I remember a day when I was a little kid. I was making a sandwich in the kitchen when I noticed the date on one of the wine bottles.
“ Dad, dad!” I cried. “This wine is too old to drink.”
“ Son, hold on,” he said.
“ No, you can’t drink this tonight! This bottle of wine was made 10 years ago.”
“ Wait, let me tell you…”
“ Would you like me to throw it away fro you?” I asked.
“ Son, wait a second,” he said. “Son, some wines get better over time. The longer you wait to drink it, the better it will be. Although this may seem strange, it is true.”
When I was young, I didn’t have any understanding of what this meant, but now, this would have been very helpful to remember as I went through my teenage years.
In our society, we forget this simple rule: The longer you want for certain things, the better they will be. But we want the best job as quickly as possible; we want to graduate from college in as few years as possible; we even speed through our homework just to chat with friends. When we do this, we lose something of great importance.
We all want to get to the next step so quickly that perhaps we don’t get ready enough to get there. This has a negative effect on our society. When trying to go to the right college, we will do anything to get in and when we rush through our class-work, we may not study enough for the test, and end up failing. We need to be ready for whatever comes, ready for the unexpected. Wine gets better over time, so do the things in our paths of life.
1.Why did the author tell his father not to drink the bottle of wine?
A．Because it smelt terrible.
B．Because it had been kept for years.
C．Because it was mixed with something else.
D．Because his father drank too much that night.
2.What the author’s father said __________.
A．made the author puzzled when he was a little child.
B．was too simple a rule to be meaningful to the author.
C．threw the author into deep thought then.
D．was an excuse to drink the wine.
3.In the author’s opinion, if we do things too quickly, we will __________.
A．do it better
B．save much time
C．graduate from college more quickly
D．miss something useful to us in life
4.Which of the following best reflects the main idea of the passage?
A．Well begun is half done.
B．More haste, less speed.
C．Failure is the mother of success.
D．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
Frank told us of his childhood. “My dad was a fisherman, and he 36 the sea. It was 37 making a living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out 38 he caught enough to feed the family.”
“He was a big man, and was 39 from pulling the nets and fighting the seas. When you got close to him, he smelled like the 40 . No matter how much my mother 41 his clothes, they would 42 smell of fish.”
“Every day he drove me to school. When the old truck rattled (嘎嘎作响) down the road, I would shrink down into the seat hoping to 43 . When we reached school, he would give me a kiss on the cheek and 44 me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. I was 45 twelve years old!”
“I 46 the day I decided I was too old for a goodbye kiss. When he started to lean toward me, I put my hand up and said, ‘No, Dad.’ It was the first time I had ever talked to him in that 47 , and he had this 48 look on his face. I said, ‘Dad, I’m too old for a goodbye kiss.’ My dad looked at me and his eyes were filled with tears. I had never seen him 49 . ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘You are a big boy...a man. I won’t 50 you any more.’”
51 began to well up in Frank’s eyes, “It wasn’t long after that when my dad went to sea and never came back. 52 of the boats stayed in that day because of a coming storm, but not dad. He had a big family to 53 .”
“Guys, you don’t know what I would like is to have my dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek, to feel his 54 old face, to smell the ocean on him. I wish I had been a man then. 55 I had been a man, I would never have told my dad I was too old for a goodbye kiss.”
1. A．hated B．loved C．owned D．sold
2. A．hard B．enjoyable C．easy D．comfortable
3. A．before B．after C．until D．unless
4. A．thin B．fat C．weak D．strong
5. A．ocean B．land C．sky D．animals
6. A．made B．washed C．changed D．bought
7. A．never B．seldom C．still D．ever
8. A．survive B．disappear C．succeed D．appear
9. A．force B．advise C．order D．tell
10. A．sometimes B．once C．already D．only
11. A．remember B．forget C．recognize D．forecast
12. A．voice B．way C．case D．attitude
13. A．tired B．surprised C．worried D．annoyed
14. A．smile B．sing C．sigh D．cry
15. A．kiss B．cheat C．punish D．beat
16. A．Fear B．Tears C．Blood D．Anger
17. A．Both B．None C．Most D．Few
18. A．blame B．hold C．rescue D．feed
19. A．smooth B．dirty C．rough D．clean
20. A．If B．When C．Whether D．Where
—Poor Steve! I could hardly recognize him just now!
—________ . He has changed so much.
A．Never mind B．No problem C．Not at all D．Me neither
Though _____ in the accident, the bus driver did all he could to help the passengers to safety.
A．injuring B．injured C．to injure D．having injured
Brave New World describes a promising future _______ there is no war or violence and all the people can live happily.
A．where B．which C．that D．whom
—Anything special in today’s papers?
—Yes. “Confidence is more important than gold” by Premier Wen ________as a headline in many of today’s newspapers.
A．is used B．are used C．has used D．have used
