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D
Trapped on the 37th Floor
Melinda Skaar wasn’t expecting any phone calls．Skaar was working late in her office at the First Interstate bank of California．By 10:45 that night she was almost ready to go home when the phone rang．
Picking it up，she heard a guard shouting．“There is a fire！ Get out of there！”
Skaar didn’t panic．She figured that it was just a small fire．Her office building was huge．There were 62 floors and her desk was on the 37th floor．
Skaar called out to office mate Stephen Oksas，who also stayed late to work．But when they got to the hallway，they were met by a cloud of black smoke．Rushing back，Skaar shut the door and filled the space at the bottom of the door with her jacket to keep the smoke out．
Then they called 911．Before they could call their families，however，the line went dead．That meant that they were completely cut off from the outside world．All they could do was wait and hope someone would come to rescue them．
Minutes ticked by．Smoke began to float into the office．Soon it became hard for them to breathe．
Looking around，Skaar noticed a small workroom．It seemed to have cleaner air．So they crowded there．That helped for a while，but in time even the workroom was filled with deadly smoke．
Hopeless，they tried to break the windows，but the glass was not breakable．Everything they threw at just bounced back．
Defeated，they struggled back to the workroom．They felt weak and dizzy ．Soon Skaar found Oksas had passed out．
As Skaar and Oksas lay near death，rescuers were rushing to find them．At last，at about 4 a．m．，firefighters found them．
Skaar and Oksas knew they were lucky to be alive．“Sunday is my birthday，” Skaar told a reporter．She would be turning 29．But she knew she had already got the best present possible——the gift of life．
What did Skaar and Oksas do when they were stopped by the fire？

A．They called their families．

B．They waited where they were．

C．They tried to run down the stairs．

D．They rushed back and shut the door．

The first sentence of the passage is to ____________．

A．introduce Skaar

B．get the reader’s attention

C．explain the cause of the event

D．tell the background information

The following helped Skaar and Oksas survive the fire except _____________．

A．calling 911 for help

B．breaking the windows to get some fresh air

C．crowding in a small workroom for clean air

D．shutting the door and keeping the smoke out with a jacket

What can we conclude from Skaar’s action in the fire？

A．She is cleverer than Oksas．

B．She was trained as a firefighter．

C．She remained calm in the face of danger．

D．She had had the experience of being caught in fire．

C
More surprising，perhaps，than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving (兴盛)．As Skolnick notes，Americans are marrying people—relative to Europeans，more of us marry and we marry at a younger age．Moreover，after a decline in the early 1970s，the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing．Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry．Thus，marriage remains，by far，the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society．
What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family．Twenty-five years ago，the typical American family consisted of a husband，a wife and two or three children．Now，there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children．And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage，or the husband’s，or both．Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage;sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses．
Thus，one can find the very type of family arrangement．There are marriages without children;marriages with children from only the present marriage;marriages with “full time”children from the present marriage and “part-time” children from former marriages．There are stepfathers，stepmothers，half-brothers，and half-sisters．It is not all the unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents！ There are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family．But even so，even in the midst of all this，one thing remains constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married．
By calling Americans marrying people the author means that ______．

A．more of Americans，as compared with Europeans，prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age

B．Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans

C．there are more married couples in USA than in Europe

D．Americans are more traditional than Europeans

Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families？

A．A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife．

B．Many types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable．

C．Americans prefer to have more kids than before．

D．There are no nuclear families any more．

Even though great changes have taken place in the structure of American families ______．

A．the functions of marriage remain unchanged

B．most Americans prefer a second marriage

C．the vast majority of Americans still have faith in marriage

D．marriage is still enjoyed by all Americans

B
In Britain and other countries，young people sometimes take a “gap year，” a year off between high school and college．This idea never gained a big following in America．Recent news reports have suggested that interest may be growing，though there are no official numbers．
Charles Deacon，Dean of Admissions at Georgetown University in Washington，D．C．，estimates that in the current first-year class of 1，600 students，only about 25 decided to take a year off．He says this number hasn’t changed much over the years．
Mr．Deacon says the most common reason for taking a “gap year” is to have a chance to travel，but he says international students may take a “gap year” to meet requirements at home for military duty．
Some high school graduates see a year off as a chance to recover after twelve years of required education，but it can also give students a chance to explore their interests．Students hoping to be doctors，for example，could learn about the profession by volunteering in a hospital．
Many colleges and universities support gap-year projects by permitting students to delay their admission．Experts say students can grow emotionally and intellectually as they work at something they enjoy．
The Harvard admissions office has an essay on its Web site called “Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation．” It praises the idea of taking time off to step back，think and enjoy gaining life experiences outside the pressure of studies．It also notes that students are sometimes admitted to Harvard or other colleges partly because they did something unusual with that time．
Of course，a gap year is not for everyone．Students might miss their friends who go on directly to college，and parents might worry that their children will decide not to go to college once they take time off．Another concern is money．A year off，away from home，can be costly．
Holly Bull’s job is to specialize in helping students plan their gap year．She notes that several books have been written about this subject．She says these books along with media attention and the availability of information on the Internet have increased interest in the idea of a year off，and she points out that many gap-year programs cost far less than a year of college．
What is the passage mainly about？

A．If you want to go to an American university，take a gap year first．

B．More and more American students are choosing to take a year off．

C．It is likely that taking a “gap year” is becoming popular in America．

D．Americans hold different opinions towards students’ taking a “gap year”．

How many reasons for students’ taking a “gap year” are mentioned in the passage？

A．2

B．3

C．4

D．5．

The essay “Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation．” suggests that ______．

A．every student must take a“gap year”before applying for a famous university

B．some famous universities encourage students to gain more life experiences

C．taking a‘gap year’can make students free from life learning

D．the stress of studies does harm to the students’ health

What can we learn from the passage？

A．Charles Deacon doesn’t support the idea of the students’ taking a “gap year”．

B．Books and media have contributed to the students’ interest in school learning．

C．Parents might disagree with the program，concerned about their children’s future．

D．Experts agree taking a year off will benefit the students emotionally and physically．

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
It’s interesting that technology often works as a servant for us，yet frequently we become a servant to it．E-mail is a useful tool but many feel controlled by this new tool．The average business person is getting about 80 e-mails per day and many feel that about 80% of the messages in their “Inbox” are of little or no value．
So，I have four suggestions to help you to become better at “Erasing E-mail”．
1．Get off the lists．The best way to deal with a problem is to never have it．If you are receiving a lot of unwanted e-mails，ask to be removed from the various lists．This would include your inclusion in unwanted lists．
2．“Unlisted address”．Just as you keep an “unlisted” telephone number that you share only with those whom you want to have direct access to，you might want to get a separate e-mail address only for the important communications you wish to receive．
3．Check it once or twice per day．Many I speak with are becoming chained to their email server，monitoring incoming email continuously．Maybe this is because e-mail creates its own sense of urgency，but most of the communications are not all that urgent．I respond to them a couple of times per day．
4．Deal with it．As you open each e-mail，do one of the following:
a．If it requires a quick response，respond to it and delete it．
b．If it requires a response but is not the best use of your time，try to find someone else to do it．
c．If it is going to take any serious amount of time to respond，schedule it for action in your Day Planner and then download the message，save it，or print it out for future action．
I personally receive about 250 e-mails per day and by practicing the suggestions above，I can handle that volume in about an hour，taking advantage of this fantastic tool but not being controlled by it to make sure I’m doing more important tasks in my day．
If you get unwanted e-mails，the best you can do is to ________．

A．make a list of them

B．put them into unwanted lists

C．send them to a special address

D．ask to be deleted from different lists

For the important communications，the writer suggests that you ______．

A．have a direct access for them

B．have several e-mail servers for them

C．get a separate e-mail address for them

D．get an unlisted phone number for them

To avoid being chained by the coming e-mails，what you can do is to ________．

A．respond urgent ones only

B．reply to all of them at the same time

C．handle them a couple of times daily

D．keep replying to e-mails all day long

To deal with an e-mail you get，you can do the following EXCEPT _______．

A．responding right away if it’s urgent

B．downloading every e-mail before you reply

C．scheduling it for later reply if it takes much time

D．asking someone else to reply to it if it’s not at your convenience

When you make a mistake, big or small, cherish it like it’s the most precious thing in the world．Because in some ways, it is．
Most of us feel bad when we make mistakes, beat ourselves up about it, feel like failures, get mad at ourselves．
And that’s only natural: most of us have been taught from a young age that mistakes are bad, that we should try to avoid mistakes．We’ve been scolded when we make mistakes—at home, school and work．Maybe not always, but probably enough times to make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction．
Yet without mistakes, we could not learn or grow．If you think about it that way, mistakes should be cherished and celebrated for being one of the most amazing things in the world: they make learning possible; they make growth and improvement possible．
By trial and error—trying things, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes—we have figured out how to make electric light, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to fly．
Mistakes make walking possible for the smallest toddler, make speech possible, make works of genius possible．
Think about how we learn: we don’t just consume information about something and instantly know it or know how to do it．You don’t just read about painting, or writing, or computer programming, or baking, or playing the piano, and know how to do them right away．Instead, you get information about something, from reading or from another person or from observing, then you make mistakes and repeat, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, until you’ve pretty much learned how to do something．That’s how we learn as babies and toddlers, and how we learn as adults．Mistakes are how we learn to do something new—because if you succeed at something, it’s probably something you already knew how to do．You haven’t really grown much from that success—at most it’s the last step on your journey, not the whole journey．Most of the journey was made up of mistakes, if it’s a good journey．
So if you value learning, if you value growing and improving, then you should value mistakes．They are amazing things that make a world of brilliance possible．
Why do most of us feel bad about making mistakes?

A．Because mistakes make us suffer a lot．

B．Because it’s a natural part in our life．

C．Because we’ve been taught so from a young age．

D．Because mistakes have ruined many people’s careers．

According to the passage, what is the right attitude to mistakes?

A．We should try to avoid making mistakes．

B．We should owe great inventions mainly to mistakes．

C．We should treat mistakes as good chances to learn．

D．We should make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction．

The underlined word “toddler” in Paragraph 6 probably means_________．

A．a small child learning to walk

B．a kindergarten child learning to draw

C．a primary pupil learning to read

D．a school teenager learning to write

We can learn from the passage that_________．

A．most of us can really grow from success

B．growing and improving are based on mistakes

C．we learn to make mistakes by trial and error

D．we read about something and know how to do it right away