8A期末首字母专项复习

Reading 1

Two traveling angels (天使) stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy(富有的) family. The family was rude and r 1 to let the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement(地下室). As they made their bed on the hard floor，the older angel saw a h 2 in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied: “Things aren’t always what they seem.”

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable(好客

的)farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had，the couple let the angels sleep in their bed w 3 they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning，the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had beentheir only income(收入), lay 4 d in the field.

The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, “How could this happen?”“Why did you not watch out for the cow? The first man had everything, 5 y you watched over his house,”she accused(控告). “The 6 s family had little but was willing toshare everything, and you did not help.”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,”the older angel replied. “When we stayed in the basement，I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. 7 S the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune(财富)，I asked God if I could seal(封) the 8 w

so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed，the angel of death came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”

Reading 2

Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia(栀子花)was delivered to my house. No 1 c came with it. Calls to the flower-shop were not helpful at all. After a while, I stopped trying to discover the sender’s name and I was just 2 i in the soft pink paper in the beautiful white flower.

But I never stopped guessing 3 w the giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming 4 a the sender.

My mother encouraged to ask me if I had done special 5 k for someone. Perhaps it was the old man across the street. As a girl, though, I had more fun imagining(想像) that it might be a boy I had run into.

One month before my graduation, my father died. I felt so sad 6 t I became completely uninterested in my graduation dance. But my mother would not let me 7 c any of those things. She wanted her children to feel loved.

My mother died ten days after I was married. I was 22. That was the year the gardenia stopped 8 .

Reading 3

Now the international news time:

U.S.A.

A South African man could face up to 25 years in prison for joking that he was 1 c a bomb(炸弹) on an airline, police said Friday.

The 40-year-old man was arrested(逮捕) at Johannesburg airport on Thursday 2 a he told an airhostess(空姐) on nationwide airliner after take-off from Durban that he had a bomb in his bag.

“We don’t take this kind of thing lightly. He could face a prison term of 3 b five and twenty-five years.”

Something safe was taken 4 a the man on the flight.

Airline people didn’t find any explosives(爆炸物) 5 o weapons(武器) in his bags.

“Safety at airport and on plane have been paid 6 a to immediately after the recent horrific attacks in America,” a police spokesman said.

Thousands of people are 7 b to have died after the hijacked (劫机) airliners flew into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center in the8 w terror(恐怖) attack in U.S. history.

Reading 4

We can’t stop an earthquake, but we can do things to make sure they don’t 1.__d______ whole cities. First, it is not a good idea to build houses along lines where two of the earth’s plates(板块) join together. Second, if you think there may be an earthquake, it is better to build houses on rocks , not on 2 __s______. Third, you must make the houses as 3. _s__ as possible. Weak buildings will 4_f__ down_ in an earthquake, but strong ones may 5. __s______ up .

Scientists are 6. __a______ that one day an even bigger earthquake will hit the part around San Francisco . They call it “The Big One ”. However, people today are still building more 7. ____h____ . The population in and around San Francisco is now ten times more than it was in 1906. This means that 8. __if______ there is another earthquake, a great many houses and buildings will be destroyed.

Reading 5

Here are some old ways to sending messages.

An Egyptian(埃及人) put his ear to the ground. He 1 . __h______ the horses coming this way. He ran to 2. ___t_____ his people . He was a guard. That was one way for Egyptians to send messages. People in 3.___o_____ countries sent message, too. When enemies came, one man beat his drum. In the next village people heard the drum and beat their drums, too. The messages went from village to village 4__ b__drum(鼓). Much more, some armies kept many pigeons. These pigeons always 5 ___f_____ back. When a soldier was sent far away from his own 6 ___a_____ , he might take a pigeon along. He could tie a message to the bird’s leg. It would fly back 7. __w______ the soldier’s message.

These are shown ways to send messages. Can you think of more 8. __w______?

Reading 6

My old friend, Harrison, a British gentleman, was a retired(退休的) banker. He had _1__w and lived in the Mediterranean for many years ___2_b___he returned to England. He had often dreamed of retiring in England, his hometown, where he spent his childhood happily. He had p__3__ to settle down in the country. He had no sooner returned in July than he bought a house and went to live there. Harrison had thought of everything ___4_e___ the weather. Almost immediately he began to complain about the w____5___, for even though it was still summer, once the most sunshiny days of this period with his schoolmates playing outside during their holidays, it r____6__ continually and it was often bitterly cold.

After so many years of _____7_e___sunshine in the Mediterranean, Harrison got a shock. He acted as if he had never lived in England before. In the end, Harrison had to admit that the weather of his hometown was more than he could bear. He had___8_h_ had time to settle down when he sold the house and left the country. The dream of my poor friend had had for so many years ended there.

Reading 7

Recently, Twilight (《暮光之城》star Robert Pattinson was ___1_n___“2001 the world’s most popular actor” by Glamour, the fashion magazine in Britain. He has won this ___2_p_for three years from 2009 to 2011.

Robert is a v_3____ familiar name for many people, ____4_e____teenagers and girls of various ages. A____5___ he played the leading role of Edward Cullen in the film adaptation(改编剧本)of the Twilight novels, he gained worldwide fame.

___6__U__many other Hollywood stars, Robert broke into the entertainment industry as a model. At the age of 12, he started his modeling career. ____7_H_____, this job did not last long because his look became too “manly” after several years. “it’s better for a model to have a neutr al appearance,” said Robert. But then some acting audition(试镜) chances came to him. When he was 17 years old, Robert received a supporting role in Harry Potter and the Goblet Fire. And his hard work in the movie was appreciated(赞赏) by the people from the movie world. One year later, his hard work paid off. He got the leading role in Twilight and became popular____8__t____ the world.

Reading 8

From the first day he entered my junior-high classroom, Willard P. Franklin existed in his own world, 1 s ou t his classmates and teachers. Even a “Good Morning, Willard” from me, his class teacher, received only a word“Morning”. His classmates could get the same 2 r , too. Willard was completely a loner who seemed to have no desire or need to 3 b his barrier (障碍) of silence.

Shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday, we received the word of the annual Christmas collection of money for the less fortunate people in our school district.

“Christmas is a season of 4 g ,” I told my students. “There are a few students in the school who might not have a happy holiday season. By contributing to our Christmas collection, you will help buy food, clothing and toys for these needy people. We start the collection tomorrow.”

When I called for the contributions the next day, I discovered that almost everyone had forgotten, except for Willard P. Franklin. The boy dug 5 d into his pants pockets as he strolled up to my desk. Carefully, he dropped two quarters into the small container.

“I don’t need any milk for lunch,” he said very 6 q . For a moment, just a moment, he smiled. Then he turned and walked back to his desk.

After school, I took our meager (少量的) contributions to the headmaster and told him what had taken place.

“I may be wrong, but I believe Will ard might be getting ready to become a part of the world around him,” I told the principal.

“Yes, I believe it sounds hopeful,” he nodded. “And I think that we might do well to have him share a bit of his world with us. I just received a list of the 7 p families in our school who most need help through the Christmas collection. Here, take a 8 l it.”

As I looked down to read, I found Willard P. Franklin and his family were the top names on the list.

Reading 9

Do you know giant pandas? They are considered as national treasure because China is their hometown. Giant pandas are beautiful black-and-white animals. They look like 1 b , but

they are very quiet and 2 p . People couldn’t see giant pandas in different areas before Chinese sent them to other places in the world. The pair of giant pandas, which were 3 o by the Chinese mainland (大陆), arrived in Taiwan on December 23, 2008. The pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, are not only a gift from the mainland but also friendship ambassadors (大使) to Taiwan. Two staff members from the Wolong Nature Reserve (卧龙自然保护区) went to Taiwan together with the pandas. They also took a week’s worth of the pandas’ favourite food, such as

4 f bamboo, for giant pandas only eat bamboo shoots and leaves, they

5 n eat meat.

Taipei Zoo prepared well for the four-year-old national treasure. To be familiar w 6 the pandas, five staff members from the zoo had worked with them in Sichuan for some time. The new panda house covers an area of 5,500 square metres. Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan live in two rooms with air conditioning . They 7 a enjoy a 765-square-metre garden. And 35 workers, as well as a lot of volunteers, are ready to serve the famous pair. During the Spring Festival they will meet the public and it is 8 c that people living in Taiwan will go to the zoo to visit them.

Hopefully, the animals will be the real ambassadors between mainland and Taiwan.