It is not easy for people to travel around the world in quite small boats. Sometimes the weather gets bad．Accidents (事故) can happen easily and quickly.

   One family once had an accident. A big fish swam under their boat and bit holes in it. Sea water came in and the boat soon went down. Luckily these people had another small boat——a lifeboat, so they all got into the lifeboat. They lived in the boat for many days. They ate and slept, and always hoped．At last people in a ship saved them.

   How do people live in a very small lifeboat for a long time? They must be strong in every way, they must have a hope, and they must have a strong desire (愿望) to live. People cannot drink seawater. If they drink a lot of sea water, they will quickly die. They must catch rainwater and drink it. They must also catch fish and birds for food．Lifeboats do not often carry cookers. So people can not cook their food in the lifeboats. Raw (生的) fish and birds are not very nice but they are their only food．They must eat raw food, or they will die.

A．food   B．beds   C．rainwater  D．hope

A．their boat met bad weather   B．their boat hit a big rock and it was broken

C．nobody knew how to sail   D．a fish bit holes in their boat

A．fish and birds   B rainwater

C．both sea water and rainwater   D．both A and B

A．厨师   B．食物   C．炊具   D．大盒子

A．It's not interesting to travel around the world．

B．Fish in the sea are so dangerous.

C．we must have a strong desire (愿望) to live when we are in danger.

D．Nobody knows when we will die.

Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always told me," You should have goals like climbing the mountain." Without the mountain-climbing that we both enjoyed, we couldn't have enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from the mountain-climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thought as well as develop my patience（耐力）.

    Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging（挑战性的） for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the birds' singing. But as time passed, I got a pain in both of my legs. I wanted to quit climbing, In fact, I hated it at that moment, but my father said to me, "You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can't see it before you reach the top. Only there at the top, can you see all of the nice things, which is just like your life."

    At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later after that, I got new hope and confidence. I found myself standing at the top of the sky, which was as clear as crystal（水晶）.

    I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat doing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the more wonderful thing in the world.

   Years later, during her final illness, mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,”she’d said again, “it’s for Elizabeth.”

   I never saw her angry, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me, she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter. They never happened. And agulf opened between us. I was “too emotional(易动感情的)”. But she lived “on the surface”.

   As years passed I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive(原谅) me. I posted the letter and waited for her answer. None came.

My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally peace, it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

   Now the present of her desk told, as she’d never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside --a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded and refolded many times.

 Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose. Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。

I learned about life from an ant farm. It was when I was seven years old, my family created one. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box, and then we waited for the live ants to arrive. Shortly after the ants were dropped into the glass structure, they got to work making tunnels. I was amazed that each of them knew exactly what to do .After hours of staring, I discovered that the ants hadassignedjobs.   

With the help of mom, I kept a diary of what happened each day and named the ants. One day an incident struck the ant farm. The pages of the diary, still wrinkled(皱巴巴的)where tear drops fell, indicate the great loss. I had put my face so close to the structure that I accidentally knocked it over and all the tunnels caved in. Although the ants survived(幸存) their earthquake, one by one they began to die. 

I was terrified as I watched them give up their tunnel-building to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm. My mom reported that the ants were dying of frustration. They simply could not stand the reality that their tunnels had been destroyed.   

Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, but it taught me much more. Over the years, I came to realize the ants were a study in the benefits of teamwork. Working together, they were able to create an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired for their hard work. Day in and day out, each worked hard at their task.   

The ant farm showed that teamwork and perseverance(持之以恒）are indeed two keys to success. But there was an even larger lesson that I did not realize until recently: Adversity is a natural part of life, and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, humans cannot give up when they face disappointment. Unlike the ants, we have to realize that if a tunnel caves in, we just have to build another. Giving up, I say, is not a choice.

John, a famous musician, took his priceless violin and played it in the crowded subway station. The music from the violin was streaming throughout the whole station. However, during the one-hour play, only six or seven people were truly appreciating the music. A three-year-old kid was so fascinated by the music that he forgot everything around. John only got 52 dollars for his work that day.

However, in normal days, when John is about to hold a concert, one ticket can be sold at more than 100 dollars and it is really hard to buy a ticket even at such a high price. Therefore, later, many passers-by in the station that day felt deeply regretful for not recognizing the famous musician and missing such a valuable but cheap music feast(盛宴).

I have a very busy friend called Charles. He had totally changed after knowing that his wife came down with incurable illness. He cooked by himself for the family and took a walk with his wife every day. But even so, his wife still did notconquerthe illness and passed away. After that, he often sighed. Due to his past busy life, he had missed a lot of beautiful time with his wife. But now, it is impossible to make up for it.

   But It is no use crying over spilt milk. We have missed a lot of precious things without knowing to treasure them. The reason is less than simple :we had thought that we could still own them tomorrow.

There was a famous Buddhist monk saying that in many people’s lives, they have only done two things: waiting and regretting. The result is that they were always too late to treasure what they had before they lost it. We should often expect to do something when we grow up, or when we have money or when we become old, ect. However, when we reach the condition we have expected, we could no longer realize our wish, because we have lost it by then.

Have you ever noticed that you’re treated (对待) differently in stores based on your sex (性别), age, race (种族) and even the way you dress? I certainly have, so I wanted to see exactly what happens inside these stores that are meant to be run with “customer (顾客) service”.

A young man in ripped (撕破的) jeans and an old jacket went into a car shop and asked for a price on the top of the line vehicle (汽车). The salesman looked him up and down and said, “I don’t think you can afford a car like this. Have a look at theinferiorcars over here.” 

As you can imagine, the young man was angry and left the showroom. Two days later, the young man walked back in, and he walked up to the salesman who had served him two days before and asked, “Hi, do you remember me? You said I should look at the inferior cars the other day.” The salesman nodded and said yes.

The young man then asked him to just quickly come outside and have a look at something. They walked out and the young man pointed to the brand-new (全新的) top of the line Ford and said, “I paid with cash (现金), do you like my new car?” And then the salesman quickly left.

Maybe many businesses don’t understand a fact if they don’t treat their customers equally, they will lose business. Not every one of the above people will ever go back to those companies and they won’t recommend them to anyone. You will not only lose repeat business but also lose up to 10 customers, for every person you treat badly will not recommend your companies and will tell people not to go to these places.

It is not easy for people to sail (航海) around the world in quite small boats. Sometimes the weather gets bad. Accidents(事故) can happen easily and quickly.

One family once had an accident. A big fish swam under their boat and bit holes(洞) in it. Sea water came in and the boat soon went down. Luckily these people had another small boat——a lifeboat, so they all got into the lifeboat. They lived in the boat for many days. They ate and slept, and always hoped. At last people in a ship saved them.

How do people live in a very small lifeboat for a long time? They must be strong in every way. They must have a hope, and they must have a strong desire（愿望）to live. People cannot drink seawater. If they drink a lot of sea water, they will quickly die. They must catch rainwater and drink it. They must also catch fish and birds for food. Lifeboats do not often carrycookers. So people cannot cook their food in the lifeboats. Raw (生的) fish and birds are not very nice but they are their only food. They must eat raw food, or they will die.