Earlier this morning I e-mailed an old friend, Mark. We have been out of touch for 12 years, but the   36  is a wonderful thing. Finding his e-mail address   37  less than a minute. He is working on his doctoral paper in western America.
Mark and I met at a summer   38  that we both attended. I went every year from the time I was 8 or 9 until I was 15. I don’t   39  exactly, but I think Mark was there for as many years as I was.
We lived close to each other and   40  saw each other around the campsite, but not often. Mostly we stayed together for a week or two in the   41  and wrote letters back and forth during the rest of the first few years. I still have all of his letters in a box somewhere. I come across them occasionally and   42  to sit down and read through them, but I never have. He was a   43  and precious friend to me, and I am deeply   44  that we have drifted so far apart.
Mark was a very kind and incredibly bright and funny   45  . He loved Monty Python — I mean he was a fanatic(狂热者), and could   46  entire movies from memory. He was one of those kids who   47  such a unique and powerful mind   48   they never quite fit into the main stream of life.   49  Mark, who I believe realized that, never seemed to care about it. When I knew that Mark was working on his   50  (on a highly intellectual and fairly mysterious and difficult topic), I thought, “Well yes, of course.” He is just where I would
  51  him to be.
I wonder if he will write me back. I wonder if he will be   52  by where I am. I wonder whether he and I can be   53  again, or whether these years have left us with   54  
in common. I wonder whether he can ever be the man I   55 , or only remain the boy I knew.  

Where do most writers get their ideas? For Yoshiko Uchida, it all began with Brownie, a five-month-old puppy. So excited was Yoshiko by Brownie’s arrival that she started keeping a journal, writing about all the wonderful things Brownie did and the progress he made.

Soon she was writing about other memorable events in her life, too, like the day her family got their first refrigerator. She also began writing stories, thanks to one of her teachers. Yoshiko wrote stories about animal characters such as Jimmy Chipmunk and Willie the Squirrel. She kept on writing, sharing the kitchen table with her mother, who wrote poems on scraps of paper and the backs of envelopes.

Yoshiko grew up in the 1930s in Berkeley, California. Her parents, both of whom had been born in Japan, provided a loving and happy home for Yoshiko and her sister. They also provided a stream of visitors to their home who later found their way into Yoshiko’s stories. One visitor who later appeared in several of Yoshiko’s stories was the bad-tempered Mr. Toga, who lived above the church that her family attended. Mr. Toga would scold anyone who displeased him. The children all feared him and loved to tell stories about how mean he was and how his false teeth rattled (咯咯响) when he talked.

Yoshiko also included in her stories some of the places she visited and the experiences she had. One of her favorite places was a farm her parents took her to one summer. The owners of the farm, showed Yoshiko and her sister how to pump water from the well and how to gather eggs in the henhouse. They fed the mules that later pulled a wagon loaded with hay while Yoshiko and the others rode in the back, staring up at the stars shining in the night sky. Yoshiko, who lived in the city, had never seen such a sight. As Yoshiko gazed up at the stars, she was filled with hope and excitement about her life. The images of that hayride stayed with her long after the summer visit ended, and she used them in several of her stories.

The experiences Yoshiko had and the parade of people who marched through her young life became a part of the world she created in over twenty books for young people, such as The Best Bad Thing and A Jar of Dreams. Because of such books, we can all share just a little bit of the world and the times in which this great writer grew up.

The author tells about Mr. Toga’s false teeth in Paragraph 3 in order to ____________.

A. show health care was not good enough in Berkeley during the 1930s

B. provide an interesting detail in Yoshiko’s life and stories

C. show Yoshiko’s young life was difficult and frightening

D. tell about a beloved relative who helped Yoshiko learn how to write

In Paragraph 4 “the stars” probably refer to ____________.

A. family relationships                               B. terrors in the night

C. limitless possibilities                              D. sacrifices to benefit others

What does the underlined part in the last paragraph mean?

A. Yoshiko loved to write about parades.

B. Yoshiko met many interesting people.

C. Yoshiko liked to go for long walks with others.

D. Yoshiko preferred to talk to her pets instead of to people.

What is the main idea of this story?

A. People who live in the city should spend as much time as they can in the country.

B. Writers like Yoshiko Uchida must communicate with as many writers as possible.

C. Those who move to the United States often miss their homelands for many years.

D. Writers like Yoshiko Uchida look to the richness of their lives for material.

请认真阅读下面对话，并根据各题所给首字母的提示，写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

M=Mary

T=Tom

M:  Hi, I'm going door to door tonight to tell people about the Student Action Union.

T:  I think I read something in the (76)n       last week.

M:  Yeah, we are trying to (77) p       and preserve some of the open spaces on campus.

T:  You are the group that's (78) a　　　　against the extension of the parking lot next to Darwin Hall,

    right?

M:  That's us. We just feel it is important to save some of the (79) n       beauty of the campus.

    Some of those trees are hundreds of years old.

T:  It's a pretty (80) p       . My friends and I had picnics over there by the stream.

M:  We are going to (81) o     a demonstration on Thursday afternoon.

T:  Well, I have a class on Thursday afternoon.

M:　But maybe you could (82) s     this appeal letter. We are going to hand it in to the administration

    to demonstrate how the students feel about this.

T:  Sure, let me get a pen.

M:  I have a pen right here. And let me (83) l        you this little book about the Student Action

    Union. Maybe you could come to some of our meetings. We get (84) t     once a month.

T:  Yeah, I'd like to know more about your group. Let me know (85) w      the next meeting is and I

    will try to be there.

C
A new study in West Africa shows how farm irrigationsystems powered by the sun can pro-duce more food and money for villagers． The study-in Benin found that solar - powered pumpsare effective in 8upplying water, especially during the long dry season．
Sub - Saharan Africa is the part of the world with the least food security． The United Na-tions Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that more"than one biillion of the world' s peo-ple faced hunger last year．Around 265 million of them live'south of the Sahara Desert:  Lack of  rainfallis one oftheir main causes offood shortages．．
Jennifer Bumey from Stanford University in Califomia led the study．The research team helped build three solar - powered drip irrigation -（滴灌） ,systems in northem Benin． Between 30 and 35 women used each system to pump water from the ground or a stream．Each woman was responsible for farming her own 120 sqrurre meters of land． They also farmed other land  collectively．
The solar - powered irrigation systems produced an average of nearly two tons of vegetables per montb． During the first year, the women．kept a monthly average of almost rune kilograms of vegetables for home use．They sold the surplus produce at local markets． The eamings greatly increased their ability to buy food during the dry season which can last six to nine months． Peo- ple in the'two villages with the systems were able to eat three to five more servingsof yegetables per day．But making the surplus available at markets also had a wider effect．
The study compared the villages with two others where women farmed with traditional methods like carrying water in buckets． The amount of vegetables eaten in those villages also  increased, though not as much．The researchers note that only four percent of the croplamd in sub - Saharan Africa is irrigated． Using solar power to pump water has higher costs at first． But    the study says it can be more economical in the long term than using fuels like gasoline,  diesel  or kerosene． And solar power is environmentally friendly．
66．Food security in Sub - Saharan Africa is insufficient mainly because of
A．lack of rainfall         B．limitation of farmland
C． a small crop variety   D．little sunlight
67．From the third paragraph we know that _______．
A．water is wasted by using the system
B． the farmers imgate the land together
C． all farmers use irrigation systems in northem Benin
D． the solar - powered systems take up more manpower
68．The underlined word "surplus" in the 4th paragraph most probably means_______
A．special             B．unnecessary      C．extra      D．abandoned
69．Usinf．solar power to pump water has advantages EXCEPT that
A．solar energy has higher cost at first
B．solar power helps to protect environment
C．solar power helps farmers increase eanungs
D． solar energy can be more economical in the long run
70．What can be the best title for the text?
A．Manpower affects rainfallin Africa
B．Irrigation by carrying water in buckets
C．Solar - powered pumps aid African farmers
D．Vegetable supply increased in African villages

I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job，credit and success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing.

One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $ 56. I searched the countryside for some place I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a deserted cottage in a small remote valley.I hadn't been alone for 25 years. I was scared, but I hoped the hard work would distract and heal me.

I found the owner and rented the place for$ 50 a month.The locals knew nothing about me.  But slowly they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets,  tools and canned deer meat and began sticking around to chat. They would ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream, not the one of individual achievement but of neighborliness. Men would stop by with wild berries, ice cream or truck parts to see if I was up for courting. I wasn't, but they were civil anyway.The woman on that mountain worked harder than any I'd ever met. They taught me how to store food in the stream and keep it cold and safe._I_learned_to_keep_enough_for_an_extra_plate_for_company.

What I had believed in, all those things I thought were necessary for a civilized life, were non­existent in this place.Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors.

After four years in that valley, I moved back into town. I saw a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker (房地产经纪人) I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people. It's four of us now，but over time I've had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We'd all be in shelters if we hadn't banded together.

The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It's not so much about what I can get for myself; it's about how we can all get by together.

1.Before a series of unhappy events happened, the writer________.

A．had a well­paid job                  B．worked hard for his American dream

C．worked hard and liked to share       D．felt hopeless about his American dream

2.What does the underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refer to?

A．The house.                       B．The job.

C．The company.                     D．The American dream.

3.

4.