In the animal kingdom, weakness can bring about aggression(侵略)in other animals. This sometimes
happens with humans as well. But I have found that my weakness brings out the kindness in people. I see
it every day when people hold doors for me, pour cream into my coffee, or help me to put on my coat.
And I have discovered that it makes them happy.
     From my wheelchair experience, I see the best in people, bur sometimes I feel sad because those
who appear independent miss the kindness I see daily. They don't get to see this soft side of others often
and we try every way possible to avoid showing our weakness, which includes a lot of pretending. But
only when we stop pretending we're brave or strong do we allow people to show the kindness that's in
them.
     Last month, when I was driving home on a busy highway, I began to feel unwell and drove more
slowly than usual. People behind me began to get impatient and angry, with some speeding up alongside
me, horning (按喇叭) or even shouting at me. At the moment I decided to do something I had never
done in twenty years of driving. I put on the car flashlights and drove on at a really low speed.
No more angry shouts and no more horns!
     When I put on my flashlights, I was saying to other drivers, "I have a problem here. I am weak and
doing the best I can." And everyone understood. Several times, I saw drivers who wanted to pass. They
couldn't get around me because of the stream of passing traffic. But instead of getting impatient and angry,
they waited, knowing the driver in front of them was in some way weak.
     Sometimes situations call for us to act strong and brave even when we don't feel that way. But more
often, it would be better if we don't pretend we feel strong when we feel weak or pretend that we are
brave when we are scared.

1. The author has discovered that people will feel happy when ______.

A. they offer their help                  
B. they receive others' help
C. they feel others' kindness              
D. they show their weakness

2. The author feels sad sometimes because ______.

A. he has a soft heart                   
B. he relies much on others
C. some people pretend to be kind          
D. some people fail to see the kindness in others

3. In this passage, the author advises us to ______.

A. handle problems by ourselves          
B. accept help from others
C. admit our weakness                  
D. show our bravery

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. A Wheel Chair Experience.            
B. Weakness and Kindness.
C. Weakness and Strength                
D. A Driving Experience  

     As a young girl, Margaret "Mattie" Knight never played with dolls, preferring to make toys for
her brothers instead. In 1849, Knight went to work in a cotton factory where she witnessed a
"shuttle," a device that carries thread back and forth across a textile loom(紡布機), fly off the
machine when the thread broke, striking and killing a young boy about her own age.
     The 12-year-old Knight developed a safety mechanism that made it impossible for a shuttle to
leave the loom. The design was so effective, soon virtually every new power loom carried her
invention, saving countless workers from injury or death. Being so young, she didn't bother to
patent the device, so she never received payment.
     Knight wouldn't make the same mistake later in life when she invented a machine that could
produce flat-bottomed paper bags. Knight had built a small wooden model in her home, but she
needed a metal version to show it could hold up to the stress of mass production. So she hired
Charles Annan to make the full-sized machine for her, only to have him try to claim the patent for
himself. When Knight sued(起訴), Annan's argument was that the design had to be his, because
no woman could possibly understand the complex mechanics. Knight proved him wrong when
she brought back her wooden prototype and explained how every part worked. She won the
case in 1871, making her the second woman to hold an American patent. Over a hundred years
later, her design is still used as the basis for many modern flat-bottom bag machines.
     But that wasn't the last the world heard of Mattie Knight. During her lifetime, she made about
90 inventions and received 26 patents, becoming one of the most productive female inventors of
the 19th century.

1. We can learn from Paragraph 1 that ________.

A. Knight behaved like boys
B. Knight had an unhappy childhood
C. Knight did a poor job of making toys
D. Knight liked inventing things as a child

2. What do we know about Knight's first invention?_______.

A. It is still used today.
B. It brought her great profit.
C. It was made when he was 20.
D. It reduced injuries at textile plants.

3. Knight sued Charles Annan because he _______.

A. stole the wooden model for the machine she invented.
B. failed to make the full-sized machine for her
C. tried to patent her invention for himself
D. kept the metal version for himself

4. What would be the best title for the text?_______.

A. Mattie Knight's fight for her patent
B. A great woman in the 19th century
C. "The female Edison", Mattie Knight
D. Great inventions, great woman

1. According to the first three paragraphs we know that _____.

A. Bobby's sisters didn't help Bobby to buy a gift
B. Bobby had known what gift he’d give to his mother
C. the children in the family all loved their mother
D. Bobby's family was rich before his father died

2. Why did Bobby walk along the street?

A. Because he didn't know what to do.
B. Because he wanted to try his luck there.
C. Because he wanted to get some money.
D. Because he hoped to see what he could get.

3. What could he buy with a dime then?

A. A flower.
B. Nothing.
C. A piece of cake.
D. Many flowers.

4. Bobby slowly gave the dime to the shop owner because _______.

A. he did not want any rose flowers
B. the flowers weren't worth a dime
C. the shop owner would cheat him
D. he hardly believed what had happened

5. From the last two paragraphs we can infer that the shop owner ______.

A. was shocked by the voice he heard
B. was always ready to help others
C. didn't know how to run a business
D. was good at making up stories

     Driving to a friend's house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just
above my friend's rooftops. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it was
that most city people, myself included, usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives
indoors.
     My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him
then. It had touched much of his life.
     I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of
northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest-house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew
to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone
in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.   
     Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fibre-glass. We have televisions, cell phones,
pagers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.
     Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought:
before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk
in the mountains And perhaps write, but not in anger. I may become an old man there, and wear the
bottoms of my trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touch the moon.

1.The best title for the passage would be______.

A. The pleasures of modern life      
B. Touched by the moon
C. A bottomless well of silence  
D. Break away from modern life

2. What impressed the writer most in the mountainous jungle of northern India?

A. The nice moonlight      
B. Complete silence.
C. No modern equipment        
D. The high mountains

3. Modern things (Paragraph 4) are mentioned mainly to______.

A. show that the writer likes city life very much
B. tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life
C. show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them
D. explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature

4. The author wrote the passage to_______.

A. advise modern people to learn to live
B. show the love for the moonlight
C. express the feeling of returning to nature
D. want to communicate longing for modern life

     Kathy started at my nursery school at the age of three. She settled into the group easily, and would be
first on the slide and highest up the climbing frame. She could put on her coat without help and not only
fasten her own buttons but other children's too.
     She was a lovely child but unfortunately a scratcher. If anyone upset her or stood in her way, her right
hand would flash out fast and scratch down the face of her playmates. Children twice her age would fly in
fear from her.
     This must have been very rewarding for Kathy but obviously it had to be stopped. All the usual ways
failed and then I remembered an account by G Atkinson Highfield School, of how fights in the playground
had been stopped. No punishment had been given, but the attacker had been ignored and the victims rewarded.
So I decided to try out on Kathy.
     With a pocketful of Smarties I followed Kathy around. She was so quick that it was impossible to prevent
her scratching, but I was determined to stay within arm's length all afternoon.
     All was peaceful but then I saw Kathy's hand moved and heard the scream. Gently I gathered up the little
hurt one in my arms and said "Nice, nice sweetie" and then looked puzzled when she got nothing.
     Soon came another scream, this time from John. While holding him in my arms, I said, "Look, Kathy, a
nice Smartie for John" and put it into John's mouth.
     A smile of understanding flashed across Kathy's face. Minutes later, she came to me and said loudly, "Give
me a Smartie! I have hurt my finger!"  
     "No," I replied, "you'll get it if someone hurts you."
     On purpose, she turned and scratched a nearby boy, Tom, and waited quietly while I mothered and
rewarded him, then she walked away. She has never scratched a child since.
     Parents who find older children bullying younger brothers and sisters might do well to replace shouting
and punishment by rewarding and giving more attention to the injured ones. It's certainly much easier and
more effective.

1. From the passage, we know that Kathy is ______.

A. sensitive but slow
B. smart but a bit rude
C. independent but selfish
D. quick but sort of passive.

2. Kathy scratched Tom because ______.

A. she was angry at Tom, who was in her way
B. she wanted to get a Smartie from the teacher
C. she was in the habit of scratching other children
D. she wanted to know if the teacher meant what she had said

3. According to the passage, the underlined word "bullying" is closest in meaning to "______".

A. helping
B. punishing
C. hurting
D. protecting

4. The writer of this passage aims to recommend an approach to ______.

A. rewarding children's good behavior
B. correcting children's bad behavior
C. punishing badly-behaved children
D. praising well-behaved children