13．　　There was a woman in Detroit, who had two sons. She was worried about them, especially the younger one, Ben, because he was not doing well in school. Boys in his class made jokes about him because he seemed to learn everything more (1)       than the others.
　　The mother (2)       that she herself would have to get her sons to do better in school. She told them to go to the Detroit Public Library to read a (3)       a week and do a report about it for her.
　　One day, in Ben's class, the teacher held up a rock and asked if anyone knew it. Ben put up his hand and the teacher let him (4)      . "Why did Ben raise his hand?" they wondered. He never said anything, what could he possibly want to say?
　　Well, Ben not only (5)       the rock;he said a lot about it. He named other rocks in its group and even knew where the teacher had found it. The teacher and the students were (6)      . Ben had learned all this from doing one of his book (7)      .
　　Ben later went to the top of his class. When he finished high school, he went to Yale University and at last became one of the best doctors in the United States.
　　After Ben grew up, he (8)       something about his mother that he did not know as a child. She, herself, had never learned how to read.

15．　　Long ago, there was a poor farmer called Fred. Fred and his wife, Doris, lived happily together in their tiny old hut. One winter night, the Luck Fairy came and wanted to give a wish to them.
　　Fred and Doris smiled at each other. Then Fred said, "Thank you, Luck Fairy. We're well and happy."
　　"Although we are old, we still work in the field every day," said Doris.
　　"You work very hard, but you make very little money. Would you like some gold coins?" asked the Luck Fairy.
　　"Oh, no, my dear Luck Fairy. Although we're poor, we still have enough food to eat," replied Fred.
　　"You can use the gold coins to buy some new clothes. The winter here is very cold,"said the Luck Fairy.
　　"Although we haven't got many clothes, we've got enough," said Doris.
　　"Well, what about a nice, new house?" asked the Luck Fairy.
　　"Thank you. I like my tiny, old hut very much. I've lived here since I was born. I don't want a new house," said Fred.
　　"You're very different from other people. I like you very much," said the Luck Fairy. "I wish you happiness and health forever (永远)." Then the Luck Fairy disappeared.

16．　　When you close your eyes and need to rest, sleep is just the very best. Sleep helps your body grow and stay healthy. However, in the animal world, it seems that some animals don't need much sleep.
　　Giraffes usually sleep, although not for a long time. In places like zoos giraffes have been known to sleep for between four and five hours, mostly at night. During sleep, the animal may lie down or stay standing. Standing sleep is more common among older giraffes. In the wild, however, the animals almost never sleep for longer than five minutes at a time. More often, they sleep fully standing and their eyes are half-open so they can see an enemy getting close.
　　Deer (鹿) do not sleep much during the day or the night. In fact, the night is a dangerous time for the animal to sleep because some of their enemies look for food at night. However, deer try their best to sleep for three to four hours. Even when sleeping, they have to be careful so that they do not become food for their enemies.
　　The Alpine Swift (雨燕) is a bird that lives in places from southern Europe all the way to the Himalayas. These birds spend a lot of their time flying to the warmer places and all the way to the south of Africa. The birds may spend up to 200 days flying during their journey. These birds sleep while they fly. The Alpine Swifts are able to sleep with one side of their brain while the other side pays much attention to flying and finding enemies.
　　Dolphins (海豚) usually go to sleep with only one side of their brain so that they use the other side of their brain for swimming and to watch out for enemies. Some dolphins do not go to sleep in the first month of their lives. Instead, they rest by pushing their bodies against their mothers so that they do not drown (淹死). Mothers need to make sure that they do not go to sleep. That is why mother dolphins are able to go for at least a month without sleeping.

17．　　Your college years, the one time in your life can you truly enjoy the art of staying up late. Others may be fooled into thinking that your sleepless nights are the result of hard study, but we know the real reason why you're burning the midnight oil.
　　Does this sound familiar (熟悉)? Every evening, after returning to your dorm (宿舍), you sit checking your smartphone for a few minutes, which quickly turns into a few hours. When you do finally get round to looking at your homework, you can only manage to write a few words before you become bored.
　　To stop from falling asleep, you decide to play a video game just a few rounds, to put new energy in your mind so you can start working again. But the next time you check the clock, it's already the few hours of the morning.
　　That's when you realize there's no time left to procrastinate. So you take a hold of your pen and get to work, on the one hand regretting the lack (缺乏) of time you have to complete your task, while also accepting praises from your roommates for studying so hard.
　　You tell yourself you stay up late because you are a hard worker. In fact you're fooling yourself.
　　In the dark of night, only a few light spots(光点)can be seen in your almost-empty office. Now and then, the silence is broken by the keyboard taps (击声). Although you work overtime every day, you still haven't managed to reach the goals you set for yourself.
　　But why should this be?You're careful not to get distracted(分神)by your phone, and seldom sit around daydreaming. Still, you've hardly anything to show for all the extra (额外的) time you spend in the office. So you hold your head in your hands and cry out:where did the time go?
　　You might feel busy every day, but in truth you're finishing little.
　　All your time is spent imagining a great future, without ever actually doing what's needed to make that dream a reality.
　　In your mind, you work harder than anyone else, but your results show this to be a lie.
　　So please, have a rethink. Let's stop it with the lying. Are you really trying hard, or are you hardly trying?

18．阅读短文, 根据短文内容回答问题.
　　On winter nights, the wind usually blows strongly. Most of us stay inside our warm homes. Few of us think about the homeless. These people have no choice but to sleep on the streets. Some of them are so poor that they have no money to buy food.
　　A young man in Birmingham, England, made a decision to do something about this. Every night, he puts on a Spider-Man suit (套装) and gives food to the homeless he meets. He makes sure that these people won't go hungry. The man refuses to make his name public.
　　The local people call him "the Birmingham Spider-Man". The young man hopes his action will show others that everybody deserves (应得) a helping hand.
　　The 25-year-old man started his night activities in 2015. Every night at 9, he buys some sandwiches. Then, he finds a quiet place and puts on his suit. After that, the "Spider-Man" starts handing his food out to people in need.
　　The man said, "I wear the Spider-Man suit in order to get attention. "Without the suit, few people took a second look at him when he was handing out food. When people see the "Spider Man", however, they come over and ask what he is doing.
　　"The Birmingham Spider Man"has already got lots of attention. Many people have offered to give away money to him. But the young man never accepts the money. Instead, he encourages people to go out and help people in need on their own. He said, "If more people offer a helping hand, the cold winter nights won't be so cold any longer."

19．假如你是李华, 你的美国笔友Mike对中国文化感兴趣, 他写信请你介绍中国的传统节日．请你用英语给他写回信, 简要介绍一个你认为最能体现中国文化的传统节日, 说明节日的时间、习俗、活动以及你的感受．
提示词语:Chinese lunar calendar(阴历), festival, show, traditional, love, treasure, important
提示问题:●What is it and when is it celebrated?
●What do people usually do during the festival?
●What do you think of the festival?

Dear Mike,
　　I'm glad to hear from you. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua

20．高尔基曾说:"书籍是人类进步的阶梯"．读书可以净化心灵、愉悦心性、陶冶情操健全人格, 使我们不断地成长．
某英文网站正在开展以"Reading Helps Me a Lot"为主题的征文活动．假如你是李华, 请用英语写一篇短文投稿, 谈谈你的读书经历, 分享一下你的阅读体验．
提示词语:help, enjoy, new, challenge
提示问题:●What books have you read?
●What have you learned from the books?
●How do you feel?
Reading Helps Me a Lot
I have read many books these years. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________