1 . J. K. Rowling frequently shows there is magic every day. Her Harry Potter series has helped people through times of stress and depression and she is always there to deliver wise words of encouragement.

She is one celebrity who is very active on Twitter. So when a single dad named Matt Burke sent her a message thanking her for the series, she noticed. Her series had helped strengthen his relationship with his 9­year­old daughter Bailey.

He included a link to his article titled Being a Broke Parent. He explained how he hadn’t found a level of financial stability that allowed him to pay bills on time and take his daughter on more activities and events. The family also doesn’t have the Internet or TV, which means there’s no “digital babysitter” and he has to rely on his own creative ways to bond with his daughter. Since he received the series, the main thing that has occupied them these days is reading books together.

Burke admits that he thought he was “too cool” for the books when they first came out and he was in his twenties, but he’s loving reading them now. “We switch off chapter by chapter reading them out loud，“Burke explains.” This not only allows her to get more used to reading aloud in front of someone, but it gets me directly involved in something she loves, and it gives me the chance to be very dramatic when I read my chapters and bring myself into the characters in the book, which has proven to be a ton of fun.”

After hearing Burke’s story, Rowling said how honored she was when Harry Potter was a part of his family’s life and offered Burke more books. Besides, people are also offering to send Burke more books as gifts. For Burke, this experience, far more than gifts, will be what he treasures.

1. Why did Burke thank J. K. Rowling according to the text?

A．She guided him how to write a good story.

B．She encouraged him when he was in trouble.

C．Her books helped him through times of confusion.

D．Her books helped him improve his bond with his daughter.

2. What is implied in Burke’s words in paragraph 4?

A．He has found it interesting to read the series.	B．He was too old to understand the series better.
C．He has chosen a better way of reading the series.	D．He hopes to play a role in the drama in the future.

3. Which word can best describe Burke’s experience according to the text?

A．Useless.

B．Normal.

C．Valuable.

D．Boring.

4. What is the main idea of this text?

A．J. K. Rowling chooses to help improve kids’ health.

B．J. K. Rowling gives a magical gift to a single father.

C．J. K. Rowling has a deep influence on others’ growth.

D．Burke comes to know J. K. Rowling through her series.

5 . Nevins had his legs seriously injured in a war and had both legs amputated (截掉) and spent several years going to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The years left him _______ and restless. He was often woken up by bad dreams. He knew he needed _________. To find a way out, he called a friend, Anna Dennis. She told him, “You need yoga (瑜伽) in your life.” At first, Nevins laughed at the advice. “That’ s the stupidest thing I’ve heard,” Nevins said. But he decided to have a _________.

A yoga teacher, Dennis decided to give him three ___________. At his first lesson, he found himself feeling sad because of his artificial (人造的) legs. It was painful to keep balance, and he was angry __________ she kept telling him to press his feet into the ground.

Finally he told her: “___________ saying that word! I don’ t have any feet!” And then, he __________ his artificial legs and threw them away. It was a big move because he was afraid for people to see him without them—only his doctors had seen him like that. However, when he raised his arms, he felt good. “I became a ___________ person,” he said.

When the day was over, he couldn’t ________ his next lesson. Although it began as a ____________ exercise, yoga finally became Nevins’ s saving grace (长项).

Nevins __________ others to learn yoga. “All of us are living with wounds (伤口)”, he said. “Yoga helps you to ________ the things that aren’t useful to you any more.”

Now he travels the world as a yoga teacher, hoping to bring peace and ________ to those who have suffered from the wounds of war. He teaches about twelve classes a month.

“I have a great life. On most days, I ________ that I’ m a disabled (残疾的) person. That’ s because of yoga. Life goes on. I’ m _________ for every breath,” said Nevins.

1.

A．stressed

B．proud

C．careless

D．moved

2.

A．praise

B．help

C．work

D．contact

3.

A．rest

B．job

C．dream

D．try

4.

A．suggestions

B．choices

C．lessons

D．chances

5.

A．so

B．if

C．though

D．because

6.

A．Mind

B．Stop

C．Keep

D．Consider

7.

A．took off

B．showed off

C．picked up

D．put on

8.

A．popular

B．real

C．serious

D．new

9.

A．learn from

B．attend

C．wait for

D．give

10.

A．simple

B．different

C．same

D．tough

11.

A．required

B．encouraged

C．made

D．allowed

12.

A．look forward to

B．give up

C．apply for

D．search for

13.

A．happiness

B．luck

C．safety

D．success

14.

A．imagine

B．believe

C．forget

D．realize

15.

A．responsible

B．famous

C．thankful

D．frank

6 . If you are crazy about paintings, you shouldn’t miss the following four famous masterpieces which have stood the test of time.

The Arnolfini Portrait

Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, an oil painting on wood produced in 1434, in which a man and a woman hold hands with a window behind him and a bed behind her, is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces in the National Gallery, London. This painting is as visually interesting as it is famed. It is also an informative document in fifteenth-century society, through Van Eyck’s heavy use of symbolism—while husbands went out to engage in business, wives concerned themselves with domestic duties.

The Starry Night

Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night, oil on canvas, a moderately abstract landscape painting of an expressive night sky over a small hillside village, during his 12-month stay at the mental hospital near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France between 1889 and 1890. When the Museum of Modern Art in New York City purchased the painting from a private collector in 1941, it was not well known, but it has since become one of Van Gogh’s most famous works.

The Harvesters

The Harvesters is an oil painting on wood completed by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1565. It depicts the harvest time which most commonly occurs within the months of August and September. Nicolaes Jonghelinck, a merchant banker and art collector from Antwerp, commissioned this painting. The painting has been at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City since 1919.

Guernica

Guernica, a large black-and-white oil painting, was painted by the Cubist Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso in 1937. The title “Guernica” refers to the city that was bombed by Nazi planes during the Spanish Civil War. The painting depicts the horrors of war and as a result, has come to be an anti-war symbol and a reminder of the tragedies of war. Today, the painting is housed at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofaí in Madrid.

1. Which of the following paintings was produced earliest?

A．The Arnolfini Portrait.	B．The Starry Night.
C．The Harvesters.	D．Guernica.

2. What do we know about the painting The Starry Night?

A．It was painted on wood in oil.

B．It wasn’t widely recognized before 1940s.

C．It described the painter’s life in hospital.

D．It was given away to the museum by a private collector.

3. Who created the painting representing the massive catastrophe the Nazism brought to people?

A．Pieter Bruegel the Elder.	B．Vincent van Gogh.
C．Jan van Eyck.	D．Pablo Picasso.

7 . In the US and Britain, the slogan around colleges was “Save water. Shower with a friend.” Now, Wuhan University has come up with another system for the campus bathhouse. It charges students for the amount of time in a shower. Before entering the bathhouse, students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower with cash or their student ID card. The clock starts ticking the minute the tape is turned on. It pauses when a button is pressed for soap. An integrated circuit(IC)card reader(读卡器)at each tap shows the time. No money, no water. The benefits of the new system can be seen with the old system, which charged 1 yuan for each person regardless of time in the shower. The university used about 320 tons of water daily under the old system, but only 160 tons now.

Many students use the new system but opinions on it are divided. Some students say it is bad because bathing had become a sort of race. Many people using it for the first time are not sure how long they need to shower. Some might be embarrassed if their time is up and they’re still covered in soap. They have to ask the bathhouse worker to help them buy extra time.

“It’s a flaw in the system that you cannot buy extra time on the ID card,” said Ren, a freshman in Wuhan University. The university is also considering some students’ suggestions that they be allowed to pay after they’ve finished the shower. Not surprisingly, some are complaining about losing the hour shower. But many students say the move helps them develop a water-saving sense. Without the time limits, most students tended to shower for 30 to an hour in the bathhouse. Some even used the hot water to wash their clothes. “In my experience, 10-20 minutes is enough,” said Dai Zhihua, a third-year student who usually takes 8 minutes.

A similar system has been installed in other universities. Shanghai Normal University introduced it at its Fengxiang Campus in September. The bathing fee there is 0.2 yuan per minute. One male student responded by setting a record with a two-minute shower.

1. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A．Students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower.

B．The clock times all through except when the bather pauses for soap.

C．If money runs out, there will be no water.

D．Having finished bathing, the student has to pay for it.

2. The underlined word “flaw” (Paragraph 3)most probably means ________.

A．perfection

B．convenience

C．fortune

D．fault

3. We can know from the passage that ________.

A．the new operation can solve the water crisis

B．the new operation can help raise students’ environmental awareness

C．a similar operation has been set in other universities

D．the university hasn’t saved a lot of water by using the new system

8 . We have most friends at the age of 26 after having spent the first quarter of our lives building up our friendship circle, a new research has claimed.

The research into friends hip shows that our social circle peaks at 26 years and 7 months, at which we typically have five close friends. Women are most popular at 25 years and 10 months, with men hitting the highest friendship point a little later at 27 years and 3 months.

The research, by Forever Friends, shows that about a third of adults meet their closest friends when at school, with about a fifth saying they meet them at work.

Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter now also play a major role in building new friendship. The research points out that 25 to 34-year-olds make 22 friends via Facebook, compared to 18 to 24-year-olds who make 12, and 35 to 44-year-olds who make just 4.

Forever Friends’ relationship coach Sam Owen says, “It is no coincidence that over a third of us meet our best friends at school. It is a key time in our lives when friendship is growing through sharing notes, giving gifts, seeing each other regularly and laughing a lot. As adults we can often forget how powerful these small things are and how the little things can make a difference.”

Later in life we find ourselves losing friends. Over half of us lose friendship through moving, while 36% say that over time they grow apart from close pals. Having children also causes 19% to drift away from childhood friends.

With growing pressures being put on friendship these days, it’s important to make time for our friendship.

1. How many friends can a 20-year-old college student make via Facebook?

A．4.

B．12.

C．18.

D．22.

2. In Paragraph 5, the author is trying to tell the readers ________.

A．how important making friends is

B．that friendship is not easy to keep

C．how much has been done to keep friendship

D．that friendship at school is important

3. The underlined phrase “drift away from” in Paragraph 6 means “________”.

A．make sense of

B．lose contact with

C．feel sorry for

D．make up with

4. This passage is most probably taken from ________.

A．Facebook or Twitter	B．an advertisement
C．a textbook	D．a newspaper

9 . One of the best-loved American writers was William Sydney Porter, or O. Henry. From 1893 he lived with his family in a house in Austin, Texas, which is now a museum. Visitors to Austin can see the house. It was saved from destruction and turned into a museum in1934. The museum is a good way to learn about the interesting life of the American writer.

William Porter rented this house in Austin and lived there with his wife Athol and daughter Margaret for about two years. Many objects in the museum belonged to the Porters. Others did not. An important piece in the room is the original photograph over here. It was taken there in the house about 1895. The piano there goes back to the 1860s. His wife took lessons on it when she first moved to Austin.

Porter did not start his career as a successful writer. He worked at a farm, land office and bank. He also loved words and writing. The museum has a special proof of Porter’s love of language ——his dictionary. It is said that he had read every word in that dictionary.

Later William Porter was forced to leave Austin because he was charged(控告 )with financial wrongdoing at the bank and lost his job. Because he was afraid of a trail, he left the country secretly. But he returned because his wife was dying. After her death, he faced the trial and became a criminal(罪犯). He served three and a half years in a prison in Ohio.

William Porter would keep his time in prison a secret. But there was one good thing about it. It provided him with time to write. By the time he was freed, he had published 14 stories and became well known as O. Henry. Porter later moved to New York City and found great success there. He published over 180 stories in the last eight years of his life.

1. O. Henry’s house in Austin has been well kept up till now so that ________.

A．Americans can explore their history

B．more visitors will be attracted to Austin

C．visitors can learn about O. Henry’s life

D．it can show the way of life in the 1860s

2. What do we know about the piano in the house?

A．It was hated by Porter’s daughter.

B．It has a long history of about 160 years.

C．Porter’s wife gave music lessons on it.

D．Porter usually created music on it.

3. How does the museum prove Porter was fond of language?

A．With a dictionary he used.	B．With the records they keep.
C．Using the books they w rate	D．Using the photograph they keep.

4. Why did Porter escape from Austin?

A．He didn’t want to lose his job.	B．He didn’t want to make trouble.
C．He meant to save his wife’s life.	D．He was charged with a crime.

5. From the last two paragraphs we know that ________.

A．Porter became famous suddenly

B．Porter spent his time in prison writing

C．Porter suffered a lot from his time in prison

D．life in prison provided what he could write for Porter

10 . I turned 8 years old the day I skipped school for the first time. It was easily done: Both my parents left for work before my school bus arrived on weekdays, so when it showed up at my house on that cold winter morning, I simply did not get on. The perfect crime!

And what did I do with myself on that glorious stolen day, with no adult in charge and no limits on my activities? Did I get high? Hit the mall for a shoplifting extravaganza (狂欢)?

Nope. I built a warm fire in the wood stove, prepared a bowl of popcorn, grabbed a blanket, and read. I was trilled and transported by a book — it was Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises — and I just needed to be alone with it for a little while. I ached to know what would happen to Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn. I couldn’t bear the thought of siting in a classroom taking another exam when I could be traveling through Spain in the 1920s with a bunch of expatriates (异乡客).

I spent that day lost in words. Time fell away, as the room around me turned to mist, and my role — as a daughter, sister, teenager, and student — in the world no longer had any meaning. I had accidentally come across the key to perfect happiness: I had become completely absorbed by something I loved.

Looking back on it now, I can see that some subtle things were happening to my mind and to my life while I was in that state of absorption. Hemingway’s language was quietly braiding itself into my imagination. I was downloading information about how to create simple and elegant sentences, a good and solid plot. In other words, I was learning how to write. Without realizing it, I was hot on the trail of my own fate. Writing now absorbs me the way reading once did and happiness is their generous side effect.

1. Why did the author skip school on that day?

A．Because she’s fascinated by a novel.	B．Because it’s a biting cold winter morning.
C．Because her parents left home early.	D．Because she’s anxious to take the exam.

2. What did the author think is the source of true joy?

A．Reading a fiction by the fire.	B．Travelling with a bunch of expatriates.
C．Being occupied by one’s passion.	D．Breaking the rules and regulations.

3. Which can best replace the underlined phrase “braiding itself into” in the last paragraph?

A．Mending.

B．Destroying.

C．Entering.

D．Blocking.

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．The author was tired of his roles in the real-life.

B．Becoming a writer is the author’s childhood dream.

C．The author skipped school when he was 8 years old.

D．Writing has a horrible effect on the author’s life now.