When a first-time father saw his newborn son, he immediately noticed the baby's ears obviously standing out from his head. He expressed his concern to the nurse that some children might tease his child. A doctor examined the baby and reassured the new dad that his son was healthy- the ears presented only a minor problem with its appearance.
But the nervous father persisted. He wondered if the child might suffer psychological effects of ridicule, or if they should consider plastic surgery. The nurse assured him that it was really no problem, and he should just wait to see if the boy grows into his ears.
The father finally felt more optimistic about his child, but now he worried about his wife's reaction to those large ears. She had been delivered by operation, and had not yet seen the child.
“She doesn't take things as easily as I do,” he said to the nurse.
By this time, the new mother was settled in the recovery room and ready to meet her new baby. The nurse went along with the dad to lend some support in case this inexperienced mother became upset about her baby's large ears.
The baby was in a receiving blanket with his head covered for the short trip through the cold air-conditioned corridor. The baby was placed in his mother's arms, who eased the blanket back so that she could look at her child for the first time.
She took one look at her baby's face and looked to her husband and gasped, “Oh, Honey! Look! He has your ears!”
No problem with Mom. She married those ears...and she loves the man to whom they are attached.
The poet Kahlil Gibran said, “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” It's hard to see the ears when you're looking into the light.
【小題1】When the father first saw his baby, he was worried that________.

A．The baby might not grow up healthily

B．The baby might be laughed at by others.

C．The baby might disappoint its mother

D．the baby might have mental problems.

【小題2】According to the doctor and nurse, the baby’s ears________.

A．could not function well.	B．looked the same as others.
C．only caused a small problem.	D．needed to have plastic surgery.

【小題3】 What is true about the baby’s mother?

A．She blamed her husband for the baby’s big ears.

B．She was the first to discover the baby’s large ears.

C．She suggested having an operation on the baby immediately.

D．She found something similar between the baby and its father.

【小題4】 What does the underlined word they refer to?

A．The ears.	B．The parents
C．The doctor and nurse.	D．The problems

【小題5】 What’s the function of the last paragraph?

A．To advise readers to listen carefully.

B．To draw a conclusion from the story.

C．To criticize the wrong attitude to physical beauty.

D．To stress the importance of doctor-patient relationship.

In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand (木架) with a small notepad (記事本)　and a hole for a pencil.
I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely  the original one.
“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these years.” I say to her, walking back into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”
My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly  well. I’ve  always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in those days.”
Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”
This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have travelled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible (看不到的) exhibits at every meal.
【小題1】Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A．To leave messages.

B．To list her everyday tasks.

C．To note down maths problems.

D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

【小題2】What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A．It has great value for the family.

B．It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C．It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D．It should be passed on to the next generation.

【小題3】The author feels embarrassed for             .

A．blaming her mother wrongly

B．giving her mother a lot of trouble

C．not making good use of time as her mother did

D．not making any breakthrough in her field

【小題4】What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The mother is successful in her career.

B．The family members like travelling.

C．The author had little time to play when young.

D．The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

【小題5】In the author’s mind, her mother is             .

A．strange in behaviour

B．keen on her research

C．fond of collecting old things

D．careless about her appearance

Isn’t it cool to surf (沖浪) in summer? You catch a wave and enjoy the ride. Surfing is not only our favorite sport, though. A group of penguins (企鵝) enjoy the sport as much as we do. And they show their excitement and skills in the new animated film —Surf`s Up, which came out on June 6, in the US.
Cody loves the sport. Cody’s idol (偶像) is Big Z, a great penguin surfing king. Cody doesn’t like his brother and his mother who are not supportive. He really wants to get away. Cody believes that winning a surfing competition will bring him admiration and respect. When Mikey Abromowitz, a talent scout (偵察員), comes to Antarctica to look for talented penguins for a surfing competition, Cody’s really excited, but during his show there are no waves and he doesn’t make it. But he knows he can’t give up. He runs after Mikey’s whale and begs until Mikey agrees to take him.
There Cody meets Lani, the island’s beautiful lifeguard, as well as his main rival (對手), the surfing champion Evans. The cocky Evans shows no respect for Big Z, which makes Cody angry. For this, he challenges Evans to a surfing match, only to suffer a terrible defeat.
Lani takes Cody to the island doctor. As they spend time together, Cody realizes that this doctor is really Big Z himself. When he learns this, Cody begs him to train him and make him a better surfer.
Cody begins to find his own way. Cody improves his skills with the help of Big Z and discovers that a true winner isn’t always the one who comes in first.
【小題1】The passage mainly tells us ______.

A．that winning can bring you good luck and respect

B．how a penguin can be a good surfer

C．a(chǎn)bout a new animated film —Surf`s Up

D．a(chǎn)bout the life of a teenage penguin called Cody

【小題2】Which of the following statements about Big Z is NOT true?

A．He is a great penguin surfing king.

B．He doesn’t help Cody with surfing although Cody begs him.

C．He works as a doctor after he leaves surfing.

D．He is loved by the teenage penguin Cody.

【小題3】The underlined part “doesn’t make it” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.

A．feels very sad	B．can’t breathe freely
C．is not successful	D．can’t continue surfing

【小題4】Which of the following statements about Cody is NOT true?

A．He likes surfing and lives in Antarctica.

B．He thinks winning will win him the respect of others at first.

C．He gets along well with his brother and his mother.

D．He is defeated by Evans in a surfing match.

Say you are a 17th century construction worker who’s worked hard to build a splendid tower for the dead wife of your emperor.
Now say that the emperor orders your fingertips cut off so you can never build another one. Yes, this story is about the Taj Mahal, one of the most famous buildings in the world. And the tale behind the construction is just as impressive (令人贊嘆的) as the building itself.
First, there’s the emperor of northern India, Shah Jehan, also called the King of the World. In 1612, Shah Jehan married Mumtaz Mahal. Mad in love, they had 14 children over the next 20 years. But then sadness came. As Mumtaz was about to give birth to child number 14, she said she heard her unborn baby cry out. It was a sign of death. And as Mumtaz lay dying, she asked Jehan to build a lasting memorial (紀(jì)念物) to celebrate their love.
The heartbroken Jehan ordered his wife’s dying wish carried out, and more than 20,000 workers worked nearly 22 years to complete the construction. In 1653, Jehan placed Mumtaz’s remains under the center of the building.
Later, son number five, Aurangzeb, murdered his brothers and took over the power from his aging father. Jehan lived the rest of his days, eight years, imprisoned not far from the Taj Mahal. Jehan was only allowed to climb onto the top of his prison to see the timeless treasure from a distance. But never again would he be allowed to visit it until he was buried next to his wife.
Today 25,000 people visit the Taj Mahal each day. Though the reason for building the tower was a strange and sad story, people who see its breath-taking beauty are reminded of the happiness that inspired its construction.
【小題1】The first two paragraphs were written mainly to show that ______.

A．the Taj Mahal is an unusual historic building

B．India has some of the most famous buildings in the world

C．a(chǎn)ncient Indian emperors were cruel

D．construction workers led a hard life in ancient India

【小題2】The Taj Mahal was first built as ______.

A．a(chǎn) memorial building	B．a(chǎn) tourist attraction
C．a(chǎn) prison	D．a(chǎn) gift to Mumtaz

【小題3】From the passage we can learn that Mumtaz probably died in ______.

A．1626

B．1653

C．1632

D．1634

【小題4】The underlined word “happiness” in the last paragraph refers to “______”.

A．the happiness Jehan felt on completing the Taj Mahal

B．the pleasure tourists experience when visiting the Taj Mahal

C．the married happiness of the emperor and his wife

D．the great pleasure Jehan once found in exercising his power

Frank Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York, in 1852. His family were very poor farmers, and there was never enough to eat. Frank decided he did not want to be a farmer. He took a short business course, and went to work as a salesman in a large city.
Woolworth realized he had a natural skill for showing goods to attract people’s interest, but he soon learned something more important. One day his boss told him to sell some odds and ends (小商品) for as much as he could get. Frank put all these things on one table with a sign which said FIVE CENTS EACH. People fought and pushed to buy the things and the table was soon cleared.
Soon afterwards, Woolworth opened his own store, selling goods at five and ten cents. But he had another lesson to learn before he became successful. That is, if you want to make money by selling low-price goods, you have to buy them in large quantities directly from the factories. Once, for example, Woolworth went to Germany and placed an order for knives. The order was so large that the factory had to keep running 24 hours a day for a whole year. In this way, the price of the knives was cut down by half.
By 1919, Woolworth had over 1000 stores in the US and Canada, and opened his first store in London. He made many millions and his name became famous throughout the world. He always run his business according to strict rules, of which the most important was: “ THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT.”
【小題1】Frank took a short business course in order to _________.

A．learn something from a salesman	B．get away from the farm
C．earn more money for his family	D．get enough to eat.

【小題2】Frank sold the odds and ends quickly because _________.

A．he had put the goods on a table in a very nice way

B．he cut down the price by half

C．the sign he put on the table was well designed

D．he knew how to get people to buy his goods.

【小題3】The price of the knives was cut down by half because ________.

A．knives were ordered in large quantities directly from the factory.

B．the factory workers worked 24 hours a day

C．the knives were made in Germany, where labour was cheap.

D．the knives were produced in one factory.

【小題4】 ________ make Woolworth a world-famous man.

A．The low price of the goods he sold

B．His business skills and his wealth

C．His trip to Germany and his huge order of knives

D．His natural skill for showing things

【小題5】The belief that “ The customer is always right” suggests that ________.
A.whenever there is a quarrel between the customer and shop assistant, the customers are always right.
B If you want to succeed, the rule is the only way.
C.stores should do their best to meet the customer’s needs if they want to be successful.
D.stores must always follow the customer’s orders if they want to make more money.