第四部分讀寫任務 (共1小題，滿分30分)

閱讀下面的短文，然后按照要求寫一篇150詞左右的英語短文。

[閱讀材料]

An elderly carpenter（木匠） was ready to retire．He told his employer of his plans to leave the house-building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family．He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire．They could get by．

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor．The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work．He resorted to（采用） poor workmanship(工藝，手藝) and used inferior（低劣的） materials．It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career．

When the carpenter finished his work, the employer came to inspect the house．He handed the front-door key to the carpenter．"This is your house," he said, "my gift to you．"

The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently．

[寫作內(nèi)容]

1．以約30個詞概括短文的要點；

2．以約120個詞在這個故事內(nèi)容的基礎上展開討論并包括以下內(nèi)容：

（1）    今天的付出和明天的收獲之間的關系；

（2）    構筑房屋和構建生活之間的關系；

（3）    對你的議論進行總結(jié)。

[寫作要求]

1.   作文中可使用自己的親身經(jīng)歷或虛構的故事，也可以參照閱讀材料的內(nèi)容，

但不得直接原文抄襲。

2.   題目自擬。

[評分標準]          概括準確，語言規(guī)范，內(nèi)容合適，篇章連貫。

 

One morning in Philadelphia, the sun shone bright through all the thick jungles and the tall churches. John, 6, wearing the worn-out clothes, walked from a far place, his dark small hands holding a piece of stolen bread.

John stopped for a moment at the entrance to the church and then left tightly holding the bread,      

He was an orphan(孤兒), whose parents were killed in World War II leaving him alone in the orphanage for five years, Like many children in the house, he had a lot of free time. Mostly no one took care of them, so they had to learn how to steal those they wanted.             

John believed God to be real, so every Sunday morning in any case he would go to the church to have a look and listen to those people singing inside or reading the Bible. He felt only at this moment he was the child of God and so close to God. But he couldn’t enter because his clothes were so dirty. John himself knew it.

John was quietly calculating the times. This was his 45th Sunday at the entrance to the church. He stood on tiptoe（踮著腳尖） for a while and walked away.

As time passed, the pastor(牧師) noticed John and learned from others that he was the small boy who liked stealing things in the orphanages.

On the 46th Sunday, the sun was shining and John came still holding a piece of bread with his dark small hands. When he just stood there, the pastor came out. He felt like running away, but he was carried by the pastor's friendly smile.

The pastor walked up to his side, clearly seeing John's small hands shaking.

"Are you John?"

John didn't answer, but looked at the pastor and nodded.

"Do you believe in God?" the pastor patted John on his head with dust.

"Yes, I do!" This time John told him loudly.

"So you believe in yourself?"

John looked at the pastor, without a word.

The pastor went on saying, "At the first sight of you, I find you're different from other kids because you have a good heart."

His face turning red, John said nervously, "In fact, I'm a thief." With that, he lowered his head.

The pastor didn't speak, but held John's dark small hands, slowly opened them and put them against his wrinkled face.

"Ah" Just at the same time, John shouted and was about to take out his dark small hands. Yet the pastor tightly held his small hands and spread them out in the sun.

"Do you see, John?"

"What?"

"You're cupping the sunshine in your hands."

John blankly looked at his hands: when did they become so beautiful?

"In God's eyes, all children are the same. When they are willing to spread out their hands to greet the sun, the sun will naturally shine on them. And you have two things more than they do. First is courage and the second is kindness." With that, the pastor led him into the church. It was the first time that John went into this sacred place, and at this moment he didn't feel inferior, but the unspeakable warmth.

On that morning greeting the sunshine, John found himself again, along with the confidence, satisfaction, happiness, dreams he had never had.

Twenty years have passed. Now the boy who ever tightly held the bread with his dirt hands has been the most famous cook in Philadelphia and made many popular dishes.

Every Sunday morning, he would personally send the bread he baked to the orphanage. Those children who greeted him with cheers were used to consciously spreading their palms before they got the bread.

Because they all knew when we are willing to spread out our hands to greet the sunshine, the sun will naturally shine on us.

1.The method the writer uses to develop Paragraph is ______________

A．presenting contrasts (對比)                B．showing causes （原因）

C．offering analyses                        D．providing explanations

2.Why didn't John go inside whenever he went to the church?

A．He was frightened to be recognized by the pastor

B．He was not welcomed by those singing in the church.

C．He was sorry for his dirty clothes and identity as a thief.

D．He was left alone in the orphanage and nobody cared for him.

3.Which of the following questions did John reply certainly?

A．“Are you John?"                        B．"Do you see, John?"

C．"So you believe in yourself?"               D．"Do you believe in God?"

4.Which of the following can best describe the pastor's great effect on John?

A．John became a famous cook.

B．John admitted his bad behavior. (行為)

C．John believed God to be real

D．John spread warmth to other orphans.

5.According to the passage, the sunshine cupped in hands can bring _______________

A．cheers and confidence                   B．dreams and imagination

C．courage and kindness                    D．forgiveness and satisfaction

 

 

 "Not all of the snakes were dangerous." this means _________.

A. none of the snakes were dangerous     B. all of the snakes were not dangerous

C. few of the snakes were dangerous        D. no snakes were dangerous

 

What makes a house a home?

Not size, of course．I've been in some of the grandest houses in America, and it's readily apparent no one lives there．Earlier this year, I had dinner in a mud hut in Ethiopia, where we sat on chairs next to the hostess' bed -- a home that had more warmth than any house I've been in since．

Now John Edwards is exploring what makes a house a home in his just-released Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives．There Edwards writes, " This is a book about homes, the values they rest on, the dreams they are filled with, and the people they have shaped．The houses and circumstances are different, but much of what you find inside will be familiar．"     

Whether you're sitting in an airport right now, waiting to fly to your childhood home for Thanksgiving, or in your own home waiting for the relatives to arrive, you know what he's talking about．

We've lived in our townhouse for 21 years．The loose windows that make noise in the wind．The fireplace so shallow it holds only one log．The kitchen window that offers a view of the world passing by．It's where friends sit on the kitchen counter drinking wine while dinner is being fixed．I lived there for only 18, but it will always be my true home．Even the lamp in the west living room window, which I could see far down the road when driving home late at night, still shines．

While all this talk about childhood memories can be warm and comforting, home is whom you're with, not where you are．As Edwards writes, "Home is family．Home is safety．Home is faith．"

Happy homecoming．

1.What would be the best title for the text?

A．Home Means Everything	B．What's Inside Makes Us Feel at Home
C．Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives	D．The Importance of the Home

2.The purpose of the second paragraph is to __

A．mean the author likes living in grandest houses

B．prove the author got along well with the hostess

C．mean the feeling of home isn't related to the size

D．show the author's different feelings about houses

3.About the book Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives, we know that __

A．it was the description of Edwards' houses

B．it is mainly about houses

C．it helps us understand the concept of home

D．it was written by the author of the text

4.What did the author mainly mean when he mentioned the loose windows and the shallow fireplace ?

A．His house was too old to live in．	B．He missed the feelings of home．
C．He hated living there．	D．He missed his old friends too much．

5.It can be inferred according to the text that __

A．the author's family were very rich	B．every happy home is the same
C．the author has been living a hard life	D．the author and Edwards hold similar ideas

 

Hundreds of students from around the world gathered in New York City last week for the Microsoft Imagine Cup finals. They came to present their ideas for using technology to solve world problems.

Microsoft education director Suzi Levine says the nine-year-old program began mainly as a competition to create technology.

SUZI LEVINE: "When we realized that students really actually want to have a purpose for what they're creating, we introduced the idea of inspiring them with the UN Millennium Development Goals and suggesting that they use those for their muse(靈感). "This past year we also rolled out something called the Imagine Cup Solve This library（創(chuàng)新杯求解計劃知識庫）, where IGOs, NGOs and nonprofits can submit some of the technical challenges that they would like students to consider for their solutions."

Microsoft says over 350，000 high school and college students registered for this year's competition. Judges chose more than four hundred of them to attend the finals.

SUZI LEVINE: "One from Thailand was called NewKrean, where they created a Windows Phone 7 application that allows you to broadcast your location to your social network of friends so that you can be more easily rescued." They named their application Terra.

Suzi Levine says there were also ideas from Egypt inspired by the revolution that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February.

SUZI LEVINE: "One was to use Bluetooth as sort of a Twitter equivalent so that if the government shuts down the Internet, you actually can still have a massive social distribution."

Students competed in nine categories. For example, in software design the top prize of twenty-five thousand dollars went to Team Hermes from Ireland. The students developed a device for cars to collect information on road conditions, driving behavior and traffic incidents.

A team from Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University won first place in the embedded（內(nèi)嵌的） development category. They developed a network of wireless devices to help plot the safest escape routes during a fire.

Next year's awards ceremony will take place in Australia. Registration for Imagine Cup twenty-twelve opened Friday. Also, Microsoft announced plans for a three million dollar program to help Imagine Cup winners further develop their projects.

1.Which of the following is true ?

A．The program is sponsored by Microsoft.

B．Next year, the awards ceremony will be held in New York City.

C．Any high school or college student can attend the finals.

D．The initial purpose of the program is to solve world problems using technology.

2. What can we infer from the third paragraph?

A．The UN offers great help to the program.

B．Microsoft sets up a library for the students who want to achieve their goals.

C．IGOs, NGOs and nonprofits also provide help for the students.

D．Microsoft takes effective measures to inspire the students.

3.What does the underlined word “overthrew ” in Paragraph 6 mean ?

A． Abandoned       B．Supported         C．Drove away        D．Overturned

4.What can we know from Paragraph 7?

A．They want to replace Bluetooth with Twitter.

B．They want to combine Bluetooth with Twitter.

C．They want to replace Twitter with Bluetooth.

D．Twitter can still be used without the Internet.