A young man learns what’s most important in life from the guy next door.

It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, girls, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.

Over the phone, his mother told him, “Mr. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday.” Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.

“Jack, did you hear me?”

“Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It’s been so long since I thought of him. I’m sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago,” Jack said．

“Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisce about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it,” Mom told him.

“I loved that old house he lived in,” Jack said.

“You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man’s influence in your life,” she said

“He’s the one who taught me carpentry,” he said．“I wouldn’t be in this business if it weren’t for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important…Mom, I’ll be there for the funeral,” Jack said．

As busy as he was, he kept his word．Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr Belser’s funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.

The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time.

Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered．Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture….Jack stopped suddenly.

“What’s wrong, Jack?” his Mom asked.

“The box is gone.” he said．

“What box?” Mom asked．

“There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he’d ever tell me was ‘the thing I value most’.” Jack said.

It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.

“Now I’ll never know what was so valuable to him.” Jack said.

“I better get some sleep. I have an early flight home, Mom.”

It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died. Returning home from work one day, Jack discovered a note in his mailbox “Signature required on a package. No one at home. Please stop by the main post office within the next three days.” the note read.

Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The small box was old and looked like it had been mailed a hundred years ago. The handwriting was difficult to read, but the return address caught his attention. “Mr. Harold Belser” it read．Jack took the box out to his car and ripped open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack’s hands shook as he read the note inside.

“Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It’s the thing I valued most in my life.” A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, as tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch.

Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he found these words engraved:

“Jack, Thanks for your time! -Harold Belser.”

“The thing he valued most was…my time”

Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days. “Why?” Janet, his assistant asked．

“I need some time to spend with my son,” he said, “Oh, by the way, Janet, thanks for your time!”

1．Why did Jack think Mr. Belser died years ago?

     A．College and career prevented him from remembering Mr. Bleser.

     B．Jack was too busy with his business and family to think about Mr. Belser.

     C．Jack was too busy realizing his dreams to think about Mr. Belser.

     D．His present busy life washed away his childhood memories.

2．Jack’s mother told him on the phone about Mr. Belser EXCEPT that ______.

     A．Mr. Belser often asked how Jack was doing

     B．Mr. Belser’s funeral would take place on Wednesday

     C．Mr. Belser had asked for Jack’s mailing address

     D．Mr. Belser had pleasant memories of their time together

3．Why did Belser send Jack his gold watch?

     A．Because he was grateful for Jack’s time with him.

     B．Because he had no children or relatives.

     C．Because he thought he had to keep his word.

     D．Because Jack had always wanted it during his childhood.

4．Why did Jack say he needed some time to spend with his son?

     A．He was very tired of his work and wanted to have a good rest.

     B．He had promised to spare more time to stay with his son.

     C．He had missed his son and his family for days.

     D．He came to realize the importance of the time with his family.

C

Romanian-born German writer Herta Mueller won the 2009 Nobel Prize in literature yesterday, honored for work that "with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, describes the landscape of the dispossessed(被流放者)," the Swedish Academy said.
   The 56-year-old author, who immigrated to Germany from Romania in 1987, first gained public attention in 1982 with a collection of short stories titled Niederungen, or Lowlands in English, which was promptly censored(审查通过) by her government.
   In 1984 an uncensored version was smuggled to Germany where it was published and her work describing life in a small, German-speaking village in Romania was popular with the readers there. That work was followed by Oppressive Tango in Romania.
  "The Romanian national press was very critical of these works while, outside of Romania, the German press received them very positively," the Academy said. "Because Mueller had publicly criticized the dictatorship(独裁) in Romania, she was prohibited from publishing in her own country.” In 1987 she immigrated to Germany with her husband two years before dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was toppled from power.
   Mueller's parents were members of the German-speaking minority in Romania and father served in the Waffen SS during World War II. After the war ended, many German Romanians were deported(放逐) to the Soviet Union in 1945, including her mother, who spent five years in a work camp in what is now Ukraine.
   Most of her works are in German, but some works have been translated into English, French and Spanish, including The Passport, The Land of Green Plums, Traveling on One Leg and The Appointment.
   Mueller has given guest lectures at universities, colleges and other venues in Paderborn, Warwick, Hamburg, Swansea, Gainsville (Florida), Kassel, Gottingen, Tubingen and Zurich among other places. She lives in Berlin. Since 1995 she has served as a member of Deutsche Akademie fur Sprache und Dichtung, in Darmstadt."
   Mueller is the 12th woman to win the literature prize. Recent female winners include Austria's Elfriede Jelinek in 2004 and British writer Doris Lessing in 2007.
   The award includes a $1.4 million prize and will be handed out on December 10

51．Herta Mueller was awarded Nobel Prize in literature because of____________.

A．her public criticism upon the dictatorship in Romania

B．her works with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose

C．her works describing the life of the dispossessed in Germany 

D．the popularity of her works with the readers in the German-speaking village

52．Which of the following statements is mentioned by the author?

    A．German Romanians were treated unfairly in Germany in the 1940s.

B．Her parents were dispossessed to Ukraine after the World War II.

C．Her first work was published in Germany in the early 1980s.

D．Her works were all translated into versions in different languages.

 53．It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that _____.

    A．people then in Romania had the right to say whatever was true.

    B．Herta Mueller left her home country after the dictatorship was ended.

   C．Herta Mueller immigrated to Germany together with her parents.

    D．Romanian citizens lived a hard life without democracy in the 1980s.

54．According to the passage, which of the following works has an English version? 

   A．Lowlands in English                  B．Oppressive Tango in Romania.  

C．Traveling on One Leg                 D．The Land of Green Plums

55．What is the passage mainly about?

    A．Mueller made great contribution to literature through hard work

B．Mueller won the Nobel Prize for her great literature works.

C．Mueller gained great popularity by describing dictatorship.

D．Mueller was treated badly in Romania and immigrated to Germany.

Once upon a time, a Japanese man wanted to rebuild his house. First he had to tear the walls open .Japanese houses  36  have hollow(空的)spaces between the wooden walls. As he was  37  them down, he found a lizard(蜥蜴)  38 there because a nail(钉子)from the outside had been hammered into one of its feet. Seeing this, he felt  39 for it, and at the same time was curious about it.

     He knew very well that the  40  had been hammered 10 years before when the house was first  41   . What had happened since? The lizard had  42  for 10 years! To be stuck in a dark wall for 10 years without  43 —it hardly seems possible, and is hard to   44  . Then he wondered how the lizard could have lived for 10 years without moving a single step —since its   45  was nailed! So he stopped work and began to   46  the lizard. He wanted to know what it had been doing, and what and   47  it had been eating.

     A short time later another lizard   48  with food in its mouth. He was shocked, and at the same time deeply   49  . Another lizard had been feeding the stuck one   50 the past ten years.

     "What love  51 in this tiny creature! What can love do? It can do  52 ! Just think, one lizard has been   53  another untiringly for 10 long years, without   54 hope that its partner would be saved,"the man marvelled.

     If a small creature like a lizard can   55   like this, just imagine how we could if we tried

Once upon a time an African king left his country to make a long trip, and he told one of his guards   1  his treasure room. But the guard was tempted by the riches of the room and began to steal the 2  treasure . He   3  some of boxes of gold and silver and   4  and   5  them with some stones. When the king  6  , he praised the guard for his  7 to duty and sent him away. But before long he   8 what the guard had done.   9  punishing him , he called him back to his   10 and told him a story. He said, “  11  a snake crawled in a farm house and found an  12  jug of milk . He drank and drank   13  he was   14  fat to crawl back through the neck of the jug. However , what must that snake   15  to get out of the jug? ”

    “He must spit out the   16 , ”the guard answered.

    “  17  , ”the king said, “ Should he spit out all of it ? ”

    “I think he will  18  spit out all of it to get out . ”

    “You are quite right,” the king said. “  19  ”.

    The guard looked around and saw many soldiers with spears  20   back and forth in the palace, he knew everything.

1．A．To observe            B．watching out        C．to take care of     D．to build

2．A．king’s                   B．palace’s               C．gold                    D．rich

3．A．found                   B．was food of         C．put                     D．emptied

4．A．treasure                B．Jynnsly               C．jewels                 D．the queen

5．A．threw                   B．managed              C．breaking              D．filled

6．A．found it                 B．returned              C．reached               D．caught him

7．A．devotion                B．mistake               C．care                    D．hardship

8．A．excused                B．discovered           C．permitted             D．encouraged

9．A．As                        B．Instead of            C．After                   D．In spite of

10．A．treasure               B．palace                 C．possession           D．duty

11．A．Since                  B．If                        C．However             D．Once

12．A．big                      B．useful                  C．empty                 D．open

13．A．because               B．after                    C．until                    D．now that

14．A．too                     B．rather                  C．especially            D．enough

15．A．do                      B．drink                   C．set out                D．know

16．A．thing                   B．jug                      C．milk                    D．gold

17．A．No                      B．Nonsense            C．What                  D．Sure

18．A．try his best          B．thus                    C．in the way           D．have to

19．A．None                  B．Give me              C．I’ll kill you           D．All of it

20．A．sitting                 B．walking               C．standing              D．fighting

Once upon a time, many doves lived in the jungle. One day they went out in search of 1 . They flew a long way, but found nothing to eat. All of them were now 2 exhausted.
     A young dove said to the King Dove, "Your Majesty, please 3 us to have a rest." The king replied, "Be brave. We’ll find something to eat very soon."
     The young dove started flapping (拍打) his wings with great 4 , and soon left everyone behind. After some time he 5 , and said to the others, "Hey, I found lots of 6 down there."
     Hearing this, all the doves started 7 the grain, which was under a big tree. 8 the King Dove said, "It’s too good to be 9 . Don’t rush like that! It must be a 10 laid by some hunter."
     However, the doves were very 11 . The sight of the grain was too attractive. Without giving a(n) 12 to the king’s advice, they flew down and started 13 it. After a big meal, they tried to fly away, only to 14 that they were caught in a net.
     The King Dove said, "I told you before that it was a trap."
     All of them felt 15 and scared. One of them 16 the King Dove, "Your Majesty, please save us. We’re sorry for what we did."
     So the king said, "All of you must try to 17 with the net at the same time and in the same 18 ."
     Just then they saw a hunter 19 them. The King Dove said, "Now, everyone: fly together! Don’t let him near."20 all the doves flapped their wings together and flew with the net. The hunter stood there looking up in amazement, unable to believe what he was seeing.