1 . At eleven, I decided to learn to swim. There was a pool at the YMCA offering exactly the opportunity. My mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But the YMCA pool was safe.

I had a childhood fear of water. This started when I was three years old and my father took me to the beach.The huge waves knocked me down and swept over me.

The pool was quiet. I was afraid of going in all alone, so I sat on one side of the pool to wait for others. Then came a big boy. He yelled, “Hi, how’d you like to be ducked?” With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end.I landed in a sitting position, and swallowed water. But I was not frightened out of my wits—when my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump to come out of the surface. It seemed a long way down. I gathered all my strength when I landed and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. Then I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water. I tried to yell but no sound came out. I went down, down, endlessly.

When I came to consciousness, I found myself lying on the bed in the hospital.

I never went back to the pool. I avoided water whenever I could. This misadventure stayed with me as the years rolled by.It deprived(剥夺) me of the joy of boating and swimming. Finally, I decided to get an instructor. Piece by piece, he built a swimmer. Several months later, the instructor was finished, but I was not .Sometimes the terror would return. 

This went on until July. I swam across the Lake Went worth.Only once did the terror return. When I was in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw nothing but bottomless water. I laughed and said, “Well, Mr Terror, what do you think you can do to me?” I had conquered my fear of water.

1. What was the author’s original fear of water caused by?

A．His poor skill in swimming.

B．His mother’s warning of drowning.

C．An outing to the beach with his father.

D．An unpleasant memory of the pool.

2. Why was the author not scared to death when he was thrown into the water?

A．He knew how to swim in the pool.

B．He felt that the YMCA pool was safe.

C．He was waiting for others to save him.

D．He came up with an idea to go upwards.

3. What does the author probably mean by expressing “but I was not” in Paragraph 5?

A．He was still a poor swimmer.

B．He had not overcome the fear yet.

C．He was not afraid of drowning any more.

D．He was not satisfied with the swimming training.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Goodbye,Mr Terror

B．Hello,Childhood Fear

C．A Swimming Adventure

D．My Passion for Swimming

4 . Why Do People Volunteer?

For someone who doesn't do it, trying to understand why people volunteer can be difficult.

    1     But there are several motives that can be used to explain this.

Whenever there have been wars, there have been those who made the decision to join the battle.     2     It's not that they're unaware of the dangers, but it's something they're willing to go through.

    3     An example would be those that join environmental groups. These involve a lot of work, from cleaning out rubbish to taking care of endangered animals. While some view these as thankless tasks, these people are thinking of the future. What they're doing is to preserve the present so there will be a future.

Simple kindness is another factor as to why people volunteer.     4     We see them helping total strangers who become trapped when earthquakes or hurricanes happen. For most, it's simply a matter of doing the right thing.

An individual who becomes financially successful might feel the need to give some of the fortune back. Helping out is one way to do it. For these people, it's not just another way to earn more money.     5     When asked why people volunteer, gratitude and giving back may be the answer.

A．For some, it’s all about the future.

B．It helps people learn more about themselves.

C．It is their way of expressing thanks to others.

D．This becomes even more so when the task is dangerous.

E．Some feel that volunteering is a way for them to grow emotionally.

F．When disaster happens, some people offer their services to help others.

G．For these individuals, it's all about fighting for what they believe is right.

5 . Your guardian angel might have four legs and a rocking tail.

A new study from two researchers at Arizona State University found, like the hero dogs of film and TV, your real-life one likely wants to rescue you when you’re in trouble, reports AFP.

“It’s a popular legend(传说), ” explained researcher Joshua van Bourg. “Simply observing dogs rescuing someone doesn’t tell you much. The difficult challenge is figuring out why they do it.”

To test if and why dogs want to save their humans, Joshua van Bourg and his partner, Clive Wynne, took 60 dogs and their owners and set up artificial rescue scene. For the study, the owner was put in a large box that had a lightweight door that the owner’s dog could move to one side to “save” them. Once in the box, the human would pretend to be in trouble, calling out for help without using their dog’s name. The second part of the test involved researchers placing dog food in a box and watching to see how many of the same 60 dogs moved to open the box to get the reward.

Looking at the two tests, the researchers found that about one-third of the dogs successfully rescued their owners and that around the same number also opened the box with the food. The study suggests that these responses could signal that dogs find rescuing their loved ones to be a rewarding task, much like nosing out and finding food. According to Joshua van Bourg, a dog’s natural heroism becomes even more impressive when you take “a closer look” at the study’s results.

“The key here is that without controlling for each dog’s understanding of how to open the box, the percentage of dogs who rescued their owners is much more lower than the percentage of dogs who wanted to rescue their owners.” Joshua van Bourg said.

“The fact that two-thirds of the dogs didn’t even open the box for food shows that rescuing requires more than just motivation(动机), there’s something else involved, and that’s the ability.” he added.

1. What do the researchers focus on in the studies?

A．The number of dogs smelling dog food.

B．The way of dogs opening the light door.

C．The reason for dogs rescuing their owners.

D．The willingness of dogs to enter the rescue scene.

2. What do the researchers find from their study?

A．Twenty dogs are brave enough to rescue humans.

B．Forty dogs help humans and open the boxes for food.

C．Owners are saved without calling their dogs name.

D．Dogs consider rescuing owners as a rewarding task.

3. What is Joshua van Bourg’s attitude towards the phenomenon(现象)of dogs that rescued their owners?

A．Doubtful.

B．Objective.

C．Negative.

D．Pessimistic.

4. What does probably the text continue to tell?

A．Teaching dogs how to rescue humans.

B．Reminding people of being kind to dogs.

C．Advocating people to raise more dogs as pets.

D．Testing dogs what to do while rescuing owners.

8 . 假定你是李华，一个高中生。知道你的英国朋友Leslie对中国传统文化很感兴趣，你邀请他与你全家共度春节，写一封邮件告知他相关事宜。内容包括：
1.表示邀请；2.简要介绍春节；3.你家过节安排（贴春联、放鞭炮等）。

注意：1. 词数100左右；   
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Lesile,

How is everything going?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

LiHua

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Last year, my brother and I went to Miami for a vacation. Some of my friends who had been there before said     1    was a wonderful holiday destination. Before we went, we had planned for months. When the day came, we were ready.

After our plane landed, we went to the hotel. We had made our reservation six months     2    , but the man at the front desk said there had been a mistake. We     3    (tell) that our rooms hadn’t been reserved for that week,     4    for the week after. I didn’t understand     5    this would happen and my credit card had already been charged     6    the reservation. What’s worse, the hotel had been     7    (full) booked. When we were wondering what to do, the manager came out. She was surprisingly helpful. She apologized for the mistake and gave us a spare VIP room on     8    top floor. We had never stayed in such an amazing room, and we weren’t charged extra.

The next day, my brother and I went to the beach     9    we watched some people play volleyball. We got a little     10    (sunburn), but the day had been so relaxing that we didn’t mind.

10 . The Broken Lantern

On a wild July night, the storm was getting worse and worse. Kate Shelley, who lived between Honey Creek (小溪) and Des Moines River, was ________ looking out of the window, wondering whether it would ________ the bridges over them, when suddenly came the loud ________ of breaking wood, then followed by a great splash. She realized the bridge over the creek was broken. At that time, the midnight train was almost ________. If no one told the engineer to ________ the train, it would fall into the creek with a hundred or more ________. The situation was so urgent that Kate ________ to go to Moingon Railway Station to get help. Immediately she rushed out into the storm with her father’s railway lantern.

Moingon ________ on the far side of Des Moines River. The only way to get there was to cross a long wooden railroad bridge. Even in the daytime, it was ________ to walk on it because there was no foot walk or railing (栏杆) except only rails and ties. The ties were ________ enough apart for the girl to fall through.

Kate stopped when she came to the ________. She had never seen the river rising so high that she was ________. Her father had been killed in a train accident by that river and her brother had drowned there. But she soon managed to ________ thinking more of the past happenings for she knew that train had to be stopped ________ it was too late. She started to step on that dangerous bridge, knowing she might fall into the rush water at any moment. What’s worse, she broke her lantern while making her way, exposing herself to the ________. She had to climb on her hands and knees…

It seemed like a long time. At last she ________ the other side.   

She stopped just long enough to catch her breath. Then she ran ________ to the railway station. When she finally got there, she was ________, wet all over, her hat blown away, her hands and knees still bleeding and her eyes looking ________. She told the station man what had happened to the Honey Creek Bridge before her fainting. Finally, the passengers were saved.

The girl’s heroic deed was rewarded. For her ________ act, Kate enjoyed a right of getting on or off the train at her door when she wanted.

1.

A．angrily

B．eagerly

C．anxiously

D．hopefully

2.

A．break out

B．wash away

C．cut off

D．pull out

3.

A．crash

B．cry

C．blow

D．voice

4.

A．removed

B．blocked

C．ready

D．due

5.

A．change

B．stop

C．catch

D．leave

6.

A．conductors

B．customers

C．passengers

D．engineers

7.

A．decided

B．tried

C．expected

D．agreed

8.

A．situated

B．lay

C．located

D．lied

9.

A．harmful

B．foolish

C．dangerous

D．strange

10.

A．long

B．wide

C．thick

D．far

11.

A．bridge

B．station

C．train

D．rail

12.

A．frightening

B．shaking

C．escaping

D．running

13.

A．forget

B．admit

C．avoid

D．risk

14.

A．though

B．because

C．unless

D．before

15.

A．darkness

B．calmness

C．emptiness

D．coldness

16.

A．selected

B．reached

C．found

D．passed

17.

A．cautiously

B．slowly

C．disappointedly

D．desperately

18.

A．out of breath

B．out of mind

C．out of sight

D．out of favor

19.

A．watchful

B．sharp

C．wild

D．bitter

20.

A．honest

B．modest

C．generous

D．courageous