What makes a gift special? Is it the price you see on the gift receipt? Or is it the look on the recipient's face when they receive it that determines the true value? What gift is worth the most?
This Christmas I was debating what to give my father. My dad is a hard person to buy for because he never wants anything. I pulled out my phone to read a text message from my mom saying that we were leaving for Christmas shopping for him when I came across a message on my phone that I had locked. The message was from my father. My eyes fell on a photo of a flower taken in Wyoming. and underneath a poem by William Blake. The flower, a lone dandelion standing against the bright blue sky, inspired me. My dad had been reciting those words to me since I was a kid. That may even be the reason why I love writing. I decided that those words would be my gift to my father.
I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe; my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it. The poem was focused around dreaming, and after searching I found the perfect picture. The image was painted with blues and greens and purples, twisting together to create the theme and wonder of a dream. As I watched both poems passing through the printer, the white paper coloring with words that shaped my childhood. I felt that this was a gift that my father would truly appreciate.
Christmas soon arrived. The minute I saw the look on my dad's face as he unwrapped those swirling black letters carefully placed in a cheap frame, I knew I had given the perfect gift.
1.The idea for a special gift began to form when the author was______.
A. doing shopping B. having a debate
C. reading a message D. leaving for Wyoming
2. The author's inspiration for the gift came from_____.
A. a photo of a flower B. a story about a kid
C. a call from the mother D. a text about Christmas
3.The underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refers to a poem by_____.
A. the father B. the author
C. William Blake D. Edgar Allan Poe
4.The author made the gift by_____.
A. searching for the poems online
B. drawing the background by hand
C. painting the letters in three colors
D. matching the words with pictures
5.What is the main purpose of the passage?
A. To show how to design images for gifts.
B. To suggest making gifts from one's heart.
C. To explain how computers help create gifts.
D. To describe the gifts the author has received
In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five days off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I’d hitch a ride (搭便车).
I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn’t give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured （使…放心）me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches. After lunch, he helped me find a lift home.
Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I’d been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.
After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven’t changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.”
I couldn’t remember where I’d met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.
1.The author had to hitch a ride one day in 1978 because .
A. her work delayed her trip to Sydney
B. she was going home for her holidays
C. the town was far away from Sydney
D. she missed the only train back home
2.Which of the following did Gordon do according to Paragraph 2?
A. He helped the girl find a ride.
B. He gave the girl a ride back home.
C. He bought sandwiches for the girl.
D. He watched the girl for three hours.
3.The reason why the author offered a lift to the elderly man was that .
A. she realized he was Gordon
B. she had known him for decades
C. she was going to the nearby town
D. she wanted to repay the favour she once got
4.What does the author want to tell the readers through the story?
A. Giving sometimes produces nice results.
B. Those who give rides will be rapid.
C. Good manners bring about happiness.
D. People should offer free rides to others.
A city child’s summer is spent in the street in front of his home, and all through the long summer vacations I sat on the edge of the street and watched enviously the other boys on the block play baseball. I was never asked to take part even when one team had a member missing—not out of special cruelty, but because they took it for granted I would be no good at it. They were right, of course.
I would never forget the wonderful evening when something changed. The baseball ended about eight or eight thirty when it grew dark. Then it was the custom of the boys to retire to a little stoop(门廊) that stuck out from the candy store on the corner and that somehow had become theirs. No grownup ever sat there or attempted to. There the boys would sit, mostly talking about the games played during the day and of the game to be played tomorrow. Then long silences would fall and the boys would wander off one by one. It was just after one of those long silences that my life as an outsider changed. I can no longer remember which boy it was that summer evening who broke the silence with a question: but whoever he was, I nod to him gratefully now. “What’s in those books you’re always reading?” he asked casually. “Stories,” I answered. “What kind?” asked somebody else without much interest.
Nor do I know what drove me to behave as I did, for usually I just sat there in silence, glad enough to be allowed to remain among them; but instead of answering his question, I told them for two hours the story I was reading at the moment. The book was Sister Carrie. They listened bug-eyed and breathless. I must have told it well, but I think there was another and deeper reason that made them to keep an audience. Listening to a tale being told in the dark is one of the most ancient of man’s entertainments, but I was offering them as well, without being aware of doing it, a new and exciting experience.
The books they themselves read were the Rover Boys or Tom Swift or G.A.Henty. I had read them too, but at thirteen I had long since left them behind. Since I was much alone I had become an enthusiastic reader and I had gone through the books-for-boys series. In those days there was no reading material between children’s and grownups’ books or I could find none. I had gone right from Tome Swift and His Flying Machine to Theodore Dreiser and Sister Carrie. Dreiser had hit my young mind, and they listened to me tell the story with some of the wonder that I had had in reading it.
The next night and many nights thereafter, a kind of unspoken ritual (仪式) took place. As it grew dark, I would take my place in the center of the stoop and begin the evening’s tale. Some nights, in order to taste my victory more completely, I cheated. I would stop at the most exciting part of a story by Jack London or Bret Harte, and without warning tell them that that was as far as I had gone in the book and it would have to be continued the following evening. It was not true, of course; but I had to make certain of my new-found power and position. I enjoyed the long summer evenings until school began in the fall. Other words of mine have been listened to by larger and more fashionable audiences, but for that tough and athletic one that sat close on the stoop outside the candy store, I have an unreasoning love that will last forever.
1.Watching the boys playing baseball, the writer must have felt ________.
A. bitter and lonely
B. special and different
C. pleased and excited
D. disturbed and annoyed
2.The writer feels grateful even now to the boy who asked the question because the boy ________.
A. invited him to join in their game
B. liked the book that he was reading
C. broke the long silence of that summer evening
D. offered him an opportunity that changed his life
3.According to Paragraph 3, story-telling was popular among the boys basically because ________.
A. the story was from a children’s book
B. listening to tales was an age-old practice
C. the boys had few entertainments after dark
D. the boys didn’t read books by themselves
4.The boys were attracted to Sister Carrie because ________.
A. it was written by Theodore Dreiser
B. it was specifically targeted at boys
C. it gave them a deeper feeling of pleasure
D. it talked about the wonders of the world
5. Sometimes the writer stopped at the most exciting part of a story to _______.
A. play a mean trick on the boys
B. experience more joy of achievement
C. add his own imagination to the story
D. help the boys understand the story better
6.What is the message conveyed in the story?
A. One can find his position in life in his own way.
B. Friendship is built upon respect for each other.
C. Reading is more important than playing games.
D. Adult habits are developed from childhood.
书面表达
随着网络在人们生活中的广泛使用，在生日或其他重大节日时，越来越多的好友或家人喜欢通过发送电子贺卡来表达他们的祝愿。根据以下提示，简述使用电子贺卡的优点，并谈谈自己的看法。
1. 使用便捷，传递速度快，不受时空限制；
2. 形式多样，生动有趣；
3. 节约资源，利于环保。
文章应包括以上要点，可适当发挥，字数100左右。
参考词汇：电子贺卡：e-card (electronic card)
短文改错
下面短文共有10处语言错误，每句话最多有两处，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删减或修改。
增加：在缺词处加漏词附（∧），并在下面写上该加的词；
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉；
修改：在错词下面划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
Students today should do more reading. Indeed, the importance of reading can never be very stressed. First of all, reading, especial out-of-class reading, enrich our mind and broadens our horizons. Through reading, we learn what can’t be learnt in our classrooms. Beside, reading is also a way of relaxation. This is very refreshing to read a story before going to bed, or after a day of the study. There were many famous sayings about reading, like “Reading is to the mind that exercise is to the body.” Then how can we develop the habit of reading? In the first place, I believe we should start from an early age, then stick on it and never give up. Secondly, we should read what we are interested and also what is proper for us.
单词拼写
1.The police ________( 怀疑 ）the man in the jacket was a criminal, but they didn’t have any evidence.
2.People all around the world tried to help the __________( 受害者） of the earthquake in that area.
3.The 7th China Garden Expo will be held in Jinan,the capital city of Shandong_________(省）.
4.Dealing with people is the most important_________(方面）of our daily work.
5.The old couple were preparing their golden__________(婚礼） the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage.
6.The manager gave him all the_________(材料） he needed to carry out construction.
7.We should __________(回收利用）our waste rather than throw it away.
8.Mary is the right person who can finish the job before the________(最后期限）.
9.My mother was chatting on the phone , _________(在此期间）my father was cooking in the kitchen.
10.Tom is one of my _________(同事） ,and we have been working in the same company for two years.
