Ali, who was working a long way from home wanted to send a letter to his wife, but he could neither read nor write, and he had to work all day, so he could only look for somebody to write his letter late at night. At last he found the house of a letter writer whose name was Nasreddin.

    Nasreddin was already in bed. "It is late," he said. "What do you want?" "I want you to write a letter to my wife," said Ali, Nasreddin was not pleased. He thought for a few seconds and then said, "Has the letter got to go far?" "What does that matter?" answered Ali.

  "Well, my writing is so strange that only I can read it, and if I have to travel a long way to read your letter to your wife, it will cost you a lot of money." Ali went away quickly.

    There was a small river near Xue Yong's town．It went through several villages．The water was clean and there were lots of fish in it．

    Women would like to wash clothes along the river．It was a good place for them to talk about interesting things in their daily(日常的)life．Xue Yong liked eating noodles．So his mum often asked questions about how to cook noodles with different vegetables when she washed clothes there．

    It was also a good place for children．They caught fish and played water games there．At that time，Xue Yong had a small black dog．Every time he caught fish in the river,the dog followed(跟着)him．A fish was a good present for its work．

Now,Xue Yong lives in a city with his parents．

4.．They are interested in his town．Last Friday,Xue Yong and his parents watched a programme about some towns．Their town was one of them．

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。

    Martin is a fifteen-year-old boy. He used to be a "problem child", but a recent 1 with his mother changed his life. He didn't use to give his mother many problems. 2 , after his father's death a few years ago, Martin's life became 3 more difficult. His mother couldn't afford to pay for her child's education. To do this, she 4 work, and so she was often not at home. His mother looked after him as 5 as she could. Unfortunately, Martin still caused problems. He was not 6 in studying and he often got into trouble. Luckily, his mother was very 7 and didn't give up trying to help him. In the end, she 8 a difficult decision: to send him to a boys' boarding school. Martin hated it and used to cause a lot of trouble. One day, he told his teacher he wanted to leave the school. The teacher said it was necessary for Martin to 9 with his mother. Martin called his mother, but to his 10 , this phone call changed his life. "It was exactly 11 I needed," he said. "My mother helped me to understand how much she had given me. She also told me that even though my father was no longer with us, he was 12 me and would always take pride in everything good I do. That's when I decided to change. I realize that 13 my father died, I have been afraid of being alone, and have tried to make my mother pay more attention to me." Now Martin has 14 changed. He has been working hard and is now one of the best students in his class. How was he able to change? His mother's 15 helped him to feel good about himself.

    A farmer had a cow. He took very good care of his cow. One day it was ill, the farmer was very worried. He telephoned the vet.

    "What's the problem?" the vet asked the farmer when he arrived. "My cow is ill," said the farmer, "I don't know what's the matter with her. She's lying down and doesn't eat. She's making a strange noise." The vet looked at the cow. "She's certainly ill," he said, "and she needs to take some strong medicine." He took a bottle out of his box, put two pills into his hand and said, "Give her these. The pills should make her better." "How should I give them to her? The farmer asked. The vet gave him a tube(管子) and said, "Put this tube in her mouth, then put the pills in the tube and blow. That'll make it."

    The next day the vet came to the farm again. The farmer was sitting outside his house and looked worried. "How's your cow?" asked the vet. "No change," the farmer said, "and I'm feeling very strange myself."

    "Oh?" the vet said, "Why?"

    "I did what you said." the farmer answered, "I put the tube in the cow's mouth and then put the two pills in it."

    "And?" the vet asked.

    "The cow blew first." the farmer said.