A small boy lived with his mother and grandmother in a big house. His father had died.

A bucket（桶）of water fell on the small boy’s left foot, and it began hurting a hot. His mother said, “I’m going to put something very hot on your foot tonight. That’s always very good. Tomorrow your foot won’t hurt any longer.”

In the evening, the small boy’s mother came to his bedroom. She had a hot poultice（膏药）in a bowl. The small boy looked at it and said, “I don’t want that. I had one a month ago. Poultices hurt.”

His mother sat down on his bed and said, “You’re going to have this poultice on.” She pulled his sheets（床单）and blankets（毯子）away, and put the poultice near his foot, but the boy pulled it away quickly, and poultice fell on the bed.

His mother was angry. She went down stairs and came back with his grandmother and a stick. She said to her son, “Your grandmother’s going to put the poultice on your foot, and I’m going to hold this stick. Now don’t be a stupid boy.”

She held the stick over the boy, and the grandmother took his foot and put the poultice near it. The boy said. “Stop, you…” but his mother brought the stick nearer, and he did not say anything else.

The grandmother brought the poultice near the foot again, and the boy stopped her again, but his mother was angry now and said, “I’m going to hit you.” The boy did not finish his words, and his grandmother put the poultice on his foot. He let it there for a few minutes and then took it off again.

The boy’s mother and grandmother put the sheets and blankets over him again and he said, “My left foot hurts, but you put the poultice on my right foot. I stopped you twice, but you didn’t listen to me.”

1. The small boy’s foot hurt because ____.

2. In the evening ___ first came to the small boy’s room.

3. The small boy ____ his mother.

4. The small boy took the poultice off because ____.

5.The best title for this passage is ____.

A boy called Mario had many friends, and he was proud of it. Whoever he met, he would like to show off(炫耀) how popular he was at school.
One day, his grandpa said to him, “Mario, I know that you don’t have as many friends as you think. Many of them are not true to you.”
Mario thought maybe his grandpa was right. However, he wasn’t sure how he could test whether his schoolmates were real friends or not, so he asked his grandpa. The old man answered, “I have just exactly what you need. It’s in my room. Wait a minute.” The old man left, soon returning as if(好像) carrying something in his hand, but Mario could see nothing there.
“Take it. It’s a very special chair. Because it’s invisible, it will be hard for you to sit on it. However, if you manage to sit on it, you can use the chair’s magic power（力量） to tell who your real friends are.”
Mario took the strange invisible chair to school. At break time he asked everyone to form a circle, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair.
“Nobody move. You’re about to see something amazing，” said Mario. Then he tried sitting on the chair. Having difficulty seeing it, he missed and fell to the ground. Everyone had a pretty good laugh. “Wait, wait,” said Mario, making another try. But again he missed the seat.
Mario didn’t give up. He kept trying to sit on the magic chair. Finally, he did it. This time he felt himself in mid-air.
Then he experienced the magic that his grandpa had been talking about. Looking around, Mario saw George, Lucas and Diana holding him up, so he wouldn’t fall. But some schoolmates whom he had regarded as friends had done nothing but made fun of him. Mario was quite thankful to his grandpa, who helped him test who his true friends were.
【小题1】Mario’s grandpa gave him a special chair to _____.

[　　]

A．in　　　B．on　　　C．put off　　　D．under

Bill was a boy of 15 in Grade 9. His parents went gambling(赌博) day and night. Nobody cared about him. He always failed in his exams. So his teachers didn’t like him, nor did his classmates play with him. Bill often slept in class because his heart was not in school. He almost gave himself up.

One day, Miss Jones, a new teacher, came to Bill’s class. She was a smiling, beautiful woman. Bill was in love! For the first time in his young life, he couldn’t take his eyes off his teacher; yet, still he failed.

It was Miss Jones’ class. She was asking a question. “I’d like the smartest boy to answer my question.” Then she said loudly, “Bill, please!” Bill was surprised. And he stood up without a word. “Just try it! I believe you can!” After school, Miss Jones had a long talk with Bill. She told him that she cared about him and believed in him.

Bill thought a lot that evening. From then on he arrived at school on time every day. Miss Jones helped him with his homework in the afternoon. She even cooked delicious food for him. She told Bill, “Nothing is impossible if you put your heart in it.” Later, Miss Jones gave another exam. Bill did it with all his heart. He was very excited to find that he had passed the exam. Now Bill discovered that he also could learn well. A change took place in Bill’s heart.

You see, one teacher saved one boy, it’s simple, really.

56. How old was Bill?

A. 9　　　　　 B. 14　　　 C. 15　　　　　 D. 16

57. Bill always failed in the exams at first because he____________.

A. went gambling　　 B. talked in class　　 C. was silly　 D. gave himself up

58. Miss Jones changed Bill by ______________.

A. doing homework for him　　　　 B. encouraging and helping him

C. giving Bill another exam D. cooking delicious food for him

59. From the passage we can learn _____________.

A. Miss Jones was a loving and careful teacher　

B. Bill’s parents cared about him very much

C. Miss Jones loved to answer Bill’s questions　

D. Bill didn’t like to play with his classmates

60. Which may be the best title for the passage?

A. Parents’ Day　 B. A Lazy Boy　 C. A Boy’s Change　 D. A Strict Teacher