Although I didn’t have any interest in being a school bus driver, I became one. Many years later, I was still working on the school bus. There are so many good reasons. Firstly, the talk brought me different kinds of information. I also got to hear all the family secrets of the newcomers. I have a toy bear who was a great comforter(安慰者) for the little ones. The kids got to look after him on the trip to school and he waited patiently for them to get on for the trip home.
Our bus would often pass a place where we could see some alpacas (羊驼) in front of a farm house. Little Michael would cry excitedly from the seat, “Look, Miss! Look at the camels!” He used to put his head out of the bus window. When I warned him that a little insect would come into his nose if he wasn’t careful, he smartly gave up the habit.
I remember a little girl got on the bus one morning 5 years ago and sobbed(抽泣) all the way to school. We arrived at the school gate. As she waited to get down the bus, she threw her arms around my neck and cried that her grandfather had died the night before.
A school bus driver needs to keep one eye on the road and the other on the mirror to watch what the little ones are doing down the back.
Now, it’s important to think how many lives I’ve been responsible(负责的) for, and how many kilometers I’ve driven in order to get my passengers home safely during the 20 years. I’ve enjoyed it, but it’s time to rest and park my school bus.
1.What does the underlined word “them” in the first paragraph refer to (所指)?
A. toy bearsB. kids
C. school buses D. secrets
2.Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Children didn’t like the driver.
B. The driver likes the job all the time.
C. The little girl was excited at seeing the camels.
D. Children sometimes talked about their family secrets on the bus.
3.The writer didn’t give up her job because .
A. driving was her hobby
B. children made her valuable
C. drivers were paid well
D. children loved her toy bear
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what "keeping up withthe Joneses" is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant(仆人) and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it "Keeping up with the Joneses" because "Jones" is a very common name in the United States. "Keeping up with the Joneses" came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’ s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
1.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they _______.
A. want to be as rich as their neighbors
B. want others to know or to think that they are rich
C. don't want others to know they are rich
D. want to make themselves happy
2.It can be inferred（推断）from the story that rich people like to_______.
A. live outside New York City B. live in New York city
C. live in apartments D. have many neighbors
3.According to the writer, it is_______ to keep up with the Joneses.
A. correct B. interesting
C. impossible D. good
Birthdays are celebrated all over the world. Some ways to celebrate birthdays are rather similar from county to country---candles, cakes and birthday wishes. But there are also different ways to celebrate birthdays. Here are a few:
Denmark
A flag is flown outside a window to show that someone who lives in the house is having a birthday. Presents are placed around the child’s bed while he is sleeping so he will see them at once when he wakes up. |
Usually Indian children wear white to school. However, on their birthdays, children wear colored clothes to school and give out chocolate to everyone in the class. Their best friends help them to do this. |
Japan
The birthday child wears new clothes to mark the special time. Certain birthdays are more important than others. These are the third and seventh for girls and fifth for boys. | Holland
The birthday child receives an especially large present. The family also puts flowers on the birthday child’s chair to make it beautiful. |
1.When someone is having a birthday in Denmark, what can you see outside the window? A. flowers B. presents C. a flag D. a chair
2.Flowers are put on the chair of the birthday child in .
A. JapanB. DenmarkC. IndiaD. Holland
3. In India, birthday children .
A. give out chocolate to their classmates
B. share chocolate with their best friends
C. go to school in white clothes
D. wear new clothes to mark the special time
Street art is a very popular form of art. It is quickly all over the world. You can find it on buildings and street signs from Beijing to Paris.
Art experts(专家) say that the movement began in New York in the 1960s. Young adults would use paint in specialcans to put their words and other images on walls and cars the city. One well-known street artist is Swoon. She paper images of people and puts them on walls. Swoon didn’t start her career as a street artist. She studied art, but time went on, she got bored with the works she saw in museums or galleries(美术馆). The people in New York enjoy Swoon’s strong and interesting .
Street artists do their work for a reason. Some of them choose street art because it is to the people. Some artists try to express their opinions in their works. Advertising companies also use street art in their advertisements because it gives the deep impression(印象)and energy. The New York store Saks Fifth Avenue used a street artist’s design for their shop windows and shopping bags.
In today’s world the Internet has a big on street art. Artists can show their pictures to the audience all over the world on the Internet. Many people, , say that seeing a picture on the Internet is never as good as seeing it live. Street art lives with the energy and life of a big . There it will continue to change and grow.
1.A．watchingB．makingC．spreading D．searching
2.A．behind B．byC．overD．around
3.A．cuts downB．cuts outC．turns downD．runs out
4.A．as B．afterC．beforeD．while
5.A．styleB．story C．problemD．program
6.A．saferB．lower C．closerD．stranger
7.A．hardly B．recentlyC．seldomD．never
8.A．success B．discountC．presentD．influence
9.A．anyway B．however C．otherwise D.therefore
10.A．museumB．country C．city D．street
---Mike, do you enjoy your present job?
--- . I just do it for a living.
A. Of course B. Not really
C. Not likely D. Not a little
Because of the terrible earthquake, some people became homeless and they had to ________the tents for the night.
A. put away B. put up C. put off D. put down
