As Mrs Thompson stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school,  she told the
children a lie. Like most teachers,  she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same.
But that was impossible,   because there in the front row,   slumped in his seat,   was a little boy named
Teddy Stoddard.Mrs Thompson noticed that he didn't play well with the other children,   that his clothes
were messy and that he constantly needed a bath.And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point
where Mrs Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen,   making
bold Xs and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.
     However,   when she reviewed his file,   she got a surprise.
     Teddy's first grade teacher wrote,   "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work
neatly and has good manners… He is joy to be around."
     His second grade teacher wrote,   "Teddy is an excellent student,   well liked by his classmates,  
but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."
     His third grade teacher wrote."His mother's death has been hard on him.He tries to do his best but
his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."
     Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote,   "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in study.
He doesn't have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class."
     Now,   Mrs Thompson was ashamed of herself and felt worse when her students brought her
beautifully wrapped Christmas presents.Teddy's present,   however,   was clumsily wrapped in rough
brown grocery paper.Taking her time she opened it to reveal Teddy's gifts,   a shine stone bracelet with
stones missing and a quarter full perfume bottle.How the children laugh!"What a pretty bracelet! Mm,  
lovely perfume! Perfect on my wrist." The children were silent.
     Alone together,   after school,   Teddy told Mrs Thompson,   "Today you smiled just like my Mom
used to."His teacher cried all right,   and from that day,   she stopped teaching reading,   writing,   and
arithmetic and began to teach children instead.

1. What is the best title of this text?
A. A Student's Best Friend
B. How To Be a Good Student
C. The Story of a Good Teacher
D. A Teacher's Lesson

2. Which of the following is true about Teddy?
A. He only bathed once a week.
B. He had no friends at school.
C. His clothes were usually untidy.
D. He was the worst student in the class.

3. How did Teddy's behavior change between Grades 1 and 4?
A. He became better at making friends.
B. He became closer to his friends.
C. He paid less attention to school.
D. He stopped doing his homework.

4. Why did Mrs Thompson feel ashamed after she read Teddy's file?
A. She didn't treat Teddy fairly at first.
B. She was being unpleasant to Teddy.
C. She took delight in failing Teddy in the exam.
D. She disliked Teddy for all his problems.

     Few of us haven't read Cinderella, the story of a young woman living in poverty who meets the prince
of her dreams. Some might not want to admit it, but there is a hidden Cinderella in everyone's heart-we
all wish we could achieve recognition or success after a period of obscurity (默默無聞) or neglect.
     Mary Santiago has that secret dream, too. Her story is featured in Another Cinderella Story, a film
set in a US high school.
     Mary is shy but loves to dance. Compared with other girls, she is invisible. However, her world
changes completely when a famous teenage pop singer, Joey Parker, appears.
     Joey is everything the rest of the boys in her class are not - kind, handsome and desirable. Mary
and Joey's paths cross at a ball. They meet and fall in love with each other. But when Mary has to rush
back home, she leaves behind her MP3 player, which becomes the only clue Joey has to find the girl
of his dreams.   Of course, there is a wicked (邪惡的) stepmother, who turns out to be Dominique
Blatt and she takes in Mary after her dancer mother dies. Dominique treats Mary like a maid and does
everything she can to make sure Mary doesn't get into the top dance school. Her two daughters are
equally determined to stop Joey falling for Mary, even if that means embarrassing her.
     The story, though it mostly follows Cinderella, does add a few modern day twists to the classic fairy
tale. Refreshingly, the film, unlike many high school films, does not focus on looks, although the actors
are all beautiful. There is also a lot less materialism in Another Cinderella Story than in many similar
movies.
     "The movie takes the Cinderella fairytale as its jumping off point," writes movie critic Amber
Wilkinson. "The focus is firmly on following your dream."

1. The first paragraph is mainly to _________.

A. build interest and lead us to Mary's secret dream  
B. remind us why Cinderella is popular all the years
C. inform us of the main topic of the whole passage  
D. tell us how interesting the fairy tale Cinderella is

2. In the movie, Mary Santiago is the main character who ________.

A. is brave in expressing her love        
B. is attended badly by the stepmother
C. has a dream of meeting a prince      
D. is embarrassed by the pop singer

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A. Joey is just like other boys in Mary's class.    
B. Mary's mother influences her a lot in singing.
C. Not many people have a dream to be realized.  
D. The MP3 player helps Joey in finding Mary.

4. The passage is mainly _________.

A. an introduction to a film            
B. a review about a film
C. an essay about dreams              
D. an advertisement of Cinderella

5. According to the passage, Another Cinderella Story __________.

A. follows Cinderella with nothing new          
B. pays more attention to the looks of the actors
C. encourages young people to follow their dreams  
D. focuses more on materialism than other films

     I began working in journalism(新聞工作)when I was eight. It was my mother's idea. She wanted me
to "make something" of myself,  and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of
keeping up with the competition.
     With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were
two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible,
 making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY
EVENING POST. When it was supper time, I walked back home.
     "How many did you sell,  my boy?" My mother asked.
     "None."
     "Where did you go?"
     "The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues."
     "What did you do?"
     "Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post."
     "You just stood there?"
     "Didn't sell a single one."
     "My God, Russell!"
     Uncle Allen put in, "Well,  I've decided to take the Post." I handed him a copy and he paid me a
nickle(五分鎳幣). It was the first nickle I earned.
     Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address
adults with selfconfidence(自信),  and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor,  
could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
     One day, I told my mother I'd changed my mind. I didn't want to make a success in the magazine
business.
     "If you think you can change your mind like this," she replied, "you'll become a goodfornothing." She
insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever
I said no, she would scold me.
     My mother and I had fought this_battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother,  dissatisfied
with my father's plain workman's life,  determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But
never did she expect that,  forty years later,  such a successful journalist as me would go back to her
husband's people for true life and love.

1. Why did the boy start his job young?

A. He wanted to be famous in the future.
B. The job was quite easy for him.
C. His mother had high hopes for him.
D. The competition for the job was fierce.

2.  From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was________.

A. excited  
B. interested
C. ashamed  
D. disappointed

3. What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?

A. She forced him to continue.
B. She punished him.
C. She gave him some money.
D. She changed her plan.

4.  What does the underlined phrase "this battle" (last paragraph) refer to？

A. The war between the boy's parents.
B. The argument between the boy and his mother.
C. The quarrel between the boy and his customers.
D. The fight between the boy and his father.

     A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and loved the
boy very much. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine
bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and put it back into the
cupboard in the bathroom. However, his wife, busy, in the kitchen, totally forgot the matter.
     The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle, fascinated by its color and drank it all. It
happened to contain a kind of medicine for adults with poisonous and side effects. When the child broke
down,the mother hurried him to the hospital. But he finally died. The mother was shocked. She was
terrified how she was going to face her husband.
     When the desperate father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and
voiced five words. The husband just said "I am with you, Darling." The husband's totally unexpected
reaction is a positive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point
in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would
not have happened. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that
moment was comfort and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.
     If everyone can look at life with this kind of viewpoint, there would be much fewer problems in the
world. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears and you will find things
are actually not as difficult as you think. Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or whom
to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out some
warmth in human relationship.