __1__ she was encouraging and inspiring. For some reason, she was impressed with my work and me.

Mrs. Reagan would ask me for my __2__. She wanted to know how I thought we should deal with things. At first I had no idea how to answer because I knew __3__ about stage design! But I slowly tried to answer her __4__. It was cause and effect: She believed I had opinions, so I began to make them and I completed them perfectly. She believed in me, so I began to believe in myself.

Mrs. Reagan 's motto that year was, "Try it. We can achieve it __5__!" I began to take the chances. I had been so afraid of failing but suddenly there was no failing. I learned to create something __6__.

The shy, quiet freshman achieved success that year. I was __7__ in the program as "Student Art Assistant" because of the time and effort I'd put in. It was that year that I __8__ I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing stage design.

Being on that stage-design team with Mrs. Reagan changed me completely. Not only was I stronger and more experienced than I had thought, but I also __9_ a strong interest and a world I hadn't known. She taught me not to __10__ what people think I should do. She taught me to take chances and not be __11_. Mrs. Reagan was the person who gave me confidence when I was upset. Her trust in me has encouraged me to do things that I never imagined __12__.

1.                A．and            B．so             C．yet  D．for

2.                A．impression      B．opinion         C．information    D．advice

3.                A．anything        B．something       C．everything D．nothing

4.                A．questions       B．words          C．explanations   D．ideas

5.                A．again          B．more           C．instead   D．later

6.                A．easily          B．carefully        C．confidently    D．proudly

7.                A．introduced      B．recognized      C．placed   D．considered

8.                A．proved         B．decided        C．accepted D．realized

9.                A．discovered      B．developed      C．took D．encouraged

10.               A．accept         B．decide         C．care  D．wonder

11.               A．afraid          B．lazy            C．sad   D．bored

12.               A．successful      B．possible        C．enjoyable  D．agreeable

Many years ago in another country there lived a poor student. He had very little money. He lived in a very small room over a restaurant. His room was at the back of the building over the kitchen. The restaurant owner was a very mean (吝啬的) man. Nobody liked him. But he was good at cooking and many people came to his restaurant.

One day the restaurant owner was working quietly in his kitchen when he heard the poor student talking to his friend by accident.

“You must be very unhappy,” said his friend, “living in a poor room like this.”

“Oh no,” said the student, “I am busy with my studies and I am not interested in my room.” “But you only eat rice – you don’t have money for anything tasty.”

“Yes, it’s true, I eat only rice. But the delicious smells that come from the kitchen make the rice very tasty indeed.”

The restaurant owner was angry on hearing this. This student was stealing his smells from his kitchen. He decided to take him to court (法庭).

Everybody in the court laughed when the mean man accused (控告) the student of stealing his smells. But the judge took him seriously. “Every man should be able to complain to the court,” he said.

When the restaurant owner told the judge everything, the judge said, “You are right. The student is guilty (有罪的).” The restaurant owner was very pleased, but the poor student was very much afraid. What could he do? He had only a few coins in his pocket.

The judge asked the student if he had any money. The student took 5 coins from his pocket and held them out to the judge in his right hand.

“Let the coins fall into your left hand,” said judge.

The courtroom was very quiet. Everyone heard the light ringing sound of the coins as they fell into the student’s left hand.

“Well,” said the judge to the restaurant owner, “you’ve heard his money. You’ve been well paid for your smells.”

93. Where did the poor student live?

   ________________________________________________________

94. When did the owner hear the student talking to his friend?

   ________________________________________________________

95. The poor student was not interested in his room, was he?

   ________________________________________________________

96. Why did the owner decide to take the student to the court?

   ________________________________________________________

97. What was the attitude of the people in the court?

   _______________________________________________________

98. What do you think of the judge?

   ________________________________________________________