59. The underlined sentence in the passage means ______.

A. life is often made up of happiness and sadness

B. good things are always followed by bad things

C. one can’t be successful in life without difficulty

D. when you are too excited things will go wrong

七、阅读短文，根据短文内容，从短文后的五个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。(共8分，每小题2分)

It was midnight. Mr. Lee was in bed and was trying to go to sleep when he heard the bell ring. He turned on the light and looked at his watch.    60    “Who can it be at this time of night?” He thought. He decided to go and find out.   61    He went to the door quietly. When he opened the door, there was nobody there. “This is very strange. I really heard the bell ring just now.” Then he went back to his bedroom, took off his clothes, got back into bed, turned off the light and tried to go to sleep.

62    Mr. Lee jumped out of bed very quickly and rushed to the door. He opened it, but again he found no one there. He closed the door and tried not to feel angry.    63    He picked it up. There were some words on it: “It is now after midnight, so it is April Fool’s Day. April Fool to you!”

“Oh, it was the English boy next door!” Mr. Lee shouted and almost smiled. He went back to bed and fell asleep at once. The bell did not ring again.

A. So he got off bed and put on his clothes.

B. But he didn’t find anybody outside the door.

C. A few minutes later he heard the bell ring again.

D. It was twelve o’clock.

E. Then he saw a piece of paper on the floor.

八、阅读短文, 根据短文内容回答问题。(共10分，每小题2分)

As everyone knows, the law in most countries nowadays demands (要求) that all children receive an education. However, do you know that a number of parents make special arrangements to educate their children at home? This happens mainly to the children who have serious health problems or learning difficulties, or are especially gifted (有天赋的).

Whatever the reason, there are certainly some advantages of educating children at home. First, they can learn at their own speed, spending more time on the subjects which they find difficult. Second, it is easier for them to pay attention since they don’t have the distraction (分心) of noisy classmates. Finally, they learn more in a one-to-one situation, as they get the full attention of the teacher.

On the other hand, learning at home is not without drawbacks. For one thing, children who do not go to school lack (缺乏) experience of making friends with other children. As a result, they do not learn the social skills needed in later life. Moreover, they are less motivated (激励) to work hard, because they have no one to compare their progress with and to compete against.

All things considered, I believe children should go to school. Education is not only a matter of learning facts — children also need to learn how to get along with others, and to develop their personalities. I feel they can only do this by mixing with other children in a school environment.

64. Do all children receive an education at school nowadays?

65. What kinds of children do parents educate at home?

66. How many advantages of educating children at home are mentioned?

67. How do children learn social skills at school?

68. What does the writer mainly tell us in the passage?