I was very disappointed not to be able to go to the jazz concert last Friday. The announcement in the paper said that you could buy tickets at the theatre box office in Richland Hills any day between 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Since I work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., the only time I could go to the theatre was during my 45-minute lunch break. Unluckily, the theatre is on the other side of the town, and the bus service between my office and Richland Hills is not very good. But if you are lucky, you can make the round trip in 45 minutes. Last Monday, I stood at the bus stop for 15 minutes waiting for a bus. By the time I saw one come around the corner, there was not enough time left to make the trip. So I gave up and went back to the office.

The same thing happened on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday. On Thursday, my luck changed. I got on a bus right away and arrived at the theatre in exactly 20 minutes. When I got there, however, I found a long line of people at the box office. I heard one man say he had been waiting in line for over an hour. Realizing I would not have enough time to wait in line, I caught the next bus and went back across the town. By Friday, I realized that my only hope was to make the trip by taxi. It was expensive, but I felt it would be worth to hear the concert. The trip by taxi only took 10 minutes, but it felt like an hour to me. When I got to the theatre, I was relieved to see that nobody was waiting in line. The reason, I quickly discovered, was that they had already sold out all the tickets.

56. The writer could go and buy the ticket __________.

A. any day before work hours　　　　　　 　　　 B. both before and after work hours

C .only during lunch time　　　　　　　　　 D. on Saturday and Sunday

57. The writer tried to go to the theatre every day, but was only successful______.

A. twice　　　　　　　 B. three times

C. four times 　　　 D. five times

58. He failed to get the ticket on Friday because _________.

A .it was impossible to make the round trip to the theatre in 45 minutes

B. the concert wasn’t on Friday

C. it was expensive to take a taxi

D. all the tickets had been sold out

59. The word "______" can be used instead of the underlined(划线的)word "relieved".

A. nervous 　　　　　 B. terrified 　　　　　 C. pleased 　　　　　 D. sad

It was Monday. Mrs. Smith's dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.

　　Considering that there was no better way. Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it：“Give my dog half a pound of meat.” Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently：“Take this to the butcher（* person whose job is selling meat）and he's going to give you your lunch today.”

　　Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.

　　At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.

　　The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers（*people who buy sth. from a shop）.

　　But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He  said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”

Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it！

1. It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs. Smith gave it ______ .

A．might do it much harm                   B．could do it much good

C．would help the butcher                   D．was worth many pounds

2.The butcher did not give any meat to the dog __________ .

A．before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs. Smith

B．when he found that the words on the paper were not clear

C．because he had sold out all the meat in his shop

D．until he was paid enough by Mrs. Smith

3.From its experience, the dog found that ________.

A．only the paper with Mrs. Smith's words in it could bring it meat

B．the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it

C．Mrs. Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher

D．a piece of paper could bring it half a pound of meat

4.At the end of the story, you'll find that _______.

A．the dog was clever enough to write on the paper

B．the dog dared not go to the butcher's any more

C．the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog

D．the butcher found himself cheated by the clever animal

Last summer, I travelled to Meixian County with my friends. It is a small county at the foot of Taibai Mountain in Shanxi Province. We stayed there for one week and I__1__ my vacation because of the beautiful scenery at the top of the mountain.

I will__2__ forget the day when we climbed the main peak(山顶). The __3__in that area changes very quickly: it was sunny in the early morning when we set out, __4__ it began to rain heavily when we were only halfway up.

Soon，we were all__5__ and some of us wanted to go home. They said, “There is nothing__6__ here. We came to see the scenery，__7__the pouring rain！” However, the guide__8__， “Since we have got wet already, why not just go on with our journey？”

So we carried on up the mountain and，__9__we even noticed, the rain stopped and the sun was smiling again. When we reached the top of the peak, the view was unique (独特的)．

Up there, it was bright and clear. The sky was__10__and the air was fresh. The gentle wind made us feel cool. All the clouds were just like waves in the ocean, __11__ and falling under our feet. We could only see the peaks of mountains, as if they were __12__ floating sparsely (稀疏的) in the ocean. It was a really magical experience.

While we were enjoying the scene, the guide said __13__，“You see, I knew that there would be no rain above the clouds.”

It is __14__. While it may rain below the clouds, the sun is still there above them.

You will never see the sun __15__ you don't try your best to climb to the top of the mountain. If we had stopped and gone home when the rain was very heavy, we would never have seen the beautiful scenery __16__ the clouds. I think this is also true in __17__.

As the song says, “You won't see the rainbow unless you have gone through the thunder and storm.” I think in the__18__， whenever I have any difficulties in my life, I will remember the__19__from the top of Taibai Mountain and the __20__ which touched my heart deeply: There is no rain above the clouds.

1．A.spent　　　B．killed　　　C．had　　　D．enjoyed

2．A.ever       B．never      C．certainly  D．perhaps

3．A.scenery    B．cloud      C．sky       D．weather

4．A.so        B．while      C．but        D．instead

5．A.tired      B．hungry     C．angry      D．wet

6．A.necessary  B．fun       C．important    D．instructive

7．A.not       B．no         C．never      D．hardly

8．A.suggested  B．ordered     C．asked     D．demanded

9．A.when            B．before  C．while         D．then

10．A.dark          B．green      C．black         D．blue

11．A.jumping   B．dropping  C．going      D．rising

12．A.islands   B．fish       C．animals     D．waves

13．A.excited   B．proudly    C．angrily     D．happily

14．A.false     B．a lie        C．a guess     D．true

15．A.when     B．unless      C．if         D．while

16．A.over     B．on         C．above      D．under

17．A.study      B．rest       C．real world  D．life

18．A.past      B．present      C．future   D．life

19．A.weather   B．change     C．view      D．time

20．A.word    B．phrase       C．speech     D．sentence

                                     MEN VS. WOMEN

COMPARING NICKNAMES

　If Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose.

　If Mike, Charlie, Bob and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla (怪兽), Peanut-Head and Scrappy.

EATING OUT

When the bill arrives, Mike, Charlie, Bob and John will each throw in $20, even though it’s only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller, and none will actually admit they want change back.

　When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY

　A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he wants.

　A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn’t want.

BATHROOMS

　A man has six items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, comb, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Holiday Inn.

　The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337... A man would not be able to identify most of these items.

ARGUMENTS

　A woman has the last word in any argument.

　Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

CATS

Women love cats.

　Men say they love cats, but when women aren’t looking, men kick cats.

FUTURE

　A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

　A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

SUCCESS

　A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

　A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

MARRIAGE

　A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.

　A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change and she does.

DRESSING UP

A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.

　A man will only dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL

　Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

　Women somehow deteriorate (恶化) during the night.

OFFSPRING

　Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

　A man is vaguely (含糊地) aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Any married man should forget his mistakes. There’s no sense in two people remembering the same thing.

63. This passage is_________________.

A. a story           B. an advertisement         C. a report          D. a humor

64. The purpose of this passage is________________.

A. to inform the readers of some secrets between men and women

B. to remind the readers of the big differences between men and women

C. to amuse the readers using some interesting examples

D. to show that men perform better than women in our daily life

65. When the girls get their bill, they take out the pocket calculators_________________.

A. to make sure they won’t be cheated by the servant    B. so that they can share the bill equally among them

C. because they want to know what time it is now        D. if they forget to bring their mobile phones

66. What does the underlined sentence mean?

A. A man doesn’t know what to do before he gets married.

B. A man is worried about his future job after he gets married.

C. Anything unexpected will probably happen to a man after he gets married.

D. It’s not easy for a man to find a good job as a woman thinks.

　　A flag is more than a piece of cloth． It stands for a nation's people --- their land, history, and ideals． Iceland's flag, for instance, stands for features of the land． Red is for the fire of Iceland's volcanoes． White is for ice． Blue is for the mountains． On India's flag, the blue wheel stands for peace and progress． The white stripe behind it is for truth． The black stripe on the flag of Malawi stands for the Negro people of that African land． The red stripe represents the blood they shed to free themselves from foreign rule．

　　When the people of any nation see their flag flying, they feel proud． They love and honor the flag as the symbol of their country．

1．The flag of Iceland is_______．

A．red and white B．blue and green

C．black, white, and red　　 D．red, white, and blue

2．The white stripe on India's flag stands for_______．

A．ice and mountains B． peace and progress C．waterfalls　　D． truth

3．India's flag stands mostly for the________．

A．features of the land B．riches of the soil

C．ideals of the people D．history of the country

4． Of the flags the writer mentions, Malawi's flag is the only one that has a______．

A． green bar B． black stripe C． blue wheel D． red cross

5． The red on Malawi's flag reminds the people of_______．

A．the many volcanoes in their land B．the beauty of their countryside

C．their fight for freedom D．their need to make progress

6． The writer says that when people see their flag they feel________．

A．peace B．pride C．love　　D．Both B and C

7． The most important thing about a flag is_________．

A．what it stands for　　 B． when it is used

C． what it is made of　　D． how big it is