It was a cold night in December. Two beggars were sitting on a busy street corner in the downtown section of the city. The cold wind made them huddle (挤) together for heat and comfort. They watched helplessly as scores of people walked by, some ignoring them on purpose and others too caught up in their own cares to even notice their existence. Every so often, a kind-hearted woman or a small child would drop a few coins in the hats which lay in front of them on the icy sidewalk. Some people, feeling particularly generous, would even pull out a bill or two from their wallets and drop them into the beggars’ hats and then continued their walking.

Today was not a bad day for begging. The men were able to collect enough for a good meal at the coffee shop down the street and a few candles to light up their shelter in the alley (胡同) behind the train station. As the crowd began to die down, they started to pack up their bundles and head for their evening shelter.

Just as they were getting ready to leave the street corner, they noticed a man walking toward them. He was obviously a wealthy man — they could tell that from the finely tailored business suit he was wearing and the gold watch chain adorned (装饰) his left pocket.

The first beggar looked at the second and whispered with excitement, “He’s coming our way!

The two tried not to look directly at the man as he stepped closer to them, but they couldn’t help staring at him as he reached into his pocket and took something out.

“Thunk” was the only sound they heard as what looked like a piece of hard candy, wrapped carefully in tissue paper hit each of their waiting hats. The rich man turned and continued on his way, not making a backward glance.

“How insulting!” said the first beggar, as soon as the rich man was out of sight. “He could have easily left us a few coins or a spare bill, but he played a joke on us with a piece of rock candy.”

He looked at the wrapped offering with disgust. “Who does he think we are — children? There’s no way we can even eat this — we have no teeth.”

The beggar picked up the object with the very tips of his fingers and threw it into the gutter (排水沟). He watched as it floated a few yards in the stream of muddy water and disappeared into the gutter at the end of the street. Then, he gathered up his things and walked away.

The second beggar looked down at the morsel in his hat, then at his departing friend. His first thought was to toss the donation in the trash can under the street light. But his second thought made him change his mind.

“I haven’t had anything like this for ages,” he thought. “I can’t chew it, but I can suck on it for a while, and the sweet juice will stay in my mouth for a long time. How nice of that man to offer me something so sweet!”

He opened the paper eagerly, then paused as his hands touched the inside. “Maybe I should save it for another time,” he thought. “It won’t spoil, and I could eat it later when I’m really hungry.”

The beggar paused for a moment, then he said aloud, “He wanted me to have it anyway. I might as well enjoy it now.”

With that, he unfolded the paper, but to his surprise, there was no hard rock candy inside. Instead, into his fingers fell a shiny white pearl worth thousands of dollars.

55. The first paragraph serves as a(n) ______.

A. explanation 　　　　B. introduction 　　C. background 　　 D. comment

56. The two beggars started to leave the street corner when ____.

A. darkness fell 　　　　　　　　 B. few people passed by

C. they felt too cold 　　　　　　　D. the wind began to blow hard.

57. The two beggars thought the man was rich from _____.

A. his appearance 　　　　　　　B. his way of walking

C. the jewellery he wore 　　　　　D. the shiny shoes

58. What did the first beggar think of the rich man?

A. He looked down upon the poor. 　B. He was very kind and warm-hearted

C. He treated them as children D. He was too mean.

59. The underlined words “the morsel in his hat” probably refer to ______.

A. the donation from the rich man

B. the coins the second beggar collected

C. the rock candy the rich man gave the second beggar

D. the food the second beggar left over

60. What can we learn from the story?

A. Every dog has its day.

B. Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.

C. He who laughs last laughs best.

D. He that can have patience can have what he will.

When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.
One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching  (紧握)  at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.
“ We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing,” I said.“We’ll share what we have with them.”
I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods.
While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.
“I’ll help you find something for the little girl when I’m done with this,” I said.
The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy’s flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.
“Oh, Honey,” I said.“You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.”
Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. ‘”Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she’ll make that other little girl happy, too．”
Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True generosity is giving that which you value most.
Honest benevolence  (善行)  is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl she doesn’t know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.
The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.
A slow smile spread across Brett’s face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some of his prized Matchbox cars.
Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan’s gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.
Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.
It’s easy to give that which we don’t want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart..
【小题1】Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?

When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.
One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching  (紧握)  at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.
“ We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing,” I said.“We’ll share what we have with them.”
I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods.
While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.
“I’ll help you find something for the little girl when I’m done with this,” I said.
The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy’s flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.
“Oh, Honey,” I said.“You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.”
Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. ‘”Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she’ll make that other little girl happy, too.”
Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True generosity is giving that which you value most.
Honest benevolence  (善行)  is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl she doesn’t know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.
The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.
A slow smile spread across Brett’s face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some of his prized Matchbox cars.
Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan’s gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.
Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.
It’s easy to give that which we don’t want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart..

1. 1.

   Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?

   1. A.
      To create an atmosphere of fear and depression brought by the tornado.
   2. B.
      To appeal to unconcerned people to donate for the poor families.
   3. C.
      To show the helplessness and hopelessness of the family mentioned in the paper.
   4. D.
      To stress what touched her and made her decide to help the hopeless family.
2. 2.

   Why did Brad and Brett also donate their favorite things finally?

   1. A.
      They were encouraged to donate some valuable things by the mother.
   2. B.
      Meghan’s decision inspired them to donate their favorite things.
   3. C.
      They also wanted to show generosity by giving away their valuable things.
   4. D.
      Meghan’s gesture reminded them to replace their favorite things with new ones.
3. 3.

   By “ swallowing hard”, the writer means that   _   _ .

   1. A.
      she was deeply puzzled by what the little girl did
   2. B.
      she had trouble persuading Meghan not to give away Lucy
   3. C.
      she was greatly moved by Meghan’s unexpected decision
   4. D.
      she was uncertain what consequences Meghan’s action would bring about
4. 4.

   It is suggested in the sentence “the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart” that ______.

   1. A.
      sincere donation means offering help to others whole-heartedly
   2. B.
      true giving means giving others what you treasure most
   3. C.
      true generosity means helping others at the cost of your own benefit
   4. D.
      honest benevolence means devoting yourself to the career of donation
5. 5.

   What’s the best title for this passage?

   1. A.
      The Greatest Love
   2. B.
      A Beautiful Heart
   3. C.
      True Generosity
   4. D.
      A Precious Gift