This parable（寓言）is told of a farmer who owned an old mule（骡子）. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying for whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing（评估）the situation, the farmer sympathized（同情）with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together , told them what had happened, and asked them to help pour dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out his misery.
At the beginning, the old mule was crazy! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shovelling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he would shake it off and step up!
This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up… shake it off and step up… shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!
It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly（胜利地）over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him… all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity（逆境）.
That’s life! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity.
The adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the very real potential to benefit us! Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that amateurs（生手）built the boat. Professionals built the Titanic.Why did the farmer decide to bury the mule in the well?
| A．Because he thought the mule was of little use. |
| B．Because he didn’t like the praying made by the mule. |
| C．Because he thought the well couldn’t be used any longer after the accident. |
| D．Because he didn’t want to see the mule suffer more in the well. |
What does the underlined sentence in the second paragraph mean?
| A．The mule became calm | B．The mule became quiet. |
| C．The mule suddenly had an idea | D．The mule lost heart. |
Who saved the mule at last?
| A．The farmer | B．The farmer’s neighbors |
| C．The farmer and his neighbors | D．The mule himself |
What lesson can we learn from the passage?
a. One should give up something of little use.
b. One should depend oneself when in trouble.
c. One should show mercy to others who are in trouble.
d. There must be something that one can do well no matter what he is.
e. Be self-determined and never give up, and one can succeed in the end.
| A．a, b, e | B．b, d, e | C．a, c, e | D．b, c, e |
Japan's post-World War II value system of diligence, cooperation, and hard work is changing. Recent surveys show that Japanese youth have become a "Me Generation" that rejects traditional values.
"Many Japanese, especially young people, abandoned the values of economic success and began searching for new sets of values to bring them happiness," writes sociologist Yasuhiro Yoshizaki in Comparative Civilizations Review. Japanese youth are placing more importance on the individual's pursuit of happiness and less on the values of work, family, and society. Japanese students seem to be losing patience with work, unlike their counterparts in the United States and Korea. In a recent survey of college students in the three countries, only 10% of the Japanese regarded work as a primary value, compared with 47% of their Korean counterparts and 27% of American students. A greater proportion of Japanese aged 18 to 24 also preferred easy jobs without heavy responsibility.
Concern for family values is waning among younger Japanese as they pursue an inner world of private satisfaction. Data collected by the Japanese government in 2005 shows that only 23% of Japanese youth are thinking about supporting their aged parents, in contrast to 63% of young Americans. It appears that many younger-generation Japanese are losing both respect for their parents and a sense of responsibility to the family. Author Yoshizaki attributes the change to Japanese parents' over-indulgence of their children, material affluence, and growing concern for private matters.
The shift toward individualism among Japanese is most pronounced among the very young. According to 2003 data from the Seimei Hoken Bunka Center of Japan, 75% of Japanese youth aged 16 to 19 can be labeled "self-centered", compared with 53% among those aged 25 to 29. To earn the self-centered label, the young people responded positively to such ideas as "I would like to make decisions without considering traditional values" and "I don't want to do anything I can't enjoy doing".
Diminishing social responsibility, according to Yoshizaki, is tied to the growing interest in pleasure and personal satisfaction. Yoshizaki concludes that the entire value system of Japanese youth is undergoing major transformation, but the younger generation has not yet found a new organized value system to replace the old.
1. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “waning” in paragraph 3?
A. becoming less B. increasing C. missing D. becoming popular
2. What is Yoshizaki’s attitude towards most Japanese parents’ way of parenting?
A. Supportive B. Negative C. Satisfied D. Worried
3. What might be one of the possible reasons of Japanese young people’s change?
A. World War II leaves such a heavy impact on them that they have lost the interest of work.
B. Most of them are the only child at home so they don’t need to work hard.
C. Japanese younger generation place too much emphasis on personal satisfaction and interest now.
D. Most of the younger generation lose the confidence in their own country so they don’t work hard.
4. Why do we say that Japanese youth have become a “Me Generation”?
a. Because they don’t regard a better education a pride.
b. Because a greater proportion of Japanese young people prefer easy jobs without heavy responsibility.
c. Because most of the teenagers become self-centered according to the 2003 survey.
d. Because only 10% of the Japanese young people regard work as a primary value.
A. a B. a, b C. b, d D. b, c, d
5. According to the survey, which country’s young people work harder?
A. Japanese B. Korean C. American D. Chinese
III 阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节 阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Advertising in America offers some great advantages to consumers. For example, in order to keep prices low through mass production, companies must have a mass market for their products. Mass advertising creates mass markets. Producers cannot afford to develop new products, put them on the market and wait for customers to discover them. This would take too long. Demand for some products must be created. This is done through advertising.
But advertising sometimes makes it difficult for consumers to make wise decisions. The fact is that when people are constantly flooded with messages through the mass media persuading them to buy particular products, many respond by buying them.
Advertising is designed to influence an individual to buy a product. Sellers often study human behavior to discover what will convince consumers to buy a certain item. This reason for buying is called a buying motive.
Buying motives are usually broken down into two categories: rational and emotional. Rational buying motives include the desire to save money, the desire for comfort, or the desire for good workmanship. Emotional buying motives include buying out of fear, wanting to be liked, and wanting to have something better than your friends have.
Emotional appeals are found in most consumer advertising today. Certain cars promise to make the driver feel "younger" and " freer". Shoes promise to make the buyer's whole life "springier". Life insurance policies promise to take the "care out of living".
Most consumers believe that they are not easily influenced by emotional appeals. However, corporations that sell consumer products obviously think differently. They spend many millions of dollars every day on radio, television, newspaper and magazine ads that use these appeals.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that one of the advantages of advertising for consumers is that ________.
A. it can create a big demand for consumer goods
B. the mass market created by it leads to low prices
C. producers can introduce new products to consumers
D. it helps consumers discover new products
2. Consumers sometimes find it difficult to make a sensible decision when buying a particular product because __________ .
A. many advertisements are too difficult for them to understand
B. they are afraid to be taken in by dishonest advertisements
C. mass advertising offers them a range of good and cheap products
D. they are confused by the quantity of advertisements promoting it
3. According to the passage, a toothpaste ad promising that people who use the product will make a lot of friends is an example of an ad that appeals to __________ .
A. rational buying motives B. the consumer's commonsense
C. emotional buying motives D. the desire for a good product
4. The reason why companies spend enormous amounts of money on advertising is that ________ .
A. they believe people can be influenced to buy a certain produce
B. it takes a lot of advertising to convince people to buy a certain product
C. most consumers are not easily influenced by emotional appeals
D. advertising based on emotional appeals are very effective
5. The best title for this passage would be ________ .
A. Advertising can create demand B. The advantages of advertising
C. What effective advertising can do D. The role of advertising in selling products
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand and remember．Churchill warned the British to expect “blood, toil, tears and sweat”; Roosevelt told the Americans that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”; Lenin promised the war-weary Russians peace, land and bread．Straightforward but effective messages．
We have an image of what a leader ought to be．We even recognize the physical signs; leaders may not necessarily be tall, but they must have bigger-than-life, commanding features －- Lyndon Baines Johnson’s nose and ear lobes, Ike’s broad grin．A trade-mark also comes in handy; Lincoln’s stovepipe hat, Kennedy’s rocking chair．We expect our leaders to stand out a little, not to be like an ordinary man．Half of President Ford’s trouble lay on the fact that, if you closed your eyes for a moment, you couldn’t remember his face, figure of clothes．A leader should have an unforgettable identity, instantly and permanently fixed in people’s minds．
It also helps for a leader to be able to do something most of us can’t: FDR overcame polio; Mao swam the Yangtze River at the age of 72. We don’t want our leaders to be "just like us." We want them to be like us but better, special more so. Yet if they are too different, we reject them.
A Chinese philosopher once remarked that a leader must have the grace of a good dancer, and there is a great deal of wisdom to this. A leader should know how to appear relaxed and confident. His walks should be firm and purposeful. He should be able, like Lincoln, Roosevelt, Truman, Lke and JFK, to give a good, hearty, belly laugh, instead of the sickly grin that passes for good humor in Nixon or Carter. Ronald Reagan’s training as an actor showed to good effect in the debate with Carter, when by his easy manner and apparent affability, he managed to convey the impression that in fact he was the president and Carter the challenger.
The every simple truth about leadership is that people can only be led where they want to go. The leader follows, though a step ahead. Americans wanted to climb out of the Depression and needed someone to tell them they could do it, and Roosevelt did. The British believed that they could still win the war after the defeats of 1940, and Churchill told them they were right.
A leader rides the waves, moves with the tides, understands the deepest yearning of his people. He cannot make a nation that wants peace at any price go to war, or stop a nation determined to fight from doing so. His purpose must match the national mood.
1．The underlined word “yearning” in the last paragraph probably means_________.
A．love B．trouble C．desire D．feeling
2．From the fourth paragraph we can learn that_________.
A．leaders usually look special or different
B．leaders don’t have to be tall
C．most leaders look ordinary
D．leaders should always have trademarks
3．According to the article, a leader_________.
A．usually tries to simplify our messages
B．tell us what we want to hear
C．encourages us to think about things in a new way
D．is usually confident and handsome
4．From the passage we can infer that .
A．it helps for a leader to be able to dance or act well
B．great leaders are usually totally different from us
C．Carter was humorous and made good speeches
D．it is the people rather than the president that makes what a nation is
5．Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A．Want to be a leader?
B．What makes a leader?
C．What does a leader look like?
D．What must a leader do?
So I’m driving the lovely and patient older daughter to work. At 7 a. m., she pushes the seat
warmer button as her new Honda zooms across L. A., the City of Padded Shoulders.
"Oh, look, I’m low on gas," she says.
First, we pick up her boss, then we pick up her other boss. They are all headed to Staples Center for some awards show. My daughter does something in public relations, I’m not sure what. But when this show comes along, she gets very busy.
"In the past two nights I’ve gotten, like, seven hours sleep," she notes, the implication being that I sleep all the time, which is pretty much true.
In Los Feliz, a dashboard light confirms that we are, indeed, low on fuel. This does not perturb my daughter.
"Don’t worry, we’ll get there," she says.
My daughter says nothing about getting back home, which is my job. I’ve just agreed to drop her off, so she can avoid traffic later. My task is simple, though now full of uncertainty.
I don’t know how I ended up dropping my daughter and her bosses off at 7 a.m. on a Sunday. I just know that J.D. Salinger may now be dead, but I still feel like Holden Caulfield -- at the mercy of too many yammering adults.
Now, I’ve had mixed luck with adults. 
Apparently, my daughter’s job in PR is to keep everyone happy while telling the truth as much as possible. I sent her to college to study that. Now she is an expert.
"After you drop us off, you can get gas," my daughter assures me.
I have been her chauffeur for 26 years. By the time she was 3, I’d snapped her into a car seat some 14,000 times. I took her to seventh-grade dances, ski trips, college.
Even after all that, we continue to have a civil relationship, sort of a queen-mum-and-her-
driver sort of dynamic. When I screw up, she just raises her pretty chin and snorts. It’s very British.
By the way, my daughter now has a nicer car than I do, which is a sign she is doing well. Or, as with so many young people, she is up to her hoop earrings in consumer debt.
1．Which of the following statements in NOT true about the author’s daughter?
A．She is fashionable. B．She always tells the truth.
C．She is doing well in her work. D．She lives a fast-paced life.
2．The author’s tone suggests that_________.
A．he is feeling left behind when his daughter has grown up and begun adult life
B．he is content with his grown daughter
C．he does not like his daughter’s bosses
D．he will not believe his daughter any more
3．It can be concluded from the passage that_________.
A．the author won’t have any difficulty in getting gas
B．the daughter cares for her father a lot
C．the author has done a lot to help his daughter get where she is
D．the British people have pretty chin and snort often
4．By referring to J. D. Salinger and Holden Caulfield, the author is most probably_________.
A．recalling his daughter’s childhood
B．mentioning his family members who are now dead
C．comparing his situation to a scene in a famous literary work
D．telling a story about his daughter’s friends
5．What is the best title for this passage?
A．A PR’s Busy Life
B．Relationship Between Dad and Daughter
C．A Loving Father
D．Go Ahead and Fill Her up, Dad
III．阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节 阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Now in his senior year in Bowdoin College, a small, elite liberal-arts（文科）college in Masine, Chen Yongfang has become such a devotee of the liberal-arts approach that he’s made it his mission to spread the word throughout China. He has coauthored a book called A True Liberal Arts Education, which essentially explains the little-known concept to Chinese students and their parents. Though there have been many books about how to get into Ivy League universities, “there was not a single book in China about the smaller liberal-arts colleges,” he says.
The book, which Chen wrote with friends Ye Lin and Wan Li, who also attend small U. S. colleges, touts（兜售）such benefits as intimate classes (the student-to-faculty ratio at Bowdoin is 9:1) and professors who focus on teaching rather than research. Chen, 23, explains that he was won over by Bowdoin’s commitment to nurturing skills for life, rather than simply for the workplace. “Liberal arts is abut fostering your identity,” he says. “They want to cultivate your mind.” He admits that liberal arts may be a hard sell in a country with an increasingly competitive job market. The book states bluntly that in the short term, a liberal-arts education won’t improve job prospects. “In China, employers are looking for someone who can come in and start working immediately when they graduate, not someone who still needs to be trained in practical skills,” Chen says.
The book, which received wide media coverage in China and now has a waiting list for its second print run, is certainly timely: it plays into a growing debate in China about what national universities should be teaching. The country needs a workforce with the skills and creativity to help move away from low-cost manufacturing and, in economic terms, move up the value chain. And some educators believe liberal-arts training is vital to help China deal with its increasingly complex new realities. Yet the well-known intellectual historian Xu Jilin believes that China’s rapid expansion of higher education has had a detrimental effect on curriculum as the country’s universities race to compete globally. “Education these days in like factory-farming chickens,” he says. “Universities all wan to get into international rakings—and most of these depend on research. They’re not interested in providing a unique education for our kids.”
1．According to Chen Yongfang, the benefits of attending liberal-arts colleges are the following EXCEPT .
A．closer relationship with tutors
B．teachers more devoted to teaching
C．practical skills for getting a job in China
D．development in mind and life-long ability
2．It can be inferred from the passage that .
A．the teaching quality in big research universities not as good as small colleges
B．it is more difficult for liberal-arts graduates to find a job because employers don’t believe that they can perform well
C．literal-arts education is of little help to China’s economic development
D．research universities received more Chinese applicants than smaller liberal-arts colleges
3．The word “detrimental” in Para.3 probably means “_________.”
A．instant B．rewarding C．damaging D．obvious
4．According to Xu Jilin,___________.
A．the expansion of higher education has improved the competitive strength of China’s universities
B．Chinese universities are providing the same courses as foreign universities
C．many universities are not paying enough attention to teaching
D．research should gain more attention in order to improve China’s universities’ rankings
5．This passage is most probably adapted from_________.
A．an article introducing liberal arts
B．an article introducing the book A True Liberal Arts Education
C．an article criticizing China’s higher education
D．an advertisement for Bowdoin College
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