I moved to a new neighborhood two months ago. In the house with a large  31  across the road lived a taxi driver, a single parent with two school-aged children. At the end of the day, he would  32   his taxi on the road. I  33   why he did not park it in the garage.

Then one day I learnt that he had another car in his garage. In the afternoon he would come home  34   work, leave his taxi and go out for his  35   affairs in his other car, not in his taxi. I felt it was a 36  .

I was curious to see his personal car but did not make it until I  37   to be outside one evening two weeks  38  , when the garage door was  39  and he drove out in his “own” car: a Rolls-Royce（劳斯莱斯）! It shook me completely  40  I realized what that meant. You see, he was a taxi driver. But  41  inside, he saw himself as something else: a Rolls-Royce owner and a（n）  42  . He drove others in his taxi but himself and his children in his Rolls-Royce. The world looked at his taxi and 43  him a taxi driver. But for him, a taxi was just something he drove for a living. Rolls-Royce was something he drove for a (n）  44  .

We go to bed every night and   45  every morning as parents or children, not as bankers, CEOs or professors. We go for a  46  as close friends or go for a vacation as a  47  . We love life as it is. Yet often, we base our entire happiness and success on how much bigger and better a 48  we have. And we ignore our Rolls-Royce, by  49  it dusty in our garage. We should focus more on  50  we are than what we do!

1. A. window            B. garage           C. door         D. yard

2. A. park              B. stop         C. check            D. repair

3. A. knew              B. understood       C. asked            D. wondered

4. A. for               B. out of           C. without      D. from

5. A. business          B. national     C. personal     D. public

6. A. waste             B. gift        C. wonder       D. must

7. A. appeared          B. intended     C. expected     D. happened

8. A. later             B. more         C. ago          D. before

9. A. broken            B. fine         C. shut         D. open

10. A. once             B. before           C. when         D. until

11.A. far               B. deep         C. long         D. little

12.A. driver            B. engineer     C. father           D. son

13. A. called           B. made         C. elected          D. turned

14.A. experience            B. earning      C. life         D. work

15.A. stay up           B. wake up      C. stay home        D. go home

16.A. competition       B. performance  C. debate           D. party

17.A. family            B. company      C. team         D. whole

18. A. garden           B. garage           C. car          D. taxi

19. A. giving           B. keeping      C. driving      D. parking

20. A. who              B. what         C. which            D. where

What is the color of the universe? Astronomers did not answer this question until two months ago. This was when two American astronomers reported on their study of all the light in the universe. They said that the universe would appear to the human eye to be a light greenish color, called turquoise(青绿色). Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, reported their findings in January. They presented research at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. They said that finding the color of the universe was not part of their more serious scientific research. They did it for fun.
However, earlier this month, the scientists admitted to making a mistake. They said their finding was much more colorful than it should have been. They now say the light from our universe is closer to white. It is more like a milky or creamy white color.
The scientists gave a number to each of the colors of the different star systems. Then they added the numbers together and found the average measurement. The scientists used this average to identify the color of the universe. They said it was a very pretty light green or turquoise color. They called it “cosmic (宇宙的) spectrum (光谱) green.” Many newspapers and television stations reported their finding.
Other scientists and color engineers attempted to reproduce the result. Mark Fairchild of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York was the first person to identify a mistake. He discovered a mistake in the computer software program used by the Johns Hopkins scientists.
When the mistake was corrected, the results changed. The new color of the universe is much less colorful. It is very close to white. The scientists apologized for the mistake. They are now working with the Rochester Institute of Technology to produce more images regarding the color of the universe.
48. Why did the scientists do the research?
A. They wanted to win a Nobel Prize.     B. It’s required by the government.
C. They did it just for fun.              D. It’s part of their research.
49. We can infer that the passage was probably written in _______.
A. January     B. February    C. May        D. March[来源:学*科*网]
50. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. None of the researches done by scientists is right.
B. Scientists sometimes may make mistakes in their work.
C. The color of the universe is light greenish.
D. Mark Fairchild apologized for his mistake about the color of universe.

I still remember my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened. On my way to school I wondered what sort of questions the other boys would ask me and practiced all the answers: “I am nine years old. I was born here but I haven’t lived here since I was two. I was living in Farley. It’s about thirty miles away. I came back to London two months ago.” I also wondered if it was the custom for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age. I hoped they would decide not to risk it.

No one took any notice of me before school. I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say “hello”, but no one spoke to me. When a teacher called my name and told me where my classroom was, one or two boys looked at me but that was all.

My teacher was called Mr. Jones. There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn’t stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon. Mr. Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens and he had decided to read aloud to us from David Copperfield, but first he asked several boys if they knew Dickens’ birthplace, but no one guessed right. A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said: “Timbuktu”, and Mr. Jones went red in the face. Then he asked me. I said: “Portsmouth”, and everyone stared at me because Mr. Jones said I was right. This didn’t make me very popular, of course.

“He thinks he’s clever,” I heard Brian say.

After that, we went out to the playground to play football. I was in Brian’s team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal. No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper.

“He’s big enough and useless enough.” Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me.

I suppose Mr. Jones, who served as the judge, remembered Dickens, too, because when the game was nearly over, Brian pushed one of the players on the other team, and he gave them a penalty (惩罚). As the boy kicked the ball to my right, I threw myself down instinctively (本能地) and saved it. All my team crowded round me. My bare knees were injured and bleeding. Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me.

“Do you want to join my gang (帮派)?” he said.

At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger.

1.The writer prepared to answer all of the following questions EXCEPT “          ”.

A. How old are you?

B. Where are you from?

C. Do you want to join my gang?

D. When did you come back to London?

2.We can learn from the passage that           .

A. boys were usually unfriendly to new students

B. the writer was not greeted as he expected

C. Brian praised the writer for his cleverness

D. the writer was glad to be a goalkeeper

3.The underlined part “I didn’t stand out” in paragraph 3 means that the writer was not       .

A. noticeable                       B. welcome                          C. important                         D. foolish

4.The writer was offered a handkerchief because          .

A. he threw himself down and saved the goal

B. he pushed a player on the other team

C. he was beginning to be accepted

D. he was no longer a newcomer

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。

注意：请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。每个空格只填1个单词。

Living in a foreign country is fun but it isn’t always easy. There are many differences between cultures and although some of these differences are unimportant, some can cause a lot of embarrassment. In addition to the obvious language problems of living in a foreign country, I certainly experienced culture shock when I was living in Paris. I know I’m not the only one so I spoke to a few foreign friends about how they experienced culture shock in China.

   Aubin arrived two months ago from Europe to take part in a language programme in Shanghai. Before he left, he was actually taught the differences between European and Chinese Cultures, including everything from table manners to classroom behavior. However, some things have still taken him by surprise. For example, he couldn’t understand why waiters did not want to accept the tips he gave them after meals in restaurants. He said that in Europe waiters got angry if you didn’t leave them a tip! I had to explain to him that people don’t usually tip in China and that this comes from the Confucian idea that one must avoid accepting any undue income.

   Another friend, Julia, came to Guangzhou from London to teach at a language school. After a month, she told me that she was really let down by her students. I asked her why and she told me that they were so quiet that she was the only person talking in class and it felt like the children were being respectful but she said it would be more respectful if they answered her questions. I think we should be proud of the Chinese tradition that stresses politeness but I do think Julia has a good point.

   And it is not only the West and the East that have cultural differences. Even Korea and China, two countries that are very close to each other, have differences too. “I thought Chinese and Korean people were the same,” said my friend Ji-Hyun in perfect Chinese, “but I was wrong . In ancient times the Chinese used to take their shoes off. They don’t do that any more, but Korean people still do! I keep getting that wrong even though I’ve been here for five years!”

   Luckily, whether we take our shoes off or not, or leave unnecessary tips, the world still runs perfectly. In my opinion, cultural differences should simply be seen as a way of making life interesting. Imagine how boring it would be if we all did everything exactly the same way! Learning to understand and respect differences is, after all, what life is all about.