It’s not easy to be an astronaut’s son. Everybody expects you to be special or perfect. I often wonder how my father ever had a son like me. I mean he’s so special and so good at everything he does. Even in middle school he was class president and captain of the football team.
　　Well, to be honest, I often dream about being some kind of hero or doing something special—like saving a child from a burning building or discovering a new star. I was daydreaming at school one morning when my teacher said there would be a Father’s Day writing competition for the whole school. “I hope we have a winner right here in my class.”
　　When I got home, I started to think about what to write. My father is an astronaut. N0, I wouldn’t start like that. That was the way others saw him. How did I see my father? Hmm.
　　I saw him sitting with me in the dark when I had a terrible dream. I remembered how he hugged me for hours when my dog Spotty was killed by a car. Yes, these were the things I was going to write. To me, he wasn’t just a world-famous astronaut. He was my dad.
　　My parents and I went to school on Thursday night．There were so many people in the big hall! My dad looked at me, and I shrugged(耸肩)．
　　The third prize was announced and it was not me. I was relieved(释然)and disappointed at the same time. The second prize was announced. It was me.
　　1 went up to the stage and read what I had written, “My father’s son”. When I finished, the people stood up and cheered. I saw my father blowing his nose. Tears were running down my mother's face. Dad cleared his throat and put his hand on my shoulder. “Son, this is the proudest moment of my life.’’
　　It was the proudest moment of my life, too. Maybe I’ll never be a great hero or win a Nobel Prize, but it was enough just to be my father’s son.
【小题1】The writer felt it_________ to be the son of a famous person．

“Mum, I want to make you a bet,” I said. “If I go a whole year without TV, will you give me a hundred dollars?”　　
“Well, if you can   1  do it, …”
“Of course I can,” I replied, trying to convince   2 .
In fact, all this started from my   3  of a picture in the newspaper. I couldn’t bear to look at that boy. He said that he had   4  one year without TV for a hundred dollars,   5 me with mocking eyes. It seemed he was saying, “I did it,   6  you can’t!”. I glared at the boy’s face.
That year I did a lot of things. For example, my father taught me to   7 , which became my favorite sport.   8  winter afternoons snowball wars with my neighbors offered daily drama. I went on bike trips with my friends and swam as much as a fish.　　
It was unbelievable how much   9  I had without TV. I learned so many new games. I guess the   10  thing I learnt, though, was self-motivation(上进心).　　
I started to do my homework. I went from a D student to an A student within a couple of   11 .　　
I used to   12  reading if there were no   13 , but now I began to read and enjoy it. I could arrange off all the pictures just the way I wanted them—my own little TV, right   14  my head!
I’m surprised what I did. I got a lot more from the   15  than just the 100 dollars!

Mr. Jackson was on duty that evening. It was 1 and there was thick snow outside. So few people came to the hospital and he could  2 on the bed in his office and soon he went to sleep . Suddenly someone knocked at the door and it woke him up. He got up and opened the door. In went an old man. His wife was ill and he asked the doctor to go to look her over.

　It was still 3 when Mr. Jackson came out. The old farmer walked fast and he hardly catch up with him. It was 4 for him to walk on the snowy roads. When he got to the man’s house, he was very  5  . He looked over the old woman and found she had a bad cold. He gave her some 6 and began to return to the hospital. The wind was blowing strongly and he couldn’t walk too 7 .

　And when he was near the hospital, he had a pain in his foot.

　He walked slowly and at last he went into his office, He took 8 his shoe and looked at his foot. There was much blood on it. He  9 he stepped on a broken glass. He looked at his shoe carefully and said to  10 “Luckily, it didn’t prick my shoe!” 

1.                A．hot            B．warm          C．cool D．cold

2.                A．get down       B．put down       C．lie down  D．sit down

3.                A．snowing        B．shining         C．raining   D．singing

4.                A．happy          B．difficult         C．easy D．sad

5.                A．sorry          B．afraid          C．strange   D．tired

6.                A．medicine       B．food           C．water    D．sugar

7.                A．quickly         B．carefully        C．noisily    D．heavily

8.                A．off            B．up             C．on   D．away

9.                A．forgot          B．remembered    C．understood    D．told

10.               A．him           B．her            C．them D．himself

A recent study offers a picture of how dangerous it is to get a lift from a teenage driver. Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a fatal（致命的）accident as a teenager driving alone. However, the possibility of death for drivers between 30 and 59 decreases with each additional (added) passenger.

　　It was also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased greatly after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late night accident.

　　Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with “really stupid behavior” than with just a lack of driving experience. Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to help solve the problem is to have states setting up so-called graduated licensing systems（等级执照制）. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove that he/she is able to drive in the presence of an adult, followed by a period of driving with a limited number of passengers, before graduating to full driving on his own. About half of the states now have some sort of graduated licensing system in place. The systems have reduced teenage driver crashes（相撞）, according to recent studies.

1.Which of the following situations is most dangerous according to the passage?

A．Adults giving a lift to teenagers on the highway after 10 p.m.

B．A teenager driving after midnight with passengers in the car.

C．Adults driving with three or more teenage passengers late at night.

D．A teenager getting a lift from a stranger on the highway at midnight.

2.According to Robert Foss, the high death rate of teenage drivers is mainly because __.

A．their preference for driving at night

B．their lack of driving experience

C．their careless way of driving

D．their driving with passengers

阅读短文，根据短文内容回答问题。（共10分，每小题2分）

　　On Thursday afternoon Mrs. Clarke, dressed for going out, took her handbag with her money and her key in it, pulled the door behind her to lock it and went to the Over 60s Club. She always went there on Thursdays. It was a nice outing for an old woman who lived alone.

　　At six o’clock she came home, let herself in and at once smelt cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke in her house? How? Had somebody got in? She checked the back door and the windows. All were locked or fastened, as usual. There was no sign of forced entry. Had anything been taken? She went from room to room, checking. Yes, some things were missing — her small radio, her spare watch, a camera. That was all, she thought; but she couldn’t be sure just yet. She was annoyed, of course, but rather glad that nothing had been thrown about.

　　Over a cup of tea she wondered whether someone might have a key that fitted her front door — “a master key” perhaps. So she stayed at home the following Thursday. Nothing happened. Was anyone watching her movements? On the Thursday after that she went out at her usual time, dressed as usual, but she didn’t go to the club. Instead she took a short cut home again, letting herself in through the garden and the back door. She settled down to wait.

　　It was just after four o’clock when the front door bell rang. Mrs. Clarke was making a cup of tea at the time. The bell rang again, and then she heard her letter-box being pushed open. With the kettle（壶）of boiling water in her hand, she moved quietly towards the front door. A long piece of wire（金属丝）appeared through the letter-box, and then a hand. The wire turned and caught around the knob（门把手） on the door-lock. Mrs. Clarke raised the kettle and poured the water over the hand. There was a shout outside, and the skin seemed to drop off the fingers like a glove. The wire fell to the floor, the hand was pulled back, and Mrs. Clarke heard the sound of running feet.

　　That evening she reported the matter to the police. They were not too pleased, but they came and took away the wire and the skin. “It was only self-protection,” she told the officer. “An old woman must try to look after herself.” With the help of a doctor, the police found the man and recovered Mrs. Clarke’s things. She has become something of heroine at the Over 60s Club.

1. When did Mrs. Clarke go to the Over 60s Club?

___________________________________________________

2. Why did the smell of cigarette smoke surprise her?

___________________________________________________

3. On the third Thursday, did Mrs. Clarke go out at her usual time?

___________________________________________________

4. What was Mrs. Clarke doing when she was waiting for the thief?

___________________________________________________

5. What is Mrs. Clarke like?

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