When I was an education official in Palo Alto, California．Polly Tyner, the president of our school board, wrote a letter that was printed in the Palo Alto Times．Polly's son, Jim．had great difficulty in school．He was classified as educationally disabled and required a great deal of patience on the part of his parents and teachers．But Jim was a happy kid with a great smile that lit up the room．His parents acknowledged his academic difficulties, but always tried to help him see his strengths so that he could walk with pride．Shortly after Jim finished high school, he was killed in a motorcycle accident．After his death, his mother submitted（提交）this letter to the newspaper．
Today we buried our 20-year-old son. He was killed instantly in a motorcycle accident on Friday night. How I wish I had known when I talked to him last that it would be the last time. If I had only known I would have said, “Jim, I love you and I’m very proud of you.”
I would have taken the time to count the many blessings he brought to the lives of the many who loved him. I would have taken the time to appreciate his beautiful smile, the sound of his laughter, his genuine love of people.
When you put all the good qualities on the scale and try to balance all the irritating phenomena such as the radio which was always too loud, the haircut that wasn’t to our liking, the dirty socks under the bed, etc., your angry feelings won’t amount to much.
I won’t get another chance to tell my son all that I would have wanted him to hear, but, other parents, you do have a chance. Tell your young people what you would want them to hear if you knew it would be your last conversation. The last time I talked to Jim was the day he died. He called me to say, “Hi, Mom! I just called to say I love you. Got to go to work. Bye.” He gave me something to treasure forever.
If there is any purpose at all for Jim’s death, maybe it is to make others appreciate more of life and to have people, especially family members, take the time to let each other know just how much we care.
61．According to the passage, we know that _______．
A．Jim kept to himself B．Jim did very well in his studies
C．Jim’s parents were patient with him D．Jim failed to finish his high school
62．Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A．Many people in the school loved him.
B．Jim’s smile cheered up his family.
C．Jim was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 20.
D．Jim wanted to be a motorcyclist after his graduation.
63．The underlined word “irritating” in Paragraph 4 means _______．
A．annoying B．aggressive C．impatient D．thrilling
64．By writing the letter printed in the Palo Alto Times, the author intends to _______．
A．mourn her son’s sudden death in a traffic accident
B．remind people to be cautious of motorcycles
C．advise people to take the chance to express their love in time
D．apreciate more of life than ever before
65．What can be the best title of the passage?
A．Love your Family． B．Do it Today．
C．Walk with Pride． D．Appreciate Smiles．
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Upon reaching an appropriate age, usually between 18 and 21 years, children are encouraged, but not forced, to “leave the nest” and begin an independent life. After children leave home they often find social relationships and financial support outside the family. Parents do not arrange marriages for their children, nor do children usually ask permission of their parents to get married, Romantic love is most often the basis for marriage in the United States; young adults meet their future spousesthrough other friends, at jobs, and in organizations and religious institutions, Although children choose their own spouses, they still hope their parents will approve of their choices.
In many families, parents feel that children should make major life decisions by themselves. A parent may try to influence a child to follow a particular profession but the child is free to choose another career. Sometimes children do precisely the opposite of what their parents wish in order to assert their independence. A son may deliberately decide not to go into his father’s business because of a fear that he will lose his autonomy in his father’s workplace. This independence from parents is not an indication that parents and children do not love each other. Strong love between parents and children is universal and this is no exception in the American family Coexisting with such love in the American family are cultural values of self – reliance and independence.
1．The writer discusses the marriage of young adults in order to show .
A．they choose their spouses according to their own wishes only
B．they want to win the permission of their parents
C．they have a strong desire to become independent
D．they want to challenge the authority of their parents
2．Most young adults in the U.S. get married for the sake of __ __.
A．love B．financial concern
C．their parents D．family background
3．Based on the passage, it can be assumed that ______.
A．American young adults are likely to follow the suit of their parents
B．most American people never make major decisions for their children
C．American young adults posses cultural values of independence
D．once a young person steps into his twenties, he will leave his home permanently
4．A son is unwilling to work in his father’s business mainly because .
A．he wishes to make full use of what he has learnt in school
B．he wants to prove his independence
C．he wishes to do the opposite of what his parents approve of
D．he wants to show his love for his parents
1．Falling objects are pulled down to the ground by .
A．gravity B．resistance C．speed D．acceleration（加速度）
2．Why do people make parachutes(降落伞)?
A．To look pretty and colourful in the air. B．To slow down the falling speed.
C．To push against the air in the sky. D．To accelerate the falling movement.
3．Which did Galileo discover?
A．A heavy ball falls faster than a light ball. B．A light ball falls faster than a heavy ball.
C．A light ball and a heavy ball fall at the same speed.
D．A light ball and a heavy ball fall at different speed.
4．Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A．Heavy and light objects fall equally when they are different in size.
B．When air resistance equals gravity, objects fall at terminal speed.
C．Without air; all falling objects get faster and faster at the same rate.
D．Slippers（拖鞋） and boots （靴子）fall at the same speed because they have the same shape
Mail was usually carried west on ships that sailed around the bottom of South America and then north to California．That could take several months.
So, in eighteen fifty-seven, D.C．Lawmakers in Congress（国会） in Washington wanted to make it possible to send mail all the way across the United States by land．Congress offered to help any company that would try to deliver mail overland to the West Coast. A man named John Butterfield accepted this offer. He developed plans for a company that would carry the mail—and passengers, too.
Congress gave John Butterfield six hundred thousand dollars to start his company. In return, he had to promise that the mail would travel from Saint Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, in twenty-five days or less.
It was not possible to travel straight through because of the Rocky Mountains and the deep snow that fell in winter. So the stagecoach（马车） would travel south from Saint Louis to El Paso, Texas, then over to southern California, then north to San Francisco. The distance was about four thousand five hundred kilometers.
Two hundred of these stations were built, each about thirty-two kilometers apart. The workers were to quickly change the horses or mules whenever a stagecoach reached the station. There could be no delay. Each stagecoach was to travel nearly two hundred kilometers a day.
One hundred stagecoaches were built and painted red or dark green. They were the most modern coaches that money could buy. They were designed to hold as many as nine passengers and twelve thousand pieces of mail. The seats inside could be folded down to make beds. Passengers either slept on them or on the bags of mail.
The cost would be one hundred fifty dollars to travel from Saint Louis to San Francisco. If a passenger was not going all the way, the cost was about ten cents a kilometer. The passengers had to buy their own food at the stations. The stagecoach would stop for forty minutes, two times a day.
The company warned passengers about the possible dangers. A poster said: “You will be traveling through Indian country and the safety of your person cannot by granted by anyone but God.”
1．What is the passage mainly about?
A．Different ways of sending mail in the United States.
B．The difficulty in sending mails across the USA by land.
C．The first stagecoaches that carried both passengers and mail.
D．The history of the first stagecoaches carrying mail to the American West.
2．The reason why Lawmakers wanted to send mail by land was that ________.
A．mail was usually carried west on ships
B．it was safer to travel to send mail by land
C．it would take less time to send mail by land
D．stagecoaches could carry passengers and mail
3．As is described in the passage, the stagecoach ________.
A．could only stop once a day
B．was modern with seats ,beds and cooking equipment
C．was a closed wagon operated only by skillful drivers.
D．had different horses or mules pulled all the way
4．What can we learn from the passage?
A．John Buttterfield got thousands of dollars for delivering mail in stagecoaches.
B．John Buttterfield kept his promise to deliver mail straight to the West Coast.
C．Passengers might be robbed by Indians when traveling through the West.
D．Passengers needed to pay one hundred dollars for their journey.
If I were writing a history of my family, some of the darkest moments recorded would be those about Christmas trees. One would certainly think otherwise; selecting and putting up our trees have always been filled with risk. For example, one afternoon dangerously close to Christmas Eve my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain, a glorious tree that was so full and tall that we could hardly get it into the house. Once we did, my father immediately realized that we would have to hire a carpenter（木匠） to build a stand for it. Another December, perhaps the very next one, we bought a tree earlier than we ever had before. We were happy with its shape and delighted that its size was manageable. We easily placed it in a stand, decorated(装饰) it from top to bottom, and then self-satisfiedly sat back by the fire in its soft light. Two or three days passed and the truth could not be hidden; we had bought a tree cut so long ago that its needles were coming off. There was nothing to do but undecorate it, take it down, and begin tree shopping again. Our most recent Christmas tree offered still another difficult task. When we brought it home, once again it seemed larger than it was in the great outdoors. To complicate matters, we had bought a new stand, one whose nuts (螺帽) and bolts (闩子) worked more mysteriously than those of our old stands. I persuaded two young neighbors to stop playing basketball and to help us get the tree into the house and set it correctly in the stand. Unfortunately, no one noticed the mud on our helpers' shoes, so only after removing several reddish brown spots from the carpet were we able to discuss the question of where the lights and ornaments (装饰物)were stored. Perhaps those who cut their own trees have tales more painful than these. I don't care to hear them, as my family's experiences are enough to cause me to make the following suggestion:" Let's forget the tree next Christmas. Let's simply hang some flowers on the front door and over the mirror in the hall. "
1．The darkest moments in the writer's family were with the fact that _____.
A．the family bought big Christmas trees B．they had problems decorating their Christmas trees
C．they had problems picking suitable Christmas trees
D．they had problems finding carpenters for putting up Christmas trees
2．We can learn from the passage that the writer would like to _____.
A．forget about Christmas stories
B．get the neighbors to put up their trees
C．buy a better tree to celebrate Christmas
D．make other decorations rather than Christmas trees
3．When the writer said " my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain", he means ____.
A．she bought the tree at a cheap price
B．she didn't really want to buy it
C．she had to bargain hard with the salesman
D．she couldn't afford a more expensive one
4．Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A．How to Choose a Christmas Tree B．No More Christmas Tree for Us
C．Dark Moments of Life D．Christmas Without Trees
阅读理解（共20小题，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题纸上将该项涂黑
In the past, people who graduated from college felt proud of their academic（学业的）achievements and confident that their degree would help them to find a good job.
However, in the past four years the job market has changed greatly. This year’s college graduates are facing one of the worst job markets. For example, Ryan Stewart, a graduate of San Jose State University, got a degree in religious studies, but he has not gotten any job offers. He points out that many people already working are getting laid off and don’t have jobs, so it’s even harder for new college graduates to find jobs.
Four years ago, the future looked bright for his class of 2006. There were many high-tech(“dot com”) job opportunities, graduates received many job offers, and they were able to get jobs with high salaries and benefits such as health insurance and paid vacations. However, “Times have changed. It’s a new market,” according to an officer of the university.
The officer says students who do find jobs started preparing two years ago. They worked during summer vacations, they have had several short-time jobs, and they majored in fields that are still paying well, such as accounting or nursing.
Even teaching is not a secure profession now. Ryan Stewart wanted to be a teacher. But instead he will probably go back to school in order to become a college teacher. He thinks college teaching could be a good career even in a bad economy.
In conclusion, these days a college degree does not automatically lead to a good job with a high salary. Some students can only hope that the value of their degree will increase in the future.
1. What did a college degree mean to people in the past?
A. It was a proof of their professional skills.
B. It would guarantee their quick promotion（升职）.
C. It built up their confidence in the job market.
D. It would help them to start an academic career.
2. Why does Ryan Stewart want to be a college teacher?
A. Teaching jobs are well-paid. B. He majored in teaching in the university.
C. College teaching is less challenging than high-tech jobs.
D. College teaching career won’t be influenced by economy.
3.It can be concluded from the passage that _____.
A. the value of a college degree has decreased now
B. new college graduates today can’t find any job
C. a college degree can still lead to a good job
D. graduates must prepare early to find jobs
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