I was one of the seven children and went to the same school as my three elder sisters and brothers.
We all went to the plant sale held in early May every year, just in time for Mother's Day.
       When I was in Grade Three, I wanted to surprise my mother with a gift, but I didn't have any money. My elder sister gave me some. I carefully made my selection(選擇)  at the plant sale.  I looked at all the
plants on sale very carefully and finally chose a lovely geranium (天竺葵).  Once I had brought it home, I
hid it on the neighbor's porch (門廊).
       On Mother's Day,  I was bursting (突然打開) with pride when I gave her the plant. I remember how bright her eyes were, and how pleased she was with my gift.
       A few years later, my younger sister wanted to buy a geranium for our mother. As my elder sister did
for me, I gave her some money to buy one at the plant sale. She arrived back from the sale full of nervous excitement. The geranium was hidden in a paper bag under her sweater, "I looked at every plant,"  she
explained,  ' and I know I got the best one ! "
       With a sweet sense of family tradition(慣例) , helped my little sister hide that geranium. I was there
when she gave it to my mother, and I watched them both bursting with happiness. My mother noticed me watching. She gave me a soft, secret smile. I felt a tug(拽) at my heart as I smiled back.  I wondered how my mother could pretend to be surprised at this gift from her sixth child. But as I watched her eyes light up with pleasure at the sight of the most special gift, I knew she was not pretending.

1. Which of the seven children was the writer?

A. The third.          
B. The fourth.
C. The fifth.          
D. The sixth.

2. What did the children go to the plant sale for? 

A. To buy their mother a gift.
B. To sell some flowers.
C. To make money for their mother.
D. To look at all the plants.

3. Why did the writer hide the geranium on the neighbor's porch? 

A. Because she was afraid the other children saw it.
B. Because she was afraid the others stole it.
C. Because she wanted to make it live a long time.
D. Because she wanted to give their mother a surprise.

4. "She gave me a soft, secret smile" shows that

A. the mother was very surprised
B. the mother knew about it
C. the mother was pretending to be happy
D. the mother knew the writer bought the gift

5. What's the best title of the passage?

A. Mother's Day
B. Lovely Mother
C. The Most Special Geranium
D. Mother's Love

                                                                            Too Pleased with Oneself
     In the Spring and Autumn period, there was a major minister, Yan Ying. He was very wise and always treated people
with the best manners. So he was very highly respected.
     Yan Ying had a wonderful horse and carriage(馬車).When his driver sat on the carriage, driving for such a great man,
he felt quite proud about it. One day, as he was driving the carriage past his home, his wife saw him sitting at the front
of the carriage so proud that she found it uncomfortable, and was quite ashamed of(以…為恥辱) him.
     That evening, when her husband came home, she told him that she felt sick when she saw how proud he was when
he drove the carriage for Yan Ying.  She said,''Yan Ying is a major minister, and highly respected. But he sat in the
carriage without any pride. You are only a driver, but you looked as if you were an even greater man than Yan Ying. I
don't want share the same room with such a person!" He thought about it, and realized that he was wrong. He promised
her never to behave that way again.
     From then on, the driver tried to learn from Yan Ying. Yan Ying noticed this, and asked his driver what had caused
him to change. The driver told him what happened. Yan Ying was impressed by what the driver said. Later, he offered
him an official post.
     From the driver's previous(先前的) behavior comes this useful phrase"yang yang de yi". We use it to describe big
heads, people who are far too pleased with themselves.

閱讀上面短文,回答下列問題.
1. Why was Yan Ying respected?
    ___________________________________________________.
2. Why was his wife quite ashamed of him?
    ___________________________________________________.
3. What did the man do after that?
    ___________________________________________________.
4. What did Yan Ying do after he heard what his driver said?
    ___________________________________________________.
5. Which kind of people do we often use "yang yang de yi" to describe?
    ___________________________________________________.

     Angela believed that she saw a UFO. Just after she has taken her two daughters to school, she took her dog, Harry,
for a walk through the fields next to her farm. She let her dog off her lead so that he could run through the tall grass.
Angela looked up at the bright morning sun.She remembered looking up at the sky so clearly because she could still see
the moon over the trees in the field. Next to the sun she could see what looked like two bright stars. Suddenly, the two
bright lights in the sky began to move towards her very quickly until they stopped above her. Then they disappeared as
quickly as they had appeared.
     Angela stood in the field feeling completely surprised by what she had just experienced while she had been watching
what she thought was a UFO. When she found her dog, it was sitting quietly watching the sky !
     Later that afternoon, Angela's daughters returned home and she tried to describe what she had seen. She told them
about the UFO and that she thought it must be Martians(火星人). However,  her daughters did not believe her. "Just a
UFO doesn't mean it's an alien, Mom. It might be a man-made spacecraft. " said her elder daughter.

(     )1. Angela's daughters are students.
(     )2. Her daughters and she walked through the tall grass.
(     )3. She saw the two strange bright lights in the morning.
(     )4. When she found her dog, it was standing in the field.
(     )5. Her daughters disagreed with her.

  On 26th January, the biggest earthquake (地震) in India took the lives of 25, 000 people. In the morning, when everybody was enjoying holiday, earthquake began. It was about 7. 5 on the Ritcher scale. "There  is nothing left between the sky and the earth any more. Everything has been pulled down, " said  one
 of  the villagers alive. "There is no water, no food and no one has come to help. "
    Nobody died in Pakistan, a country next to India. The City of Lahore was lucky. In Lahore American
School, where I was studying, all of the students were safe. They were on the field, so most  children
didn't  feel anything. The earthquake was felt by the teachers that were on the  second floor.  However, 
though Mrs Young was also on the  second floor, she didn't  feel  anything. She didn't know   what  
happened  until  a teacher told her about it. Those teachers who were on the other floors had different 
feelings.  MrEmond, the maths teacher from Australia, said that when the  earthquake started he thought 
there  was  something  wrong with him, but then another teacher said that it was  an  earthquake. After  
those  words Mr  Emond felt better. Mrs Davis and Mr Frost didn't feel anything either.
    My mother didn't feel anything. She didn't even know that it was an earthquake till she saw a  shaking
(moving from side to side) light. My  dad  saw the  computer  shaking and  then he looked  out  of  the
window  and saw many people going out.

1. People use "Ritcher scale" to tell      .

A. where the earthquake takes place    
B. when the earthquake takes place
C. how serious the earthquake is        
D. how long the earthquake lasts

2. From the sentence " There is nothing left between the sky and the earth any more. " We learn
that           

A. India is a large country      
B. the Indian people had nothing after the earthquake
C. there is no tall building in India    
D. the earthquake in India was not serious

3. The City of Lahore is      .

A. in India          
B. in America
C. in Pakistan      
D. in Australia

4. Which of the following is true?   

A. I was with my parents when the earthquake happened.
B. The earthquake in the city of Lahore wasn't serious.
C. People in the City of Lahore were frightened when they knew it was an earthquake.
D. The teachers in Lahore American School were afraid of the earthquake.

     Happiness, Sadness,  Knowledge, Love and all of the other feelings used to live on an island. One
day it was announced that the island would sink, so all built boats and left except Love. Love wanted to
hold out (堅持) until the last possible moment.
     When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said," Richness, can you take me with you?"
Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold in my boat. There is no place for you here. "
Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you. "  "Oh. . . Love,  I am so sad that I
need to be by myself! "
     Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called
her.
     Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you. " It was an elder.  So overjoyed
(非常高興), Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at a dry land,
the elder went her own way.
     Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who helped me?"
     "It was Time," Knowledge answered.
     "Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"
     Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is able to understand how
valuable Love is. "
1. Who was the last one to leave the island?
A. Happiness.          
B. Sadness.
C. Knowledge.          
D. Love.
2. How many times did Love ask for help all together?
A. Three times.                
B. Four times.
C. Five times.                
D. Six times.
3. Why didn't Richness take Love with him?
A. Because Richness was too rich.
B.  Because his boat was full of gold and there was no place for Love.
C. Because he needed to be by himself.
D. Because Richness didn't hear Love's words.
4. Love arrived at ________ with an elder at last.
A.  another island           
B.  a boat
C. a dry land                  
D. another country
5. What was the best title for this passage?
A. Everyone needs Richness.
B. Five feelings.
C. Who was the most useful?
D. Love and Time.