1 . It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was, in his words, “a brilliantly written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr. Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at ail. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.

And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t. In the World Book Day’s “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I’m not one to lie too often (I’d hate to be caught out), I will admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire top ten. But I’m pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, Gorge Orwell’s 1984. I think it’s really brilliant.

The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austin Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky (I haven't read him, but haven’t lied about it either) and Herman Melville.

Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to “impress” someone they are speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in-depth!

But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing this story (I will come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so.).

1. How did the author find his friend a book liar?

A．By judging his manner of speaking.

B．By looking into his background.

C．By mentioning a famous name.

D．By discussing the book itself.

2. Which of the following is a “guilty secret” according to the World Book Day report?

A．Charles Dickens is very low on the top-ten list.

B．42% of people pretended to have read 1984.

C．The author admitted having read 9 books.

D．Dreams From My Father is hardly read.

3. By lying about reading, a person hopes to ________.

A．control the conversation

B．appear knowledgeable

C．learn about the book

D．make more friends

4. What is the author’s attitude to 58% of readers?

A．Favorable.	B．Uncaring.
C．Doubtful.	D．Friendly.

2 . When I first got an e-mail account ten years ago, I received communications only from family, friends, and colleagues. Now it seems that every time I check my e-mail, I have an endless series of advertisements and other correspondence that do not interest me at all. If we want e-mail to continue to be useful, we need specific laws that make spamming a crime.

If lawmakers do not do something soon to prohibit spam, the problem will certainly get much worse. Computer programs allow spammers to send hundreds of millions of e-mails almost instantly. As more and more advertisers turn to spam to sell their products, individual e-mail boxes are often flooded with spam e-mails. Would people continue to use e-mail if they had to deal with an annoying amount of spam each time?

This problem is troubling for individuals and companies as well. Many spam e-mails contain computer viruses that can shut down the entire network of a company. Companies rely on e-mail for their employees to communicate with each other. Spam frequently causes failures in their local communications networks, and their employees are thus unable to communicate effectively. Such a situation results in a loss of productivity and requires companies to repeatedly repair their networks. These computer problems raise production costs of companies, which are, in the end, passes on to the consumer.

For these reasons, I believe that lawmakers need to legislate against spam. Spammers should be fined, and perhaps sent to prison if they continue to disturb people. E-mail is a tool which helps people all over the world to communicate conveniently, but spam is destroying this convenience.

1. What does the underlined word “correspondence” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Messages.

B．Ideas.

C．Connections.

D．Programs.

2. According to the text, what is the major cause of the flooding spam?

A．Companies rely on e-mail for communications.

B．More people in the world communicate by e-mail.

C．Many computer viruses contain spam e-mail.

D．More advertisers begin to promote sales through spam.

3. According to the author, who is the final victim of spam?

A．The business.

B．The advertiser.

C．The employee.

D．The consumer.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To inform.

B．To educate.

C．To persuade.

D．To instruct.

3 . Parents are a child’s first teachers. But some parents never learned from good examples. In New York City, a nonprofit agency called Covenant House tries to help homeless young mothers become good parents.
The twelve or so teenagers who live at the shelter attend parenting classes four days a week. The class is called Mommy and Me. Teacher Delores Clemens is a mother of five and a grandmother. She teaches basic skills, like how to give a baby a bath and how to dress a baby depending on the season.
She remembers one student who learned from her mother not to pick up a crying baby. The mother said that would only make the child needy and overly demanding. Delores Clemens says, “that's not true. You have to hold your baby! He is crying for a reason. If you never pick him up, he's going to keep crying. Pick your baby up. Cuddle your baby. Hug him! And she started to do that. They just want a little cuddling and a little love. And it works!”
Delores Clemens says her students also learn how to be good mothers by letting themselves be mothered. Around three hundred fifty teenage mothers graduate from Covenant House's Mommy and Me class every year.
In class, with her baby son is Natasha. She lived on the streets. She is glad not only for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House. As she told reporter Adam Phillips, she is also glad for the help they offer in seeking a more secure life.
The World Health Organization says the United States has forty-one births for every one thousand girls age fifteen to nineteen. That is higher than other developed countries, as well as some developing ones. By comparison, northern neighbor Canada has fourteen births and southern neighbor Mexico has eighty-two.
1. What is the text mainly about?

A．Parents who are a child’s first teachers.

B．A class where teens learn mothering and are mothered.

C．A nonprofit agency that offers a more secure life.

D．A kind teacher who help homeless young mothers.

2. Covenant Houses’ Mommy and Me class is intended to _____.

A．help homeless young mothers become good parents

B．provide homeless young mothers with a warm shelter

C．help mothers in New York be good parents

D．teach some parents how to love their children

3. What can we know about Delores Clemens from the text?

A．She has a mother of five and a grandmother.

B．She thinks a crying baby should be picked up and hugged.

C．She teaches advanced skills on how to be good mothers.

D．She is very glad for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House.

4. According to the World Health Organization, which country has the highest births for girls age fifteen to nineteen?

A．Canada	B．the United States of America
C．Mexico	D．Britain

4 . 第二节   补全对话
Policeman：Now, Jimmy, did you get a good view of the accident?
Jimmy：Oh, yes. I was standing outside the bank building and I saw it quite clearly.
Policeman：Do you know what time it was?
Jimmy：Yes.     1     It was 2：45 exactly.
Policeman：Good.     2    
Jimmy：Well, quite slowly—about 10 miles an hour. It was coming up York Road.     3     But they were still red when he went over them.
Policeman：I see.     4    Was it also driving slowly?
Jimmy：It was coming along Union Street about 30 miles per hour. It was a blue Toyota.     5    
Policeman：Did you see what colour his traffic(交通) light was?
Jimmy：Yes, it changed to yellow just before he crossed it.
A. What about the car?
B. I checked my watch.
C. Didn't you see the car?
D. Now, how fast was the truck moving?
E. Was the car going beyond the speed limit?
F. I suppose the truck driver knew the lights were going to change.
G. The driver stopped his car when he saw the truck crossing the street.

5 . More People Are Leaving the Rat Race for the Simple Life
Time is more precious than money for an increasing number of people who are choosing to live more with less—and liking it.
Kay and Charles Giddens, two lawyers, sold their home to start a B&B hotel. Four years later, the couple dishes out banana pancake breakfast, cleans toilets and serves homemade chocolate chip cookies to guests in a B&B hotel surrounded by trees on a hill known for colorful sunsets.
“Do I miss the freeways? Do I miss the traffic? Do I miss the stress? No,” says Ms. Giddens, “This is a phenomenon that’s fairly widespread. A lot of people are reevaluating their lives and figuring out what they want to do. If their base is being damaged, what’s the payoff?”
Simple living ranges from cutting down on weeknight activities to sharing housing, living closer to work, avoiding shopping malls, borrowing books from the library instead of buying them, and taking a cut in pay to work at a more pleasurable job.
Vicki Robin, a writer, lives on a budget equal to a fifth of what she used to make. “You become conscious about where your money is going and how valuable it is,” Ms. Robin says, “You tend not to use things up. You cook at home rather than eat out…”
Janet Luhrs, a lawyer, quit her job after giving birth and leaving her daughter with a nanny for two weeks. “It was not the way I wanted to raise my kids,” she says, “Simplicity is not just about saving money; it’s about me sitting down every night with my kids to a candlelit dinner with classical music.”
Mrs. Luhrs now edits a magazine, Simple Living, which publishes tips on how to buy recycled furniture and shoes, organize potluck dinners instead of expensive receptions, and generally how to consume less.
“It’s not about poverty,” Mrs. Luhrs explains, “It’s about conscious living and creating the life you want. The less stuff you buy, the less money goes out of the door, and the less money you have to earn.”
1. Kay and Charles Giddens sold their home to ______.

A．pay off the debt

B．start a private hotel

C．cut down expenses

D．buy living necessities

2. Simple living includes ______.

A．building a home library

B．living in the countryside

C．enjoying a colorful night life

D．sharing housing with others

3. It can be learned from the passage that now Janet Luhrs ______.

A．spends more time with her kids

B．has an interest in classical music

C．works as a reporter of a magazine

D．helps people buy recycled clothes

4. How does the author develop the passage?

A．By using figures.

B．By asking questions.

C．By giving examples.

D．By making comparisons.

6 . As a contestant on The X Factor, 13-year-old Rachel Crow seemed to have exactly what it took to win: strong praise from judges, a beautiful voice, and a lovable personality. Then she was voted off.
When the results were read, Rachel broke down, sobbing and screaming for her mom, who had to rush onstage to comfort her.
It was a humiliating moment for Rachel, but a great moment for The X Factor — just the kind of drama TV audiences love.
Some fans said Rachel’s breakdown proved she was too young to be on the show. And though there was nothing exceptional about someone Rachel’s age being on reality TV — children and teens appear in everything from Dance Moms to The Biggest Loser — Rachel’s meltdown did raise an important question: Should kids be on reality TV at all? Many psychologists are saying “No”.
It’s well known that early fame can be harmful and that many former child stars struggle as adults. Being followed by photographers 24/7 and having everything they do reported in newspapers and blogs can be hard for young people to deal with. It can make them feel as though their worth depends on what others say. Reality TV takes the pressure of early fame to a whole new level. Kids on reality TV don’t play characters. They play themselves. Cameras expose their most private moments for our entertainment.
Laws exist that protect child actors, making sure they go to school and limiting the hours they can work. In many states, though, these laws do not apply to kids on reality TV, because they are not considered actors.
Dangers aside, there’s no doubt that reality shows do offer exciting opportunities and the potential to make money. A 7-year-old girl who attends a TV show earns about $36,000 per season. After competing on The X Factor, One Direction went on to become international stars. Even Rachel made out OK. She released an album and voices a character in the movie Rio 2. And she showed resilience (适应力). “I’m not feeling great, but I’ll be fine,” she told reporters after breakdown. “I’m Rachel still.”
1. The underlined word “humiliating” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to “ _______”.

A．exciting	B．precious
C．important	D．embarrassing

2. We can learn from Paragraph 4 that some of Rachel’s fans thought that she _______.

A．was not good enough

B．deserved better results

C．should have been much stronger

D．shouldn’t have been on the show

3. Paragraph 5 is mainly about _______.

A．how kids should deal with pressure

B．why early fame can be harmful to kids

C．the importance of kids being themselves

D．what some former child stars have achieved

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Kids should look for more challenges.

B．Reality shows may change a kid forever.

C．Reality shows can benefit kids in some ways.

D．Kids can earn little money from reality shows.

7 . An explosion on Thursday killed one and injured 21 in a busy street in Tongren, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province.

The bomb was hidden in a rubbish bin in the city’s commercial hub（商业中心），where lots of shops and restaurants are concentrated.

The ear-splitting blast was heard around 12∶50 p.m.，said a local newspaper, citing witnesses. The power of the blast shattered（使粉碎）nearby shop windows and ripped the stainless（不生锈的）steel rubbish can to pieces.

One passer-by，identified（确认）only as Zhang，said she was shocked by the noise and saw a lot of pedestrians lying on the ground when she got to the scene.

Thirteen of the injured were taken to a local hospital after the explosion. A doctor there said five were in serious condition but already out of danger after emergency treatment. The others were just slightly

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, said an officer with the Tongren police, but refused to speculate as to the cause.

1. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．All the injured were taken to a hospital

B．8 of the injured were not taken to a hospital

C．The rubbish bin with a bomb was in a restaurant

D．The rubbish bin with a bomb was in a shop

2. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．One passer- by, identified only as Zhang, saw the man throwing a bomb into a bin.

B．Some customers in restaurants were injured.

C．The writer didn’t get to the scene.

D．All customers in shops got hurt.

3. In the last paragraph the underlined word“ speculate” probably means ________.

A．tell

B．guess

C．discuss

D．talk

4. What of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A．Bomb Hidden in a Rubbish Bin

B．The Cause of the Explosion

C．A Terrible Thing

D．Market Blast Kills 1 ,Injures 21

8 . 完形填空 (共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分)
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
In some cities, work holism（废寝忘食工作）is so common that people don’t consider it unusual. They accept the lifestyle as _______. Government workers in Washington, D. C.,_____, frequently work sixty to seventy hours a week. They don’t do this because they have to; they do it because they_______to. Work holism can be a _______ problem. Because true workaholics would rather work than do anything else, they ________ have no idea of how to relax; that is, they might not_______movies, sports, or other types of entertainment. Most of all, they______ to sit and do nothing. The lives of workaholics are usually stressful, and this tension and worry can cause _______ problems such as heart attacks and stomach diseases. _______, typical workaholics don’t pay much attention to their families. Their marriages may end in ______ as they spend little time with their families.
Is work holism_______ dangerous? Perhaps not. There are, certainly, people who work______under stress. Some studies show that many workaholics have great energy and interest in work. They feel   _______ is so pleasurable that they are actually very happy. For most workaholics, work and entertainment are the same thing. Their jobs ________ them with a challenge; this keeps them busy and creative.
______ do workaholics enjoy their jobs so much? There are several ________ to work. Of course, it provides people with paychecks, and this is important. But it offers   _______ financial security. It provides people with self-confidence; they have a feeling of satisfaction _______ they have produced a challenging piece of work and are able to say “I   _______ it”. Psychologists claim that their work gives people an identity. After they take part in work, they _______ a sense of self and individualism.1.

A．strange

B．boring

C．pleasant

D．normal

2.

A．for example

B．on the other hand

C．what’s more

D．after all

3.

A．agree

B．promise

C．dare

D．want

4.

A．slight

B．serious

C．obvious

D．difficult

5.

A．still

B．probably

C．certainly

D．mostly

6.

A．afford

B．enjoy

C．watch

D．allow

7.

A．dream

B．decide

C．intend

D．hate

8.

A．physical

B．cultural

C．social

D．mental

9.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Anyway

D．Besides

10.

A．happiness

B．silence

C．failure

D．loss

11.

A．sometimes

B．always

C．seldom

D．hardly

12.

A．sadly

B．differently

C．efficiently

D．slowly

13.

A．study

B．family

C．life

D．work

14.

A．equip

B．pack

C．provide

D．fill

15.

A．When

B．Why

C．How

D．Where

16.

A．factors

B．advantages

C．steps

D．ways

17.

A．no more

B．more or less

C．no more than

D．more than

18.

A．when

B．before

C．unless

D．until

19.

A．valued

B．failed

C．caught

D．made

20.

A．give

B．lose

C．get

D．need

9 . For years, business people in Western Europe were worried. They knew they could not compete against business from the U.S. The United States is much larger and had many more resources than any Western European countries.

Some European people realized that the European nations need to join together to help each other. If they could forget their language differences and the differences in customs, they might become strong competition against other countries.

In 1958, six of the European countries — Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Italy got together and decided to cooperate. They called their group the European Economic Community, or the Common Market. These countries agreed to join their resources together.

Within a few years, the European Economic Community had worked so well that its members were more prosperous than many other European nations. Soon, other nations began to realize the advantage of the Common Market. Today the Common Market includes most of the important countries in Western Europe. It is helping Western Europe to again take its place as a leader among the industrial nations of the world.

1. From the passage we know the U.S. is much richer than ________ in resources.

A．any other Western European countries	B．any other country in Western Europe
C．any country in Western Europe	D．every country in Europe

2. The members of the European Economic Community have developed fast because they ___.

A．share their resources and become more prosperous

B．can again take the place as a leader in the world

C．forget the differences in their languages and customs

D．have become strong competition against the U.S.

3. Which statement is true?

A．The Common Market is only a political association.

B．The Common Market is an economic and political association.

C．The Common Market is only an economic association.

D．The Common Market is neither an economic association nor a political one.

4. In order to ______ the Western European countries decided to cooperate.

A．join together to found a united country

B．help each other to smooth away the differences in customs

C．work and act together for common purpose

D．work together and fight against the U.S.