--- According to the timetable, the train _____ have arrived ten minutes ago.

--- Have a little patience!

A．must               B．might              C．should             D．could

--- I like the yellow new Beetle.

--- A smart car but we can’t afford ____ for the time being.

A．one                 B．it              C．the one                 D．that

--- Mrs. Stanley looks gorgeous tonight.

--- The dark dress ______ her hidden beauty.

A．brings out              B．picks up           C．gives away            D．leaves over

The train swung back and forth, its wheels screeching against the tracks. Outside the window the   1   cold of winter ruled. The carriage was filled with frozen, self-centered, bored   2  .

Suddenly a little boy pushed his   3   in between unfriendly grown-up legs --- the kind that only unwillingly   4   room for you. While his father stayed by the door, the boy sat next to the window,   5   by cold-looking, morning-weary adults. What a brave child, I thought. As the train entered a tunnel（隧道）, something totally   6   happened. The little boy   7   down from his seat and put his hand on my knee. For a moment, I thought he wanted to go   8  me and   9   to his father, so I shifted a bit. But  10   moving on, the boy leaned forward and stretched（伸出） his head up towards me   11   to tell me something. Kids! I   12   down to listen to what he had to say. Wrong again! He   13   me softly on the cheek.

Then he returned to his seat,   14   back and cheerfully started looking out. But I was   15  . What happened? A kid kissing unknown grown-ups on the train? To my   16  , the kid went on to kiss all my neighbors.

Confused, we looked   17   at his father, “He’s so happy to be alive,” the father said. “He’s been very sick.”

The train stopped and father and son got down and   18   into the crowd. On my cheek I could still feel the child’s kiss --- a kiss that had   19   some soul-searching. How many grown-ups go around kissing each other from the pure joy of being alive? How many even give much thought to the   20   of living? The little boy had given us a sweet but serious slap in the face: Don’t let yourself die before your heart stops!

1. A．freezing              B．leaking                    C．touching                D．surrounding

2. A．children               B．adults                     C．passengers                     D．pedestrians

3. A．hands                  B．neighbors               C．elbows                   D．way

4. A．made                  B．took                       C．supported               D．supplied

5. A．organized            B．surrounded              C．comforted              D．admired

6. A．unbearable           B．unexpected              C．unconscious           D．unconditional

7. A．settled               B．sat                          C．slid                         D．stepped

8. A．upon                   B．over                       C．through                  D．past

9. A．turned                 B．appealed                 C．returned                 D．attended

10. A．in case of          B．instead of               C．in charge of            D．in danger of

11. A．as if                  B．even though            C．now that                D．ever since

12. A．went                B．declined                 C．bent                       D．lay

13. A．hit                    B．swept                    C．kissed                    D．masked

14. A．put                    B．leaned                    C．kept                       D．pushed

15. A．annoyed            B．relaxed                    C．engaged                  D．shocked

16. A．relief                B．disappointment        C．amazement             D．anxiety

17. A．questioningly     B．surprisingly            C．puzzlingly               D．interestingly

18. A．occurred           B．disappeared            C．spotted                  D．impressed

19. A．left behind         B．put aside                C．set off                   D．broke into

20. A．instruction               B．evidence                 C．symptom                      D．privilege

“Linda, if beating yourself up were an Olympic sport, you’d win a gold medal!”

Annabel, my close friend, stunned me with that frank observation after I told her how I had mishandled a situation with a student in a third-grade class where I was substituting. “I should never have let him go to the boy’s room without a pass! It was my fault he got into trouble with the hall monitor! I’m so stupid!”

My friend burst out laughing, and then made her “Olympic” comment. After a brief period of reflection I had to admit that she was right. I did put myself down an awful lot. Why, just during the previous day I had called myself “a slob” for having some papers spread out on my desk, “ugly” when I left the house without makeup and “an idiot” when I left the house for an emergency substitute job without my emergency lesson plan.

In a more reflective tone, Annabel said, “I once took a workshop at church where the woman in charge had us list all the mean things we say about ourselves.”

“How many did you have on your list?” I asked.

“Fifteen,” she confessed. “But then the teacher said, ‘Now turn to the person next to you and say all the items on your list as if you were speaking to that person!’ ”

My jaw dropped. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. Nobody did. We all just sat there, until I said, ‘I could never say these things to anyone else!’ ”

“And our teacher replied, ‘Well, if you can’t say them to anyone else, then don’t ever say them to yourself!’ ”

My friend had a point. I would never insult a child of God---and I’m God’s child, too!

God, today let me be as kind to myself as I would be to another of Your children.

1. What does Annabel mean by the first sentence of the passage?

  A．The writer is a good athlete.                    B．The writer scolds herself too much.

  C．She is encouraging the writer.             D．A gold medal is not a big deal.

2. What does the writer intends to tell us through the second and third paragraphs?

  A．She has low self-esteem over some small things.

  B．She often makes serious mistakes in daily life.

  C．She is a third-grade teacher.

  D．She cares too much about her appearance.

3. We can infer that the underlined word “slob” might be _____.

   A．something untidy                            B．someone dangerous

   C．something dirty                             D．someone lazy

4. What can we learn about Annabel?

   A．She used to put herself down a lot.

   B．She often goes to church.

   C．She was in charge of a workshop.

   D．She used to be too shy to talk to others.

5. What does the writer mean by the last sentence of the passage?

  A．She is ready to turn to God for help.

  B．She will be kind to all children.

   C．She won’t insult herself as well as others.

   D．She is willing to be a child of God.

The rise of the so-called “boomerang generation” is revealed in official figures showing that almost one in five graduates in their late 20s now live with their parents.

By contrast, only one in eight university graduates had failed to fly the nest by the same age 20 years ago. It also found that grown-up sons are twice as likely as their sisters to still be living with their parents in their late 20s. With nearly a quarter of men approaching 30 still living at home, the findings are bound to lead to claims of a “generation of mummy’s boys”.

Young professionals in their late 20s or early 30s have been nicknamed the “boomerang generation” because of the trend toward returning to the family home having initially left to study. Recent research has suggested that young people in Britain are twice as likely to chose to live with their parents in their late 20s than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe.

Rising property prices, mounting student debts and the effects of recession on the job market have forced a wave of young people to move back into the family home at an age when they would normally be moving out. But commentators warned that the phenomenon may have more to do with young people facing “dire” prospects than simply a desire to save money.

While the proportion of those of university or college age moving out from the family home has continued to rise in the last 20 years, among those in their mid and late 20s the trend has been reversed. Overall 1.7 million people aged from 22 to 29 now share a roof with their parents, including more than 760,000 in their late 20s. In 1988, 22.7 per cent of men aged 25 to 29 were still living with their parents but last year the proportion was 24.5 per cent.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

   A．The economic crisis has shown its effect on the young generation.

   B．More young professionals are returning home to live.

   C．British parents are suffering more loads from their grown-up children.

   D．Britain is suffering more than any other country in Europe.

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

   A．Male children seem to more independent than females.

   B．Eighty percent of university graduates were able to live independently two decades ago.

  C．The grown-up children choose to live with their parents only to save money.

  D．More and more children are moving out at university age.

3. What does the author mean by the term “generation of mummy’s boys”?

   A．The young generation are over dependent on their parents.

   B．The young generation are getting along well with their parents.

   C．Parents’ today are becoming over protective.

   D．They should have been taught how to live on their own.

4. What does the underlined word “dire” probably mean?

   A．Promising.     B．Inconvenient.      C．Very bad.       D．Hopeful

5. The following factors may account for the phenomenon except _____.

   A．that living prices have risen a lot.

   B．that it’s difficult to land a job.

  C．that education has already cost them a lot

  D．that parents can help them more

Violin prodigies （神童）, I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world’s greatest violinists the reason for this phenomenon. “It is very clear,” he told me. “They were all Jews and Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage.” As a result, every Jewish parent’s dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West.

Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence in a certain field to nurture （培育） talent. Nowadays, the most nurturing societies seem to be in the Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society, with stronger discipline than ours,” says Isaac Stern, children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War II, that music not only became part of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well. The Koreans and Chinese as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese.

That’s a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, biological inheritance plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S. Bach, for example, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.

1. Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school because ________.

A．it would allow them access to a better life in the West

B．Jewish children are born with excellent musical talent

C．they wanted their children to enter into the professional field

D．it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country

2. Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that ________.

A．are highly motivated in the education of music

B．treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full development

C．encourage people to compete with each other

D．promise talented children high positions

3. Japan is described in the passage as a country that attaches importance to ________.

A．all-round development                          B．the learning of Western music

C．strict training of children                        D．variety in academic studies

4. Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according to the passage?

A．A natural gift.                                        B．Extensive knowledge of music.

C．Very early training.                                 D．A prejudice-free society.

5. Which of the following titles best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

A．Jewish Contribution to Music              B．Training of Musicians in the World

C．Music and Society                                 D．The Making of Music Prodigies

GRANTS PASS, Oregon: An American couple letting their SUV’s navigation system guide them through the high desert of the state of Oregon got stuck in snow for three days when the GPS unit sent them down a remote forest road.

On Sunday, their GPS-enabled cell phone got a weak signal and relay coordinates（坐标） to a dispatcher（调度员）, Klamath County Sheriff（警长） Tim Evinger said.

“GPS almost did them in and GPS saved them," Evinger said. “It will give you options to pick the shortest route. You certainly get the shortest route. But it may not be a safe route.”

Evinger said the couple got stranded Christmas Day and a sheriff's deputy found them on Sunday afternoon and pulled their four-wheel-drive Toyota Sequoia out of the snow.

John Rhoads, 65, and his wife, Starry Bush-Rhoads, 67, made it home safely to Reno, Nevada. “It will be （a Christmas） we remember the rest of our lives,” Starry said in a telephone interview from her home. The couple was well-equipped for winter travel, carrying food, water and warm clothes, the sheriff said. “Being prepared saved their life”.

The couple had followed their GPS as it directed them south on US Highway 97 to Oregon Highway 31, which goes through Silver Lake and Lakeview before connecting with US Highway 395 to Reno. In the town of Silver Lake, the unit told them to turn right on Forest Service Road 28, and they followed that before getting stuck in about 1 feet of snow. They finally got a weak signal after 2 days.

A GPS-enabled phone is able to send its coordinates to emergency dispatchers, and eventually one of the couple’s phones sent its location to the dispatcher's console, the sheriff said.

1. What does the underlined word “stranded” most probably mean?

   A．To leave helpless.                       B．To pull out.

   B．To leave behind.                                   D．To celebrate.

2. The couple chose this route probably because _______.

   A．it was the most exciting                   B．it was the least dangerous

   C．it was the shortest                       D．it was the only one available

3. What can we know about GPS from the passage?

  A．It did more harm than good to the couple.

  B．It was to blame for the incident.

   C．It couldn’t tell which route is safe.

   D．It was designed to safe people’s life.

4. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

   A．The couple had plenty of supplies in their car.

   B．The couple live in Reno, Nevada.

   C．The couple were excited about this experience.

   D．The couple were over dependent on GPS.

5. Which of the following can be the best title of the news report?

   A．GPS--- Unreliable Equipment

B．GPS Helped a Couple first Stuck and then Out

   C．Toyota SUVs --- Trash

D．A Christmas Never to Be Forgotten

Good news: stress brought on by day-to-day events can actually help your health, and may even extend your life. Skeptical? So were we—recent studies have linked short-term stress to a reduced risk of a wide variety of diseases, including cancer.

The results seem incredible: after all, don’t we usually hear that high blood pressure and heart attacks are often brought on by stress? For people with constantly stressful jobs, or difficult family situations, that is indeed the case. But incidents of short-term stress that are quickly resolved have the opposite effect, inspiring the body to quickly repair itself.

Periodic bursts of stress won’t just help you recover more quickly from illnesses. It stands to reason that it would slow down aging.

So how can you make sure that you're enduring the right sort of stress? Here are the tips:

1. Keep track of your stress level on a 1–10 scale each day.

If it comes in at 5 or higher for two straight days, make some time to take part in relaxing activities that you enjoy.

2. Have an adventure.

New and exciting activities can stimulate short bursts of stress, which will have a positive effect on your body.

3. Create a "What-I've-done" list.

Make sure that you remind yourself of your accomplishments regularly to lighten your mood.

4. Try new sensations.

Try the spiciest dish that you can handle and it's a great way to kick-start your immune system into overdrive.

5. __________________.

You don't need to run a marathon to see the effects—any exercise that makes you sweat will give you the stress you need to fix the damage in your body.

1. What is the traditional view about stress? （Please answer within 15 words.）

____________________________________________________________________________

2. Please fill in the blank following No.5 with proper word（s）. （Please answer within 5 words.）    ____________________________________________________________________________

3. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one? 

   Stress with regular outbreaks will mean more than helping your sickness recover sooner.    ____________________________________________________________________________

4. Please translate the underlined sentence in the second paragraph into Chinese.  

   _________________________________________________________________________

5. Please add one more tip to the list and explain it briefly. （Please answer within 30 words.）

   _________________________________________________________________________

你的美国笔友Mike从互联网上了解到最近中国很多大学在搞自主招生考试（independent admission examinations）。他想了解这方面的情况。请用英语给他写一封信，介绍以下内容：

     1.这种考试给学生提供了更多的机会；

     2.考试形式多样，难度不一，有些问题怪异，难以回答；

     3.你有没有参加这种考试，以及你对这种考试的看法。 

要求：字数：120-150。 可适当增加细节使文章连贯。 信的开头和结尾已写好。

Dear Mike,

   Glad to hear from you again and happy to know you are so concerned about our school life.    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Best wishes.

                                                     Yours sincerely

                                                     Li Hua