Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don’t act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is too luxurious for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine’s Day is even more out of the question. Finally my father has a bad temper. When he’s very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.　
　　One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.　
　　“Mom, I have a question to ask you,” I said after a while.　
　　“What?” she replied, still doing her work.　
　　“Is there love between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice.　
　　My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn’t answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.　
　　I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment and I didn't know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:　
　　“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it’s really there.”
　　I listened carefully but I couldn’t understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked very pale. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness.
　　After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so gentle. It seemed they were the most harmonious couple. Along the country road, there were many beautiful flowers, green grass and trees. The sun gently glistened through the leaves. All of these made up the most beautiful picture in the world.
　　Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this experience, I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life, making life strong and warm.
　　thread: 线　　　 quilt: 被子
　　1. Why did the parents try to earn a lot of money?
　　A. To pay for the food.
　　B. To pay off the debt.
　　C. To pay for the hospital.
　　D. To pay the high tuition.

　　2. Which of the following is TRUE?
　　A. The parents sent flowers on Valentine’s day.
　　B. The parents liked to say “I love you.”
　　C. The father was too tired to have a good temper.
　　D. The mother had no job.

　　3. From the passage, we can know that _________.
　　A. the father made much money from his work
　　B. Susan couldn’t understand her mother
　　C. the parents always loved each other
　　D. the mother was worried about her husband

　　4. How did Susan feel towards her parents at last?
　　A. sad　　　　　 B. glad　　 　　C. worried　　　 D. easy

　　5. Which is the best title?
　　A. Love is inside.　　　　　　　　 B. Love is outside.
　　C. Love is seen everywhere.　　 　 D. Love is seen anytime.
　

It was my first day at Grade 6. And the first lesson was 　41　 English. When I was doing nothing, Mr. Gough, our new English teacher, 　42　 into the classroom.

To my surprise, he held up a book, The Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe, and asked if anyone 　43　 it. I put my hand up, because Poe was my favorite writer. Mr. Gough asked if I really understood 　44　 the author tried to say in his book. My reply made him smile, and he asked me 　45　 an essay on that subject.

After that, English classes became a new interest for me. Mr. Gough thought that students hadto　　46　 a play to understand it. “Don’t just read it,” he said.

As time passed, we developed a real friendship. He encouraged me to be a 　47　 in the future. When I left school, he said to me, “You have a gift for writing, Tony, and one day you’ll come to realize how 　48　 it is. Make use of it if you want your life to be complete.”

　49　 have passed. Now, every time I sit down to write 　50　, I think of Mr. Gough. He was more than just an English teacher, because he also taught me useful lessons in life.

41. A. boring                      B. bored                    C. interesting                 D. interested

42. A. walks                       B. walked                   C. was walking              D. is walking

43. A. reads                        B. read                       C. has read                   D. had read

44. A. if                             B. when                     C. what                         D. how

45. A. wrote                       B. writing                  C. to write                    D. written

46. A. work out                  B. act out                   C. put out                      D. come out

47. A. teacher                     B. actor                      C. waiter                      D. writer 

48. A. useful                       B. beautiful                 C. careful                      D. thankful

49. A. A year                      B. Some year              C. Years                        D. Every year

50. A. anything new            B. something new        C. new anything             D. new something

One day, a boy found the cocoon(茧) of a butterfly and brought it home. A few days later, the boy saw a small ___16___in the cocoon. He sat and watched for several hours as a butterfly struggled to make ___17___body through that little hole. Suddenly it stopped.
So the boy ___18___to help the butterfly, thinking the butterfly might be ___19___. He took a pair of scissors(剪刀) and cut the hole ___20___. The butterfly came out of the cocoon, but it ___21___a little different. It had a weak body and small, thin ___22___. The butterfly didn’t start to fly. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬行) around with a weak body and thin wings. It was never able to fly.
The boy acted with___23___but he didn’t understand why it could be like this. When a butterfly crawl out of the cocoon, it must struggle. The hard work of ___24___out of the cocoon makes the fluid(液体) from the butterfly’s body into its wings. It helps the butterfly be ___25___to fly. If the butterfly never has to squeeze(挤压) itself out of the cocoon, its wings will never get the fluid and it can never fly.
___26___struggles are what we need in our lives. If we lived our lives without any problems, we would never learn or grow. We would not be ___27___ we could have been and we would never fly.
In our lives, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, and sometimes even ___28___ growth, without it, there’s no way of life. We can’t avoid ___29___ or problems. So, next time you are ___30___ a problem or difficulty, remember the butterfly. Struggle a little–then fly!

America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon. They don’t feel hurt. If the same two people meet again, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand. Friendships between us develop more slowly but may become lifelong feelings, extending（延伸）deeply into both families.

There is another difficult point for us to understand. Although Americans treat friends warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to them if it requires a great deal of time. But in China, we are usually generous with our time. We, as hosts, will appear at an airport even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off from our work to act as guides to our friends: It is opposite in America, Americans can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily plans. They will probably expect the visitors to get themselves from the airport to the hotels. And they expect the visitors will phone them from there. Once the visitors arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real.

For Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to restaurants, except for business matters. Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. So accept their hospitality（好客）at home and enjoy your visit in America!

1.The underlined phrase “pick up” in Paragraph 1 may mean “_______”.

A．keep out

B．give up

C．pay no attention to

D．continue

2.Which of the following is the typical way of American hospitality?

A．Treating friends at home.

B．Taking days off to be with friends.

C．Meeting friends at the airport at midnight.

D．Sharing everything they have.

3.Which of the following statements in True according to the passage? 

A．Americans are always generous with their time.

B．Americans don’t feel hurt if their friendships disappear soon.

C．Chinese friendships develop more slowly but will never disappear.

D．Chinese friendships are more sincere than American friendships.

4.This passage is most probably written for         .

A．American students

B．Chinese students

C．Chinese visitors to America

D．American visitors to China

One day, a boy found the cocoon(茧) of a butterfly and brought it home. A few days later, the boy saw a small   36  in the cocoon. He sat and watched for several hours as a butterfly struggled to make   37  body through that little hole. Suddenly it stopped. So the boy   38  to help the butterfly, thinking the butterfly might be   39 .He took a pair of scissors and cut the hole   40  .The butterfly came out of the cocoon but it   41 a little different. It had a weak body and small, thin   42  .The butterfly didn’t start to fly. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬行) around with a weak body and thin wings. It was never able to fly.
The boy acted with   43  but he didn’t understand why it could be like this. When a butterfly crawls out of the cocoon, it must struggle. The hard work of   44  out of the cocoon makes the fluid(液体) from the butterfly’s body into its wings. It helps the butterfly be   45  to fly. If the butterfly never has to squeeze(挤压) itself out of the cocoon, its wings will never get the fluid and it can never fly.
  46   struggles are what we need in our lives. If we lived our lives without any problems, we would never learn or grow. We would not be  47   we could have been and we would never fly.
In our lives, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, and sometimes even  48   growth, without it , there’s no way of life. We can’t avoid   49  or problems. So, next time you are   50 a problem or difficulty, remember the butterfly. Struggle a little—then fly!