-- Are you glad to hear from her?
--Of course. _______I dreamed about her several nights.

When I was seven, my parents gave me a doll, a doll’s house and a book. The Arabian Nights, came wrapped in red paper. I was just ready to read when my mother walked into my room．

“Isn’t your doll just beautiful?” my mother asked. I looked at the doll, with fair hair in a pink dress----I’ll have to call her “she” because I never gave her a name. I folded my lips and raised my eyebrows, not really knowing how to let my mother down easily.

“This doll is different.” My mother explained, trying to talk me into playing with it.

Thinking the doll needed love, I hugged her tightly for a long time. Useless, I said to myself. Finally, I decided to play with the doll’s house. But since rearranging the tiny furniture seemed to be the only active possible, I lost interest. I caught sight again of the third of my gifts The Arabian Nights, and I began to read it. From that moment, the book was my constant companion.

Every day I climbed our garden tree, nestled among its branches, I read the stories in The Arabian Nights to my heart’s content. My mother became concerned as she noticed I wasn’t playing with either the doll or the little house. She insisted that I take the doll up the tree with me.

Trying to read on a branch 15 feet off the ground while holding on to the silly doll was not easy. After nearly falling off twice, I tied one end of a long vine around the doll’s neck and the opposite one around the branch, letting the doll hang in mid air while I read. I always looked out for my mother, though. I sensed that my playing with the doll was of great importance to her. So every time I heard her coming, I lifted the doll up and hugged her. The smile in my mother’s eyes told me my plan worked.

The inevitable(不可避免的) happened one afternoon. Totally absorbed in the reading, I didn’t hear my mother calling me. When I looked down, I saw my mother staring at the hanging doll. Fearing the worst of scolding, I climbed down in a flash, reaching the ground just as my mother was untying the doll. To my surprise, she didn’t scold. She kept on staring at the doll．

The next day, my father came home early and suggested he and I play with the doll’s house. Soon I was bored, but my father seemed to be having so much fun, I didn’t have the heart to tell him. Quietly I slipped out, picking up my book on my way to the yard. So absorbed was he in arranging and rearranging the tiny furniture that he didn’t notice my quick exit.

Almost 20 years passed before I found out why the hanging-doll incident had been so significant for my parents. By then I was a parent myself. After recalling the incident, my mother said all those years she had been afraid whether I would turn out to be a most loving and understanding mother to my son．

My mother often thanks God aloud for making me a good parent, pointing out that with education I might have been a rich dentist instead of a poor poet. I look back on that same childhood incident, recalling my third gift, the book in red-paper, and I take advantage of the experiences that have made me who and what I am. Sometimes I pause to wonder at life’s wonderful ironies （讽刺）.

1.Why didn’t the author give the doll a name?

A. Because the gift was given by her parents.

B. Because the girl didn’t care much for the doll.

C. Because her parents would give the doll a name.

D. Because the doll had little in common with her.

2.The author’s account of a childhood incident shows that, as a young girl, she viewed her parents as people who         .

A. hoped to shape their children’s future  

B. were unconcerned about their behavior

C. ruined their children’s dreams completely

D. might withdraw their love at any moment

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. The mother is now satisfied with her daughter’s career.

B. The daughter now regrets what she did when she was a girl.

C. The mother thinks the daughter’s achievements are unsatisfactory.

D. The daughter wishes that she had been allowed more freedom as a child.

Some people would go through anything just to achieve their dream. Kasia Siwosz is proof. For the final year student on the university women’s tennis team, the road to Berkeley, University of California was met with poor advice and misinformation from her home country and two unsuccessful stops along the way that fell short of expectations.
Born in Poland, Siwosz began playing tennis at seven years old and developed the skills that helped her earn a top-50 ranking among the ITF Junior division(国际网球联会青少年赛). Siwosz wanted to do more with her life than just play tennis, which led her to seek chances that would also allow her to obtain a top education. While most who grow up in the U.S. are naturally accustomed to the American tradition of collegiate(大学的) sports, such a custom is not as familiar in a country like Poland. “There’s no collegiate sports in Poland and no culture of sports and academic(学术的) study there. You can only do one, not both,” Siwosz said.
Her desire to have a quality education led her to America to follow her dream. While Siwosz was talented enough to begin her collegiate tennis career, she could only attend community college because she missed the deadline to apply to four-year schools, mainly due to misinformation provided in her home country of Poland.
When she had earned all her credits and was able to transfer(转学), Siwosz made the decision to attend Baylor in Texas. Her friends from Poland put in a good word for the university, saying that it was a good fit because there were many international players at Baylor. “I thought it would be a good idea, but it really wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Siwosz said. “I wasn’t happy at Baylor. The level of tennis was high, but the academic standards were no match and I just wanted more.”
After one year at Baylor, Siwosz’s luck finally began to change when she made the decision to transfer to Berkeley, which was due in large part to Lee, a former Berkeley student. Lee, who is a keen tennis player himself, met Siwosz four years ago in Texas. “I knew she was unhappy there,” he said. “I saw the opportunity for her to come here.” Siwosz visited Lee in Berkeley. “I ended up loving this place and this school,” Siwosz said. “I came here a lot over the summer, I gave it a shot and I ended up with a Berkeley education and a spot on one of the best college tennis teams in the country.”
【小题1】What does “two unsuccessful stops” (Paragraph 1) refer to?

Recently divorced in my 30s, I had no job and was on my way downtown on a rainy day to go to the employment offices. I had no umbrella, for my old one had fallen apart, and I couldn’t afford another one.
I sat down in the streetcar--- there against the seat was a beautiful silk umbrella with a silver handle inlaid (镶嵌着…的) with gold and bright enamel (珐琅). I had never seen anything so lovely. I examined the handle and saw a name on it. The usual procedure would have been to turn in the umbrella to the conductor, but I decided to take it and find the owner myself.
I got off the streetcar in a downpour and carefully opened the umbrella to protect myself. Then I searched a telephone book for the name on the umbrella and found it. I called and a lady answered. Yes, she said in surprise that was her umbrella, which her parents, now dead, had given her as a birthday present, but it’d been stolen from her locker at school years before.
She was so excited that I forgot I was looking for a job and went directly to her house. She took the umbrella, her eyes filled with tears. I was only too happy to see her get back the lost umbrella, and get a job she offered me.
写作要求
以30个词概括这篇短文的主要内容。

My 9-year-old daughter and I were flying from our home in Carolina to spend a week with my husband in Florida.We were__? _ about the trip because we hadn't seen him for five months, and __? her Dad terribly.

As usual on the Charlotte-to-Miami flight, the plane was totally__? . Because we did not get our boarding passes until we__? at the gate, Kallie and I could not get seats together and were __? by the aisle（过道）. I asked two passengers in my row if they would switch places with Kallie and me, __? we could be together. They __? , saying they thought they should stay in their assigned seats.

Meanwhile, a mother and her three children were in a _? several rows ahead of us. There had been a mistake in their boarding passes, and _? the whole family had been split up. The passengers in her row_? refused to move elsewhere. She was very__? about the younger boy sitting with strangers. She was in tears, yet nobody__? to help her.

????????????? There were a troop of Boy Scouts(童子军) on __? . Suddenly the Scout leader stood up and said, "Ma’am, I think we can help you." He then __? five minutes rearranging his group so that adequate space was __? for the family. The boys followed his directions cheerfully and without _? , and the mother's relief was obvious.

Kallie, however, was beginning to panic at the _??? of not being next to me. I told her that there wasn’t anything I could do. __? , the man sitting next to the Scoutmaster, __? to me and asked, "Would you and your daughter like our seats?" __? to himself and the Scoutmaster. We traded seats and continued our trip, very much relieved to be together and watch the scenery from Kallie’s window seat.

1.A.worried?? ???? B.excited??????? C. anxious??????? D. eager

2.A.loved????????? B. considered ?? C. imagined ????? D. missed

3.A. full ????????? B. crowded ???? C. empty???????? D. overweight

4.A. reached ?????? B. arrived ?????? C. landed ?????? D. knocked

5.A. divided ?????? B. blocked ????? C. separated ????? D. connected

6.A. in case ??????? B. even if ?????? C. as if ????????? D. so that

7.A. prevented ???? B. refused ?????? C. agreed???????? D. promised

8.A. panic ???????? B. hurry????????? C. rush ???????? D. seat

9.A. however ????? B. otherwise ????? C. therefore ????? D. instead

10.A. too ????????? B. even ????????? C. ever ???????? D. also

11.A. concerned ???? B. curious ?????? C. particular ???? D. content

12.A. suggested????? B. offered ?????? C. provided ???? D. supplied

13.A. duty????????? B. watch ??????? C.board ?????? D. spot

14.A. took ????????? B. cost ???????? C.paid ???????? D. spent

15.A. convenient ???? B. available ???? C. probable ???? D. comfortable

16.A. permission ???? B. excuse?????? C.apology ????? D. complaint

17.A. thought ??????? B. end ???????? C. feeling ????? D. sense

18.A. Immediately ??? B. Puzzlingly ??? C.Clearly ????? D. Amazingly

19.A. turned up ???? B. turned around ? C. turned out ?? D. turned away

20.A. sticking ?????? B. keeping ????? C.waving ????? D.referring