She poured tea. There were four of them and there were four totally different cups on the table. They
grabbed their tea cups.
"What quote?" Mary asked.
"Well, maybe I should rather say it is a story," Aunt said, "I heard there was this wise teacher who
took all his students for tea. They were surprised that all the cups on the table were different. They all
took a cup and started drinking their tea, each looking at the cups of others. The teacher let them do that
for a while and then said: "Do you notice your behaviors? You are all looking at each other"s tea cup and
I can see some of you with the chipped (残缺的) ones are even envious of the finer cups of others. Is
this not so?" The students agreed, amused by their own behaviors.
"You may have wondered why you all had different cups, but I put them here on purpose. You see —
they represent life itself. Life is, like that tea — and the cups are like the physical circumstances of your
life. You all got the same thing in your cup — tea. And yet you cannot truly enjoy it in your envy of
another"s cup. It"s just the same with life. You forget to enjoy your own life when you concentrate on
envying the circumstances of someone else"s life.
So now, close your eyes, and taste your own tea. Really taste it. And tell me — Did it matter from
which cup it came?"
Aunt finished telling her short tea story and they all sat in silence for a while, savoring (品味) their tea. A sleepy fly buzzed past; a bird sang in the tree. And it really did not matter one bit from which tea cup
they drank.
B. were angry about the chipped cups they had been given
C. asked the teacher to get new cups for them
D. were curious about the difference between the cups
B. the teacher should have given the students the same tea cups
C. the chipped tea cups were actually made of better materials
D. each student took their rime to choose a cup they liked
______.
B. can"t change their physical circumstances
C. should try different ways of life
D. should always be prepared for strange things in life
B. it is natural to be envious of the lives of others
C. everyone should learn to enjoy life
D. people act differently in different circumstances
seven-year-old son Kelly how to push the lawn mower(割草机) around the yard. As he was
telling him how to turn the mower 2 , his wife, Jan, called to him to ask a question. As David
answered the question, Kelly pushed the lawn mower 3 through the flower bed at the edge
of the lawn - 4 a two-foot wide path leveled to the ground!
When David turned back and saw what had happened, he began to lose 5 . David had
put a lot of time and 6 into making those flower beds the 7 of the neighbourhood. As he
began to 8 his voice to his son, Jan walked quickly over to him, put her hand on his shoulder
and said, "David, please remember we are raising children, not 9 !"
Jan 10 me how important 11 is as a parent to remember our priorities (things that need
attention before others). The window shattered(打碎) by a 12 , a lamp knocked over by a
careless child, or a plate dropped in the kitchen are already 13 . The flowers are already
dead. We must remember not to 14 to the destruction by breaking a child"s spirit and
deadening his 15 .
A few weeks ago Mark Michaels, the owner of a store, and I were together 16 parenting.
He told me while his family were out for dinner, his daughter knocked over her water glass.
17 the water was cleaned up without any blaming remarks from her parents, she looked up
and said, "I 18 want to thank you for not being like other parents. Most of my friends" parents
19 have shouted at them and given them a lecture about paying more attention. Thanks for not
20 that!"
( )2.A. up
( )3.A. nearly
( )4.A. leaving
( )5.A. hope
( )6.A. strength
( )7.A. pride
( )8.A. rise
( )9.A. flowers
( )10.A. called
( )11.A. this
( )12.A. mower
( )13.A.broken
( )14.A. attend
( )15.A. happiness
( )16.A. talking
( )17.A. Before
( )18.A. really
( )19.A. should
( )20.A. saying
B. around
B. even
B. staying
B. control
B. effort
B. respect
B. expand
B. trees
B. reminded
B. that
B. baseball
B. shabby
B. tend
B. liveliness
B. speaking
B. After
B. actually
B. need
B. doing
C. down
C. almost
C. remaining
C. mind
C. power
C. envy
C. improve
C. grass
C. warned
C. it
C. chair
C. torn
C. add
C. bravery
C. telling
C. Until
C. eventually
C. would
C. thinking
D. over
D. right
D. finding
D. heart
D. courage
D. honor
D. raise
D. vegetables
D. told
D. one
D. book
D. worn
D. see
D. humor
D. discussing
D. Since
D. especially
D. must
D. Showing
It was the old lady"s eightieth birthday. She was sure Myra wouldn"t forgot her mother"s birthday,
even if she was busy. After all, eighty was a special birthday. Perhaps Myra might come. Even if Myra
did not come, she would send a present. The old lady was sure of that. Two spots of colour brightened
her cheeks. She was excited like a child.
Mrs. Morrison had brought a card and a bunch of flowers when she came to do the breakfast. Mrs.
Grant downstairs had made a cake. Johnnie, the little boy next door, was now up with her with a packet
of sweets.
"I guess you"ll get lots and lots of presents, " he said. "I did last week when I was six."
What would she like? A pair of slippers, perhaps. A blue new cardigan. Or a table lamp. Or a little
clock, with clear black numbers. So many lovely things.
She stood by the window, watching. The postman turned round the corner on his bicycle. Her heart
beat fast. Johnnie had seen him too and ran to the gate.
"Granny, granny, " Johnnie returned. "I"ve got your post!"
He gave her four envelopes. Three were from old friends. The fourth was in Myra"s writing.
"No parcel(包裹), Johnnie?"
"No, granny."
Almost reluctantly, she tore the fourth envelope open. Folded in the card was a check. Written on the
card was a message: Happy Birthday-Buy yourself something nice with the check, Myra and Harold.
The six-figure check fell to the floor like a bird with a broken wing. Slowly the old lady bent to pick it
up. Her present, her lovely present. With trembling fingers she tore it into little bits.
B. the friends sent the old lady many lovely presents by post
C. Myra was stopped by her husband from seeing her mother
D. the neighbours cared little about the old lady in daily life
B. happy
C. disappointed
D. impatient
B. The Check
C. The Birthday
D. The Daughter
B. she didn"t notice there were six figures on the check
C. she didn"t think the check was large enough for a present
D. she would prefer a present with love from her daughter
change in him. In fact, he didn"t even seem like the 1 person.
When I first knew Bill, back in 2 , he was one of the most carefree (无忧无虑) people I had
ever 3 . He was always ready to have a party. He thought 4 of going out for beer at three
o"clock in the morning or driving 50 miles to see an old 5 he really liked. Bill and I were in the same
class in college, and 6 was never dull when he was 7 . With him there was one wild 8 after
another. Sometimes I wonder how we 9 to study for our exams.
Last week I was in <<Houston>> on business and I ran into Bill in the bar at the hotel. 10 , I
wasn"t even sure it was 11 . Was this short-haired businessman really the same person? I wasn"t really
sure until I came near him but it indeed was Bill. Now he works for a bank. He 12 most of the
evening about his job, his new car and his house. How he had changed! Back when we were in college,
the 13 thing Bill cared about was possessions. Now they seemed to be his main 14 . Although I
have changed quite a bit myself, somehow, I never 15 Bill changing so much. My image of him 16
the one I had formed 17 the time when we were college students together.
I suppose it"s 18 to expect people to remain the same, especially 19 I have changed so much
myself. But I must say that I enjoyed the old Bill much more than the new Bill. Maybe he 20 the same
way about me.
( )1. A. proper ( )2. A. childhood ( )3. A. considered ( )4. A. nothing ( )5. A. man ( )6. A. learning ( )7. A. in ( )8. A. adventure ( )9. A. decided ( )10. A. First of al ( )11. A. that ( )12. A. thought ( )13. A. first ( )14. A. interest ( )15. A. forgot ( )16. A. remained ( )17. A. since ( )18. A. unnecessary ( )19. A. because ( )20. A. felt | B. same B. the army B. supposed B. much B. hospital B. life B. out B. mistake B. intended B. At first B. us B. talked B. last B. event B. minded B. reminded B. from B. foolish B. that B. acted | C. usual C. his thirties C. met C. most C. movie C. work C. away C. chance C. managed C. Now and then C. there C. argued C. next C. subject C. liked C. suggested C. at C. common C. how C. looked | D. right D. college D. expected D. none D. country D. fun D. around D. joke D. hoped D. All the time D. him D. spent D. only D. problem D. imagined D. became D. till D. unusually D. when D. discovered |
阅读理解 | |||
A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking(搭便车)on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road. The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop. The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel(方向盘)! The car started to move very slowly. The man looked at the road and saw a curve (拐弯处) coming his way. Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life. He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel. The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve. Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky car. Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town. In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky. Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car. Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk! About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other, "Hey, there"s a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!" | |||
1. When the car was first drawing near a curve, the man ________. | |||
A. felt very curious B. was extremely frightened C. cried for help D. remained as calm as possible | |||
2. According to the passage, what made the man"s experience believable? | |||
A. His reasonable behavior. | |||
3. We can infer from the passage that ________. | |||
A. it is unsafe for people to take a free ride B. the man was telling a lie to his listeners C. the car probably broke down on the way D. the two young men were familiar with the man | |||
完形填空 |