Like many people, I have no clear idea about heroes. At some point, we all wonder if we need a hero and what a hero really is.
Although there are a lot of differences in cultures, heroes around the world generally share a number of characteristics (特點(diǎn)) which give us courage and make us want to learn from them. 
A hero does something worth talking about. A hero has a special story to tell and people think highly of it. But a hero is not just the person with great fame (聲譽(yù)) .
A hero has powers (力量) larger than himself. Some people want to live like a hero, and they have to experience life with new and further meaning. A sure test for would-be heroes is what or whom they serve. What do they want to live and die for? If the answer suggests they serve only their own fame, they may be famous persons but not heroes.
A hero has a vision from the mountaintop. He has the power to move people. He creates new possibilities. Without Gandhi, India might still be part of Britain. Without Martin Luther King, Jr., Americans might take different buses, eat in different restaurants, go for walks in different parks, and shop in different stores because of the different colors of their skin.
There might be changes in society without a hero, but the speed of change would be rather slow. Thanks to heroes in history, they make the society develop so rapidly.
【小題1】According to this passage, a hero is a person who always __________.

：
Mr. and Mrs. Brown lived in a short and wet room last year. Now their daughter was born, the room was too narrow for them to live in. Last Friday, after the factory paid out wages（工資）, Mr. Brown had to borrow some money from his friends and bought an old house. It’s a little bigger and drier than the old one. But the walls were very dirty. Mrs. Brown told her husband to paint them.
It was Saturday. Mr. Brown didn’t go to work. He came in a paint shop and bought two cans（罐） of paint. It was made in(由┅生產(chǎn)) Japan. He looked at the directions(說明書) for a long time, but he couldn’t understand it at all. Before leaving the shop, he had to ask the shopkeeper, “Can I put this paint on myself, sir?”
It seemed the shopkeeper didn’t understand him. He looked at Mr. Brown up and down and then he said,” You’d better put it on the wall, sir. It would look better, I think.”
【小題1】Mr. Brown works in a _______________.
【小題2】There are _____________ people in Mr. Brown’s family now.
【小題3】The house they bought was a little bigger and drier, but the walls were very _______.
【小題4】Mr. Brown bought two cans of paint, but he didn’t _______________ the directions.
【小題5】The two cans of paint are made in _______________.
【小題6】The shopkeeper thought Mr. Brown would paint not on the walls, but on his _______.

  It's not easy to be an astronaut's son．Everybody expects(期望) you to be special or perfect．I often wonder how my father ever had a son like me．I mean he's so special and so good at everything he does．Even in middle school he was class president and captain of the football team．Well，to be honest，I often dream about being some kind of hero or doing something special - like saving a child from a burning building or discovering a new star．I was daydreaming at school one morning when my teacher said there would be a Father's Day writing competition for the whole school "I hope we have a winner right here in my class．"
When I got home，I started to think about what to write．My father is an astronaut．N0，I wouldn't start like that．That was the way others saw him．How did I see my father? Hmm．I saw him sitting with me in the dark when I had a terrible dream．I remembered how he hugged me for hours when my dog Spotty was killed by a car．Yes，these were the things I was going to write．To me，he wasn't just a world-famous astronaut．He was my dad．
My parents and l went to school Thursday night．There were so many people in the big hall! My dad looked at me，and I shrugged(聳肩)．
The third prize was announced（宣布） and it was not me．1 was relieved(釋然)and disappointed at the same time．The second prize was announced．It was me．1 went up to the stage and read what I had written，"My father's son"．When I finished，the people stood up and cheered．I saw my father blowing his nose．Tears were running down my mother's face．Dad cleared his throat and put his hand on my shoulder．"Son，this is the proudest moment of my life．''
It was the proudest moment of my life，too．Maybe I'll never be a great hero or win a Nobel Prize，but it was enough just to be my father's son．
【小題1】The writer felt    it to be the son of a famous person．

Dear Mom,
I'm sorry that I can't go back home for Mother's Day next week. On that day, I'll have to go to an important meeting for my boss, who helps me a lot with my work and life here. But I'll find time to see you at home soon.
Mom, thank you for everything you've done for Tim and me. After Dad died ten years ago, you had to work in a supermarket in the daytime and in a restaurant at night. But you always gave us two your love and care. You don't have to work now, but I still remember your coming home and feeling tired many evenings.
Tim is going to finish his studies next month. He said he would move back from school and look for a job near home. I'm glad you won't live by yourself any more. Let's plan to take a trip in the near future. It's been years since the three of us took a trip together.
Happy Mother's Day. I love you!
Best wishes
John
【小題1】 What can we learn about John's mother?

“Cool”is a word with many meanings．Its old meaning is used to express a temperature that is a little bit cold．As the world has changed，the word has had many different meanings． 
“Cool”can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything．
When you see a famous car in the street，maybe you will say，“It's cool．”You may think，“He's so cool，”when you see your favourite footballer． 
We all maximize（擴(kuò)大） the meaning of“cool”．You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”．Here's an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used．A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall（瀑布）they had visited．On one student's paper was Just the one sentence，“It's so cool．Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt． 
But the story also shows a scarcity（缺乏）of words．Without “cool”，some people have no words to show the same meaning．So it is quite important to keep some credibility（可信性）．Can you think of many other words that make your life as colourful as the word “cool”？ I can．And I think they are also very cool． 
【小題1】We know that the word "cool" has had ________. 

She is a beautiful red-haired girl. she has been shopping with her mom in Wal-Mart. It was raining hard outside. We all stood there under the awning (雨篷). Her voice was so sweet. “Mom, let’s run through the rain,” she said.
“What?” Mom asked.
“Let’s run through the rain!”
“No, honey. We’ll wait until it slows down a bit,” Mom replied.
The child waited about another minute and repeated, “Mom, let’s run through the rain.”
“We’ll get wet if we do,” Mom said.
“No, we won’t, Mom. That’s not what you said this morning,” the young girl said as she pulled her mom’s arm.
“This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?”
“Don’t you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer(癌癥), you said, we can get through anything!”
The crowd(人群) became silent. Nothing could be heard but the rain. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom thought for a moment about what she would say.
“Honey, you are right. Let’s run through the rain. If we get wet, maybe we’ll just need to get a wash,” Mom said.
Then off they ran. People all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they rushed past the cars and through the puddles(水坑).
They held their shopping bags over their heads. They got wet through. But they were followed by a few who laughed like children all the way to their cars.
People can take away your money and health. But no one can ever take away your memories….So don’t forget to make time to make memories every day.
【小題1】Mom told the girl’s father “we can get through anything” in order to _________.

My five brothers, my sister and I lived in Toronto with our parents. My father worked in a factory, and my mother stayed at home. Each year my father would dress up as Santa Claus and go through the streets sharing joy and candies with the children there. He loved it as much as they did!
But around Christmas in 1970, my father was out of work. In fact, there was no money for Christmas and my parents weren’t sure how they’d provide for us.
That Christmas Eve, however, as usual, my father left the house dressed as Santa Claus. He knew that even though our Christmas would be hard, he could not make the other kids in the neighborhood disappointed.
As my father left the house and went downstairs, another Santa Claus was walking up, with a great bag of gifts for us! He said nothing, only smiled a sweet smile at my father, and wished him a merry Christmas. The jolly man handed the bag and walked away down the block.
We never knew who showed us great kindness on the snowy Christmas night. We do know, however, that without him we would have had nothing under the tree. His kindness gave my parents hope and showed us in a very real way the true meaning of Christmas.
Our family has never forgotten this kind stranger and his generosity(慷慨). Each year we tell the story of the mysterious(神秘的) Santa Claus and try to repay his gifts by giving help to others in need.
【小題1】According to the passage, the writer’s father is ______on Christmas.

There was a beautiful garden. Every year the king would go to the garden to decide which flower was the most beautiful one.
For the last few years, the rose was always Number One. Because of this, the rose Gulaab became arrogant. It would never let birds stay on its flower. Then all the birds started staying away from Gulaab.
Behind Gulaab, there was a little yellow flower. People called it Junglee. Junglee wasn’t more beautiful than Gulaab, but it welcomed the birds to stay on its flower. All the birds in the garden liked it.
This year the king went to the garden as before. The gardener pointed at the rose and said to the king, “ Your favourite flower, my king.”
Of course, the king also saw the yellow flower behind it and asked, “What flower is that?”
“Oh! That’s Junglee, a wild flower.”
“ I didn’t see a flower like it before. There are so many birds on it. I think it’s much more beautiful than the rose. It will be the King Flower of this year!” said the king.
【小題1】From the passage, we can know that Junglee was _________.

A girl complained to her father about her hard life．She didn't know what she had to do and wanted to give up．She felt tired of fighting and fighting．One problem had been finished but another came over．
Her father，a cook，took her into the kitchen．He poured water into three pans and boiled(煮沸) them．After boiling，in the first pan was put some carrots，the second was put some eggs and the last was put with coffee．
The girl waited impatiently (不耐煩的)，confused by what her father did．About 20 minutes later，her father took out the carrots and put them in a bowl．He took the eggs and put them in a bowl．After that the coffee was poured into a cup．“My sweet heart，what do you see？” he asked．
“Carrots，eggs and coffee，” she replied．
Her father told her to close her eyes and asked her to touch the carrots．She did so and felt that the carrots were soft．After that he asked her to take the eggs and break them．After peeling (剝開) them，she got the eggs，cooked and hard．The last，the father let her smell the coffee． She asked，“What did you do this for，F(xiàn)ather？” He explained that each had the same unlucky experience—the boiling water，but each had a different result． The strong and hard carrots had become soft and weak．The fragile eggs became hard after being cooked． The coffee was very special，they could change water．“Who are you？” asked her father．“When bad luck knocks at your door，what is your decision? Are you carrots，eggs or coffee？”
【小題1】The girl complained about her hard life because she didn't ________．

My summer hols wr CWOT. B4, we usd 2 go 2 NY 2C my bro, his GF ＆ thr 3 : -@ kids FTF. ILNY; its gr8.
Can you understand this sentence? If you can’t, don't feel too bad. The middle school teacher in England who received this as homework couldn’t either. This is Netspeak: the language of computerized（電腦化的）communication found on Internet or mobile phones. To newcomers, it can look like a completely foreign language. So, what is the "translation" of the sentence above? My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend, and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York; it’s great.
Schoolteachers and parents say this new form of writing is harming the English language. Increasing spelling and grammatical mistakes can be seen in students' writing. They fear the language could become corrupted (面目全非的).
Everyone should just relax, say linguists (語言學(xué)家). They believe Netspeak is in fact more of a good thing. David Crystal, from the University of Wales, argues that Netspeak and Internet create a new language use and the almost lost art of diary writing has been picked up again. Geoffrey Nunberg, from Stanford University, agrees. "People get better at writing by writing," he says, “Kids who are now doing text messaging and e-mail will write at least as well as, and possibly better than, their parents."
Linguist James Milroy says, for centuries, it is believed without exception（例外）that young people are harming the language. And you can bet your bottom dollar that when today's teenagers become tomorrow's parents, they too will think this way. Milroy argues that languages do not and cannot become “corrupted”, and that they simply change to meet the new needs.
However, Netspeakers do agree that it is important to teach young people how to speak and write Standard English. Cynthia Mcvey says, "I can understand Netspeak worries teachers and it's important that they get across to（溝通）their pupils that text messaging is for fun, but that learning to write proper English is a must for their future.”
Perhaps we should give teenagers a little more trust anyway. Erin, age 12, says, "I wouldn't use text language in my homework. Texting is just for fun."
【小題1】What is the main purpose of the first paragraph?