1 . “Look,it’s Baldy!” A boy shouted in my direction across the playground. Even though I was used to regular insults (侮辱) because of the ______ on my head, it was ______ horrible to hear. I sighed as I headed back to the class.

When I was just 20 months old, I suffered serious _____ after a bowl full of hot oil fell on my head. I was ______ to hospital and had to stay there for weeks while the doctors ______ to save my life. “Holly’s very ______ to be alive,’”they told Mum and Dad. “But she’ll be ______ with scars on her head, and of course her hair won’t grow there. ”

As a child,I cared much about my scars,so I ______ wore a scarf to cover them up when I left home. ____ I didn’t,people would call me horrible names like Baldy. Although my friends were always comforting me, they never _____understood how it felt.

Then through the hospital I was ____ to a children’s burns camp, where children like me can get any help. There, I ____ 14-year-old Stephanie, whose burns are a lot more serious than mine. But she is so ____ that she never lets anyone put her down.“You shouldn’t _____ what people say about what you look like because we're not different from anyone else, Holly,” she ____ me. “And you don’t need to wear a scarf because you look great _____ it! ” For the first time in my life I could speak to someone who’d been through something _____ .So weeks later, at my 13th birthday party, ____ by her bravery, I gave up my scarf and showed off my scars. It felt amazing not having to ______ away behind my scarf.

Now,I am____ of what I look like and much happier, because I have realized it is your personality(个性) that decides who you truly are.

1.

A．hat

B．scarf

C．scars

D．cuts

2.

A．still

B．just

C．never

D．seldom

3.

A．hunger

B．cold

C．defeats

D．burns

4.

A．rushed

B．led

C．invited

D．forced

5.

A．learned

B．fought

C．returned

D．decided

6.

A．happy

B．lucky

C．lonely

D．poor

7.

A．pressed

B．occupied

C．left

D．painted

8.

A．possibly

B．usually

C．finally

D．nearly

9.

A．Although

B．Since

C．If

D．Before

10.

A．correctly

B．roughly

C．easily

D．really

11.

A．promoted

B．introduced

C．reported

D．carried

12.

A．met

B．recognized

C．remembered

D．caught

13.

A．honest

B．strong

C．active

D．young

14.

A．write down

B．agree with

C．pass on

D．listen to

15.

A．promised

B．encouraged

C．ordered

D．calmed

16.

A．in

B．for

C．without

D．beyond

17.

A．similar

B．strange

C．hard

D．important

18.

A．allowed

B．required

C．guided

D．inspired

19.

A．hide

B．give

C．keep

D．put

20.

A．sick

B．aware

C．tired

D．proud

2 . When you need a job very much, you may end up taking one for which you are over qualified. Although you were initially grateful just to have the work, you now feel bored and depressed. Is there any way to change that?
Start by changing your opinion, says Caitlin Kelly, the author of Malled, a book based on her experience as a sales clerk after losing her job in journalism. “Don’t focus on what you’re not getting but what you are getting,” she says. “Be patient and work attentively with a wide range of people. It doesn’t matter what the job is –there are always things you can learn and skills you can develop.”
Hilary Pearl, the founder of a coaching firm, says, “Tell yourself the current situation isn’t the end of your career. Don’t overdramatize（过分夸大）the negative aspects but try to view the situation more philosophically: life has a series of stages, and this is one of them. Don’t forget to study even in the worst stage.”
Consider that because you’re overqualified, you may be able to learn or do things on the job that might not have been possible in a more demanding position, says Sarah Hathorn, the chief executive of Illustra Consulting. “You could spend your extra time in learning different aspects of the business and teaching others in the organization,” she says.
Is it possible to make your work more challenging, even if your job responsibilities aren’t likely to change?
Of course, you may seek tasks and responsibilities that force you to learn something new or to work harder. “You may be operating on autopilot（习惯性地）right now, but chances are that people above you are stressed,” Sarah Hathorn says. “take things off your boss’s plate and let him know which projects or tasks you want to learn more about.”
Always express your request positively, saying that you love new challenges, rather than complaining that you’re bored and underused, says Ethun, the president of the Park Avenue Group. In your down time, educate yourself about the company and its industry. “Read corporate information, analyst reports and related news articles,” she says. “If your boss accepts your suggestions, it will make you a more valuable employee.”
1. According to Caitlin Kelly, ______.

A．one should be willing to do some small things

B．being a salesman is not as important as being a journalist

C．performing your regular duties well is important

D．doing a simple job well will bring you a sense of success

2. What Hilary Pearl intends to express is that ______.

A．work is just a stage of our whole life

B．the present job doesn’t matter to us in a long run

C．one should be satisfied with his present situation

D．one should look forward instead of complaining about the present situation

3. The underlined words “take things off your boss’s plate” mean______.

A．draw your boss’s attention	B．share your boss’s burdens
C．give your boss useful advice	D．ask your boss for a better position

4. What is the common view about careers of the people mentioned in this passage?

A．One should start his career from doing a simple job.

B．One should improve himself and help others as well.

C．One should keep learning new things to improve himself.

D．One should pay much attention to the relationship with the boss.

3 . The Best of Friends
The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image(印象)of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past.” We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seen to be about their families,” said one member of the research team.” They’re expected to be rebellious(叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation(商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends.” My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-years-old Daniel Lazall. ”I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21,agrees.”Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenagers rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments,” Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”
1. What is the popular images of teenagers today?

A．They worry about school

B．They dislike living with their parents

C．They have to be locked in to avoid troubles

D．They quarrel a lot with other family members

2. The study shows that teenagers don’t want to ___

A．share family responsibility	B．cause trouble in their families
C．go boating with their family	D．make family decisions

3. Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents___.

A．go to clubs more often with their children

B．are much stricter with their children

C．care less about their children’s life

D．give their children more freedom

4. According to the authour,teenage rebellion____.

A．may be a false belief	B．is common nowadays
C．existed only in the 1960s	D．resulted from changes in families

5. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Negotiation in family	B．Education in family
C．Harmony in family	D．Teenage trouble in family

4 . Can dogs and cats live in perfect harmony in the same home? People who are thinking about adopting a dog as a friend for their cats are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found a new recipe of success. According to the study, if the cat is adopted before the dog, and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for cats, a year for dogs), it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly. Two-thirds of the homes interviewed reported a positive relationship between their cat and dog.
However, it wasn’t all sweetness and light. There was a reported coldness between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression and fighting were observed in 10% of the homes. One reason for this is probably that some of their body signals were just opposite. For example, when a cat turns its head away it signals aggression, while a dog doing the same signals submission.
In homes with cats and dogs living peacefully, researchers observed a surprising behaviour. They are learning how to talk each other’s language. It is a surprise that cats can learn how to talk ‘Dog’, and dogs can learn how to talk ‘Cat’.
What’s interesting is that both cats and dogs have appeared to develop their intelligence. They can learn how to read each other’s body signals, suggesting that the two may have more in common than we previously suspected. Once familiar with each other’s presence and body language, cats and dogs can play together, greet each other nose to nose, and enjoy sleeping together on the sofa. They can easily share the same water bowl and in some cases groom (梳理) each other.
The significance of the research on cats and dogs may go beyond pets ─ to people who don’t get along, including neighbors, colleagues at work, and even world superpowers. If cats and dogs can learn to get along, surely people have a good chance.
1. The underlined word “swimmingly” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ________.

A．early

B．sweetly

C．quickly

D．smoothly

2. Some cats and dogs may fight when ________.

A．they are cold to each other	B．they look away from each other
C．they misunderstood each other’s signals	D．they are introduced at an early age

3. What is found surprising about cats and dogs?

A．They eat and sleep each other.

B．They observe each other’s behaviors.

C．They learn to speak each other’s language.

D．They know something from each other’s voices.

4. It is suggested in Paragraph 4 that cats and dogs ________.

A．have common interests	B．are less different than was thought
C．have a common body language	D．are less intelligent than was expected

5. What can we human beings learn from cats and dogs?

A．We should learn to live in harmony.

B．We should know more about animals.

C．We should live in peace with animals.

D．We should learn more body languages.

5 . We once had a poster competition in our fifth grade art class.
“You could win prizes,” our teacher told us as she wrote the poster information on the blackboard. She passed out sheets of construction paper while continuing, “The first prize is ten dollars. You just have to make sure that the words on the blackboard appear somewhere on your poster.”
We studied the board critically. Some of us looked with one eye and held up certain colors against the blackboard, rocking the sheets to the right or left while we conjured up our designs. Others twisted their hair around their fingers or chewed their erasers while deep in thought. We had plans for that ten-dollar grand prize, each and every one of us. I’m going to spend mine on candies, one hopeful would announce, while another practiced looking serious, wise and rich.
Everyone in the class made a poster. Some of us used parts of those fancy paper napkins, while others used nothing but colored construction paper. Some of us used big designs, and some of us preferred to gather our art tidily down in one corner of our poster and let the space draw the viewer’s attention to it. Some of us would wander past the good students’ desks and then return to our own projects with a growing sense of hopelessness. It was yet another grown-up trick of the sort they seemed especially fond of, making all of us believe we had a fair chance, and then always—always—rewarding the same old winners.
I believe I drew a sailboat, but I can’t say that with any certainty. I made it. I admired it. I determined it to be the very best of all of the posters I had seen，and then I turned it in.
Minutes passed.
No one came along to give me the grand prize, and then someone distracted me, and I probably never would have thought about that poster again.
I was still sitting at my desk, thinking, What poster? when the teacher gave me an envelope with a ten-dollar bill in it and everyone in the class applauded for me.
1. What was the teacher’s requirement for the poster?

A．It must appear in time.

B．It must be done in class.

C．It must be done on a construction sheet.

D．It must include the words on the blackboard.

2. The underlined phrase in Paragraph 3 most probably means ________.

A．formed an idea for

B．made an outline for

C．made some space for

D．chose some colors for

3. After the teacher’s words, all the students in the class________.

A．looked very serious

B．thought they would be rich

C．began to think about their designs

D．began to play games

4. After seeing the good students’ designs, some students________.

A．loved their own designs more

B．thought they had a fair chance

C．put their own designs in a corner

D．thought they would not win the prize

5. We can infer from the passage that the author________.

A．enjoyed grown up tricks very much

B．loved poster competitions very much

C．felt surprised to win the competition

D．became wise and rich after the competition

6 . Holidays are really important. Many of us will have childhood memories of summer holidays where we were taken away from home to experience new environments and learn in different ways.
But holidays are expensive and, for those on low wages or living on benefits, they are often unobtainable. Even the cheapest holidays require travel and other additional costs that are difficult for many families to meet.
For working parents, the long summer break can be a very difficult problem for childcare. When an annual leave allowance amounts to only five weeks, there is a need to spread this across the year. Couples can find themselves taking leave in turn in order to care for children who are on holiday. For some, this makes even an affordable family holiday difficult.
The schools that I visit in Nottingham are full of experienced staff committed to giving our children a caring and inspiring learning environment. The number of children receiving free school meals is quite large in Nottingham and many schools have breakfast clubs to make sure that children get a healthy start to the day. Most schools undertake programs of group or individual educational support. Schools also have an important role in sofeguaiding children's welfare through the ongoing touch and support with their pupils. During the long summer holidays, much of this is missed.
While teachers are holidaying in the UK, many of their pupils spend the whole six weeks on the street where they live. The lack of free school meals for six weeks can result in pressure on a family budget and an inability to afford the inspiring experiences that help children to continue their learning.
In setting out its plans for a five-term year, Nottingham City Council (委员会)is seeking to reduce the summer holiday down to four and a half weeks, with a more balanced five terms of roughly eight weeks, each followed by a two-week break. We believe this will give real “down time" for school staff and pupils alike but will be short enough not to cause a real break in learning.
We acknowledge that this change may be difficult for some school staff, particularly whose own children are educated in other authorities. However, this must be weighed against the benefits for city children for whom we all have the greatest duty of care.
1. The passage is probably written by .

A．an experienced teacher	B．a working parent
C．an inspired student	D．a city council member

2. The underlined word "they" in the second paragraph refers to " ’.

A．environments

B．holidays

C．wages

D．benefits

3. It is suggested in the passage that the summer break be reduced to.

A．2 weeks

B．4.5 weeks

C．5 weeks

D．6 weeks

4. The plans for a shorter summer holiday will help students_____ .

A．obtain the cheapest holidays without additional costs

B．get a chance to spend six weeks a term with teachers in school

C．benefit more from the caring and inspiring learning environment

D．have more school days to receive free school meals

5. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

A．working parents can enjoy a five-week break to care for their children

B．the suggested plans for a five-term school year can hardly be carried out

C．the long summer holiday gives teachers and students real "down time"

D．some school staff will say “ No" to the plans for a shorter summer holiday

7 . The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru’s heartbreaking story could have one good consequence — other countries might learn from its mistakes.
For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.
However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. The whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.
Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate(磷酸盐)on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.
A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine. When a company strip-mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.
In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.
Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem — their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen.
1. What might be the author's purpose in writing the text?

A．To seek help for Nauru's problems.

B．To give a warning to other countries.

C．To show the importance of money.

D．To tell a heartbreaking story of a war.

2. What was Nauru like before the Europeans came?

A．Rich and powerful.	B．Modern and open.
C．Peaceful and attractive.	D．Greedy and aggressive.

3. The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from _______.

A．soil pollution	B．phosphate overmining
C．farming activity	D．whale hunting

4. Which of the following was a cause of Nauru's financial problem?

A．Its leaders misused the money.

B．It spent too much repairing the island.

C．Its phosphate mining cost much money.

D．It lost millions of dollars in the civil war.

5. What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?

A．The ecological damage is difficult to repair.

B．The leaders will take the experts'words seriously.

C．The island was abandoned by the Nauruans.

D．The phosphate mines were destroyed.

8 . San Francisco has its cable cars. Seattle has its Space Needle. And, Longview has its squirrel bridge. The bridge, which has attracted international attention, is now a local landmark.
The Nutty Narrows Bridge was built in 1963 by a local builder, Amos Peters, to give squirrels a way to cross the busy road without getting flattened by passing cars.
The original bridge was built over Olympia Way on the west edge of the library grounds. Before the bridge was built, squirrels had to avoid traffic to and from the Park Plaza office building where office staff put out a nutty feast for the squirrels. Many times, Peters and others who worked in and near Park Plaza witnessed squirrels being run over.
One day Peters found a dead squirrel with a nut still in its mouth, and that day’s coffee break discussion turned into squirrel safety. The group of businessmen cooked up the squirrel bridge idea and formed a committee to ask the blessing of the City Council(市政会).The Council approved, and Councilwoman Bess LaRiviere named the bridge “Nutty Narrows.”
After architects designed the bridge, Amos Peters and Bill Hutch started Construction, They built the 60-foot bridge from aluminum and lengths of fire hose(消防水带). It cost 1,000.
It didn’t take long before reports of squirrels using the bridge started. Squirrels were even seen guiding their young and teaching them the ropes. The story was picked up by the media, and Nutty Narrows became know in newspapers all over the world.
In 1983, after 20 years of use, Peters took down the worn-out bridge. Repairs were made and crosspieces were replaced. The faded sign was repainted and in July 1983, hundreds of animal lovers attended the completion ceremony of the new bridge.
Peters died in 1984, and a ten-foot wooden squirrel sculpture was placed near the bridge in memory of its builder and his devotion to the project.
1. The Nutty Narrows Bridge was built in order to ________.

A．offer squirrels a place to eat nuts

B．set up a local landmark

C．help improve traffic

D．protect squirrels

2. What happened over the coffee break discussion?

A．The committee got the Council’s blessing.

B．The squirrel bridge idea was born

C．A councilwoman named the bridge

D．A squirrel was found dead.

3. What does the underlined phrase “teaching them the ropes” probably means in the text?

A．passing them a rope

B．Directing them to store food for winter

C．Teaching them a lesson

D．Showing them how to use the bridge.

4. Which of the following is true of the squirrel bridge?

A．It was replaced by a longer one.

B．It was built from wood and metal

C．it was rebuilt after years of use

D．It was designed by Bill Hutch.

5. What can we learn about Amos Peters?

A．He is remembered for his love of animals.

B．He donated $1,000 to build the bridge

C．He was a member of the City Council

D．He was awarded a medal for building the bridge.

9 . Diana Jacobs thought her family had a workable plan to pay for college for her 21-year-old twin sons: a combination of savings, income, scholarships, and a modest amount of borrowing. Then her husband lost his job, and the plan fell apart.
"I have two kids in college, and I want to say come home. ' but at the same time I want to provide them with a good education," says Jacobs.
The Jacobs family, did work out a solution: They asked and received more aid from the schools, and each son increased his' borrowing to the maximum amount through the federal loan (贷款) program. They will each graduate with $ 20,000 of debt, but at least they will be able to finish school.
With unemployment rising, financial aid administrators expect to hear from more families like the Jacobses. More students are applying for aid, and more families expect to need student loans. College administrators are concerned that they will not have enough aid money to go around.
At the same time, tuition (学费) continues to rise. A report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007, while average family income rose just 147% . Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade.
"If we go on this way for another 25 years, we won't have an affordable system of higher education," says Patrick M. Calan, president of the center. "The middle class families have been financing it through debt. They will send kids to college whatever it takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt."
Financial aid administrators have been having a hard time as many companies decide that student loans are not profitable enough and have stopped making them. The good news, however, is that federal loans account for about three quarters of student borrowing, and the government says that money will flow uninterrupted.
1. According to Paragraph 1. why did the plan of the Jacobs family fail?

A．The twins wasted too much money.	B．The father was out of work.
C．Their saving ran out.	D．The family fell apart.

2. How did the Jacobses manage to solve their problem?

A．They asked their kids to come home.

B．They borrowed $20, 000 from the schools.

C．They encouraged their twin sons to do part-time jobs.

D．They got help from the schools and the federal government.

3. Financial aid administrators believe that________.

A．more families will face the same problem as the Jacobses

B．the government will receive more letters of complaint

C．college tuition fees will double soon

D．America's unemployment will fall

4. What can we learn about the middle class families from they text?

A．They blamed the government for the tuition increase.

B．Their income increased steady in the last decade.

C．They will try their best to send kids to college.

D．Their debts will be paid off within 25 years.

5. According to the last paragraph the government will________.

A．provide most students with scholarships

B．dismiss some financial aid administrators

C．stop the companies from making student loans

D．go on providing financial support for college students

10 . 第二部分：阅读理解(共15小题：
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。
The ability to do several things at once has become one of the great measures of self-worth for 21-century Americans. It is called multitasking, and it takes many forms. As one example, why go out to lunch when you can eat at your desk, talk to a client on the phone, scroll through your e-mail, and scan a memo simultaneously? And why simply work out on treadmill (单调的工作) when you could be watching television and talking on a portable phone at the same time? What a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment --- three activities for the time commitment of one! Ah, such efficiency. No wonder those who turn “to do” lists into a time-management art form tend to boast (自夸): “Look, me, how many things I can accomplish at once. If I’m this busy, I must be important.”
Yet last week the New York Assembly struck a blow against multitasking, at least behind the wheel, when it approved a bill banning drivers in the state from using handheld cellular phones. Too dangerous, the assembly said, citing research showing that drivers are four times more likely to have a collision when they are talking on a cellphone.
No one can argue against using time effectively. But accompanying the supposed gains are losses. Consider the woman out for an early-morning walk in a suburban neighborhood. She strides briskly, head down, cellphone clamped to her ear, chattering (喋喋不休) away, oblivious of the birds and flowers and glorious sunshine. Did the walk have any value?
More than a decade ago, long before multi-tasking became a word in everyday use, a retired professor of theology(神学) in Indiana with whom I corresponded (通信) made a case for what might be called uni-tasking — the old-fashioned practice of doing one thing at a time.
Offering the simplest example, he said, “When you wash the dishes, wash the dishes.” Good advice, I’ve found, whatever the task.
Perhaps, too, the ban on phoning-on-the-road will even spark a move away from other forms of dual activity. Who can tell? It could mark the first step in a welcome reconsideration of what really constitutes productivity and accomplishment.
1. The author thinks that multitasking has become one of the great measures of self-worth because ________.

A．it helps people to use time effectively

B．it makes people feel they are important

C．it means the ability to do several things at once

D．people worship speed and desire

2. The bill approved by the New York Assembly is mentioned in the second paragraph in order to ________.

A．demonstrate the danger of multitasking

B．show the high efficiency of multitasking

C．introduce the legislation system in America

D．argue against using time effectively

3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “oblivious” in the third paragraph?

A．serious	B．absorbed deeply
C．not noticing	D．forgetting

4. We learn from the passage that uni-tasking is ________.

A．the new fashion for 21-century Americans

B．accepted by most residents in Indiana

C．created by a retired professor of theology

D．the traditional act of doing one thing at once

5. In the eyes of the author, multi-tasking ________.

A．could not be avoided in this fast-changing age

B．should be taken the place of by uni-tasking

C．robs people of time to focus and reflect

D．should not become a word in everyday use