D

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person.

When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled (宠坏)them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on.

He talked about how watering trees made for shallow(浅的) roots, and the trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important.

So he never watered his trees. He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They’re very big and strong now.

I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray(祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won’t be beaten down.

1. We know from the reading the doctor _________.

2. When Dr. Gibbs said, “...pick out the weaker trees early on.” he means that ______.

3.The passage tells us that the writer _______.

4. The writer wants to change his prayer, hoping that ________.

5.Which can be the best title of the reading?

One cold winter morning, an old woman had to go to see her doctor. When she walked into the doctor’s office, she told him that her right leg hurt and sometimes she could not walk. She asked him what was wrong. She told him that she had never had such a feeling（感觉）before.
The doctor checked（检查）the old woman carefully, then he said, “You’re in good health for a woman of your age. I think the trouble in your right leg is just a matter of old age catching up with you. We get all kinds of illness（疾病）as we get older. The trouble will almost certainly end in spring.”
“I don’t think so, doctor！” she said. “My left leg is well, and it’s the same age as my right one.”

1. 1.

   When did this story happen（发生）?

   1. A.
      One cool autumn morning.
   2. B.
      One cold spring morning.
   3. C.
      One cold winter morning.
   4. D.
      One hot summer afternoon.
2. 2.

   What was wrong with the old woman?

   1. A.
      She ate little food every day.
   2. B.
      One of her legs hurt.
   3. C.
      Her hands were both hurt.
   4. D.
      Her head hurt badly.
3. 3.

   The doctor said when next spring comes, the old woman ____.

   1. A.
      will die
   2. B.
      will feel better
   3. C.
      should come back
   4. D.
      will hurt her left leg
4. 4.

   What did the doctor think of the woman?

   1. A.
      She was young enough
   2. B.
      She was not ill
   3. C.
      She got all kinds of illnesses
   4. D.
      She must do a lot of exercise in spring
5. 5.

   Which of the following is TRUE?

   1. A.
      The doctor and the woman were the same age.
   2. B.
      The woman’s right leg was longer than her left one.
   3. C.
      The woman’s trouble didn’t come in spring.
   4. D.
      The woman caught a train to see the doctor.

Start Today

  "What can you do when you have done nothing but mess up your whole  life  long?" These were the words I heard when I   36   the TV the other day. They were coming  from one of  the  talk shows   37 are so popular on TV  these days.  I started  to  turn the channel but  the words  I had   38   made me stop  for a moment.  I   39    the speaker of  them. He couldn't have been more  than 18 years old, but already he was writing off （认为……已失败） his life as a useless waste.

  I wanted to shout at him:" You're not   40    yet!"

  It is   41   sad that so many people cannot get beyond (摆脱) their pasts and live   42   the present. There are so many people like that talk show guest. There are people still  in  their  teen years   43    that their lives are over. There are people in their twenties who already think they have   44   the boat to success and happiness. There are people in their thirties and forties who sit around complaining that life has passed them by.  I want  to shout  to  them all:" Wake up! You're still  45  ! What have you done today?" If you want a happy  life, you can't dwell on(细想、纠缠于)your past   46  . If you want joy and love  in your  life, you have  to choose  them  today. God gives us a new chance at  life every  time we wake up in the morning. It is up to us to seize it.

  Today  47 be  the beginning of a new  life for each of us. We can choose  joy right now. We can share love today. We can  live  in delight starting at this moment. It doesn't matter how hard our past has been. Our present can be full of joy and our future can be full of 48   .  It doesn't matter  if we are eight 49   eighty--we can still make our  lives   50   . Life isn't over until your last heartbeat. Start today, then, to make your heart beat with joy, love, and light.

36. A. turned down B. turned off     C. turned on D. turned up

37. A. when    B. that    C. one      D. what

38. A. heard   B. found   C. seen     D. listened to

39. A. looked up   B. looked after     C. looked for D. looked at

40. A. death    B. dead    C. die D. died

41. A. so     B. so a    C. such D. such a

42. A. at     B. with    C. in D. to

43. A. think     B. thinking   C. thinks   D. to think

44. A. taken    B. caught    C. missed    D. lost

45. A. alive     B. living     C. lively     D. lovely

46. A. mistake   B. mistakes  C. wrong   D. ideas

47. A. must     B. mustn't     C. can't     D. can

48. A. pain  B. happiness      C. sadness D. challenge

49. A. and     B. to    C. or    D. between

50. A. wonder B. wondering     C. wondered D. wonderful

Two old men lived in a room on the third floor of an old people’s home. Both men were very old and badly ill, and they spent 24 hours a day in bed in the room.
Luckily, one of the old men had his bed by the window, and every day he spent hours telling his friend far from the window what he could see through the window. He told him about the traffic going by, the children playing in the park opposite, and the birds flying in trees. The old man far from the window got a lot of pleasure from hearing about the world outside, but after a time he began to get rather unhappy. How nice it would be, he thought, if he had the bed by the window and could see everything for him, instead of just hearing about it.
One night, the man by the window called to his friend, “Quick! Pull the alarm by your bed; I don’t think I can get through the night!” But his friends, expecting an empty bed by the window, did nothing---he just closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
The next morning, the nurse found the man dead in his bed by the window.
The old man was very excited as they moved him into the empty bed by the window. He sat up in bed, pulled back the curtain, looked out --- and saw only a wall.
【小题1】Who do you think was kind in the story?