“Wow!”¨said Susan．“I have finished my homework and I’m going to paint a picture of our stairs(樓梯)．It’s for a competition in school tomorrow．”

    “Do you need any help?”Mr．Cooper asked．“It’s almost time for bed．”

    “I’ll be quick．”said Susan．“I wonder what colour to use．”

    “Well, our stairs are brown,”said her father．“Thanks，Dad．”said Susan.

    When she finished her picture，Susan began playing with her brush which was still wet．Then something happened．She dropped the brush right on the picture! There in the middle of her picture was a blob(污點)of brown paint!

    “Oh，Dad! What will I do?”Susan cried．

    “My picture is ruined(污損)．And it’s too late to paint another．”

    “Let me see．”said her father．“The paint blob looks just like a spot(斑點)on a dog．All you have to do is to draw a dog around the spot!”

    “That’s a wonderful idea!”cried Susan．She drew a dog around the blob of brown paint．“That looks just fine．You know，few things are as bad as they seem at first．With a little  imagination you can turn bad into good，”said Susan’s father．

    The next day Susan went to school early．

    When the competition began，Mr. King said，“I’ve chosen three pictures，and I want you to say which one you like best．That picture wins!”The children did not like the first one．The next picture was on black paper，but the stairs were red．So it was not so good．Then Mr. King showed the third painting．It was Susan’s!

    “The stairs are straight．”said Joe．

    “Yes．and the brown paint shows up well on the white paper，”said Lucy．

    “And look at the little dog．”said Terry．“He seems to belong there．”

    The children voted and Susan’s painting won．Mr. King handed her the prize-some paints．

    “Susan had a good idea．”Mr. King said．”That little dog finished a good painting．It made the stairs seem real．”

    Susan smiled．She would not give away her secret．But she could hardly wait to tell her father the news．He was right．With a little imagination you can turn something bad into something good!

1．Susan was going to draw a picture for _________．

    A．fun                             B．her homework

    C．a competition                     D．an exam

2．Susan drew the colour“brown”on the white paper because _________

A．she thought“brown”and“white”looked beautiful together

    B．she didn’t like“red”on black paper

    C．she thought her classmates would like it

    D．the stairs in her house were brown

3．What does the word“something”in this passage mean?

    A．Susan began to paint the picture．

    B．Susan finished painting the picture．

    C．Susan played with her wet brush．

    D．Susan dropped the brush on the picture．

4．Mr．King thought that the picture was ____________．

    A．bad        B．good           C．colourful         D．dark

5．Susan’s father thought that_______．

  A．imagination sometimes could turn bad into good

  B．the colour“brown”looked quite nice on white paper

  C．the little dog made the picture bad

  D．the stairs in the picture looked straight

It is evening．An old cock（公雞） is sitting in a tall tree．A fox（狐貍） comes to the tree and   at the cock．“Hello, Mr．Cock．I have some    news（信息） for you．”says the fox．“Oh?” says the cock．“What is it?” “All the animals are good friends now．Let’s    friends, too．Please come    and play with me．”“Fine!” says the cock．“I’m very glad to hear that”．Then he looks up．“Look! There is something over there．”“    are you looking at?” asks the fox．“Oh，I see some animals over there．They’re    this way．”“Animals?” “Yes．Oh，they’re dogs．”“What? Dogs!” asks the fox．“Well…well，I   go now．Goodbye．”“Wait，Mr．Fox，”says the cock．“     go．They are only dogs．And dogs are our friends now．”“Yes，I know，but    don’t know that．”“I see，I see，”says the cock．He    and goes to sleep in the tree．Do you know why? Foxes are afraid(怕) of dogs．

1.A. 1istens        B．sees                       C．gets                       D．looks

2.A．bad                B．good                     C．sad                         D．funny

3.A．is                        B．am                           C．are                          D．be

4.A．down             B．up                             C．at                            D．to

5.A．How                   B．What                            C．Where             D．Why

6.A．looking          B．going                    C．coming                  D．taking

7.A．must                  B．may                         C．can                          D．need

8.A．Can’t                  B．Let’s               C．Don’t            D．Please        

9.A．the dogs            B．you                          C．the animals  D．the cocks

10.A．cries（哭、喊） B．shouts（喊叫）C．calls           D．smiles（微笑）

It was midday when I got the call that my grandfather was not well and he was quickly getting worse. My family did not know how long he would stay in the world. I knew I had to get to the hospital to tell him how much I loved him. As I drove to the hospital, I pictured him before I got to tell him how much he meant to me. Trying to fight back the tears, I wanted to stay calm when I saw him.
When I got to the hospital, I hurriedly looked for his hospital room. I found him in a semi-conscious state (半清醒狀態(tài)). On my knees, I said softly, “Hello, Grandpa.”
Still feeling shy, I decided not to leave his bedside without letting him know. While I asked about how he was, he told me, “I’ll be fine, Henry.” although we both knew that wasn't true. Then he asked me with a smile how I was doing.
Hearing what my grandpa said, I was much moved. I made the decision that I had to show my gratitude for him. As I found all the courage (勇氣) I had, I hold his hand tightly. I cried out, “Grandpa. I just want to let you know how much I love you. I hope you already know that yet I just want to make sure.” By this time, tears were rolling down my face. All those years of love that I had shut and not let him know, became free.
Smilingly, he said, “I know. Thank you for telling me that. All I have on this planet is my family and my love for them. If there is anything I could ask of you, I want you to be good to your family, your mother, your father, and your brother. That’s all I want of you.”
What I learned that day changed my whole life. From then on, I began telling people how much I love them, care for them, and respect them. I get in touch with, for example, my babysitter, my barber, to show my appreciation. I go down into the city once a week and serve pizza to the homeless. I wake up every morning and list everything I’m thankful to in my life.
【小題1】The author got the news of Grandpa’s illness________.