As any parent knows too well, sometimes a little white lie is the only way to make a naughty child quid. Indeed, parents have shared the top white lies they’ve told their children. While some of them are amusing, others are somewhat cruel.

“Father Christmas is watching you,” “Carrots will make you see in the dark” and “Your pet has gone to live on a farm” are among the top while lies parents tell their children. The top 20 list of little lies that adults use shows that four in five parents have told their children something that isn’t true. The threat of Father Christmas is on the top, with 62 percent of parents employing St. Nick to keep their kids tinder control. The second on the list is: “We’ll see”, which any little one knows really means “no”.

The majority of British people say that they lie to their children to protect their innocence, to save them from being upset or to stop them behaving badly. The top while lie told to kids about their pets is “your pet has to live on a farm in the countryside”, which is employed after one dies or has gone missing. On average, parents think that children are ready to start learning about death at the age of seven and a half.

One 62-year-old recalled that when he was four, his cat ran away, because it kept having its tail pulled. It was 53 years later that it was revealed that the cat had actually been given away to stop it from scratching the furniture. One respondent (应答者) said that he still remembered that when he was young, he believed his father’s statement that the entire world used to be in black and white before colour photography came along.

Forty percent of parents say that they would definitely lie to their children to keep up their belief in Father Christmas, and over hall say they’d certainly tell the truth about a pet dying. However, one in ten parents say they’ve replaced their children’s dead pet with a one looking the same to cheat their children into believing ii was still alive and well, found the study by Blue Cross pet charity.

33. The threat of Father Christmas which is used to control children shows that       .

A. Some children fear and respect Father Christmas

B. Father Christmas is more important than parents

C. Children should learn more about festivals

D. Father Christmas does live in the world

34. What can we conclude from Paragraph 4?

A. Children don’t understand why their parents tell white lies.

B. Parents’ white lies may do harm to their children.

C. Children don’t really mind their parents’ white lies.

D. Parents’ white lies may leave a deep impression on their children

35. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. Parents’ different understandings of while lies.

B. Parents’ different attitudes to telling white lies.

C. Parents’ different worries about white lies.

D. Parents’ different white lies.

Dearest Clare,

    As I write this, I am sitting at my desk in the back bedroom looking out at your studio across the backyard full of blue evening snow, everything is smooth and crusty with ice, and it is very still. It's one of those winter evenings when the coldness of every single thing seems to slow down time, like the narrow center of an hourglass which time itself flows through, but slowly, slowly. I had a sudden urge, tonight, here in the house by myself to write you a letter. I suddenly wanted to leave something, for after. I think that time is short, now. I feel as though all my reserves, of energy, of pleasure, of duration, are thin, small. I don't feel capable of continuing very much longer. I know you know.

    If you are reading this, I am probably dead. But you know: you know that if I could have stayed, if I could have gone on, that I would have seized every second: whatever it was, this death, you know that it came and took me, like a child carried away by goblins (妖精).

    Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. But I hate to think of you waiting. I know that you have been waiting for me all your life, always uncertain of how long this patch of waiting would be. Ten minutes, ten days. A month. What an uncertain husband I have been, Clare, like a sailor. Please, Clare. When I am dead, stop waiting and be free. Of me—put me deep inside you and then go out in the world and live. Love the world and yourself in it, move through it as though the world is your natural element.

     After my mom died she ate my father up completely. She would have hated it. Every minute of his life since then has been marked by her absence, every action has lacked dimension because she is not there to measure against. And when I was young I didn't understand, but now, I know, how absence can be present.

If I had to live on without you I know I could not do it. But I hope, I have this vision of you walking, with your shining hair in the sun. I have not seen this with my eyes, but only with my imagination, that makes pictures, that always wanted to paint you, shining; but I hope that this vision will be true, anyway.

    Clare, there is one last thing, and I have hesitated to tell you, because I'm afraid that telling might cause it to not happen and also because I have just been going on about not waiting and this might cause you to wait longer than you have ever waited before. But I will tell you in case you need something, after.

    Last summer, I was sitting in Kendrick’s waiting room when I suddenly found myself in a dark hallway in a house I don’t know. At the end of the hall I could see a rim of light around a door, and so I went very slowly and very quietly to the door and looked in. The room was white, and lit with morning sun. At the window, with her back to me, sat a woman, wearing a coral-colored cardigan sweater, with long white hair all down her back. She had a cup of tea beside her, on a table. I must have made some little noise, or she sensed me behind her...she turned and saw me, and I saw her, and it was you, Clare, this was you as an old woman, in the future. It was sweet, Clare, it was sweet beyond telling. I won’t tell you any more, so you can imagine it. We will see each other again, Clare. Until then, live, fully, present in the world, which is so beautiful.

   It’s dark, now, and I am very tired. I love you, always. Time is nothing.

                                                              Henry

32. Why did Henry mention the snow and ice in the first Paragraph?

A. To indicate the death is approaching.

B. To illustrate that he has an easy mind. 

C. To express how urgent he was to write the letter.

D. To show the weather conditions when he wrote the letter.

33. From Paragraph 4 we can know that ________.

A. his mother died soon after Henry was born

B. the living shouldn’t miss the dead too much

C. his mother had a narrow affection for his father

D. his father lived in the shadow of his mother’s absence

34. By describing what he found in Kendrick’s waiting room, Henry intended to tell Clare that ________.

A. he hoped she would wait for him forever

B. his health was worsening step by step

C. she should stop waiting and be free to live

D. she would be more beautiful when she was old

35. Which of the following can best describe Henry?

A. Considerate.               B. Generous.                     D. Explicit.                 D. Rigid.

 假定你是李华，想申请加入你校留学生俱乐部，以帮助外国学生学习汉语并了解中国文化。请给俱乐部负责人Mr. Blake 写一封邮件。内容包括：

1.目的；

2.个人情况。

注意：1. 词数100左右，邮件开头和结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数；

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Mr. Blake,

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

“HELL is a city much like London,” said Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819. Modern academics agree. Last year Dutch researchers showed that city dwellers(居民)have a 21% higher risk of suffering from anxiety disorders than do their calmer rural countrymen, and a 39% higher risk of suffering from mood disorders. But exactly how the inner workings of the urban and rural minds cause this difference has remained unclear—until now. A study just published in Nature by Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues has used a scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging (机能性磁共振成像，简称fMRI) to examine the brains of city dwellers and countrymen when they are under stress.

In Dr Meyer-Lindenberg’s first experiment, participants lying with their heads in a scanner took maths tests that they were bound to fail (the researchers had designed success rates to be just 25-40%). To make the experience still more embarrassing, the team provided negative feedback through headphones, all the while checking participants for indications of stress, such as high blood pressure.

The city people’s general mental health did not differ from that of the rural countrymen. However, their brains dealt with the stress caused by the experimenters in different ways. These differences were noticeable in two regions: the amygdalas (杏仁核) and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (前扣带皮层，简称pACC). 

People living in the countryside had the lowest levels of activity in their amygdalas. Those living in towns had higher levels. City dwellers had the highest. In the case of the pACC, however, what mattered was not where someone was living now, but where he or she was brought up. The more urban a person’s childhood, the more active his pACC, regardless of where he was dwelling at the time of the experiment.

The amygdalas thus seem to respond to the here-and-now while the pACC is programmed early on, and does not react in the same, flexible way as the amygdalas. Second-to-second changes in its activity might, though, be expected to be connected with changes in the amygdalas, because of its role in regulating them. fMRI allows such connections to be measured.

In the cases of those brought up in the countryside, regardless of where they now live, the connections were as expected. For those brought up in cities, however, these connections broke down. The regulatory mechanism of the native urbanite, in other words, seems to be out of order. 

Dr Meyer-Lindenberg and his team conducted several more experiments to check their findings. They asked participants to complete more maths tests—and also tests in which they were mentally ups and downs—while investigators scolded them about their performance. The results matched those of the first test. They also studied another group of volunteers, who were given stress-free tasks to complete. These experiments showed no activity in either the amygdalas or the pACC, suggesting that the earlier results were indeed the result of social stress rather than mental effort.

As is usually the case in studies of this sort, the sample size was small and the result showed an association, rather than a definite, causal relationship. That association is, nevertheless, interesting. Living in cities brings many benefits, but Dr Meyer-Lindenberg’s work suggests that Shelley and his fellow Romantics had at least half a point.

Title: Do urban brains behave differently from rural ones?

 When the questions got personal during the talk show, the actress _______ in tears as she opened up about the wounds she suffered.

A. broke up            B. broke down           C. broke out                D. broke through

I remember my mother as a strong woman. She came to America when she was 12—old enough to remember her language, she achieved scores and grades high enough to be admitted to Duke University. With a degree in computer science, she finally became the manager of a company in New York. My mother could give fluent speeches, say “wolves” correctly.

It was my mother who always stressed the importance of language. From the time I was born, I was read to. I would fall asleep to the sounds of my parents’ voices, whether it was my dad’s softly accented, or my mother’s clear English. The flow of language was unbroken, and whether in Chinese or English, the stream of communication flowed through our house.

One October morning in sixth grade, after my mother had left to catch the train to the city, I left the house for the bus stop. I was surprised when I saw our car, the door hanging open. As I drew closer, I saw my mother lying on the ground.

In the hospital, it was hard to believe that the lady who lay before me was my mom. My mother could not remember my name. As the leaves changed colors, it became clear that the stroke had created a wall between my mothers mind and mouth: her mind was not any less dear, but the words she spoke were not what she meant.

The battle my mother faced taught me the importance of language. Without it, identity does not exist; relationships cannot be formed; stories cannot be told; directions cannot be given, and knowing anything about anyone is impossible. Without language, communication cannot take place. Without language, one cannot express the beauty of a sunset or the kindness of a stranger. The world would pass us by in silence.

21. From where might the author’s mom come to America?

A. China                     B. England                 C. Russia            D. Canada

22. According to the last two paragraphs, the author’s mom was unable to       .

A. think clearly           B. express herself well       C. speak                    D. open her mouth.

23. The underlined word “stroke” in the 4th paragraph most probably refers to       .

A. an accident            B. a hit                       C. an illness               D. a robbery

24. This passage is mainly about      .

A. a strong mother                                 B. the importance of language

C. a family disaster                         D. the significance of teaching language

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.

When Doctor Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle: "No pains, no gains". He hardly watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said you had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water. So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.

Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty five years ago. They were all tall and strong.

I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of attending these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Adversity(逆境) seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb's trees in ways comfort and ease never could.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to meet with hardship. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be torn apart.

21. With the trees planted, Doctor Gibbs often __________.

A. paid little attention to them

B. kept watering them every morning

C. talked to them to get their attention

D. beat them to make them grow deep roots

22. What does the author think of the way Doctor Gibbs planted trees?

A. Strange and harmful.                         

B. Interesting and funny.

C. Cruel and unacceptable.                   

D. Original and reasonable.

23. Which prayer does the author wish for his sons?

A. Meet people like Dr Gibbs in the future.

B. Be able to stand the rain and wind in their lives.

C. Have an easy life, without too much to worry about.

D. Have good luck, encountering less hardship in their life.

24. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. Prayers for my sons                   

B. Doctor Gibbs and his trees

C. Growing roots                 

D. Watering trees

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，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 Ming at a friend birthday party five years ago. Then I invited Li Ming

over in my place. We listen to my CDs together and soon become best friends. Three years

ago, Li Ming’s parents invited I to spend two wonderful week in Qingdao with them during

the summer holiday. Li Ming and I loved walking along the beautifully beaches there. Last

year I was ill but had to stay in hospital for a week. Li Ming came see me every day. Then

his father has changed jobs and they moved to another city. Since then we haven’t see each

other much. But we’ve kept write to each other.

Is there anything more important than health? I don’t think so. “   36  ” wise people say.

If you have a headache, toothache, backache, or bad pain in the stomach, if you complain of a bad cough, or if you suffer from high or low blood pressure, I think you go to the doctor.

The doctor will examine your throat, test your blood pressure, take your temperature, sound your heart and lungs, check your teeth or have your chest X-rayed.   37  The only thing you have to do is to follow his advice.

  38  An old gentleman came to see the doctor. The man was very ill. He told the doctor about his weakness, memory loss and serious problems with his heart and lungs. The doctor examined him and said there was no medicine for his disease. He told his patient to go to a quiet place for a month and have a good rest.    39     In other words, the doctor advised him to follow the rule:” Eat at pleasure, drink at pleasure and enjoy life as it is.” The doctor also said that if the man wanted to be well again, he shouldn’t smoke more than one cigarette a day.

A month later the gentleman came into the doctor’s office.    40   He thanked the doctor and said that he had never felt a healthier man.

“But you know, doctor” he said,” it’s not easy to begin smoking at my age.”

A. He also advised him to eat a lot of meat, drink two glasses of red wine every day and take long walks.

B. You can’t be good at your studies or work well when you are ill.

C. After that he will advise some treatment or some medicine.

D. Health is the greatest wealth.

E. He looked cheerful and happy.

F. He was more worried about his illness.

G. Speaking about doctor’s advice, I can’t help telling you a funny story

When I was in high school, my father retired and set up a food stand on the street near my school. He was particularly good at making   41 ___  .  Every day after I finished school, my classmates and I would   ___42_   his food stand. But I really   __43   talking to him before his food stand, because I didn’t want my classmates to know my father was selling noodles on the street!

One night, I couldn’t __44__ it any more and shouted, “Dad, could you   __45 __ selling your annoying noodles? I don’t need a father who sells noodles on the street!” At that moment, my father was __ 46___   . He tried to say something but didn’t. When he turned   __47 __ , something happened that I would never  __48__  . His eyes were filled with tears. I saw him  ___49_  for the first time. My mother later told me my father was selling noodles to   __50__  money for my college education. Even today I still feel  _51___ for what I did that night.

Time really flies. I finished   __52___  and then left my home to work. During the past years, whenever I   53_   home, he was always there meeting me   __54_  at the railway station. Whenever he saw me off, he never tried to hug me, although I always   __55____ his hug. When I was away from home, he never wrote or telephoned me,   __56___  he always pushed my mother to telephone me. Whenever my mother was telephoning me, he’d sit beside her with a list of questions. He’d   __57___  my mother to talk to me for him. That’s the way he is, and that’s how he shows his   __58___  to me.

    My father is quiet, but I feel a   __59____ , which is deep and powerful. It lives in a place far beyond  __60_____ , and it is something special－“a silent father’s love”.

41. A. noodles               B.chicken                     C. bread              D. dessert

42. A. advertise             B. watch                      C. visit                D. pass

43. A. hated                  B.enjoyed                     C. considered               D. continued

44 A. digest                  B. deserve                    C. forgive              D. stand

45. A. stop                    B. start                        C. forget               D. remember

46. A. tired                   B. confused                 C. shocked            D. interested

47. A. down                  B. back                        C. up                    D. around

48. A. forget                B. describe                   C. prove                      D. face

49. A. weeping              B. arguing                     C. laughing           D. smiling

50. A. count                  B. take                         C. spend               D. save

51. A. happy                B. empty                      C. guilty                D. lonely

52. A. meeting              B. reading                     C. college              D. homework

53. A. stayed                 B. missed                     C. left                   D. returned

54. A. shyly                 B. quietly                      C.regularly           D. responsibly

55. A. saw                 B. expected                   C.refused              D. rewarded

56. A. but                            B. and                          C. or                    D. if

57. A. force                 B. tell                           C. challenge         D. inspire

58. A. respect               B. hate                       C. anger              D. love

59. A. combination        B. competition              C. condition          D. connection      

60. A. greetings            B. injuries                    C. words               D. links

The Healthy Habits Survey shows that only about one third of American seniors (年长者) have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice.

1.    How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday?

·  Finding：A full 33% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day.

·  Step：Remove the 300 types of bacteria in your mouth each morning with a toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes, at least twice a day.

2.    How many times did you wash your hands or bathe?

·  Finding：Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 times a week. And nearly 30% wash their hands only 4 times a day - half of the number doctors advise.

·  Step：We touch our faces around 3,000 times a day - often inviting germs（病菌）to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes. Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most importantly, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds.

3.    How often do you think about fighting germs?

·  Finding：Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should.

·  Step：Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge(海绵)that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds.

45. What is found out about American seniors?

A. Most of them have good habits.

B. Nearly 30% of them bathe three days a week.

C. All of them are fighting germs better than expected.

D. About one third of them brush their teeth only once a day.

46.  Doctors suggest that people should wash their hands_______.

A. eight times a day                 B. three times a day

C. four times a day                  D. twice a day

47. Which of the following is true according to the text ?

A. We should keep ourselves from touching our faces.

B. There are less than 200 types of bacteria in the mouth.

C. A kitchen sponge can carry more germs than a toilet.

D. We should wash our hands before touching a door handle.

48.  The text probably comes from_______.

A. a guide book                      B. a popular magazine

C. a book review                     D. a text book

 Never take ____ for granted that one can succeed just with luck.

      A. it        B. them        C. that          D. one

 Many drivers are ____and push into other lanes of traffic, while some drivers ignore that speed ____.

   A. sensitive; harms           B. impressive; kills   C. aggressive; kills   D. attractive; suffers

Artificial intelligence keeps defeating human, it is making countless victories against human in different fields of life and trying to push human to the corner.

Google’s DeepMind has defeated the world’s number one player Ke Jie. Human brain somehow has been replaced by a machine and scientists are working very hard on developing a human brain by implanting a chip and connecting it to the thick neuron that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Well, who doesn’t want to get his brain upgraded to be as smart as the brain of Albert Einstein or Charles Darwin?

Humans will probably one day invent a brain that can be implanted in the human skull and reprogram all the human thoughts, but his invention doesn’t seems to be happening in the foreseeable future since human brain took millions of years to evolve. Some scientists believe that human will defeat death in the next twenty hundred years but they can’t really predict how long it’s going to take to develop a human brain that can completely replace the natural brain.

Despite of this accomplishment in the field of artificial intelligence, it couldn’t crease people from believing that science can’t stand alone. For instance, AI can imitate human brain and most of the time outperforms it, but there are still a lot of hidden secrets. AI outsmarted Ke Jie has consciousness unlike the AI, Ke Jie felt sad when he was defeated and buried his face in his hands but the AI didn’t feel happy and celebrate his victory.

The computer of 1960 is the same as the computer of 2017 in terms of consciousness, there is no signs so far telling us that there is an algorithm(运算)that can make a conscious computer and decipher (译解)its feelings. We can predict what the future will look like according to the past, especially from scientific point of view but the development of human brain seems unpredictable and unknown.

12. What is the possible meaning of the underlined word “neuron” in Para. 2?

A. the tube through which blood flows in your brain

B. the kind of cell that carries information

C. the soft fatty substance in the hollow center of bones

D. the bony part of one’s head which encloses his/her brain

13. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A. It took millions of years for human brain to evolve

B. Humans wish to get their brains upgraded to be as smart as possible

C. Humans will probably invent a brain that can reprogram all the human thoughts.

D. It is hard to develop a human brain that can completely replace the natural brain

14. “Ke Jie felt sad when he was defeated” is mentioned in Para. 4 to______.

A. show that the AI has no human emotions

B. explain that AlphaGo is virtually unbeatable in the board game

C. tell us the accomplishment in the field of artificial intelligence

D. analyze Ke Jie’s psychological characteristics when playing the game

15. What can be the best title for the passage?

A. World Top Go Player Ke Jie Challenges AlphaGo

B. AlphaGo Teaches To use AI To benefit Humans

C. Google AI Defeats Human Go Champion

D. AI Can Imitate Human Brain And Most Of the Time Outperforms It

假如你是李华。最近你所居住的涉外小区里车辆乱停乱放现象很严重。请你根据所给提示，给小区负责人史密斯先生写一封信反应这个问题。要点包括：

1.分析原因          2.你的建议

注意： 1．词数100左右（开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数）；

       2．可根据内容适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Mr Smith,

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________                     Yours,

Li Hua

______ is expected，according to the online survey，is ______ the price of housing will not go up any more．（　　）

A．As； what   B．It； that       C．What； that       D．What； which

Bored by the Chinese courses he was majoring in，Zuo Cheng,18，couldn’t imagine having to drag himself into class day after day，week after week，for four years.

The Beijing Language and Culture University student decided that enough was enough.__36__

“It may seem like I’ve wasted a year and have to start college all over again，but now that I’ve settled on a field I’ll be able to concentrate，” Zuo said.

Zuo is not alone.

At the China Three Gorges University in Yichang in Hubei Province 53 out of 59 students in the Physics Department took transfer exams last semester.__37__

“__38__ Many students picked colleges before majors，only to discover their mistakes a few weeks after arrival on the campus，” said Jiang Xin,20，who was able to switch to electrical engineering and automation from physics.He said that physics graduates had few other options besides going into teaching.__39__

A new survey，of 2,500 students nationwide starting in September this year，suggests that as many as 35 percent of students are disappointed by their courses.

However，Shao Yangfang，who works at the admissions office of University of International Business and Economics in Beijing， advised students to consider both short­term and long­term goals.

“After graduation do you want to find yourself in a job very specially related to your college major？Or，would you like to possess the knowledge and skills that will enable you to work in many areas？__40__ Above all，your choice of major should be based on your own interest，abilities and personality，” Shao said.

A．These are the questions students need to consider.

B．He added that a career in education just didn’t suit him.

C．Many college students don’t care about their future career.

D．Unfortunately only 22 of them got a place on another major.

E．When we were at high schools very few of us understood how a major relates to a career.

F． When we were at high schools，we already knew what are hot majors and what are unexpected ones.

G．After rounds of exams and interviews，he managed to transfer to the Department of International Accounting.

John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the earth, learned how to fly while attending college in 1939. During the day he studied chemistry, and in his spare time, he took flying lessons. Shortly after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he left college to join the Marines, flying fighter planes in the Pacific theater during the Second World War, and later in the Korean conflict.In 1959, the newly-formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, put out a call for test pilots. Of the 508 competitors, seven men, including John Glenn, were chosen for astronaut training. These were the Mercury(水星) 7, America’s space pioneers. John Glenn did not get his wish of becoming the first man in space, but he did become the first American in deep space, orbiting the earth three times on February 20th, 1962.

At the time, few members of the public realized the dangers involved in space flight. “The risks were extremely high,” said then- NASA Flight Director Gene Krantz. “And you know, when we put John Glenn on board a rocket, he was flying the 6th Atlas and 2 of the previous 5 had blown up.”

Discouraged by lack of flight assignments in the Apollo moonshot program, John Glenn left NASA in 1964. For the next decade, he worked in the private apartment. Eventually, he ran for the U.S. Senate ( 参议院）and, after two failed attempts, won a seat in 1974. He would represent Ohio for 24 years. And just before he ended his political career, at the age of 77, he became the oldest person to fly in space as a member of the Discovery space shuttle.

The last of America’s first astronauts has left us on December 8 at the age of 95, but motivated by their example, we know that our future here on Earth drives us to keep reaching for the heavens.”

21. The text is organized in the order of ________.

A. frequency      B. importance     C. time        D. preference

22. John Glenn quit NASA because _________.

   A. his wish failed.

   B. he showed interest in politics.   C. he had no flight task to accomplish

   D. he was too old to keep on in space.

23. From what Gene Krantz said, we know John Glenn was ________.

A. brave      B. aggressive          C. fragile    D. dangerous

I’m sitting here in this coffee shop. You know the one there by Allen street. The town is filled with thousands of middle class college kids living off their parent’s money.

The coffee shop is where the ones come to play the part of sophisticated bohemians (放荡不羁的文化人). The pretensions (自命不凡) glow from their line-less faces as they sip cappuccinos and chew strawberry cookies. The boys to my right are discussing Nabokov with a serious air, a copy of Sartre’s Cuba lies on the table.

The young woman on my left is declaring that she can never allow her creativity to be killed by entering the work force. The man with her scratches his goatee (胡子) in agreement, occasionally suggesting they go back to his place to hear his new Washington Squares CD. Matt has just designed a new international symbol for peace. He moves from table to table trying to sell hand painted T-shirts that bear the design. Tomorrow he’s leaving for the 25th anniversary Woodstock concert where he hopes to strike it rich with his creation.

Gopha the skinny Indian boy feels like singing me a verse of ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ when I ask him if he’s a friend of Monica’s. Jason is trying to talk Gopha into a dollar bet on a game of chess. Between times Jason will chew your ear off with his plans to conquer the music industry while studying entertainment law, but when it comes to his never ending dollar chess matches he’s quiet as a church mouse.

I sit among them. To all surface appearances one and the same. If they could only see I would rather reach into their flesh and tear out their shallow little hearts than listen to another second of their prattle (闲扯).

With no job, no gigs, and my girlfriend’s so far gone she might as well be on another planet, I’ve been leading the writer’s quiet cafe life, spending my free time outdoors drinking iced teas and cheap wines. I chat warmly with whoever decides to squander away their hours in my surrounding area.

But behind my eyes is an unspoken challenge to any and every one of these social elites (精英) to just once say one thing that would inspire me. Just one little idea which is new and meaningful. Unfortunately original thoughts are zero here.

In my secret mind I wish to run like a madman banging gongs and speaking in tongues. Or maybe jump on a table and sing the Star Spangled Banner in the forgotten language of the Hottentots. I know these thoughts only reveal me as a fool because the spark I search for cannot be found in acts of shocking performance art. Where it truly comes from is one of the mysteries which will always hang around me.

62. The college students in the coffee shop can be described as ______.

   A. shallow and aimless                                    B. determined and independent

   C. vain and ambitious                                      D. honest and hardworking

63. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. Matt’s T-shirts will be a hit at the concert and bring him wealth.

   B. Jason seems to show more enthusiasm in the dollar chess matches.

C. The young woman agrees to listen to a new Washington Squares CD.

D. The hero envies the lifestyle of the college students in the coffee shop.

64. Why is the hero in the coffee shop?

A. To recall the pleasant memories.            B. To relieve his sorrows and worries.

C. To know what is in fashion nowadays.       D. To find something new to inspire himself.

65. What does the passage imply?

A. The hero is sure that he can find the original thoughts in a crazy way.

B. The hero is disappointed at the college students failing his expectation.

C. The hero is quite content with his quiet café life as a writer.

D. The hero is lost in the physical world and hopeless about his future.

Have you ever thought of quitting your job when you feel exhausted? Maybe most of you would say “yes”. After a particularly busy period at work, I decided to get away from it all by going on a hike in the mountains in southern France.
        Before I left, I read an interesting story in a magazine. It read, “Once, while I was riding on a crowded bus, the man sitting next to me threw his cell phone out of the window when his phone rang. I was surprised. He looked at me, shrugged (耸耸肩) and looked away. I had no idea whether it was his or stolen or whether he even knew what a cell phone was or not, but he clearly wanted to be free of it, because it clearly

troubled   him.”
         Billions of people across the world use cell phones. Though cell phones are a wonderful way for communication, they often do the exact opposite. Using cell phones can increase stress within families and friends.
         So when I recently returned home, I got rid of my cell phone. Now I go outside without taking my phone with me. I’ve noticed things in my neighborhood I never noticed before, such as gardens. I’ve met new people, started conversations with neighbors I didn’t speak to before and talked with some of my friends face to face instead of chatting over the phone.
        Instead of keeping me off from the world, stopping using my cell phone has helped me get even closer to my family and friends.
5. According to the story, the man on the bus threw away his cell phone because______.

A. it didn’t work properly                          B. it was stolen from someone else

C. he didn’t like the phone’s style               D. he didn’t want to be bothered by it

6. We can learn from the passage that cell phones ______.

A. are too expensive for many people

B. are of no use to the author

C. can also get people into trouble

D. can make life more interesting

7. The main purpose of the passage is to ______.

A. tell us not to let cell phones control our lives

B. encourage others to hike with him in France

C. share his experiences in France with us

D. teach us how to get along with neighbors