As Christmas is coming, there are presents to be bought, cards to be sent, and rooms to be cleaned. Parents are ___1___ with difficult jobs of hiding presents from curious young children. If the gifts are large, this is sometimes a real ___2___. On Christmas Eve, young children find the excitement almost unbearable. They are torn between the wish to go to bed early so that Father Christmas will bring their presents quickly and the wish to ___3___ up late so that they will not ___4___ the fun. The wish for gifts usually proves stronger. But though children go to bed early, they often lie ___5___ for a long time, hoping to get a short ___6___ at Father Christmas.

Last Christmas, my wife and I ___7___ hid a few large presents in the storeroom. I ___8___ the moment when my son, Jimmy, would ___9___ me where that new bike had come from, but ___10___ he did not see it.

On Christmas Eve, ___11___ took the children hours to go to sleep. It must have been nearly ___12___ when my wife and I went quietly into their room and began ___13___ stockings. Then I pushed in the ___14___ I bought for Jimmy and left it beside the Christmas tree. We knew we would not get much sleep that night, for the children were ___15___ to get up early. At about five o’clock the next morning, we were ___16___ by loud sounds coming from the children’s room — they were shouting excitedly! ___17___ I had time to get out of bed, young Jimmy came riding into the room on his new bike, and his sister, Mary, followed close behind pushing her new baby carriage. ___18___ the baby arrived. He moved ___19___ the hands and knees into the room dragging a large balloon behind him. Suddenly it burst. That woke us up ___20___. The day had really begun with a band(巨响) !

1. A. faced             B. met                 C. filled             D. pleased

2. A. question           B. matter             C. problem            D. business

3. A. get               B. stay                C. stand              D. wake

4. A. lose              B. break               C. miss              D. leave

5. A. awake            B. wake               C. asleep             D. sleep

6. A. look              B. stare                C. glare              D. watch

7. A. hopefully          B. busily              C. gladly              D. successfully

8. A. liked             B. feared             C. surprised              D. hated

9. A. answer           B. tell                  C. ask                D. search

10. A. sadly            B. unluckily          C. possibly             D. fortunately

11. A. it               B. they                C. I                  D. we

12. A. morning        B. midnight          C. evening              D. daybreak

13. A. filling           B. sewing            C. mending             D. preparing

14. A. present          B. stocking          C. bike                   D. tree

15. A. going           B. sure                C. glad                 D. excited

16. A. troubled         B. frightened        C. woken                  D. shocked

17. A. Before          B. After               C. Until                 D. Since

18. A. Even           B. And                 C. Soon                D. Then

19. A. with            B. on                   C. over                 D. by

20. A. all             B. nearly              C. happily                D. completely

As Christmas is coming, there are presents to be bought, cards to be sent, and rooms to be cleaned. Parents are ___1___ with difficult jobs of hiding presents from curious young children. If the gifts are large, this is sometimes a real ___2___. On Christmas Eve, young children find the excitement almost unbearable. They are torn between the wish to go to bed early so that Father Christmas will bring their presents quickly and the wish to ___3___ up late so that they will not ___4___ the fun. The wish for gifts usually proves stronger. But though children go to bed early, they often lie ___5___ for a long time, hoping to get a short ___6___ at Father Christmas.

Last Christmas, my wife and I ___7___ hid a few large presents in the storeroom. I ___8___ the moment when my son, Jimmy, would ___9___ me where that new bike had come from, but ___10___ he did not see it.

On Christmas Eve, ___11___ took the children hours to go to sleep. It must have been nearly ___12___ when my wife and I went quietly into their room and began ___13___ stockings. Then I pushed in the ___14___ I bought for Jimmy and left it beside the Christmas tree. We knew we would not get much sleep that night, for the children were ___15___ to get up early. At about five o’clock the next morning, we were ___16___ by loud sounds coming from the children’s room — they were shouting excitedly! ___17___ I had time to get out of bed, young Jimmy came riding into the room on his new bike, and his sister, Mary, followed close behind pushing her new baby carriage. ___18___ the baby arrived. He moved ___19___ the hands and knees into the room dragging a large balloon behind him. Suddenly it burst. That woke us up ___20___. The day had really begun with a band(巨响) !  

1. A. faced                B. met            C. filled          D. pleased

2. A. question           B. matter           C. problem             D. business

3. A. get                B. stay           C. stand           D. wake

4. A. lose              B. break             C. miss           D. leave

5. A. awake              B. wake             C. asleep         D. sleep

6. A. look                     B. stare              C. glare           D. watch

7. A. hopefully                 B. busily            C. gladly         D. successfully

8. A. liked               B. feared             C. surprised      D. hated

9. A. answer            B. tell               C. ask            D. search

10. A. sadly             B. unluckily         C. possibly       D. fortunately

11. A. it                B. they             C. I            D. we

12. A. morning           B. midnight         C. evening      D. daybreak

13. A. filling            B. sewing            C. mending      D. preparing

14. A. present          B. stocking          C. bike           D. tree

15. A. going            B. sure             C. glad           D. excited

16. A. troubled                B. frightened       C. woken        D. shocked

17. A. Before           B. After            C. Until         D. Since

18. A. Even             B. And             C. Soon         D. Then

19. A. with              B. on                C. over          D. by

20. A. all              B. nearly            C. happily        D. completely

Three wishes

A man and his wife were very poor. They kept hoping for new clothes and good food. The man enjoyed eating, and he especially liked cakes. One night an old woman came to their house and told them she would let them have three wishes. They could wish for anything they wanted.

  The man had just finished eating a piece of bread for his dinner, but he was still hungry. He said, “I wish I had a big cake!”

  Suddenly a cake appeared on his plate.

  “You fool!” His wife cried. “You could have wished for a house full of wonderful food, but you wished for a cake. I wish that cake was on the end of your foolish nose! ”

  Immediately the cake stuck to the end of his nose.

  Then the man and his wife started blaming each other. “It’s your fault!” she man cried. “No, it’s your fault!” she answered. What could they do? The cake was still stuck to the husband’s nose.

  “Oh!” the wife cried. “I wish none of this had ever happened!”

  Immediately the cake was gone, and the man was saying, “I’m still hungry. How I wish I had some cakes! ”

But of course nothing happened.

. The man quarreled with his wife because ___.

A. he always enjoyed eating          

B. his wife hoped that he asked for a house

C. the cake stuck to the end of his nose according to his wife’s wish.

D. he didn’t want anything except cakes

The wrong statement of the following is ___.

A. the man made his wishes before dinner

B. the wife made two wishes, which worked

C. the wife wanted her husband to wish for more than a big cake

D. the man wished that the cake were not on his nose

 Why did the old woman not satisfy the man’s wish when he said he was still hungry and wanted some cakes?

A. Because the old lady was angry with them

B. Because this was the fourth wish.

C. Because the man had made this wish before.

D. Because the cake had been gone.

Nodira, 18, lives in the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan. She was born with a rare disease and is now paralyzed(瘫痪) from the waist down. Her life is confined to a wheelchair but her dreams know no such boundaries. Her hopes for the future include attending university, riding in her father’s car and being able to walk like other children.

Nodira, which means ‘unique’ in Uzbek, is one of five children in a poor family. Every morning, after reciting her prayers, Nodira feeds the hens and goats from her wheelchair. The rest of her day is spent knitting for other people and helping her mother with the household chores.

Nodira has never been to school because it is too far from her home and inaccessible for her wheelchair. A local teacher used to come and tutor her at home and, as a result, she was able to finish third grade. After that, her parents moved to another town and the tutor could not visit as much.

Despite the many difficulties in Nodira’s life she is lucky to be living with her family. The stigma(羞辱) attached to the children living with disabilities, combined with the lack of wheelchair access in schools and the economic difficulties faced by many Uzbek families, have led many parents to place children with disabilities in special institutions.

These days, Nodira does homework exercises at home and reads as much as she can. Still, it is unlikely that she will be able to finish her primary education, much less attend university. While missing out on an education is a great disappointment to Nodira, her greatest wish, for a true friend, can still come true. “What I want more than anything is a friend who also has a disability,” she says. “Somebody will not feel sorry for me or make fun of me, and will understand what my life is like.”

The underlined sentence in the first paragraph probably means “_____”.

A. her dreams will help her desert her wheel chair

B. her dreams are never limited by her disability

C. she often dreams of moving freely without a wheel chair

D. she never dreams of recovering from her disability

Nodira does all the following every day EXCEPT _____.

A. give food to some animals 

B. to make clothes from woolen or cotton thread

C. drive cars designed for the disabled  

D. help with the housework

The underlined word “tutor” in the 3rd paragraph can be replaced by “_____”.

A. educate         B. visit        C. treat             D. comfort

What Nodira wants most is ______.

A. to go to university                              B. to walk on her own feet

C. to finish her primary education         D. to find a true friend

A fried of mine named Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a naughty street boy was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it. “Is this your car, Mister?” he asked..

Paul nodded, “My brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was surprised. “You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn’t cost you anything? I wish…” He hesitated（犹豫）.

Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said made Paul think all the way.

“I wish ,” the boy went on, “that I could be a brother like that.”

Paul looked at the boy in surprise, adding, “Would you like to take a ride in my automobile?”

“Yes, I’d love that.” After a short ride, the boy turned and said, “Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?”

Paul smiled, He thought he knew what the boy wanted. But Paul was wrong again. “Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked.

He ran up the steps. Then in a while Paul heard him coming back, but he didn’t come fast. He was carrying his little crippled（伤残） brother. He pointed to the car and said, “There it is, Buddy, just like I told you up stairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas. And some day I’m going to give one just like it and then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that I’ve been trying tell you about. ”

Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what “It is more blessed to give” means.

1.The naughty street boy wished to _____________ .

A．have a brother like Paul’s

B．get a present from his brother

C．become a brother like Paul’s

D．take a ride in his automobile

2.When the boy asked for a ride home, Paul thought the boy wanted to ______________.

A．play a trick on him

B．own a car like Paul’s

C．pick up someone important to him.

D．show off by riding home in a car

3.What did the boy want to show to his crippled brother?

A．His pride.         B．His bravery.        C．His love.          D．His generosity.

4.What would be the best title for text?

A．A brother like that

B．A Christmas present

C．A boy’s crippled brother

D．An unforgettable Christmas

5.(Originally created)  The last sentence “It is more blessed to give” in this story means following EXCEPT____.

A．It is better to help than to get helped.

B．The more help you give to others, the happier you will feel.

C．To help other people is a way to make a person to become a true man.

D．To give away all your wealth, otherwise, you won’t be blessed by God.