Many years ago, I pulled a family out of a burning car somewhere in Wyoming. Last week I received a telephone call from a woman who could not stop crying as she told me that one of my stories had saved her son from committing suicide. In closing she called me a hero.
That got me thinking about what a hero is. Was I a hero because I pulled a family from a burning car? If so, how could I be a hero just because I wrote a story that saved someone’s life?
Today I looked up the word “hero” in the dictionary to see exactly what it meant. It read “a person who does something brave” and also “a person who is good and noble”.
That statement impressed me more than the part about being brave. So I thought about something very important. And I remembered what happened to me years ago.
After my marriage of twenty years ended, I was in such a condition. I was within hours trying to get up enough courage to end the pain and misery. When I returned home, someone had sent me a card in the mail which told me how much they would appreciate me as a friend. That wonderful card probably saved my life. That person, without even knowing it, saved a life and became a hero.
The many stories I kept writing in the following years saved the life of a teenage boy. In turn that makes the person who sent me the card a double hero. I suppose that is why I fight so hard to help the children now living in orphanages (孤兒院). Most children come out of these institutions with a very hard and bitter attitude against the world. The gifts we send them let them know that they have not been forgotten. Hopefully, most of them will never hurt anyone because of the kindness shown to them by those of us who cared. If it works, we will also become "heroes".
小題1:The main idea of the passage is _______________.

A．why the writer should be a hero	B．that everyone is a hero
C．whether the writer is a hero	D．what a hero exactly is

小題2:Why did the woman call the writer a hero at the end of the call?

A．Because he asked her son not to kill himself.

B．Because he saved a family from a burning car.

C．Because his story saved her son’s life.

D．Because he was cute and kind to everybody.

小題3:What does the underlined word “it” in the last sentence of Paragraph 5 refer to?

A．The fact that the sender helped the writer.

B．The action of sending the card.

C．The wonderful card the writer received.

D．The fact that the sender was a friend of the writer.

小題4:According to the writer, who can be considered as a hero?

A．A person who is brave.

B．A person who helps someone in trouble.

C．A person who can hold a door for others.

D．A person who writes wonderful stories.

Flowers only bloom(開(kāi)花) when they are planted in the right soil. That is also true for me.
I first moved to Foxboro, Massachusetts, as a single mother with my baby daughter, Darcy. I was drawn to its New England beauty, friendly people and rich history. It happened that there were a lot of forsythia(連翹) bushes around the house in which I lived just like my childhood home. I joined St. Mark’s Episcopal Church where I taught the Sunday school. At church, I met my second husband, Dean. For more than 25 years, I bloomed in Foxboro, and I had another two children.
Then, when Darcy was a few years out of college, she moved to Alameda, California, to be near friends. I missed her badly. A year later my beloved husband Dean had deadly cancer. He only made it eight months. My heart was broken. Later I moved to Alameda with my children. It was a beautiful Victorian island, and I was grateful to spend more time with Darcy. I even attended a church and made a few friends there. Still, I couldn’t help but miss Foxboro. It had everything and everyone I loved.
One spring day, when I was walking by a school, something yellow caught my eyes. Forsythia bushes! They made me homesick and I kept back my tears. “I miss you, Foxboro,” I whispered. Then I went into a shop and looked at some ceramic(陶瓷的) pots lined up on a shelf. A large white one seemed to catch my attention. “That’ll be perfect in my living room,” I thought.
I turned it over to look at the price. Instead I found these words: “New England Pottery, Foxboro, Massachusetts.” A piece of artwork, from my second hometown, was right here. It was able to spread across the country and so were forsythia bushes. I took it as a sign that I can bloom, right where I am.
小題1:From the text we learn that the author ____.

A．gave birth to three children in Foxboro

B．planted forsythia bushes around her house

C．got to know her second husband at church

D．worked as a middle school teacher in Foxboro

小題2:The author moved to Alameda so that she could ____.

A．have more time together with Darcy

B．forget the sorrow at her husband’s death

C．visit her children at Alameda College frequently

D．enjoy the beautiful scenery on the Victorian island

小題3:When the author saw forsythia bushes at a school she _____.

A．wanted to buy a ceramic pot to put them in

B．thought of her life in Foxboro

C．felt they would look great in her living room

D．believed they were real art work

小題4:Why does the author compare herself to flowers?

A．Because she wanted to show she likes flowers.

B．Because she can live in any place that is right like flowers.

C．Because she moved across the country just like flowers.

D．Because girls are like flowers that are blooming.

Love and Friendship
They are both so much related to each other. And both are so dissimilar! What are the differences between friendship and love? Is platonic(柏拉圖式的) friendship possible between persons of the opposite sex? ___小題1:____
What is friendship? Why do we call a person our friend? When do we call someone a very good friend? If we care for a person, if we are always ready to help that person and if we share most of our thoughts with a person, they are our good friends. We can always count upon our good friends in an emergency. We are always sure that our friends will understand why we acted in a certain way. ___小題2: ___ The friendship is so deep and the relationship is so intimate, that most of the things are automatically understood by our friends.
__小題3:____ In a relationship of deep love, all the sharing that we discussed above is taken for granted. But love transcends(超出) all this. During love, we are attached with a particular person, while in friendship, one may have many friends. A loving relationship makes one so much attached to the other that one gets pained if his/her beloved is hurt! Love also involves a physical element. ____小題4:____ This is a vital difference. Nature gives us love so that the species can go forward. Nature does not give us friendship.
Your heart beats will never increase in anticipation of meeting your friend. ___小題5:_____ You will not feel totally lost, if you don’t meet your friend for a few days. You will not have dreams in your eyes thinking about your friend. But in love, you will do all this and much more. Indeed, there is no comparison between love and friendship.

A．What about love?

B．My answer is “Yes”.

C．Let us try and understand.

D．Friendship does not have that.

E.We need not explain anything to our very good friends.
F.You will not lie awake at night thinking about your friend.
G.The physical element may include hand in hand while walking.

I had not seen my parents for a long time. Last Saturday I drove a long way to visit them,  36   neither of them was at home. So I waited patiently at their home  37 their return. Not seeing them made me really  38 .
As I was walking around their bedroom, I  39 little reminders of them. Some Christmas gifts were still  40 in boxes. There were  41 on the wall, which I guess must have a  42 meaning to them. What took my breath away was seeing my dad’s emblems（徽章）from his military service of our country  43 he was young. My father never  44 to us about the Korean Wars. As I looked at those emblems hanging  45 with all the photos that he treasures, I  46 that this was an important part of his life, but I never spent the  47 in talking with him about them. The photos of my mom with her close  48 made me realize her life before she was my mom. I had been so  49 running my business to raise my own family that I  50 the chance to know about their past and experience.
We sometimes don’t realize something is  51 for us until we have lost it, so it’s not too late for us to talk to our parents about their past. I am writing my story to  52 everyone who is fortunate to still have their parents  53 to invest some time to learn about them. I am grateful to have  54 of my parents. So I still have time to talk with them. I hope that readers will  55 from my story and find the time to talk about those things in their life that mean so much to their parents.

小題1:	A．a(chǎn)nd B．but C．or D．so

小題2:	A．for B．to C．of D．in

小題3:	A．frightened B．embarrassed C．upset D．excited

小題4:	A．sought B．took C．needed D．saw

小題5:	A．kept B．folded C．hidden D．covered

小題6:	A．Santa Claus B．family trees C．family photos D．old clothes

小題7:	A．simple B．real C．past D．special

小題8:	A．if B．when C．though D．until

小題9:	A．talked B．explained C．showed D．referred

小題10:

A．finally B．clearly C．proudly D．openly

小題11:

A．promised B．declared C．a(chǎn)dmitted D．realized

小題12:

A．courage B．time C．chance D．energy

小題13:

A．friends B．teachers C．students D．children

小題14:

A．strict B．eager C．busy D．blind

小題15:

A．rejected B．a(chǎn)voided C．delayed D．missed

小題16:

A．hopeful B．important C．careful D．original

小題17:

A．encourage B．demand C．require D．warn

小題18:away  B. awake    C. around          D. alone

小題19:

A．one B．neither C．either D．both

小題20:

A．make B．benefit C．change D．recover

Boys need friends, suffer when they don't believe they have any, and worry over the ups and downs of relationships. Many adults believe that somehow boys need friends less than girls do, in truth, though, no boy is an island; boys value their friends throughout childhood and adolescence and are happier and healthier when they have solid relationships with peers(同齡人)．
Despite the common belief that girls are better at relationships, most boys consider their friends a very important part of their lives, and boys may actually be better at keeping friendships than girls are. A recent study of 10 to 15­year­old boys and girls found that girls' friendships are actually more fragile. Girls tend to say and do hurtful things to each other more frequently than boys, and girls are more hurt by the end of a friendship.
Boys are the living definition of the phrase “peer group”； they love games with rules, competition, and doing things together. Boys seem to enjoy, even need the opportunity to test themselves against others, and many lasting friendships begin in karate(空手道) class or on the basketball court. Competence and skill are widely respected; being picked last for a team or left out altogether is an experience that can haunt(縈繞心頭) a boy for years.
As boys mature（成熟）, the friendship becomes even more important, and it frequently widens to include girls. During the teen years, friends can become the most important part of a boy's life—and a part in which his parents are not included. The confusion of being a teenager leads boys to form close bonds（關(guān)系） with friends. There is the sense for many boys that a friend is someone who is “always there for me”， someone he can trust. They may be partners in crime or partners in study, but the friendship of adolescent boys can run surprisingly deep.
小題1:The common belief of adults is that boys________.

A．don't care about others as much as girls

B．don't value friendship as much as girls

C．have the same friendship as girls

D．have healthier friendship than girls

小題2:According to the text, boys' friendship________.

A．is usually built around active play

B．tends to be in small groups

C．can bear mutual hurt between friends

D．doesn't suffer from failure

小題3:The author mentions the study in the second paragraph to prove ________.

A．many people believe girls are better at relationships

B．most boys consider their friends very important

C．boys may be better at keeping friendships than girls

D．boys may be more active in a friendship

小題4:As a boy gets older, he tends to________.

A．widen his circle of friends to include different kinds of people

B．shift his focus from his friends to himself

C．leave his parents out of his friendship

D．be confused about what a friendship is

小題5:What's the best title for the text?

A．Friendships between Boys and Girls

B．Boys and Their Friendship

C．Childhood and Adolescent Friendship

D．Tips on Making Friends with Boys

Can you become a creative person? Can you learn to come up with great ideas or learn to create new things? The answer is yes.
The first step to becoming creative is to remove the words “I am not creative” from your vocabulary. Seriously, do not say them or do not say them even inside your head.
Now you need to start looking what other people are doing. The more you see what they are doing, the more you can get a feel for how they think, and how they come up with creative ideas.
Find a way or a place where you feel totally relaxed. This is important so you can let your mind come up with ideas. Write them down as you get them. For me a relaxing place is outside in nature where it is quiet and sunny, or when I take a long drive in my car by myself.
The last step is to write down a few ideas every day.
Repeat the process of reading and observing what similar people are doing and how they are being creative, finding a relaxing place to write down your thoughts, and writing down a few ideas every day until you start seeing this kind of results you are happy with. It may take a few weeks to a few months, but this is the training process you need to put your mind through to become creative.
Remember, looking at things from different angle(角度) can also make a big difference to creativity. Question the way that everyone else is doing something using the same method and see if being different and doing it another way will produce something cool.
小題1:The first step to be creative is to _____.

A．have confidence in yourself

B．look up “creativity” in the dictionary

C．understand the meaning of being creative

D．learn many new words by heart

小題2:The writer develops the fourth paragraph by ______.

A．the order of time	B．the order of space
C．giving examples	D．explaining reasons

小題3:It can be inferred that ______.

A．creativity is a gift people are born with

B．not everyone can be creative

C．it is a piece of cake to be creative

D．creativity can be gained through practice

小題4:The purpose of writing this text is to tell us how to _____.

A．learn to be creative

B．solve problems easily

C．come up with good ideas

D．improve the ability of thinking

An old woman had two large pots, one on each end of a pole. She carried the pole with the pots across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full pot of water. At the end of the long walk from the well to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half-full.
For two years this happened daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection.
One day, the cracked pot spoke to the woman by the well: “I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”
The old woman smiled: “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your crack, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path. And every day while we walk back, you water them.”
“For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, I would not have this beauty.”
Each of us has our own cracks. But it’s these cracks that make our lives together so interesting and meaningful.
小題1:What does the underlined word “crack” mean?

A．Very narrow space between two things or two parts of something.

B．Line of division where something is broken, but not into separate parts.

C．Fault in an idea, system, or organization.

D．Sudden sharp noise like the sound of a stick being broken.

小題2:How did the cracked pot feel about itself at first?

A．Proud.

B．Disappointed.

C．Annoyed.

D．Embarrassed.

小題3:Where were the flowers growing?

A．On both sides of the path.	B．In the woman’s house.
C．On the perfect pot’s side of the path.	D．On the cracked pot’s side of the path

小題4:Which is the correct order of the following events?
① The woman picked the flowers and decorated the table.
② The woman told the truth to the cracked pot.
③ The cracked pot talked to the woman about its crack.
④ The woman found a crack on one pot.
⑤ The woman planted some flower seeds.

A．④⑤①③②	B．⑤④③②①
C．④③①②⑤	D．④⑤③①②

小題5:What does the passage mainly want to tell us?

A．Never laugh at imperfection.	B．No pains, no gains.
C．Imperfection makes life meaningful.	D．It’s never too late to learn.

Mistakes are a part of life. To err is human. Failure is also a part of life, not the end of life. Be happy facing life’s challenges. When you make the effort to be happy and to improve your life, you are actually rewarded along the way.
Life is like a game and maybe you can award points for every effort that has been a success for you. Try it. Add ten points for every achievement. And when you have reached 50 points, just yell, “Hey, I’ve won!” and give yourself a reward. If you happen to have missed your points for whatever reason, tell yourself, “Well, I tried!” which is better than not trying at all. Don’t let it be said you didn’t try.
What is it that you want to make yourself happy? Actually happiness means different things to different people. For example, an athlete will be happy winning his first race. For a new mother happiness would be seeing her baby’s first steps. Happiness for a poor person would mean having a meal just for today. So happiness for you is really something simple that you want for yourself.
It really doesn’t have to be big. As a matter of fact, you should be always realistic(現(xiàn)實(shí)的). Make the best out of every given situation. If you expect a certain result from a situation and it does not happen, don’t get despondent. This just means trying harder next time. We all have in us the power to succeed. Don’t let “give up” be a part of your vocabulary.
小題1:By saying “To err is human”, the author means that____________.

A．human beings should try to avoid making mistakes

B．no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes

C．mistakes and failures make up our life

D．human beings make mistakes easily

小題2:What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?

A．Try to reach 50 points.	B．Try to get as many points as you can.
C．Award yourself for your success	D．Don’t be afraid of missing your points.

小題3:The author proves his idea in Paragraph 3 through____________.

A．examples

B．numbers

C．experiments

D．stories

小題4:The underlined word “despondent” in the last paragraph means____________.

A．frightened

B．disappointed

C．surprised

D．excited

Mother’s Day is the time you say “thank you” to your mom. Stop shopping at the store. Flowers and other things in stores are too common to mention. You can choose a special gift for Mother’s Day! Just try staying close to home—and heart —write a Mother’s Day poem for her.
Use your head. Think of special moments when you were a child, times you’ve shared with your mom, things she did for you, and why you love her. Write down how those moments influenced you. Write down everything you can think of. This is your inspiration for the poem.
Look at what you wrote and pick out those things that are connected(有聯(lián)系的). See if any words rhyme(押韻). It’s fine to write a free poem(one without rhymes), but many people find poems with rhymes are easier to work with, easier to read and quite catchy(容易記住的). If no words rhyme but you want your poem to, try to find connecting words that can help connect memories.
Once you have a few sentences, put them in a good order. For example, you could start with a childhood memory and end with something you remember from last month.
Add a title that shows the feeling of the poem. Even something as simple as “For Mom” can work, although something more personal might be better.
Write it in pen if you have beautiful handwriting. Read the poem over breakfast on Mother’s Day, and then hand it to your mom. Let’s wait and see the smile and tears of happiness on her face.
小題1:Why does the author suggest writing down everything you think of?
A. Because it will show your mother’s love.
B. Because it will bring you inspiration.
C. Because it can be shared with others.
C. Because it can help answer questions.
小題2:It’s better to write a poem with rhymes because     .

A．it is easier to read and remember

B．it makes the poem more interesting

C．it shows the unforgettable moments

D．it shows how things are connected

小題3:The best title for the poem should be one that        .

A．can be read easily and quickly

B．includes a few sentences

C．has some special words.

D．shows the feeling of words.

小題4:The passage mainly tells us         .

A．what to do on Mother’s Day.

B．what to buy for Mother’s Day.

C．how to write a Mother’s Day poem.

D．how to write good poems for Christmas.

This morning as I was getting the children ready or school, I helped them prepare breakfast and pack their lunches. I reviewed spelling words with them and made sure that their homework was collected in their bags. I had seen the weather forecast for the day and knew it was going to remain cool all day. I suggested they wear sweaters for the walk to the us stop. My kids chose to repulse my advice. My son decided that all he needed was a T-shirt, not a sweater.
I didn’t force(強(qiáng)迫) them to wear sweaters and we went to the bus stop. It is a full kilometer walk to the top of a treeless hill and the wind felt like a knife cutting through the skin. My children endured(忍受) the cold until halfway, when I gave them with the sweaters I had quietly carried under my arm. Then took them without complaint, and I bit my tongue from saying, “I told you so.”
What I was asking my children to do was to trust me. Trust Mom to have their best interests in mind. Trust Mom to know what she is talking about. Even though they didn’t know that I had read the outdoor thermometer (溫度計(jì)) before they woke up and I had seen the day’s weather forecast, I wanted them to trust me. By ignoring me, they were saying that they didn’t believe I knew what was best for them. What they knew was that yesterday was a warm enough day for shorts. What they knew was that it was warm enough in the house to wear shorts. Therefore, they felt sure enough to make their own decision on what to wear outside.
Too many times we depend on what we know of yesterday, and how we feel today, and so we make decisions based on them. Too many times we think that we know better, so we can deal with things better. But we are wrong.
小題1:It can be inferred from the first paragraph that      .

A．the author didn’t believe in her children

B．the author took her children to school every morning

C．the author’s children always followed her advice

D．the author had a very busy morning that day

小題2:The underlined word  “repulse” in the first paragraph means      .

A．refuse

B．follow

C．seek

D．doubt

小題3:What can be learned from the passage?

A．The author’s children always ignore her.

B．The author takes great care of the children in life.

C．The author’s children always make wrong decisions.

D．The author always force her children to wear sweaters.

小題4:The author writes this passage to      .

A．tell the readers how to ask for advice

B．offer advice on how to teach children

C．explain the importance of trusting others

D．give advice on how to make decisions