Jed and Matt were walking home from school. It was the first really cold day of winter. "The 1 on the river is hard!" Matt shouted. "Let's take a shortcut (捷径) across. "

    Jed made a face. "It started to freeze," said Jed. "I don't think it's 2." "You're afraid of everything," said Matt with a laugh. "3 you want to walk all the way to the bridge, go ahead.  I'm going to 4 here." Then he ran toward the river. Now Matt was near the middle of the river. "Are you still 5, Jed?" he laughed. "Look how 6the ice is." Matt jumped up and down a few times to 7 his point.

    Crack! Loud sound filled the air. Matt looked down. In all directions, the thin ice was8away from his feet. Another crack, and Matt was in the river! "Help!" Matt screamed. His wet clothes pulled him down.

    Jed felt the ice, 9 testing the area around him. Using the feet, he pushed 10 slowly toward the hole in the ice. Gripping (抓牢) the ice with his feet, Jed took hold of Matt's 11.

    Little by little, he dragged (拖) Matt out of the water and then across the ice. After what seemed like hours, they reached the 12.

    A police car came up to them. Officer Crane helped Matt into the car. After hearing the story, Crane said, "Well, Jed, it sounds like you are a 13. Maybe I should call the newspaper. Someone from the paper can come and take your picture and write an article. "

    "Good idea," said Matt.  He was feeling a lot  14.  "I have never had my picture in the paper."

    "I was talking about 15 picture," said Crane.  "He is a hero."

阅读短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

    Some of the greatest problems we face today are the destruction (破坏) of our environment． Brown clouds, polluted water, endangered wild animals．．, these problems seem so huge．

    So my family does what we can． We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags． We walk where we don't have to drive．．．

    But does it do any good? When I am the only one in line at the market with cloth bags, am I doing any good? Does my walking to stores make any real difference to the world?

    I recently learned something about flamingos (火烈鸟) which like to get together in groups of a thousand or more． Every year, when the time comes for migration (迁徙), a few of them first takeoff from the lake． But none of the others seem to notice, so the small group returns．

    However, the next day they try again． This time few more fly along with them, but most of them still pay no attention, so they return again． They try for several times． Every time a few more birds join in but, since the thousands of others still take no notice, the great migration plan is once more stopped．

    Then one day something changes． The same small group of birds once again starts flying and a small number more join in just as before, then more． Finally, they all take flight and the migration really begins．

    What a spectacular sight it must be—thousands of flamingos taking off into the sky at once!

    A few can make a difference． Even if you're the one to take the first step, and continue trying, others will someday take notice and together we will solve even our greatest problems．

    I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch(牧马场). The last time I was there he told me his story. When he was young, his family was too poor to have a house to live in.As a result , when he was in high school, all the students were asked to write a paper about what they wanted to be and do when they grew up. That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of owning a horse ranch. He also drew a picture to show a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a beautiful farm. The next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F. Roberts asked, “Why did I receive an F?” He teacher said, “This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money.” Then the teacher added, “If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.”

    The boy went home and thought about it for a long and hard time. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, “ Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.”Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He told his teacher “you could keep the F and I still keep my dream”.

    He tells me this story because I am sitting in his 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of the 200-acre horse ranch. “I still have that school paper now.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two years ago that  teacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer.During those years I stole a lot of kids' dreams. Luckily, you had enough gumption not to give up on yours. .”

    Long ago, Bluebird's feathers were the colour of dust. She did not like her ugly colour. She was attracted by the colour of the lake near her home. It was as blue as the sky after a storm. Bluebird wanted to be the colour of that beautiful lake very much. Flapping her wings one morning, Bluebird flew from her tree to the blue lake. Then she bathed in the water three times. After each bath, she sang, "Blue water. Still water. I went in. I am blue." Bluebird repeated this every morning. On the third day, she came out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers.

    Now Coyote was a trickster(骗子)—and hungry too. He stayed behind Bluebird's tree for a long time every day and watched her go to the lake. He pretended(伪装)to be interested in everything she did. He wanted Bluebird for lunch, but he was afraid of the blue water. On the third morning, Coyote saw Bluebird come out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers. Impressed, he sat next to Bluebird's tree and waited for her. When she returned, he asked, "How did you get blue feathers? I want to be blue like the mountains too." Bluebird didn't believe Coyote, but she taught him how to bathe three times each morning and how to sing her song. Coyote did what she said, and after three days of bathing in the lake, his white fur turned deep blue.

    Convinced(确信的)that blue fur was even more beautiful than blue feathers, Coyote forgot all about being hungry. He ran as fast as he could to the top of the hill. Standing on his back legs, he raised his front legs off the ground and howled. But Coyote slipped(滑倒)and rolled down the hill. He couldn't stop himself, and the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur. He rolled and rolled until he hit into Bluebird's tree heavily. No matter how much he tried, foolish Coyote could not shake the dust from his fur. And so the fur of all coyotes had the dull colour of dust to this very day.

    Walt Disney began to make cartoon films when he was a young man. But he didn't have much money then. One day a mouse ran near his desk while he was working in his small office.

    "Would you like to be my pet?" Disney decided to make a cartoon about it.

    "I am making a cartoon about a mouse named Mortimer," he told his wife.

    "Mortimer Mouse? I think Mickey Mouse would be a better name," she said.

    "You are right," Disney agreed and made many Mickey Mouse cartoons.

    People all over the world saw Mickey and loved it. Mickey Mouse made Disney famous. Then came Donald Duck, and Goofy Dog and others. Disney began to make long cartoons. Then he made cartoon films for television.

    In 1955, Disney opened a wonderful amusement park in California. Real boats, castles, trains, mountains, rivers, all are in one beautiful park. Millions of people came to Disneyland.

    He died in 1966, but the world will not forget him. Mickey Mouse and all his cartoons will help us to remember him.

    Long ago, people did not need money. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    As time passed, people learned to raise animals and crops. Sometimes, families produced more than they needed, so they started to trade (交易) with other families. Later, people began to use money as a means of exchange. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They used shells, rice, salt, large stones, etc.

    During the 600s BC, people began using coins as money. They soon found that coins were easier to carry than goods (货物) and lasted a long time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The Chinese were the first to use paper money, probably as early as the eleventh century. The Italian traveller Marco Polo saw the Chinese using paper money when he visited China in the 1200s. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Today, we have many ways to pay for things. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Often, people prefer to pay for things by card. Paying with a card is easier and safer than carrying around a lot of "real" money.