A little girl lived with her grandmother after her parents died. They slept in an upstairs bedroom.

One night there was a big fire in their house. The grandmother died when she was trying to save the child. The whole house was burning.

The little girl appeared at the window, crying for help. All the neighbors wanted to help the child. But they had no way to do it.

Suddenly, a man appeared with a ladder. He put it up and climbed into the room. When he reappeared, he had the little girl in his arms. He dropped the child to the waiting arms below, then disappeared into the night.

Everyone knew the child had no living relatives. So the people in the town held a meeting to decide who would raise her.

A teacher said she would raise the child. She could give her the best education. A farmer wanted to take her to his farm. He said the living on the farm was interesting and healthy. Everyone in the town wanted to keep the child and they all tried to give her a happy life.

Finally, the town’s richest man stood up and said, “I can give this child whatever she needs. I can buy her everything.” The girl kept silent all the time.

“Does anyone else want to speak?” asked the chairman of the meeting.

A man came from the back of the hall. He walked slowly and looked painful. Then he stopped before the little girl, holding out his arms. Everyone watched quietly. His hands and arms were badly burnt..

The child cried out, “This is the man who saved me.” With a jump, she put her arms around the man’s neck. She put her face on his shoulder and cried for a few minutes. Then she looked up and smiled at him.

“This meeting is over.” said the chairman.

(　 ) 41. The people in the town held a meeting to ___________.

　 A. decide who would bring up the girl　　　 B. decide who would teach the girl

　 C. decide what the girl would do　　　　　　 D. see how the girl was

(　 ) 42. The word “raise” in the fifth paragraph means __________.

A. 舉起　　　 B. 放下　　　 C. 得到　　　 D. 撫養(yǎng)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

(　 ) 43. From the passage, we know that _________ at the meeting wanted to raise the girl.

　 A. only the farmer　　 B. nobody　　 C. everyone　　 D. only the teacher

(　 ) 44. How did the girl’s parents die?

　 A. They died in the fire.　　　　 B. They died in a car accident.

　 C. They died of illness.　　　　 D. The story doesn’t tell us.

(　 ) 45. Which is TRUE according to the passage?

　 A. The richest man saved the girl from the fire

　 B. The girl’s grandmother lived with her after the fire

　 C. After the meeting, the girl lived with the man who saved her

　 D. The chairman couldn’t decide who would raise the girl at the meeting

When Sandy was a little girl, she liked keeping pets. She had many books about animals and many pictures of animals on the walls of her bedroom. She often said that she would work in a  41  when she grew up.

    Most of Sandy’s pets were quiet small—parrots, cats, dogs and so on. But one day she met something quite  42 .

That afternoon, Sandy’s mother was surprised to see a big animal with long hair in the kitchen. He  43  a T-shirt and was sitting on the chair, trying to put on a pair of glasses and making faces at her. In front of him, on the table, were a basket of fruits and a glass of water. “Sandy, where are you?” the mother shouted. Then suddenly she remembered that a few days before a young gorilla (大猩猩) called Jim had run away from the zoo.

“I found him in the city square,” Sandy said. “He seemed so  44 . I talked to him. We became friends at once and he followed me home.”

“Well, you know you  45  keep him,” her mother said. “You must send him back to the zoo. You’d better phone the police.”

Soon a  46  came and also a truck from the zoo.  47  was angry with Sandy when she told her story. The policeman knew Sandy loved animals. And the zookeeper said, “Thank you for your kindness. I can see Jim likes you,  48  we need to take him back.” Sandy agreed. She hugged Jim and said that she would go and see him  49 .

These days Sandy has stopped collecting  50 , but you can still find her with her friend Jim at the zoo on Saturdays and Sundays.

1. A. hospital          B. zoo          C. school           D. supermarket

2.A. small          B. long         C. short            D. big

3. A. wore          B. made         C. sold         D. lent

4. A. easy              B. hard        C. difficult        D. lonely

5. A. must          B. can          C. can’t         D. have to

6. A. teacher           B. policeman        C. student      D. friend

7.A. Everyone      B. The zookeeper    C. Nobody       D.Sandy’s mother

8. A. and           B. but          C. or           D. so

9.A. every day      B. after school     C. at the weekdays  D. at the weekends

10. A. clothes          B. glasses      C. animals      D. fruit

 I remember a day when I was a little kid. I was making a sandwich in the kitchen when I noticed the   31   on one of the wine bottles.

  “Dad, Dad!” I cried. “This wine is too old to drink.”

  “Dear, hold on.” Dad said.

  “You can’t drink this tonight! This bottle of wine was   32   10 years ago.”

  “wait, let me tell you…”

  “Would you like me to   33   it away for you?” I asked.

  “Dear, wait a second,” he said.“Some wines get better   34   time. The longer you wait to drink it, the better it will be. Although this may seem strange, it is  35  .”

  When I was young, I didn’t have any understanding of what this   36  , but now, this would have been very helpful to remember as I   37   through my teenage years.

  In our society, we forget this simple rule: The longer you wait for certain things, the better they will be. But we want the best job as   38   as possible; we want to graduate from college in as a few years as possible; we even speed through our homework just to chat with friends. When we do this, we lose something of forget   39   .

  We all want to get to the next   40   so quickly that perhaps we don’t get   41   enough to get there. This has a   42   effect on our society. When trying to go to the right college, we will do anything to get in and when we rush through our class-work, we   43   not study enough for the best, and   44   failing. We need to be ready for   45   comes, ready for the unexpected.

  Wine gets better over time, so do the things in our paths of life.

(   )31. A. name       B. address         C. date         D. number

(   )32. A. bought      B. invented        C. made        D. discovered

(   )33. A. throw       B. give           C. clear         D. put

(   )34. A. for         B. on             C. in           D. over

(   )35. A. true        B. clear           C. wrong        D. poor

(   )36. A. said        B. told            C. explained     D. meant

(   )37. A. came       B. went           C. looked        D. wasted

(   )38. A. strongly     B. easily          C. quickly       D. slowly

(   )39. A. importance   B. use            C. honor        D. care

(   )40 A. class        B. grade           C. step         D. rule

(   )41. A. careful      B. ready           C. easy         D. lucky

(   )42. A. negative     B. positive         C. good        D. special

(   )43. A. must        B. will            C. should       D. may

(   )44. A. come up     B. end up          C. move up     D. make up

(   )45. A. whenever    B. wherever        C. whatever     D. whichever

One day, a boy found the cocoon(繭) of a butterfly and brought it home. A few days later, the boy saw a small   41  in the cocoon. He sat and watched for several hours as a butterfly struggled to make   42  body through that little hole. Suddenly it stopped.

So the boy   43  to help the butterfly, thinking the butterfly might be   44 .He took a pair of scissors(剪刀) and cut the hole   45 .The butterfly came out of the cocoon but it  46 

a little different. It had a weak body and small, thin   47 .The butterfly didn’t start to fly. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling(爬行) around with a weak body and thin wings. It was never able to fly.

The boy acted with   48  but he didn’t understand why it could be like this. When a butterfly crawls out of the cocoon, it must struggle. The hard work of  49  out of the cocoon makes the fluid(液體) from the butterfly’s body into its wings. It helps the butterfly be  50  to fly. If the butterfly never has to squeeze(擠壓) itself out of the cocoon, its wings will never get the fluid and it can never fly.

  51  struggles are what we need in our lives. If we lived our lives without any problems, we would never learn or grow. We would not be  52  we could have been and we would never fly.

In our lives, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, and sometimes even   53  growth, without it , there’s no way of life. We can’t avoid   54   or problems. So, next time you are   55 a problem or difficulty, remember the butterfly. Struggle a little—then fly!