As a young child, I was quiet and shy. I was also sick for a long time. My parents worked, and I spent a lot of time at my grandparent’s home. While my grandmother cleaned the house and cooked, my grandfather played with me.

    I was six when my grandfather died. A few months before he died, he gave me a beautiful blue and white blanket (毯子). I loved the blanket very much because it made me think of my grandfather. But after a few years, the blanket didn’t look very good. It had holes and was dirty. I didn’t want to throw the blanket away, so my mother made the blanket into a book bag. I was proud of the book bag, and I used it to carry my books to school every day for a few years. Then the book bag was broken. I begged my mother to make something out of it. She made it into a pencil-box. After a few months, the pencil-box was broken, too. By then I could sew (缝), and I made the pencil-box into a small wallet.

    I used it for three years, but one day I lost it. I felt sad. My friends and family said, “Forget about it, Paul. You can’t make something out of nothing.”

    I thought about it for a while. I decided my friends and family were wrong. There was a way to make something out of nothing. I wrote down the story of my grandfather’s blanket.

1.From the story, we know that             .

A. Paul’s grandfather gave him a blanket   

B. the blanket made Paul think of his mother

C. a few years later the blanket was still new

D. Paul’s grandfather died when Paul was ten

2.Paul used the pencil-box for ________.

A. a few monthsB. two weeks   C. three yearsD. five years

3.Paul felt sad when he lost ________ one day.

A. the blanket    B. the book bag C. the wallet  D. the pencil-box

4.Paul wrote down the story to ____________.

A. pass the timeB. find the blanket

C. tell his grandfather D. remember his grandfather

Top student Lin Yijian had a problem recently . The 14-year-old boy from Xiamen used to get marks of over 110 points （out of 120 possible points）on his math tests . But during last semester’s final exams , his math score was only 90 points .

It was a shock . “I didn’t know what happened , ”said Lin , who kept feeling nervous and frustrated（沮丧的）about math during the following month. .

Like Lin , many of us have setbacks（挫折）in life . What would you do to deal with these setbacks ? Would you just let them be and give up ？

Lin chose to face his problem . His parents and teacher also gave him help . After some hard work he now gets marks between 100 and110 points on his math tests . Although he still isn’t at his original（原来的）level , Lin doesn’t panic anymore .

“Don’t be scared by setbacks ,”he said . “You will beat it . ”

Chen Xingzhu in Shenzhen also has a story to tell . The 15-year-old girl is not good at doing sit-ups（仰卧起坐），which is necessary for the coming high school PE entrance exam（体育中考）. One has to do at least 35 sit-ups in a minute to pass the test . Most of Chen’s classmates can do 40 . However , Chen could only do 20 .

Feeling worried , Chen decided to do something . She did sit-ups for half an hour every day after school . Now , after a month , she can do 30 sit-ups a minute .

“I finally found what made me slow through continuous （持续的）practice and then improved little by little , ”said Chen . “I believe next month I will be able to do 40 !”

1.What problem did Lin YIjian have recently ?

A. He used to get high marks .     

B . He did well in math .

C. He did not so well as bofore in math .      

D . He had no time to study math .

2.According to the passage , which is NOT true among the following statements ?

A. Lin chose to face his problems .     

B . His parents and teachers also helped him .

C. After some hard work , he now gets marks over 110 points .    

D. Lin faced his problems instead of giving up .

3.What problems does Chen Xingzhu have according to the passage ?

A. He is also not good at math .      

B. He is also not good at PE .

C. He is also not good at sit-ups .       

D. He is also not good at PE entrance exam .

1.If you want to find a job as a waiter, you can go to __________.

A. 50 Haier RoadB. Red Rose Restaurant

C. Bird’s Next StadiumD. Sunny Seafood Restaurant

2.If Tom and his father go to watch the football game, they will pay _________.

A. ￥50B. ￥55C. ￥100D. ￥110

3.Father’s Day is coming, and Jenny wants to invite her father to dinner. She should call _______.

A. 586-5552B. 223-3561C. 325-6789D. 323-3789

There was once a lonely girl who wanted love very much. One day      she was walking in the forests, she found two dying birds. She took them home and put them in a small      . She was happy to have two “friends”. She     them with love and the birds grew strong. One day the girl happened to     the door of the cage open. The larger and the     of the two flew out of the cage. The girl was     that it would fly away. She caught it quickly. She felt glad that she caught the bird before it could fly away. Suddenly she couldn’t     a sound from the bird. When she opened her     , the bird was already dead. Her       killed the bird！Then she noticed        bird jumping up and down inside the cage. She could feel        great need for freedom. It wanted to fly into the clear, blue     . So she lifted it from the cage and let it fly away     . The bird circled once, twice, and three times. The girl watched as the bird flew. She didn’t care about       the bird any more. She wanted it to be happy. Suddenly the bird flew closer and landed softly on her shoulder. It sang the     song she had ever heard.

The fastest way to lose love is to hold on it too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings(翅膀).

1.A. whileB. after  C. before  D. until

2.A. boxB. basket C. cageD. bag

3.A. looked for B. looked at C. looked afterD. looked over

4.A. forget B. leaveC. lockD. close

5.A. strongerB. lazierC. weakerD. smaller

6.A. gratefulB. proudC. afraidD. happy

7.A. listenB. makeC. describeD. hear

8.A. doorB. windowC. handD. mouth

9.A. loveB. jokeC. luckD. wish

10.A. one B. the other C. anotherD. other

11.A. itB. its C. it’s  D. it was

12.A. seaB. hill C. forestD. sky

13.A. angrilyB. happily C. loudly  D. highly

14.A. losingB. loving C. killing  D. feeding

15.A. worst B. oldest  C. newestD. sweetest

—Would you mind not playing soccer in the street?

—___________. We’ll go and play in the park.

A. Of course. B. Thank you    C. Sorry D. It doesn’t matter.

—Don’t litter the ground, boy. Look at the sign, “Rubbish must be thrown into the dustbin.”

—Sorry, I’ll __________ right now.

A. pick it up B. put it up C. pick up it D. put up it

—The twins are quite different. Sam is wild while Tom is quiet.

—Yeah, Sam is ___________ than Tom.

A. less outgoing B. more outgoing  C. much taller D. more serious

—What is the most important for us to learn well as students?

—I think your teacher should ________ carefully in class?

A. be listened B. listen to  C. be listening to D. be listened to

—Jim, could you tell me if you _____________ our party tomorrow?

—I think I will if I _____________ free.

A. will take part in, will be B. take part in, am

C. will take part in, am  D. would take part in, will be

—You __________ in the south of China, didn’t you?

—Yes, but now I like living here though it’s cold all the year around.

A. are used to living B. were used to living C. used to live D. didn’t use to