Look at the light and beautiful snowflakes（雪花） falling．Do you want to hold them in your hands? They are always lost when they meet your hands．

Well, this isn’t just a problem for you．It was a problem for Wilson Bentley, too．

In the 1870s, Wilson Bentley was just a teenager．His family lived in a small town in northeast America．Winters there were long and hard．Bentley’s mother was once a schoolteacher．She taught him at home．Bentley didn’t go to school until he was 14．He was a quiet boy, and loved reading his mother’s books．

But it was his mother’s microscope（显微镜） that interested him．When the other boys were playing with balls, little Bentley was studying the things like drops of water, flowers and snowflakes．Bentley loved watching snowflakes．For the next two years, young Bentley spent many winter days in a cold room watching these ice crystals（晶体） through the microscope．

The boy thought they were so beautiful that he started to draw pictures of them．But there were so many snowflakes that he couldn’t draw them all．

How could he keep their beauty forever? Bentley thought of buying a camera．

The boy and his mother asked his father to buy one．But his father didn’t agree．He thought the whole thing was a bad idea．He thought the only thing a farmer should do was farming．

But finally Bentley did get a camera．For more than a year he tried to take pictures of snowflakes．On January 15, 1885, during a snowstorm, Bentley took the first ever photo of an ice crystal with his camera．“It was the greatest moment of my life,” Bentley said later．

For 13 years, Bentley worked quietly and took thousands of photos of ice crystals．Later he became known as “Snowflake” Bentley．

1．The best title for this passage is “______”．

   A．Snowflake Photos                              B．“Snowflake” Bentley

   C．Long and Hard Winters                    D．Teenage Photographer

2．What kind of person do you think Wilson Bentley was?

   A．He was outgoing                                B．He was too serious

   C．He was interested in learning                D．He was very warm-hearted

3．The “ice crystals” in the fourth paragraph refers to “______”．

   A．water drops      B．rain drops       C．flowers                D．snowflakes

　Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don’t act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is too luxurious for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine’s Day is even more out of the question. Finally my father has a bad temper. When he’s very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.　
　　One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.　
　　“Mom, I have a question to ask you,” I said after a while.　
　　“What?” she replied, still doing her work.　
　　“Is there love between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice.　
　　My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn’t answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.　
　　I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment and I didn't know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:　
　　“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it’s really there.”
　　I listened carefully but I couldn’t understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked very pale. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness.
　　After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so gentle. It seemed they were the most harmonious couple. Along the country road, there were many beautiful flowers, green grass and trees. The sun gently glistened through the leaves. All of these made up the most beautiful picture in the world.
　　Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this experience, I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life, making life strong and warm.
　　thread: 线　　　 quilt: 被子
　　1. Why did the parents try to earn a lot of money?
　　A. To pay for the food.
　　B. To pay off the debt.
　　C. To pay for the hospital.
　　D. To pay the high tuition.

　　2. Which of the following is TRUE?
　　A. The parents sent flowers on Valentine’s day.
　　B. The parents liked to say “I love you.”
　　C. The father was too tired to have a good temper.
　　D. The mother had no job.

　　3. From the passage, we can know that _________.
　　A. the father made much money from his work
　　B. Susan couldn’t understand her mother
　　C. the parents always loved each other
　　D. the mother was worried about her husband

　　4. How did Susan feel towards her parents at last?
　　A. sad　　　　　 B. glad　　 　　C. worried　　　 D. easy

　　5. Which is the best title?
　　A. Love is inside.　　　　　　　　 B. Love is outside.
　　C. Love is seen everywhere.　　 　 D. Love is seen anytime.
　

完形填空（共12分，每小题1分）
阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。
When I was in the third grade, I was picked to be the princess in the school play.
For weeks my mother had helped me   1  my lines. But once on stage, every word   2   from my head. Then my teacher told me she had written a narrator's (旁白) part for the play, and asked me to change   3  . Though I didn't tell my mother what had happened that day, she  4 my unhappiness  and asked if I wanted to take a walk in the yard.
It was a lovely spring day. We could see dandelions(蒲公英)popping（炸开）through the grass in bunches, I watched my   5  carelessly bend down by one of the bunches. “I think I am going to dig up all these weeds(杂草),” she said. “From now on, we’ll have   6 roses in this garden.”
“But I like dandelions,”I said.“All flowers are   7  —even dandelions!”
My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?”she asked thoughtfully. I nodded. “And that is   8  of people, too,”she added.
When I   9  that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry and told her the truth.
　“  10   you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said, reminding me of how much I loved to read stories aloud to her.
Over the next few weeks, with her continuous   11  , I learned to take pride in the role. The big day finally came. A few minutes before the play, my teacher came over to me. “Your mother asked me to give  12  to you,” she said, handing me a dandelion. After the play, I took the flower home, laughing that I was perhaps the only person who would keep such a weed.

完形填空（共12分，每小题1分）

阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选择最佳选项。

When I was in the third grade, I was picked to be the princess in the school play.

For weeks my mother had helped me   1  my lines. But once on stage, every word   2   from my head. Then my teacher told me she had written a narrator's (旁白) part for the play, and asked me to change   3  . Though I didn't tell my mother what had happened that day, she  4 my unhappiness  and asked if I wanted to take a walk in the yard.

It was a lovely spring day. We could see dandelions(蒲公英)popping（炸开）through the grass in bunches, I watched my   5  carelessly bend down by one of the bunches. “I think I am going to dig up all these weeds(杂草),” she said. “From now on, we’ll have   6 roses in this garden.”

“But I like dandelions,”I said.“All flowers are   7  —even dandelions!”

My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?”she asked thoughtfully. I nodded. “And that is   8  of people, too,”she added.

When I   9  that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry and told her the truth.

　“  10   you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said, reminding me of how much I loved to read stories aloud to her.

Over the next few weeks, with her continuous   11  , I learned to take pride in the role. The big day finally came. A few minutes before the play, my teacher came over to me. “Your mother asked me to give  12  to you,” she said, handing me a dandelion. After the play, I took the flower home, laughing that I was perhaps the only person who would keep such a weed.

1.                A．practice        B．write           C．train     D．read

2.                A．left            B．developed      C．disappeared   D．failed

3.                A．roles           B．lines           C．plays D．teachers

4.                A．touched        B．heard          C．reached D．sensed

5.                A．teacher        B．friend          C．classmate D．mother

6.                A．only           B．hardly          C．still  D．also

7.                A．perfect         B．beautiful        C．natural   D．lively

8.                A．kind           B．same           C．true D．clever

9.                A．remembered    B．realized         C．explained D．promised

10.               A．Or            B．So             C．And  D．But

11.               A．talking         B．management     C．helping    D．encouragement

12.               A．that           B．this            C．it D．them