The first day our professor challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t know. I looked around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady smiling at me.
She said, “Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I’m 87. Can I give you a hug?” I laughed, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze. “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of children.” “No seriously,” I said. “I want to realize my dream!” she told me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and everyone liked to listen to this “time machine”.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet and I’ll never forget what she taught us. “There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are 19 and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn 20. If I am 87 and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn 88. We have less time to live on. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do.”
At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had dreamed about all those years. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over 2,000 students attended her funeral honoring the wonderful woman who taught us such an important message.
【小題1】Rose made herself known to the author in a _____ manner.

A．serious

B．cold

C．crazy

D．humorous

【小題2】Rose was considered a “time machine” because she _____.

A．a(chǎn)lways followed a strict time schedule

B．was never late for any of her classes

C．had lived a long and rich life

D．a(chǎn)lways appeared in time whenever she was needed

【小題3】According to Rose, growing up is different from growing older because _____.

A．growing up doesn’t need as much effort or talent as growing older

B．growing up means young people have enough time to waste

C．there is no need for one to worry about death

D．growing up means one has more chances or time to choose what one likes

【小題4】Rose came to study in college at such an old age for the purpose of _____.

A．challenging her old age

B．realizing her long dream about college education

C．meeting someone rich and attractive

D．not having any regrets in her life

Hank Viscardi was born without legs. He had—not legs but stumps(殘肢) that could be fitted with a kind of special boots. People stared at him with cruel interest. Children laughed at him and called him ‘Ape Man’ (猿人) because his arms practically dragged on the ground.
Hank went to school like other boys. His grades were good and he needed only eight years to finish his schooling instead of the usual twelve. After graduating from school, he worked his way through college. He swept floors, waited on table, or worked in one of the college offices. During all this busy life, he had been moving around on his stumps. But one day the doctor told him even the stumps were not going to last much longer. He would soon have to use a wheel chair.
Hank felt himself got cold all over. However, the doctor said there was a chance that he could be fitted with artificial legs(假腿). Finally a leg maker was found and the day came when Hank stood up before the mirror. For the first time he saw himself as he had always wanted to be—a full five feet eight inches tall. By this time he was already 26 years old.
Hank had to learn to use his new legs. Again and again he marched the length of the room, and marched back again. There were times when he fell down on the floor, but he pulled himself up and went back to the endless marching. He went out on the street. He climbed stairs and learned to dance. He built a boat and learned to sail it.
When World War II came, he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job. He took the regular training. he marched and drilled along with the other soldiers. Few knew that he was legless. This was the true story of Hank Viscardi, a man without legs.
【小題1】Children laughed at Hank and called him ‘Ape Man’ because _____.

A．he didn’t talk to them

B．he kept away from them

C．he couldn’t use his arms

D．his arms touched the ground when he moved

【小題2】It can be inferred from the story that five feet eight inches tall is _____.

A．too tall for an average person

B．a(chǎn)n average height for a fully grown person

C．too short for an average person

D．none of the above

【小題3】The sentence “he talked the Red Cross into giving him a job” implies that the Red Cross_____.

A．was not willing to give him a job at first

B．gave him a job because he was a good soldier

C．gave him a job after he talked to someone he knew in the organization

D．was only glad to give him a job

【小題4】The writer suggests that Hank Viscardi _____.

A．had no friends

B．was very shy

C．never saw himself as different from others

D．was too proud to accept help from others

It’s such a happy-looking library, painted yellow, decorated with palm-tree stickers and sheltered from the Florida sun by its own roof. About the size of a microwave oven, it’s pedestrian-friendly(對行人友善的), too, waiting for book lovers next to a sidewalk in Palm Beach country Estates, along the northern boundary of Palm Beach Gardens.

It’s a library built with love.
A year ago, shortly after Janey Henriksen saw a Brian Williams report about the Little Free Library organization, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit organization that aims to promote literacy(讀書識字) and build a sense of community in a neighborhood by making books freely available, she announced to her family of four, “That’s what we’re going to do for our spring break!”
Son Austin, now a 10th-grader, didn’t see the point of building a library that resembles（類似） a mailbox. But Janey insisted, and husband Peter unwillingly got to work. The 51-year-old owner of a ship supply company modified（修飾） a small wooden house that he’d built years earlier for daughter Abbie’s toy horses, and made a door of glass.
After adding the library’s final touches (裝點), the family hung a signboard on the front, instructing users to “take a book, return a book,” and making the Henriksen library, now one of several hundred like it nationwide and among more than 2,500 in the world, the only Little Free Library in Palm Beach County.
They stocked it with 20 or so books they’d already read, a mix of science fiction, reference titles, novels and kids’ favorites. “I told them, keep in mind that you might not see it again,” said Janey, a stay-at-home mom.
Since then, the collection keeps replenishing (補充) itself, thanks to ongoing donations from borrowers. The library now gets an average of five visits a day.
The project’s best payoff, says Peter, are the thank-you notes left behind. “We had no idea in the beginning that it would be so popular.”
【小題1】In what way is the library “pedestrian-friendly”?

A．It owns a yellow roof.

B．It protects book lovers from the sun.

C．It stands near a sidewalk.

D．It uses palm-tree stickers as decorations.

【小題2】Janey got the idea to build a library from __________.

A．a(chǎn) report on a Wisconsin-based organization

B．a(chǎn) spring break with her family

C．a(chǎn) book sent by one of her neighbors

D．a(chǎn) visit to Brian Williams

【小題3】The library was built __________.

A．by a ship supply company	B．on the basis of toy horses
C．with glass	D．like a mailbox

【小題4】The passage tells us that the borrowers__________.

A．get paid to collect books for the library

B．receive thank-you notes for using the library

C．donate books to the library

D．visit the library over 5 times on average daily

LONDON Thursday July 26(Reuters)—Eddy missed his girlfriend Anna so much he flew back to Britain from Australia to propose(求婚) to her. The problem is she did the same in the opposite direction.
He and Anna even managed to miss each other when they sat in the same airport waiting room in Singapore at the same time to wait for connecting flights.
Anna, heartbroken, when she arrived at Eddy’s Sydney flat to find he had flown to London, told The Times, “It was as though someone was playing a cruel joke on us.“
“He is the most romantic(浪漫的) person I have ever known. I think our problem is that we are both quite impulsive(沖動的) people. We are always trying to surprise each other.”
After an 11,000-mile flight across the globe, she was greeted by Eddy’s astonished roommate asking what she was doing there.
Eddy, a 27-year-old engineer, had taken a year off to travel round Australia. But he was missing Anna, a 26-year-old secretary, so much he got a job on a Sydney building site(工地) and started saving for a surprise.
He then flew home to Britain and went to her flat armed with an engagement(訂婚) ring, wine and flowers.
“I really missed Anna and I’d been thinking about her all the time. I was so excited when she phoned me from Australia,” he said.
Eddy then asked Anna to marry him on the phone. “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I accepted,” she said.
Anna was given a tour of Sydney by Eddy’s friends before going back home. Eddy had to stay in Britain for two weeks because he could not change his ticket.
【小題1】What does the last sentence of the first paragraph tell us?

A．Anna flew to Britain from Australia to marry him.

B．Anna flew to Australia from Britain to marry him.

C．Anna flew to Britain from Australia to propose to him.

D．Anna flew to Australia from Britain to propose to him.

【小題2】The underlined word “miss” in Paragraph 2 most probably means_______.

A．escape from	B．fail to understand
C．fail to meet	D．long to see

【小題3】Eddy got a job on a Sydney building site because he________.

A．wanted to travel round Australia

B．needed money to pay his daily cost

C．was an engineer at this building site

D．hoped to make money from this job

【小題4】Which of the following is TRUE about Eddy and Anna according to the text?

A．Eddy proposed to Anna on the phone and Anna accepted.

B．Anna stayed in Australia waiting for Eddy’s arrival.

C．Anna had a good time touring Sydney with Eddy.

D．Eddy met Anna in the airport waiting room by chance.

Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站)about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款臺), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day, and the battery(電池)was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership - a shop selling cars - was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.
“Thank you” - two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.
【小題1】The words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “______”.

A．turned off

B．moved off

C．put up

D．set up

【小題2】What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?

A．He had it pulled back to the gas station.

B．The couple sent him a business card.

C．The couple offered to help him.

D．He called his friend for help.

【小題3】The battery of the author’s car was dead because_______.

A．something went wrong with the lights

B．the meeting lasted a whole day

C．he forgot to turn off the lights

D．he drove too long a distance

【小題4】By telling his own experiences, the author tries to show______.

A．how to write a thank-you letter

B．how to deal with car problems

C．the kind-heartedness of older people

D．the importance of expressing thanks

Long ago in a small town, there was a place known as the House of 1,000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit.
When he arrived, he bounced(跳) happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1,000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1,000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, “ This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit often.”
In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1,000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1,000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, “This is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again.”
All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see on the faces of the people you meet? 
【小題1】Why was the first dog surprised when he entered the house?

A．Because he didn’t expect to see so many happy dogs.

B．Because he didn’t know there were 1,000 mirrors in the house.

C．Because he was always in a mixed mood.

D．Because he saw so many dogs smiling at him.

【小題2】Why did the first dog like the house?

A．Because there were 1,000 mirrors in the house.

B．Because he thought he could keep himself warm in the house.

C．Because he liked everything presented to him.

D．Because he felt he was welcome here.

【小題3】 The underlined word “ growled” probably means ______.

A．make an unfriendly noise

B．smile

C．say hello

D．stare

【小題4】Which of the following is the most suitable title for the passage?

A．A Small Happy Little Dog	B．The House of 1,000 Mirrors
C．The Wonderful Place and the Horrible Place.	D．Two Little Dogs

He met her at a party. She was outstanding; many guys were after her, but nobody paid any attention to him. After the party, he invited her for coffee. She was surprised, so as not to appear rude, she went along.
As they sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything and she felt uncomfortable. Suddenly, he asked the waiter, “Could you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee."
They stared at him. He turned red, but when the salt came, he put it in his coffee and drank. Curious, she asked, "Why salt with coffee?" He explained, "When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea. I liked playing on the sea.I could feel it salty, like salty coffee. Now every time I drink it, I think of my childhood and my hometown. I miss it and my parents, who are still there."
She was deeply moved. A man who can admit that he's homesick must love his home and care about his family. He must be responsible. She talked too, about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family. That was the start to their love story.
They continued to date. She found that he met all her requirements. He was tolerant, kind, warm and careful. And to think she would have missed the catch if not for the salty coffee! So they married and lived happily together. And every time she made coffee for him, she put in some salt, the way he liked it.
After 40 years, he passed away and left her a letter which said:
My dearest, please forgive my life-long lie. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous that I asked for salt instead of sugar. It was hard for me to ask for a change, so I just went ahead. I never thought that we would hit it off. Many times, I tried to tell you the truth, but I was afraid that it would ruin everything.
Sweetheart, I don't exactly like salty coffee. But as it mattered so much to you, I've learnt to enjoy it. Having you with me was my greatest happiness. If I could live a second time, I hope we can be together again, even if it means that I have to drink salty coffee for the rest of my life.
【小題1】Why the man asked for some salt?                

A．Because he missed his hometown and his family.

B．Because he want to catch the attention of the lady.

C．Because he was nervous.

D．Because he liked the taste of salty coffee.

【小題2】What can be inferred from the passage?

A．The man liked to drink a cup of salty coffee.

B．The man was good at making a lie.

C．The man missed his family very much.

D．The man loved the lady very much.

【小題3】The best title for the passage might be _____.

A．a(chǎn) life-long lie	B．salty coffee
C．a(chǎn) mistake for love	D．a(chǎn) homesick man

Mary Brown from East county in Scotland, she had the accident that had scarred（留下創(chuàng)傷） her for life when she was only one and a half years old. The curious child reached up to grab the wire of a hot kettle in the family kitchen and poured boiling water over her tiny infant frame.
Her mother Ruby turned round and, seeing Mary horribly burnt, called an ambulance which rushed her daughter to a nearby hospital. Twenty percent of Mary’s body had been burned and all of her burns were third-degree. There, using tissue taken from unburned areas of Mary’s body, doctors performed complex skin transplants to close her wounds and control her injuries, an operation that took about six hours. Over the next 16 years, Mary underwent 12 more operations to repair her body.
When she started school at Maxwelton Primary at age 4, other pupils made cruel comments or simply wouldn’t play with her. “I was the only burned child in the street, the class and the school,” she recalled, “some children refused to become friends because of that.”
Today, aged 17, Mary can only ever remember being a burned person with scars; pain is a permanent part of her body. She still has to have two further skin transplants. Yet she is a confident, outgoing teenager who offers inspiration and hope to other young burns victims.
She is a member of the Scottish Burned Children’s Club, a charity set up last year. This month, Mary will be joining the younger children at the Graffham Water Center in Cambridgeshire for the charity’s first summer camp. “I’ll show them how to get rid of unkind stares from others,” she says. Mary loves wearing fashionable sleeveless tops, and she plans to show the youngsters at the summer camp that they can too. “I do not go to great lengths to hide my burns scars,” she says, “I gave up wondering how other people would react years ago.”
【小題1】What did other children do when Mary first went to school?

A．They were friendly to her.

B．They showed sympathy to her.

C．They looked down upon her.

D．They were afraid of her.

【小題2】Which of the following words can’t properly describe Mary?

A．Courageous

B．sensitive

C．Confident

D．Outgoing

【小題3】What can be the best title of the passage?

A．A seriously burned angel of Hope

B．Ways to Get Rid of Unkind Stares

C．Permanent Scars And Pain For a Girl

D．A Seriously Burned Girl Survives

The 16 operations W．Mitchell received after the motorcycle accident burned more than 65％ of his body at age 46 left him unable to pick up a fork，dial a telephone or go to the bathroom without help．But Mitchell never believed he was defeated．“I am in charge of my own spaoeship,” he said．“It’s my up，my down．I could choose to see this situation as a setback or afstarting point．”
Mitchell bought himself a home in Colorado，a plane and a bar．Later he teamed upwith two friends and co-founded a wood burning stove company that grew to be the second largest private employer in his state．Six months later he was piloting the plane．Then four years after the motorcycle accident，the plane Mitchell was piloting crashed back onto the runway during takeoff, permanently paralyzing(使…癱瘓)him from the waist down．
Still determined，Mitchell worked day and night to regain as much independence as possible．He was elected Mayor of Crested Butte，Colorado, to save the town from mineral mining that would ruin its beauty and environment．
Despite his shocking looks and physical challenges, Mitchell began white water rafting(漂流)，fell in love and married, earned a master’s degree in public administration and continued flying，environmental activism and public speaking．
Mitchell’s unshakable positive mental attitude has earned him appearances on the “Today Show’’and “Good Moming America” as well as feature articles in Parade, Time, The New York Times and other publications．
Mitchell has done all these things and more afar two horrible accidents left his face beyond recognition，his hands flngerless and his legs thin：and motionless(不動)in a wheelchair．Then what can't we healthy guys achieve?
【小題1】What can we learn from the first paragraph?  

A．Mitchell couldn’t face the fact that he was defeated．

B．The operations Mitchell received made him hopeless．

C．Mitchell was optimistic about what happened to him．

D．Mitchell was in his spaceship when the accident occurred．

【小題2】What did Mirehell do after his first accident?

A．He learned to pilot a plane．

B．He was employed by a company．

C．He began to drive a spaceship.

D．He made another two new friends．

【小題3】What was the result of Mitchell’s plane crash accident?

A．His body under the waistcouldn’t move．

B．He was elected mayor of Crested Butte．

C．He became the hero of many publications．

D．More than half of his body was burned．

【小題4】After the two horrible accidents, Mitchell       ．

A．stopped flying，environmental protection and public speaking．

B．co-founded a wood burning stove company with his friends．

C．stopped to open mineral mining in Crested Butte．

D．earned a master’s degree in public administration．

【小題5】What has earned Mitchell appearances in many famous publications?

A．His shocking looks．	B．His strong determination．
C．His physical challenges．	D．His outstanding speaking talent．

When I was fourteen, I earned money in the summer by cutting lawns (草坪), and within a few weeks I had built up a body of customers. I got to know people by the flowers they planted that I had to remember not to cut down, by the things they lost in the grass or stuck in the ground on purpose. I reached the point with most of them when I knew in advance what complaint was about to be spoken, which particular request was most important. And I learned something about the measure of my neighbors by their preferred method of payment: by the job, by the month—or not at all.
Mr. Ballou fell into the last category, and he always had a reason why. On one day, he had no change for a fifty, on another he was flat out of checks, and on another, he was simply out when I knocked on his door. Still, except for the money, he was a nice enough guy, always waving or tipping his hat when he’d seen me from a distance. I figured it was a thin retirement check, or maybe a work-related injury that kept him from doing his own yard work. Surely, I kept record of the total, but I didn’t worry about the amount too much. Grass was grass, and Mr. Ballou’s property didn’t take long to trim (修剪).
Then, one late afternoon in mid-July, the hottest time of the year, I was walking by his house and he opened the door, mentioned me to come inside. The hall was cool, shaded, and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the dim light. 
“I owe you,” Mr. Ballou, “but…”
I thought I’d save him the trouble of thinking of a new excuse. “No problem. Don’t worry about it.”
“The bank made a mistake in my account,” he continued, ignoring my words. “It will be cleared up in a day or two. But in the meantime I thought perhaps you could choose one or two volumes for a down payment (首期付款).
He gestured toward the walls and I saw that books were stacked (堆放) everywhere. It was like a library, except with no order to the arrangement.
“Take your time,” Mr. Ballou encouraged. “Read, borrow, keep. Find something you like. What do you read?”
“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I generally read what was in front of me, what I could get from the paperback stacked at the drugstore, what I found at the library, magazines, the back of cereal boxes, comics. The idea of consciously seeking out a special title was new to me, but, I realized, not without appeal-- so I started to look through the piles of books.
“You actually read all of these?”
“This isn’t much,” Mr. Ballou said. “This is nothing, just what I’ve kept, the ones worth looking at a second time.”
“Pick for me, then.”
He raised his eyebrows, cocked his head, and regarded me as though measuring me for a suit. After a moment, he nodded, searched through a stack, and handed me a dark red hardbound (精裝本) book, fairly thick.
“The Last of the Just,” I read. “By Andre Schwarz-Bart. What’s it about?”
“You tell me,” he said. “Next week.”
I started after supper, sitting outdoors on an uncomfortable kitchen chair. Within a few pages, the yard, the summer, disappeared, and I was thrown into the aching tragedy of the Holocaust, the extraordinary clash of good, represented by one decent man, and evil. Translated from French, the language was elegant, simple, impossible to resist. When the evening light finally failed I moved inside, reading all through the night.
To this day, thirty years later, I vividly remember the experience. It was my first voluntary encounter (接觸、遇到) with world literature, and I was stunned (震驚) by the concentrated power a novel could contain. I lacked the vocabulary, however, to translate my feelings into words. So the next week when Mr. Ballou asked, “Well?” I only replied, “It was good.”
“Keep it, then,” he said. “Shall I suggest another?”
I nodded, and was presented with the paperback (平裝本) edition of Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa ( a very important book on the study of the social and cultural development of peoples-- anthropology (人類學)).
To make two long stories short, Mr. Ballou never paid me a cent for cutting his grass that year or the next, but for fifteen years I taught anthropology at Dartmouth College. Summer reading was not the innocent entertainment I had assumed it to be, not a light-hearted, instantly forgettable escape in a hammock (吊床) (though I have since enjoyed many of those, too). A book, if it arrives before you at the right moment, in the proper season, at an internal in the daily business of things, will change the course of all that follows.
【小題1】The author found the first book Mr. Ballou gave him _________.

A．light-hearted and enjoyable

B．dull but well written

C．impossible to put down

D．difficult to understand

【小題2】From what he said to the author, we can infer that Mr. Ballou _________.

A．read all books twice

B．did not do much reading

C．read more books than he kept

D．preferred to read hardbound books

【小題3】The following year the author _________.

A．started studying anthropology at college

B．continued to cut Mr. Ballou’s lawn

C．spent most of his time lazing away in a hammock

D．had forgotten what he had read the summer before

【小題4】The author’s main point is that _________.

A．summer jobs are really good for young people

B．you should insist on being paid before you do a job

C．a(chǎn) good book can change the direction of your life

D．a(chǎn) book is like a garden carried in the pocket