1 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. Inspired       B. respect       C. series       D. extraordinary E. facility       F. particular       G. journey       H. expand I.   Determined       J. limitless       K. require

Life of Pi

Ang Lee’s “Life is a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery.     1     by a worldwide best-seller that many readers must have assumed was unfilmable, it is a triumph over its difficulties.

The story begins in a small family zoo in Pondicherry, India, where the boy Piscine is raised. Piscine translates from French to English as “swimming pool”, but in India where many more speak English than French, his playmates of course nickname him “pee”.     2     to put an end to this, he adopts the name “Pi”, demonstrating a(n)     3     ability to write down that mathematical constant(常量) that begins with 3.14 and never ends. If Pi is   a(n)     4       number, that is the perfect name for a boy who seems to accept no limitations.

The zoo goes broke, and Pi’s father puts his family and a few valuable animals on a ship bound for Canada. In a forceful     5     of falls, a zebra, an orangutan (猩猩)，a hyena (戢狗)and the lion tumble into the boat with the boy, and are swept away by high seas. His family is never seen again.

The heart of the film focuses on the sea     6    , during which the human - that he can think with great cleverness and the tiger shows that it can learn.

Pi and the tiger Richard Parker share the same possible places in and near the boat. Although this point is not specifically made, Pi’s ability to     7     the use of space in the boat and nearby helps promote the tiger’s     8     for him. The tiger is accustomed to believing it can rule all space near him, but now humans     9     the animal to rethink that belief.

During the course of 227 days, they come to a form of recognition. The tiger, in     10    , becomes aware that he sees the boy not merely as victim or prey, or even as master, but as another king.

2 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Charles Dickens

It has been 150 years since Charles Dickens died, 184 years since his first work was released to the public and 156 years since his last completed book came out. In all of this time, these novels have never been out of print. Dickens may have left us, but his work remains timeless,     1     (fascinate) the majority of those who open their pages.

Most people have read, watched or at least heard of Dickens’ stories, but what makes him and his work so popular? Since he began novel writing in his 20s, Dickens constantly produced quality classics. Year after year his awaiting fans were not left     2     (disappoint) as their minds were fed with complex tales of romance, crime, hope and despair.

In the Victorian era he lived in, much of the work Dickens produced     3     (model) on the literature before him. He was one of the first writers of the time     4     (portray) honest examples of working-class people, giving many something to relate to. He focused on unfolding the good and bad qualities of characters which allowed his readers to follow their journeys and understand     5     they may have acted in the unusual or shocking ways that they did.

Any Dickens fans will know the diverse and outrageous (耸人听闻的) characters coming to life between the pages.     6     was special about this novelist’s ability in imagining these characters’ stories is that it comes from his own life’s path.     7     a young boy left to take care of himself in a workhouse to the wealthy figure he became through his writing successes, he knew what it was like to see in different lights. This deep understanding of his characters gave his fictional stories the strong element of believability     8     is needed in a good novel.

Over a century and a half later, Dickens’ themes can be relevant to today’s world problems. His words and imagery have been transformed further into the media of modern film, television and even musical adaptations.     9     set in a time unfamiliar to readers today, his work still enables everyone to relate to the love, hardship and sense of family that pours from the narratives. It is this aspect     10     has carried Charles Dickens into the 21st century.

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Loving Legacy

Magic wands, flying broomsticks, terrifying monsters... these are the features of the fantasy genre. And over the last few decades, Harry Potter has remained at the top of the list for     1     looking to journey into a magical world. Where many authors have tried, J. K. Rowling—with the help of numerous fans—has succeeded in bringing her characters to life     2     books, movies, theaters, theme parks and so much more.

Harry Potter might have started off as     3     book meant for young children to read and perhaps forget a few years down the line. Few expected that the young boy with messy jet-black hair, green eyes and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead     4     (manage) to take us all along on an unforgettable journey. Critics of the series claim that certain characters do not have enough depth, or the writing cannot compare with the likes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However, they     5     hardly deny the massive impact of Harry Potter on the literary world.

I grew up reading Harry Potter. Like millions of other children, I waited on my eleventh birthday for an owl carrying a letter to inform me that I     6     (accept) into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For the younger me, the wizarding world was so fantastic and attractive that I always wanted more. As a new book was only released every year or two, I had plenty of time     7     (explore) other worlds of fantasy. And I loved every moment of it.     8     I have not picked up a Harry Potter book in about a decade, I still make a beeline for (直奔) the fantasy section each time I am in a bookstore. Most importantly, I came to love the simple act of reading.

Some may think that fantasy or science fiction has no place in literature, as they corrupt the mind and provide no useful lessons. These people are wrong. Characters in popular fantasy or science fiction novels are not much different from those in classic literature novels. Each embodies the emotion, character and thought     9     the author is trying to convey. So,     10     unrealistic the plot may seem, good novels teach, and keen readers learn.

4 . Fait Diver: More Than Brief Stories

Every day, there are items in the news believed too minor to report at length. For these _________ stories, French newspapers of old had a solution: a section called fait divers: stories of a paragraph or a few   lines. These brief   stories were   typically   of some_________ or odd   occurrence: train accidents, lovers' quarrels, drownings, suicides. The fait divers remained a practical form, intended to convey a   story without _________ too much space, but it also developed into an art. In   French literature, it crossed the line from low to high culture and influenced the writing of _________ as varied as Stendha（司汤达）, Flauber（福楼拜）,     and Camus（加缪）, sometimes as the_________ inspiration for what later became a novel. _________ a version of it was present in American newspapers, it never quite caught on in the English press as a literary form.

Perhaps the finest flowering of fait divers was in the reports filed by the art critic Felix Feneon 1906. He gave the   form more wit, more emotional _________ and formal perfection, than it     had had before. In his hands, it became ironic, dark, and very funny. His collected fait divers, published in English as Novels in Three Lines, was a(n) _________ to me. It inspired me to undertake _________ projects. One was a sequence of fait divers set in contemporary Nigeria and__________ from   the newspapers there. The other was based on stories from New York City's newspapers in 1912: the New-York Tribune, the New York Herald, the New York Times. I called my projects small fates."   an   acknowledgment   that   so   many   of   these   stories   are __________ about   the   strange   workings of chance.

One   can go days in New York   without really thinking about how __________ these   streets once were by crowds of people, all of whom are now dead. I found in writing the small fates that these long-gone New Yorkers suddenly came back to the__________ tense when you are not even ready for   it. The fine   details made   their lives vivid and __________. They were no longer__________, and at times seemed even more real to me than the latter-day outside my window.

1.

A．curious

B．tiny

C．ridiculous

D．detailed

2.

A．tragedy

B．coincidence

C．imagination

D．thriller

3.

A．turning up

B．putting up

C．showing up

D．taking up

4.

A．images

B．imagination

C．figures

D．portraits

5.

A．motivative

B．sudden

C．original

D．weak

6.

A．Though

B．When

C．Since

D．Before

7.

A．expression

B．peace

C．health

D．discomfort

8.

A．identification

B．secret

C．appeal

D．approach

9.

A．a series of

B．a pair of

C．a collection of

D．a set of

10.

A．received

B．inspired

C．eliminated

D．drawn

11.

A．finally

B．accidentally

C．previously

D．unexpectedly

12.

A．fascinating

B．populated

C．brilliant

D．sophisticated

13.

A．previous

B．future

C．present

D．past

14.

A．believable

B．considerable

C．understandable

D．approachable

15.

A．deadly

B．lonely

C．lively

D．ghostly