Four years ago my sweet mom went to be with God. She did it her way.
I got the call at work, and I headed home quickly. Mom and Dad lived on a small farm that they had owned since I was seven. I hated going there every weekend. There was nothing for a young girl to do but watch the one station on the old TV set, if the weather allowed reception.
My mom, on the other hand, loved the peace and quiet of the land and loved to work in the garden among her flowers and vegetables. The place was simple, with no indoor pipes or heating. We had a big wood stove in the kitchen that did its best to heat the little farmhouse, but it always seemed cold and too quiet to me.
In the evenings, my mom and I would sit for hours singing in the little kitchen. I sang the rhythm and Mom harmonized. Her favorite song was "Moon River" and we sang it over and over. Mom told me stories about how when I was a little girl, I could sing before I could talk. She loved to tell there was one song I particularly loved called "Ivory Tower".
As time passed, I had my own children and went to visit every week or two. The kids loved the farm and the tractor rides with my dad. Me, well, I still hated the silence of the farm. While my mom loved to sit at her kitchen table and look out at her garden and flowers and retell all the old stories, I missed the hustle and bustle(喧闹) of my life at home. But I sat there listening quietly as she reminisced.
Now, I sat back in the silence and turned on an old radio. Music always comforted me.
My heart skipped a beat. "Moon River" was playing on the radio. I sat there shocked, with a tear running down my cheek, as I listened to every familiar note.
Then the radio announcer of this old station came on. "Here"s one we haven"t heard in a while," and an unfamiliar song began. I began to cry harder as I heard the words sung over the airwaves "Come down, come down from your Ivory Tower…".
小题1:The writer didn’t like staying in the farm for the following reasons Except that ________. | A．it was too cold and quiet | | B．she could only sing one song in the small farm | | C．there was nothing more that could make her excited | | D．it had no indoor pipes or heating |
小题2:From the first paragraph, we know that the writer’s mother ________. | A．passed away four years ago | B．left the small farm | | C．left to live her own way | D．preferred to be with God |
小题3:The underlined word reminisced in the fifth paragraph probably means ________. | A．remembered | B．comforted | C．shouted | D．sighed |
小题4:Which of the following statements is NOT true?| A．The writer was able to sing before she could speak. | | B．The writer preferred to live a busy life in the city. | | C．The writer was still quite familiar with the song "Ivory Tower". | | D．The writer treasured all her childhood memories in the small farmhouse. |
小题5:Which would be the best title for this passage? | A．Cherish life | B．My happy childhood | | C．Our small farmhouse | D．Mom’s music |
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小题1:B
小题2:A
小题3:A
小题4:C
小题5:D |
试题分析：文章讲述作者小时候在农场和父母生活的故事，妈妈和作者都喜欢唱歌，但是作者不喜欢农场的生活，多年后，作者的母亲去世了，听到以前和妈妈一起唱的歌曲，和曾经熟悉现在陌生的歌，作者泪如雨下。
小题1:第二段的句子：There was nothing for a young girl to do but watch the one station on the old TV set, if the weather allowed reception．第三段的句子：The place was rustic, with no indoor plumbing or heat．和but it always seemed cold and too quiet to me．可知ACD都是对的， 从第四段的句子：In the evenings, my mom and I would sit for hours singing in the little kitchen．I sang the melody and Mom harmonized．Her favorite song was "Moon River" and we sang it over and over．可知作者可以唱很多遍的歌，选B。
小题2:句意理解题：从第一段的句子：Four years ago my sweet mom went to be with her Lord．She did it her way．可以理解成作者的母亲四年前去世了，选A
小题3:猜词题：从第五段的句子：While my mom loved to sit at her kitchen table and look out at her garden and flowers and retell all the old stories, 可知妈妈会经常回忆，选A
小题4:细节题：从最后一句话：and an unfamiliar song began．I began to cry harder as I heard the words sung over the airwaves．"Come down, come down from your Ivory Tower．．．．"可知作者对Ivory Tower不熟悉，选C
小题5:标题确定题：文章讲述作者小时候在农场和父母生活的故事，妈妈和作者都喜欢唱歌，但是作者不喜欢农场的生活，多年后，作者的母亲去世了，听到以前和妈妈一起唱的歌曲，和曾经熟悉现在陌生的歌，作者泪如雨下。所以选Mom’s music最贴切，选D |
核心考点
试题【Four years ago my sweet mom went to be with God. She did it her way. I got the c】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
When it is Tom’s turn for a cut, Mr. Smith places a wooden board covered with a piece of red leather across the arms of the chair, so that the barber doesn’t have to bend to cut the boy’s hair.
“Hey, young man, you’re , you won’t need this soon, you’ll be able to sit in the chair.” the barber says.
“Wow,” says Tom, turning round to look at his dad. “Dad, Mr. Smith said I could be sitting in the chair soon, not just on the !”
“So I hear,” his father replies. “I expect Mr. Smith will start me more for your hair then.”
In the Tom sees a little head sticking out of a long nylon cape. Occasionally he glances at the barber as he works. He smells a(n) of smelly sweat and aftershave as the barber moves around him, combing and cutting.
Tom feels like he is in another world, except for the sound of the barber’s shoes rubbing on the plastic carpet and the of his scissors. In the from the window he could see through the window, a few small clouds moved slowly through the frame, moving to the of the scissors’ click.
Sleepily, his eyes dropping to the front of the cape where his hair softly as snow and he sitting in the chair just like the men and older boys, the special left leaning against the wall in the corner.
When Mr. Smith has , Tom hops down from the seat. , he sees his own thick, hair mixed among the browns, greys and blacks of the men who have sat in the chair before him. For a moment he wants to reach down and the broken blonde hair, to them from the others, but he does not have time.
They reach the pavement outside the shop. “I tell you what, boy, let’s get some fish and chips to take home, your mum from cooking tea,” says Tom’s dad.
Tom is excited and catches his dad’s hand. He is surprised to find, warming in his father’s palm, a handful of his own .
| 小题1: | | A．building up | B．sending up | C．bringing up | D．shooting up |
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| 小题2: | | A．desk | B．board | C．couch | D．sofa |
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| 小题3: | | A．paying | B．blaming | C．charging | D．accusing |
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| 小题4: | | A．mirror | B．book | C．shelf | D．catalogue |
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| 小题5: | | A．steals | B．discovers | C．returns | D．transforms |
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| 小题6: | | A．lack | B．memory | C．mixture | D．expression |
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| 小题7: | | A．helpless | B．noiseless | C．fearless | D．thoughtless |
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| 小题8: | | A．control | B．direction | C．effect | D．click |
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| 小题9: | | A．immigration | B．opposition | C．reflection | D．assumption |
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| 小题10: | | A．rhyme | B．trail | C．pattern | D．sound |
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| 小题11: | | A．falls | B．covers | C．melts | D．explodes |
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| 小题12: | | A．considers | B．succeeds | C．approves | D．imagines |
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| 小题13: | | A．package | B．bench | C．scissors | D．carpet |
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| 小题14: | | A．treated | B．compromised | C．finished | D．entertained |
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| 小题15: | | A．Looking into | B．Looking forward | C．Looking up | D．Looking down |
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| 小题16: | | A．blonde | B．red | C．black | D．white |
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| 小题17: | | A．send for | B．find out | C．gather up | D．show off |
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| 小题18: | | A．punish | B．separate | C．deliver | D．confirm |
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| 小题19: | | A．persuade | B．save | C．excuse | D．relax |
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Many years ago in a small German town, a Jewish businessman had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the businessman’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.
The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and he would forgo her father’s debt. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
They were standing on a pebble-strewn path. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. No doubt she was caught in a dilemma.
What would you have done if you were the girl? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:
1.The girl should refuse to take a pebble.
2.The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3.The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.
The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral (横向的)and logical thinking.
Read on…
The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
小题1:The underlined word “forgo” in paragraph 2 may mean ________.| A．pay off | B．run out | C．take over | D．give up |
小题2:Which of the following indicates lateral thinking?| A．The girl refused to take a pebble and fled at once. | | B．The girl exposed the cheat and found another way. | | C．The girl picked one pebbles and made it disappear. | | D．The girl picked a black pebble and accepted the result. |
小题3:It can be inferred from the passage that ________.| A．The girl dropped the pebble onto the path on purpose | | B．The girl dropped the pebble onto the path by accident | | C．The girl didn’t know there were two black pebbles in the bag | | D．The girl replaced a black pebble in the bag |
小题4:What lesson can we learn from the story?| A．Keeping calm when facing a difficult situation. | | B．Thinking about a complicated problem in another way. | | C．Thinking twice before making a final choice. | | D．Coming up with a clever answer is easy. |
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Mondays are usually pretty busy for me. On one of these Mondays, I got ready to go to work thinking about all the things I had to on that day and walked down to get to my car scolding myself for being late to work, but the car was nowhere to be found. I right across my apartment the previous night but it wasn’t there that morning.
This was at 8:00 am in the morning. I made to all the towing（拖）places, police stations all the time thinking that it was towed by . By around 10:00 am, I couldn’t find it anywhere and the policemen decided that it was stolen. After filing a report with them, I finally got to work thinking how my day was completely .
Later in the day I went to pick up a rental car at an enterprise to realize that my license was missing too along with my car. I told the enterprise guy the whole and he was so sorry for me that he to take me to the nearest DMV（车管局）and get a duplicate（副本的） . I was totally surprised. I didn’t know why this complete stranger would want to some time off his day to help me . He actually took me to DMV, got a duplicate and then me a car. I was the whole day because of the continuous events that happened to me but somehow this simple act of kindness from a stranger made it all worth it. It cheered me up and made me forget all the misfortunes of the day. I was so by this kind act that the next day I made sure someone else got a similar . I took some smiley shaped chocolates and them on some of my colleague’s desks.
This is still a lot out there in the world. We just need to take the time to discover it.
| 小题1: | | A．typical | B．lovely | C．strange | D．pleasant |
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| 小题2: | | A．face | B．explain | C．accomplish | D．arrange |
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| 小题3: | | A．excitedly | B．surprisingly | C．interestingly | D．hurriedly |
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| 小题4: | | A．stayed | B．looked | C．walked | D．parked |
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| 小题5: | | A．ways | B．trips | C．surveys | D．contributions |
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| 小题6: | | A．policemen | B．doctors | C．thieves | D．officials |
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| 小题7: | | A．normally | B．curiously | C．actually | D．finally |
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| 小题8: | | A．made up | B．worked out | C．figured out | D．messed up |
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| 小题9: | | A．still | B．even | C．never | D．only |
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| 小题10: | | A．message | B．secret | C．story | D．business |
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| 小题11: | | A．declined | B．offered | C．hesitated | D．approved |
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| 小题12: | | A．license | B．card | C．book | D．ticket |
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| 小题13: | | A．spend | B．leave | C．take | D．get |
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| 小题14: | | A．lent | B．presented | C．bought | D．rented |
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| 小题15: | | A．delighted | B．annoyed | C．disappointed | D．amused |
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| 小题16: | | A．complete | B．perfect | C．wonderful | D．special |
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| 小题17: | | A．moved | B．puzzled | C．shocked | D．embarrassed |
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| 小题18: | | A．honor | B．method | C．problem | D．surprise |
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| 小题19: | | A．forgot | B．threw | C．left | D．exposed |
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| 小题20: | | A．friendship | B．goodness | C．competition | D．misunderstanding |
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Former National Football League player and children’s author Tim Green has added another book to his list of accomplishments: Unstoppable. The book tells the story of a 12-year –old boy named Harrison, who survives life in a cruel foster home before he finally finds a loving family. Once he settles in and realizes his natural football ability, tragedy strikes again and he loses his leg to a deadly bone cancer. Unstoppable follows Harrison’s incredible journey as he faces many challenges in his life.
Tim Green says he decided to write a novel about a kid facing cancer after watching how his wife fought to survive her own illness. “Her mental and physical toughness were more heroic to me than anything I’d ever seen in the national sports leagues,” Green told TFK Kid Reporter Zachary J. Lewis.
After watching his wife’s battle, Green said, he knew he needed to write about a person who struggled through a serious illness. But because the target age for his books is teen, he needed to tell the story through the eyes of someone that age.
When friends introduced Green to Jeffrey Keith, Green knew he had found the right person to help him“ capture the heroism that it takes to fight cancer”. Cancer-survivor Jeffrey Keith lost his leg to disease at age twelve, but went on to be the goalie （守门员）for the Boston College Division 1 Lacrosse（长曲棍球）Team and was also the first amputee to run 3,300 miles across the country. When Green heard Jeffrey Keith’s story, he knew it was the perfect narrative on which to base his next book.
TFK asked Keith what it felt like to read Unstoppable for the first time. “Tim captured what it felt like for me to go through this experience and battle back,” Keith said. “After I read the book, Tim asked me to describe it in one word, and I said ‘awesome’. Tim’s work sends a message to all the kids across the country that are facing obstacles that can have nothing to do with cancer: you are all unstoppable, as long as you believe it.”
小题1:Who inspires Tim Green to write the novel Unstoppable?| A．A boy named Harrison. | B．His wife. | | C．Zachary J. Lewis. . | D．Jeffrey Keith |
小题2:The underlined word “amputee” in Paragraph 4 most probably means________| A．a person who has survived cancer | | B．a person who has had a leg or an arm cut off | | C．a person who looks different from others | | D．a person who has no arms or legs |
小题3:What do we know from the last paragraph?| A．Jeffrey Keith thinks highly of Unstoppable. | | B．Jeffrey Keith has read Unstoppable many times. | | C．Unstoppable will be one the best-sellers this year. | | D．Jeffrey Keith is fond of reading Tim Green’s novels. |
小题4:The novel Unstoppable intends to inspire kids that ________.| A．they should fight against disease fearlessly | | B．they should pursue their dreams | | C．they can become a writer if they want | | D．they can overcome any obstacles ahead |
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An Invisible Smile
Mr. Dawson was an old grouch, and everyone in town knew it. Kids knew not to go into his yard to pick a delicious apple. Old Dawson, they said, would come after you with his gun.
One Friday, 12-year-old Janet was going to stay all night with her friend Amy. They had to walk by Dawson"s house on the way to Amy"s house, but as they got close, Janet saw him sitting on his front porch and suggested they cross over to the other side of the street. Like most of the children, Janet was scared of the old man.
Amy said not to worry. Mr. Dawson wouldn"t hurt anyone. Still, Janet was growing more nervous with each step closer to the old man"s house. When they got close enough, Dawson looked up with his usual frown (皱眉), but when he saw it was Amy, a broad smile changed his entire face as he said, "Hello Miss Amy. I see you"ve got a little friend with you today."
Amy smiled back and told him Janet was staying overnight and they were going to listen to music and play games. Mr. Dawson said that sounded fun, and offered them each a fresh picked apple off his tree. They gladly accepted. Mr. Dawson had the best apples in the whole town.
When they left, Janet asked Amy, "Everyone says he"s the meanest man in town. How come he was so nice to us?"
Amy explained that when she first started walking past his house he wasn"t very friendly and she was afraid of him, but she pretended he was wearing an invisible smile and so she always smiled back at him. It took a while, but one day he half-smiled back at her.
After some more time, he started smiling real smiles and then started talking to her. Just a "hello" at first, then more. She said he always offers her an apple now, and is always very kind.
"An invisible smile?" questioned Janet.
"Yes," answered Amy, "my grandma told me that if I pretended I wasn"t afraid and pretended he was smiling an invisible smile at me and I smiled back at him, sooner or later he would really smile. Grandma says smiles are contagious."
If we remember what Amy"s grandma said, that everyone wears an invisible smile, we too will find that We"re always on the go trying to accomplish so much, aren"t we? It"s so easy to get caught up in everyday life that we forget how simple it can be to bring cheer to ourselves and others. Giving a smile away takes so little effort and time, let"s make sure that we"re not the one that others have to pretend to be wearing an invisible smile.
小题1:Kids were scared of Mr. Dawson because _____.| A．he was wearing an invisible smile | | B．he would fire them with a gun | | C．he was mean with his apples | | D．he was always very cold |
小题2:We can infer from the passage that_____.| A．Janet was so lovely a girl that Mr. Dawson couldn"t resist her smiles | | B．Janet and Amy were going to invite Mr. Dawson to listen to music and play games | | C．Mr. Dawson was friendly to Amy because she always wore an invisible smile | | D．it was Grandma"s advice that helped bring Amy and Mr. Dawson closer |
小题3:The underlined word "contagious" in Paragraph 9 means _____.| A．infectious | B．supportive | C．moving | D．meaningful |
小题4:What is the main message that the writer intends to send us readers?| A．Always wear an invisible smile. | | B．Smile whenever we can. | | C．Try our best to transform others. | | D．Pretend that we are happy even if we are not. |
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