B

    Nancy lives in Washington D.C. Her father has a store there and her mother is a reporter. She's six years old now and begins to go to school this year. It's a little far from their shop and her father drives a car to take her to school every day. So she's not late for class and her teachers like her.

    It's Tuesday today. Miss White is teaching them to count(数数) from one to ten. Nancy is studying hard. Soon she can count them. Miss White is happy and asks, “How many people are there in your family, Nancy?”

    Nancy stands up and begins to count with her fingers(手指), and then she says, “Two, Miss White.”

  “Who are they?”

  “My father and mother.”

  “Oh?” Miss White is surprised, “Two people in your family?”

  “Because now I'm not at home.”

根据短文内容回答下列问题。

    My father used to work in the city and seldom stayed at home. But he would come back and help to harvest(收割) rice every year.

    One autumn, he promised to help our neighbour, who lost his arms in a traffic accident in 1999, to harvest his rice. After father harvested our own, his little rice picker broke. What's worse, he had to return to work the next day because his partner was ill in hospital. It meant that father wouldn't be back in a few days. It now seemed impossible to help out the neighbour.

    Father told us that he wouldn't let the neighbour's rice rot(腐烂) in the field. He decided to harvest it by hand without a machine. "If tonight's weather is clear, I think I can do it, "added my father. In fact, he was rather tired after a day's harvest work.

    After dinner, father had a short rest and made his way to the field. A full moon was glowing(发光) in the sky and the weather was cold but clear. He spent the whole night keeping his word.

    I would never forget the image(画面): Father was cutting rice in the light of the harvest moon. Behind him, row after row of rice stocks(秸秆) stood at attention, showing respect for a man who kept his word.

A

    An Englishman was showing a foreign visitor around London.“What's that strange building?” asked the visitor.“That's the Tower (塔) of London.”“I see. How long did it take to build it?”“About 500 years.”“In my country we can build it in a few months.”said the visitor. After they came to St. Paul's Cathedral (大教堂), the visitor asked the same question. “Nearly forty years,”said the Englishman. “In my country we finish it in forty days at most,” said the visitor. This went on all day. They visited most of the best known buildings in the city. Every time they saw a new one, the visitor asked what it was and how long it took to build it. Then he said they could do the same thing much faster in his country. At last the Englishman got angry with the visitor though he tried not to show it. Several days later they came to the House of Parliament (议会) and the visitor asked his usual question, “What's that?” The Englishman answered, “I have no idea. It wasn't there last night.”

根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

    Look at the picture. Who is the girl? She is my friend. Her name is Alice Black. She is an English girl.

    Alice has a big family. Her grandparents have two daughters and one son — her father. Alice lives with her grandparents, parents, two brothers and one sister. Alice has two dogs — Bobby and Tony. Bobby is black and Tony is white. Alice likes them very much. Alice is a middle school student. She has a good friend at school. Her name is Helen. They are cousins, too.

    When I saw Ronny for the first time, he looked like other kids in the first-grade classroom where I volunteered as a Reading Mom. However, he usually arrived at school wearing old clothes.

    On the day when it was Ronny's turn to read. He sat very close to me. I watched his fingers move slowly under each letter as "he tried to speak out "Bud the Sub". It sounded more like "Baw Daw Saw" when he said it because of his difficulty with the alphabet (字母).

    The year passed quickly and Ronny had made some progress but he was still below the level of grade. A few weeks before the school year ended, I held an award(颁奖) ceremony. I had gifts and certificates(证书) for everyone. It took me a while to think about which Ronny fit; I believed the gift could cheer him up. I finally decided on "The Most Progressive Reader". I showed his certificate and a book.

    A few days later, I saw Ronny reading the book when I went back to the school. His teacher said, "He hasn't put that book down. That's the first book he's ever owned. "

    Fighting back tears(眼泪) I came near Ronny and asked, "Will you read me your book, Ronny?" He nodded.

    And then, for the next few minutes, he read to me more smoothly than I'd ever thought. When he finished reading, Ronny closed his book and said, "Good book."

    At that moment, I knew I should do what an author(作家) had done-care children and make them excellent.