Today I went to Sam's school in the UK. It was really different from my school in China.

    Girls wore grey skirts and white shirts, boys wore grey trousers, and everyone wore the school tie.

    Some of Sam's lessons were a bit strange for me. We were reading Shakespeare in the English lesson, and there were quite some old words like "thou" and "thee" to mean "you". In history we studied 20th Century China. It was strange hearing a foreign side of history — and hearing English people trying to say all our Chinese names!

    Classes were also a lot more relaxing than in China. Teachers were called "sir" or "miss", everyone shouted answers and raised their hands in classes. It was more like a debate than a class. A bell rang at the end of each lesson and everyone jumped up to go to the next class.

    At break we bought potato chips and cookies in the dining room. Lunch was later than in China at 1 o'clock. We had big plates of pie with carrots. For dessert there was hot sweet rice called rice pudding.

    It was good that I'd had an excellent lunch, because at Sam's school Monday afternoons are taken up with sports.

    I played my first game of netball — a bit like basketball, but with some differences. Luckily I'd had a quick look in the rule book before I tried to join in the game.

阅读下列短文，从下面每题的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳答案。

    Just as I entered my house, I heard a sound coming from the bedroom upstairs — it was from myJust as I entered my house, I heard a sound coming from the bedroom upstairs — it was from my favourite violin.

    “Thief!”

    I rushed upstairs and saw a boy in dirty clothes pulling my violin down. At first sight, I found a new pair of shoes missing. It seemed he was surely a thief.

    However, when I saw his eyes full of fear, my anger disappeared. I smiled and asked, “Are you Mr. Ram's student Rubens? I'm his butler（男管家）. I've heard Mr. Ram said his student would come. It must be you.”

    “Has my teacher gone out?” the boy said, “I think I'd better visit him again in a while.”

    I nodded and asked him, “Do you like playing the violin?”

    “Yes, but I'm too poor to afford one.” the boy replied. 

    “Then, I'll give you this violin.” The boy looked at me in surprise, but he picked up the violin. While going out of the room, he suddenly saw a huge photo of me playing the violin at the Grand Theatre of Sydney on the wall. His face turned pale. He stood there for a moment and ran out. He must have understood what had happened because no master would put up the butler's photo on the wall of his living room.

    A few years later, at a music competition in Melbourne, I was invited to be the judge. Finally, a violin player called Merritt won the first prize.

    After the prize-giving, Merritt ran to me holding a violin box, his face red, and asked, “Mr. Brian, do you still know me? You gave me this violin, which I have treasured ever since! Today, I want to say sorry and give back the violin to you without regret…”

    He was just the “Mr. Ram's student”!

先通读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后在每小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

    An old carpenter(工匠)was ready to retire(退休).His boss was 1 to see the good worker leave. He asked the carpenter if he could build just one more 2 . The carpenter said yes, but his mind was not on his work any more. He used poor materials and 3worked on the house. When the carpenter finished his work, the boss  4 the front-door key to him and said, "This is your house. It's a 5 for you."

    What a surprise! If he had known he was 6 his own house, he would have done it differently. Now he had to live in the house he poorly built.

    So it is with us. Sometimes we build our 7 carelessly. At important points we do not try our best. Then with a shame we look at the things we did. We find that we are living in the house we have poorly built 8we don't have a chance(机会)to make it all over again.

    Think of  9as the carpenter. Think about your life. Build it carefully and wisely. It is the only life you will ever build because life is a do-it-yourself project.

    Your life today is the 10 of  your attitudes(态度)and choices(选择)you made in the past. Your life tomorrow will be that of your attitude and choices you make today.

    My name is Chen Jie. I'm 12. I'm in PEP Middle School. I'm in Classroom 7D. I'm a Chinese girl. My home (家) is in No. 69 Mingzhu Road, Wuxue. My telephone number is 625—3781. My post code (邮政编码) is 435400. My type of blood(血型) is O and my school ID card number is PEPMS201507146.

    A rich man was riding along the road and saw an old man digging in his garden. There was a young tree lying on the ground. The rich man asked the old man, "What kind of tree are you planting there, my good man?

    "This is a fig(无花果)tree, sir," he said.

    "A fig tree?" the rich man was very surprised." How old are you, may I ask?"

    "I am ninety years old."

    "What!" shouted the rich man." You're ninety years old. You are planting a very young tree now and it'll take years to give fruit. You certainly don't hope to live long enough to get any fruit from this tree." The old man smiled and said, Tell me, sir, did you eat figs when you were a boy?" "Sure," the man did not know why he asked this question.

    The old man asked, "Who planted the fig trees?"

    "I don't know."

    " You see, sir," the old man said slowly," our forefathers(祖先) planted trees for us to enjoy and I am doing the same for the people after me."

    The rich man was quiet. Then he said, "You are right, my good man. We should do some things for the people after us. Thank you very much." Then he rode away.

    Gary and Gavin were twin brothers who worked in a store owned by their father. After the father had passed away, they took over the store. One day, Gary left the bill on the cash register (收银台), but when he returned, the money was gone.

    Gary then asked his brother," did you see that twenty-dollar bill on the cash register?" Gavin said no. But Gary did not let it go and kept asking. That made Gavin very angry and they quarreled with one another. The quarrel divided the young men. Later, a wall was built in the center of the store. For twenty years, hostility (敌意) never ended.

    One day, a strange man came to the store. He walked in and asked Gary, "How long have you been here?" Gary replied that he'd been there all his life. "Then you are the person I'm looking for," the man said. "Twenty years ago, I was totally broke and hungry. I entered this store from the back door and saw a twenty-dollar bill on the cash register. And I took it. All these years I haven't been able to forget that. I had to come back and apologize for that."

    The stranger felt shocked when seeing tears well up in the eyes of the middle-aged man in front of him. "Would you please go next door and tell the same story to the man in the store?" Gary asked. Then something surprised the stranger even more-after hearing his story, the two middle-aged men hugged each other. After twenty years, the wall that separated them finally came down.