One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift． Unlike other gifts，it came without wrap（包裝）．
On September 11 ^th , 1 958，Mum gave birth to Richard．After she brought him home from hospital，she put him in my lap，saying, “I promised you a gift, and here it is．” What an honor! I turned four a month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own．I played with it day and night． I sang to it, I told it stories．I told it over and over how much I loved it!  
One morning, however，I found its bed empty． My doll was gone! I cried for it．Mum wept and told me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital．It had a fever． For several days，I heard Mum and Dad whispering such words as “hopeless”，“pitiful"，and “dying”, which sounded Ominous．
Christmas was coming, “Don’t expect any presents this year,” Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the living room． “If your baby brother lives, that’ll be Christmas enough．” As he spoke，his eyes filled with tears． I’d never seen him cry before．
The phone rang early on Christmas morning．Dad jumped out of bed to answer it．From my bedroom I heard him say, “What? He’s all right?” He hung up and shouted upstairs． “The hospital said we can bring Richard home!” “Thank God!” I heard Mum cry．
From the window upstairs，I watched my parents rush out to the car．I had never seen them so happy． And I was also full of joy． What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home． I ran downstairs． My socks still hung there flat．But I knew they were not empty: they were filled with love !
【小題1】What happened to the author on September 11^th,1958?

When you are little, it’s not hard to believe you can change the world. I remember my enthusiasm when, at the age of 12, I addressed（向……演講） the people at the Rio Earth Summit. “ I am only a child,” I told them.” Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this world would be. At school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not to be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do. You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words.”
I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the people even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur（刺激）action. Now, ten years from Rio, after I’ve sat through many more conferences, I’m not sure what has been achieved. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual’s voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.
When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I’m learning that as we have to make choices—educa-tion, career, lifestyle—life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful. We are taught that economic growth is progress, but we aren’t taught how to seek a happy, healthy way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for the future when we were 12 was idealistic and naive（天真的）.
Today I’m no longer a child, but I’m worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in. I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of the change. I hope this goal will be met through our common efforts. Thank you all.
【小題1】The purpose of what the speaker said at the age of 12 was to     .

My grandmother was from a town in Michigan. Summer after summer, I enjoyed staying with my grandparents as a young child. I was from the city and loved the small town they lived in. People knew everyone, their kids, their pets, their ancestors. The bond with them continued to grow as I grew and they got older. Grandma was always using her hands for something exciting. She would make little sandwiches and we’d have tea parties. She’d make beautiful quilts for each one. I remember the small thimble(頂針) she would use while doing her needle work.
A few years ago, when Grandma left this earth, I bid farewell to a loving grandmother. How quickly our lives can change. We had just had tea together a couple of months earlier, on her 91st birthday.
I missed her very much. On one particular birthday, when I was feeling a little low, something happened to make me feel like she was sharing that special day with me. I was arranging some colorful pillows that she had made, and suddenly I felt something inside one pillow. It was small and hard. I moved the object to a seam(接縫) that I carefully opened, and to my delight out came a tiny silver thimble! How happy I was to find something that had been a part of her. Not realizing it had fallen off her finger, I pictured her sewing it in that little pillow that I just happened to place on my bedspead that day. I carefully laid the thimble alongside the others I’ve collected over the years, where I could continue to see the gift God chose to reveal to me. What a precious memory of a very special lady who somehow, I knew, was laughing in delight at sewing her thimble inside my pillow.
I made some tea, using my best china, as Grandma always did, and enjoyed my tea and Grandma’s thimble. What a wonderful birthday that was!
60.The author liked staying with her grandparents because________.
A.they often bought her some gifts
B.she was curious about people and things there
C.she could have tea parties and eat sandwiches
D.she could learn to sew quilts
61.How did the author feel when she found the silver thimble?
A.Sad     B.Proud  C.Lucky  D.Cheerful
62.It can be inferred from the passage that the silver thimble________.
A.was the item the author had been trying to find
B.was the most treasured possession of Grandma
C.was very precious to the author
D.was a birthday gift Grandma had given the author
63.What is the best title for the passage?
A.A little pillow                B.Grandma’s silver thimble
C.My grandparents              D.My childhood

My parents have certainly had their troubles, and as their child I’ll never know how they made it to 38 years of marriage. They loved each other, but they didn’t seem to like each other very much. Dad was too fond of his beer, and he talked down to Mom a lot. When she tried to stand up to him, a fight would unavoidably follow.

   It was my dad’s disease that began to change things. The year 1998 was the beginning of a remarkable transformation for my family. My father, Jim Dineen, the always healthy, weightlifting, never-missed-a-day-of-work kind of dad, discovered he had kidney (腎)disease.

   The decision to go ahead with a transplant for my father was a long and tough one, mostly because he had liver damage too. One physician’s assistant told him, “According to your file, you’re supposed to be dead.” And for a while, doctors mistakenly thought that he would need not just a kidney transplant, but a liver transplant too. Dad’s future hung in midpoint.

   When the donor testing process finally began in the spring of 2003, numerous people, including me, my uncle Tom, and my mom, came back as matches of varying degree. But Mom was the one who insisted on going further. She decided to donate a kidney to my father. She said she was not scared, and it was the right thing to do. We all stepped back in amazement.

   At last a date was chosen – November 11, 2003. All of a sudden, the only thing that seemed to matter Dad was telling the world what a wonderful thing Mom was doing for him. A month before the surgery, he sent her birthday flowers with a note that read, “I love you and I love your kidney! Thank you!”

   Financially, the disease was upsetting to them. So my sister and I were humbled and surprised when, shortly before his surgery day, Dad handed us a diamond jewelry that we were to give to Mom after the operation. He’d accumulated his spare dollars to buy it.

   At the hospital on the day of the transplant, all our relatives and friends gathered in the waiting room and became involved in a mean euchre (尤克牌游戲) tournament. My family has always handled things with a lot of laughter, and even though we were all tense, everybody was taking bets on how long this “change of conduct” would last in my parents.

   We would inform Dad that if he chose to act like a real pain on any particular day after the operation, he wasn’t allowed to blame it on PMS just because he’d now have a female kidney.

   The surgeries went well, and not long afterward, my sister and I were allowed to go in to visit. Dad was in a great deal of pain but again, all he could talk about was Mom. Was she okay? How was she feeling? Then the nurses let us do something unconventional. As they were wheeling Mom out of recovery room, they rolled her into a separate position to visit Dad. It was strange to see both my parents hooked up to IVs and machines and trying to talk to each other through tears. The nurses allowed us to present the diamond jewelry to Mom so that Dad could watch her open it. Everyone was crying, even the nurses.

  As I stood with digital camera in hand, I tried to keep the presence of mind to document the moment. My dad was having a hard time fighting back emotion, and suddenly my parents unexpectedly reached out to hold each other’s hands.

  In my nearly 35 years of existence, I’d never seen my parents do that, and I was spellbound. I snapped a picture and later rushed home to make sure I’d captured that enormous, life-defining moment. After so many years of disagreement, it was apparent to me that they finally understood how much each loved the other. 65—70

1.From the first paragraph we can learn that ____________.

A. Dad was fond of drinking                        B. My parents got along well

C. Dad often beat Mom                           D. Mom never obeyed Dad

2.The underlined part “Dad’s future hung in midpoint” in Para.3 suggests that ____________.

A. Dad was bound to die

B. Dad came to a serious moment in his life

C. Dad’s future was decided by doctors

D. Dad faced a tough decision in his life

3.Before the surgery, which of the following words can best describe the feeling of the families?

A. Worried and negative.                     B. Anxious and helpless.

C. Nervous but optimistic.                    D. Relaxed and positive.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according the passage?

A. Dad bought a diamond jewelry to Mom for their wedding anniversary.

B. Dad asked the nurse to visit Mom soon after the operation.

C. Despite a lot of pain, Dad was eager to know Mom’s condition soon after the operation.

D. On the day of the transplant, the families involved in a euchre tournament to relax themselves.

5.What’s in the writer’s photo?

A. Everyone was crying, even the nurses.

B. His parents were trying to talk to each other.

C. Dad watched Mom opening the gift.     

D. His parents were holding each other’s hands.

6.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Dad’s disease      B. Mom’s decision       C. The Gift of Life       D. The photo of hands

My grandmother was from a town in Michigan. Summer after summer, I enjoyed staying with my grandparents as a young child. I was from the city and loved the small town they lived in. People knew everyone, their kids, their pets, their ancestors. The bond with them continued to grow as I grew and they got older. Grandma was always using her hands for something exciting. She would make little sandwiches and we’d have tea parties. She’d make beautiful quilts for each one. I remember the small thimble(頂針) she would use while doing her needle work.

A few years ago, when Grandma left this earth, I bid farewell to a loving grandmother. How quickly our lives can change. We had just had tea together a couple of months earlier, on her 91st birthday.

I missed her very much. On one particular birthday, when I was feeling a little low, something happened to make me feel like she was sharing that special day with me. I was arranging some colorful pillows that she had made, and suddenly I felt something inside one pillow. It was small and hard. I moved the object to a seam(接縫) that I carefully opened, and to my delight out came a tiny silver thimble! How happy I was to find something that had been a part of her. Not realizing it had fallen off her finger, I pictured her sewing it in that little pillow that I just happened to place on my bedspead that day. I carefully laid the thimble alongside the others I’ve collected over the years, where I could continue to see the gift God chose to reveal to me. What a precious memory of a very special lady who somehow, I knew, was laughing in delight at sewing her thimble inside my pillow.

I made some tea, using my best china, as Grandma always did, and enjoyed my tea and Grandma’s thimble. What a wonderful birthday that was!

60.The author liked staying with her grandparents because________.

         A.they often bought her some gifts

         B.she was curious about people and things there

         C.she could have tea parties and eat sandwiches

         D.she could learn to sew quilts

61.How did the author feel when she found the silver thimble?

         A.Sad        B.Proud    C.Lucky    D.Cheerful

62.It can be inferred from the passage that the silver thimble________.

         A.was the item the author had been trying to find

         B.was the most treasured possession of Grandma

         C.was very precious to the author

         D.was a birthday gift Grandma had given the author

63.What is the best title for the passage?

         A.A little pillow                     B.Grandma’s silver thimble

         C.My grandparents                 D.My childhood