Some people think that as more and more people have televisions in their homes, fewer and fewer people will buy books and newspapers. Why read an article in the newspaper, when the TV news can bring you the information in a few minutes and with pictures? Why read the life story of a famous man, when a short television program can tell you all that you want to know?

       Television has not killed reading, however. Today, newspapers sell in very large numbers. And books of every kind are sold more than ever before. Books are still a cheap way to get information and enjoyment. Although some books with hard covers are expensive, many books are printed today as paperbacks (平装本), which are quite cheap. A paperback collection of short stories, for example, is always cheaper than an evening at the cinema or the theater, and you can keep a book for ever and read it many times.

       Books are a wonderful provider of knowledge and pleasure and some types of books should be in every home. Every home should have a good dictionary. A good encyclopedia (百科全书), though expensive, is useful, too, because you can find information on any subject. Besides, you can have such books as history books, science textbooks, cookbooks, and collections of stories and poems . Then from time to time you can take a book of poems  off your shelves and read the thoughts and feelings of your favorite poets.

1It can be inferred from the passage that _________.

A. TV programs are a chief provider of knowledge.

B. cinemas are the best choice in getting information.

C. reading is a cheap way of learning and having fun.

D. newspapers are an expensive way to enjoy oneself.

2 What does the sentence “Television has not killed reading, however” underlined in the second paragraph suggest?

A. People only need reading, though.                B. Reading is still necessary today.

C. Reading is more fun than television     D. Watching television doesn’t help reading.

3Which of the following is mainly discussed in the last paragraph?

A. Types of books                                  B. Kinds of dictionaries.

C. Lists of history books                        D. Collections of stories and poems

4What can we learn from the passage?

A. Fewer and fewer people will buy books.           

B. A good dictionary should be kept in every home.

C. Books with hard covers sell better than paperbacks.

D. More people like TV programs about famous men.

第三节　书面表达

2008年11月，乒乓球世界冠军邓亚萍求学11年终于获得剑桥大学博士学位。假如你是来自西安的刘梅，听到这个消息，兴奋不己，立刻给她写了一封祝贺信并表示了自己的崇敬之情。内容包括：

⒈ 表示祝贺；⒉ 介绍自己及爱好；⒊ 解释崇敬的原因；⒋ 学到什么及自己的决心。

 参考内容：邓亚萍退出体坛后到清华大学，英国的Cambridge University 及 Nottingham University 学习，11年后获得经济学博士学位。

参考词汇：博士学位  doctor’s degree  自信 self-confidence 决心  determination  崇敬  admire  

注意：⒈ 词数100左右；⒉ 信的开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Yaping,

     First, I’d like to offer my congratulations to you on receiving the degree from Cambridge University.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Your fan,

Liu Mei

You’ll find this map of great ____ in helping you to get around London.

       A. price   B. cost    C. value  D. useful

I have just ____ her illness. I’ll go to see her tonight.

       A. listened to  B. heard  C. heard from D. heard about

 Joan together with her parents ____ going to visit the Summer Palace this Saturday.

       A. is       B. was     C. are      D. were

第三节　完形填空 （每小题1. 5分）

    阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

When one takes shoes to a shop to be mended, he is given a ticket with a number on it. Then,  1  his shoes are ready, he goes back to the shop, gives the ticket to the shoemaker, gets his shoes and  2  for them.

One day Mrs Smith gave her husband a pair of her shoes which needed  3  and asked him to  4  them to the shop. Mr Smith did so, and put the  5  for them in his pocket.

He went back four days  6  to get the shoes,  7  when he went into the shop, he was not able to find his ticket  8 , and the shoemaker did not want to give him the  9  until he got the ticket. “How do I know that the shoes are  10  unless you give me the ticket?” he said. “If I give them to you now, somebody  11  may come into my shop with the ticket tomorrow, and then I shan’t be able to give him the shoes.” Mrs Smith needed the shoes very much, so her husband  12  for a moment and then went out to his  13 , which was at the side of the road  14  the shop. He   _15  the door, and whistled（耳语）to his wife’s small  16 , which was sitting on the back seat. Then he went back into the shop with the dog and  _17  it, “Get the shoes!” the dog began to  18  around the shop, and soon it found Mrs Smith’s shoes and brought one of them to Mr Smith, then the  19 . “That should prove（证明）that they are my wife’s,.” said Mr Smith. The shoemaker  20 . Then he gave the shoes to Mr Smith.

⒈ A. before   B. when  C. since   D. unless

⒉ A. cares     B. looks  C. pays    D. waits

⒊ A. making  B. mending     C. buying       D. selling

⒋ A. show     B. change       C. find    D. take

⒌ A. ticket     B. paper  C. bill     D. list

⒍ A. late       B. later    C. ago     D. long

⒎ A. or  B. because      C. and     D. but

⒏ A. with his son  B. again  C. in his office       D. slowly

⒐ A. shoes     B. idea    C. dog     D. answer

⒑ A. black     B. beautiful    C. yours  D. whose

⒒ A. old B. young C. other   D. else

⒓ A. worried B. stood  C. thought      D. hoped

⒔ A. car B. bus     C. boat    D. train

⒕ A. inside    B. round  C. up      D. outside

⒖ A. opened  B. closed C. broke  D. built

⒗ A. clock     B. dog     C. hen     D. cat

⒘ A. talked    B. replied       C. answered    D. said to

⒙ A. hear      B. taste    C. smell  D. see

⒚ A. other     B. others C. ticket  D. pairs

⒛ A. surprised       B. cried out    C. laughed      D. frightened

Nine-year-old Barack Obama was looking through a magazine and he was shocked by a series of photos. The pictures were of a black man who destroyed his skin with chemicals that promised to make him white.

       For the first time, the African-American boy began to doubt who he was.

       However, now the boy who used to struggle with his identity doesn’t see it as a problem any more, but an advantage for his successful career. Last year Obama made history by being elected as the first black president of the United States. He defeated John McCain in a landslide victory.

Obama’s story starts in opposite corners of the world. His white mother was born in the heartland of the US. His black father grew up in a tiny village in Kenya. They met during college in Hawaii, but his father left the family when Obama was just two years old and his mother moved to Indonesia.

At 10, Obama moved back to live with his white grandparents in Hawaii. At his class, a white boy asked Obama if his father ate people. Out of embarrassment, Obama lied to his classmates that his father was a prince. “I kept asking who am I and I ended up trying drugs and drinking,” Obama recalled.

       Things came to change after the young men made friends with those with a similar background at college. Their experiences back in Africa helped Obama to finally face up to his African origin. He worked hard to become a star at Harvard Law School and the third black senator(参议员) in US history.

       At the beginning of his campaign for the White House, few people viewed Obama favorably. Many doubted his unusual background, which left him neither “black” enough nor “white” enough. But Obama turned his pain of growing up into a tool to make Americans believe: “There’s not a black America and a white America, a Latino American, an Asian America. There’s the United States of America.”

       Barack Obama’s victory is “a historic victory that promised change and overcame centuries prejudice. His success accomplished Martin Luther King’s dream that a man be judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character”, wrote ABC news.

1. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refers to _______.

       A. who he was                           B. Obama’s successful career

       C. making him white                    D. defeating John McCain

2.According to the last paragraph of the passage, which of the following statements       is false?

A. There has been prejudice in United States of America for centuries.

B. Martin Luther King’s dream has already been realized.

C. All men are created equal, no matter he is white or he is black.

D. A man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his     skin. 

3. We can learn from the passage that ________.

       A. Obama’s parents come from the same country

       B. the black man who destroyed his skin was Obama himself

       C. Obama was once troubled by his identity

       D. Africa is where Obama was born

4. Which of the following is the correct order?

       a. being elected the first black president of the US

       b. returning to live with his grandparents

       c. becoming the third black senator in US history

       d. going to college

       e. joining in the campaign for the White House

       A. b--d-c-e-a      B. e-a-b--d-c    C. a-b--e-c-d       D. c-e-d-b--a

5. The best title of the passage would be _____.

       A. The first president of the US           B. Martin Luther King’s dream

       C. A historic victory                     D. The history of African Americans

Though we spent a lot, we think it _____ because we succeeded in the end. 

       A. worth                             B. worth being spent     

       C. worthy of                D. worthwhile

When a fire _________ at the National Exhibition in London, at least ten priceless paintings were completely destroyed.

A. broke off      B. broke out      C. broke down      D. broke up

By looking at a problem in as many ways as possible, creative thinkers can find solutions that would _______ remain invisible．

A．otherwise                B．yet                         C．already                   D．forever