One night, I wondered what it would be like if I only asked questions. I decided that no matter what anyone said to me the next day, I would reply only with   36 .
I loved to read about scientists and their discoveries, and I knew that scientists always started their research with a question. I hoped that I could become a scientist. Maybe by asking questions, I could train my mind to be   37 .
I survived the morning easily. “Is there any egg?” I answered when my mother asked what I wanted for breakfast. “Is this seat taken?” I asked when my friend Mike asked where he was going to   38  on the bus.
In the classroom, Mr. Black spoke slowly and clearly while I listened carefully. The problem had been part of my homework the night before. I wrote the answer on the board, “Could the answer be 361?”
Mr. Black smiled and nodded. I thought,“How did I   39  to get through that?” I almost laughed because asking questions really was starting to become a   40 .
I thought I had made it safely through the whole day,   41  what I had come to consider my experiment blew up at the dinner table when my dad asked me about my day. “What do I always do?” I replied.
My parents looked at each other. My father   42  again. “Well, I hope you went to school,” he said.
“Uhhh … why would you think otherwise?” I asked. My parents exchanged another   43   
and were becoming annoyed.
“Do you think questions are a good way to train your mind to be active?” I asked.
“It   44  the question,” said my father. “Some questions are asked for   45  information. Those are good mind-training questions. Sometimes, people use questions to get the other person to say something. Sometimes people ask questions to get someone to agree with them. Those questions don’t really achieve anything.”
“I guess my experiment didn’t work,” I said, and I told my father about my   46 .
“I think it worked   47 !” my father said. “You made a discovery, didn’t you? What matters is that you have put your idea into practice.”                              

Paul and Jason were brothers who lived and worked on neighbouring farms．For 35 years they farmed side by side，sharing machinery and goods as needed，without a single problem．

    However，one autumn，things changed．It began with a tiny disagreement about a horse，which grew into a major difference．The difference led to angry words，followed by weeks of silence between the two brothers．

    One morning there was a knock on Paul’s door．He opened it and saw a builder holding his toolbox．“I’m looking for a few days’work，”the builder said．“Are there any jobs here I could help with?”

   “Yes，”answered Paul，extremely pleased to see the builder．“I do have a job for you．Look at that farm across the creek(小溪)．That’s my brother’s farm.That creek used to be a grass field，but last week my brother dug a path from the fiver and made the creek．But I’ll go him one better．See that pile of wood?1 want you to build me a fence，two metres tall，so 1 won’t need to see him anymore．”

    The builder said thoughtfully．“I think I understand the situation and I'll be able to do a job that pleases you．”

    Paul had business in town that day and left the builder to his work．When he returned，the builder had just finished his job．Paul was shocked．Instead of a fence there was a bridge，stretching from one side of the creek to the other．

    As Paul stood on the bridge，staring in amazement，his younger brother Jason，came across，and took Paul’s hand．“You are a good man to have built this bridge after a11 I've done，”said Jason．

    Then，Paul，with tears in his eyes，said to the builder who was packing his bag to go，“Thank you so much。Please stay．I have much more for you to do．”

    “I’d love to．”the builder said quietly，“but，I have many more bridges to build.”

1.What was the cause of the disagreement between the two brothers?

  A．The digging of the creek．

  B．A problem about a farm animal．

  C．Who owned the field between the farms．

  D．Who would pay for building the fence．

2.The underlined expression“go him one better”in paragraph 4 means          ·

  A．do something even worse    B.improve the situation

  C．point out his mistake      D．help him out

3.What do we know about the brothers?

    A．They had been fighting for many years．

B．Their farms were not very successful．

    C．They finally realized their mistakes．

    D．They liked building bridges．

4.Why did the builder build the bridge?

    A．He needed a way to get across the river．

    B．There was not enough wood for the fence．

    C．He misunderstood Paul’s instructions．

    D．He wanted to bring the brothers together．

5.In what order did the following take place in the story?

    a．The brothers stood on the bridge．

    b．Jason dug the creek．

    C．The brothers became angry with each other,

    d．The builder asked for work．

    e．Paul went into town．

    A．b，c，e，d，a    B．c，b，d，e，a

C．b，e，c，a，d    D．c，d，b，a，e

单词填空（根据中文写出单词的适当形式，每空一词）。(每小题1分，共计15分)

1.Jane said that she_________________(更喜欢)sending emails to writing letters．

2.There was something wrong with his old MP4. Yesterday he had it_________________(修理).

3.Our English teacher is always_________________(精力充沛)，so we are interested his classes．

4.Do you have___________________(困难)understanding what he said?

5.He was too_______________(急躁的)to wait in a queue．

6.Stop __________________(争论)！It’s no use.

7.People all over the world love____________________(和平).

8.What are you __________________(搓揉) into your skin?

9.No one can _________________(允诺) you success. All you need to do is to work hard.

10.I’m sorry , sir, the shoes are not _____________________(可获得的) in your size..

11.Are there any ________________(不同) between living in a big city and living in the country?

12. Art will have a great __________________(影响)on our lives in the future.

13.He pays a lot of ___________________(注意) to his writing.

14. Could you please give me some ___________________(建议).

15. Lily is doing __________________(实验) in the laboratory now.