Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: I am sitting on a beach on this hot summer day and watching two children,a boy and a girl,playing in the sand.They are working hard at building a sandcastle .Just when they are successful, a big wave comes along and puts it down. I think the children may cry because all their hard work turns to nothing, but they surprise me. They run up away from the water, hand in hand, and sit down to build another one. They really teach me a lesson. We can't always be successful.Being sad is doing no good.What we need to do is to start again, hand in hand with our friends. Question: What's the main idea of the passage? - Friends are always there with you - Children know more about life. - All of us want to be successful. - Starting again is the best way.
Starting again is the best way.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: People all over the world write to Big Ben. They even send birthday presents. Big Ben is not a person. It's a clock. Big Ben is the great clock hanging up in a tower of the parliament building. The people of London like to see Big Ben's four friendly faces. They like to hear the bell striking on the hour. Bong! Bong! Bong! Big Ben's story started in 1834. In that year the old parliament building was burned down. Its clock tower fell to the ground. There had to be a new building and a new clock. Plans were made. They called for a "King of Clock, the biggest and the best in the world". So the clock had to be big. And it had to keep very good time. In two years the big clock was made. Five more years went by before the clock tower was last finished. Then the four bells for the chimes were brought into the tower. And at last the big hour bell was put in place. It rang out for the first time on July 11, 1859. This great bell had to have a name. A meeting of parliament was called to pick one. "This clock is the king of clocks," one man said. "Let's call the bell the Queen of Bells." "Then why not Victoria?" said another (Victoria was the British queen at that time). The talk about names went on and on. Then Benjamin Hall got up to speak. He was a big man. By this time they were all tired. Someone shouted, "Why not call it Big Ben and be done with it?" Everybody laughed, and the meeting was over. But it was called Big Ben from then on. Not just the bell but the whole clock. Question: Big Ben is the name of a _ . - building - clock - beautiful girl - city
clock

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are busy earning money. They don't act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. My father has a bad temper. When he's tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper. One day, my mother was sewing a quilt . "Mom, may I ask you a question?" I said. "What?" "Is there love between you and Dad?" I asked her in a very low voice. My mother stopped her work and raised her head in surprise. She didn't answer immediately. Then she continued to sew the quilt. I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. But at last I heard my mother say the following words: "Susan, look at the thread . Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. It makes the quilt strong. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen, but it's really there. Love is inside." I couldn't understand her until the next spring. My dad got sick suddenly. My mum had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned, they both looked very pale. _ . After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. The doctor had said my father would recover in two months. But after two months he still couldn't walk by himself. All of us were worried about him. "Dad, how are you feeling now?" I asked. "Susan, don't worry about me," he said gently. "I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life." Looking at his eyes, I knew he loves my mother deeply. Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But now, I understand that love is just like the thread. Love is inside, making life strong and warm. Question: What can we learn from the writer's dad's words? - He had a special love to the writer's mum. - He wouldn't recover from his illness. - He wouldn't care about his illness. - He didn't like walking with the writer's mum.
He had a special love to the writer's mum.