I first heard this story a few years ago from a girl. Probably the story is one of those mysterious bits of folklore that reappear every few years. However, I still like to think that it really did happen, somewhere, sometime.
They were going to Fort Lauderdale-- three boys and three girls -- and when they boarded the bus, they were carrying sandwiches and wine, dreaming of golden beaches and sea tides as the gray, cold spring of New York vanished behind them.
As the bus passed through New Jersey, they began to notice Vingo. He sat in front of them, dressed in a plain ill-fitting suit, never moving, his dusty face masking his age. He kept chewing the inside of his lip a lot, frozen into complete silence.
Deep into the night, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson's, and everybody got off except Vingo. He sat rooted in his seat, and the young people began to wonder about him: perhaps he was a sea captain, a runaway from his wife, an old soldier going home. When they went back to the bus, one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.
¨We're going to Florida," she said brightly. “I hear it's really beautiful. "
"It is," he said quietly, as if remembering something he had tried to forget.
“Want some wine?" she said. He thanked her and retreated again into his silence. After a while, she went back to the others, and Vingo nodded in sleep.
In the morning, they awoke outside another Howard Johnson's, and this time Vingo went in. The girl insisted that he join them. He seemed very shy, and ordered black coffee and smoked nervously as the young people chattered about sleeping on beaches. When they returned to the bus, the girl sat with Vingo again, and after a while, slowly and painfully, he began to tell his story. He had been in jail in New York for the past four years, and now he was going home.
¨Are you married?"
“I don't know. "
“You don’t know?" she said.
“Well, when I was in jail I wrote to my wife," he said. ¨‘I told her that I was going to be away a long time, and that if she couldn't stand it, if the kids kept asking questions, she could just forget me. I'd understand. Get a new guy, I said - she's a wonderful woman – and forget about me. I told her she didn't have to write me. And she didn't. Not for three and a half years. "
"And you're going home now, not knowing?"
" Yeah," he said shyly. ‘‘Last week, when I was sure the parole was coming through, I wrote her again. There's a big oak tree just as you come into town, I told her that if she didn't have a new guy and if she'd take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree, and I'd get off and come home. If she didn't want me, forget it - no handkerchief, and I'd go on through. "
"Wow," the girl exclaimed. "Wow. "
She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, caught up in the approach of Brunswick, looking at the pictures Vingo showed them of his wife and three children.
Now they were 20 miles from Brunswick, and the young people took over window seats, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree. Vingo stopped looking, tightening his face, as if fortifying himself against still another disappointment.
Then Brunswick was 10 miles, and then five. Then, suddenly, all of the young people were up out of their seats, screaming and shouting and crying. All except Vingo. Vingo sat there stunned, looking at the oak tree. It was covered with yellow handkerchiefs —20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds. As the young people shouted, the old con slowly rose from his seat and made his way to the front of the bus to go home

1. 1.

   According to the passage, which statement is TRUE?

   1. A.
      The young people are travelling from Florida to New York
   2. B.
      Vingo was put in prison ten years ago, and now he was set free to go home
   3. C.
      The young people around Vingo were quite curious about his silence
   4. D.
      At last, Vingo went home together with the three boys and three girls
2. 2.

   From the underlined sentences in Para 3, we can infer that _____

   1. A.
      Vingo was nervous because he didn't know whether his wife would accept him
   2. B.
      Vingo was very disappointed because his wife didn't answer his letter
   3. C.
      Vingo was very shy because he knew someone was watching him
   4. D.
      Vingo was excited because he could go home and meet his wife and children
3. 3.

   The underlined word "fortify" in the passage has the same meaning as that in Sentence___

   1. A.
      The French soldiers are working hard to fortify airbase
   2. B.
      The food has been fortified with Vitamin
   3. C.
   4. D.
      People in the whole city were fortified by the moving story about their hero
   5. E.
      We had to drink some more coffee to fortify ourselves for the journey
4. 4.

   Which word do you think can best describe Vingo's wife?

   1. A.
      humorous
   2. B.
      loyal
   3. C.
      generous
   4. D.
      hard-working
5. 5.

   After reading the whole story, we can probably make a conclusion that_____

   1. A.
      Young people are always curious about everything new around them
   2. B.
      Home is always the first place a person wants to go
   3. C.
      Don’t laugh at a person who has no home
   4. D.
      It is impolite to ask questions about one's privacy that he or she doesn't want to tell
6. 6.

   What's the best title for the passage?

   1. A.
      A story of a poor man
   2. B.
      The power of love
   3. C.
      Help from strangers
   4. D.
      Going home

完形填空（共15小题；每小题1分，满分15分）
Wings of Angel 
I used to hate myself because I wasn’t “normal”. Everyone else could play on the monkey bars and ride on a bicycle, but not   36 . I had a severe spinal cord disorder (脊髓病) and I knew I would always be much   37  than others.
I hated going to school and I hated people   38  at me. I hated seeing others smiling broadly and standing straight and tall. And most of all, I hated looking in the   39  and seeing an ugly hunchback (驼背).
My friends found me   40  because I didn’t let others get close to me. I thought I was going to go on like this for the rest of my life   41  Angela appeared.
That afternoon, I was sitting by myself in a corner of the school — a spot where no one would   42  me. That’s when I first heard her voice.
“Hi. Can I sit down?”
I raised my head and there she was, with an irresistible smile on her round face.
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
“Ants.”
“What are they doing?”
“No idea.”
“I bet they’re playing games and making friends. Don’t you think so?”
That was how our   43  started and it didn’t stop. We talked about everything under the sun—the ants, the clouds, my little niche (处境) — until it was sunset.
Then suddenly, she saw my   44 . She just stared.
My heart sank. What I feared most had happened and I knew for sure she would   45  me now.
She stood up, pointed at my back and said, “I know   46  your back is hunched.”
I closed my eyes like a criminal waiting to be sentenced. I begged in my heart for her to   47 , but she just kept on going. “I know what you’ve got in there. Do you?”
“No,” I answered   48 .
She bent and whispered in my ears.
“Your back is hunched because you’ve got a pair of wings from the angels.”  
I was   49 . I looked into her eyes and her kindness touched my heart. From that day on, I started to learn to   50  myself because I have the wings of an angel and a kind-hearted friend.

London--A morning train rides away, across the channel. English kids discuss the Liverpool's football team in a Paris pub.

Some Parisians have started to travel to work in London.

In the 19th century, Charles Dickens compared the two cities, London and Paris, in A Tale of Two Cities. These days, it might be A tale of One City.

As there are few jobs at home over recent years, perhaps 250,000 Frenchmen moved across the channel. With an undersea tunnel, they could travel between cities in three hours. The European Union freed them from immigration and customs.

Paris, rich in beauty, is more stylish. But London feels more full of life, and more fun until the pubs shut down.

“For me, the difference is that London is real, alive,” said Trevor Wheeler, a financial expert.

Chantal Jaouen, a professional designer, agrees. “I am French, but I’ll stay in London,” she said.

There is, of course, the other view. Julie Lenoux is a student who moved to London two years ago. “I think people laugh more in Paris,” she said.

“Both cities have changed beyond recognition,” said Larry Collins, an author and sometimes a Londoner. Like most people who know both cities well, he finds the two now fit together comfortably. “I first fell in love with Paris in the 1950s. Things are so much more ordered, and life is better.”

But certainly not cheaper. In some parts of London, rents can be twice those on Avenue Foch in Paris.

Deciding between London and Paris requires a lifestyle choice. Like Daphne Benoit, a French journalism student with perfect English, many young people are happy to be close enough so they don’t have to choose. “I love Paris, my little neighborhood, the way I can walk around a centre, but life is too organized,” she said. “In London, you can be whoever you want. No one cares.”

It can be inferred that ___________.

A．Paris and London are the two biggest cities in the world

B．In the 19th century, Dickens told his stories in the two cities

C．London and Paris used to be separated

D．Liverpool is a big city in France

According to this passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．People feel it difficult to find a job in Paris.

B．People can't travel to London without a passport.

C．Living in France is more expensive than in London.

D．People can find any job in London.

The underlined phrase in Para 9 most probably means “_____________”

A. beyond one’s imagination

B. so much that people don’t know them well again

C. so little that people still know them well

D. to people’s satisfaction

What’s the meaning of the last two sentences?

A．People can do everything in London.

B．People will feel lonely in London.

C．People in London enjoy living in different ways.

D．People in London enjoy a lawless life.

第II卷　主观卷（共25分）

五、短文改错（每小题1分，共10分）

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文，文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处，错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词；删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉；修改：在错的词下面画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1、每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；2、只允许修改10处，多者从第11处起不计分。

I first met Li Meng at a friend birthday party five years ago. Then I invited Li Meng

over in my place. We listen to my CDs together and soon became good friends.

Three years ago, Li Meng’s parents invited I to spend two wonderful week in

Qingdao with them during the summer holiday. Li Meng and I loved walking along

the beautifully beaches there. Last year I was ill but had to stay in hospital for a week.

Li Meng came see me every day. Then, her father has changed jobs and they moved

to another city. Since then we haven’t see each other much, but we’ve kept

writing to each other.

One day a few years ago we had a guest of the uninvited variety. In fact, this uninvited guest was a bird--- a(n) __1__, to be more precise(精确地).
“What’s that?” I asked when I first heard the thump(重击声). “It sounds like Joe is outside playing basketball,” my wife, Anita, said. She paused and __2__ more devotedly. “It’s coming from the __3__.” she said. “Maybe it’s one of the little __4__”.
We rushed out the door. Jonathan, our youngest, was easy to make __5__. “If he’s making holes in the wall again…” I said as I searched there. No children at all. But there was that __6_ again, coming from right up there.
And that’s when I __7__ the sparrow. It was flying __8__ just inches below the ceiling. It was clearly trying to __9__, but couldn’t see that the way out wasn’t up, but down and out through the open _10__. So the bird continued beating its wings and hitting its head against the __11__.
“Poor thing,” Anita said. “It must be __12__.”
“Well, maybe it’s because of me,” I said as I moved toward it. I tried to show the bird how to glide (滑翔) down a few feet so it could get outside, __13__ that only seemed to frighten it more.
“Why don’t we just __14__?” Anita suggested. “I’m sure he’ll __15__ eventually.”
So we went back into the house, where we continued to hear the ongoing struggle. Then suddenly, it was __16__. We looked into the garage, and our uninvited guest was __17__.
“See?” Anita said. “I told you he would make it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But how many knocks on the head did it __18__ him?”
I’ve thought about that little sparrow through the years. Just like that sparrow, we often meet situations we don’t know how to __19__. Born to go upward, we don’t __20__ consider the possibility that something good might happen if we stop flapping(拍打) around and just glide down a little bit.