A woman repeated a bit of gossip (流言) about a neighbour. Within a few days the whole neighbourhood knew the story. The neighbour was deeply hurt. Later the woman responsible (負(fù)責(zé)) for spreading the gossip learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
“Go to the marketplace,” he said. “and buy a chicken, and have it killed, then on your way home, pluck (拔) its feathers and drop them one by one along the road. ” Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, “ Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me. ”
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
“ You see, ” said the old man, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back . So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a gossip, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong.”
【小題1】The woman was very _________ the harm she had done to her neighbour.

A．happy about

B．a(chǎn)ngry about

C．sorry for

D．excited about

【小題2】Which of the following statements is TURE?

A．The gossip didn’t hurt anyone at all.

B．The wise man was not kind enough.

C．The woman found all the feathers at last.

D．The woman was given a lesson.

【小題3】What the wise man said has nearly the same meaning as the Chinese phrase “_________”

A．覆水難收

B．無(wú)中生有

C．欲速不達(dá)

D．得道多助

A Policeman and a Thief  
One day a policeman was taking a thief to the city . On the way , they saw a shop . The thief said . “ Let me go into the shop to buy some bread . We can eat it in the train . ”
The policeman agreed . The thief went into the shop and ran out of the back door . When the policeman knew that , he began to look for the thief everywhere . At last the policeman caught(抓獲) thief again . They went on to the city . On the way they came to the same shop . The thief wanted to buy some bread again . “Oh , no . ” said the policeman , “You did that before , and you ran away . This time I^’ll go into the shop and buy bread . You must wait here for me . ”
【小題1】What was the policeman doing one day ?

A．Catching a thief with others .	B．Doing nothing.
C．Taking a thief to the city .	D．Walking go the city by himself .

【小題2】On the way the thief asked to         .

A．buy some food to eat .	B．let him free .
C．take a rest .	D．walk slowly .

【小題3】When the thief went into the shop , he ran out of        .

A．the back door .	B．the back window .
C．the front door .	D．the front window .

【小題4】When the thief ran away the first time , what did the policeman do ?

A．The policeman caught the thief again .

B．The policeman looked for the thief . but he didn,t find him .

C．The thief was caught again by other policemen .

D．The policeman went back without(沒(méi)有) the thief .

【小題5】 From the last three sentences, we know that the policeman was very        .     

A．brave

B．careful

C．clever

D．foolish

A woman repeated a bit of gossip (流言) about a neighbor. Within a few days the whole neighborhood knew the story. The neighbor was deeply hurt. Later the woman learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
“Go to the market,” he said, “and buy a chicken, and have it killed, then on your way home, pick its feathers(毛) and drop them one by one along the road.” Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, “Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me.”
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown all the feathers away. After looking for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
“You see,” said the old man, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread（散布） a gossip, but once you do, you can never completely undo（彌補(bǔ)） the wrong.”
【小題1】Why did the woman feel sorry?

A．She didn’t know the story.

B．She hurt her neighbor deeply.

C．She was hurt deeply.

D．She was told an untrue story.

【小題2】The underlined word “discouraged” might mean          .

A．surprised

B．excited

C．upset

D．pleased

【小題3】Which of the following statements is true?

A．The gossip didn’t hurt anyone at all.

B．The wise man is not kind enough.

C．All the feathers had been blown away..

D．The woman was given a lesson.

【小題4】What the wise man said has nearly the same meaning as the Chinese phrase “_________”.

A．覆水難收

B．無(wú)中生有

C．欲速不達(dá)

D．得道多助

A Policeman and a Thief  
One day a policeman was taking a thief to the city . On the way , they saw a shop . The thief said . “ Let me go into the shop to buy some bread . We can eat it in the train . ”
The policeman agreed . The thief went into the shop and ran out of the back door . When the policeman knew that , he began to look for the thief everywhere . At last the policeman caught(抓獲) thief again . They went on to the city . On the way they came to the same shop . The thief wanted to buy some bread again . “Oh , no . ” said the policeman , “You did that before , and you ran away . This time I^’ll go into the shop and buy bread . You must wait here for me . ”
【小題1】What was the policeman doing one day ?

A．Catching a thief with others .	B．Doing nothing.
C．Taking a thief to the city .	D．Walking go the city by himself .

【小題2】On the way the thief asked to         .

A．buy some food to eat .	B．let him free .
C．take a rest .	D．walk slowly .

【小題3】When the thief went into the shop , he ran out of        .

A．the back door .	B．the back window .
C．the front door .	D．the front window .

【小題4】When the thief ran away the first time , what did the policeman do ?

A．The policeman caught the thief again .

B．The policeman looked for the thief . but he didn,t find him .

C．The thief was caught again by other policemen .

D．The policeman went back without(沒(méi)有) the thief .

【小題5】 From the last three sentences, we know that the policeman was very        .     

A．brave

B．careful

C．clever

D．foolish

A man bought a donkey at the market one day and took him home. Now the man owned several donkeys already and he knew each one’s character very well. One of the donkeys was very strong and brave. Another always wanted to make people happy by working quickly but soon got tired. One donkey was very lazy. He hated going to work in the morning and he did as little as he       possibly could all day long. When the other animals were being loaded up(裝載), he always tried to be the last so that he would get the lightest load.
The man led the new donkey into the yard. For a moment the new donkey stood sniffing(聞，嗅) at his new friends. Then, without hesitation, he came up to the lazy donkey and began eating comfortably at his side.
Though it was late in the day, the man immediately led the new donkey out of the yard, straight back to the market.
“You can’t have given him a fair trial yet,” said the seller, “It is only ten minutes since you bought him.”
“I don’t need to try him any more,” replied the man, “I know just what he is like from the friend he chose for himself. Take him away and give me my money back. I can do without donkeys like him.”
【小題1】Why did the man buy a new donkey in the market?

A．Because he liked it.

B．Because he knew the donkey very well.

C．Because he needed another donkey to help him with his work.

D．Because the new donkey wasn’t lazy at all.

【小題2】The man led the new donkey to the yard in order to _______.

A．see if he is lazy

B．let him choose a new friend

C．let the new donkey eat something

D．let him work

【小題3】What’s the meaning of the underline phrase　“without hesitation” ?

A．沒(méi)有吃飯

B．未經(jīng)許可

C．毫不猶豫地

D．很不樂(lè)意地

【小題4】How did the man know the character of the new donkey?

A．By letting him work

B．By watching how he chose his new friend

C．By leading him to the yard

D．by pleasing people

【小題5】What’s the best title of the story?

A．How To Buy Donkeys	B．The Owner and The Donkeys
C．The lazy Donkey	D． The Man and The Donkey