Arthur sat at the desk in his room, pencil in hand. He had to write a story for his English class by Friday. "! don't know what to write about, " he complained to his dog Toby, who was asleep at his feet. Arthur was talkative when speaking to his friends, yet he had trouble finding words when he had to write.
By bedtime Arthur had drawn a picture of Toby smiling. He had drawn a tree with its branches blowing in the strong wind. He had also written a note asking his friend Lee to go to the movies on Saturday. But he had not written a single word of his story.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Solomon, Arthur's English teacher, asked the class to turn in the first draft of their stories. His heart sinking, Arthur turned in the only work he had—the page with his name, the drawings and the note.
Arthur wasn't surprised when Mrs. Solomon asked him to stay after class the next day. But he was surprised by what she said to him. “ This is an attractive story, Arthur. The dog, the movie, the tree in the wind—I can't wait to find out how they all fit together. "
"That isn't my story, Mrs. Solomon, " Arthur admitted. "I haven't been able to think of one yet. "
"Oh, I think you have the seed (种子) of a story there, " Mrs. Solomon replied, "Look at your note and the pictures and see if a story comes to you. "
That night Arthur sat at his desk, and this is what he wrote: "One Saturday Mike went downstairs to meet his friend Julio at the cinema. It looked as if it might rain, so Mike carried his umbrella. Suddenly a big storm blew in, bending the trees. The noise of the wind sounded like the barking of Mike's dog Toby. Toby really hated storms and barked whenever he wanted to be let inside. Then Mike realized that it wasn't the sound of the wind. It was Toby. The dog was running after him down the busy street, barking. The sound was filled with blame. Mike felt guilty because he had left Toby outside. He turned and headed home with Toby running beside him. Mike let Toby in the door just as the rain started to pour down. "
Arthur had a story in the end. The last thing he did was to write his name proudly at the top of the page.What can we know from the first paragraph?
| A．It was very quiet in the house. |
| B．Arthur was talking to his friends. |
| C．Arthur was doing his homework at school. |
| D．Arthur was a little pleased with his story. |
Why did Arthur turn in the page with only his name, the drawings and the note at first?
| A．Because he had no time to fit them together. |
| B．Because he had difficulty in writing a story. |
| C．Because he wasn't willing to do his homework. |
| D．Because he wanted to show his talent for drawing. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 6 probably mean?
| A．Toby is an imaginative and lovely dog. |
| B．The small tree will grow into a big one. |
| C．His friend Lee can give him a lot of support. |
| D．He can develop his story based on the first draft. |
What kind of teacher do you think Mrs. Solomon is?
| A．She is a strict teacher. |
| B．She is a wise teacher. |
| C．She is an honest teacher. |
| D．She is an energetic teacher. |
What can we infer (推断) from the story?
| A．Arthur is a shy and quiet student. |
| B．Arthur isn't very satisfied with his story. |
| C．There will be a storm on Saturday. |
| D．Encouragement is important in teaching. |
C
She is widely seen as proof that good looks can last forever. But, at nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa.
The health of the famous picture, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1505, is getting worse by the year, according to the Louvre museum(卢浮宫博物馆)where it is housed.
“The thin, wooden panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted in oil has changed shape since experts checked it two years ago,” the museum said. Visitors have noticed the changes but repairing the world’s most famous painting is not easy. Experts are not sure about the materials the Italian artist used and their current chemical state.
Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile. “It is very interesting that when you’re not looking at her, she seems to be
smiling, and then you look at her and she stops,” said Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University. “It’s because direct vision(视觉)is excellent at picking up detail, but less suited to looking at shadows. Da Vinci painted the smile in shadows.”
However, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as mysterious as the smile. Da Vinci himself loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was eventually sold to France’s King Francis I in 1519.
In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre by a former employee, who took it out of the museum hidden under his coat. He said he planned to return it to Italy. The painting was sent back to France two years later.
During World War II, French hid the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.
Like many old ladies, the Mona Lisa has some interesting stories to tell.
63. The underlined sentence in the first paragraph means the Mona Lisa ________.
A. is losing its value B. is being damaged after so many years
C. is getting more valuable with years passing D. will rot away
64. Experts haven’t any repairs on the Mona Lisa because______.
A.it is now in a poor chemical state
B. they don’t know how to replace the wooden panel
C .they don’t have the materials Da Vinci used
D. they are afraid it will be done further damage.
65. The smile of the Mona Lisa can only be seen_______.
A. by indirect vision B. at a distance C. by direct vision D. in shadows
66. From the last paragraph, we can infer that______.
A. many interesting stories have been written about the Mona Lisa
B. people are interested in the stories about the Mona Lisa.
C. some mysteries still remain to be solved about the Mona Lisa.
D. Many more stories will be told about the Mona Lisa.
B
The neglected baby is crying alone. The young man, suffering from a lack of sleep, threatens suicide. The marriage fails because of the husband’s crazy behavior.
Is this just another story of social breakdown in the modern age? Not really. But they are the effects of a real social problem—Internet Addiction(沉溺), or, Internet Addiction Disorder.
The addiction is obvious from the popularity of one game alone: “Halo 2”. It’s a first-person shooter developed by Bungie Studios for the Xbox video game console. By early 2005, 1 million players worldwide had clocked up an amazing 100 million hours on the game, among which are 360, 000 Chinese players.
China has about 94 million regular Internet users. Of these, a survey suggested, 4.4 million are teenagers who are so addicted to it that they neglect anything else.
Video gamers who have gone too far show symptoms similar to those of alcohol and drug abusers. “The real world meant nothing to me when I was fully involved in online games. I lost track of time, space, hunger, pain, and everything,” explained Liu Pinyi, a 19-year-old college dropout. She has had treatment in Beijing for her addiction.
What makes it similar to drugs is that online game addicts also develop a chemical imbalance in their brains. Gaming stimulates the production of a chemical compound that produces delighted or pleasant feelings. When 
they’re away from the screen, they suffer feelings of anxiety and headaches.
Experts 
say young people are attracted to video games partly because th
ey are partly because they are pushed right into the center of the action. This allows them to overcome a lack of confidence which people at that age can often suffer from.
59. What’s the writer’s main purpose in writing the first paragraph?
A. To show his worries about Internet Addiction.
B. To show harm of Internet Addiction
C. To warn couples of the problem.
D. To introduce the topic of the passage.
60. How much time in total had Chinese game players spent on “Halo 2” by early 2005?
A. 1 million hours. B. 94 million hours
C. 100 million hours. D. 36 million hours
61. When video gamers get lost in a game, they do the following EXCEPT that _______.
A. They forget time, space, hunger and everything.
B. They drink a lot of alcohol and use drug.
C. They feel confident in the virtual games
D. Their brains produce a chemical which makes them delighted.
62. what is the passage mainly about?
A. Internet is bad for teenagers
B. Actions should be taken to deal with Internet Addiction
C. Web produces Internet Addiction Disorder
D. Teenagers should not play video games
IV. 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。
A
The private automobile(私家车) has long played an important role in the United States. In fact, it has become a necessary and important part of the American way of life. In 1986, sixty-nine percent of American families owned at least one car, and thirty-eight percent had more than one. By giving workers rapid transportation, the automobile has freed them from having to live near their place of work. This has encouraged the growth of the cities, but it has also led to traffic problems.
For farm families the automobile is very helpful. It has made it possible for them to travel to town very often for business and for pleasure, and also to transport their children to distant schools.
Family life has been affected in various ways. The car helps to keep families together when it is used for picnics, outings, and other shared experiences. However, when teenage children have the use of the car, their parents can’t keep an eye on them. There is a great danger if the driver has been drinking alcohol or taking drugs—or is “showing off ” by speeding or breaking other traffic laws. Mothers of victims(受害者) of such accidents have formed an organization called MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). These women want to prevent further tragedies(悲剧). They have worked to encourage the government to limit the youngest drinking age. Students have formed a similar organization, SADD(Students Against Drunk Driving) and are spreading the same message among their friends.
For many Americans the automobile is a necessity. But for some, it is also a mark of social position and for young people, a sign of becoming an adult. Altogether, cars mean very much to Americans.
56.Which of
the following is NOT mentioned in the text?
A. Cars have encouraged the growth of the cities.
B. Cars can bring families together when they go for picnics.
C. Cars have enabled people to live far from their place of work.
D. Cars help city families to transport their children to faraway schools.
57.What has been done to deal with the problem of drunk driving?
A. Parents have paid more attention to their children.
B. Some organizations have been set up against drunk driving.
C. Mothers have tried to persuade their children not to drink alcohol.
D. University students have asked the government to solve the problem.
58.We can infer from the text that __________ in America.
A. it will be more difficult for people to get new cars.
B. parents will not allow their children to have their own cars.
C. the government will encourage people to use public transportation.
D. cars will still be popular though they have caused many problems.
Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951. Britain is suffering through its longest cold snap (寒潮) since 1981. And freezing weather is hitting the Deep South, including Florida’s orange groves and beaches.
Whatever happened to global warming?
Such weather doesn’t seem to fit with warnings from scientists that the Earth is warming because of greenhouse gases. But experts say the cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming at all—it’s just a temporary phenomenon in the long-term heating trend. “It’s part of natural variability,” said Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist. With global warming, he said, “we’ll still have record cold temperatures. We’ll just have fewer of them.”
Scientists say man-made climate change does have the potential to cause more frequent and more severe weather extremes. But experts did not connect the current cold snap to climate change.
So what is going on?
“We basically have seen just a big outbreak of Arctic air over populated areas of the Northern Hemisphere”, Arndt said.
In the atmosphere, large rivers of air travel roughly west to east around the globe between the Arctic and the tropics. This air flow acts like a fence to keep Arctic air restricted. But recently, this air flow has become bent into a zigzag (之字形) pattern, wandering north and south. If you live in a place where it brings air up from the south, you get warm weather. In fact, record highs were reported this week in Washington state and Alaska.
But in the eastern United States, like 
some other unlucky parts of the globe, Arctic air is coming from the north. And that’s how you get a temperature of 3 degrees in Beijing, a reading of minus-42 in mainland Norway, and 18 inches of snow in parts of Britain. The zigzag pattern arises naturally from time to time, but it is not clear why it’s so strong right now.What is the best title of the text?
| A．Freezing weather is hitting the Deep South. |
| B．We’ll still have record cold temperatures. |
| C．The air flow has become a zigzag pattern. |
| D．Cold snap doesn’t contradict global warming. |
With global warming, we will ______.
| A．also meet with severe cold snap |
| B．have more hot temperatures forever |
| C．never experience cold temperatures |
| D．have more cold temperatures |
According to experts, the current cold snap ______.
| A．suggests that the climate has changed greatly |
| B．is not related to the climate change |
| C．shows that the climate will turn cold |
| D．is affected by global warming |
Beijing had its biggest snowfall since 1951 because of ______.
| A．a fence from the Arctic | B．a cooling trend in climate |
| C．a big outbreak of Arctic air | D．its large population |
We can conclude that ______.
| A．not all the parts of the Northern Hemisphere are cold in face of the cold snap |
| B．the zigzag pattern arises naturally accidentally |
| C．Beijing will get cold weather next year |
| D．Washington state and Alaska will not face cold weather next year |
Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education. One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere. He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester. Here is his response:
For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty. We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools. If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school.
The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast. Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools. Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated. In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools.
It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools. Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education. This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?
Government should not simply ban a system which produces results. It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model. Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful syste
m will.In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to ______.
| A．criticize state-funded schools |
B．pay taxes for the promotion of private schools |
| C．choose the way their children receive education |
| D．advocate the competition between state schools and private ones |
According to the passage, banning private education will ______.
| A．obviously contribute to lower taxes |
| B．not cause the state schools to be overburdened |
| C．force the government to boost state education |
| D．lead to many people losing their jobs |
The underlined word “impetus” in the fourth paragraph probably means ______.
| A．motivation | B．prevention | C．participation | D．assessment |
Compared with state schools, private ones ______.
| A．educate a little fewer students | B．conduct better than all state ones |
| C．are better received by the public | D．are more competitive on the whole |
Which of the following statements will Anirudh Mandagere agree with?
| A．His wonderful performance results from the education his private school offers. |
| B．Without the existence of private schools, state ones wouldn’t get improved much. |
| C．Private education is a good system to make students successful in life. |
| D．Private schools are supposed to be sponsored more than state ones. |
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