As a music teacher for twenty-seven years, I have always known that music touches the soul. It can break through all kinds of barriers to reach students in a very special way. It can be the means for each child to find their light.

A few years ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to teach pre-school students one afternoon a week. One of my most memorable students was Vanessa. She was five years old, had difficulty walking, and could not speak. We mostly sat on the floor for our music lessons and Vanessa liked to sit on my lap. One of her favorite songs was John the Rabbit. It was a call and response song where I sang the call and the students clapped two times while singing the repeating phrase, “Oh, yes!” Vanessa liked to put her hands together with mine and clap with me. We performed that song during every class, Vanessa and I clapping together. She never said or sang a word.

One day late in the school year, when the song was finished, Vanessa turned around, looked me in the eye, clapped her tiny hands two times and said the words “Oh, yes!” I opened my mouth and could not speak. Through music, we had made a connection.

Several years later, I came across Vanessa on the street in town. I stopped my car and waved to say hello. She waved back with a big smile on her face and then clapped her hands two times, mimicking(模仿) the song we had performed in our music class. This precious little girl, through her connection with music, left an impression on me that will last forever.

Every child has the ability to learn and grow. It is up to us educators to discover the way to reach each and every one of our students. We all must find each child’s light.

The author thinks music ________.

   A. can make children calm down                  B. can connect heart to heart

C. is difficult for pre-school students           D. is a good means to find a job

According to the second paragraph, Vanessa ________.

A. got used to singing songs                       B. was too shy to speak

C. was the youngest in the class                  D. enjoyed the author’s classes

When Vanessa spoke the words “Oh, yes!”, the author felt ________.

   A. surprised                    B. happy               C. frightened         D. satisfied

What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?

   A. The author has been in touch with Vanessa for several years.

B. Vanessa became as healthy as other children.

C. The song made a deep impression on Vanessa.

D. Being a good educator became Vanessa’s dream.  [

Onceupon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the sea to do his writing. Hehad a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.One day he waswalking along the shore. As he looked down at the beach, he saw a human figuremoving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought that someone woulddance on the beach. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, hesaw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he wasreaching down to the shore, picking up something and throwing itinto the ocean. As he got closer, he called out, “Good morning! What are youdoing?’’

Theyoung man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwingstarfishes(海星)in theocean.”

“I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfishes in the ocean?”

“The sun is up and the tide is going out.And if I don’t throw them in, they’ll die”

“But, young man, don’t you realize thatthere are miles and miles of beach and starfishes all along it. You can’tpossibly make a difference!”

Theyoung man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked another starfish andthrew it into the sea, and said, “It made a difference for that one.”Thereissomething very special in each and every one of us. We have all beengifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can know that gift, wewill gain through the strength of our vision the power(力量) toshape the future.

We musteach find our starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the worldwill be better. 

1.One day, the wise man saw a young man _______.

2.The underlined words “something very special” refers to ________. 

3.From the last two paragraphs, we can learn that ________.

4.The writer told this story to show us _____.      

A trip to the bookstore with my granddaughter is always a big event. She __36__ in it for hours, touching the books, running her hands over the covers, looking at a few ___37___ here and looking at a few pages there.
I never ___38__ the full importance my five-year-old Grand Angel placed on these trips, until the day I suggested she pick the book she liked best, __39____ we could go home for dinner. Her response（答復） was __40___.
“But Grammy, I ___41___ them all the best. All the covers are be-yoo-tiful and all the pictures are bee-yoo-tiful and they’re all __42___. Just like people. Remember when you told me about people?”
I most certainly __43___ when I told her about people. I had explained that we are all __44___ in our own different way. Each of us has a story to ___45___ and no two stories are similar. We learn by ____46__ our stories and listening to the stories of others. Difference is the thing that makes each and every one of us __47___. I had no idea that she’d connected the lesson with ___48___. Actually, no one book was ___49___ than any other book. They were equally beautiful and equally special(特別的).
With dinner still ___50___ and our stomachs beginning to make noise, ___51___ time was finally at hand. But how to choose? I suddenly ___52___ the right question when I asked, “Which book wants to go home the most with you today?” After a short moment of ___53___, her eyes lit up. She ran to a specific book and ___54___ it from its place on the shelf. The main __55____ was the picture on the cover, a turtle with sad eyes. “We need to find out why the turtle is sad,” she said.

Onceupon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the sea to do his writing. Hehad a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.One day he waswalking along the shore. As he looked down at the beach, he saw a human figuremoving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought that someone woulddance on the beach. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, hesaw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he wasreaching down to the shore, picking up something and throwing itinto the ocean. As he got closer, he called out, “Good morning! What are youdoing?’’
Theyoung man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwingstarfishes(海星)in theocean.”
“I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfishes in the ocean?”
“The sun is up and the tide is going out.And if I don’t throw them in, they’ll die”.
“But, young man, don’t you realize thatthere are miles and miles of beach and starfishes all along it. You can’tpossibly make a difference!”
Theyoung man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked another starfish andthrew it into the sea, and said, “It made a difference for that one.”Thereissomething very special in each and every one of us. We have all beengifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can know that gift, wewill gain through the strength of our vision of the power toshape the future.
We musteach find our starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the worldwill be better. 
【小題1】One day, the wise man saw a young man _____.

Poverty today is a major global issue. Although there are all kinds of definitions used to explain it, in simple words, it means the inability of a person to even get his basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, safe drinking water, health and education. Poverty can be found in each and every corner of the world, although the causes may differ from country to country. Given below are the main causes of poverty in the world today.
Overpopulation is one of the main causes behind the threatening of poverty on an individual level as well as a social level. This is simple math. If there are more mouths to feed and less income, definitely much will remain poor.
Another theory which is used as an explanation for poverty is lack of education. If you look at any of the underdeveloped countries, you will find that the level of education there is very low. Lack of education means lack of employment opportunities, thus leading to unemployment coupled with poverty in the future.
Moving away from one’s own homeland to another city or country in search of employment leads to poverty too. It may take these people a lot of time to find jobs. Meanwhile they live in bad conditions. The cost of living in the city or country is most of the time too high for them.
There may be other causes of poverty like the change in business. For example, in America, a couple of decades ago, heavy industry flourished, which employed a lot of African-American people. But now, the focus is more on information technology and health care, both of which employ only skilled and trained people. This has led to unemployment among African-Americans.
Poverty has many ill effects on society. That’s why steps should be taken to get rid of it!
【小題1】What’s the meaning of the underlined word “flourished” in Paragraph 5?
(No more than 5 words)
【小題2】Why is overpopulation a cause of poverty today?  (No more than12 words)
【小題3】What’s the situation of education in underdeveloped countries?  (No more than 8 words)
【小題4】What does the passage mainly talk about?   (No more than 10 words)
【小題5】In your opinion, what’s the most significant cause of poverty today? Please give your reason.  (No more than 25 words)