How old was I? I can’t remember. Maybe I was only 10. It was the first    16   without my father because he was away for something. He left me to fill that sad place in my mother’s heart. It was the Christmas when I stopped being a    17   and tried to play Father Christmas myself. I really wanted to make it happy and bright again. It was the Christmas of the    18  .
Mom first saw the coat at Tobias, a nice    19   shop in our town’s little shopping mall. It was dark green. And it was a    20  , heavy, wool dress coat. Mom pulled it out from the rack(架) and held it up. “Long enough,” she said in a low voice and    21  .
“I need a new coat,” Mom smiled before the mirror. She looked good on any clothes,       22   this coat suited her much better. She looked at the    23  , then hung the coat back on the rack, standing there once more to    24   
Eighty-seven dollars. But I decided to buy it for her. As we moved on    25  the mall, I found some excuse to return and asked one of the Tobias ladies to    26   the coat.
I helped clean every yard(庭院) in our neighbourhood—some yards twice, and soon I got the coat. The store ladies helped me put it in their biggest    27   with bright blue paper and thick silver ribbon(絲帶). I don’t remember    28   I got it home, but I can still feel the wonderful    29   and pride that filled me. I would imagine the big space which the box would take up under our tree. Here it was—joy, peace and    30  —all in the box, waiting for Mom’s surprise.

It was 6:00 on a Monday morning. With his books in his bag, 13-year-old James Mwangi was on his way to school, the Mcedo-Beijing school in a slum（貧民窟）in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi (肯尼亞首都內(nèi)羅畢). This school was built in 2001 with the help of China, for children from poor families.

     After getting to school, Mwangi went straight to his class to do his class work. It is usual that pupils in this school prepare for their lessons before the teacher comes.

     To study in the school was once a dream for the poor boy. His mother made a living by washing clothes for others. Some days she took home nothing, and some days she could get about $ 3 — it was hardly enough to buy them a full meal for a day.

     Before joining the Mcedo-Beijing school, Mwangi was at home with his seven brothers, collecting garbage (垃圾). The school is giving these children hope for the future by providing    a chance to get education.

     “For me, education is the best gift,” said Mwangi.

任務(wù)一：根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，簡(jiǎn)要回答下列問(wèn)題。

1. How old was Mwangi?

___________________________________________________________________________

2. Which country helped build Mwangi’s school?

___________________________________________________________________________

3. How did Mwangi’s mother make a living?

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任務(wù)二： 把短文中劃線的句子譯成漢語(yǔ)。

4. ___________________________________________________________________________

任務(wù)三：請(qǐng)給短文擬一個(gè)恰當(dāng)?shù)臉?biāo)題。

5. ___________________________________________________________________________

Liu Wei is very famous in China because he can play the piano with

his toes(腳趾).

One day when Liu Wei was only 10 years old, he played a game with

some friends. He lost both his arms because of electricity(電).

Liu Wei was very sad when both his arms were cut off after the

accident. But soon he had to make a choice.

“For people like me, there were only two choices. One was to give up all the dreams, which would cause a quick death. The other was to work hard without arms to live an excellent life.” says Liu Wei.

Liu’s dream was to be a pianist. His excellent life included a show on China’s Got Talent(《中國(guó)達(dá)人秀》) and a wonderful performance (演奏) playing the beautiful Marriage D’amour with his two feet on the piano.

Liu Wei learned to play the piano with his feet. And teaching himself to play the piano with his feet was very hard. Many times he wanted to give it up, but his parents went on encouraging(鼓勵(lì)) him and he wanted to make his parents proud.

Maybe you can not believe that Liu Wei is able to play well only with his toes. The audience(觀眾) were deeply moved and very excited when they watched his performance.

1.Why is Liu Wei very famous in China?

2.How old was Liu Wei when he lost his arms?

3.Was Liu Wei very sad when both his arms were cut off?

4.Who encouraged Liu Wei to play the piano?

5.How did the audience feel when they watched Liu’s performance?

Mary was a 911 operator(接線員) in Los Angeles. One Thursday morning, she was surprised to get a call from a young child who said, “Mom is ill, Mom is ill”, again and again. Mary hurried to find the address of the call. She called the police. In a minute, the policemen and doctors arrived at the house. They broke the door open, and they couldn’t believe their eyes. The little child was so young that maybe she could not walk! She was sitting beside her mother and holding her mother’s hand. Tears(眼淚) were running down her face.
The doctor gave the woman some medicine and soon she woke up. Later, she told people , “Everyone was surprised that my daughter could call 911. One Monday I tried to teach her how to call 911.” “It’s the first time I’ve seen a two-year-old child call 911.”
【小題1】 What did Mary do every day? ______________