Our bedroom has no full-length mirror. There is one at the canteen entrance. I always cherish a secret desire to take a glance before it at myself in a beautiful new dress. However, each time when it comes to the fulfillment, I get seized with such an uneasiness that I literally stagger(踉跄) away—backing out at the critical moment.
At the root of it is my lack of confidence by which I have been enslaved since childhood. It embarrasses me at the mildest praise, crushes my utmost efforts to say “No”, and prevents me from asking my parents for one cent more than necessary. Among other things, lack of confidence has wormed its way into my love of piano.
At the age of 14, one Sunday morning, I was woken up by a resounding hymn(洪亮的圣歌). Tracing that call of God into a neighboring church, I found myself deeply attracted by the melody of a piano—something beyond the means of my parents. To make it worse, people say a pianist is supposed to have music in the blood, but I believe I had none from my engineer father and technician mother. For days on end, I kept thinking of nothing else. I had a dream.
It wasn’t a dream after gold, which made some of my close friends to engage in business as self-employed traders or street peddlers. I was sometimes dazzled by their gold rings or elegant necklaces behind which, however, I seemed to catch sight of skeletons in their cupboards and was frightened away from the craze for fortunate. Out of despair, I kept it to myself, lack of confidence weighing heavy on me. I could do nothing but turn to my dream for comfort, for courage to aim high and wish for the impossible. I was convinced that before I could afford anything expensive (to me, it was a piano), I should climb up the academic ladder as high as possible.
For the next nine years, I carefully held back my desire for music to keep my search for learning, especially in English studies. My efforts were so rewarding that I went successfully through high school and college in my hometown. When I received the admission notice for a second degree course at a famous university in Beijing, the national capital, tears welled up in my eyes. I knew my command of English was my wealth, for I might make a deal with a pianist who would give me access to his piano in exchange for English lessons. And that has come true!
To this day, whenever I lay my fingers on the snow-white keyboard, ready for a melody, I still feel shy. I am quite aware of my limited music talent, but as a shy dreamer, I have found my way to success.According to the first two paragraphs, we can learn that the writer is __________.
| A．helpless | B．shy | C．honest | D．considerate |
Why did the writer say her desire for the piano was a dream in the third paragraph?
a. Her parents couldn’t afford a piano.
b. Her parents didn’t want her to engage in music.
c. She thought she had no gift for music.
d. She could do nothing but accept the reality.
| A．a, b | B．c, d | C．a, c | D．b, d |
How did the writer make her dream of playing the piano come true?
| A．She turned to her friends for financial aid. |
| B．She taught English in exchange for piano lessons. |
| C．She was admitted to a university for a second degree course in music. |
| D．She earned money by doing a part-time job to pay for her piano lessons. |
What can we learn from the writer’s example?
| A．Wealth always comes after a great effort. |
| B．Confidence is a key factor in success. |
| C．We should be academically successful before other achievements. |
| D．We should make every effort to turn a dream into reality. |
Boiler rooms are often dirty and steamy, but this one is clean and cool. Fox Point is a very new 47-unit living building in South Bronx, one of the city’s poorest areas. Two-thirds of the people living there are formerly (以前) homeless people, whose rent is paid by the government. The rest are low-income families. The boiler room has special equipment, which produces energy for electricity and heat. It reuses heat that would otherwise be lost to the air, reducing carbon emissions(碳排放)while also cutting costs.
Fox Point is operated by 
Palladia, a group that specializes in providing housing and services to needy people. Palladia received support from Enterprise Community Partners (ECP), which helps build affordable housing by providing support to housing developers.
ECP has created national standards for healthy, environmentally (环境方面) clever and affordable homes which are called, the Green Communities Standards. These standards include water keeping, energy saving and the use of environmentally friendly building materials. Meeting the standards increases housing construction costs by 2%, which is rapidly paid back by lower running costs. Even the positioning of a window to get most daylight can help save energy.
Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, plans to create 165,000 affordable housing units for 500,000 New Yorkers. Almost 80% of New York City’s greenhouse-gas emissions come from buildings, and 40% of those are caused by housing. So he recently announced that the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation and Development (DHPD) , whose duty is to develop and keep the city’s supply of affordable housing, will require all its new projects to follow ECP’s green standards.
Similar measures have been taken by other cities such as Cleveland and Denver, but New York’s DHPD is the largest city developer of affordable housing in the country. What is the purpose of describing the boiler room in the first paragraph?
| A．To explain the measures the city takes to care for poor people. |
| B．To suggest that affordable housing is possible in all areas. |
| C．To show how the environment-friendly building works. |
| D．To compare old and new boiler rooms. |
What is an advantage of the buildings meeting the Green Communities Standards?
| A．Lower running costs. | B．Costing less in construction. |
| C．Less air to be lost in hot days . | D．Better prices for homeless people. |
It can be learned from the text that_______________.
| A．New York City is seriously polluted |
| B．people’s daily life causes many carbon emissions in New York City |
| C．a great number of people in New York City don't have houses to live in |
| D．some other cities have developed more affordable housing than New York City |
What is the main purpose of this text?
A．To call on people to pay more attention to housing problems. |
| B．To prove that some standards are needed for affordable housing. |
| C．To ask society to help homeless people and low-income families. |
| D．To introduce healthy, environmentally clever-and affordable housing. |
I grew up in a house where the TV was seldom turned on and with one wall in my bedroom entirely lined with bookshelves, most of my childhood was spent on books I could get hold of. In fact, I grew up thinking of reading as natural as breathing and books unbelievably powerful in shaping perspectives (观点) by creating worlds we could step into, take part in and live in.
With this unshakable belief, I, at fourteen, decided to become a writer. Here too, reading became useful. Every writer starts off knowing that he has something to say, but being unable to find the right ways to say it. He has to find his own voice by reading widely and discovering which parts of the writers he agrees or disagrees with, or agrees with so strongly that it reshapes his own world. He cannot write without loving to read, because only through reading other people’s writing can one discover what works, what doesn’t and, in the end, together with lots of practice, what voice he has.
Now I am in college, and have come to realize how important it is to read fiction (文学作品)．As a law student, my reading is in fact limited to subject matter—the volume (量) of what I have to read for classes every week means there is little time to read anything else. Such reading made it all the clearer to me that I live in a very small part in this great place called life. Reading fiction reminds me that there is life beyond my own. It allows me to travel across the high seas and along the Silk Road, all from the comfort of my own armchair, to experience, though secondhand, exciting experiences that I wouldn't necessarily be able to have in my lifetime. What can be inferred about the author as a child?
| A． He never watched TV. | B． He read what he had to. |
C． He found readi ng unbelievable. |
D． He considered reading part of his life. |
The underlined word "voice" in the second paragraph most probably means “”.
| A．an idea | B．a sound quality |
| C．a way of writing | D．a  world to write about |
What effect does reading have on the author?
| A．It helps him to realize his dream. | B．It opens up a wider world for him. |
| C．It makes his college life more interesting . | D．It increases his interest in worldwide travel. |
Which of the following can be the best title of this text?
| A．Why do I read? | B．How do I read? |
| C．What do I read? | D．When do I read? |
The first true piece of sports equipment that man invented was the ball. In ancient(古代) Egypt, as everywhere, pitching (投掷)stones was a favorite children’s game. But a badly thrown rock could hurt(伤害) a child. Looking for something less dangerous to throw, the Egyptians made what were probably the first balls.
At first, balls were made of grass or leaves(树叶) held together by vines(藤). Later they were made of pieces of animal skin sewed together and stuffed(塞满)with feathers or hay.
Even though the Egyptians were warlike, they found time for peaceful games. Before long they had developed a number of ball games, each with its own set of rules. Perhaps they played ball more for instruction than for fun. Ball playing was thought of mainly as a way to teach young men the speed and skill they would need for war. The ball was probably invented because_______
| A．throwing stones often caused injuries | B．throwing stones was not fun |
| C．games with stones did not have rules | D．rocks were too heavy to throw |
The first balls were probably made of_______
| A．animal skins stuffed with rocks | B．twists of hay |
| C．hides stuffed with hay or feathers | D．grass and leaves tied with vines |
This selection says that the Egyptians played_____
| A．many different games with balls | B．many different kinds of games |
| C．only one ball game | D．different games with similar rules |
The Egyptians thought that ball playing was _______
| A．childish | B．difficult | C．not enjoyable | D．worthwhile |
The best title for this selection is ______
| A．The First Ball Games | B．How Egyptian Children Played Games |
| C．Egyptian Sports | D．The Beginning of Sports |
Fire fighting is a serous matter, knowing what to do during a fire can save people’s lives. It is important to know the ways you can use and show them to everyone else in the family, such as stairways and emergency exits, but not elevators.
From the lower floors of building, escape through windows is possible. Learn the best way to get out from a window with the least chance of serious injury.
The second floor window is usually not very high from the ground. An average person, hanging by the fingertips will have a drop of about 6 feet to the ground. It is about twice the height of an average man. Of course, it is safer to jump a short way down than to stay in a burning building.
Windows are also useful when you are waiting for help. Be sure to keep the door closed before opening the window. Otherwise, smoke and fire may be drawn into the room. Keep your head low at the window to be sure you get fresh air rather than smoke that may have leaked into the room.
On the second or third floor, the best windows for escape are those which open onto a roof. From the roof a person can drop to the ground more safely. Dropping onto cement might end in injury. Bushes and trees can help you to have a soft landing.Which of the following should not be used when trying to escape from a fire?
| A．Windows | B．Elevators | C．Fire exits | D．Stairways |
How far from the ground is the second floor window?
| A．about 12 feet | B．about 6 feet |
| C．about the height of an average man | D．nearly 10 feet |
According to the passage, windows are ______ of escaping a fire?
| A．the only way | B．the best way |
| C．safer than any other ways | D．one of the possible ways |
The writer suggests that _______
| A．breathing in smoke might be harmful | B．smoke will enter the room through an open window |
| C．fresh air can’t reach the second floor window | |
| D．to keep you head low will help you to escape a fire |
If you are on the second or third floor when a fire breaks out, you’d better _____
| A．drop directly onto the ground | B．first drop onto a roof then onto the cement |
| C．drop from a roof window then onto bushes and trees | |
| D．drop onto the cement rather than bushes and grass |
My husband is a born shopper(天生的购物者). He loves to look at things and to touch them. He likes to compare prices between the same items(产品) in different shops. He would never think of buying anything without looking around in several different shops. On the other hand, I’m not a shopper. I think shopping is boring and unpleasant. If I like something and I have enough money to take it, I buy it at once. I never look around for a good price or a better deal. Of course my husband and I never go shopping together. Doing shopping together would be too painful for both of us. When it comes to shopping, we go our different ways.
Sometimes I ask my son Jimmy to buy some food in the shop not far from our home. But he is always absent-minded(心不在焉). This was his story.
One day I said to him, “I hope you won’t forget what I have told you to buy.” “No,” said Jimmy, “I won’t forget. You want three oranges, six eggs and a pound of meat.”
He went running down the street to the shop. As he ran, he said to himself over and over again. “ Three oranges, six eggs and a pound of meat.”
In the beginning he remembered everything but he stopped several times. Once he saw two men fighting outside a clothes shop until a policeman stopped them. One of them was badly hurt. Then he stopped to give ten cents to a beggar. Then he met some of his friends and he played with them for a while. When he reached the shop, he had forgotten everything except six eggs.
As he walked home, his face became sadder and sadder. When he saw me he said, “ I’ m sorry, mum. I have forgotten to buy oranges and the meat, I only remembered to buy six eggs, but I’ve dropped three of them.”The husband loves shopping because _______
| A．he has much money | B．he likes the shops |
| C．he likes to compare the prices between the same items | D．he has nothing to do but shopping |
The wife doesn’t like shopping because ______
| A．she has no money | B．she has no time |
| C．she doesn’t love her husband | D．she feels it boring to go shopping |
They never go shopping together because _______
| A．their ways of shopping are quite different | B．they hate each other |
| C．they needn’t buy anything for the family | D．they don’t have time for it |
Jimmy cannot do the shopping well because ______
| A．he is young | B．he is absent-minded |
| C．he often loses his money | D．he doesn’t like shopping |
According to the passage, how many eggs did Jimmy take home at last?
| A．six | B．three | C．two | D．one |