Every one of the gymnasts who went to National Qualifiers (国家冠军赛资格赛) showed up with that goal in mind. Everyone gave it their all.
And I hate admitting it, but I was an exception. I did not do my best. Not for the ribbon exercise, nor for the club exercise. Knowing that I could have reached a little further to catch my ribbon, focused a little more so the stick wouldn’t slip through my fingers, tried a little harder to clean up those errors, but I didn’t, still bothers me.
After my disappointing competition, I tried my best to keep my eyes dry. But soon tears burned the edges of my eyes, and as I blinked, the first tear rolled down my cheek. Even though I angrily wiped my tears away before she looked at me, the evidence of my self-pity session presented itself clearly in the form of dirty makeup and reddened eyes.
My mom hated to see me cry, especially because I had no right or reason to. I had messed up — that wasn’t anyone’s fault but mine — and crying wouldn’t help at all. “Why are you crying, Amanda?” she asked, perhaps more pointedly (尖刻地) than intended, but I heard the concern in her voice. Unable to form all the emotions into words, I just looked away and avoided her questions.
“Tell me now why you’re crying.” Her voice this time wasn’t as gentle as it was before; it was filled with frustration and impatience. “Why are you crying?” she whispered again, but this time her voice was shaky and flooded with pain. This was the first time I’d ever seen my mom cry; my mom, who was always so strong and was there to encourage me through the roughest times, was now crying, and I was the reason for it. Finding my voice, I tentatively asked, “Why are you crying?”
She looked at me and answered exactly what I was afraid to hear, “I hate to see you hurting yourself.” So it was my fault. I had put those tears in her eyes. I had filled her with pain, with helplessness and with sadness.
I’ll never forget her pained expression. It forced me to realize how shortsighted and close-minded I’d been. I decided that no matter what happens in the future, I will never lose myself to regret.Which words reflect the change of the mother’s emotions?
A.Painful — impatient — concerned |
B.Concerned — frustrated — painful |
C.Satisfied — painful — frustrated |
D.Frustrated — angry — painful |
What did Amanda determine to do?
A.Never cry in face of her mom. |
B.Never compete as a gymnast. |
C.Never involve herself in self-pity. |
D.Never make up before games. |
第三部分阅读理解 (共两节,满分40分)
第一节 (共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Recently, one of my best friends, whom I’ve shared just about everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the weekend with me. Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we’ve both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each other.
Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up late into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with. She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he experimented with drugs and was into other self-destructive behavior. I was blown away! She told me how she had been lying to her parents about where she was going and even stealing out to see this guy because they didn’t want her around him. No matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better, she didn’t believe me. Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared.
I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and heading for big trouble. I felt like I was getting nowhere. I just couldn’t believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend.
By the time she left, I was really worried about her and exhausted by the experience. It had been so frustrating, I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship,but I didn’t. I put the power of friendship to the final test. We’d been friends for far too long. I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer anything.
A few days later, she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend. I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face. It was one of the truly rewarding moments in my life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.
56. In the writer’s opinion, her friend ________.
A. was a girl with no self-respect
B. could find a better boyfriend
C. was brave enough to stick to her own choice
D. didn’t value the writer’s suggestion
57. What did the writer worry about?
A. She would lose the friendship with her.
B. Her friend’s parents would be worried about their daughter.
C. Her friend would get into great trouble with the boy.
D. Her friend’s boyfriend would be in great trouble.
58. We may leam from Paragraph 3 that the writer ________.
A. didn’t want to go anywhere else
B. hated her friend’s hanging with her boyfriend
C. couldn’t believe that her friend’s choice was acceptable
D. doubted that she could in any way help her friend
59. What can be concluded from the passage?
A. Friendship starting from childhood is not reliable.
B. Friendship is a cure for any injury in life.
C. Friendship should be everlasting once begun.
D. Friendship can have magical power in life.
Many people say that the United States is a paradise for the children, a struggling field for the youth and a tomb for the aged. However, the situation is quite different in Australia. Different people have their own ways for enjoyment and their own worlds of pastime.
Most children often work hard in school since they have to face various exams. After school they do not want to confine themselves to books any more. Instead, they put aside their schoolbags at home and sneak quickly to some quiet street comers for their games. Bigger children like to shoulder their large kites to some steep cliffs, and jump to fly in the sky with their kites.
Some old people often get up early in the morning and go to parks to do newspaper reading. After breakfast, they come to horse races, dog races and sometimes car races for betting. If he wins, he will feed himself a good dinner. In the evening, they stay at home, watching TV sometimes with grandchildren. Some of the aged also enjoy fishing and gardening.
Young people prefer to go outing for holidays. At the weekends, they go to the seashore for swimming or to the forest for hunting and camping, or mountainous areas for picnicking. Then in the evenings on Sundays, they start their long bumper-to-bumper drive back on the highways. Nobody seems in a hurry.
The Australian government also encourages its people to have more relaxation after work. Sometimes, certain kind of financial help is distributed to people going on holidays and public holidays are purposely set on Monday or Friday so that Australians may have a longer weekend for enjoyment. They think people can word better only after they get a full relaxation. And it grows out of this idea that relaxation comes the top priority(优先权)for enjoyment in Australia.
60.According to many people’s opinion, which of the following is NOT true?
A.All people in the US live a desirable life.
B.The competition among American young people is fierce.
C.The life of the American old people is very terrible.
D.Children in America are extremely happy.
61.Australia is different from America because Australia_______.
A.is not a paradise for children
B.is not a struggling field for the youth
C.is not a tomb for the aged
D.has different worlds for different people
62.There is an idea of enjoyment priority in Australia because____.
A.enjoyment is more important than other aspects of life
B.a full relaxation will make people work better
C.enjoyment can make people happy
D.Australian people are lazy
63.The underlined part can be replaced by “ ______.
A.adjust themselves to B.prevent themselves form
C.limit themselves to D.satisfy themselves with
At age 61, identical twins Jeanne and Susan no longer look exactly alike. Susan smoked for many years and is an admitted sun worshipper, whose habits Jeanne does not share. A new study of twins suggests you can blame those coarse(粗糙的)wrinkles, brown or pink spots on too much time in the sun, smoking, and being overweight.
Because twins share genes, but may have different exposures to environmental factors studying twins allows an “opportunity to control for genetic susceptibility(易受影响性),” Dr. Elma D. Baron, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and his colleagues explain in the latest issue of Archives of Dermatology.
Their analysis of environmental skin-damaging factors in 65 pairs of twins hints that skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors.
But when it comes to skin cancer, the researchers say their findings support previous reports that both environment and genes affect skin cancer risk.
Baron’s team examined facial skin of 130 twins, 18 to 77 years old, who lived mostly in the northem Midwest and Eastern regions of the US, who were attending the Twins Days Festival in Ohio in August 2002. At this time, each of the twins also separately reported how their skin burned or tanned(晒黑)without sunscreen, their weight, and their history of skin cancer, smoking, and alcohol drinking. The study group consisted of 52 fraternal(异卵双生)and 10 identical twin pairs, plus 3 pairs who were unsure of their twin status.
From these data, the researchers noted strong ties, outside of twin status, between smoking, older age, and being overweight, and having facial skin with evidence of environmental damage. By contrast, sunscreen use and drinking alcohol appeared related to less skin damage.
Baron and his colleagues say the current findings, which highlight ties between facial aging and potentially avoidable environmental factors—such as smoking, being overweight, and unprotected overexposure to the sun’s damaging rays—may help motivate people to minimize these risky behaviors.
67.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.Jeanne and Susan share all the habits including smoking.
B.Skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors.
C.Only identical twins can take part in the research.
D.Sunscreen use cannot help people have less skin damage.
68.Why did Baron’s team do the research on twins?
A.Twins are more likely to suffer from skin cancer.
B.It may guarantee the research is not influenced by genetic factors.
C.It gives others an opportunity to control twins’ genes.
D.It helps find twins are exposed to different environments.
69.What can you infer from the last paragraph?
A.This research makes people aware of dangerous lifestyles.
B.The environmental factors are unavoidable.
C.Being exposed to the sun is absolutely damaging.
D.There is little relationship between skin aging and environment.
70.The passage is mainly concerned with___________
A.skin cancer and environment
B.identical twins research
C.aging skin and environmental factors
D.genes and lifestyles
Why should you tour Spain with SpainExchange?
◇We design and personalize(个性化)your tour to fit your desires and needs.
◇We are Spain insiders: we are located in Spain and we know the country.
You get the tour you want. You do not have to follow a schedule, but we encourage you to make your own with our help. If you have a few cities in Spain that you want to visit or a specific theme for your tour that needs some fine-tuning(微调), we can do it for you. On the contrary, if you are not sure what’s here and need some extra help, we can help you. We can assist you in developing the tour that fits you and your students.
You get more for your money. Yes, it may cost you the same price as with the other companies—usually less—but you will receive more in return. With any other company you will be mixed with other groups. With SpainExchange, your tour is for and your students only: your group alone will be in your bus; your students will be housed in double rooms; they will have 2 paid meals per day, and your entrance fees will be on us.
Your students will have an educational experience they’ll never forget. The students will learn about world history, not just Spanish history, art history, archeology, Spanish culture, and much more. Many students have “fallen in love” with Spain and make plans for future studies here. And teachers are amazed at how much Spain has to offer. As one teacher said, “I can’t wait to come back and see the rest.”
Only a professional Spain insider that is flexible to design the tour that fits your group can provide all that for you. Just tell us what you want and enjoy the ride.
64.What is the advantage of SpainExchange over other touring companies?
A.It is designed for your personalized needs.
B.It is much cheaper than the tours from other companies.
C.It is organized by a Spanish-speaking agency.
D.It offers double rooms and 2 paid meals per day.
65.Who do you suppose this passage is written to?
A.School teachers. B.College students.
C.Spain locals. D.Exchange professors.
66.The passage is probably take from_______.
A.Wild “Burning” Journey Back To Spain
B.Spain Teaching School Tries Something New
C.A World of Novels: Picks For Best Foreign Fictions
D.Tour Brochure: Learning Beyond Classroom
第三部分阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
第一节(共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Jordan Makes Basketball Hall of Fame
Last Monday, the former Chicago Bulls great was elected to the 2009 Basketball Hall of Fame class, adding another honor to his long list of accomplishments. With incredible acrobatic (特技的) moves and slam dunks(灌篮), Jordan was a 14-time NBA All-Star, a five-time NBA finals Most Valuable Player and the key figure on the 1992 US Olympic gold medal “Dream” Team.
Jordan retired twice during his 15-year career, and finished with 32,392 points, the third-highest total in NBA history behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. His career average of 30.12 points per game is the best in the league’s history.
Although his career boasts(拥有)many glories, Jordan said entering the hall was what he never imagined. “I don’t like being up here for the Hall of Fame, because at that time, your basketball career is completely over.” Jordan said during a news conference. “I was hoping this day was coming in 20 more years, or that I’d actually go in when I’m dead and done.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, as Jordan accepted a Hall of Fame Jersey(运动衣), he turned to his former competitors David Robinson and John Stockton, who were also among the class of 2009, and threatened another comeback.
“Every time I see these guys, I want to put my shorts on,” said Jordan, 46, whose age has decreased everything but his desire.
His father once said that passion was what made his son special. From the moment he started playing games, Michael had to win. Once, Jordan traveled everywhere and anywhere to feed that competitive urge.
“He doesn’t have a gambling problem.” His father said, “What he does have is a competition problem. He was born with that. The person he tries to outdo(超过)most of the time is himself.”
56.This passage is mainly about__________.
A.everything Jordan has achieved in his life
B.the contribution Jordan has made to basketball
C.how Jordan grew to be a popular basketball player
D.why Jordan deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and his reaction
57.From what Jordan said during the news conference, we know that he_______.
A.dislikes the honor because it makes him feel old
B.hates the new honor because it’s not worth much
C.thinks the honor has been given to him too early
D.is planning a comeback to show his basketball career is not over
58.Paragraphs 1 and 2 are written to__________.
A.analyze what basketball skills Jordan is famous for
B.show how popular Jordan used to be in America
C.introduce what contributions Jordan made to Chicago Bulls
D.explain why Jordan is considered a great basketball player
59.What can we conclude from the passage?
A.Michael Jordan’s continuous efforts to outdo himself made him great.
B.Michael Jordan thinks playing basketball is like gambling.
C.Michael Jordan has gradually lost his desire to play, as he has grown older.
D.However great a player is, there is an end to his best time.