The trees arrived by post, a half – open parcel. They were him and straight, rather like arrows but with shiny leaves at one end and muddy roots at the other. Terry and his father took them down to the garden and planted them in their prepared places. Terry had great hopes of the middle tree, now set in the holy spot where Herry, his cat, run over, had been laid to rest a year before. The nine trees made an avenue down one side of the garden, where there was already a fifteen – foot stone wall between the garden and the backyards of the Jenkins Street houses.
“Why do we want a row of trees as well as a wall?” Terry asked his father. His father said, “For privacy. These trees grow very thickly.”
His father’s love of privacy often puzzled Terry, who was not one to keep himself to himself, but he could see part of the point here. The houses in Jenkins Street were on higher ground. His friend Leslie lived at number twelve, and he had only to stand on a box to see right over the wall.
“Will the trees grow higher than the wall?” Terry asked then. “Oh yes, twice as high if not more. It’ll take a few years but they’ll grow.”
So they were going to have nine trees thirty feet tall, to keep them from being overlooked. Terry wondered why this was so desirable. He said, “Our garden is very pretty. Why can’t we let the people over the wall see it? That wouldn’t be showing off, would it?”
“No, I don’t think it would be,” his father said. “Yet some people might feel a bit less happy if they can always see a good thing isn’t theirs. We don’t want to be the cause of any jealousy if we can help it.” This consideration for other people’s feelings must be a grown-up thing. Terry thought. It was not his idea of how to run things. He said, “It seems a lot of trouble to go to stop people being jealous of us.”
His father looked at him. “It isn’t much trouble, Terry,” he said. “These trees will grow without help from us. They’ll be beautiful. And you can already hear them whispering to us in the wind.”
1.Where were the trees going to be planted?
A．In front of the wall.
B．In the backyards of the Jenkins Street house.
C．In the middle of their garden.
D．In front of their house.
2.Terry called a part of the garden “the holy spot” because .
A．his cat was buried there
B．Henry had been run over there
C．Terry’s own tree was planted there
D．it was the middle of the garden
3.The underlined sentence, “… he could see part of the point here” (in Paragraph 3) means “ ”.
A．Terry could see part of the yard from the garden
B．Terry could see part of the house in Jenkins Street
C．Terry didn’t understand the meaning of “privacy”
D．Terry understood partially his father’s consideration for privacy
4.What didn’t Terry agree with?
A．Letting their neighbors what happened in the garden.
B．The way their neighbors treat his family
C．His father’s concern for people’s feelings
D．His father’s effort of hiding the trees in the garden
In a time of low academic achievement by children in the United States, many Americans are turning to Japan, a country of high academic achievement and economic success, for possible answers. However, the answers provided by Japanese preschools are not the ones Americans expected to find. In most Japanese preschools, surprisingly little emphasis is put on academic instruction. In one investigation, 300 Japanese and 210 American preschool teachers, child development specialists, and parents were asked about various aspects of early childhood education. Only 2 percent of the Japanese respondents (答问卷者) listed “to give children a good start academically” as one of their top three reasons for a society to have preschools. In contrast, over half the American respondents chose this as one of their top three choices. To prepare children for successful careers in first grade and beyond, Japanese schools do not teach reading, writing, and mathematics, but rather skills such as persistence(坚持不懈), concentration, and the ability to function as a member of a group. The vast majority of young Japanese children are taught to read at home by their parents.
In the recent comparison of Japanese and American preschool education, 91 percent of Japanese respondents chose providing children with a group experience as one of their top three reasons for a society to have preschools. Sixty-two percent of the more individually oriented (强调个性发展的) Americans listed group experience as one of their top three choices. An emphasis on the importance of the group seen in Japanese early childhood education continues into elementary school education.
Like in America, there is diversity in Japanese early childhood education. Some Japanese kindergartens have specific aims, such as early musical training or potential development. In large cities, some kindergartens are attached to universities that have elementary and secondary schools. Some Japanese parents believe that if their young children attend a university-based program, it will increase the children’s chances of eventually being admitted to top-rated schools and universities. Several more progressive programs have introduced free play as a way out for the heavy intellectualizing（知识化） in some Japanese kindergartens.
1.We learn from the first paragraph that many Americans believe ________.
A．Japanese parents are more involved in preschool education than American parents
B．Japan’s economic success is a result of its scientific achievements
C．Japanese preschool education emphasizes academic instruction
D．Japan’s higher education is superior to theirs
2.Most Americans surveyed believe that preschools should also attach importance to ________.
A．problem solving
B．group experience
C．parental guidance
D．individually-oriented development
3.Free play has been introduced in some Japanese kindergartens in order to .
A．broaden children’s horizons
B．encourage children’s creativity
C．lighten children’s study load
D．increase children’s knowledge
4.Why do some Japanese parents send their children to university – based kindergartens?
A．They can do better in their future studies.
B．They can accumulate more group experience there.
C．They can be individually – oriented when they grow up.
D．They can have better chances of getting a first – rate education.
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of difficulty. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting us in old age.
Books possess an essence (本质) of immortality (不朽). They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account to great thoughts, which are fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds which are fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out (筛选) the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die even in this world. Embalmed（保存） in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens. Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of old. The imperial intellects of the world are as much alive now as they were ages ago.
1.A man may usually be known by .
A．the books he reads B．the company he works in
C．his way of reading books D．how many old books he keeps
2.Which of the following is NOT a reason why a book may be among one’s best friends?
A．It will never change.
B．It is the most patient and cheerful of companions.
C．It doesn’t turn its back upon us.
D．It is only with us in times of happiness.
3.Why don’t the great and good ever die?
A．Because they have a long lifespan.
B．Because they like books.
C．Because they are statures.
D．Because their spirits are embalmed in books.
4.By writing the passage, the author wants to tell us .
A．how to make friends B．books can also be our best friends
C．the book is a living voice D．how to read books
‘How lucky you are to be a doctor …’ Anyone who’s a doctor is right out of luck, I thought. Anyone who’s studying medicine should have his head examined.
You may think I want to change my job. Well, at the moment I do. As one of my friends says－even doctors have a few friends－it’s all experience. Experience! I don’t need such experience. I need a warm, comfortable, undisturbed bed of my own. I need it badly. I need all telephones to be thrown down the nearest well, that’s what I need.
All these thoughts fly round my head as I drive my Mini(微型汽车) through the foggy streets of East London at 3:45 a.m. on a December morning. I am a ministering angel in a Mini with a heavy coat and a bag of medicines. As I speed down Lea Bridge in the dark at this horrible morning hour, the heater first blowing hot then cold, my back aching from the car-seat, I do not feel like a ministering angel. I wish I were on the beach in southern France. Call me a bad doctor if you like. Call me what you will. But don’t call me at half past three on a December morning for an ear-ache that you have had for two weeks.
Of course, being a doctor isn’t really all bad. We do have our moments. Once in a while people are ill, once in a while you can help, once in a while you get given a cup of tea and rock-hard cake at two o’clock in the morning－then you worry if you have done everything. But all too often ‘everything’ is a repetitious rule: look, listen, feel, tap, pills, injection, phone, ambulance, away to the next.
And then there is always the cool, warm voice of the girl on the switchboard of the emergency bed service who will get your patient into hospital for you－the pleasant voice that comes to you as you stand in the cold, dark, smelly, dirty telephone box somewhere in a dangerous section of town. Oh, it has its moments, this life does.
1.According to the sentence “Anyone who’s studying medicine should have his head examined,” we know that ___________.
A．a medical student should have a very good memory
B．a doctor must be mentally strong so that he can meet any difficult situation
C．the writer thinks that those who want to be doctors are crazy
D．to be a doctor is a challenge for people’s mental health
2.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A．The writer wishes he could have a quiet, undisturbed night in bed at home.
B．One of his friends says that being a doctor helps one gain all sorts of experience.
C．He hates the telephone as a modern means of communication.
D．He is not happy with the small and uncomfortable car he is driving.
3.The statement “We do have our moments” could best be replaced by “___________”.
A．we doctors are called at a moment’s notice to see people who need medical treatment
B．usually we are glad that we can do something to help the sick
C．sometimes we find people are thankful for our help
D．there are chances that doctors find their work rewarding and satisfying
4.From the whole passage we know that the writer _____________.
A．is a bad doctor, unwilling to make a house call during the night-time
B．is so dissatisfied with his job that he wishes to find a new one
C．is satisfied with his job but he hates to be called out unnecessarily
D．thinks a doctor can enjoy certain special rights whether he felt lucky or not
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题的四个选项中选出最佳选项。
I can honestly say it was the best of times and the worst of times. I was joyfully 1my first child at the same time that my once – energetic mother was 2her battle with brain cancer.
For ten years, my courageous mother had fought, but none of the operations or other 3
had been successful. As she grew closer and closer to death, my baby grew closer and closer to life My biggest 4fear was that their lives would never 5- she and my baby could never 6each other.
My fear seemed 7. A few weeks before my 8date, mother went into a deep coma (昏迷) and doctors said she would never 9. So we brought her to her own house. As often as I could, I 10her about the baby moving inside me. I hoped that somehow 11inside, she knew.
On February 3rd, at about the same time my labor（分娩）started at hospital, the nurse at the house told me the 12news: Mom opened her yes, sitting up and smiling. I asked for the phone to be 13to mom’s ear.
“Mom, you will have a new grandchild!”
“Yes! Yes! I know.”
Four words, four 14and beautiful words!
For the next two miracle weeks after I brought Jacob home, she gave us joy, smiling, holding Jacob and speaking to the family in complete 15. Then she quietly slipped back into a coma 16and was finally free 17the pain forever.
Memories of my son’s birth will always be 18for me, but it was at this time that I learned an important truth about living. 19both joy and sorrow are lasting only a short time, and often intertwined (相互纠缠), love has the 20to face both. And love can last forever.
1.A．hoping B．expecting C．waiting for D．taking care of
2.A．continuing B．starting C．completing D．losing
3.A．treatments B．methods C．measures D．injections
4.A．dull B．unmoved C．unconscious D．disabled
5.A．combine B．connect C．mix D．gather
6.A．replace B．bless C．know D．inspire
7.A．well – founded B．well – informed C．well – known D．well – planned
8.A．ready B．final C．due D．fixed
9.A．come over B．come up C．come out D．come around
10.A．discussed with B．talked to C．explained to D．described to
11.A．deep B．dangerous C．magic D．mysterious
12.A．strange B．disappointing C．impossible D．imaginary
13.A．built B．set C．felt D．put
14.A．accurate B．slow C．clear D．truthful
15.A．words B．idioms C．descriptions D．sentences
16.A．state B．setting C．reaction D．silence
17.A．off B．against C．from D．beyond
18.A．light – heart B．bitter – sweet C．nice D．fresh
19.A．If B．As C．Since D．While
20.A．power B．strength C．force D．energy
I want to buy that kind of cloth because I the cloth well.
A．have told; washed B．have been told; washes
C．have been told; is washed D．was told; washed
