A lady has a problem with her daughter.

    My daughter Maria is a girl of nine years old, She is in Year Four. Every evening we get into homework battles（争执）． Three afternoons a week, she has activities (net-ball, singing) after school and by the time we get home, homework is the last thing she feels like doing. The other two days, she gets home early and we argue（争论）about whether she should do her homework right after school, or if she should have some time to rest and play first. When Maria at last sits down to do her homework, she seems to want me there helping all the time. I do want to help her, but I'm sure that she is going to need to be able to do it on her own. And in fact, most of the time, I have other things I need to be doing. It seems that children these days have much more homework than we did, and some of it is really beyond（超越） their abilities（能力）． As you can see, I'm really worried about homework and I really don't know what I should do. Any ideas?

39. The woman's daughter is_______.

    A. four years old        B. six years old     C. eight years old   D. nine years old

40. Maria doesn't have any activities after school for _______ afternoons.

      A. two                      B. three              C. five                D. seven

41. Maria wants to_______ first when she gets home early.

    A. do her homework                               B. play netball and sing

    C. have supper                                              D. have a rest and play.

42. The woman thinks that her daughter should do her homework_______.

    A. by herself                                          B. with the mother

    C. with the father                                   D. with the classmates

43. Can you guess where this passage is from?

    A. A diary.                    B. A newspaper.     C. A novel（小说）．    D. A story.

I was now five, and still I showed no much interest in things except with my toes（脚趾）. I could not look after myself,   35  my father took care of me. I used to lie on my back all the time in the kitchen. I was   36 , imprisoned（监禁） in a world of my own, unable to communicate with others.
Then, suddenly, it happened on the afternoon of a cold December day. All the family were gathered round the big kitchen fire. Mona and Paddy were drawing funny animals, using a bright piece of yellow chalk. It was the chalk that   37  me so much. I had never seen anything like it before.
Suddenly, I wanted to do what my sister was doing. Then without thinking or knowing exactly what I was doing, I   38  out and took the chalk out of my sister’s hand, with my left foot. It is a puzzle（迷惑）to many people as well as to   39 . I held the chalk tightly between my toes and made a wild scribble（乱涂）with it on the board. Next moment I stopped, not knowing what to do with the chalk next, hardly knowing how it   40  there. Then I looked up and realized that everyone was looking at me   41 . My mother came in. Her eyes looked from my face down to my   42 , then she took another piece of chalk from Mona, and drew the single letter “A” on the floor in front of me. “Copy that, Christy.” She said. I tried to do the same action, but I   43 . “Try again, Chris.” she whispered in my ear. I tried another two more times. I drew one side of the letter, then the other. It looked ugly, but I   44  to make it finally. I had done it! True! I couldn’t speak with my mouth, but now I would speak through something more   45  than spoken words. That one letter was my   46  to a new world, my key to mental freedom.

One of Jack’s friends loves money very much, and he never gives anything to __35__. Soon he becomes very rich.

One day, while he was walking near a river__36__ his friends, he slipped（ 滑倒）and fell into the river. His friends ran to help him, and one of __37__ kneeled（跪）on the ground, held out his hand and said, “Give me your __38__, and I will pull you out!” The rich man’s head went under the __39__ and then came up again, but he didn’t give his hand. Again another one tried, but again __40__ thing happened.

Then Jack said，“__41__ my hand and I will pull you out!” The rich man took his hand, and Jack pulled him out of the water.

“You don’t know our __42__ very well,” he said to __43__, “when you say “Give’ to him, he does nothing, but when you say ‘Take’, he does what you tell him__44__.”

8.A. friends    B. friend          C. hand         D hands