A woman repeated a bit of gossip (流言) about a neighbour. Within a few days the whole neighbourhood knew the story. The neighbour was deeply hurt. Later the woman responsible (負責) for spreading the gossip learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old man to find out what she could do to repair the harm.
“Go to the marketplace,” he said. “and buy a chicken, and have it killed, then on your way home, pluck (拔) its feathers and drop them one by one along the road. ” Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, “ Now, go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me. ”
The woman followed the same road, but she was so discouraged when she found the wind had blown all the feathers away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
“ You see, ” said the old man, “it’s easy to drop them, but it’s impossible to get them back . So it is with gossip. It doesn’t take much to spread a gossip, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong.”
【小題1】The woman was very _________ the harm she had done to her neighbour.

A．happy about

B．angry about

C．sorry for

D．excited about

【小題2】Which of the following statements is TURE?

A．The gossip didn’t hurt anyone at all.

B．The wise man was not kind enough.

C．The woman found all the feathers at last.

D．The woman was given a lesson.

【小題3】What the wise man said has nearly the same meaning as the Chinese phrase “_________”

A．覆水難收

B．無中生有

C．欲速不達

D．得道多助

A new term has begun. Teachers are   1  about the fact that new students are not easy to deal with(對付). They like to bring telephones（手機） and MP3 players to school. What is   2  , some students even use telephones to do out-of-class matters in class, or sometimes just for fun. Some otherstudents listen to MP3 players when they are having a lesson that they are not interested in.
Are these new students really that  3 ? “Yes.” says Delaney Kirk, a professor at Drake University.   4  she says it’s not their fault(過錯).   5 , the teachers should be blamed(責備). Mrs Kirk first began thinking about students’ manners six years ago. “I had my first class in which students were sleeping or talking to each other. It seemed that learning well had nothing to do with them.” she says. “At first, I got worried about this.” but then I said to myself, “You’re giving   6  , and you need to deal with this kind of situation (情況). These students need to know more about manners. It’s time to help them develop some good   7  . They shouldn’t waste time doing nothing when they are young. Sooner or later, they may regret(后悔) the time they have wasted.”
Mrs Kirk also   8  a list of suggestions(建議) to help teachers better manage (控制) their classes. The following are among her suggestions:
l     On the first day of class, tell students how they will benefit(受益) by taking the class and the importance   9  listening carefully in class.
l     Do not allow（允許） them to bring telephones or MP3 players to the class at all.
l     Tell them how to use telephones or MP3 players   10  .

【小題1】

A．excited B．worried C．surprised D．interested

【小題2】

A．bad B．worse C．good D．better

【小題3】

A．rude B．polite C．friendly D．boring

【小題4】

A．But B．However C．And D．So

【小題5】

A．Such as B．For example C．Like D．Instead

【小題6】

A．Math B．English C．Chinese D．lessons

【小題7】

A．ideas B．problems C．habits（習慣） D．classes

【小題8】

A．makes B．produces C．designs D．gets

【小題9】

A．on B．of C．at D．by

【小題10】

A．carefully B．properly C．clearly D．quickly

A student newspaper reports that most students go to sleep at 1:30 am. Even if that’s an overstatement (夸張), it’s close to the truth. Scientists say teens should sleep nine hours each night. But that’s hard. Some are even “pulling all-nighters” (開夜車). These students must hand in their homework the next day but they haven’t done it. In the morning they don’t look healthy and you can tell who’s been doing it. One of my classmates did a survey on the topic. She found that most kids pull all-nighters to finish homework, but some do it for other reasons, such as playing computer games!
Maybe our lack(缺乏) of sleep is because of laziness — I think I’m a rather lazy student — or maybe it’s because we have too much to do in American high schools. I usually go to bed around midnight. If I stayed up past 1:30 am, I wouldn’t get any work done. I’d be falling asleep at my computer. My classes begin at 7:30 am. I’m partly awake in my first class. By the second, I’m a little sleepy. By my third class, I’m sleepy. By midday I’m finally fully awake. But by 3:00 pm, I’m slowing down again. Yet I get more sleep than usual students.
Most American high schools seem to have a similar(相似的) problem with sleepy students. High school classes start at 7:30 am, so students have to get up one and a half hours before that to get ready and catch the bus. It’s believed that lack of sleep can be bad for both grades and health. Some schools are paying attention. Classes in those schools start at 8:30 am.
【小題1】What does the underlined sentence “it’s close to the truth” mean?

A．It doesn’t tell the truth.	B．It is quite true.
C．It is impossible.	D．I don’t think it’s right.

【小題2】Why do most of the teens have to stay up late?

A．They play computer games.	B．They watch videos late.
C．They have to do a lot of housework.	D．They have to do a lot of homework.

【小題3】When do students in most American high schools have to get up?

A．At 7:30 am.

B．At 6:00 am.

C．At 9:00 am.

D．At about 7:00 am.

【小題4】Which of the following is TRUE according to the reading?

A．The writer usually stays up past 1:30 am.

B．The writer usually goes to bed around midnight.

C．The writer usually does a survey.

D．Many American students don’t get enough sleep, so they can have high grades.

【小題5】What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Something has to be done to solve the problem of students’ lack of sleep.

B．Many American high school students are sleepy in class.

C．Many kids have too much homework to do.

D．Students can’t play computer games.