I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat doing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.

Years later, during her final illness, mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,” she said again, “is for Elizabeth.”

I never saw her angry, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me; she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter.

They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was “too emotional(易动感情的)”. But she lived “on the surface”.

As years passed and I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive me.

I posted the letter and waited for her answer, none came.

My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace. It seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

Now the present of her desk told me that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work though she’d never been able to. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside — a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded(折叠) and refolded many times.

Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you choose, Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.

The writer began to love her mother’s desk _______.

A. after Mother died          B. before she became a writer 

C. when she was a child       D. when mother gave it to her

The passage shows that _______.

A. Mother was cold on the surface but kind in her heart to her daughter

B. Mother was too serious about everything her daughter had done

C. Mother cared much about her daughter in words

D. Mother wrote to her daughter in careful words.

The world “gulf” in the passage means _______.

A. deep understanding between the old and the young.

B. different ideas between the mother and the daughter.

C. free talks between mother and daughter.    

D. part of the sea going far in land.

What did Mother do with her daughter’s letter asking for forgiveness?

A. She had never received the letter.           

B. For years, she often talked about the letter.

C. She didn’t forgive her daughter at all in all her life.   

D. She read the letter again and again till she died.

What’s the best title of the passage?

A. My letter to Mother          B. Mother and Children

C. My Mother’s Desk           D. Talks between Mother and me.

It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately, the moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser. When such moments occur, don’t worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened.
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn’t really matter .If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech — “ I have a dream”, you may notice that he stumbles（结巴）his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don’t remember. Why? Because you were fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making. People care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human.
As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being imperfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely.
【小题1】 The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will ______ .

I used to live selfishly, I should admit. But one moment changed me.

I was on my lunch break and had    44___the office to get something to eat .

On the way, I ___45__a busker(街头艺人)，with a hat in front of him. I had some ____46___ in my pocket, but I would not give them to him, thinking to myself he would ___47___ use the money to feed his addiction to drugs or alcohol. He___48__like that type-young and ragged. ____49__what was I going to spend the money on? Only to feed my addiction to Coca-Cola or chocolate! I then ____50__I had no right to place myself above ____51__just because he was busking.

I ____52__ and dropped all the coins into his  ___53___and he smiled at me, I watched for a while. As ____54__as it sounds, I expected something more to come from that moment—a feeling of ___55___or satisfaction, for example. But nothing happened ___56____, I walked off. “It proved to be a waste of ____57____,”I thought.

On my way home at the end of the___58__, I saw the busker again and he was  __59___ . I watched him pick up the hat and walk___60__ a cafe counter. There he poured the _61____contents into a tin collecting __62____ an earthquake fund-raising(募捐) event. He was busking for charity(慈善)！

Now I donate any ____63__ I have to charity tins and enjoy the feeling of giving.

1.A. left         B . cleaned      C . prepared          D . searched  

2.A. led         B . chose        C . saw              D . fooled    

3.A. chocolates        B . coins        C . tins              D . drugs    

4.A. almost            B . only         C . rather            D . still    

5.A. acted             B . looked        C . sounded         D . smelt    

6.A. Though           B . For            C . Therefor         D . But      

7.A. declared          B . realized       C . expected         D . guessed   

8.A. it                 B . all           C . him             D . them     

9.A. waited            B . followed      C . stopped          D . arrived     

10.A. rag            B . hat           C . pocket          D . counter     

11.A. selfish          B . awkward      C . innocent         D . special       

12.A. happiness       B . sadness       C . love             D . hate           

13.A. DisappointedlyB.Unfortunately  C.Coincidentally      D. Comfortably        

14.A. words      B . effort         C . space                         D . money              

15.A. moment        B . day          C . break                      D . event              

16.A. walking around B. passing by   C . packing up         D. running off         

17.A. around         B . in           C . behind                 D . to                

18.A. chief       B . basic            C . actual                D . total            

19.A.by         B . for               C . on                   D . with              

20.A.work       B . time            C . energy            D .change           

.

Ⅲ 阅读（共两节。满分40分）

第一节 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A、B、C和D项中, 选出最佳选项, 并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as Mother sat doing letters. Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.

Years later, during her final illness, Mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk”, he said, “is for Elizabeth” 。

I never saw her angry, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me, she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter.

They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was “too emotional”. But she lived “on the surface”.

As years passed and I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive me.

I posted the letter and waited for her answer. None came.

My hope turned to disappointment, the little interest, finally, peace — it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written it, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

Now the present of her desk told me, as she’d never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work, I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside — a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded and refolded many times.

Give me an answer, my desk, in any way you choose, Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.

31. The writer began to love her mother’s desk _______.

A. after Mother died             B. before she became a writer

C. when she was a child          D. when Mother gave it to her

32. The passage shows about _______.

A. Mother wrote her daughter in careful words

B. Mother cared much about her daughter in words

C. Mother was too serious about everything her daughter had done

D. Mother was cold on the surface but kind in her heart to her daughter

33. The word “gulf” in the 4th paragraph means _______.

A. part of the sea going far in land

B. free talks between mother and daughter

C. different ideas between the mother and daughter

D. deep understanding between the old and the young

34. What did Mother do with her daughter’s letter asking for forgiveness?

A. She had never received the letter.

B. She read the letter again and again till she died.

C. For years, she often talked about the letter.

D. She didn’t forgive her daughter at all in her life.

35. What’s the best title of the passage?

A. My letter to Mother                 B. Mother and children

C. My Mother’s Desk                  D. Talks between Mother and Me

第二节完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
The night was dark, though sometimes the moving clouds allowed a star or two to be seen in the sky. The poor men held on to any bit of wood they could find. They called to the Marie (圣母玛丽亚) for  36 , but she was far  37  the reach of the human voice. At one o’clock in the morning, the water was getting  38 , and a strong  39  had begun to blow. Suddenly  40  were seen in the distance; another ship! The shouts of the swimmers were heard on board, and willing hands pulled them out of the water. The  41  of the ship that had so  42   arrived on the scene in time to save their lives was Ellen. What had brought her to the exact spot through the  43  and the pathless sea? Her captain had known  44  about the wreck (沉船) and had indeed attempted to sail away from it. But let him speak for himself.
“I was forced by the wind,” he said long afterwards, “to  45  my course (航道). Just as I did it, a small  46  flew across the ship once or twice and then  47  at my face. I took  48  of this until exactly the same thing happened at a   49  time, which caused me to think it rather  50 , while I was thus  51  it, the same bird for the third time, made its appearance and flew  52  in the same way as before. I was then  53  to change my course back to the original (原来的) one. I had not gone far  54  I heard strange noises; and when I tried to   55  where they came from, I found I was in the middle of people who had been shipwrecked (船只失事). I immediately did my best to save them.”
36. A. food       B. help       C. rest           D. stop
37. A. between    B. out        C. beyond          D. in
38. A. colder       B. deeper    C. saltier          D. warmer
39. A. smoke      B. wave      C. sand           D. wind
40. A. people     B. lights      C. ships          D. houses
41. A. name       B. owner     C. captain        D. person
42. A. slowly      B. early       C. immediately      D. fortunately
43. A. light        B. wind     C. darkness       D. water
44. A. everything   B. nothing    C. something     D. anything
45. A. continue    B. turn      C. change        D. sail
46. A. light       B. fish       C. plane         D. bird
47. A. flew       B. stopped    C. stayed         D. looked
48. A. no care     B. good care C. no notice       D. some notice
49. A. good       B. second    C. third          D. long
50. A. interesting   B. funny     C. common        D. unusual
51. A. searching   B. expecting   C. considering     D. hearing
52. A. back       B. about           C. up           D. down
53. A. decided     B. advised   C. persuaded      D. invited
54. A. when      B. while           C. as            D. after
55. A. listen to     B. search for C. make sure      D. look out