A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(听出)his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”
What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day; I can not see it.”
Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply sign the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective (有效的)？
【小题1】The boy in the passage can not           .

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said, “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(听出)his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”
What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day; I can not see it.”
Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply sign the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective (有效的)？

1. 1.

   The boy in the passage can not          

   1. A.
      see
   2. B.
      walk
   3. C.
      hear
   4. D.
      speak
2. 2.

   How did the man help the boy?

   1. A.
      He gave the boy a lot of money
   2. B.
      He brought the boy back to his home
   3. C.
      He wrote some new words on the sign
   4. D.
      He sent the boy to a special school
3. 3.

   The underlined words “held up” in the first paragraph mean         

   1. A.
      阻碍
   2. B.
      举着
   3. C.
      承受
   4. D.
      坚持
4. 4.

   What happened after the man changed the sign?

   1. A.
      The boy still got a few coins in the hat
   2. B.
      The boy got much more money
   3. C.
      No one gave the boy coins any more
   4. D.
      No one gave the boy coins any more
5. 5.

   What can we learn from the story?

   1. A.
      Time can we learn from the story?
   2. B.
      You should be brave even thought you’re blind
   3. C.
      Treating a thing differently brings a different result
   4. D.
      If we want to be rich, we should be honest.(结果)

Story 1

  In America in 1940，the twin boys went to live with two different families almost as soon as they were born．The two brothers never saw each other again until1979，when they met by chance at a party．When they started talking to each other，they discovered some amazing similarities(相似处)．First，they found out that they both enjoyed making things out of wood．Later on，they discovered that they had both married women called Linda，and that they both had one son whose first and middle names were James and Alan．Besides，both brothers had called their dogs by the same name-Toy．As if that wasn’t enough，they also found out that they both took their family holiday at the same place every year．

Story 2

    In 1996，a Filipino woman called Mrs. Jimena told other people that her three children could breathe underwater like fish．Mrs. Jimena said that her children had three small holes on the sides of their necks below each ear，and that these were like the gills(鱼鳃)on fish．Mrs. Jimena said that she didn’t know how to swim and that her children were just starting to learn. Her family lives in a mountain village far from the sea． According to Mrs. Jimena，the holes in her children’s necks become larger when they are underwater, allowing them to stay underwater for up to six minutes．

Story 3

    On 11th October，1994，a 10-year-old English girl called Vicky Willmore told her mother that she had a headache．Soon afterwards，Vicky began writing in mirror image(镜像)．She wrote letters and numbers either upsidedown or back-to-front．Although she could read what she wrote，no one else could．She was examined by different doctors，but none of them could find out what was wrong with her．Vicky became very upset，and soon stopped reading and writing altogether．Instead she started watching TV all the time．On 27th ，September 1995，Vicky was watching her favourite football team，Manchester United，play on television．When the team scored a goal，she became so excited that she jumped out of her seat and fell backwards，hitting her head on a coffee table．The next day，Vicky could read and write properly again．

1．The twin brothers didn’t meet each other until _________．

  A．1940            B．1979             C．1994               D．1996

2．The twin brothers_______．

  A．grew up in two different families

  B．didn’t have any similarities at all

  C．had two sons named James and Alan

  D．didn’t like making things out of wood

3．Mrs Jimena’s children could stay underwater for up to 6 minutes because ________．

  A．their mother was the best swimmer

  B．their village was close to the sea

  C．they had holes like gills below ears

  D．they bad gills like fish in their necks

4．The 10-year-old English girl changed her proper writing habit _______．

  A．soon after she had a headache one clay

  B．while she was watching a football match

  C．when she hit her head on a coffee table

  D．as soon as she stopped reading and writing

5．From the third story we know that ___________．

  A．Vicky wrote backwards for nearly three years

  B．doctors didn’t know what was wrong with Vicky

  C．hitting one’s head can make him write backwards

  D．watching football on television can cause trouble

6．This passage consists of three __________stories．

  A．traditional    B．historical         C．frightening             D．amazing