Once there was a writer who lived close to the sea. Every morning, he walked along the beach to get ideas for his writing.

One sunny morning, as he was walking near the edge of the water, he looked along the beach and in the distance (远处). He saw a little girl near the water. She was bending down (弯腰) and then standing up. He wasn’t sure what she was doing. So he decided to go closer to find out.

When he got near to the little girl, he saw that on the beach there were lots of starfish, and the little girl was picking them up, one at a time, and    ▲   .

The writer went closer to the girl and asked her what she was doing. The girl stopped and looked up at the writer—she seemed surprised. Then she said she was throwing the starfish back into the sea. She said, “The sun is up, and the tide (潮) is going out. If I don’t throw the starfish back into the water, they will die.”

Now it was the writer who was surprised. He wanted to persuade her that she was wasting her time. He said, “But look, there are hundreds of starfish here. You can’t possibly pick them all up and throw them back. It’s meaningless. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference here?”

The girl smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish, and as she threw it back into the sea, she answered, “If I hadn’t thrown it back, it would have died. I think I made a difference to that one.”

1.1. What did the writer do along the beach every morning?

A He took a walk.

B He watched the sunrise.

C He did some writing.

D He enjoyed the tide.

解析：选A。A. He took a walk. 题型：细节理解题 依据：第一段“Every morning, he walked along the beach to get ideas for his writing.” 作家每天早晨沿着海滩散步，故选 A。

2.2. What did the writer see when he was far away from the girl?

A The tide was going up.

B There were a lot of starfish.

C The girl was picking up the starfish.

D The girl was bending down and standing up.

解析：选D。D. The girl was bending down and standing up. 题型：细节理解题 依据：第二段“in the distance … She was bending down and then standing up.” 作家在远处只看到女孩弯腰又站起，还不知道她在捡海星，故选 D。

3.3. Which of the following can be put in ▲ ?

A putting them in her pocket

B playing with them

C throwing them into the water

D hiding them in a hole

解析：选C。C. throwing them into the water 题型：推理判断题 / 语境填空题 依据：第四段女孩说“she was throwing the starfish back into the sea”。 空格处应填“把它们扔进水里”，故选 C。

4.4. What does the underlined word “persuade” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A 回复

B 劝说

C 改变

D 阻止

解析：选B。B. 劝说 题型：词义猜测题 依据：第五段“He wanted to persuade her that she was wasting her time.” 作家想让她相信这样做是浪费时间，即“劝说”，故选 B。

5.5. The girl’s words in the last paragraph showed that ________.

A she could stop throwing back the starfish

B she believed what she did was meaningful

C she regretted throwing the starfish into the sea

D she thought the writer was a lazy and cruel man

解析：选B。B. she believed what she did was meaningful 题型：推理判断题 依据：最后一段“I think I made a difference to that one.” 女孩认为哪怕只救一只海星也有意义，故选 B。