_________ to the efforts by the headmaster, I can go back to school now.

It's no secret that most busy American mothers use the TV set   [21]   （介词）a live-in babysitter. In some families the TV holds a child's attention for half   [22]   （冠词）hour or two while mom works on dinner; in others it is the child's constant daytime companion. Is there any harm in this?

　　Debate on the question is very hot, and periodically research is published   [23]   （show）that TV reduces attention space, makes children upset or causes them to be violent. In today's cartoon David Horsey makes   [24]   of （短语动词）the show-off of "children's TV". It is said  [25]   （从属连词） the special programing supposedly uses entertainment to help youngsters to learn to read and take their  [26]   （数词） steps in the big, diverse world outside their family. But what do children really get from this programming?

　　Horsey's suspicion is   [27]   （从属连词）children's programming chiefly turns kids into TV addicts(上了瘾的人), not into readers or happy mixers. The kids, still at their early age, are attracted by the figures on the screen. "Can you say TV?" The  [28]   （soon） the kid learns the word, the more effectively he can remind his mother to turn on the TV.

　　A child hooked on TV tends  [29]   （构成非谓语动词） fix his eyes on commercial advertisement, and there are plenty of those targeting children of all ages. Thus, at the very least, mom tries to search for a certain way to make the kids quiet and peaceful , hence changing a child    [30]   （介词） an American shopper all day long. Spending too much time on the tube will have an ill effect on the kids.

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

One day a few years ago we had an uninvited guest—a sparrow.  36  the little bird had flown into our open garage. Then I  37  the bird before I saw it.

“What’s that?”I asked when I first heard the sound.

“It’s coming from the  38  .”my wife, Anita, said. “Maybe it’s one of the little  39  .”

I looked into the garage. No children at all. But there was that sound again, coming from right up there. And that’s  40   I saw the sparrow. It was flying  41  just inches below the ceiling. It was clearly  42  to get out, but couldn’t see the way out was not up, but  43  and and out through the garage door. So the bird continued flapping its wings and bumping its little head 44  the ceiling.

I tried to terrify it out, but only succeeded in driving it into the  45  open space between the door and the ceiling. Then I tried to show the bird how to fly down a few feet  46   it could get outside, but that only seemed to  47  it more.

“Why don’t we just leave for a few minutes,” Anita  48  .“I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually.”

We went back into the house, where we  49  to hear the ongoing struggle between the sparrow and the ceiling. Then suddenly, it was  50  and our uninvited guest was gone.

I’ve  51  that little sparrow through the years, and I’ve decided that birds are not different much from people. We think we were  52  to fly ever upward, and we don’t even consider the  53  that something good might happen if we just fly down a little bit. Once we figure out that we can make  54  without banging（碰）our heads against ceilings, we can usually save ourselves much  55  .

36.A. Still              B. Somehow          C. Instead              D. Perhaps

【答案】B

【解析】不知怎么的，这只小鸟飞进了我们开着的车库。B.不知怎么的。

37.A. heard            B. caught               C. searched           D. observed

【答案】A

【解析】根据下文when I first heard the sound， 可知本句的意思是“未见其鸟，先闻其鸣”。

38.A. house           B. backyard           C. garage               D. basement

【答案】C

【解析】根据36题所在的句子可知， 小鸟进入了garage,所以声音应该从garage传来。

39.A. birds            B. guests               C. cats                  D. kids

【答案】D

【解析】根据下文no children at all.可知, 作者的妻子认为是期中一个孩子

40.A. when            B. how                  C. why                  D. whether

【答案】A

【解析】when引导表语从句。“就在那时我看到了那只麻雀。”

41.A. quickly         B. anxiously           C. cautiously          D. slowly

【答案】B

【解析】anxiously不安的，焦虑的。因为被困，所以很焦虑。

42. A. deciding       B. hesitating           C. trying                D. choosing

【答案】C

【解析】try to get out努力要出去。

43. A. up               B. backward          C. forward            D. down

【答案】D

【解析】但是它看不到出去的路不在上方，而在下方。

44. A. against         B. off                    C. along                D. into

【答案】A

【解析】bump its little head against the ceiling 小脑袋撞击天花板

45. A. free             B. small                 C. wide                 D. dark

【答案】B

【解析】门和天花板之间的空间很小。

46. A. in case         B. even if               C. as though          D. so that

【答案】D

【解析】so that 引导目的状语从句。

47. A. puzzle          B. confuse             C. frighten             D. disturb

【答案】C

【解析】但是这样似乎使它更害怕。Frighten sb使某人害怕， 吓唬某人

48. A. suggested     B. explained           C. insisted             D. demanded

【答案】A

【解析】why don’t sb do 是表示建议的用语。 所以选择A。

49. A. attempted     B. continued          C. refused             D. failed

【答案】B

【解析】continue to do sth继续干某事

50. A. fierce           B. empty               C. safe                  D. silent

【答案】D

【解析】根据下文our uninvited guest was gone， 所以没有声音了，很安静

51.A. looked after   B. worried about    C. thought about    D. brought up

【答案】C

【解析】Ａ．照看　Ｂ．担心 Ｃ．思考  Ｄ． 提出。下文题到“鸟和人没有什么不同”，所以作者是在思考。

52. A. forced         B. determined         C. born                 D. urged

【答案】C

【解析】be born to do 天生就是干某事的。 “我们认为我们天生就是往上飞的”

53. A. idea             B. possibility          C. challenge           D. problem

【答案】B

【解析】我们甚至没有考虑这种可能性，如果我们飞的低一些，好事也可能会发生。

54. A. progress      B. peace                C. decisions           D. efforts

【答案】A

【解析】make progress取得进步

55. A. panic           B. pressure            C. loss                  D. trouble

【答案】D

【解析】save some trouble 省去很多麻烦。