Tick, tock, tick, tock. I’m sitting here, watching the movements of my existence pass slowly away. My house has been  36  for such a long time，and I’m lonely and forgotten. Sitting here, by myself, all that I can do is   37    and think about my past. I could tell you stories that only  38  would know. But walls can’t speak.

    I came to this place many years ago，along with an old man….  39  , he was with me for on1y three short years before he passed on….

For a time, I was left alone, while people came and  40  the house….  Then, one day a nice couple moved in with a young son.   41  , their son Danny liked to stay with me, and I was completely  42   with him. He always looked as if he loved the stories I told, most of which began with. ‘‘Back in my day…” and ‘‘When I was  43  .…” I sometimes had the kind of idea that he didn’t really understand what I was saying, but it felt good to be  44 .  When Danny went off to college，my heart broke. Soon afterward,   45   sold the house.…

    New owners came and  46  . Then, One day it so happened that I was in when a new family was moving into the house. You can’t even imagine my  47   when, unexpectedly, Danny walked through the front door. He had a  48   and kids now. I was so overjoyed when I saw him that I put all my  49   into my daily activities. ... I spent the next twenty years watching his kids grow up, with a mixture of pride and  50   about what would happen next.

    The kids finally became  51    and Danny sold the house. That was about five years ago…. Some of the local kids have started the rumor that the house is haunted（闹鬼的）--- and, in a way, it is. It is haunted by   52  of all the people who have lived in it. Every second has  53   me so much. I have been   54  them all day and they are almost up for me.... I hope that someday somebody will  55   me, and drop in on me again. Maybe then I’ll get a new home and an opportunity for a whole new set of memories.

A. crowded                   B. empty              C. painted           D. sold

A. look back              B. enjoy food       C. have a dream          D. chat with friends

A. friends               B. learners          C. neighbors        D. walls

A. Luckily               B. Happily          C. Sadly                   D. Surprisingly

A. looked at              B. settled in         C. bought in        D. sold out

A. At last               B. At one time              C. In the end       D. From the beginning

A. tired                  B. friendly          C. taken             D. fond

A. older                 B. healthier            C. better                D. younger

A. loved               B. told                  C. disliked             D. believed

A .Danny               B. I                       C. his parents         D. the old man

A. settled                B. went                 C. lived                 D. greeted

A. pity                  B. pride                 C. surprise             D. sadness

A. friend                 B. daughter            C. son                   D. wife

A. energy                B. time                  C. life                   D. ideas

A. happiness             B. dream               C. anxiety              D. disappointment

A. old                   B. impatient           C. adults                D. tired

A. families               B. furniture           C. houses               D. memories

A. impressed             B. surprised          C. encouraged        D. inspired

A. putting              B. copying             C. recalling            D. taking

A. call                       B. remember          C. visit               D. attend

When I was at university,  I studied very hard. But a lot of my friends did very little work. Some did just enough to pass exams. Others didn’t do quite enough. Fred Baines was one of them. He spent more time drinking in the Students’ Union than working in the library. Once, at the end of the term, we had to take an important test in chemistry. The test had a hundred questions. Beside each question we had to write “True” or “False”. While I was studying in my room the night before the test, Fred was watching television. Fred usually worried a lot the night before a test. But that night he looked perfectly calm. Then he told me of his plan. “It’s very simple. There are a hundred questions and I have to get fifty correct to pass the test. I’ll take a coin into the examination room. I haven’t studied a chemistry book for months, so I’ll just toss the coin. In that way, I’m sure I’ll get half the questions right.” The next day, Fred came cheerfully into the examination room. As he sat tossing a coin for half an hour he marked down his answers. Then he left half an hour before the rest of us. The next day, he saw the chemistry professor in the corridor.
“Oh good,” he said, “Have you got the results of the test?”
The professor looked at him and smiled.
“Ah, it’s you, Baines, just a minute.”
Then he reached into his pocket and took out a coin. He threw it into the air, caught it in his hand and looked at it.
“I’m terribly sorry, Baines,” he said, “You failed!”
【小题1】 Fred often went to the Students’ Union where he ________ .

A．worked extra hours	B．enjoyed himself in the bar
C．borrowed books	D．attended a few lectures

【小题2】This time Fred expected to get ________ .

A．an excellent mark

B．a low mark

C．his usual mark

D．the pass mark

【小题3】The chemistry professor ________ .

A．didn’t mark the test papers correctly

B．tossed a coin when he marked test papers

C．knew about Fred’s method

D．thought Fred’s method was good

【小题4】According to the text, we can know working hard is ________ .

A．unnecessary

B．valuable

C．useless

D．a waste

阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

Tom arrived at the bus station quite early for the London bus. The bus for London would not leave until five to twelve. He saw a lot of people waiting in the station. Some were standing in lines; others were walking about. There was a group of schoolgirls. Their teacher was trying to keep them in order. Tom looked around but there was nowhere for him to sit.

He walked into the station café. He looked up at the clock there. It was only twenty to twelve. He found a seat and sat down, facing a large mirror on the wall. Just then, John, one of Tom’s friends, came in and sat with Tom.

“What time is your bus?” asked John.

“Oh, there is plenty of time yet,” answered Tom.

“Oh, I’ll get you some more tea then,” said John.

They talked while drinking. Then Tom looked at the clock again.

“Good heavens! It’s going back-ward!” he cried. “A few minutes ago it was twenty to twelve and now it’s half past eleven.”

“You are looking at the clock in the mirror,” said John.

Tom wanted to kick himself for being so foolish. The next bus was not to leave for another hour. He has never liked mirror since then.

1.Tom went into the station café because _______.

A. John asked him to have a cup of tea 

B. he wanted a drink there

C. he would meet a friend of his       

D. it was early yet and he could find a place to sit

2.When we look at a clock in the mirror we’ll see _______.

A. the right time   B. it is going slower  

C. it is going backward D. it is going fast

3. Which of the following is true?

A. Tom missed his bus.                

B. He liked mirror even before.

C. The next bus would leave soon.         

D. Tom arrived London on time.

 

Chinese people think a lot about food．In fact，I think that they are sometimes obsessed(痴迷) with it．My first experience of this   16   of Chinese culture came at a banquet during a trip to Beijing in 1998．I had eaten Chinese food often，but I could not have  17  how fabulous(丰盛的)a real Chinese banquet could be．The first six or seven dishes seemed to  18  the table, with plates dangerously   19  one on top of another．I thought this vast    20  of food was the total number of dishes to be served，and I started eating    21  ．Everyone else just   22  a bit of each dish and then put their chopsticks down，continuing to chat．“They can't have very big appetites,” I thought．

To my surprise，more dishes   23  ，plus soups，side dishes，and desserts．There was enough to feed a whole army．No   24  my fellow guests had had only a few  25  of each dish；they knew what was still to come．But I was already so   26  that I could only    27  as the banquet continued．

Another aspect of“food culture”is that the Chinese seem to eat almost every part of every animal——much to the    28   of many westerners．Stomach，ears，tongue，tail，hoof and lungs are all likely to   29   on the dinner table in front of you．The first time I saw a three-year-old kid  30   chewing a chicken's head I had bad dreams for weeks．

These days I enjoy that sort of food myself． 31  ，there are other kinds of foods that have taken longer for me to  32  ．The infamous(臭名昭著的) choudoufu is a(n)   33  ．(The name says it all：“stinky tofu”．) Just when I got used to it,  I found another  34  on a trip to Hunan：deep-fried choudoufu，a horrible black substance that looked and    35  about as appetizing as a burnt tennis shoe．Maybe I'll get used to that, too—some day．

16．A．problem        B．aspect           C．situation    D．appearance

17．A．introduced      B．distinguished     C．imagined    D．instructed

18．A．fill            B．destroy          C．furnish      D．evaluated

19．A．decorated      B．furnished         C．balanced     D．measured

20．A．preparation     B．wave            C．quality      D．pleasure

21．A．hurriedly       B．secretly          C．gladly      D．greedily

22．A．looked         B．tested           C．tasted       D．checked

23．A．disappeared    B．arrived           C．escaped     D．charged

24．A．wonder        B．doubt            C．use         D．problem

25．A．sights         B．examinations     C．appreciations    D．bits

26．A．hungry        B．angry           C．full             D．disappointed

27．A．complain      B．classified        C．wait             D．watch

28．A．taste         B．horror          C．belief            D．nature

29．A．put up        B．pick up         C．make up          D．end up

30．A．generally     B．regretfully        C．cheerfully        D．helplessly

31．A．Therefore     B．However        C．Somehow        D．Besides

32．A．refuse        B．adopt          C．accept           D．cook

33．A．example       B．excuse        C．reason           D．cause

34．A．experience    B．variety         C．beauty           D．interest

35．A．fried         B．advertised      C．sold             D．smelled

— Let's give up. It's too late. I don't think any bus will come.

— I don't care. I'll get there ________ I have to walk all the way.

A． as if             B． so that           C．even if            D．now that