Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Paris. That's where the similarities ended.

I was tall and she was small. My thick, black hair had been recently cut short. Her natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great. I was awkward and shy. She wasn't. I couldn't stand her. I considered her my enemy. She liked me. She wanted to be friends.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes — I was too shocked to answer any other way. No one had invited me over to play. But this girl who wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school.

I got very surprised when she led me into an apartment building. She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister.

When we got to the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies — which was my next surprise. I would have thought she'd outgrown them. I had never played with them. But we sat on the floor of a walk-in closet, laughing as we made up crazy stories about the Barbies. That's when we found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older and we both had wild imaginations.

We had a great day that afternoon. Our jaws ached from smiling so much. She showed me her wardrobe, which had mostly come from a designer clothing store down the block. The woman who owned it used her as a model sometimes for her newspaper ads and gave her clothes in exchange.

Paris had the whole neighborhood charmed. The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines, the movie theater gave her free passes and the pizza place let her have free slices. Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at each other's houses, spent every free moment together. My dark hair grew out and I learned to love being tall.

Paris, my first real friend since childhood, taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: that your worst enemy can turn out to be your best friend.

1.The writer and Paris were similar in that      .

A. they were both new students

B. both of them were friendly

C. both of them were tall

D. they were both the youngest in class

2.In the article the writer described Paris as a girl who was      .

A. awkward and shy  B. fashionable and proud

C. quiet and lonely  D. friendly and lovely

3.What did the writer learn from Paris?

A. How to make best use of her neighborhood.

B. How to dress and look fashionable.

C. How to become a good writer

D. How to make friends.

4.From the article, we can see that through her friendship with Paris, the writer      .

A. found she and Paris had more similarities than differences

B. was able to fit in at her new school with Paris’ help

C. was not so awkward or shy as before

D. learned more about fashion herself

Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” Drink Good Wet Root Beer.” Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!"
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it’s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless （魯莽的） or daring, the ride can be as thrilling （驚心動(dòng)魄的） as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the armrests even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit.
【小題1】According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?

 One night, as Diaz stepped off the train and onto a nearly empty platform, a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

    “He wanted my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, ‘Here you go ’” Diaz says.

    As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”

    The robber looked at him puzzled, saying, “Why are you doing this?”

    Diaz replied, “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me…..”

    Diaz says he and the teen went into a diner and sat in a booth.

    “The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi,” Diaz says.

    The kid said, “You know everybody here. Do you own this place?”

    “No, I just eat here a lot,” Dias said. “But you’re even nice to the dishwasher,” he said.

    Diaz replied, “Well, haven’t you been taught you should be nice to everybody?”

    “Yeah, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teen said.

    When the bill arrived, Diaz said, “You’re going to have to pay for this bill because you have my money and I can’t pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I’ll gladly treat you.”

    The teen returned it immediately. “I gave him $20…. I figure maybe it’ll help him.” Diaz says he asked for something in return--- the teen’s knife--- “and he gave it to me.”

    Afterwards, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, “You’re the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch.”

    “I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.”

1.What did Diaz do to the teen?

    A. He gave the teen a new wallet        B. He treated the teen to dinner

    C. He gave his coat to the teen         D. He bought the teen’s knife

2.From the passage we can infer that the boy _______.

    A. expressed his gratitude for Diaz’s kindness

    B. gave up the idea of robbing in the end

    C. wasn’t taught how to be nice to everybody

    D. gave the knife to Diaz in return for his forgiveness

3.As for what Diaz did, his mother showed an attitude of _______.

    A. anger          B. concern           C. criticism            D. praise

4.By telling the story of Diaz, the author intends to tell us ______.

    A. to keep calm in danger               B. not to go out alone at night

    C. to treat others kindly                   D. not to harm others on purpose

My name is Margaret. I have been a professional      for twenty years. I’m always      how sorrow and pain can bring such wonderful gifts as wisdom, patience and love.    , we often get so caught up in the daily necessities and routines that we      the very things that can bring us    and teach us many valuable lessons.

I was hired to      a very special lady. I was to prepare meals for her, make sure she took her medicine     , do light housekeeping, and provide transportation to and from the market and her doctor’s appointments. All of these      were important and necessary so that she could remain     . Our focus was just that -     her to remain living independently.

It was on a cold rainy night. She turned her little head and smelt her

pillow after she had      got into bed. I observed tears running from her eyes. She said, “It’s been such a long time since I’ve had      sheets; I love the      of fresh clean sheets. I couldn’t      the sheets myself anymore. Thank you so much for changing my sheets. ”

Such a simple      as smelling clean sheets brought such great joy to her life. That was the day I      unconditional care. The next day we sat down and      what was important to her, what she liked, and how she had done things all these years. I never knew how much I would enjoy and learn from her      her life experiences with me. She was the sunshine in my life.

I’m so      for the lessons I have learned - the lessons I almost     because I forgot to slow down to look and see the beauty that was right in front of me.

1.A. teacher      B. doctor  C. coach           D. caregiver

2.A. worried      B. confused       C. amazed D. interested

3.A. However    B. Therefore     C. Besides D. Though

4.A. value B. admire  C. acquire D. ignore

5.A. wisdom      B. joy         C. knowledge    D. wealth

6.A. care for      B. look for          C. call up   D. pick up                   

7.A. constantly  B. happily C. properly     D. immediately

8.A. lessons       B. tasks      C. meals    D. gifts

9.A. calm  B. confident      C. comfortable      D. independent

10.A. helping    B. forcing  C. persuading    D. advising

11.A. also B. even     C. still             D. just

12.A. new B. clean     C. expensive     D. beautiful

13.A. style         B. size           C. smell       D. color

14.A. make        B. repair   C. change D. buy

15.A. pleasure  B. success C. offer            D. desire

16.A. needed    B. learned          C. took      D. got

17.A. dealt with         B. took up C. carried out    D. talked about

18.A. sharing     B. comparing     C. discussing      D. recalling

19.A. famous     B. sorry     C. anxious D. thankful

20.A. accepted B. missed  C. understood       D. gained        

One of the most remarkable things about the human mind is our ability to imagine the future. In our 1._____we can see what has not yet happened. For example, while we are looking forward to 2._____a new place or country, we 3._____what it will be like. We predict( 預(yù)料) the 4._____ people will eat, dress and act. Of course, we do not always predict things 5._____. Things are often very different from the way we 6._____them to be. One of the 7._____ dreams in history is the dream of the German scientist, Kekule, who had been 8._____ to work out a very difficult problem in physics. He had 9._____and analysed(分析) the problem from every angle(角度) for days, but there 10._____ to be no way of 11._____ out the answer. Then one night he went to bed and dreamed. When he 12._____ up, he realized that he knew the answer. He had solved the problem in his 13._____. The hypnotist(催眠者)sat in the chair opposite him and spoke 14._____: I want you to concentrate on my voice. Think about 15._____. You know nothing but my voice. And as you pay attention to my voice, your 16._____ will get heavier. Soon you’ll be asleep. You will hear my voice and 17._____ my words, but your body will be asleep, your eyes are too heavy. You are 18._____ asleep, and when you wake up you will 19._____ nothing. You will forget everything. Now I am going to 20._____ slowly from one to five. One, two, three, four, five.