long way from their grandchildren.The loneliness of these older people has become an issue that schools
are trying to teach children about.
On a popular teacher"s website, there is a classroom activity to help make children aware of the
implications of the different generations of the same family living far from each other. It"s a story about Mrs.
Eiderdown, an elderly lady whose grandchildren have moved to Australia with their parents. She lives alone
and rarely sees her family.
First of all, the children speculate about Mrs. Eiderdown"s life. What does she have for breakfast? what
does she do all day?how does she feel about her life?
One day, Mrs. Eiderdown decides that she wants a pet to keep her company and puts an advertisement
in a local shop window. Then she waits at home to see if anyone will answer her advertisement.
A tall thin man rings her doorbell. he is holding a cardboard box. Mrs. Eiderdown chats with the man for
ten minutes before she realizes that she hasn"t looked in-side the box to see what the pet is. She can hear a
his-sing sound. The children guess what is in the box (a snake). Mrs. Eiderdown thanks the man but says
she doesn"t think the snake is a good idea.
The next time the doorbell rings, there"s a lady on the doorstep, also carrying a cardboard box. In the
bottom of the box, Mrs. Eiderdown sees something black and hairy with eight legs. Again, the children say
what they think it is (a spider). Mrs. Eiderdown thanks the lady for her kindness but says that a spider is not
the sort of pet she has in mind.
At last, the little girl next door brings her a dog.Mrs. Eiderdown"s life improves a lot because of the dog.
more importantly, of course, the little girl, whose own granny lives a long way away, starts to visit Mrs.
Eiderdown more often. This interactive classroom idea has led to a greater awareness among children about
the possible loneliness of older people who live quite near them.1. What"s the main idea of the passage?A. children get to know about the trouble of the elderly
B. neighbors help select pets for Mrs. Eiderdown
C. society helps the lonely people in the UK
D. school send pets to the lonely elderly 2. When Mrs. Eiderdown advertised for a pet, ________.A. she was offered a frightening, hissing dog
B. her neighbour"s daughter gave her a lovely dog
C. a thin woman wanted to give her a large spider
D. a man brought her a snake and a spider in a box 3. What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph mean? A. they talk about how she feels about being old
B. they try to experience her loneliness
C. they try to imagine how she lives
D. they write about her life story4. What can we infer from the passage?A. the little girl often visits her own granny
B. the people who offer pets are lady"s neighbors
C. the farther the elderly live, the lonelier they feel
D. the little girl begins to care more about Mrs. Eiderdown
walking along the bank of a lake, the girl 1 to see 20 eggs laid by a wild goose. After some time the girl 2
the mother would"t return to her eggs and she 3 to take them home. There she carefully 4 the eggs in the
heat of a lamp. Several days 5 the eggs broke and the baby geese came into the 6 .
Geese are known to take the first living thing they see as their mother. 7 ,to these young geese, the girl
was their mother.
As they 8 ,the girl was able to 9 her birds to run across the grass, but she could"t teach them to 10 . the
girl became increasingly worried about this, both when 11 and in her dreams. Later, she had an 12 :She would
pilot a plane to guide them in 13 . She asked her father for a plane and she assembled (组装)a small aircraft
for her.
Caring about 14 safety, the father decided to pilot the plane himself. However, the birds did"t 15 or
follow him, and 16 slept in the grass.
One day, the girl 17 into the plane, started it and soon left the 18 .Seeing their mother take to the air, the
birds 19 flapped (拍打)their wings and 20 .she flew the plane freely in the sky, her young birds following.
( )1. A. managed ( )2. A. realised ( )3. A. helped ( )4. A. placed ( )5. A. ago ( )6. A. family ( )7. A. But ( )8. A. increased ( )9. A. ask ( )10. A. fly ( )11. A. asleep ( )12. A. idea ( )13. A. sky ( )14. A. his ( )15. A. respect ( )16. A. so ( )17. A. climbed ( )18. A. house ( )19 A. secretly ( )20. A. looked away | B. attempted B. expected B. decided B. protected B. out B. lake B. Also B. improved B. lead B. race B. away B. opinion B. heaven B. her B. remember B. instead B. looked B. floor B. disappointed B. set out | C. happened C. imagined C. afforded C. treated C. later C. home C. Thus C. rose C. want C. swim C. around C. explanation C. flight C. their C. recognise C. hardly C. reached C. water C. patiently C. went by | D. supposed D. admitted D. meant D. examined D. long D. world D. Still D. grew D. allow D. sing D. awake D. excuse D. plane D. its D. receive D. too D. fell D. ground D. eagerly D. turned back | ||||||||||||||||||
阅读理解。 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people. My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, "Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it." At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school - walking on my own! When the Great Depression (大萧条) hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again. Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel (汽车旅馆) for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time. Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother"s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world-Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1,759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $ 1 billion a year. You may not have started out life in the best situation. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you. | |||||||||||||||||||||
1. What Kemmons" mom often told him during his childhood was ______. | |||||||||||||||||||||
A. caring B. moving C. encouraging D. interesting | |||||||||||||||||||||
2. According to the author, who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again? | |||||||||||||||||||||
A. Doctors. B. Nurses. C. Friends. D. Mom. | |||||||||||||||||||||
3. What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself? | |||||||||||||||||||||
A. His terrible experience in the hotel. B. His previous business success of various levels. C. His moms support. D. His wife"s suggestion. | |||||||||||||||||||||
4. Which of the following best describes Kemmons" mother? | |||||||||||||||||||||
A. Modest, helpful, and hard-working. B. Loving, supportive and strong-willed. C. Careful, helpful and beautiful. D. Strict, sensitive and supportive. | |||||||||||||||||||||
5. Which of the following led to Kemmons" success according to the passage? | |||||||||||||||||||||
A. Self-confidence, hard work, higher education and a poor family. B. Mom"s encouragement, clear goals, self-confidence and hard work. C. Clear goals, mom"s encouragement, a poor family and higher education. D. Mom"s encouragement, a poor family, higher education and opportunities. | |||||||||||||||||||||
完形填空。 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Another person"s enthusiasm was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved. That person was my stepmother. I was nine years old when she entered our home in rural Virginia. My father 1 me to her with these words:"I would like you to meet the fellow who is 2 for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no 3 than tomorrow morning." My stepmother walked over to me, 4 my head slightly upward, and looked me right in the eye. Then she looked at my father and replied, "You are 5 . This is not the worst boy at all, 6 the smartest one who hasn"t yet found an outlet (释放的途径) for his enthusiasm." That statement began a(n) 7 between us. No one had ever called me smart. My family and neighbors had built me up in my 8 as a bad boy. My stepmother changed all that. She changed many things. She 9 my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors. She moved our family into the county seat, where my father"s career could be more 10 and my brother and I could be better 11 . When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand 12 and told me that she believed that I could become a writer. I knew her enthusiasm, I 13 it had already improved our lives. I accepted her 14 and began to write for local newspapers. I was doing the same kind of 15 that great day I went to interview Andrew Carnegie and received the task which became my life"s work later. I wasn"t the 16 beneficiary (受益者). My father became the 17 man in town. My brother and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president. What power 18 has! When that power is released to support the certainty of one"s purpose and is 19 strengthened by faith, it becomes an irresistible (不可抗拒的) force which poverty and temporary defeat can never 20 . You can communicate that power to anyone who needs it. This is probably the greatest work you can do with your enthusiasm. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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