It does not matter who wins. We are told that from day one. Usually, that statement is followed by some remark about being a loser. If we do not care who wins, then why do we compete? Fun, experience, the chance to meet new people --- these are the reasons we try to outdo each other.
People will compete over anything. Every Christmas, my neighbors and I have a little Christmas light competition. It is heaven for the electric company, but I think we give Will Rogers Airport a scare. It is bright enough to land a plane in our front yards. I admit that last year my neighbors won, but only because they bought every strand of lights Wal-Mart had before I could get there.
Personal competitions are great, but we get a little carried away. I cannot stand to see coaches shout at kids playing sports. Who cares if someone messes up and the other team advances?
I’m tired of people competing just to win. It happens not only in sports, but in music competitions, too. People auditioning（试音）for chair placement in certain bands can get really unfriendly. This year I did not audition for a certain band, but I went to auditions anyway. This was the first time I actually had the opportunity to comprehend the whole picture.
Other times I’ve been the person who was nervous and anxious. This time, I sat back and observed everyone else. I came to the realization that the people who aren’t so good are terrified of the good people, and the good people are scared stiff that the bad people have taken lessons and can now show them up. Unless a person is on the outside looking in, I don’t think anyone realizes this.
Maybe competing is human nature, but we shouldn’t let it influence our judgment. Being disrespectful to opponents（对手）, letting competition become our life, and becoming so involved that we close ourselves off from friends and family is not the meaning of competition.
A little competition is healthy, so it shouldn’t hurt anyone. If it does, someone somewhere needs to back off, find the good thing hidden inside, and try it again. Winning isn’t everything, and losing isn’t the end of the world.The author mentions his competition with his neighbors to __________.
| A．make excuses for his failure |
| B．express his concern about the airport |
| C．imply his neighbor cheated in the competition |
| D．show people really care about the result of competition |
The underlined word “this” in Paragraph 5 refers to ________.
| A．the rules of competition |
| B．competitors’ effort to win |
| C．the influence of competition on life |
| D．the negative attitude to competition |
From the passage, we can learn that _______.
| A．the author failed the audition |
| B．competitors may be unfriendly to each other |
| C．it is coaches who always mess up the match |
| D．those who observe opponents calmly always win |
Which of the following opinions does the author probably accept?
| A．Competition for the job is fierce. |
| B．Winning or losing is none of people’s concern. |
| C．Competition is healthy, but it can get out of hand. |
| D．The disadvantages of competition outweigh the benefits. |
第二节简答题（共3小题，每小题2分，满分6分）
阅读下面短文，根据73-75题的具体要求，简要回答问题。
Shanghai is the largest city in China. About eleven million people make their homes in Shanghai and its suburbs. This extremely large city spreads out along the banks of the Huang Pu River, which flows into the mouth of the Yangtze River about fourteen miles north of here. Large oceangoing ships travel to Shanghai by way of the Yangtze and the Huang Pu. Shanghai was a small, unimportant city until 1842 when China lost a war with Great Britain. The British realized that Shanghai was in an excellent location to serve as a seaport for the densely（密集） populated Yangtze River Plain. They forced the Chinese to allow English traders to settle on the wastelands outside the city walls. Later, French, American, and Japanese traders also came to Shanghai. The foreigners built whole new sections of Shanghai, including homes, stores, factories, and office buildings. Thousands of Chinese poured into Shanghai in search of jobs. Most of them settled in the old part of the city. As time passed, shanghai became one of the busiest seaports in the world.
73. Where do most people in shanghai make their homes? (回答词数不超过7个)_________________________________________________________________.
74. What is the purpose of the Chinese people’s coming into Shanghai ?(回答词数不超过4个)_________________________________________________________________.
75. Before 1842, what was the Yangtze River Plain like? (回答词数不超过4个)________________________________________________________________.
Thirty years ago I worked in a company. My job was to sell the cars. I was young and strong and I had been to most parts of the world and I spent one fifth of my time in the trains or planes. I liked such a life and sometimes I called myself “traveler”.
But one day I got into trouble. It was a cold morning. It blew heavily and the ground was covered with thick snow outside. I was still in bed though it was nine. I finished a long journey the day before and decided to have a good rest. Suddenly the telephone rang and my manager told me to fly to New York to take part in an important meeting. I had to get up and after a quick breakfast. I hurried to the airport. The taxi went slowly and I missed the first flight. I had to take the next one. It meant I would wait for nearly five hours in the waiting-room. But five hours later a passenger said the information showed there was a bomb in our plane and the policemen were looking for it. And another five hours passed and most passengers lost their patience before we were allowed to get on the plane. At the entrance each passengers and their baggage had to be examined. A young man who seemed a soldier shouted at the policemen at the entrance, “If I had a gun in my baggage, I would shoot you two hours ago!”
1. The writer called himself “traveler” because he _______ .
A. sold cars for his company B. often took trains and planes
C. traveled all over the world D. liked traveling in many places
2. The taxi went slowly because _______ .
A. there was much snow on the road
B. it was very cold that morning
C. the driver didn’t know he would fly to New York
D. the manager told him not to hurry
3. He spent nearly _______ hours in the waiting－room that day.
A. five B. seven C. eight D. ten
4. The young man became angry because he _______ .
A. wouldn’t be examined B. had a gun in his baggage
C. waited for a long time at the airport D. hated the policemen at the entrance
I began to send my first e-mail when I was 17. I discovered Google 5 years later. Now, I use the Internet all the time. Internet has become so popular that 90 percent of 12-to-17-year-olds in the United States use the Internet, according to one recent survey, and about half of those kids use it every day. They visit chat rooms and send e-mails. They go to Websites to get information for homework. “Kids are now living in a virtual(虚拟的) world,” says Greenfield, “As the Internet is becoming more and more important for our life, we should worry about one question: Is the Internet good or bad for kids?”“It’s X to answer the question because the Internet involves so many things,” says Justine, a media expert at Northwestern University. “They include networked computer games, news about politics, instant messaging and e-mails to your grandmother. ” So, more and more studies shows that the online world can be helpful in some ways and dangerous in others. “Although it’s not easy to tell whether it’s good or bad,” says Justine, “the Internet, at least, is very useful and can be used widely by everyone in the world. ”
1. What percentage of American 12-to-17-year-olds use the Internet every day?A. About 45% B. About 50% C. About 80% D. About 90%
2.. Greenfield _______. A. is an expect from Northwestern UniversityB. wants to stop all the kids from using the InternetC. is worrying about whether the Internet is good or bad for kidsD. thinks that the Internet is good or bad for kids
3. “X” in the passage should be the word “_______”. A. possible B. difficult C. easy D. good
4. Which is the best title of the passage?A. Don’t Use the Internet B. Kids and EmailsC. Is the Internet Good or Bad D. Two Experts from Universities
Very few people were coming to eat at the White Rose Restaurant and its owner did not know what to do . The food in its restaurant was cheap and good , but nobody seem to want to eat there .Then he did something that changed all that , and in a few weeks his restaurant was always full of men with their lady friends .Whenever a gentleman came in with a lady , a smiling waiter gave each of them a beautiful menu . The menu looked exactly the same on the outside , but there was an important difference inside . The menu that the waiter gave to the men gave the correct price for each dish and each bottle of wine , while the menu that he gave to the lady gave a much higher price . So when the man calmly ordered dish after dish and wine after wine , the lady thought he was much more generous than he really was .
1. How was the food in the White Rose Restaurant ?___________ .
A. Its quality had always been good and its price low
B. It was poor and expensive at first and became much better and less expensive later
C. It was cheap and good at the beginning but became more expensive later
D. It looked beautiful on the outside but it was became more different inside
2. How did the restaurant attract so many people ?______________ .
A. By lowering the price of its food
B. By improving the quality of its food
C. With waiters smiling at the guests when they came into the restaurant and giving them better service while they are
D. By showing men and women menus with different price on them
3. According to this passage , when a man and a woman ate at the restaurant the food was paid by whom ?_____________ .
A. Usually by the man and sometimes by the woman
B. Always by the man only
C. Sometimes by the man only and sometimes by both of the man and the woman
D. Normally by the woman
4. The White Rose succeeded because__________ .
A. women liked their men friends to be generous
B. men liked their women friends to be generous
C. men were more generous than women
D. women were more generous than men
5. People who came to eat at this restaurant were often_________ .
A. men and their old friends B. husbands and wives
C. women and their best friends D. men and their women friends
第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
第一节选择题（共17小题；每小题2分，满分34分）
阅读下列短文，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项, 并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
2. 26-meter-tall Yao Ming made his NBA debut （初次登台） on October 23, 2002 and got 6 points for the Houston Rockets in the game. The next day, he got 13 points in another game. 
Most people think that Yao Ming is a born basketball player. But Yao said, “When you watch it on TV, it looks very easy. But when you are playing in the NBA, it is really not so easy. ” He said that joining the Houston Rockets was a new start and a new challenge. “I hope that through very hard work I can make everyone happy and help the Rockets win more games,” he said
Yao Ming speaks some English. Both he and his teammates can understand each other. They don't think there is a language problem. While Yao Ming faces this new challenge, the people of Houston have shown great interest in him and they hope Yao Ming will bring new energy （活力） to the Rockets. The team has started having lessons to learn more about China, and many people who work for the Rockets have learned to speak some Chinese.
1. Yao Ming got 13 points on October _____, 2002.
A. 22 B. 23 C. 24 D. 26
2. Yao Ming said that _____.
A. playing in the NBA was difficult B. it’s hard watching NBA games on TV
C. he was not an NBA star at all D. it was rather boring to play basketball
3. From the passage we can know that Yao Ming ________.
A. will work hard for his team
B. made the highest score in his first NBA game
C. can't understand his teammates
D. teaches the Rockets workers Chinese himself
4. The passage is probably ______.
A. an ad B. a notice C. a news report D. a diary