1 . Long ago, poems were recited loud instead of being written down. Back when the Greeks first started the Olympics, they held poetry _________ as well as athletic competitions.

Now, poetry competitions have been revived. This year 120,000 high school students competed in the first Poetry Out Loud national recitation competition,_________ poems from memory for $100,000 in prize money.

The first competitions were held in classrooms. The winners went on to school wide contests, and then they competed in city and state competitions. _________, the 50 state champions, along with the _________ of the District of Columbia came to Washington D.C. last week for the last showdown. After the 51 champions competed _________ another, 12 went on to the _________. Then the field was narrowed to five. The final five had one last chance to “perform” a poem. The overall champ, Jackson Hille, a high school senior from Ohio,_________ a $20,000 scholarship. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation _________ Poetry Out Loud, because they realized that hearing a poem performed is a different experience from _________ it on a page.

It’s not just a matter of saying the words in the right order. It’s the tone of __________, the pauses, the gestures and the attitude of the person performing that bring the__________ to life. “Each time we hear somebody recite a poem, we understand again what we found __________ and interesting about it,” said National Public Radio Broadcaster Scott Simon, master of ceremonies for the finals. Hearing it in a new voice offers something new to the listeners.

Not only do the people hearing poems have a(n) __________ experience, but__________ and presenting poems helps the participants understand those poems in a new way. Another __________ of a competition such as Poetry Out Loud is that the participants learn public speaking skills that can help them for life.

1.

A．connections

B．contests

C．contacts

D．compositions

2.

A．performing

B．hearing

C．admiring

D．comprehending

3.

A．However

B．Besides

C．Finally

D．Therefore

4.

A．poet

B．performer

C．student

D．champion

5.

A．against

B．for

C．in

D．at

6.

A．finals

B．competitions

C．activities

D．ceremonies

7.

A．awarded

B．won

C．rewarded

D．achieved

8.

A．set off

B．set up

C．put off

D．put out

9.

A．acquiring

B．finding

C．hearing

D．reading

10.

A．drama

B．rhyme

C．voice

D．poetry

11.

A．literature

B．history

C．art

D．words

12.

A．fresh

B．innocent

C．amusing

D．confusing

13.

A．wonderful

B．pleasant

C．unforgettable

D．new

14.

A．learning

B．writing

C．memorizing

D．selecting

15.

A．feature

B．benefit

C．satisfaction

D．option

4 . Jon Pedley is making a big change. He is giving up his life as a businessman for a life of helping others. He is trading his beautiful farmhouse in England for life in a mud hut (小屋) in Uganda, East Africa.

Pedley admitted that he had not always led a very positive life. At times he drank too much and got in trouble with the law. “I had always put the pursuit (追求) of money in front of everything else. As long as I was all right, I didn’t care who I was hurting,” says Pedley.

But a visit to Uganda in 2007 gave Pedley a new outlook on life. He was amazed at what he saw and how much the people there appreciated the work he was doing. “I worked there for a few days and these people who have nothing were thanking me by giving me bags of potatoes, which are a fortune for them,” he said. Now Pedley is selling his business, his $1.5 million farmhouse, and his expensive car—and moving into a hut made of mud and boards in a small Ugandan village. There he will help run an organisation that hopes to improve the quality of life for people in the village of Kigazi. He will help to build schoolrooms for children and tanks to hold clean water for villagers. Today, people in Kigazi must walk two miles to a hospital, so Pedley will help to build doctors’ offices, too.

Pedley’s organisation will also work with English teenagers who are in trouble. The teens will be sent to a “camp” in Uganda that Pedley will run. The teens will live in mud huts and help to build water, health, and education facilities (设施) for kids in Kigazi, many of whom have lost their parents to poverty or disease. Pedley hopes the teens will see a side of life that might help them turn around their own lives and set them on a new and more positive path.

1. Which of the following best describes Pedley in the past?

A．Negative.

B．Creative.

C．Positive.

D．Selfish.

2. What will Pedley do in the small Ugandan village?

A．Do business with the local people.

B．Help farmers increase potato output.

C．Help villagers with building work.

D．Introduce tools to improve English teaching.

3. Why will Pedley work with English teenagers in trouble?

A．To encourage them to make friends with locals.

B．To inspire them to live a more positive life.

C．To train them to become doctors in the future.

D．To make them learn about different cultures.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．From a millionaire to living in a mud hut.	B．A life-changing adventure.
C．A rich man becoming homeless.	D．More money, more worries.

5 . Little New Year usually falls a week before the lunar New Year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity(神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are five things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.

1.Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God

One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family’s conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig’s head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God’s mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to heaven to make his report.

2.House cleaning

According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities’ timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.

3.Paste paper-cuts to windows

In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year’s posters, and auspicious(吉利的) decorations are pasted up.

4.Bath and hair-cut

As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they’re rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.

5.Preparations for the Spring Festival

People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.

1. What is the Kitchen God’s duty in the man’s world?

A．Collecting the information of the man’s world.

B．Protecting the character of each home.

C．Gathering sacrifices for other Gods in heaven.

D．Watching out for the moral people in the world.

2. Why are most of the offerings sweets?

A．Because the Kitchen God loves sweet foods.

B．As it is the traditional customs.

C．As people hope the God says good for them.

D．Because sweets are the best sacrifices.

3. What do we know from the passage?

A．Little New Year always falls in February.

B．House cleaning is to welcome the New Year.

C．In the Little New Year only paper-cuts are pasted up.

D．People will make full preparations for the coming New Year.

4. What is the most unusual tradition in the Little New Year?

A．Offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God.

B．Burning paper image of the Kitchen God.

C．Preparing the necessity for the New Year.

D．Cleaning house and people themselves.

7 . Although most games have winners and losers, the goal of sports is not to win every game. The real goals include getting exercise, having fun, and learning important social skills, like sportsmanship.

Good sportsmanship is all about respect. Good sports (有体育精神的人) respect their teammates and also their opponents. They respect their coaches, and they also respect the referees or other officials involved in their games.     1     They shout at their teammates and they talk back to coaches or referees.

Kids usually learn sportsmanship good and bad from the adults in their lives.     2     If parents and coaches show disrespect for other fans, referees, or each other, kids will likely act the same way on the field.

    3     Some of them are very basic and easy to do, like shaking hands with other players before a game. Other examples may take a little more courage, such as acknowledging a great play made by the opposing team.

Learning good sportsmanship is important because it helps you develop an attitude of graciousness (礼貌) and respect that will carry over into all the other areas of your life.     4     Being a good sport in the classroom will eventually lead to being a good sport in the workplace.

So be a good sport in whatever you do!     5     When others see you acting in a way that makes it clear that winning isn’t the most important thing, you can move on to focusing on the important things, like having fum, getting exercise, and improving your skills!

A．Good sportsmanship can be shown in many ways.

B．However, bad sportsmanship is all about disrespect.

C．Players’ parents and coaches set examples that kids tend to follow.

D．We can be good sports by encouraging others but not laughing at them.

E．Starting as a good sport earlier will help you be a good sport as you get old.

F．If you’re a good sport on the field, you’ll also likely be a good sport in the classroom.

G．The example you set can be a powerful teaching tool for others.

8 . 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
What is your favorite color? Do you like yellow, orange, red?     1    . Do you prefer grays and blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be pessimist. At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously studying the meaning of color preference, as well as the effect that colors have on human beings.     2    . If you happen to love brown, you did so, as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly.
    3    . A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green one; and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day.     4    . A black bridge over the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides(自杀) than any other bridge in the area — until it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply. Perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.
    5    . It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted orange rather than black or grey.

A．On the other hand, black is depressing.

B．They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favorite color as grow up — we are born with our preference.

C．The rooms are painted in different colors as you like.

D．If you do, you must be an optimist, a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement.

E．Light and bright colors make people not only happier but more active.

F．Life is like a picture or a poem, full of different colors.

G．Colors do influence our moods—there is no doubt about it

9 . 阅读理解。
Big messaging apps abroad
While WeChat is China's biggest mobile messaging app (应用软件), there are many equivalent apps in other countries that offer similar features.
WhatsApp (US)
Users: more than 300 million
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry
Features: text chats, push­to­talk, file sharing, location sharing
With more than 300 million active users, WhatsApp is one of WeChat's biggest competitors. Developed by two ex­Yahoo employees in 2009, WhatsApp originally focused on text chats, but on Aug. 6 it also started push­to­talk service. It's noted for its accessibility, ease of use and the absence (没有) of adverts. The service is free for the first year, after which D|S0.99 (6.06 yuan) is charged for a one­year subscription.
Kakao Talk (South Korea)
Users: more than 100 million
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Bada (an operating system developed by Samsung)
Features: text chats, group chats, push­to­talk, group calls, file sharing
With more than 100 million users in more than 230 countries, Kakao Talk is a multi­platform (多平台) texting application that allows users to send and receive messages for free. With Kakao Talk, users can message each other one­on­one or in group chats with unlimited numbers of friends. You can also choose from more than 250 animated emoticons and share them with friends.
Line (Japan)
Users: more than 200 million
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and PC
Features: text chats, group chats, push­to­talk, file sharing, location sharing, gaming, stickers
Line tops the list of the most downloaded free apps in 52 countries. Apart from text and voice messaging, Line provides its users with more than 250 original stickers and emoticons to buy from its own shop. In the first quarter of 2013 alone, it made D|S17 million just from stickers. The popular app also allows friends to battle each other in the Line games.
1. The first paragraph of the passage is used to ________.

A．introduce the most popular mobile messaging apps in China

B．talk about new features in the latest mobile messaging apps

C．draw readers' attention to various popular mobile messaging apps

D．explain how mobile messaging apps have become so popular

2. Compared with the other two apps, which of the following features makes Line stand out?

A．Group mobile games.

B．Free stickers and emoticons.

C．Free download of the app.

D．Text and group chats.

3. One of the popular features of WhatsApp is that users ________.

A．can send and receive messages for free

B．can enjoy live video chats within groups

C．don't need to worry about unwanted ads

D．regularly get free stickers and emoticons