The farm as well as its neighboring hills we once spent so much time           on a new look.

A．on has taken           B．has taken           C．on having taken           D．having taken

When they           young people with talent, they invite them to train with the club.

A．recommend            B．take            C．spot            D．have

Although there were several problems in reaching this target, the        was highly successful.

A．result         B．outcome          C．effect          D．cause

I am sorry my assignment isn’t finished.           , I’ve had a lot of other work this week.

A．That is to say        B．Especially           C．The thing is           D．Absolutely

We all have dreams. Yet so few of us realize them. Often, a dream dies as quickly as it is born  1  we lack the confidence to keep it. When I was old enough, I realized that society puts a high   2  on youth, beauty and intellectual achievement. This discovery gave me some idea to   3  my dream.

I know beauty is something I will never have. But I didn’t see it as something   4  because it forced me to concentrate my energy to develop my   5  qualities. What people see in the handicapped（殘疾）is only their   6  of being handicapped. People are not impressed with the ability that lies   7  every handicapped person.

My dream was   8  . I dreamed of becoming a typist. The employment field was a highly   9  place. It gave not only competition to a handicapped job – seeker but also the unfriendly treatment from the   10  strong and healthy. They see the handicapped as the back row of   11  .

However, I   12  to sit in the back row. I decided to take a course. When I handed application form to the interviewer, she looked at me and advised me to   13  my choice from typing. But I was   14  to stay with it. She accepted me.

On the fifth month of the six-month course, five students were chosen to do some copy typing. I was one of them. I was very   15  and finished half of the work given to us all. More work came to me after this test. I could see quite clearly the way to   16  my dream. I became a typist in one of the offices immediately after my graduation. I did not   17  starting at the bottom of the ladder. Being a   18  was just the beginning. Having achieved one dream, I set out to achieve others. There was no easy task. But the sacrifice proved   19  .

Dreamers should keep reaching out for their dreams,  20  what the pain, until they get what they want in life.

1．A．even if                  B．because               C．a(chǎn)lthough              D．unless

2．A．standard                B．view                   C．value                   D．measure

4．A．favorable               B．unusual               C．beneficial             D．bad

5．A．other                    B．special                 C．unique                 D．outstanding

6．A．pain                      B．misfortune           C．a(chǎn)ppearance          D．sufferings

7．A．outside                  B．inside                  C．beyond                D．beside

8．A．fantastic                B．complicated         C．a(chǎn)cceptable           D．simple

9．A．competitive           B．valuable               C．mysterious          D．a(chǎn)dventurous

10．A．originally             B．extremely            C．physically            D．fortunately

11．A．  seats                  B．society                C．jobs                    D．community

12．A．had                     B．continued            C．meant                 D．refused

13．A．change                B．ignore                 C．confirm               D．prevent

14．A．willing                 B．reluctant              C．determined          D．glad

15．A．happy                 B．efficient               C．developing           D．excited

16．A．a(chǎn)chieving             B．changing             C．developing           D．enjoying

17．A．a(chǎn)void                  B．risk                     C．consider              D．mind

18．A．officer                B．ladder                  C．typist                  D．dreamer

19．A．disappointing       B．rewarding            C．encouraging         D．satisfying

20．A．no sooner            B．no wonder           C．no longer             D．no matter

John Fisher, a builder, and his wife Elizabeth wanted more living space, so they left their small flat for an old 40-metter-high castle tower. They have spent five years turning it into a beautiful home with six floors, winning three architectural prizes.

“I love the space, and being private,” Elizabeth says. “You feel separated from the world. If I am in the kitchen, which is 25 meters above the ground floor, and the doorbell rings, I don’t have to answer it because visitors can’t see I am in!”

There are 142 steps to the top so if I go up and down five or six times a day, it’s very good exercise! But having to carry heavy things to the top is terrible, so I never buy more than two bags of shopping from the supermarket at a time. Apart from that, it’s a brilliant place to live.

“When we first saw the place, I asked my father’s advice about buying it, because we couldn’t decide. After paying for it, we were a bit worried because it looked awful. But we really loved it, and knew how we wanted it to look.”

“Living here can be difficult-yesterday I climbed a four-meter ladder to clean the windows. But  when you stand on the roof you can see all the way out to sea on a clear day, and that’s a wonderful experience. I am really glad we moved. ”

1．What is the writer trying to do in the text?

      A．describe how to turn an old tower into a house.

       B．recommend a particular builder

       C．describe what it is like to live in a tower

       D．explain how to win prizes for building work

2．From the text, a reader can find out

       A．Why visitors are not welcome at John and Elizabeth’s house.

       B．Why Elizabeth asked her father to buy the tower

       C．Why Elizabeth exercises every day

       D．Why John and Elizabeth left their flat.

3．Which of the following best describes Elizabeth’s feelings about the tower?

       A．she wanted it as soon as she saw it

       B．she likes most things about it

       C．she ha been worried since they paid for it

       D．she finds it unsuitable to live in

4．What problem does Elizabeth have with living in such a tall building?

      A．Her visitors find it hard to see if she is at home

       B．She feels separated from others

       C．She cannot bring home lots of shopping at once

       D．It is impossible to clean any of the windows.

5．How will John and Elizabeth advertise their tower if they sell it?

A

B

C

D

Every people has its own special words and expressions like the American expression “on the

wagon” It means a person who no longer drinks whisky, beer or other kinds of alcoholic drinks. The “wagon” is a water wagon. In other words, a drinker has decided to change from alcohol to water. An Oklahoma newspaper wrote about a man who had a history of heavy drinking on America’s Fourth of July holiday. Said the newspaper, “We believe that his experience had lifted him onto the water wagon, but he was even drunker the next Fourth of July.”

Why do people decided to go on the wagon? Well, usually because they are alcoholics. They loss control of themselves when they drink. If they take one alcoholic drink, then they want to  drink another, and another, until all thought is gone.

Alcoholism is a major social problem in countries throughout the world. The United States is no exception. Experts believe that several million Americans are alcoholics today. Their health care needs, car accidents, reduced job performance and other problems cost thousands of millions of dollars every year.

In the early 1900s, many Americans joined in a campaign to make alcohol illegal in the United States. In 1920 an amendment was added to the Constitution. It made drinking or selling alcohol a crime. But the new law did not stop people from drinking. Criminals  produced or imported alcohol illegally and sold it almost everywhere.

After a few years Americans realized the so-called Prohibition Law did not work. So in 1933 another constitutional change was made, canceling the amendment that made alcohol illegal.

In recent years Americans have taken other steps to deal with the problem of alcohol. One important action has been to increase the punishment for people who drive their automobiles after drinking alcohol. Many states now consider this to be a serious crime. Another important step has been to explain to children and students the danger of alcohol. Many schools now offer special programmes to teach young people about the problem. Doctors have been working to develop new drugs and treatment programmes to help alcoholics. Finally, alcoholics themselves are dealing with the problem of alcoholism. Many of them have “ gone on the wagon” and stopped drinking. They have joined the Alcoholics Anonymous group meeting regularly to discuss their problems and give each other support. “Going on the wagon” is not the only way to control alcoholism, but most alcoholic say it is the best way. They must give up alcohol completely so their own body and spirit can survive.

1．People decide to go on the wagon because        .

    A．they enjoy having one drink after another

    B．they like the kind of drinks they get on the wagon

    C．they are afraid of losing their self-control in drinking again

    D．they are alcoholics and can not control themselves well

2．Americans are now taking steps to solve the problem of alcoholism by        .

    A．decreasing the amount of alcohol drunk by drivers

    B．teaching young students how to drive safely after drinking alcohol

    C．punishing people more heavily for driving after drinking alcohol

    D．giving special courses to teach doctors about new drugs and treatments for alcoholics

3．In the United States today        .

    A．a(chǎn)lcoholism is not a major social problem

    B．there are no more than a million alcoholics

    C．the problem of alcoholism costs thousands of millions of dollars every year

    D．a(chǎn)lcoholism has caused a million automobile accidents a year

Although I had left school against the advice of my teachers, I had, without telling anyone, tried to continue my studies in literature at evening classes. It was a tiresome walk from one end of the city to another and to sit among adults. I was the youngest in the class, so the friendship I knew at school was absent. I put up with it for a short period. It was too long a walk on cold winter's nights and it was hard to put my heart into Shakespeare with wet shoes and trousers. So I continued reading books and started writing poetry at home.

By chance, I won some prizes and awards for literature. A young woman from a TV company came to the college one day. She told me that I had won a national poetry award. I stared at her in astonishment and disbelief. She wanted to make a short film about me, to which I said: “No, I couldn’t do that.” Not that I had any real excuse. I was just frightened. In the end she persuaded me that I should do it the following day.

So I did. They made a short film of me reading one of my poems and I became more interested in literature than ever. I wondered what I should do after this, and decided some weeks later that I could not imagine myself spending the rest of my days dealing with machines. So one evening, I hesitatingly told my parents that I wanted to return to school. They were greatly surprised and, I think, a little afraid but they did not try to persuade me not to. They wanted to know if I was sure, if I knew what it meant and whether I realized that if I gave up my job training, it would be very difficult to get a good job. But nothing could stop me ,and they asked about the matter no further.

1．Which of the following has most probably been discussed in the paragraphs above this passage?

      A．The writer’s unhappy childhood.

      B．The poor teaching quality of the writer’s school.

      C．The writer’s leaving school against his teacher’s advice.

      D．Whether it was worth leaving school for job training.

2．After he won some prizes and awards for literature, a young woman from a TV company    .

A．wanted to make his success known to the public

B．come to make friends with him

C．invited him to make a speech

       D．came to tell him that he had become a very important person

“It hurts me more than you”, and “This is for your own good” These are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.

That was before we entered the permissive period in education when we decided it was all right not to push our children to do their best in school. The schools and the educators made it easy on us. They thought that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators, turned on the television, left them to the teachers and went on holidays.

Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Klompus who says of her students-so passive-and wonders what happened. Nothing was demanded of them, she believes. Television, says Klompus, contributes to children’s passivity. “"We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ve never been hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them. Instead of saying “go look it up”, you tell them the answer. It takes great energy to say no to  kids.”

Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their holidays and come back to work. It’s time to take the car away, to turn TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’s for their own good. It’s s time to start telling them no again.

1．We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to pay much attention to         .

       A．learning Latin                                      B．teaching her child by punishment

       C．a(chǎn)voiding spoiling her child                     D．school education

2．By “permissive period in education” the author means a time         .

       A．when children are allowed to do what they wish to

       B．when calculators are left to the teachers

       C．when it is easy for us to be parents

       D．when it is hard for children to do their best in school.

3．Children are now becoming more inactive in study because         .

       A．they watch too much TV                      B．they have done too much homework

       C．they’ve to do too many duties               D．teachers are too strict with them

4．To such children as told in the passage         .

       A．it is easier to say no than to say yes

       B．neither to say yes or to say no is easy

       C．it is easier to say yes than to say no

       D．neither to say yes or to say no is difficult

5．What is the author’s attitude towards the let-alone policy?

       A．The author is for is

       B．We don’t know yet from the present passage

       C．The author is against it

       D．The author is neither against or for it

Scientists have long believed one way to stop the Earth’s atmosphere from warming is by planting more trees. The idea is that more trees take in or absorb some of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a gas released by cars, factories and other human activities. The gas traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, which warms the planet. However, two new studies have found that trees may not be as helpful in reducing carbon dioxide as had been thought.

The first study was done at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Researchers pumped extra carbon dioxide into a test area where pine trees were growing. The trees grew thirty-four percent faster during the first three years. However, in time, the trees slowed to about their normal growth rate. The scientists say this is because trees need other nutrients, such as nitrogen.

In the second study, researchers from Duke and Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine examined the soil around trees. They discovered that as the leaves broke down into the soil, all the carbon was not trapped in the soil. Much of it was released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Forest planting has been a part of negotiations on a world agreement to reduce greenhouse gases that scientists believe cause global warming. The United States, Canada, Japan and some other industrial countries have supported the idea. But this new research suggests the idea is not as effective as environmental activists had thought. Scientist Ram Oren of Duke University led the study on tree growth. He says that earlier estimates on the ability of forests to absorb carbon dioxide were overly hopeful.　　

Some scientists not involved in the studies say the research provides some of the first evidence on how trees react to carbon dioxide. Other scientists say the research disputes（對(duì)……質(zhì)疑） a belief among some coal and power companies. The companies say that rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will not create harmful global warming. Instead, they say it will increase forests and other plants.

1．What is the purpose of this passage？

A．Introduce some new ideas about the relationship between trees and carbon dioxide.

      B．Introduce recent condition of global industrial pollution.

      C．Call on people to plant more trees to reduce greenhouse gases.

   D．Point out that power companies should be responsible for the rising levels of carbon

dioxide.

2．Why did the researchers do the TWO studies?

A．To prove that trees may not be as helpful in reducing carbon dioxide as had been thought.

B．To get more oxygen from these trees.

C．To evaluate（評(píng)價(jià)，評(píng)估）the maximum carbon dioxide the trees can absorb

D．To see the growth rate of these trees.

3．What happened to the leaves falling from the trees in the second study？

A．They broke down and the main parts turned into oxygen.

      B．They broke down and the carbon content had mainly turned into carbon dioxide.?

C．They broke down and the carbon dioxide content was mainly absorbed in the soil.

      D．They absorbed more carbon dioxide.?

4．Scientist Ram Oren is for the opinion that common beliefs of the tree’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide are             .

       A．based                  B．insightful             C．overoptimistic      D．totally wrong

5．The word “it” in the last paragraph probably refers to           .

       A．carbon dioxide     B．nitrogen               C．a(chǎn)tmosphere          D．coal