When I was a boy my father told me that he could do anything he wanted to. Dad said that he wanted to be the first to develop color prints in our city and so he did．        

    When I was 16，Dad looked closely at the violin I played and said that he wanted to make one．He read about violin-making, and then became a violin-maker at the age of 43. He bought the tools and materials, opened a small store and set Mom up as the shopkeeper, while he worked at a local company. He retired from the company 17 years later and continued to make violins and other instruments.      

    Dad often guessed why the Stradivarius violins sounded so beautiful. Some experts told him that it was the special varnish(油漆)that gave the instruments their beautiful sound．Dad argued that chemists could analyze the varnish—if that was the answer．   

    One of Dad’s friends asked him which kind of wood was used to make violins．When Dad explained that the top was made of spruce(云杉), his friend said that he had all old piece of spruce which Dad might be interested in.    

    He worked for the next 12 months making a violin from the wood that his friend had given him. It proved to be an excellent violin and it would become Dad’s masterpiece. He believed that the secret of the Stradivarius sound was in the wood itself.    

    Later, the instrument was stolen, Dad’s spirit was broken and he stopped making instruments. But he kept the music shop until he was 80 years old, selling guitars and violins.     

    The violin has been missing for more than 25 years．Somewhere a musician is playing a late-20th-century violin with an excellent tone．The owner today may never understand why this Ordinary-looking violin sounds so much like Stradivarius．

21. In Paragraph l，the writer mentioned his father’s developing color prints to        .

   A. let others know that he believed his father   

   B. show that his father would like to make violins   

   C. Prove that his father could do anything he wanted to

   D. give an example showing that his father was an inventor

22. What did the writer’s father think about Stradivarius violins?

   A. They were made by experts．    

   B. The wood of the violins was special．      

   C. The way of making them was unusual．   

   D. The varnish was different from the others．

23. From the underlined sentence, we learn that the writer’s father        ．

   A. found another new job  B. wanted to become famous        

   C. lost interest in instruments    D. liked the violin very much

24. What could be the best title of the passage?

   A. My Experienced Father         B. My Father and His Violin    

   C. The Secret of Making Violins      D. The New Owner of the Violin

RAISINS(葡萄干)

    It is believed that raisins were discovered in the Middle East, where they were treasured. Any food that wouldn't spoil in the hot sun was very valuable. Prehistoric drawings in France show that raisins have been enjoyed in southern Europe for thousands of years.   36    .In 1000 B.C. the Jews paid their taxes with raisins. Two jars of raisins in ancient Rome could buy one slave boy.  37  ．

In North America, the original mistake of leaving grapes to wither（枯萎）on the vine was  not the only time raisins accidentally became popular. In the 1870s many people were growing grapes in California.    38    .Most Americans had never heard of raisins at that time. In September, 1873 a severe heat wave struck the area. Before the growers could pick all their grapes, the heat shriveled（使枯萎）them on the vine. The grapes were lost. One grower took the dried grapes to a grocer in San Francisco.    39    .The new accidental raisins grew into a major industry in California. Today almost all the raisins eaten in the United States are grown  in California. California produces a third of the world's raisins.

     __40  .Raisins also provide potassium, magnesium, calcium and certain B vitamins. Without added preservatives(防腐剂),raisins will stay fresh, delicious and nutritious if kept in  a cool place.

    Raisins are tiny, portable and above all delicious.

A. The grapes were either eaten as fresh fruit or were made into wine.

B. The grocer's customers discovered that raisins made a delicious treat.

C. They have been used for necklaces and as religious symbols.

D. The grocer was unwilling to buy the dried grapes.

E. Raisins are high in iron, which is important to children's growing bodies.

F. Roman doctors believed raisins could cure anything from mushroom poisoning to old age.

G. Raisins are children's favorite snacks

It was about 11:15 pm on the passenger ship California. The night was freezing cold and the water was filled with ice from the North Pole, making it difficult for the ship to sail on.

In the radio room, ship California’s operator Cyril Evans listened to the radio-talk between a nearby passenger ship and the telegraph station on the Canadian island of Newfoundland. Evans interrupted it and said, “We’re stopped and surrounded by ice. Be careful as you pass through these waters.” The radio operator on the nearby ship replied, “I’m too busy to talk now. I have many messages to send to the telegraph station. ” Twenty minutes later, as he turned off his radio and went to bed, Evans could still hear the ship sending its passengers’ telegrams.

Earlier in the evening the California’s captain, Stanley Lord, had seen another ship approaching. It looked about the size of his own, but attempts to contact the ship failed. It lay dark and mysterious about 10 miles away. At 00:40 am there appeared a sudden flash of light just over the mystery ship. Captain Lord, thinking the ship might need help, ordered his officers to signal the ship by lamp. There was no reply. Three more rockets then exploded, none appeared to go higher than halfway up the mast(桅杆）of the mystery ship. Then at about 2:00 am it turned and slipped into the darkness.

In the light of the dawn there was no mystery ship, but 20 miles away was the scene of a great disaster. Unfortunately, the mystery ship had stopped directly in front of the California, preventing people on board from seeing clearly. If this ship had not been there, Captain Lord would have recognized that the rockets were SOS rockets that came not from the mystery ship but from a more distant ship which the California could not see. If Cyril Evans had kept his radio on for just 30 minutes more he would have heard SOS signals coming from that distant ship he spoke with the night before. That ship was the Titanic which was sinking fast, leaving 1,500 of its passengers dead. It was April 14, 1912.

53. Why were the rockets really fired?

  A. To celebrate the journey.                                 B. To signal for help.

  C. To contact the Titanic.                                   D. To warn other ships.

54. What is the main function of the last paragraph of this passage?

  A. It shows how unlucky the Titanic was.      

  B. It describes how the Titanic sank.

  C. It indicates that the people on the California were careless.

  D. It lists how many people died in the disaster.

55. How many ships are mentioned in the passage?

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

56. From the passage we know that       .

  A. the rockets were fired from the mystery ship                             

  B. Cyril Evans worked on the mystery ship that night

  C. the Titanic started sinking at dawn the next day

  D. the Titanic sent out many telegrams that night

    Until the 1980s, the American homeless population is mainly made up of older males. Today, homelessness strikes much younger part of society. In fact, a 25-city survey by the U. S. Conference of Mayors in 1987 found that families with children make up the fastest growing part of the homeless population. Many homeless children gather in inner cities; this transient(变化无常的) and frequently frightened student population creates additional problems — both legal and educational — for already overburdened urban school administrators and teachers.
    Estimates of the number of homeless Americans range from 350,000 to three million. Likewise, estimates of the number of homeless school children vary radically. A U.S. Department of Education report, based on state estimates, states that there are 220,000 homeless school-age children, about a third of whom do not attend school on a regular basis. But the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that there are at least two times as many homeless children, and that less than half of them attend school regularly.
    One part of the homeless population that is particularly difficult to count consists of the “throwaway” youths who have been cast of their homes. The Elementary School Center in New York City estimates that there are 1.5 million of them, many of whom are not treated as children because they do not stay in family shelters and tend to live by themselves on the streets.
    Federal law, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, includes a section that addresses the educational needs of homeless children. The educational provisions（规定） of the McKinney Act are based on the belief that all homeless children have the right to a free, appropriate education.
53. It is implied in the first paragraph that ____.
　A. the writer himself is homeless, even in his eighties
　B. many older homeless residents are going on strike in 25 cities
　C. there is a serious shortage of academic facilities
　D. homeless children are denied the opportunity of receiving free education
54.The National Coalition for the homeless believes that the number of homeless children is _____.
　A. 350,000    B. 1,500,000       C. 440,000      D. 110,000
55 One part of the homeless population is difficult to estimate. The reason might well be ____.
　A. the homeless children are too young to be treated as children
　B. the homeless population is growing rapidly
　C. the homeless children usually stay outside school
　D. some homeless children are deserted by their families
56.The McKinney Act is mentioned in this passage in order to show that ___.
　A. the educational problems of homeless children are being recognized
　B. the estimates on homeless children are hard to determine
　C. the address of grade-school children should be located
　D. all homeless people should have free education

It was one of the happiest Saturday mornings I had spent with my daughter, Gigi. That was, until two strangers threw her into their car and sped away. It seemed like a bad dream.I could __11__ speak when the police questioned me.

 After that, the policeman asked me to go home to wait. My friend Gloria came to  __12__me. She took my hand and gave me   __13__. It was a picture of a little girl  __14__asleep in her bed, standing by the bed was a tall, blond(金发的)__15__.  We prayed and waited by the phone until sunset. The __16__ never rang.

 Suddenly，the front door swung open. I looked up and __17__. There stood Gigi. I cried, throwing my __18__ around her. Gigi said：“I was scared. We were going really fast on an old __19__ road I'd never seen before. But then a tall man walked out __20__ the car，and they ran off the road and hit a tree. Then the tall man __21__ the car door and pulled me out. He was really nice，and said I would be okay. I must have gone to __22__， because when I woke up it is in front of our house. He must have brought me home.” “But who...how did he know..., where to bring you？”My voice broke. Gigi __23__ her head. Just then Gigi noticed Gloria's picture. “That's him！” she __24__ at the picture. “Mommy，that's the man who pulled me out of the car！” Gloria and I turned __25__. “Are you sure that's the man？” Gloria asked. “Yeah, that's him __26__ that he didn't have wings，and he was wearing blue jeans.”

Later that night, the police found the__27__kidnappers. When questioned, the driver remembered turning away to __28__ hitting a tall blond man.

Twenty years have gone by. We have never heard from any one claiming to have   __29__Gigi. There have been no logical explanations for her __30__. But from that day on, I believe that all experiences, positive and negative, are given to us for our strengthening and learning.

11．A. hardly            B. hard            C. fully                    D. full

12．A. sympathize        B. support          C. comfort          D. calm

13．A. a map            B. a picture         C. a bag             D. a book

14．A. healthy           B. sound            C. reliable          D. reasonable

15．A. angel             B. man             C. maid             D. servant

16．A. phone            B. door bell         C. clock             D. radio

17．A. yelled             B. screamed        C. whistled          D. whispered

18．A. cheeks            B. shoulders         C. arms             D. hands

19．A. rocky             B. smooth           C. hard             D. flat

20．A. in back of        B. at the bottom of    C. on the top of       D. in front of

21．A. shut             B. fastened          C. opened            D. loosened

22．A. rest             B. sleep             C. break             D. yawn

23．A. shook           B. nodded           C. rolled             D. trembled

24．A. referred         B. aimed            C. pointed            D. signaled

25．A. sun­burnt       B. light             C. weak              D. pale

26．A. rather than       B. including         C. except            D. other than

27．A. injured          B. dead             C. harmed           D. hurt

28．A. stop             B. avoid             C. forbid           D. keep

29．A. released          B. relieved          C. delivered         D. rescued

30．A. escape           B. breakout         C. disappearance      D. flow

Tips for waiting in line

We’ve all been there – when lining up at the supermarket checkout counter, the lines next to us always seem to be moving faster than the one we are standing in.  37． . It has also offered tips on picking the fastest line.

●38．

A cart (购物车) full of items doesn’t tell the whole story. Every person requires a fixed amount of time to say hello, pay, say goodbye and clear out of the lane. And that amount of time is an average of 41 seconds per person. 39． . This means if there are five people ahead of you, each with 10 items in their carts, the waiting time will be 355 seconds. But if there is only one person ahead of you, with 50 items in the cart, the waiting time is 191 seconds. You do the math.

● Study the customers

How many people are ahead of you is one thing, and who they are is another. 40． .The items in their carts are also important. For example, four bottles of the same milk will definitely go faster than four completely different items.

● Go left

According to a research, around 90 percent of people are right-handed. 41． .So heading to the opposite direction – left – will give you a better chance of finding a faster line.

A. Choose a “snaky line”

B. Pick someone with a full cart

C. It means a majority of people tend to naturally go to the right.

D. The person at the head of the line goes to the next available counter.

E. On the other hand, the time that each item takes to be rung up is only three seconds.

F. For example, if they are old people, they tend to move slower and delay the checkout process.

G. Now The New York Times gives you some deep understanding into the math and psychology of queuing.

 –Have you met Mr. Li?

  --Yes. When I arrived, he       for Shanghai to attend a national conference.

  A. just left           B. had just left             C. just leaves             D. was just leaving

Our oldest daughter is having trouble letting go of an old red sofa.

    It’s not the sofa she’s having trouble letting go of as much as the memories. It was their first sofa. It has been loaded and unloaded onto moving trucks seven times. Three kids have eaten on it, dripped on it, and jumped on it.

    Yet she’s having a hard time letting go and asked if I thought that was strange.

    “Completely,” I said. “You get it from me.”

    When we were ready to get rid of our baby things, I sold our crib (婴儿床) at the neighborhood garage sale. I had pieces of it in the garage and the other pieces of it still in the house. A young woman said she wanted to buy it.

    My throat tightened and the tears began to well. She pulled out cash and I cheered up.

    But by the time I returned with the other pieces to the crib, I was all sobbing. “Have you considered that maybe you’re not ready to sell it?” the woman asked.

    “No-o-o-o,” I cried. “It’s fine, really,” I said. “Take it.”

    Our attachment to stuff grows in direct relationship to the amount of time it has sat in one place. The longer it sits, the harder it is to get rid of it. You think: “Hey, we’ve hung onto it this long – it must be valuable!” As though yellowing and a layer of dust increase value.

    People who find it extremely hard to part with things have been made into entertainment in a television show called Hoarders. If an episode (集) of that isn’t depressing enough for you, producers now offer Extreme Hoarders. Both of which are not to be outdone by Storage Wars, a show about aggressive people who bid on other people’s storage units.

    Let the sofa go, I told my daughter. It served its purpose. You can get a new one. Give the kids some crackers (饼干) and juice and it will be like the old one in six weeks.

4. What does the author mean by saying the underlined sentence “You get it from me”?

A. “You can get mental support from me.”       B. “You behave just the same way I do.”

C. “You are asking the right person to help you.”  D. “You can get another sofa from me.”  

5. When the writer was selling the crib, _____.

A. she showed a strong attachment to the old item

B. she felt relieved that there was someone willing to buy it

C. she couldn’t decide whether or not to sell it in the end

D. she changed her mind in hopes of keeping it and increasing its value

6. The writer refers to the television shows to _____.

A. prove that it’s depressing to get attached to old stuff

B. explain what contributes to people’s attachment to old stuff

C. show that people in TV shows live the same lives as ordinary people do

D. prove that it’s actually common for people to find it hard to get rid of old stuff

7. Which opinion might the writer agree with according to the article?

A. If you give away old stuff regularly, you are wasteful.

B. Nothing is more valuable than your love for your old stuff.

C. If the old stuff has done what it was supposed to, then let it go.

D. The older your stuff is, the less trouble you have getting rid of it.

We were stuck at the airport because of the heavy fog, otherwise we ______ here in time for the conference.

A. arrived         B. would arrive   C. had arrived       D. would have arrived

  Teaching is more than leadership. Some of the teacher’s time and effort is directed toward instruction, some toward evaluation. But it is the teacher as a group leader who creates an effective organizational structure and good working environment so that instruction and evaluation activities can take place. A group that is totally disorganized, unclear about its goals, or constantly fighting among its members will

not be a good learning group. The leadership pattern includes helping to form and maintain a positive learning environment so that instruction and evaluation activities can take place.

  On the first day of class, the teacher faces a room filled with individuals. Perhaps a few closely united groups and friendships already exist. But there is no sense of group unity, no set of rules for conduct in the group, no feeling of belonging. If teachers are successful leaders, they will help students develop a system of relationships that encourages working together.

  Standards and rules must be set to keep order, make sure of justice and protect individual rights, but do not contradict school policy. What happens when one student hurts another’s individual rights? Without clear regulations agreeable to the students and teachers, the classroom can become chaotic. Students may break rules they did not know existed. If standards are set without participation from the class, students may spend a great deal of creative energy in destroying the class environment or finding ways to break rules.

  No matter how skillful the teacher is in uniting students and creating a positive atmosphere, the task is never complete. Regular maintenance is necessary. Conflicts arise. The needs of individual members change. A new kind of learning task requires a new organizational structure. Sometimes outside pressures such as holidays, upcoming tests or sport competitions, or family troubles cause stress in the classroom. One task for the teacher is to recreate a positive environment by helping students deal with conflict, change, and stress.   

32. The underlined word “maintain” in Para.1 probably means_______.

 A. keep    B.  build   C. recreate D. evaluate

33. According to the author, the teacher should _______.

 A. free students from outside pressures      

 B. set the standards and rules on his own

 C. be responsible for a well-organized class  

 D. focus more on instruction and evaluation

34. From the passage we can learn that ______.

 A. rules cannot be changed once they’re formed

 B. outside pressures can not cause tension among students

 C. if the teacher well unites his students, he then will finish his task

 D.if rules are not acceptable both to students and teachers,the classroom can be mess
35. What is the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?

 A. To provide information for teaching

 B. To show the importance of teaching a class.

 C. To study the teacher’s behavior in the classroom.

 D. To compare the teacher’s behavior with the students’ in class.

The yellow-black winter fog has disappeared since the Clean Air Act was _____ in 1956 in London．

       A．carried away     B．carried out             C．taken up               D．taken off

You can’t complain of being lonely ________ you don’t make any effort to meet people.

       A. when                     B. unless                C. despite                D. although

I have a problem. I，m trying to grow a beard but I，m not sure if it suits me! This hairy attachment to men’s faces has been very fashionable m the UK for a while. But a new scientific study suggests that the more beards there are in a population, the less attractive they become. If it is true，it would give clean-shaven (不蓄胡子的) men a competitive advantage.

We’ve currently reached a peak in beard popularity in the UK and men might soon be reaching for their razors to give themselves a clean-cut look. But beards have gone in and out of fashion over hundreds of years. Think of the famous 19th century British naturalist Charles Darwin who had a big bushy beard.

But why have men through the ages grown such defined whiskers (连鬓胡子)？Lucinda Hawksley, writer of Moustaches, Whiskers and Beards thinks that “the most heavily bearded times in Britain are either when women are in power, such as Elizabeth I or Queen Victoria，or when there’s a big discussion of feminism…you get a woman on the throne and men go, ‘Oh, got to have a beard’”. Perhaps that’s true, but I don’t think my attempt to grow a beard a reaction to powerful women—it’s probably just laziness. Of course there are good reasons to cultivate a good beard—special campaigns like “Movember” and “Decembeard” invite men to get hairy for charity in certain months of the year.

I’m not a pogonophile—someone who loves beards. And as I’ve only managed to grow some stubble so far, I think I will visit the barber to get my facial hair removed. But now Fm thinking about a moustache instead. What do you think?

12. A new scientific study suggests that       .

A. wearing beards is associated with occupations             

B. wearing beards can make people look mature

C. wearing beards becomes less and less attractive  

D. clean-shaven men used to be popular in the UK

13. What’s the purpose of the author mentioning Charles Darwin?

A. To show the great advantage of wearing beards.

B. To explain the importance of wearing beards.

C. To introduce a beard fashion including celebrities.

D. To attract readers’ attention to wearing beards.

14. From the 3rd paragraph we can infer that         .

A. the author wore beards for the purpose of pleasing women

B. more men had whiskers at the time of females’ being in power

C. Queen Victoria launched special campaigns for wearing beards

D. growing defined whiskers was popular with young men in Britain

15. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A. British men like wearing beards.                B. Beards can reveal your personality.

C. The history of wearing beards in the UK.         D. Choose the right beard style for yourself.

 — I was very angry with Kelvin yesterday.

— I know your feelings, but if you forgive him, you ______ a bigger man.

   A. will be        B. have been        C. would be      D. were

 ---The weather has been very hot and dry.

--- Yes. If it had rained even a drop, things would be much better now! And my vegetables ______.

A. wouldn’t die             B. didn’t die                  C. hadn’t died              D. wouldn’t have died

    A research has discovered that your gift for happiness is determined by your genes to a large degree.   36  . We can do this by overcoming negative emotions and developing positive emotions.

    Strategy（策略）1:   37 

    The first step is to make a choice to be happy. In Seeking Happiness, Bertrand Russell said, “Happiness must be an achievement rather than a gift of the gods, and in this achievement, effort must play a great part.”

Once you’ve decided to be happier, you can choose strategies for achieving happiness.

    Strategy 2: Develop gratitude（感激）.

    In Authentic Happiness, psychologist Martin Seligman encourages readers to perform a daily “gratitude exercise”.   38 

    Strategy 3: Remember, money can’t buy happiness.

    Research shows:   39  . Yes, “we always think that some things are wrong because they cannot bring us happiness,” writes Daniel Gilbert in Stumbling on Happiness.

    Strategy 4: Take part in meaningful activities.

    “People are seldom happier,” says Jackson, “than when they’re doing meaningful activities”. Yet, he has found that the most common leisure（休闲）activity — watching TV — produces some of the lowest levels of happiness.   40   Active leisure that helps a person grow does not come easily, he writes in Finding Flow.

    A. Choose to be happy.

    B. Achieve happiness.

    C. To get more out of life, we need to put more into it.

D. Yet, psychologists believe we can pursue happiness.

    E. Happiness is decided by a good many aspects.

    F. More money doesn’t necessarily bring extra happiness.

    G. This shifts people away from bitterness, and promotes happiness.

    假如你是新华中学学生李华，在最近举行的市高中生英语口语大赛中获得了一等奖。某英语

报社邀请你写一篇稿件，介绍你练习英语口语的经验。稿件内容如下：

1．树立自信，克服羞怯心理；

2．多参加英语角活动；

3．多看英语新闻（如CCTV-9） 

注意：1. 词数：100左；2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯

I'm Li Hua from Xinghua Middle School._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________