Computers are useful machines. They can help people a lot in their everyday life. For example, they can help people save much time, and they can help people work out many problems they can't do easily: Our country asks everyone to learn to use computers except the old people.

    Today more and more families own computers. Parents buy computers for their children.

    They hope computers can help them improve(提高) their studies in school. Yet many of the children use computers to play games, to watch video or to sing Karaoke instead of studying. So many teachers and parents complain that computers can not help children to study but make them fall behind. So computers are locked by parents in the boxes.

    In some other countries, even some scientists hate computers. They say computers let millions of people lost their jobs or bring them a lot of trouble.

    Will computers really bring trouble to people or can they bring people happiness? It will be decided by people themselves.

1.Why do we say the computer is a useful machine? Because _______.

A. our country asks us to learn it

B. it can help us a lot

C. we can use it to play games

D. it can help us to find jobs

2.What do many teachers and parents complain about?

A. Their students and children use computers to study.

B. Computers let them lost their jobs.

C. Computers make the students and children fall behind.

D. Computers bring people a lot of trouble,

3. In this passage we know computers _______.

A. also bring us trouble

B. bring us happiness only

C. are hated by people

D. are bad for people's health

4.Why do some scientists hate computers?

A. Because computers let people lost their jobs.

B. Because computers bring them trouble.

C. Because some sciestists don't know how to use computers.

D. Both A and B.

5.How do you understand the last sentence of this passage? I think it means _______.

A. computers are used by people

B. people can live well without computers

C. one must decide how to use computers

D. computers are strange machines

—Do you know the woman over there? —Yes, she’s_____ aunt.

One morning, a blind boy sat beside a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, “I am blind. Please help me.”
There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognizedhis footsteps and asked, “Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way.”
What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”
Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?
Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beautiful day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.
The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind.
There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.
The first is: Treasure (珍惜) what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help.
The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.
【小题1】From the article we know that________.

—Do you know the boy?
—_______. He’s Bob’s brother, Bill.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith have just opened a small restaurant. In order to attract customers, they put a notice in front of the restaurant, which said: “Meals on the house for three days.”

A foreign student who didn’t know much English passed by the restaurant on the second day. It was lunchtime and he felt hungry. “Well, here is a restaurant. I’m going to have something to eat,” he said.

He saw the notice when he walked towards the restaurant. “American people are really strange. They even eat dinners on the house! But how can I get onto the top of the house?” he asked himself.

He looked around and found a ladder（梯子）against a tree nearby. He was very glad. But as he reached the top, he heard someone shouting at him: “Hey, what are you doing up there?” Mr Smith was looking at him angrily. Beside him was a policeman.

“Doesn’t your notice say ‘Meals on the house for three days’? Is it just a joke?” the foreign student answered.

On hearing this, both Mr Smith and the policeman burst into laughter(开怀大笑). “Do you know what On The House means?”

Do you know the meaning of On The House?

1.The Smiths have ____________.

A. opened a restaurant      B. built a house

C. climbed onto the top     D. been policemen

2.The student walked past the restaurant ___________.

A. when the Smiths started their business

B. when the Smiths put on the notice

C. when the policeman came to the restaurant

D. when it was time to have lunch

3.The student ____________ so Mr Smith shouted at him.

A. was very hungry

B. knew little about English

C. climbed onto the top of the house

D. took away the ladder

4.“On the house” may mean that the meal _____________.

A. is had on the house     B. is paid on the house

C. is made on the house    D. is free for the customers