How are you and your family going to celebrate Earth Day? It’s great day to get outside and ride a bike, but there are other ways you could spend the day. Here are four books. You can learn more about the earth and the animals that make the world a special place to live.

The Busy Beaver, by Nicholas Oldland

Beaver is very busy, and he doesn’t always think carefully. As a result, he makes a mess of the forest and ends up in hospital. Finally, he realizes how careless he’s been and decides to make things right when he returns to the forest.

Lessons from Mother Earth, by Elaine Mcleod

Five-year-old Tess is visiting her grandmother and, for the first time, she visits the garden. Along the way, Tess’s grandmother tells her the rules of the garden, “You must always take good care of our garden. Never throw rubbish around. There is plenty for everyone to share if we don’t destroy(破坏) the earth.” The story is beautifully told as a caring conversation between a child and her grandmother.

Luz See the Light, by Claudia Davila

When Luz’s community experiences a series of black-outs (停电), she quickly comes to understand the need to save energy and find other ways of doing things . With the help of her friends and neighbors, she creates a community garden and park that everyone can use. The book attracts many young readers.

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss

A young boy learns of the role of the Lorax as protector of the trees, and how his home became polluted. The book contains memorable (可记忆的) of forestry conservation (保护) .

1.We can learn from the passages that Beaver ______.

A. always plans things carefully

B. never takes care of the forest

C. decides to leave the forest forever

D. gets hurt because of his carelessness

2.Which of the following words can best describe Luz?

A. Organized.     B. Creative.

C. Beautiful.     D. Unfriendly.

3.Which of the following books focus on（关注）the protection of forest?

A. The Busy Beaver and The Lorax.

B. Luz Sees the Light and The Lorax.

C. The Busy Beaver and Lessons from Mother Earth.

D. Lessons from Mother Earth and Luz Sees the Light.

4.What is the writer’s purpose in writing this passage?

A. To provide some activities to Earth Day.

B. To offer some books to young children.

C. To tell readers how to write children’s books.

D. To teach readers how to protect our environment.

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning (挣得) $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants (佣人), Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.

It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

1.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.

A. want to be as rich as their neighbours

B. want others to know or to think that they are rich

C. don’t want others to know they are rich

D. want to be happy

2.It can be inferred (推断) from the story that rich people like to ________.

A. live outside New York City

B. live in New York city

C. live in apartments

D. have many neighbors

3.If a person who keeps up with the Joneses, he would _________.

A. do as the poor persons around him do

B. do everything he likes to do

C. do as his neighbours do

D. do as the rich people around him do

4.Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ________.

A. an important nam

B. a popular name in the United States

C. his neighbor’s name

D. not a good name

Mr. Brown worked in a factory of a small town. He had been there for twenty years before one day he was sent to the capital for important business. He was quite excited because he had never been there before. Before he set off, he asked his wife and three daughters if they wanted him to buy something for them in London. Mrs. Brown began to think it over and then she said she wished her husband would be able to buy a nice umbrella for her, and so did their three daughters. As he was afraid he would forget it, he drew an umbrella on his hand. To his regret, he lost it at the station.

On the train Mr. Brown sat opposite to an old woman. The woman’s umbrella was so nice that he carefully looked at it and said to himself not to forget to buy a few umbrellas like it. When the train arrived at the station in London, he said good-bye to the old woman, took his bag and her umbrella and was going to get off.

“Wait a minute, sir,” shouted the old woman. “That’s my umbrella!”

Now Mr. Brown noticed that he had taken her umbrella. His face turned red at once and said in a hurry, “Oh, I’m very sorry, Madam! I didn’t mean it!”

Seven days later Mr. Brown left the capital. To his surprise, he met the old woman and sat opposite to her again. Looking at the four umbrellas, the old woman was satisfied with herself. “It seems that I had a better result than the other four women.” She thought.

1.The underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refers to ______.

A. his ticket      B. his bag

C. his drawing     D. his umbrella

2.Why did Mr. Brown take the woman’s umbrella?

A. Because he was lost in thought.

B. Because it was much like his own umbrella.

C. Because he thought the woman would not notice it.

D. Because the woman placed it beside Mr. Brown by mistake.

3.When looking at Mr. Brown with four umbrellas, the woman felt ______.

A. surprised           B. angry        C. lucky        D. sad

4.How did Mr. Brown get the four umbrellas?

A. He picked them on the train.

B. He brought them from his small town.

C. He bought them in London.

D. He stole them from four women.

1.You can probably eat Chinese, Italian, and Arab food_____________.

A. at the front entrance of City Hall

B. at the Ballgame

C. at 5:00 pm

D. at Central Park on Saturday

2.The Redbirds ballgame____________.

A. is in the afternoon                  B. is outside

C. is at the gate                       D. might be cold

3.“The Zoo” is ______________.

A. a park with lots of animals

B. US concert

C. a music group

D. going to give the concert at 8:00 am

完形填空

One summer evening as I was cooking dinner, there was a knock at the door. I _______ it and saw an old man. But his voice was pleasant as he said, “Good evening. I come to see if you have a   _______ for just one night. I came for a(n) _______ this morning from the eastern part. And there’s no bus till next morning.” He told me he’d been _______ for a room but with no success. “I guess it’s my face … I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments…” he said. I told him we would _______  him a bed, but to rest on the porch（走廊）. I went inside and prepared dinner. When we were _______ , I asked him if he would like to _______ us. “No, thank you. I have plenty.”

When I had finished the dinner, I went out to talk with _______  . It didn’t take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to _______ his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly disabled. At bedtime, we _______ a bed in the children’s room for him.

On his next trip, _______ a gift, he brought a big fish I had never seen. In the years he came to stay overnight with us, and there was _______ a time he did not _______ us some fish or vegetables from his garden.

I knew our family will always be _______ to have known him. From him we learned what it was to accept the   _______ without a complaint (抱怨) and the good with thanks.

1.A. felt           B. opened         C. repaired       D. painted

2.A. room         B. book           C. bus           D. castle

3.A. interview      B. meeting        C. show          D. treatment

4.A. crying         B. hunting       C. studying       D. choosing

5.A. offer          B. borrow         C. send           D. sell

6.A. happy         B. free           C. busy           D. ready

7.A. call           B. visit          C. join           D. invite

8.A. her           B. him           C. them           D. it

9.A. expect       B. save           C. support      D. serve

10.A. put           B. planted        C. covered        D. discovered

11.A. at            B. in             C. for            D. as

12.A. always        B. never        C. ever           D. even

13.A. bring         B. water          C. desert         D. buy

14.A. beautiful     B. thankful       C. special        D. silent

15.A. poor          B. wounded        C. ill           D. bad

— My sister has achieved her goal after years of hard work.

— Great! ________

A. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

B. Many hands make light work.

C. Where there is a will, there is a way.

D. One tree can’t make a forest.

— Mum, can you give me some advice on how to behave myself at the table?

— Well, I do have some advice. ________, please keep quiet while eating.

A. In all          B. Of all

C. At all        D. Above all

—The little boy, along with his classmates, ______for their bravery action in time of danger.

— I think we should learn from them.

A. were praised      B. was praised

C. have praised      D. has praised

— About ________of the teachers in their school were born in the 1980s.

— The rest ________ born in the 1970s.

A. three-fourths; were B. three-fourths; was

C. three-fourth; are   D. three-fourth; is

Ronald Amundsen is considered to be one of the greatest ________ in history because he was the first man to reach the South Pole(南极).

A. writers           B. composers

C. president       D. explorers