That warm day was the only day of the week without rain. I opened the door, took a seat and began to enjoy the wonderful sunshine. Suddenly, I noticed that the house near mine had been sold. An elderly lady was in front of the door, with some beautiful flowers beside her. I walked to her. She looked to be in her early eighties and had the prettiest white hair.

“ Hi! My name is Karmen,” I said smiling brightly at the old lady. She smiled back and said,” Hello, Karmen. I’m Kitty.” Her voice was very strong for someone at her age. Later, I learned that she was alone and had no family or relatives to help her. From that day on, I often visited her and helped her with her housework and sometimes she gave me some delicious food. A year passed, and I considered her to be one of my best friends.

One day, I walked over for my morning visit and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I knocked again, and she didn’t still turn up. So I let myself in, using the key she had given me. I checked her living room and then her kitchen. I finally went into her bedroom, and she was lying peacefully on her bed. Beside her there were two notes. One was her will(遺囑)， which said all that she had would be given to me. The other was a thank-you note. I went to her bedside and cried sadly.

Though several years has gone by, I still miss her deeply. Whenever I look at the beautiful flowers in front of her house, I remembered the wonderful friendship we had.

1.The writer came out of the house to________.

A．look at an old lady                       B．enjoy some flowers

C．enjoy the sunshine                      D．clean the house nearby

2.Through visiting the old lady, the writer learned that the old lady_______.

A．disliked all her relatives                  B．had no one to look after her

C．didn’t want to live with her family          D．was looking for someone to look after her

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A．The old lady was not kind.

B．The writer didn’t have any good friends.

C．The old lady didn’t know how to make food.

D．The writer got along very well with the old lady

4.What does “ turn up ” mean in Paragraph 3?

A．a(chǎn)ppear           B．leave             C．try               D．change

5.In order to thank the writer, the old lady decided to_______.

A．give the writer her favourite flowers

B．let the writer know she was her best friend

C．give the writer a key to her house

D．leave all that she had to the writer

When I was seven years old, my family made me an ant farm. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box. Then we waited for the ants to arrive.
After the ants were in the glass farm, they started to make tunnels（地道）. I was amazed that each one knew exactly what to do. Each had its own job.
On the fifth day a tragedy（悲�。﹉appened. I put my face so close to the glass farm that I knocked it over. All the tunnels fell down. Although the ants remained alive after their earthquake, one by one they began to die. I was scared as I watched them give up building their tunnels to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm.
My mother said that the ants were dying of sadness. They simply could not stand that their tunnels were gone.
Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, but it taught me much more.
Over the years, I came to realize the importance of teamwork. Working together, the ants were able to make an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired（欽佩）for their hard work.
But there was an even larger lesson that I did not realize until recently: Adversity（逆境）is a natural part of life, and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, we cannot give up when we are sad. We have to realize that if a tunnel is gone, we must build another.
Giving up, I say, is not a good choice.
【小題1】 What did the writer’s family do for him when he was seven?

I knocked on the door several times but         answered, so I left.

A. somebody    B. nobody     C. anybody     D. everybody

—I knocked into a tree when I went to the bus stop for my friend.
—I suppose you _____too fast.

One night I was sitting in my room half-listening as my 15-year-old brother Tommy fought with my 12-year-old brother Kevin. I didn’t pay attention when Kevin rushed up the stairs with the hurt on his face.

About 20 minutes later, as I was walking upstairs I heard Kevin crying inside the bathroom. I knocked on the door and asked, “Hey Kevin, do you want to talk?”

No answer.

I tried again, “Why don’t you come out of there?”

Again, no answer.

So, joking around, I grabbed a stack of （一摞）cards and a pencil and wrote, “If you don’t want to talk, we can write notes to each other.”

An hour later I was still sitting on the floor outside the bathroom with two stacks of cards in front of me. One was blank and one was cards from Kevin on which he had translated all his yucky feelings into words for me. As I read one of Kevin’s notes, tears came to my eyes. It said, “Nobody in this family cares about me. I’m not the youngest, and I’m not the oldest. Tommy thinks I’m silly and Dad wishes he had the other Kevin as a kid because he’s better at basketball. And you’re never around to even notice me.”

Tears came to my eyes as I wrote back to him. “You know Kevin, I really do love you and I’m sorry I don’t always show it. I am here for you and you are loved in this family.”

There was no answer for a while, but then I heard a tearing sound coming from inside the bathroom. Kevin, who had run out of cards wrote on a torn paper cup. “Thanks.”

I wrote back “For what?” it returned to me with “Loving me” on it.

Since then, I try my best to never only half-notice my family members any more. Kevin and I have a closer relationship now. And sometimes when one of us notices that the other is upset, we’ll smile and say “Write it on a paper cup.”

1.The underlined word “yucky” most probably means ____.

     A. upset     B. exciting     C. terrible     D. amazing

2.What could be the reason that Kevin’s Dad doesn’t like him?

A.Kevin is not as clever as his brother.

B.He is neither the youngest nor the oldest.

C.Kevin doesn’t like to make friends with others.

D.Kevin is not good at playing basketball.

3.What do we know about the writer?

A.She has two children in her family.

B.She didn’t pay enough attention to Kevin before.

C.She used to show her love to Kevin.

D.She has a closer relationship with Tommy after that.

4.What does the writer want to tell us?

A.Everyone should show how they love their family members.

B.It’s hard to get on well with family members.

C.It’s important to keep peace in the family.

D.We should try our best to stop our children from fighting.