Success is often measured by the ability to overcome adversity（逆境）. But it is often the belief of others that gives us the courage（勇气）to try.

J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, began writing at age 6. Her good friend-Sean became the first person to encourage her and help her build the confidence that one day she would be a very good writer.

“He was the first person with whom I really discussed my serious ambition（志向） to be a writer. He was also the only person who thought I was bound to（注定）be a success at it, which meant much more to me than I ever told him at the time.”

Though there were many difficulties, Rowling continued her writing, particularly fantasy stories. But it wasn't until l990 that she first came up with the idea about Harry Potter. As she recalls（回忆）, it was on a long train journey from London to Manchester that “the idea of Harry Potter simply fell into my head. To my great disappointment, I didn't have a pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details came up in my brain, and this thin, black-haired, bespectacled（戴眼镜的）boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.”

That same year, her mother died after a ten-year fight with serious diseases, which deeply affected her writing. She went on to marry and had a daughter, but separated from her husband shortly afterwards.

During this time, Rowling was diagnosed with depression（诊断患有抑郁症）. Unemployed, she finished her first novel in area cafes, where she could get her daughter to fall asleep. After being refused by l2 publishing houses, the first Harry Potter novel was sold to a small British publishing house.

Now with seven books that have sold nearly 400 million copies in 64 languages, J. K. Rowling is the highest earning novelist in history. And it all began with her friend’s encouragement as well as her ambition to write.

1. Who believed J. K. Rowling was to be a good writer?

A．Her friend Sean.                        B．Her mother.

C．Her daughter.                          D．Her husband.

2. Rowling first came up with the idea about Harry Potter________.

A．at the age of 6                          B．on a train journey

C．after her mother's death                  D．in her secondary school

3. She felt disappointed on the train because_________.

A．her train was delayed for four hours

B．she didn't have a pen with her

C．her mind suddenly went blank

D．no one would offer her help

4. It can be concluded from Paragraph 5 and 6 that Rowling is_________.

A．open-minded                          B．warm-hearted

C．good-natured                          D．strong-willed

5. The text mainly tells us_________.

A．adversity makes a good novelist

B．the courage to try is a special ability

C．you can have a wonderful idea everywhere

D．encouragement helps one succeed

There have been great changes in the lives of women. During the twentieth century ,there was an unusual shortening of the time of a woman’s life spent in caring for children. A woman marrying at the end of the 19th century would probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have about eight children, of whom about five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which custom, chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman’s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and is likely to take paid work until retirement at sixty. Even while she has the care of children, her work is lightened by household appliances(家用电器) and convenience(方便) foods.
This important change in women’s way of life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women tend to marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards, return to full or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with both husband and wife accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfaction of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money and running the home, according to the abilities and interest of each them.
【小题1】Women marrying at the end of the 19th century ________.

A．would have fewer children than those today.

B．would have more children than those today.

C．lived as hard as those in the 20th century

D．lived more comfortably than those in the 20th century

At exactly eleven Sir Percival knocked and entered, with anxiety and worry in every line of his face. This meeting would decide his future life, and he obviously knew it.

“You may wonder, Sir Percival,” said Laura calmly, “if I am going to ask to be released（免除）from my promise to marry you. I am not going to ask this. I respect my father’s wishes too much.”

His face relaxed a little, but one of his feet kept beating the carpet.

“No, if we are going to withdraw（退出）from our planned marriage, it will be because of your wish, not mine. ”

“Mine?” he said in great surprise. “What reason could I have for withdrawing?”

“A reason that is very hard to tell you,” she answered. “There is a change in me.”

His face went so pale that even his lips lost their color. He turned his head to one side.

“What change?” he asked, trying to appear calm.

“When the promise was made two years ago”, she said, “my love did not belong to anyone. Will you forgive me, Sir Percival, if I tell you that it now belongs to another person?”

“I wish you to understand”, Laura continued, “that I will never see this person again, and that if you leave me, you only allow me to remain a single woman for the rest of my life. All I ask is that you forgive me and keep my secret.”

“I will do both those things,” he said. Then he looked at Laura, as if he was waiting to hear more.

“I think I have said enough to give you reason to withdraw from our marriage,” she added quietly.

“No. You have said enough to make it the dearest wish of my life to marry you,” he said.

1.How did Percival feel during his meeting with Laura?

A. Angry.         B. Calm.         C. Excited.         D. Nervous.

2.We can learn from the passage that ______.

A. Laura’s father wished to end her marriage

B. Laura had once promised to marry Percival

C. Percival had been married to Laura for two years

D. Percival asked to be released from the marriage

3.What do you think is the ending of the story?

A. Laura was married to Percival.   

B. Laura was married to another man.

C. Percival was married to another woman. 

D. Both Percival and Laura remained single for the rest of their lives.

My friend got married. His mother carried two bags of cotton from the countryside by bus and train to his city. After arriving at the city, there was still a long way to his house without any bus passing by the house. His mother walked to his home breathlessly for 40 minutes without taking a taxi in order to save money.

My friend felt bitter as well as funny at his mother’s deeds. He pointed to the cashmere and silk quilts and said, “So long as you have money, you can buy anything in the supermarket. There is no need for you to carry so much cotton here in such a long way.”

But his mother insisted and said, “The cotton of this year is light and warmth-keeping. Have a try and you will know!”

Maybe every parent is the same, caring for their children with stubborn love without caring about whether they know or like it.

This early spring, I went to visit my grandmother. We had dry beans stew （炖菜）, eggplant salad bar, sauce radish （酱萝卜条）for our dinner, all of which were dried by my grandmother last autumn and tasted wonderful. I loved the dishes to my heart’s content and could not help praising them again and again.

After a few days, my grandmother, who seldom visited us, came to my home and unpacked her bag, smilingly taking out bags of dried eggplants, dried beans and dried vegetable. She told me that I left so hastily last time that she forgot to give me some of these foods, so she took this chance to bring me what I liked.

I was speechless at that time. Due to my casual complimentary her food, my grandmother, a nearly 70-year-old lady, by taking three buses from the west of the city to the east, came to my home with the food I liked. But she was bus-sick in life and even seldom went strolling in the street.

My pretty girlfriend had a failed marriage in the past. After divorce, her parents shed the deepest protection and care to her by helping her attend to the child and offering financial aids. Her parents’ love made her pull herself together and forgot the man who had hurt her before.

Nonetheless, her father, an honest and upright old man, after hearing his ex-son-in-law got promoted in his company, felt terrifically irritated and went to his company to question his boss why a philandering man with corrupt conducts could get promoted. The whole office fell into a mess immediately and many staff just watched on the sidelines. Some people even whispered lightly, "It is a new era now and the relationship between men and women is very open. No one would care about that anymore!"

The old man stood silently in the office with his hands shivering and eyes tearing.

That night, my girlfriend cried heavily in front of me. I asked her whether it was her father’s stupid deeds that made her feel humiliated. But she said that she felt guilty for her dad and that though the rest of the whole world betrayed her, her old father would still back her up and help her get the justice she deserved, just as when she was young and the neighboring boy grabbed her ball, her father would get it back for her. However, this changed world was no longer the stage for her old father and his deeds became funnily obsolete. No one managed to see the real and ever-lasting love to his daughter behind his seemingly rude behaviors.

Now we have grown up so much so that we could support our family and have our own children. But in our parents’ heart, they are still worried that we do not have sufficient quilts and dried vegetables. They would not feel troubled to bring all these to us regardless of long tough journey. They even would not like us to suffer a bit and try all means to protect us without caring about whether what they do is awkward and stupid or not.

Who in the world would love us so deeply and relentlessly without asking for any repay? Only our parents!

1.What does the author want to tell us?

A. The love from our parents is real and deep though sometimes it doesn't appear so.

B. The love from our parents is awkward sometimes, which is rather annoying.

C. Children should appreciate parents' love because their life is so hard.

D. The world is changing so the love of parents should change too.

2.The underlined world "humiliate" in the eleventh paragraph means ________.

    A. guilty        B. moved       C. happy      D. ashamed     

3.How many examples of older generation’s love are mentioned in the passage?

    A. One         B. Two        C. Three       D. four

4.After the author's girlfriend's former husband got promoted, her father _____.

A. congratulated him

B. made his daughter marry him again

C. had a quarrel with him

D. argued with his boss

5.From the passage we can learn the author's grandmother is ___________.

A. upright and honest        B. loving and troublesome

C. thoughtful and careful       D. generous and active

三、完形填空（共20小题，每小题1分，共20分）
A   37   thing happened   38   me last Sunday. It was such a beautiful day __39_ I drove to go for a look in the country.
On the way back home, my   40   stopped. It was out of gas on a   41   road far from a town! I decided to walk until I found someone   42  could sell some gas. I had walked almost a mile   43  I finally found a house near the __44__. I was glad to see it because it was getting dark.
I knocked at the door and a little old lady with long white hair __45_. She said, “I’ve been __46__ for you here for a long time. Come in.   47   is almost ready.”
“But I only came for some gas,” I answered. I couldn’t   48   what she was talking about.
“Oh, Alfred! Gas? You   49  tea,” said she.
I quickly   50  that my car was out of   51  , but she didn’t seem to listen to me. She just kept   52  me Alfred and talking about how long it had been   53   she had seen me. She was acting very strangely and I was anxious to leave. As soon as she went to get tea, I went out of the house as fast as I   54  .
Fortunately, there was another house down the road and I was able to buy the gas I needed. When I told the man about my   55 , he said, “Oh, that’s Miss Emily. She lives by herself in that big house. She’s strange, but she wouldn’t   56  anybody. She is still waiting for the man she was going to marry thirty years ago. The day before their wedding he left home and never came back because of the war.”
37. A. happy   B. strange       C. common     D. bad
38. A. on B. in       C. upon   D. to
39. A. and      B. so       C. but     D. that
40. A. car       B. bus     C. bike    D. truck
41. A. narrow B. lonely C. crowded     D. busy
42. A. what     B. whom C. who    D. how
43. A. before  B. after   C. while  D. as
44. A. street    B. path    C. way    D. road
45. A. came    B. answered    C. opened       D. appeared
46. A. asking  B. looking      C. calling       D. waiting
47. A. Gas      B. Coffee       C. Tea     D. Lunch
48. A. consider       B. understand  C. accept D. think
49. A. like      B. love    C. used to like D. liking
50. A. answered     B. explained   C. refused       D. promised
51. A. gas       B. tea      C. strength      D. energy
52. A. calling  B. call     C. to call D. called
53. A. until     B. before C. since   D. when
54. A.could     B.can      C. would D. wanted
55. A. accident       B. incident      C. experience  D. surprise
56. A.hit  B. injury C. hurt    D. frighten