Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman (垃圾清理工)

      Mr. Swales wanted to find out what his students' parents did. He had just called Jodie when some girls burst out laughing. Shirley shouted, “Jodie's Daddy is a Garbageman!”

      Everybody in the class laughed out loud, except Jodie. She felt her face turn red.

      “Silence!” Mr Swales said, “Being a garbagemen is a difficult and useful job. We should all be thankful to Jodie's father.”

      Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him the way she always did. When they got back home, Jodie went to her room and cried for a long time.

      Her father came into her room, “What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?”

      Jodie told her father what had happened and looked at him. He didn't seem angry or hurt. “Well,” he said, “they are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Jodie.”

      The place really smell too good. Jodie wrinkled her nose. “Don't worry, kid. In five minutes you won't smell a thing.” said her father.

      Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Jodie's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

      It was fun, but also hard work. Jodie's arms soom got tired. At last, no more garbage was left and Jodie felt very happy.

      “Garbage is disgusting, but when we clear it away, everything's nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making other happy. That's why I like being a garbageman so much.”

      Jodie give her dirty, smeely garbageman daddy a big kiss(吻). She said, “When I grow up, I will be a garbagegirl!”

      Now whenever someone asks Jodie what her daddy does, she says, “He's a garbageman! Everybody makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!”

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳答案。   

                                                                                                      C

    I have tried to write a ghost story that won't make you unhappy with yourselves, with each other, with the seasons, or with me. I hope it haunts your houses pleasantly.

Charles Dickens

    One Christmas Eve, old Scrooge and Bob were working busily in his office. It was a cold, foggy day. The fog was so thick that the houses opposite were like ghosts. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, but it was already quite dark.

    "Merry Christmas, Uncle! God bless you!" cried a happy voice. It was Scrooge's nephew.

    "Bah!" said Scrooge "Humbug(骗人的话)!"

    "Christmas is a humbug! Surely you don't mean that, Uncle." Said his nephew.

    "I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What reason have you got to be merry? You're poor."

    "OK, then," replied the nephew cheerfully. "What reason have you got to be sad? You are rich. Don't be angry, Uncle!" said his nephew.

    "What else can I be?" answered the uncle, "I live in a world of fools! Merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you? It's a time for paying bills without money, It's a time for finding yourself a year older, but not richer. Everyone who goes around saying "Merry Christmas" should have his tongue cut out. Yes, he should!"

    "Uncle! Please don't say that!" said the nephew. "I've always thought of Christmas time as a good time, a kind, and a charitable, happy time. And so, Uncle, Christmas has never put any gold or silver in my pocket, but I think it has done me good. And it will do me good. And I say, God bless it!"

    Bob, standing in the corner of the room, applauded(鼓掌).He realized his mistake very soon, and went quickly bake to his work, but Scrooge had heard him.

    "One more sound from you, Bob Cratchit," said Scrooge, "and you'll celebrate Christmas by losing your job!"

    "Don't be angry with him, Uncle. Come and have dinner with us tomorrow."

    "No." said Scrooge.

    "I'm sorry you don't want to celebrate Christmas. But I do. So a Merry Christmas, Uncle!"

     "Good afternoon!" said Scrooge.

     "And a Happy New Year!" said his nephew.

     "Good afternoon!" said Scrooge again.

    His nephew left the room. He stopped to wish Bob a Merry Christmas. And Bob replied, "A

    Merry Christmas to you, too."

    I was 8 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1993, but I can remember my mother's words as if it were yesterday. “Jessica, I don't want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”

    AIDS wasn't something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 11, his condition worsened. My father's other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.

    We couldn't afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work. I had no money for school supplies and often couldn't even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher's words muffled as I was thinking how I was going to manage.

    I didn't share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside even though he was too weak to feed himself.

    I had known that he was going to die. But after so many years of keeping his condition a secret, I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit (非营利的) National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.

    I was 14 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn't want to call attention to AIDS. I do.

B

    July 4, 2015 was American's 239th birthday. This country had an International Hot Dog Eating Competition for the big day.

    Since 2007, Joey Chestnut is always the winner of the competition. His best show was in 2009. He ate 69 hot dogs in ten minutes. This year, Chestnut's winning history came to an end. Matt Stonie, a 23-year-old man won the competition by eating 62 hot dogs. He ate two more than Chestnut. Stonie took home 10,000 dollars as a prize.

    Though it was the young man's first win here, Stonie already won some other eating competitions. He once got the first place in eating the most birthday cake (5.5 pounds in nine minutes).

    Women took part in the competition too. The 2015 women's winner was Miki Sudo who ate 38 hot dogs.

    It is said the competition started on July 4,1916. Now it is one of the traditions (传统) on America's National Day.

    A couple of sparrows(麻雀) lived happily in a huge tree in a jungle. The female sparrow had laid her eggs and they were expecting their babies soon.

    One day, an elephant was unable to tolerate the heat of the summer sun. He destroyed all trees, including the tree where the sparrows lived.

    The sparrows managed to escape by flying away, but they lost their babies. The eggs fell down to the ground and broke into pieces. They cried loudly and decided to kill the elephant.

    They asked their friends, a woodpecker and a fly for help. The fly took them to meet one of his friends, an old frog. The frog was wise and he came up with a good plan soon.

    The frog explained, "Fly! Your task is to buzz in the elephant's ears in order to make him sleepy. The woodpeckers task is to hurt his eyes and make him blind. In this hot summer days, he will certainly search for water. I will sit by the nearby pit(深坑) and shout at the top of my voice."

    He continued, "When the thirsty elephant hears me, he will think there is a pond or lake nearby and follow my voice. And when he does so, he will fall into the pit and die."

    The others agreed to the frog's plan. Everyone did their tasks perfectly. Finally, the elephant fell into the pit and died.