I can’t count how many times people have complained, while shaking their heads in obvious disappointment,“just don’t know what is with teenagers today.”
The other day I was in my car on my way to the farmers market when I passed two teens standing by the side of the road with a car washing sign. My car was filthy and my heart was full, so I pulled over. There was a group directing the cars and another group spraying them down. As sponges(海綿) were wiped over every square inch of my dirty car, I sat enjoying the little water bottles. I was amazed at why forty to fifty teenagers had devoted their Saturday to washing cars.
After I handed them a twenty-dollar bill I asked what they were raising money for. They explained to me that a friend of theirs, C.T.Schmitz, had recently died of cancer. He was only fifteen years old. He had gone to school with a lot of the teenagers who were there that day and each of them had memories of a boy sweeter than any they had known. His friend Kevin had decided to put this car wash together because he wanted to honor his friend and also bring together his classmates with his boy scout troop(童子軍). He told me that they wanted to plant a tree in front of their school and if they raised enough money they would put a plaque(紀(jì)念匾) there also. Both would be in memory of their friend C.T.
They handed me a bag of homemade cookies with my receipt(收據(jù)) saying“Thanks for helping us plant a tree of C.T.”
Yeah! I don’t know what is with teenagers today!
【小題1】From the passage we can know that the boys were raising money to ______.

B
Every year 2. 2 million tons of oil are put into the ocean and this oil has terrible effects on ocean life, including the coastlines where the off washes up onto shore. Some of the largest spills(溢出) in history were caused by oil tankers(油輪) running into each other or by an oil tanker sailing into shallow water and hitting the bottom of the ocean.
After these spills, officials try to discover who or what was at fault to help prevent similar accidents in the future.
One of the worst oil spills in history happened along the Alaskan（阿拉斯加） coastline in 1989. In this accident, 42,000 tons of oil spilled from a tanker which resulted in terrible damage to this sensitive natural area. In this spill, the tanker's captain, who was tired from overwork and drinking alcohol, had gone to take a rest. He gave control of the ship to the third mate. The third mate was unfamiliar with the path the ship took, and he ran the ship onto a natural underwater rock wall near the Alaskan coast. Damaged by the rock, the ship leaked(泄漏) oil out into the ocean. More than 1,600 kilometers of coastline were affected by the oil spill. Some scientists who studied nature in the area guessed that 580,000 birds and 5,500 others died when the oil covered their skin. As well, smaller shellfish and other sea creatures were later eaten by seals, whales, and other animals.
The most oil ever spilled was in 1990. As part of the Iraq war plan, 900,000 tons of oil were let out into the Persian(波斯的) Gulf by Iraq. The oil also damaged 650 kilometers of the coastline of both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In some places, oil on the water was 43 centimeters thick. Water birds, water plants, and baby fish were all seriously affected. The long-term effects of this act on the food chain in the area are bound to（肯定會(huì)） cause problems far into the future.
45. Oil spills have terrible effect on________.
A. ocean life                                             B. the coastline
C. both ocean life and the coastline             D. the bottom of the ocean
46. Why did the third mate run the tanker aground(擱淺地) in this accident?
A. He was tired.                                        B. He did not know the area well.
C. He was drunk.                                      D. He was talking on the phone.
47. According to the writer, ________.
A. the accident along the Alaskan coastline was the worst oil spill in history
B. Iraq poured oil into the the Persian Gulf on purpose
C. the effects of Iraq’s act in the Persian Gulf War have been seen fully
D. oil put into the sea by Iraq in the war was the worst accident in history
48. Which of the following is the best title for this text?
A. The Worst Oil Spill                               B. Pollution
C. The Persian Gulf War                                   D. Oil Spill

 Compared with his sister, Jerry is even more        to, and more easily troubled by , emotional and relationship problems.

A. sceptical           B. addicted          C. available        D. sensitive

Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school—walking on my own!
When the Great Depression(大蕭條)hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred（出現(xiàn)）on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel(汽車旅館)for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world—Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situations. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.
【小題1】What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was_______.

Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected, means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying “no,” criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it’s the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialogue may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people in any other forum.
Humor is often the best way to keep a small misunderstanding from escalating into a big deal. Recently a neighbor of mine had a squabble with his wife as she drove him to the airport. Airborne, he felt miserable, and he knew she did, too. Two hours after she returned home, she received a long-distance phone call. “Person-to-person for Mrs. I. A. Pologize,” intoned the operator. “That’s spelled ‘P’ as in…” In a twinkling, the whole day changed from grim to lovely at both ends of the wire.
An English hostess with a quick wit was giving a formal dinner for eight distinguished guests whom she hoped to enlist in a major charity drive. Austerity（節(jié)儉）was a fashion in England at the time, and she had asked her children to serve the meal. She knew that anything could happen—and it did, just as her son, with the studied concentration of a tightrope walker, brought in a large roast turkey. He successfully elbowed the swinging dining-room door, but the backswing threw the bird onto the dining-room floor.
The boy stood rooted: guests stared at their plates. Moving only her head the hostess smiled at her son,” No harm, Daniel,” she said. “Just pick him up and take him back to the kitchen”… she enunciated clearly so he would think about what she was saying… “and bring in the other one.”
A wink and a one-liner instantly changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a conspiracy of fun.
【小題1】What is the main idea of the passage?