About a year ago, I went to stay at a Detroit hotel. I didn't want to carry too much money with me, so I
asked the desk clerk to put a hundred- dollar bill in the safe for me.
     The next morning, however, the clerk said he knew nothing about my money. I didn't have any proof (證
據(jù)) that I had given the man the money. There was nothing I could do but go to the nearest lawyer.
     The lawyer advised me to return to the hotel with him and give another hundred-dollar bill to the clerk.
This I did. An hour later, I went back to the desk and asked for my money. Because I had the lawyer as an
eyewitness to the second hundred-dollar bill, the clerk could not say he knew nothing about it.
     Another hour later, I put the second part of the lawyer's plan into action. This time both the lawyer and I
went to the hotel. I asked for the hundred-dollar bill once again, and when the clerk insisted he had already
given it to me, I denied (否認(rèn)) it. The lawyer said to him, "I saw this gentleman give you a hundred dollars.
If you don't return it immediately, I'll be forced to call the police."
     The clerk realized he had been tricked, so he gave me back the first hundred-dollar bill.
     "I don't know how to thank you enough for getting my money back," I said to the lawyer. And what you
suppose he answered? He said, "Oh, don't thank me. That will be a hundred dollars, please."

1. The man went to a Detroit hotel one day to _____.

A. get his money back
B. put a hundred-dollar bill in the safe
C. ask to be a desk clerk
D. stay for the night

2. The hotel clerk at last returned the first hundred-dollar bill to the man because _____.

A. he knew the lawyer's plan very well
B. he found the lawyer tricking him
C. he didn't want to get into trouble with the police
D. he wanted to give the man a surprise

3. It is clear that the hotel clerk was _____.

A. dishonest
B. ready to help
C. afraid of the lawyer
D. foolish

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The man didn't get his 200 dollars back.
B. The lawyer was happy that the man got both his bills back.
C. The lawyer asked for 100 dollars.
D. The man thanked the lawyer by paying him some money actively (主動地).

5. How do you think the man felt in the end?

A. Pleased.
B. Thankful.
C. Happy.
D. Sad.

                                                                 The Pillow
     At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my First volunteer project in
West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovcrcd that "our family" was living in a trailer (拖車) that
was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one
problem, another surfaced.
     We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house-something unusual but necessary
under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet
with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.
     On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family's three boys, Josh, Eric and
Ryan, "What do you want for your new room?" Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask
for, we were astonished when Josh respondcd, "I just want a bed."
     The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting
and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night.a few adults in our group drove to the
nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.
     When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain
ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.
     That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too
dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.
     As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, "What is that?"
     "A pillow," he replied.
     "What do you do with it?" Eric continued to ask. "When you go to sleep, you put your head on it, "I
answered softly. Tears came to my eyes as my father handed Eric the pillow.
     "Oh-that's soft," he said, hugging it tightly.
     Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my dad gently asks, "Do you
have a pillow?" We know exactly what he means.

1. The writer's first volunteer project was _____.

A. working on a poor trailer
B. helping a poor family
C. donating beds and bedding
D. dealing with a housing problem

2. On hearing Josh's answer, the writer was shocked because _____.

A. the family lived in a trailer
B. he expected to get some toys
C. he didn't know what a bed was
D.the boys had no bed to sleep in

3. From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen _____ before.

A. a trailer
B. a truck
C. a pillow
D. a house

4. By saying "Do you have a pillow?", the writer's father means that _____.

A. what they want to get may be unnecessary
B. they should not waste money on small things
C. they should do more volunteer work for the poor
D. what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow

     Eddie's father used to say he'd spent so many years by the ocean, breathing seawater. Now, away from
that ocean, in the hospital bed, his body began to look like a beached fish. His condition went from fair to
stable and from stable to serious. Friends went from saying, "He'll be home in a day," to "He'll be home in
a week" In his father's absence, Eddie helped out at the pier (碼頭), working evenings after his taxi job.
     When Eddie was a teenager, if he ever complained or seemed bored with the pier, his father would shout,
"What? This isn't good enough for you?" And later, when he'd suggested Eddie take a job there after high
school, Eddie almost laughed, and his father again said, "What? This isn't good enough for you?" And before
Eddie went to war, when he'd talked of marrying Marguerite and becoming an engineer, his father said,
"What? This isn't good enough for you?"
     And now, regardless of all that, here he was, at the pier, doing his father's labor.
     Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on They move away. It is
not until much later, as the heart weakens, that children understand: their stories, and all their accomplishments,
sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives. 
     Finally, one night, at his mother's urging, Eddie visited the hospital. He entered the room slowly. His father,
who for years had refused to speak to Eddie, now lacked the strength to even try.
     "Don't sweat it, kid," the other workers told him "Your old man will pull through. He's the toughest man
we've ever seen."
     When the news came that his father had died, Eddie felt the emptiest kind of anger, the kind that circles
in its cage.
     In the weeks that followed, Eddie's mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he
were still there. She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two. One night, when
Eddie offered to help with'the dishes, she said, "Your father will put them away." Eddie put a hand on her
shoulder. "Ma," he said, softly, "Dad's gone."
     "Gone where?"

1. In Paragraph 4, the writer indicates that _____.

A. Children like moving away from their parents
B. Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents
C. Children wouldn't have achieved so much without their parents' support
D. Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them

2. The underlined sentence probably means "_____".

A. Don't give it up 
B. Don't worry about it
C. Don't let him down
D. Don't touch it

3. Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
    a. Eddie's father died.
    b. Eddie worked as a taxi driver.
    c. Eddie married Marguerite.
    d. Eddie was bored with his father's job.

A. bacd
B. dcab
C. bcda
D. dcba

4. From the last part of the passage, we learn that _____.

A. Eddie's mother liked to listen to the radio
B. Eddie often helped his mother wash the dishes
C. Eddie and his wife lived in his mother's apartment
D. Eddie's mother missed her husband so much that she was at a loss

     Eight-year-old Jesse Arbogast was playing in the sea late one evening in July 2001 when a 7-foot bull
shark attacked him and tore off his arm. Jesse's uncle jumped into the sea and dragged the boy to shore.
The boy was not breathing. His aunt gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (人工呼吸) while his uncle
rang the emergency services. Pretty soon, a helicopter arrived and flew the boy to hospital. It was a much
quicker journey than the journey by road.
     Jesse's uncle, Vance Folsenzier, ran back into the sea and found the shark that had attacked his nephew.
He picked the shark up and threw it onto the beach. A coastguard shot the fish four times and although this
did not kill it, the shark's jaws relaxed so that they could open them, and reach down into its stomach, and
pull out the boy's arm.
     At the Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Dr Ian Rogers spent eleven hours reattaching Jesse's arm "It was a
complicated operation," he said, "but we were lucky. If the arm hadn't been recovered in time, we wouldn't
have been able to do the operation at all. What I mean is that if they hadn't found the shark, we wouldn't have
had a chance."
     According to local park ranger Jack Tomosvic, shark attacks are not that common "Jesse was just
unlucky," he says, "evening is the shark's feeding time. And Jesse was in an area without lifeguards. This
would never have happened if he had been in an area where swimming is allowed."
     When reporters asked Jesse's uncle how he had had the courage to fight a shark, he replied, "I was mad
and you do some strange things when you're mad."

1. What was the boy doing when the accident happened?

A. Feeding a hungry shark.
B. Jumping into the rough sea.
C. Dragging a boy to the shore.
D. Swimming in a dangerous area.

2. In which way did the boy's uncle help with the operation?

A. By finding his lost arm.
B. By shooting the fish.
C. By flying him to hospital.
D. By blowing into his mouth.

3. How was his uncle in time of danger?

A. Careful.
B. Brave.
C. Optimistic.
D. Patient.

                                                                 The Touchstone
     When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable
book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for very little money.
     The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It
was a thin strip of animal skin on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone was a
small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold.
     The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly
like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles were cold.
     So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began
testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were
cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into
the sea He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way.
Pick up a pebble. Cold-throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days continued over
a long period of time.
     One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw itinto the sea
before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea
that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
     So it is with opportunity. Unless we are cautious, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in
hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

1. The man bought the book because _____.

A. he wanted to read it
B. it was very interesting
C. there was a secret in the book
D. he wanted to find the touchstone

2. We can learn from the passage that the touchstone is _____.

A. pure
B. cold
C. magic
D. big

3. Why did the man throw-the pebbles into the sea?

A Because he didn't want to get the same pebbles. 
B. Because he didn't want others to pick them up.
C. Because he didn't like their ordinary looks.
D. Because he didn't like the cold feelings.

4. What does the author want to tell us in the passage?

A. We should create opportunities in our life.
B. We should seek for opportunities in the world.
C. We may seize opportunities when we are watchful.
D. We may discover opportunities when forming habits.