I HEAR America beeping(嘟嘟响)．

 Beep，says my cellophane when it gets a text message．

  Beep，says my microwave oven when my sandwich  is warmed up． 

 Sometimes  I long for a natural sound：a bird singing，dog barking，children laughing， anything to drown out  the maddening beeps that have become the soundtrack(配乐)to modern life．

  My cellophane? It isn’t enough that its ring tone offerings seem to stretch from  “annoymg” toextremely “annoying”． It also has to beep whenever someone texts messages me． 

The microwave? A bell rings when it's finished heating my food．But is that enough? No．If I don’t rush to it right away, it starts beeping，like an impatient child tugging(用力拉) at my sleeve(袖子)．

 The smoke detector(探测器) is the worst offender．When its batteries are in need of replacement，it 1ets out a series of chirps．The things that don’t beep buzz(嗡嗡响)．And for some reason，beeping and buzzing is beneath them，they clear their throats and perform a symphony． Like my TV, each time I turn it on, it performs an aria(咏叹调)：La di da di dum．Salutions! Here I am! Same thing when I turn it off: La di da di dum．Good bye, kind sir! Until the next time

But at 1east I know where each of these sounds is coming from．That isn’t always the case．For weeks, my wife and I were awoken in the night by a beeping．There，in the stillness， we went through the possible suspects．Could we have a text message? Could it be any of the devices(装置)able to make a sound? Curling iron, rice cooker, smoke detector, TV set，clock radio．．．

The only way to tell was to chase the sound down ，but no sooner  would we pull on our bathrobes than the beeping would stop. We didn’t hear it every night but often enough that we would climb into bed wondering whether our sleep  would be interrupted by that maddening sound，that beep．

  Finally,early one morning，my wife found it：in the study,under a desk，a big plastic cube that was plugged into the wall．It was an uninterruptible power supply that we’d inherited(继承)from my wife’s mother．We’d never known it was capable of speech． 

I think it just wanted someone to talk to.

14．What does the writer truly mean by saying“I hear America beeping”?

A．American people like devices that beep．

B．Americans are crazy about sending text messages．

C．In modern society people are dependant on technology．

D．The soundtrack to modern life is no longer natural．

15．Why couldn’t the author and his wife find the source of the noise in their house in the beginning?

A．There were too many devices for them to check．

B．They were unwilling to get up at midnight．

C．They had never known that thing could beep too．

D．The noise didn’t come every day．

16．After reading this passage，we can probably tell the author    ．

   A．enjoys being surrounded by beeps  B．has a touch of humor in his writing

C．tries to avoid using anything that beeps

D．understands the beeping is designed to be user-friendly

（Alice advises Bill to read English every day and agrees to help him ．．．）

A：Why don 't you look happy ？

B：Because I have a lot of trouble with my English, I can hardly pass the exam every time．    6   

A：Don 't worry．    7     

B：No, I only read English before the exam．

A：Ah, that's it. If you want to study it well，you must practise it every day．    8      

B：I'll take your advice and try to practise reading English every day．   9      

A：All right. I'd like to. But in fact I still have some trouble with English, too．   10      

A．Will you help me with it？    

B．Let's help each other．

C．I'll try my best to learn it well．

D．How do you like English？

E．I really don 't know what to do．

F．What are you going to do next？

G．Do you read English？

Roberta appeared on the stage. She took a deep breath and began to   36 .  Now she was Portia, a strong–willed   37   in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The theater was filled with people. She was speaking with a power she had never before experienced, the words flowing   38   form her.
  39 , Roberta had never acted in her life before the audition (选拔试演). She   40  being in front of other people. She was very   41   at school. She had never thought she was good enough at anything to   42   much attention. She stayed mostly to herself, making   43  friends. She had excellent grades,   44   she always thought that something was missing.
Two weeks before the audition, Roberta’s mother had heard about it and   45   her to join in.
“I can’t think of anyone else better suited to   46   the part. Remember all the plays you used to act out for us?”
Her mother wouldn’t let the   47   drop. “You’re just a little scared (害怕) .Everyone gets scared. You know you   48   do it. The trick is to look past the   49   to find the love of what you’re doing.’’
So Roberta had made an appointment (预约) with the head of the Drama Club. She had read the play and found herself excited by the   50   of speaking such rich words. In secret she practiced Portia’s part,   51   the lines by repeating them over and over. It wasn’t hard; she   52   every minute of it. Every time she spoke the words, she had a new    53   of the lines, as if Shakespeare had written Portia on many levels.
On the day of the audition, she   54   two of  Portia’s famous speeches for the auditors. When she had finished, the head of the Drama Club announced the   55   was hers.  

Jerry is a popular manager of a restaurant. It was his attitude  21  made the waiters follow him. He was a natural motivator (鼓舞人心的人). If a(n)  22  was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling him/her how to look on the  23  side of the situation.

This attitude really made me  24, so one day I asked him, “I don’t get it! No one can be a positive person  25. How can you manage it?”

“Every time something bad happens, I can choose to  26  it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining and I can 27  the positive side of life. Why don’t we just do that later?” Jerry said.

Jerry told me an unusual story out of his experience. One day he left the back door of his restaurant  28  and was robbed by three men. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from  29 , slipped off the combination (开启号码的号码组合). The robbers got angry and  30 him.

31 , Jerry was found quickly and taken to the hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of care, Jerry  32  with fragments (碎片) of the bullets (子弹) still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the  33 . I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “Did you lose consciousness? Weren’t you  34 ?” I asked.

“No,” Jerry said, “35  when I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.”

“A nurse asked if I was allergic (过敏的) to anything. ‘Yes’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped  36  as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘37 !’”

“Over the laughter, I told them, ‘Please  38  on me as if I am alive, not dead.’”

Jerry survived  39  the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. Attitude, after all, is  40 .

I have been keeping the portrait ________．I can see it every day, as it always reminds me of my childhood in Paris.