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(收款台), , 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 thankyou 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(电池) 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.
1.The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City________.
A. to visit a friend
B. to see his parents
C. to pay at the cash register
D. to have more gas for his car
2. The words "took off" underlined in Paragraph 2 mean "________".
A. turned off
B. moved off
C. put up
D. set up
3. 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.
4. 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
5. By telling his own experiences, , the author tries to show ________.
A. how to write a thankyou letter
B. how to deal with car problems
C. the kindheartedness of older people
D. the importance of expressing thanks
of the ONE CENT on the back. Those were the pennies he grew up with during the Depression(大萧条).
As a kid, I would go for walks with Dad, spying coins along the way-a penny here, a dime(一角硬币) there. Whenever I picked up a penny, he"d ask, "Is it a wheat?" It always thrilled him when we found one
of t hose special coins produced between 1909 and 1958, the year of my birth.
One gray Sunday morning in winter, not long after my father"s death in 2002, I was walking down Fifth Avenue, feeling bereft. I found myself in front of the church where Dad once worked. I was warmly shown in and led to a seat. Hearing Dad"s favorite "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", I burst into tears. We"d sung
that at his funeral.
After the service, I shook the pastor"s(牧师) hand and stepped onto the sidewalk-and there was a
penny. I bent to pick it up, turned it over, and sure enough, it was a wheat. A 1944, a year my father was
serving on a ship in the South Pacific.
That_started_it. Suddenly wheat pennies began turning up on the sidewalks of New York everywhere. I got most of the important years: his birth year, my mom"s birth year, the year he graduated from college,
the year he met my mom, the year they got married, the year my sister was born. But alas, no 1958 wheat penny-my year, the last year they were made.
The next Sunday, after the service, I was walking up Fifth Avenue and spotted a penny in the middle
of a crossing. Oh, no, it was a busy street;cabs were speeding by-should I risk it? I just had to get it.
A wheat! But the penny was worn, and I couldn"t read the date. On arriving home, I took out my
glasses and took it to the light. There was my birthday!
I found 21 wheat pennies on the streets of Manhattan in the year after my father died, and I don"t think that"s a coincidence.
1. The writer"s father loved pennies with wheat because ________.
A. when he first saw it, he began to love it
B. when he saw the wheat, he thought of his time during the Depression
C. when he was young, he had a lot of pennies with wheat
D. when he was a child, he never got a coin with wheat
2. The underlined word "bereft"(in Para.3) means ________.
A. alone
B. disappointed
C. upset
D. discouraged
3. Which of the following statements about the author is NOT true?
A. He was born in 1958.
B. He went to church because of his father.
C. He once worked in a church.
D. He knew the church well.
4. The underlined sentence (in Para.5) suggests ________.
A. the author"s father began to serve on a ship
B. the author picked up many wheat pennies since then
C. the author began to love wheat pennies since then
D. the author started to look for wheat pennies with 1958
5. The best title for the passage would probably be ________.
A. Pennies from Heaven
B. My father"s life story
C. My father"s hobby
D. Living in New York
There was once a lonely girl who longed so much for love.One day while she was walking in the woods. , she __1__ two starving birds.She took them home and put them in a small __2__.She cared for them with __3__ and the birds grew strong.Every morning they __4__ her with a wonderful song.The girl felt
great love for the birds.
One day the girl left the door to the cage __5__.The larger and stronger of the two birds flew from the
cage.The girl was so __6__ that he would fly away.As he flew close. , she __7__ him wildly.Her heart felt
glad at her __8__ in catching him.Suddenly she felt the bird __9__ limp(四肢无力的).She opened her
hand and stared in __10__ at the dead bird.Her desperate love had killed him.
She noticed the other bird moving back and forth on the __11__ of the cage.She could feel his great need
for __12__.He needed to fly into the blue clear sky.She lifted him from the cage and threw him __13__
into the air.The bird circled once. , twice. , three times.
The girl watched __14__ at the bird"s enjoyment.Her heart was no longer concerned with her loss.She
wanted the bird to be happy.Suddenly the bird flew closer and landed softly on her shoulder.It sang the
sweetest __15__ that she had ever heard.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold on it too tight.The best way to keep love is to give it wings!
( )1. A. found ( )2. A. tree ( )3. A. excitement ( )4. A. filled ( )5. A. locked ( )6. A. frightened ( )7. A. beat ( )8. A. failure ( )9. A. changed ( )10. A. excuse ( )11. A. edge ( )12. A. water ( )13. A. angrily ( )14. A. delightedly ( )15. A. rock | B. caught B. basket B. love B. greeted B. remote B. surprised B. picked B. success B. grew B. horror B. top B. food B. hopelessly B. fortunately B. tune | C. covered C. cage C. sorrow C. shared C. open C. concerned C. took C. skill C. come C. heart C. shelf C. freedom C. strongly C. publicly C. music | D. kicked D. box D. pleasure D. disturbed D. closed D. expected D. grasped D. way D. go D. joke D. wall D. company D. softly D. disappointedly D. jazz | |||||||||||
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Some plays achieve so much success that they run for years on end. In many ways, this is __1__for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same __2__night after night.One would __3__ them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter(结巴). Yet the thing is not always the case. A famous actor in a __4__successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat(贵族)who had been imprisoned in Bastille for twenty years.In the last act, a gaoler(监狱长, 看守)would always come on to the stage with a letter which he could hand to the prisoner.Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each __5__, he always insisted that it should be written out in full. One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the __6__of the letter by heart.The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell.Just then, the gaoler __7__with the precious letter in his hands.He entered the __8__and presented the letter to the aristocrat.But the copy he gave him had not been written out in __9__as usual.It was simply a blank sheet of paper.The gaoler looked on eagerly, __10__to see if his fellow actor had at last learnt his lines.The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds.Then, squinting(眯着眼看)his eyes, he said, "The light is __11__. Read the letter to me."And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler.__12__that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied, "The light is indeed dim, sir.I must get my __13__."With this, he hurried off the stage.Much to the aristocrat"s __14__, the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the __15__copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the prisoner. | ||||||||||||||
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