There was once a farmer.He lived near a road.It was not a busy road ,but from time to time,cars passed the farm.Near the farm gate,there was a large hole in the road.The hole was always full of water,and the drivers of the cars could not see how deep the hole was.They thought that it was not deep.Then when they drove their cars into the hole,they could not drive out because it was so deep.The farmer did not spend much time working on his farm.He spent most of it watching the hole.When a car drove into it,he pulled the car out with his tractor and asked the driver to pay a lot of money for doing this.

One day,the driver of a car said to him,"You must make a lot of money by pulling cars out of this hole night and day.”“Oh，no，”the farmer said. “ don’t pull cars out of the hole at night,I fill the hole with water.”

(   )36.There was a farmer__________.

       A.at the gate               B.eside the hole  

 C.in the road               D.near the road

(   )37.Many cars went into the hole because the drivers___________.

       A.were going to fast to stop          B.didn’t see the hole

       C.didn’t know the hole was very deep  D.like driving through the water

(   )38.What did the farmer usually do every day?

       A.He pulled the cars out of the hole.   B.He emptied the hole.

       C.He worked on his farm.     D.He spent time helping car drivers.

(   )39.How did the farmer make money?He made money by_________.

       A.growing things on his farm          B.selling water to the drivers

            C.pulling cars out of the hole            D.mending the cars

(   )40.From the story,we know____________.

       A.the farmer liked to help others         

       B.the farmer wasn’t honest

       C.the farmer was a good man        

       D.the farmer was a hard-working man

With a hat by his feet, a blind boy sat on the steps of a building. He held up a sign which said, “I’m blind, please help.”

Only a few people put   36  in the hat. A man was walking by. He   37  some coins into the hat. He then turned the sign   38 , wrote some words, put the sign back and left.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people   39  to give money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man came to see   40  things were. The boy recognized his footsteps （認(rèn)出他的腳步聲）and asked, “Were you the one who   41  my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a   42  way.” What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day,   43 I cannot see it.”

Both the   44  told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply   45  people to help by throwing some money into the   46 . The second one, however, told people that they were able to enjoy the   47  of the day, but the boy couldn’t   48  he was blind.

There are at least two lessons we can learn   49  this story. First, be thankful for what you have. Someone else has less. Help them if you can.   50  , be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way!

When you look up into the sky at night, have you ever felt that your eyes are playing tricks on (捉弄) you? It seems that the stars are moving all the time.

Actually, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. This twinkling effect is called scintillation (交光). Scintillation happens because of air movements in the earth’s atmosphere (大氣). Light is “bent (彎曲的)” when it travels through different parts of the earth’s atmosphere. As the air in the earth’s atmosphere is moving all the time, the light from the stars looks as if it is moving too.

The same thing also happens to things on the ground. On a very hot and shiny day, if you look at the road, the image in the distance is not clear and things move slightly. You can also see the same effect if you drop a rock into water. The rock appears a little unclear under the moving water.

This twinkling effect causes a lot of problems for astronomers (天文學(xué)家) since they cannot observe the stars clearly. A telescope (望遠(yuǎn)鏡) was sent into space so that the air movements in the atmosphere could be avoided (避免). It took a long time to build the space telescope but finally in 1990, a huge space telescope called the Hubble Space Telescope was successfully sent into space. Since then, astronomers have many important observations that have helped people understand space better.

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，選擇最佳選項(xiàng)。 （10分）

(　 )36. What happens to the light from the stars we see when the air in the earth’s atmosphere is moving?

　　 　　 A. It looks even brighter.　　　

B. It looks as if it is bent.

　　 　　 C. It looks as if it is moving.　　

D. It looks like drops of rain.

(　 )37. Scintillation also happens on 　　　　 according to the passage.

　　 　　 A. rainy days 　　 B. shiny days

　　 　　 C. cloudy days 　 D. windy days

(　 )38. What can you see when you drop a rock into the water?

　　 　　 A. The rock gets broken.　　　　

B. The rock becomes unclear.

　　 　　 C. The water becomes much polluted.

D. The water does not move anymore.

(　 )39. The underlined word “observe” means “　　　　”.

　　 　　 A. watch　　　 　 B. listen　　　 　 C. draw　　　 　 D. explain

(　 )40. Why is scintillation a problem for astronomers?

　　 　　 A. The stars never stay still.

B. It makes the stars too dark to see.

　　 　　 C. It makes astronomers feel too hot to work.

　　 　　 D. Astronomers cannot observe the stars clearly.

One day a wise man was walking along the beach when he saw a young man far away picking up something and very gently throwing it into the sea. As he got (31) he called out to the young man, “Good morning! What are you doing?”?
The young man (32), looked up and replied, “Throwing starfishes into the sea.”? “Why are you throwing starfishes into the sea?”?
“The sun is up and the (33) is going away. And if I don’t throw them in they’ll (34)?.”?
“But, young man, don’t you (35) that there are miles and miles of beach and starfishes all along it. You can’t (36) make a difference!”?
The young man (37) politely. Then he picked another starfish and threw it into the sea, and said, “It made a difference for that (38).”?
There is something very (39) in each and every one of us. We have all been given the ability to make a difference to shape the future. We must each find our own starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the (40) will be better.