2 . 阅读下面短文，从短文后所给的选项中，选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

A. cut             B. curious             C. found             D. creative       E. spent                    F. bit G. simply       H. thoughtful             I. built             J. village             K. friendship             L. harvest

I was lucky to have a happy childhood, one that most people would want to have. My family lived in a tiny     1     in Scotland. Our neighbors next door had a son named Danny, and we grew up together.

We     2     long summer evenings in the forests, digging up worms for fishing, and collecting feathers left by the birds. It was here that I discovered that I was allergic (过敏) to the tiny flies which     3     me and made my face swell (肿). There were a few walnut trees above the village and we would frighten the squirrels away and wait for them to ripen (成熟). However, the village was too far north for a proper     4    .

Danny was a     5     boy, and we made things out of branches, which we tried to sell in the village shop. We even     6     a tree house. Once I lost my footing, fell out and     7     my foot, so Danny washed my wounds in the river. He was a very     8     boy for someone so young. My mother     9     blamed me for tearing my clothes.   

It was the finest     10     anyone could have, and I’m proud of calling him my friend.

3 . 选词填空

raise one’s voice; take one’s advice; calm down; jump in with both feet

Little Tom nervously approached his mother and told her he wanted to swim in the pool by himself. On hearing it, she     1    , saying, “No way! It’s too dangerous, and you’ve just started learning to swim.” Just at that moment, Tom’s grandma came in. She told Tom’s mother to     2    . Then Grandma advised Tom to think carefully and not to     3    . At last, Tom realized his grandma was right and decided to     4    .

5 . 请阅读下面短文, 并根据其提示内容, 从方框中所给的7个词语中选出5个, 并用其适当形式填空。

decide,   express oneself,   fortunate,   in addition,   remove,   therefore,   free

The French owner of a rooster called Maurice was taken to court by neighbors who insisted the rooster is too noisy. An elderly couple from Limoges, complained that the rooster cut short their sleep with its dawn crowing (啼叫) next to their home. The couple wanted it     1     from earshot.

The rooster’s owner, a retired waitress who has been on the island for 35 years, argued,   “A rooster needs to     2    . ” Her lawyer added that the complaints were ridiculous because crowing roosters were part of the country life.     3    , many people signed petitions (请愿书) in support of Maurice and his     4     to crow.

Mayor of the main town on the island where they live, said, “Today it’s the rooster, but what will it be tomorrow? The noise of the wind? Our accents? ” He has issued a municipal law showing the need to “preserve the rural feature of the town.”

Finally, the court rejected the neighbors’ complaints of the noise pollution and ordered them to pay E1, 000.     5    , the France’s most famous rooster can carry on with his dawn chorus.

6 . 选词填空

A. eating          B. late       C. ducks       D. carefully     E. before F. vegetables     G. sorry     H. words       I. planted        J. shouted

Mrs. Brown had a small garden behind her house, and in the spring she     1     some vegetables in it. She looked after them very     2    , and when the summer came, they looked very nice. One evening Mrs. Brown looked at her     3     and said to her son, “Tomorrow we are going to pick them.”

But early the next morning, her son ran into the kitchen and     4    , “Mother! Come quickly! Our neighbor’s     5     are in the garden and they are     6     our vegetables!”

Mrs. Brown ran out, but it was too     7    ! All the vegetables were finished! Her neighbor was very     8    , but that was the end of the vegetables.

Then a few days     9     Christmas, the neighbor brought Mrs. Brown a large box. In it was a beautiful, fat duck, and on it was a piece of paper with the     10    , “Enjoy your vegetables!”

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. rather               B. comments                 C. distant                    D. fiction        E. blank             F. suffered G. stared               H. absolutely                  I. reflect                    J. comfort          K. teenager

When Michael was young, he was sensitive and shy. It was a huge task for him to talk to a stranger or go downstairs to the shops. But the boy who lived in a     1    village 30 kilometers away from the city center found great pleasure in writing.

He often drank a cup of coffee on a Saturday afternoon, starting with a     2     sheet of paper. "I'm interested in many kinds of writing," he said, "from detective story to science     3    , from love story to youth novel…It's really a pleasure to use what you write     4    than what you say to express yourself."

Michael found his talent for writing when he was 15. At that time, he was disliked by teachers for his bad academic performance and     5    from peer pressure. He liked to express himself in his diary. "No one was willing to talk to me then," he recalled. "Sometimes they just     6    at me as if I had done something wrong. Actually I was at loss what to do."

Then he quitted school and started writing. The young     7    wrote 10 pieces of writing in one year, most of which were published on the Internet. Soon his works were recognized by a lot of Internet critics and received many positive     8    from the netizens（网民）. Two years later, he was awarded the most popular webwriter by Sina.

Some readers say Michael's novels    9    his outstanding ability to explore the emotions of contemporary people. "His novels are a great    10    to people who are struggling in our society.”

10 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. proceeded             B. poverty             C. respected             D. deliberate            E. noteworthy F. assume                 G. donated               H. conscious             I. rejection               J. prolific K. persevered

There is a wonderful quote by Thomas Edison where he said, “Many of life’s failures are people who do not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” This has always resonated with me, especially when I think of all the great successes in this world who had epic failures, but kept trying a little longer, and a little harder. Perhaps hearing some of these stories will inspire you, and let you know that even the people you     1    were always natural successes, had failures of their own first.

I will start with a story of Steve Jobs who is synonymous with Apple, as he should be, he was a founder! He was fired from his job with Apple, and then     2    to fail at the next two companies he headed up. When he was asked to return to his job at Apple, he built it up to be the most successful company in America!

Did you know that Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard? He dropped out, and his first company was a failure. However, he did not let this deter his belief in himself, and he     3    . He went on to form the company we now know as Microsoft, and was the youngest self-made billionaire we had ever seen. He always felt that his greatest lessons were not his successes, but rather his failures. Personally, I think his greatest success is the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation. They have     4    most of what they have made to help people around the world.

Stephen King was a troubled child, who lived in     5    , and with a lack of safety. He fell victim to drugs and alcohol as a means of coping with his unhappiness, and received a great deal of     6    early in his career. He made a     7    decision to focus his energies, and his coping into his work, and this change produced great rewards. To this day, he is one of the most     8    and successful writers of our time with many books and movies to his name.

Ludwig Van Beethoven once had a music teacher who told him that he was “hopeless”. Many did not know that he actually became deaf during his career, yet still managed to produce some of the most famous and     9    music of our time. He was able to “see” and “hear” the music in his head, and was someone who was     10    and awed(敬畏)by his colleagues during his lifetime. His music lives on so many years later, which is the greatest testament to its beauty and perfection.