Hoorah！I have escaped the Czech (捷克) Republic! I am now wearing light clothing and sunglasses, although the latter are superfluous today, as it is cool and overcast with cloud and it has rained slightly.

The city of Qatar (卡塔爾) is flat and sandy with few trees ― mostly palms. You can see construction everywhere, new streets with hotels and apartment blocks in Venice theme. It’s a mix of super modern and traditional building styles. Everything looks new including the vehicles. There are many huge roundabouts; no traffic rules or at least no one obeys any. The huge 4-storey shopping mall in fantastic style has an ice rink (溜冰場(chǎng)) on the ground floor. Thousands of people walk round the waterfront after dark.

    Qataris are very religious and there are calls to prayers regularly. Qatari men are dressed in all sorts of traditional clothing plus western dresses. You can easily find imported labour from South Asian countries, poorly paid and discriminated against. I am told that Qataris don’t hide their racist attitudes.

Women are always wonderful sights. Some are in all sorts of black clothing with face uncovered; some totally enveloped; lots wearing western dresses. Best sight so far: a woman in a mall completely wrapped in black including gloves, not even an eye shown ― wearing glasses on the outside of her veil (面紗), using a cell phone while fingering a dress.

I am living with my employers ― a New Zealand couple, and another teacher named Wayne, all about my age. We share one apartment. I have a large room with a bathroom attached: it is a little run-down but very comfortable. The only rather annoying thing is that I have to use the laptop on my bed as there is no desk and chair in here. As soon as it is clear that I will be staying I will make a change to all this. I haven’t lived with other people for many years and have been used to living alone so it will be interesting to see how this works.

49. The best title for this passage is ________.

A. The New Life with My Employers            B. General Observation of Qataris

C. My Adventure in the Czech Republic        D. My First Impressions of Qatar

50. The underlined part in paragraph one can be explained as ________.

     A. it will be a fine day later                      B. light clothing is helpless with cold

C. sunglasses appear fantastic                 D. sunglasses become unnecessary

51. In the author’s eyes, Qatar is a ________.

      A. rich western industrialized country             B. backward agricultural country

C. modern society with religious tradition        D. nation closed to the outside world

52. It is true that the author is ________.                 

A. pleased with her present living condition      B. missing her days in the Czech Republic

C. not certain how long she will be staying      D. worried about her relation with her boss

 When we think of leadership, we often think of strength and power. But what are these really, and how do they operate?

       Leadership today is not about forcing others to do things. Even if this is possible, it is short-term, and tends to produce unexpected and unwanted result. If you order someone to do something against their will, they may do it because they feel they have to, but the anger they feel will do more harm in the long-term. They will also experience fear.

       Fear causes the thinking brain to shut down, making the person unable to function at his or her best. If they connect you with this emotion of fear, they will become less functional around you, and you will have succeeded in not only shooting yourself in the foot, but possibly making a very good employee or partner unable to perform effectively. Fear does no good to leadership.

       The way we influence people in a lasting way is by our own character, and our understanding and use of emotion. We can order someone to do something, which may be part of the work day; or we can employ them at the emotional level, so they become fully devoted to the projects and provide some of their own motivation (動(dòng)機(jī)). Today’s work place is all about relationships.

       Anyone works harder in a positive environment in which they’re recognized and valued as a human being as well as a worker. Everyone produces just a bit more for someone they like. Leaders understand the way things work. They know the pay check is not the single most important factor in the work life of most people.

       The true strength of leadership is an inner strength that comes from the confidence of emotional intelligence ― knowing your own emotions, and how to handle them, and those of others. Developing your emotional intelligence is the single best thing you can do if you want to develop your relationship with people around you, which is the key to the leadership skills.

45. The writer thinks that it is not ________ for us to connect leadership with strength and power.

   A. possible              B. necessary               C. easy                  D. effective

46. One may NOT be working hard when ________.

     A. they’re regarded as human beings             B. others like to do more for leaders

C. money is taken as the most important          D. leaders understand the way things work

47. From the passage, we can conclude that ______ is the key to making a good leader.

   A. developing one’s emotional intelligence      B. influencing others in one’s own way

   C. producing some unexpected results             D. having confidence in one’s ability

48. This passage is most helpful to those who ________.

   A. have strength and power                         B. are going to make a speech

   C. would like to be leaders                           D. are to be excellent employees

“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and let him know that you trust him.” These words are from the black American educator, Booker Washington. He was saying that, “If you want people to grow up, you have to stop treating them like children.”

      In America, families are close but children are encouraged to be independent, to make their own decisions, even at a very early age. It’s not unusual for a child of seven to be given an allowance (津貼) every week. The child is encouraged to save some of the money but he or she can spend it on whatever they choose, for example, buying clothes, school supplies or CDs. Some teenagers even have their own credit cards! That’s a big responsibility since even adults are tempted to overspend when they have credit.

      From an early age, American children are asked for their opinions and they are included in family decision-making. At the dinner table, teenagers will be listened to on any topic, from politics to buying a new family car or where the family will go on vacation. In this way, teenagers are getting practice in becoming individuals: they are learning how to stand on their own two feet.

       Many Chinese young people are becoming almost as interested as American teens in searching for independence. They want to express those qualities that make them unique human beings. You can see this in the way they dress, the music they listen to and the friends they choose. “Super Girl” Li Yuchun caught the imagination of Chinese teenagers on the “Super Girl” television contest. She was not the traditional “nice, young Chinese girl”. With her short, spiky hair and boy-like clothes, she was telling everyone that she was different. She had the courage to be her own person and to stand on her own two feet ... and she won!

       There is an old saying, “Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him and then choose that way with all his strength.” If you do this, step by step, over a period of time, you may find that you have become the person you always wanted to be.

41. The passage is intended to encourage the youth to ________.

     A. save money for useful things                B. become independent

C. express their great ambitions                D. make important decisions

42. A child of seven is given allowance so that he can ________.

A. be accepted as a popular guy                 B. learn to decide how to use money

C. overspend money without care              D. have school supplies of his own

43. The author implies that many Chinese children ________.

A. are more independent than Americans        B. should become interested in America

C. are happy with their present situation        D. are not satisfied to be nice, quiet ones

44. The main idea of the last paragraph is ________.

   A. that we should do things step by step           B. why we should understand our desires

   C. what we should plan for our own life           D. how we can manage to realize our dream

I was coaching girls' track in Iowa and there was a young discus（鐵餅）thrower on the team with  21  potential（潛力）. Here goes her story.

At the end of our training   22   the district track meet, this discus thrower, Lucy, asked me if she   23   come to the school on Sunday for a little   24   training. I agreed. The year before, she had placed second at the district meet and   25   missed going to the state meet. She had won every discus event,   26   that district meet! And, her throws in the competitions had   27  been between 106’1” and 110’10”.
    Something began to   28  me. Why couldn't Lucy   29  to get the discus to 111 feet? I wondered if it was more a psychological barrier（心理的障礙）  30   a physical one. I decided to try something   31  . I made up my mind to   32   to Lucy.

On Sunday, after her drills, I said, “Why don’t you throw five or six good ones for me to  33  ?” She began to throw again, but   34   were farther than what she had already thrown. But, I didn’t tell Lucy. As I was measuring the   35  one, I pulled out some more tape (量尺) and yelled out to her, “ Come to see this! This one is  36  ! ” It wasn’t. Lucy, thinking that this was a personal best, jumped wildly into the air in  37  .

The next afternoon, at the district meet, Lucy   38   with a personal best throw of 114’10”! Just 24 hours after I had lied to her. However, this time she had   39   thrown the discus four feet further than she had ever thrown it before.
    Sometimes we   40   our own barriers in our mind. So learn to take control of your mind.

I prefer a company ________ people have to work as a team, instead of fighting against each other.

A. where           B. that                    C. as                      D. when

________! We first got a flat tire, and now my cell phone is dead.

A. For what              B. What’s up          C. Guess what          D. What’s on

 Do you have any seats ________ on the flight for Mexico leaving at 15:16?
   A. available             B. accessible             C. acceptable            D. adaptable

We won’t know how much food to buy until we decide how many people ________.

A. were coming     B. are coming           C. have been coming     D. had come 

Frankly speaking, it’s people’s ________ to keep their promise that really annoys me.

A. habit                  B. mistake            C. loss                      D. failure

― Let’s have a game of tennis; the loser has to treat the other to an ice-cream.
― ________.

A. I’m afraid so      B. It’s a deal          C. You’ve got a point     D. I suppose not