A young man was in love with a beautiful girl. One day the girl said to him, “It is my birthday tomorrow.”“ Oh,” said the young man, “I’ll send you roses, and one rose for each year of your life.”
The same evening he went to the flower shop. As he knew the girl was twenty-two years old, he paid for twenty-two roses and asked the shop assistant to send them to the girl the next day. The assistant of the flower shop knew the young man very well as he often bought flowers in his shop before. When the young man left the shop, the assistant thought, “The young man is very kind to me. He often comes to buy my flowers. In return I’ll send ten more roses.”
He did so. The next morning thirty-two roses were sent to the girl. When the young man came to see her, she didn’t want to speak to him. And he never knew why she was so angry with him.

1. 1.

   The young man wanted to send his girl friend _____roses for her birthday.

   1. A.
      10
   2. B.
      22
   3. C.
      32
   4. D.
      many
2. 2.

   __________sent the roses to the girl.

   1. A.
      The young man
   2. B.
      The assistant
   3. C.
      Another young man
   4. D.
      We don’t know who
3. 3.

   The young girl received the roses ___________.

   1. A.
      the same evening
   2. B.
      a day before her birthday
   3. C.
      a week later
   4. D.
      on her birthday
4. 4.

   The assistant meant to _______.

   1. A.
      make the girl angry
   2. B.
      sell more roses
   3. C.
      make the young man glad
   4. D.
      get more money
5. 5.

   From this story we know that _______.

   1. A.
      roses should be sent for one’s birthday
   2. B.
      some girls don’t like roses
   3. C.
      one may do something wrong even out of kindness
   4. D.
      young people often buy roses

We were doing the best to control the fire of the burning garage (車庫). Outside, I heard the sounds of cats crying. I couldn’t stop—I would have to look for the cats after the fire was put out.

    It took a long time to finally bring the big fire under control. No one inside was hurt. At that point I was free to find out where the cat noises were from. There was still a lot of smoke and heat coming from the building. I followed the meowing to the sidewalk in front of the garage. There, crying and huddled (擠作一團) together, were five frightened kittens (小貓). They must have been inside the building, as their fur was badly hurt.

    I wanted to find the mother cat. It was clear that she had gone into the burning garage and carried out all her babies, one by one—unbelievable.

    We finally found her. Her paws and face were blackened, and her fur was burned all over. You could even see her reddened skin under the burned fur. She could hardly move. I picked her up, and she relaxed in my arms as much as her pain would allow. I decided to save this brave little cat and her family.

    The vet told me they would watch the kittens and their mother for the night, but they weren’t confident about the mother’s chances.

    About a week later, I found out she was going to live. We named her Scarlet because of her reddened skin.

    I was happy to see Scarlet get together with the kittens again. She touched each of them, nose to nose. She had been in danger for five times and it had paid off. All of her babies had survived.

    As a fireman, I see heroic acts every day. But what Scarlet showed me that day was the kind of bravery that can only come from a mother’s love.

1.Which of the following is TRUE according to the story?

A. The writer went to look for the cats as soon as he heard them crying.

B. The firefighters put out the fire quickly and no one was hurt.

C. The writer didn’t find the cats until the smoke and heat were gone.

D. The mother cat moved all her babies out of the fire to a safe place.

2.Why did the writer decide to save the cats?

A. Because he was amazed at the mother cat’s courage.

B. Because the cats attracted many people’s attention.

C. Because he didn’t want to see any living things die.

D. Because it had taken him much time and effort to save them.

3.The writer talks about the cat’s story to show that ________________.

A. animals should be taken good care of

B. mother’s love can be great and brave

C. it is meaningful to help others

D. a cat always has nine lives