1 . As a writer, my pregnancy(怀孕)became marked by worry as many people predicted I’d never read a book again once the baby was born. I felt_________ by the apparent ________ people who cared about me displayed as to it, because I saw it as my upcoming misfortune. I could forgive them only by telling myself they couldn’t possibly ________ how important reading is to my well-being. I knew if I had to ________ reading, I wouldn’t be the best me.

Of course, my newborn required constant_________. She wouldn’t sleep unless she was held, and she wanted to nurse all the time. But there’s a great benefit in ________ a baby who’s nursing or napping in your arms; it gives you lots of time to read. I had ________ using my e-reader until then, but it became my best friend as I discovered that I could ________ it with one hand and ________ library books when stuck in the house. In my daughter’s first year, I credited reading with getting me through those difficult early ________.

Reading is ________ to my mental health. I have discovered this is also true for my daughter. Every time she lost her_________, I would_________ her up, carry her to the reading chair, and open a book. As we ________ the chair, she often said, “Mama, please read me a story. It’s the only way I can calm down.”_________ makes a better me and a better mother for my daughter.

1.

A．touched

B．impressed

C．surprised

D．worried

2.

A．sadness

B．joy

C．envy

D．nervousness

3.

A．grasp

B．believe

C．deny

D．assume

4.

A．start

B．continue

C．forget

D．quit

5.

A．performance

B．attention

C．attraction

D．rest

6.

A．rocking

B．rolling

C．praising

D．blaming

7.

A．practiced

B．enjoyed

C．resisted

D．appreciated

8.

A．feel

B．cover

C．tap

D．hold

9.

A．download

B．update

C．purchase

D．share

10.

A．years

B．months

C．weeks

D．hours

11.

A．unnecessary

B．unfavorable

C．essential

D．harmful

12.

A．balance

B．way

C．toy

D．temper

13.

A．pick

B．cast

C．drag

D．push

14.

A．collapsed onto

B．leaped over

C．slid off

D．settled into

15.

A．Thinking

B．Nursing

C．Reading

D．Parenting

2 . My experience with reading, as a child, probably differs from most people in my position. Nearing 40 years of age, I am finally at a point in life when I can honestly say I _________reading.

Growing up in Anthony, I gave my mother and primary school teachers headaches because I had no _________to read. This was especially troubling to my mother, who was _________ a teacher. She was an eager reader._________, my lack of enthusiasm did not sit well with her.

Though I wasn't a fan of reading growing up, I was, and still am,_________with sports. My TV watching was almost only sports. On the ________ occasion I did read something, it was ________. My mom had a(n) ________. She began leaving the sports page from the morning paper out for me and buying sports magazines and books of my favorite players. ________, she met with my teachers and shared her“plan”with them. Before I knew it, I was reading regularly.

Looking back, I am _________that my mom persevered in _________me to my literary niche (归宿). Had she _________me to read selections I had no interest in, I may have never developed the love of reading I have today.

Fast forward to today and I ________myself principal (校长) of that elementary school I attended so many years ago in Anthony. My experience ________me to reach out to all of my students and provide them with every opportunity to ________.

1.

A．enjoy

B．regret

C．avoid

D．finish

2.

A．room

B．time

C．chance

D．desire

3.

A．more than

B．other than

C．rather than

D．less than

4.

A．Instead

B．However

C．Therefore

D．Otherwise

5.

A．familiar

B．fascinated

C．satisfied

D．careful

6.

A．final

B．present

C．sad

D．rare

7.

A．hand-written

B．custom-made

C．sports-related

D．state-published

8.

A．dream

B．idea

C．task

D．excuse

9.

A．Patiently

B．Previously

C．Additionally

D．Strangely

10.

A．fearful

B．hopeful

C．forgetful

D．thankful

11.

A．cheating

B．following

C．guiding

D．inviting

12.

A．forced

B．taught

C．encouraged

D．reminded

13.

A．call

B．find

C．show

D．fancy

14.

A．persuades

B．warns

C．challenges

D．drives

15.

A．read

B．speak

C．choose

D．play

3 . Reading involves looking at illustrative symbols and expressing mentally the sounds and ideas they represent. Concepts of reading have changed _______ over the centuries. During the 1950’s and 1960’s especially, increased attention has been devoted to _______ the reading process. Although experts agree that reading _______ a complex organization of higher mental _______, they disagree about the exact nature of the process. Some experts, who regard language primarily as a code using symbols to represent sounds, _______ reading as simply the decoding (解码) of symbols into the sounds they stand for.

These authorities _______ that meaning, being concerned with thinking, must be taught independently of the decoding process. Others maintain that reading is inexplainably related to thinking, and that a child who pronounces sounds without _______ their meaning is not truly reading. The reader, _______ some, is not just a person with a theoretical ability to read but one who _______ reads.

Many adults, although they have the ability to read, have never read a book in its ________. By some experts they would not be ________ as readers. Clearly, the philosophy, objectives, methods and materials of reading will depend on the definition one uses. By the most ________ and satisfactory definition, reading is the ability to ________ the sound-symbols code of the language, to interpret meaning for various ________, at various rates, and at various levels of difficulty, and to do so widely and enthusiastically. ________, reading is the interpretation of ideas through the use of symbols representing sounds and ideas.

1.

A．specifically

B．dramatically

C．abstractly

D．ridiculously

2.

A．understanding

B．translating

C．defining

D．substituting

3.

A．involves

B．concentrates

C．specializes

D．analyzes

4.

A．opinions

B．effects

C．manners

D．functions

5.

A．view

B．look

C．reassure

D．agree

6.

A．support

B．argue

C．attempt

D．compete

7.

A．interpreting

B．saying

C．reciting

D．reading

8.

A．in addition to

B．for example

C．according to

D．such as

9.

A．completely

B．carefully

C．publicly

D．actually

10.

A．part

B．whole

C．standard

D．straight

11.

A．applied

B．granted

C．classified

D．graded

12.

A．instructive

B．doubtful

C．certain

D．complicated

13.

A．strike

B．illustrate

C．define

D．unlock

14.

A．purposes

B．degrees

C．stages

D．steps

15.

A．On the other hand

B．In short

C．By the way

D．So far

5 . Short stories deserve popularity again. In recent years, there have been critically excellent collections of American writers such as Lydia Davis and Junot Diaz. But few other manage to _________ the bestseller lists, and they are too often _________ by novels. _________ their golden days in the early 20t century, short stories are mostly viewed as trials or experiments before an author works hard with the real thing.

John Burnside, a Scottish poet and novelists, _________, this fixed idea in his latest collection, Something Like Happy. Over 13 stories, Mr. Burnside shows the greatness of the concise _________. His stories take place mostly in Scotland, in flats “high up on the third floor of an apartment block in the middle of Dundee” or in the back room of a hardware shop, where men drink “sweet, milky coffee” _________ waiting for the results of races. His men carry knives; his women are often _________ housewives who drink, take up bell-ringing in their local church _________ a way of filling in time.

Happiness is the subject that _________ the collection together. In other hands, this could become emotional. __________ Mr. Burnside, with only a few __________, never allows that to happen. Instead, happiness __________ stays from these figures; so much so that they have almost stopped to __________ it. Rooted in the bleaker aspects of Scotland’s sceneries, it is something that his __________ constantly search for, in these concise and poetic tales—but __________ to find.

1.

A．facilitate

B．earn

C．reach

D．meet

2.

A．replaced

B．overshadowed

C．rejected

D．decreased

3.

A．In addition to

B．Similar to

C．In place of

D．In contrast to

4.

A．challenges

B．favors

C．illustrates

D．suggests

5.

A．way

B．shape

C．sign

D．form

6.

A．like

B．while

C．once

D．since

7.

A．generous

B．aggressive.

C．lonely

D．passionate

8.

A．as

B．about

C．with

D．by

9.

A．goes

B．returns

C．ties

D．runs

10.

A．Particularly

B．As a result

C．For instance

D．Yet

11.

A．complaints

B．substitutes

C．accounts

D．exceptions

12.

A．frequently

B．rarely

C．deliberately

D．eventually

13.

A．rely on

B．believe in

C．give up

D．care for

14.

A．readers

B．characters

C．stories

D．owners

15.

A．fail

B．decline

C．manage

D．struggle

6 . Background noise—like the chatter in a coffee shop or the drone of passing traffic—might slow our reading speed, but according to a study of Russian readers, it doesn’t _________ how our brain understands written text.

_________, if you’re wondering whether you should be listening to podcasts or music while working, the study has some interesting points to make. In particular, it examined how we might change our reading style to compensate for auditory noise and visual distractions such as typos or poor formatting.

“Overall, previous studies reported a harmful effect of both auditory and visual noise on reading fluency and _________, though their results varied,” write linguistics researcher Nina Zdorova and colleagues. “So far, none of the studies exploring the influence of noise _________ it in the framework of the language processing theories.”

One of the language processing theories examined was the noisy channel model, which proposes that our brain deals with noise by looking at the meaning of _________ words more and at entire sentences less. We then use a bit of smart guesswork to _________ the overall meaning and relationships between words.

The second theory is the good enough model; that’s when our brains aren’t analyzing every single detail of a text but instead only grabbing enough words for a ‘good enough’ understanding. By focusing less on the precise words, our brains can _________ some cognitive resources to deal with noise.

To see how reading was affected by noise _________ these models, the researchers ran two experiments: one on auditory noise (71 participants) and one on visual noise (70 participants). When it came to the auditory noise test, background chatter from overlapping podcasts caused people to spend longer looking at the key section of sentences before completing their reading. This extra time could _________ the noise, meaning sentence comprehension isn’t affected by it. In the visual noise test, comprehension remained the same while reading speed __________. That’s a bit __________ considering previous studies, but the researchers think people just wanted to finish the task, with the visual noise an uncomfortable distraction.

“In both experiments, we observed that longer total reading time was __________ with an accuracy increase for incorrect sentences,” write the researchers.

There’s a lot going on in this study, but overall it’s a bigger win for the good-enough language processing theory and an indication that auditory and visual noise doesn’t make us __________ any more or less on any particular comprehension method while we’re reading.

With so many variables to measure in terms of what’s being read and what the __________ noise is, further study is required to learn more. __________ potential distractions may not interrupt your reading as much as you think.

1.

A．reinforce

B．estimate

C．affect

D．interpret

2.

A．First of all

B．For example

C．Above all

D．To start with

3.

A．context

B．efficiency

C．comprehension

D．device

4.

A．evaluated

B．identified

C．established

D．employed

5.

A．individual

B．different

C．new

D．unfamiliar

6.

A．confirm

B．imply

C．refer

D．infer

7.

A．exploit

B．spare

C．commit

D．consume

8.

A．on account of

B．regardless of

C．in regard to

D．in contrast to

9.

A．make up for

B．live up to

C．catch up with

D．put up with

10.

A．declined

B．shrank

C．expanded

D．increased

11.

A．embarrassing

B．depressing

C．puzzling

D．annoying

12.

A．associated

B．compared

C．replaced

D．mixed

13.

A．take

B．set

C．rely

D．base

14.

A．accompanying

B．strange

C．deafening

D．distant

15.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Instead

D．Otherwise

7 . Why girls do better at school than boys?

For centuries, boys were top of the class. But these days, that’s no longer the case.

A new study by the OECD, a club of mostly   _______ countries in Europe and North America, examined how 15-year-old boys and girls performed at reading, mathematics and science. Boys still get somewhat better _______ in maths and physics, and in other science courses the genders are roughly _______. But when it comes to the students who really struggle and suffer at school, the difference is _______ : boys are 50% more likely than girls to fall short of basic standards in all three areas.

_______ are girls performing better at school than their male classmates?

First, girls read more than boys. Reading proficiency (熟练) is the basis upon which all other learning is built. When boys don’t do well in reading, their _______ in other school subjects suffers too.

Second, girls spend much more time on their homework and out-of-class learning. _______ , girls spend five and a half hours per week doing homework while boys spend a little less than four and a half hours. Researchers suggest that doing homework _______ by teachers is linked to better accomplishment in maths, reading and science. Boys, it appears, spend more of their free time in the _______ world; they are 17% more likely to play cooperative online games than girls every day. They also use the Internet more.

Third, peer_______ plays a role. A lot of boys decide early on that they are just too cool for school. They adopt a so-called concept of masculinity (男子气概) that includes a disregard for _______ , which means they’re more likely to be rude and noisy in class. Teachers mark them down for this. In anonymous (匿名的) tests, boys perform better. In fact, the gender gap in reading_______ by a third when teachers don’t know the gender of the pupil they are marking.

So what can be done to close this gap? Getting boys to do more homework and cut down on screen time would help. And offering boys a _______ to read non-fiction would help too: they’re keener on comics and newspapers. But most of all, abandoning gender stereotypes (刻板印象) would _______ all students. Boys can read much better than girls. And as we know, girls in Shanghai are good at mathematics, and they _______ boys from anywhere else in the world.

1.

A．backward

B．wealthy

C．regular

D．miserable

2.

A．scores

B．directions

C．guidance

D．evaluation

3.

A．practical

B．reliable

C．relevant

D．equal

4.

A．stable

B．vague

C．obvious

D．logical

5.

A．Why

B．When

C．How

D．Where

6.

A．behaviour

B．comment

C．preparation

D．performance

7.

A．In brief

B．On average

C．On the contrary

D．In addition

8.

A．researched

B．designed

C．assigned

D．approved

9.

A．virtual

B．realistic

C．future

D．artificial

10.

A．relationship

B．contact

C．responsibility

D．pressure

11.

A．experts

B．authorities

C．adults

D．peers

12.

A．develops

B．widens

C．narrows

D．forms

13.

A．chance

B．task

C．favour

D．resource

14.

A．influence

B．harm

C．satisfy

D．benefit

15.

A．advance

B．overtake

C．overcome

D．challenge

8 . Myrtle is a small sleepy town in Missouri. There’s no bank or restaurant here, but a small stone_______right next to the state highway. Half of it is a post office. The other half is a one-room_______.Rachel Luster took over this library four months ago with the_______of connecting the community to the outside world and creating a _______center for the kids.

Her first task was_______the books she felt every library must have: The Odyssey. “I looked and looked. But we didn’t have. No library in our system had one,” Luster said. So she started to use social media to_______money from people around the state and has already _______about 1, 000 new books to the library.

“While the Myrtle library_______taxpayer money, it gets only $200a month for books and supplies,” she explained. “But the library is a _______for the community because many people here do not have ________to the Internet at home and the library is the only place that people can connect to the outside world. I want to bring a sense of ________to the community.”

Luster’s library is open only three days a week. One of her ________visitors is 10-year-old Blake Brooks.

“Before________this library, my favorite activity was watching TV,” he said. “Now, as soon as I step off the school bus, I come here to________.I like to________.I’m in the books I read.”

1.

A．bridge

B．building

C．table

D．forest

2.

A．library

B．hotel

C．restaurant

D．school

3.

A．opportunity

B．loss

C．goal

D．benefit

4.

A．processing

B．data

C．health

D．learning

5.

A．searching for

B．cleaning up

C．bringing about

D．putting down

6.

A．donate

B．raise

C．beg

D．reject

7.

A．mailed

B．left

C．added

D．written

8.

A．borrows

B．steals

C．forgets

D．receives

9.

A．waste

B．lifeline

C．burden

D．bank

10.

A．room

B．desire

C．access

D．plan

11.

A．relief

B．humor

C．achievement

D．connectedness

12.

A．regular

B．wealthy

C．old

D．funny

13.

A．repairing

B．buying

C．discovering

D．recognizing

14.

A．play

B．read

C．sing

D．dance

15.

A．wish

B．admit

C．announce

D．imagine