A man and his girlfriend were married. It was a large celebration. All of their friends and family came to see the lovely ceremony. Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true.
A few months later, the wife came to the husband with a piece of advice, “I read in a magazine, a while ago, about how we can strengthen our marriage,” she offered. “Each of us will write a list of the things that we find a bit annoying with the other person. Then, we can talk about how we can fix them together and make our lives happier together.”
The husband agreed. So each of them tried to think of the things that annoyed them about the other and wrote down what they came up with. The next morning, at the breakfast table, they decided that they would go over their lists.
“I’ll start,” offered the wife. She took out her list. It had many items on it, enough to fill three pages. In fact, as she started reading the list of the little annoyances, she noticed that tears were starting to appear in her husband’s eyes because he never thought that he had so many shortcomings.
The wife continued to read until she had read all three pages to her husband. “Now, you read your list and then we’ll talk about the things on both of our lists,” she said happily. Quietly the husband stated, “I don’t have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect. I don’t want you to change anything for me. You are lovely and wonderful and I wouldn’t want to try and change anything about you.” The wife, touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for her and his acceptance of her, turned her head and wept.
In life, there are enough times when we are disappointed, depressed and annoyed. We don’t really have to go looking for them. We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise. Why waste time in this world looking for the bad, disappointing or annoying when we can look around us and see the wonderful things before us?Why were there tears in the husband’s eyes when the wife read his annoyances?
| A．Because he had no courage to face his shortcomings. |
| B．Because he was sorry that he didn’t find any annoyance about his wife. |
| C．Because he never thought he had so many annoyances in his wife’s eyes. |
| D．Because he didn’t think he deserved to have such a perfect wife. |
After hearing the husband’s words, the wife felt _________.
| A．sad and disappointed | B．moved and ashamed |
| C．satisfied and proud | D．surprised and confused |
The story is intended to tell us that ___________.
| A．disappointment cannot be avoided in our life |
| B．young couples should be more tolerant (宽容的) to each other |
| C．we should turn a blind eye to other people’s blame |
| D．we should try to look for and see the wonderful things around us |
B
America has long been considered the land of opportunity(机遇)by those from other countries. Amer
icans, too, believe that the United States gives almost limitless opportunities for those who want to open business on their own.
Today, Americans are still fond of trying their hand at becoming small business people, even though only one out of two survives in the first two years. Many of these people start their business for the wrong reason; to get away from the paper work of their present jobs or to exchange the responsibility(责任) of their present jobs for freer life styles. But more, not less paper work and responsibility come with the ownership of a small business.
Not all small businesses succeed. Fifty percent of the 4 550 000 that start in the United States ever fail. Still ninety-five percent of businesses in the U.S. can be regarded as small, and these businesses altogether produce forty percent of America’s total national products.
60．According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A．People from other countries and Americans think there are a lot of opportunities in the U.S.
B．On
ly the Americans think the U.S. can give them many opportunities.
C．Both people from other countries and Americans believe they have many opportunities in the U.S so that they can do whatever they like.
D．People from other countries and Americans all think the U.S. the place where they can realize their dreams.
61．From this passage, we know that________.
A．many people from other countries think that in the past there were many opportunities in the U.S. but not now
B．now Americans don’t believe the U.S. can give them a lot of opportunities
C．people from other countries still think they have more opportunities in the U.S. than in their own countries
D．Americans think they have more opportunities to start their own business than those from other countries
62．According to this passage, many American people like to start their own business because___.
A．they want to become rich soon
B．they not only dislike their present jobs but also want a freer life style
C．they don’t want to do paper work
D．they want to have more chances
63．From this passage, we can get the idea that________.
A．it is easy to do business successfully in the U.S
B．it is easy to start a business but hard to make it successful
C．there are more big business t
han small business in the U.S
D．only big business can succeed in the U.S
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40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。
A
When I was a child , I remember that my mother decided that we would take a trip to visit my Aunt Sandy who lived in Mammoth Lakes, California. I was about 7 at the time but my memory does not fail me because I can recall my personal details .
We were sitting in the kitchen getting ready to have peanut butter and suddenly without warning the room started shaking. I remember thinking that it was weird(怪异)that construction workers must have been moving the house or something, but that it was weird that they would do it when we were still in it. I had a vivid imagination too. So everything started shaking and my aunt had this horrible look on her face as she dropped the knife of peanut-butter onto the ground and held on to the counter. My mom told me to get under the table, which as I think back was odd because what was happening was from the ground so what good was getting under a table going to do. The kitchen window soon broke out on its 
own from the force of all the shaking and I started getting pretty scared(害怕). I don’t think my aunt moved the entire time. My mom had gotten under the table with me and was holding me to make sure I was OK I suppose. It seemed strange because no one really knew what to do.
So finally the shaking stopped. The power was out and it took minutes before anyone really even started to move and talk again. My mother decided that we would leave the next morning. I don’t remember if we were only planning to stay for one night or if we were just stopping by on our way to Fresno where my mom had friends.
56．The first paragraph is mainly to tell us that the writer_________.
A．was eager to see Aunt Sandy B．was too young to do anything
C．doesn’t remember anything at all D．still remember what happened when young
57．While they were sitting in the kitchen__________.
A．the construction workers moved the house
B．the kitchen window broke out on its own
C．a terrible earthquake took place suddenly
D．they were warned to leave the room at once
58．Aunt dropped the knife of peanut-butter onto the ground because_________.
A．she was very busy B．she was too frightened
C．everything shook hard D．she didn’t use it any more
59．From the last paragraph we can know that________.
A．everyone began to make the house clean and tidy
B．the writer’s mum decided to leave immediately
C．the electricity was cut off completely at home
D．everyone started to talk about the shaking loudly
|
第Ⅱ卷（共45分）
第四部分：书面表达（共两节，满分45分）E
Many cities in the world are benefiting from the nocturnal (夜间活动的) activities of a group of people who call themselves guerrilla (游击队的) gardeners. Armed with trowels, spades and a van full of flowers and plants, guerrilla gardeners turn abandoned urban land into a blaze of color. In city centre locations where there was mud, weeds and empty plastic bottles, residents often wake up to find that the wasted area has been transformed overnight with brightly-colored bedding plants.
In most British cities, local governments and police turn a blind eye to the exploits (开发) of the gardeners, whose activities are always carried out under cover of nightfall. And so far, there has been nothing but praise from the astonished and delighted local residents when they find their neighborhood transformed in such a striking fashion.
Not only do the guerrilla gardeners beautify neglected places, they also return regularly to water the plants and weed the flower beds. They also make sure that at least some of the plants they bring are evergreens, which means that the area doesn’t look dismal (凄凉的) in the winter months.
The first guerrilla gardener in London was Richard Reynolds, whose day job is at an advertising agency. Mr Reynolds, a graduate of Oxford University, began his efforts two years ago when he moved to a flat in a tower block in South London. From his balcony, he could see several empty concrete pots, placed by the local governments to contain plants but never used. He went out after midnight and filled the pots with plants, and then planted more flowers in the path leading to the entrance to the block.
He then set up a website to explain his plan and called upon more gardeners to join him. Cash donations flooded in and, more importantly, volunteers rushed to be part of the campaign. Within six months, there were five hundred people in London prepared to come out at very short notice to revitalize (恢复活力) neglected parts of the urban landscape. There are now unofficial but carefully-organized groups in many cities in Britain and North America and there is also a website where would-be urban gardeners can find out the location of the next expedition.
76. According to the text, guerrilla gardeners got their names ______.
A. because of the residents’ advice B. from the local governments
C. for the nature of their work D. based on the local cultures
77. These guerrilla gardeners do their work ______.
A. at the request of the government B. nearby their house
C. often in return for others’ help D. of their own free will
78. Why do the guerrilla gardeners often return to their former working places?
A. To look after these plants. B. To enjoy these beautiful flowers.
C. To help plants live through winter months. D. To change the types of these plants.
79. Richard Reynolds decided to fill the pots with plants with the purpose of ______.
A. making the neighborhood more beautiful B. agreeing with his own job
C. advertising some products in his agency D. killing his spare time
80. It can be inferred from the text that these guerrilla gardeners ______.
A. are mainly from the United Kingdom
B. will later get well paid
C. are still not accepted by the local people
D. become more and more organized
D
Have you ever noticed what happens to an idea once you express it? Just talking about it or writing it down causes you to make it clear in your own mind. How can you use this to increase your brain power? Start writing.
By putting thoughts into words, you are telling yourself the logic(逻辑) behind what you think, feel, or only partly understand. Often, explaining a thought is the process of understanding. In other words, you increase your brain power by exercising your “explain power.”
Try this experiment. Explain how you’ll increase your brain power, even if you have no idea how right now. Just start with anything, and create an explanation. For example, start with “I’ll learn chess,” or “I’ll read an article on the mind every week.” Explain how that will help. You’ll be surprised how often this becomes a workable plan, and if you actually do this, you’ll have a better understanding of your brain twenty minutes from now.
Another benefit of writing is that it helps you remember. Many, if not most, highly productive people are always taking notes. You can try keeping it all in your head, but if you keep a journal of your ideas the next time you’re working on a big project, you’ll probably have more success.
Want to understand a topic? Write a book about it. That’s an extreme example, but if you are learning something new, write a letter to a friend about it, and you will understand it better. Want to invent something? Write an explanation of the problem, why you want to solve it, and why it is worth solving, and you’re half-way there.
Writers don’t always write because they clearly understand something beforehand. Often, they write about something because they want to understand it. You can do the same. Writing will help bring you to an understanding. Give it a try.
71. What would be the best title for the text?
A. A Way on How to Write
B. Increase Your Brain Power through Writing
C. Brain Power Helps Improve Your Writing
D. How to Start Your Writing
72. According to the text, writing can help you a lot in the following ways EXCEPT ______.
A. the increase of your brain power
B. the ability to remember
C. the development of your interest in study
D. the better understanding of a topic
73. If a writer writes something, it means that he or she _______.
A. has understood it very well
B. needs to understand it better
C. wants to remember it in his or her mind
D. is exercising his or her “explain power”
74. The underlined sentence “you’re half-way there” in the fifth paragraph implies that ______.
A. you are already successful
B. you still need to work hard
C. writing can help you walk half way
D. writing is important to solve problems
75. What’s the main purpose of the writer writing the text?
A. To advise readers to start their writing.
B. To explain the importance of writing.
C. To persuade readers to become writers.
D. To increase readers’ brain power.