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.

   Planting flowers is my favorite hobby because I can learn something new from it.

   I bought a flower pot and some flower seeds (种子) last week. Then I   (1)   some seeds in the pot. After a few days,   (2)  happened．But I didn't stop watering. Another ten days later, I saw the young plants  (3)  . I felt very   (4)   because I could grow something.

   Just like growing flowers, we can also plant happiness(快乐、幸福). Our life is   (5)   an empty (空的) pot. We have lots of things to do, but we   (6)   do them. That means we lose many things. What are the   (7)  things? Yes, they're the seeds of   (8)  , love and dreams.

   What should we plant in life? If we plant negative thoughts (消极思想) inside our   (9)  , we will feel sad in the future (消极) days; If we plant seeds of hope, we will get   (10)  . Happiness is important for everyone. Most people want to be happy,   (11)   few know how to find happiness. Money and success alone   (12)  lasting happiness. Happiness depends on ourselves. In other words, we make   (13)   own happiness. There are  (14)  ways to help you be happier.

   Remember,  (15)  secret of happiness is to enjoy the simple things in life.

Sunday   (1)   the favorite day for our family. My parents   (2)   not   (3)   work. My sister and I   (4)   go to school. We   (5)   at home and   (6)   in the morning. In the afternoon, my sister and I   (7)   out to buy some different things. My sister likes songs. She   (8)   some new DVDs. I buy some story books, a doll, a bike and things   (9)   that. We also buy some small gifts（礼物） for our parents. We   (10)   them. They love us very much. We live in a happy family.

Malls are popular for Americans to go to. Some people spend  (1)  much time at malls that they are called“mall rats”. Mall rats shop until they visit hundreds of stores.

People like malls for many （2） .They feel safe because malls have police stations. Parking is usually   (2)  , and the temperature inside is always fine. The newest malls have beautiful rest areas with waterfalls and large green trees.

The   (3)  mall in the United States is the mall of America in Minnesota. It covers 4.2 million square feet. It has 350 stores, eight night clubs, and a large park! There are parking spaces for 12,750   (4)  . About 750,000 people shop there every week.

The first mall in the United States was built in 1965 in Edina, Minnesota. People love doing all their shopping in   (5)  place(s). More malls are built around the country. Now malls are like town centers where people come to   (6)  many things, they shop, of course, they also eat in food courts that have food from all over the world. They see movies at theaters. Some people even get their daily   (7)  by doing the new sport of“ mall walking.”   (8)  go to malls to meet friends.

In some malls, people can see a doctor or a dentist and even go to the church. In other words, people can do just about   (9)  in malls. Now people can actually live in their favorite shopping center.

China has changed so fast that it is hard to know when to start. I came to China in 1994 and _（1）_ here ever since, so I have seen the changes in China. Take one city, Shenzhen for example. When I first saw this city, it   (1)  _ beggars (乞丐) and lots of low rise buildings. Many of the _  (2)  _ had shack (窝棚) buildings on top of them.

   There were no birds and other little wild life. It was like entering a   (3)  _ planet. But in the past 20 years Shenzhen has been a rather modern city   (4)  _ huge high rise buildings and a stock (股票) exchange, also a very large shipping industry.

   Now the city is very green, _  (5)  _ the wildlife has returned. Finally I can hear the birds _  (6)  _ and this brings hope of a better China in the future.

   As China moves from being the "workshop" of the world to a more acceptable service industry and people live _  (7)  than before. The present leader is taking the country in the best possible direction and   (8)  _ is admirable (令人钦佩的).

   China has changed for the better and I've enjoyed every minute   (9)  _ I've spent there. I think the country will become more beautiful in the future.

When we got to my Dad’s home，we found Dad still coughed a lot，but his smile was as sure as ever. He was sick. My husband and I stayed with him for the weekend，we had to return to our jobs on Monday. But I wanted to let him know that we also cared about him，even when we weren’t with him.

Then I remembered when our children were small. Before leaving their grandparents’ home after a visit，each child would write a love note to their grandparents. For days，their grandparents would smile as they read these notes of love.

So when I cleaned Dad’s kitchen and made the bed for him, I wrote some notes. Some were like this，“Dad，I put the food in the fridge.”  Some were like this，“Dad，I hope you will sleep well in your new bed.” Most notes were put downstairs he would stay for several weeks when he was. But I put one note upstairs under his pillow(枕头), “If you have found this note, you must be feeling better. We are so glad!”

These notes helped improve his health. A few weeks later, I asked Dad how he was doing on the phone. He said, “Much better. I just found your note under my pillow upstairs!”

任务型阅读：根据短文内容，填写下列空格，每格只填一词。

♦ The writer's father was   (1)   at that time.

♦ The writer   (2)   to her job after she stayed with her father for the   (3)  .

♦ When their children were small, each child wrote a love   (4)   to their grandparents.

♦ The writer wanted to let her father know that they also  (5)   about him.

♦ A few weeks later, when the writer called her father, she knew he felt much   (6)   .

A little boy invited his mother to the first teacher-parent meeting(家长会) of his middle school．To his surprise, she said she would go．This would be the first time that his classmates and teacher met his mother．She was a beautiful woman, there was a scar (伤疤) that covered nearly the right side of her face．The boy never asked his mom why or how she got the scar．

At the meeting, other people were impressed by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother, but the little boy felt embarrassed for his mom’s looks, and hid himself from everyone．However, he heard the conversation between his mother and his teacher．

    “How did you get the scar on your face?”the teacher asked．

The mother replied,“①When my son was a baby, his room caught fire one day．Everyone was too afraid to get into the room, but I rushed into it．While I was running towards his bed, a beam(横梁) fell down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him．I was knocked and I knew nothing．②我们是如此的幸运有人救了我们。”She touched the burned side of her face. “But I have never regretted(后悔) doing what I did,” she added．

Having heard that, the little boy was so moved that he ran towards his mother with

tears in his eyes．He hugged (拥抱) her and held her right hand tightly for the rest of the day.