In front of my daughter Sindu was a bowl filled with cabbage. She hated cabbage. She only sat there in silence with tears in her   16 .
“Sindu, darling, why don’t you   17  a little? Your Mom will shout at me.”
Sindu wiped(擦) her   18  with the back of her hand.
“OK, Dad. I’ll eat, just a little.” Then Sindu said, “Dad, if I eat it all, will you give me   19  I want?”
“Yes, of course.”
  20  she began to eat. It took her almost half an hour to finish the   21 . Then she came up to me and said, “Dad, I want to have my head shaved(刮、剃)! ”
“Sindu, why don’t you   22  something else? If we see you with a clean-shaven head, we will be   23 , I said.”
“But, Dad, you promised! Now, you are going back on your words.”
I had to   24  my promise, Sindu had all her hair cut off. She looked beautiful.
On Monday morning, I took her to school. Just when we   25 , a boy got out of a car, and shouted, “Sindu, please wait for me!”
Guess what? The boy had   26  hair either.
“Sir, your daughter is   27 !” a man got out of the car and said, “That boy is my son Harish. He has cancer(癌症). He lost his hair   28  he got ill. Sindu cut hers off so Harish felt less   29 . She is a special girl.”
I stood for a while. “My little girl, you   30  me how selfless(无私的) real love is!

Last year The Voice of China, the most popular TV talent show became a popular topic in people’s chatting and media information from both home and abroad. It began on July 13, 2012 and ended on September 30, 2012. Liang Bo, a handsome boy from Changchun, Jilin was the champion of The Voice of China in 2012. Before the competition Liang Bo was just an ordinary college student studying music. He captured (夺得) the hearts of audience (观众) with his passionate (激情的) rock’n’roll (摇滚) performance at the show.

Fans described Liang’s voice as “natural, clear and touching’’. Although he seemed cool on stage, he could quickly turn on the power once he started singing. “His performances make you imagine things. When I listen to his singing, I see pictures and think of stories.” said Na Ying, one of the four judges (评判员) on the show. She was also Liang’s tutor for the competition.

Liang Bo, like many young Chinese, he fell in love with music through playing the guitar. Liang got his first guitar as a birthday gift when he was in middle school. He would spend days and nights practicing. “ I can’t live without my guitar.” he said.

“ I don’t like talking much but I carry great passion inside me,” Liang said. “ There is no better way to let it out than through music like rock’n’roll. Many people compare Liang to famous Chinese rockers including Xu Wei, Wang Feng and Zheng Jun. But the young man doesn’t want to stand in others’ shadow. “ I respect those rockers, but I’m not going to copy them. I will be who I am,” he said. 

1.Which was the most popular TV show last summer?

A．The Voice of China.  B．Sports News.       C．Football.          D．Animal World.

2.How long did The Voice of China last?

A．More than two days.                     B．More than two weeks.

C．More than two months.                   D．More than two years.

3.How many judges were there in the TV talent show?

A．3.               B．4.                C．6.               D．8.

4.Who helped Liang Bo win the competition?

A．Zheng Jun.         B．Xu Wei.           C．Liu Huan.          D．Na Ying.

5.According to the passage, which of the following is Not true?

A．Liang Bo fell in love with music.             B．Liang Bo was a college teacher.

C．Liang Bo was a quiet man.                 D．Liang Bo played the guitar well.

D

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person.

When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled (宠坏)them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on.

He talked about how watering trees made for shallow(浅的) roots, and the trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important.

So he never watered his trees. He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They’re very big and strong now.

I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray(祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won’t be beaten down.

1. We know from the reading the doctor _________.

2. When Dr. Gibbs said, “...pick out the weaker trees early on.” he means that ______.

3.The passage tells us that the writer _______.

4. The writer wants to change his prayer, hoping that ________.

5.Which can be the best title of the reading?

选词填空
用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空，使短文通顺、正确、连贯（每个单词限用一次）。

An artist goes to a beautiful part of the country for a holiday and stays with a farmer. Every day he goes out with his paints and brushes and paints until evening. When it gets dark he goes back to the farm and has a good dinner before he goes to bed.

At the end of his holiday he wants to pay the farmer, but the farmer says, “No, I don’t want money. But give me one of your pictures. What’s money? In a week it will be finished, but your picture will still be there.”

The artist is very happy and thanks the farmer for saying so about his pictures. The farmer smiles and answers, “It’s not that. I have a son in London. He wants to be an artist. When he comes home next month, I will show him your picture, and he will not want to be an artist any more, I think.”

1.Every day the artist _________ .

A．goes out to help the farmer

B．stays at the farmer’s home and eats a big dinner

C．paints pictures

D．works hard to get some money for the farmer

2.The artist thinks the farmer wants his picture because _______.

A．the farmer likes his drawing very much

B．the farmer hates his pictures

C．the farmer wants to give it to his son

D．the farmer wants to be an artist, too

3.What does the farmer mean in the last paragraph?

A．He likes the artist very much.

B．He would like his son to be an artist, too.

C．He wants the artist to be his son’s teacher.

D．He doesn’t like the artist’s paintings at all.