We often hear people talking about a generation gap (代沟). The name is new, but the idea is old. Young people and their parents don’t understand each other. The world has always kept changing. During the second century after Christ a wise man said, “Bury me on my face because in a little while everything will be turned upside down.”
There has always been a gap between generations, but more people talk about it now. Old Mr. Ellis thinks he understands what has happened.
“When I was a boy, I thought the world was a beautiful place. My life was very pleasant. But when I was older, I learned about people who were treated badly, people who didn’t have enough to eat. I wanted to help them, and I married a girl who wanted to help them, too. We went to meetings and talked a lot, but it didn’t seem to make much difference.”
“Our children grew up in a world at war. They didn’t know when the fighting would stop. They wanted their children to have nice clothes and toys. They didn’t want to think about the future. They thought nothing could be done about it.”
“Now I have grandchildren, and they have their own ideas. They are trying to make the world better. They are trying to help other people. They’re making people listen to them. I am proud of their generation.”
1.The wise man mentioned in the text told people to bury him on his face so that when everything is turned upside down he will ________.
A. lie on his stomach B. lie on his back
C. stand quietly D. sit in peace
2.Which generation did NOT want to do anything to make the world a better one?
A. Mr. Ellis’ generation.
B. His children’s generation.
C. His grandchildren’s generation.
D. None of the above.
3.What is the writer’s attitude towards the generation gap?
A. Unacceptable. B. Awful. C. Funny. D. Common.
A HALF-EMPTY BASKET
Once there was a poor farmer and his farm belonged to (属于) a rich man. One day he brought a basket of apples to the rich man’s house. On the doorsteps, he met two monkeys dressed like children. They jumped onto the basket to eat the apples and threw some on the ground. The farmer politely took off his hat and asked the monkeys to get off. They obeyed (服从) and the farmer went into the house. He asked to see the rich man. A servant took him to the room where the rich man was sitting.
"I have brought you the basket of apples you asked for," he said.
"But why have you brought a half-empty basket?" the rich man asked.
"I met your children outside, and they stole (偷) some of the apples.
1.Why did the farmer bring apples to the rich man? Because ________
A. he was poor
B. he liked the rich man
C. his farm belonged to the rich man
D. the rich man’s children liked apples
2.What did the monkeys do when the farmer was on the doorsteps?
A. They jumped and jumped.
B. They played.
C. They ran away.
D. They ate some of the apples.
3.The monkeys left the basket because ________.
A. they had thrown apples on the ground
B. the farmer had politely asked them to get off
C. they were afraid of the hat
D. the farmer was angry with them
4.How did the rich man feel when he saw the basket? He felt ________.
A. pleased B. unhappy C. excited D. moved
How to Become Cleverer? Once a boy came to ask a fisherman how to become cleverer, because his mother always called him “foolish boy”.
“That’s easy,” answered the fisherman. “I know one way to make you become cleverer.”
“Really?”
“Of course. It is said a fish head is good for brain. If you eat one, you’ll become cleverer indeed. Pay only three pounds for one fish head.” The boy paid him three pounds and the fisherman cut off a fish head and handed it to him.
A raw fish head is not good—not even for a hungry boy to eat but the boy ate it up in two gulps.
“Do you feel anything?” asked the fisherman.
“Not in my head,” said the boy.
The boy lay on the ground and thought. “One whole fish costs only two pounds. I had paid him three pounds for the fish head. Why couldn’t I have the whole fish for soup, a head for brain and one pound left over?” He jumped up and shouted at the fisherman. “You thief! You are fooling me!” The fisherman laughed, saying, “The fish head works now, you see. ”
1.The boy ate up the raw fish head only in two gulps, because he ________.
A. enjoy it B. wanted to taste it
C. took it as a good medicine D. was a foolish boy
2.The boy came to the fisherman in order to ________.
A. buy a fish head B. ask the fisherman a question
C. buy a whole fish D. A and C
3.________ helped the boy become cleverer.
A. A good meal B. The raw fish head
C. Nothing D. What had happened
假定你是李华，上周日是你的外国朋友Anne的生日。你本来答应参加她的生日聚会，但是你当时正忙于准备月考，不小心忘了赴约。请写信向Anne表达你的歉意，说明原因，并提出补救办法。
注意：1. 字数100左右；
2. 文章中不得出现真实学校与班级；
3. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
4. 开头与结尾已为你写好。
Dear Anne,
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Yours,
Li Hua
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。作文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏子符号（∧）并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Boys and girls! I’d like to share my swimming experience with you. My swimming experience is extreme interesting. There was a time when I swim like a rock. This went on till one day when I was fishing with a friend of mine at the pond. I slipped into it. Had my friend not come to my rescue, I would have drowned. Since then, I had come to know the important of learning to swim. I didn’t attend at any training class but learned it all by myself. Strange to say, I have no difficult swimming at all now. Though the way I swim looks awkward (笨拙的), at least it can keep me floating. Think of this, I feel quite satisfying.
Yours,
Zhang Ming
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式
Attitude Is Everything
The story is about how a donkey got out of a deep hole. The donkey’s owner, a farmer, thought 1.__________ impossible to save his donkey and decided to bury it. 2.__________, the donkey managed to get out 3.__________ the help of the soil put in by its owner.
From the story we can see that the donkey was brave and clever enough to save himself. Attitude is everything. I think it’s 4.__________ (absolute) true. 5.__________ we meet with some difficulties, we should calm down and 6.__________ brave to face them. Don’t lose yourself in 7.__________ (sad) and never give up. We can look at things in a different way. If we change our attitude 8.__________ the difficulties, we will find they are not so bad 9.__________ they seem. What’s more, we should try 10.__________ (find) ways to solve the problems. Sometimes, we can turn to our friends, teachers and parents so that we can get help and settle the problems as quickly as possible.
