Four years ago my sweet mom went to be with her Lord．She did it her way．

I got the call at work, and 1 headed home quickly．Mom and Dad lived on a small farm that they had owned since I was seven．I hated going there every weekend．There was nothing for a young girl to do but watch the one station on the old TV set, if the weather allowed reception．

My mom, on the other hand, loved the peace and quiet of the land and loved to work in the garden among her flowers and vegetables．The place was rustic （乡下的）, with no indoor heat．We had a big wood stove in the kitchen that did its best to heat the little farmhouse, but it always seemed cold and too quiet to me．

In the evenings, my mom and I would sit for hours singing in the little kitchen．I sang the melody and Mom larmonized．Her favorite song was "Moon River" and we sang it over and over． Momtold me stones about how when I was a little girl, I could sing before I could talk．She loved to tell how my playpen （婴儿圈栏） sat in the kitchen next to the radio and there was one song I particularly loved called "Ivory Tower"．

As time passed, I had my own children and went to visit them every week or two．The kids loved the farm and the tractor rides with my dad．But I still hated the silence of the farm．While my mom loved to sit at her kitchen table and look out at her garden and flowers and retell all the old stories, I missed the hustle and bustle （喧闹） of my life at home．But I sat there listening quietly as she reminisced．

Now, I sat back in the silence and the silence was deafening so I finally leaned over to turn on an old radio．Music always comforted me,

My heart skipped a beat．"Moon River" was playing on the radio．I sat there, with a tear running down my cheek, as I listened to every familiar note．

Then the radio announcer of this old station came on．" Here's one we haven't heard in a while," and an unfamiliar song began．I began to cry harder as I heard the words sung over the airwaves．"Come down; come down from your Ivory Tower…"

1.The writer didn't like staying in the farm for the following reasons EXCEPT that ______．

    A．it was too cold and quiet

    B．she could only sing one song in the small farm

    C．there was nothing more that could make her excited

    D．The place was rustic, with no indoor heat

2.From the First paragraph, we know that the writer's mother ______．

    A．died four years ago                                      B．left the small farm with Lord

    C．left for Lord to live her own way                        D．preferred to be with Lord

3.The underlined word reminisced in Paragraph 5 probably means ______．

    A．recalled         B．comforted        C．shouted          D．sighed

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage _____．

    A．The writer was able to dance before she could speak．

    B．The writer preferred to live a quiet life in the country．

    C．The writer was still quite familiar with the song "Ivory Tower",

    D．The writer forgot all her childhood memories in the small farmhouse．

5.Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

    A．Two English songs                    B．My happy childhood

    C．Our small farmhouse              D．Mom's music

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21-40各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。

In the depths of my memory, many things I did with my father still live. These things come to represent, in fact, what I call __21__and love.

I don’t remember my father ever getting into a swimming tool. But he did __22__the water. Any kind of __23__ride seemed to give him pleasure. __24__he loved to fish; sometimes he took me along.

But I never really liked being on the water, the way my father did. I liked being __25__the water, moving through it, __26__it all around me. I was not a strong __27__, or one who learned to swim early, for I had my __28__. But I loved being in the swimming pool close to my father’s office and __29__those summer days with my father, who __30__ come by on a break. I needed him to see what I could do. My father would stand there in his suit, the __31__person not in swimsuit.

After swimming, I would go __32__ his office and sit on the wooden chair in front of his big desk, where he let me __33__anything I found in his top desk drawer. Sometimes, if I was left alone at his desk __34__ he worked in the lab, an assistant or a student might come in and tell me perhaps I shouldn’t be playing with his _35__. But my father always __36__and said easily, “Oh, no, it’s __37__.” Sometimes he handed me coins and told me to get __38__ an ice cream…

A poet once said, “We look at life once, in childhood,; the rest is __39__.” And I think it is not only what we “look at once, in childhood” that determines our memories, but __40__, in that childhood, look at us.  

21．A. desire      B. joy         C. anger         D. worry

22．A. avoid       B. refuse      C. praise        D. love

23．A. boat        B. bus         C. train         D. bike

24．A. But         B. Then        C. And           D. Still

25．A. on          B. off         C. by            D. in

26．A. having      B. leaving     C. making        D. getting

27．A. swimmer     B. rider       C. walker        D. runner

28．A. hopes       B. faiths      C. rights        D. fears

29．A. spending    B. saving      C. wasting       D. ruining

30．A. should      B. would       C. had to        D. ought to

31．A. next        B. only        C. other         D. last

32．A. away from   B. out of      C. by            D. inside

33．A. put up      B. break down  C. play with     D. work out

34．A. the moment    B. the first time   C. while            D. before

35. A. fishing net   B. office things    C. wooden chair     D. lab equipment

36. A. stood up      B. set out          C. showed up        D. turned out

37. A. fine          B. strange          C. terrible         D. funny

38. A. the student   B. the assistant    C. myself           D. himself

39. A. memory        B. wealth           C. experience       D. practice

40. A. which         B. who              C. what             D. whose

He’s an old cobbler(修鞋匠) with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me, “I haven’t time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street. He’ll fix them for you right away.”

But I had my eyes on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman(手艺人). “No.” I replied, “The other fellow can’t do it well.”

“The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys — without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap(鞋带), you might as well just throw away the pair.

My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped hands on his blue apron(围裙), looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said, “Come back in a week.”

I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.

“See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.”

When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange dusty felt hat, his funny accent and his pride in his craft.

These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption rather than a way to realize their abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.

1.Which of the following is true about the old cobbler?

A．He was equipped with the best repairing tools.

B．He was the only cobbler in the Marais.

C．He was proud of his skills.

D．He was a native Parisian.

2.The sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend” implies that ______.

A．nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him

B．it was difficult to communicate with this man

C．the man was very strange

D．the man was too old

3.According to the author, many people work just to ______.

A．realize their abilities                     B．gain happiness

C．make money                           D．gain respect

4.This story wants to tell us that ______.

A．craftsmen make a lot of money             B．whatever you do, do it well

C．craftsmen need self-respect               D．people are born equal

[1] Ashley Power’s mother bought a computer for her when she was eight. When she was thirteen, she was surfing the Internet regularly, but she couldn’t find anywhere for teenagers to meet and talk. And one day she thought, “If I had my own website, I’d make it a really interesting site for teenagers.”
[2]So, when Ashley was sixteen, she launched her own website, called Goosehead. She had no idea how big a success it would be, but three years later, the site was the most successful teen site in the USA! It was getting 100,000 hits every day, and Ashley had about 30 employees.
[3] After a few years, the website closed down. Then Ashley, who lives in Los Angeles, was asked to write a book called The Goosehead Guide to Life. The book is about how to design a website and start a business. It begins with a section called “All About Ashley,” where Ashley tells readers what it is like to be the boss of a company when you are only sixteen. “ I was so happy. But it was crazy in a lot of ways. I got very stressed. I mean, I was only sixteen — I didn’t even have a car! If you were sixteen and you had your own company, you’d be stressed, too！“
[4] In an interview Ashley gave advice to teenagers who wanted to start their own business, “Just be strong and have your dreams and work hard at them. And don’t listen when _______, because I heard ‘no’ a lot. Just keep going until you hear ‘yes’!”
【小题1】For what purpose did Ashley create GooseHead?(no more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________________________________________
【小题2】What is the main idea of Paragraph 2？ （no more than 6 words）
_______________________________________________________________________________
【小题3】According to paragraph 3, what did Ashley do after GooseHead closed down?(no more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________________________________________
【小题4】How did Ashley feel as a young boss of a company?(no more than 5 words)
_______________________________________________________________________________
【小题5】Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words.
_______________________________________________________________________________

I had my first job at a local diner called the Buttercup Bakery when I was 22. I worked there for seven years and learned so many lessons, especially from a fellow waitress Helen who had incredible self-respect and did what she loved—serving people. She made everyone smile and feel good, customers and co-workers alike.

Being a waitress changed my life. One of my regular customers was Fred Hasbrook, an electronics salesman. Thanks to the newfound confidence I picked up from Helen, I dreamed of having my own restaurant. But when I called my parents to ask for a loan, they said, “We just don’t have the money.”

The next day, I shared my dream with him and said, “Fred, I know I can do more if somebody would just have faith in me.”

He walked over to some of the other diner regulars and the next day handed me checks totaling $50,000—along with a note that I have to this day. It reads, “The only collateral（担保）on this loan is my trust in your honesty as a person. Good people with a dream should have the opportunity to make that dream come true.”

I took the checks to Merrill Lynch—the first time I had ever entered a brokerage（经纪业）house—where the money was invested for me. I continued working at the Buttercup, making plans for the restaurant I would open. My investments soured, though, and I lost the money.

After great deliberation（考虑） I decided to apply for a job at Merrill Lynch. Even though I had no experience, I was hired and ended up becoming a pretty good broker. Eventually I paid back Fred and my customers the $50,000, plus 14-percent annual interest. Five years later, I was able to open my own firm.

I got a thank-you note from Fred, which will be imprinted on my head forever. He had been sick and wrote that my check had helped cover his mounting medical bills. His letter read, “That loan may have been one of the best investments that I will ever make.”

1. According to the passage, the author thought ______.

A. Helen was full of complaint about her work

B. it was easy for Helen to make everyone happy and comfortable

C. she was lucky to have a job working with Helen

D. it was not acceptable to live in such a bad condition

2.By saying that “Being a waitress changed my life.” the author means that ______.

A. the author got a high pay by working hard

B. the author borrowed $50,000 with no interest from Fred Hasbrook

C. the effort which she had made influenced her a lot

D. the experience working as a waitress was worthwhile for the author

3. Which of the following statements is not true of Fred Hasbrook?

A. Fred Hasbrook was one of the author’s regular customers.

B. Fred Hasbrook lent the author $50,000, together with other customers.

C. Fred Hasbrook’s self-respect had a great effect on the author.

D. Fred Hasbrook’s himself did not have much money.

4.What made the author’s customers lend her money according to the passage?

A. Her maturity.    B. Her honesty.   C. Her faith.     D. Her success.