Dear SJ,

Losing a best friend is never easy.

Your problem, is not just that you miss your best friend, it is that you feel empty and lost without her friendship.

It takes time to get over a lost, and during that time, your mind is getting used to a new way of being. This is usually a good thing, even if it feels like a bad thing.

Now that you are on your own, you are being forced to learn to be by yourself and to rely upon your own inner voice for guidance. I am sure that this feels strange for you, but if you can hang on for a bit longer, it may work to your advantage.

Best friends are cool, but it is important to know the difference between missing someone and being too independent upon them.

At your age, girls do tend to stick together and having a good boyfriend may not yet be the better choice. Your friend is leaving you, her best friend, for a boyfriend. Boyfriends are completely different from best friends. The distinction is that boyfriends come and go, while girl friends often stay in your life throughout high school, and even afterwards. It is a completely different sort of bond.

I suggest that you take advantage of this period in your life to expand your horizons. Enjoy the freedom of having no best friend for a while, and hang with the group. By the time your former best friend breaks up with her boyfriend, you will be in a completely different place, a far better place.

And, by the way, next time you feel empty and lost, try to write about it in a diary. In several months, you will look back and read it with curiosity about yourself. “Who was I then, and what could I have been thinking?”

1.Judging from the letter, SJ’s problem was that she didn’t know _______ .

A．whether to give up her best friend

B．what to do without her best friend

C．whom to choose between two friends

D．how to stop missing her former friend

2.The underlined part “a new way of being” (in Paragraph 3) refers to the situation in which SJ has to _______.

A．find a new friendship B．live without her boyfriend

C．learn to give up D．learn to be independent

3.The writer believes by the time SJ’s former friend loses her boyfriend, SJ will _______.

A．take revenge on her former friend

B．comfort her former friend

C．feel more independent and confident

D．continue friendship with her former friend

4.What does the last paragraph seem to suggest?

A．Unhappy experiences are easy to forget.

B．Keeping a diary helps correct oneself.

C．SJ will get over her problem soon.

D．One shouldn’t forget the past experiences.

Less than one year after France imposed a nationwide ban on smoking in most public places, it will, from Jan. 1, 2009, extend the ban to bars, restaurants, hotels, nightclubs—and the most cherished of all: cafés.

Ireland and Italy show that countries with long-standing smoking traditions may introduce bans fairly smoothly, as they did in 2004 and 2005. In Germany, where regulations vary locally, Berlin will join France on Jan 1. But fierce critics of the new law in France say it all but destroys the café's basic function: to serve as the socio-economic glue of society.

Cécile Perez, owner of La Fronde, a typical Parisian neighborhood café, said: “In the morning, street cleaners in bright green uniforms sip coffee next to well-dressed businessmen; at lunch hour, working-class types rub shoulders with those of the latest fashion at the bar, while couples of all ages rub noses over salads; during the after-work rush, there is a steady soundtrack of clinking glasses combined with conversation; the constant, no matter what time of day, is the smoke that drifts through the air in curls and clouds, seemingly unnoticed.”

“Our motto in France is: liberty, equality, fraternity,” Olivier Seconda, a regular at the café, said. “The café is the place that represents that. You’re free to smoke, everyone pays the same price for a beer and different kinds of people talk with one another. This new law goes against that.”

Seconda expects the ban to be felt even more strongly in small villages far from Paris, where the café is often the only means of social activity. “People already miss the space that allows people of all walks of life to share something—even if it is sometimes no more than a few words and the smoke floating between them.”

1.Cécile Perez mentions the curls and clouds of smoke drifting through the air to ______.

A．describe a friendly atmosphere

B．show the beauty of his own café

C．support the ban on smoking

D．remind us of something unnoticed

2.Olivier Seconda implies that ______.

A．the café provides people with enough liberty, equality, and fraternity

B．people, regardless of their social classes, enjoy equal rights in a café

C．the new ban on café smoking should be put in effect only in villages

D．people would not find fun in a café without smoking a cigarette

3.The passage is written to _______.

A．show the writer’s personal opinion against a new law

B．provide information for law-makers to pass a new law

C．tell why some people are unhappy about smoking ban in cafés

D．compare attitudes to a law, held by people from different countries

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项，选项中有两项为多余选项。（答题卡上E涂AB；F涂AC； G涂AD)

How to Study Better

If you want to study better, you should pay attention to learning methods, study skills and study habits. Developing them can help you learn better.

Keep your study area tidy and organized. Papers, books, magazines, or pictures all over your work area may distract you from the work you have to do. 1. If there are too many icons on your desktop, it is difficult for you to find what you need immediately.

Maintain a quiet work area for yourself. Make sure your work area is free of distractions. There are too many distractions at home, such as a phone, music, TV, friends, or family members. Proper study space can usually be found in the public library, school library, or your bedroom. 2.

3. While learning, you need write, calculate and look up something. So it is very important and necessary to have all the necessary materials and tools that you need with you. In this way, you needn’t be busy borrowing them.

4. In addition to reading your textbook, it is helpful to read or view materials from other sources, such as newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and television programs. You can understand what you will learn in class better.

Never forget to take notes carefully in class. Taking notes carefully can help to grasp the key parts. 5. We can say that it is really a successful way to study.

A. A quiet place can help to improve study efficiency.

B. You should know how to schedule your study time.

C. The same is your computer desktop.

D. Try hard to learn knowledge as much as possible.

E. It is convenient to review them later.

F. Having necessary materials is very beneficial to study.

G. Get ready for class by reading extra materials ahead of time.

完形填空

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B, C和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

On a warm Monday, Jenny Neilson bought a sandwich and parked her car under some trees. Rolling down the windows to in fresh air, she settled back to enjoy her lunch. Suddenly she________ a big bald（秃顶的）man running through the parking lot. Before she came to what would happen, the man was there, shouting through her window, “Get out!”

Neilson .

Pulling open her door, the man seized her ________ the neck and hair, and threw her out of the car onto the ground. She screamed, ________ her purse and the keys.

Two reporters of the local newspaper, Robert Bruce and Jeff Jackson, just outside their office building on a________ , heard the screams and began running.

When they ________ Neilson’s car, the attacker had jumped into the driver’s seat and was ________ searching for the keys. Bruce opened the door, and he and Jackson dragged the man out. The attacker ________ back. But even in his cornered panic, he was no________ for the two athletic men.

Reggie Miller, a worker of the local newspaper, heard the screams, too. He rushed back to the office to ________ the police, and then ran back with some plastic ropes—used to tie up newspapers.

With his arms________ tight behind him, the prisoner looked up and said ________ , “I hope you guys feel good about yourselves—you just caught one of the most wanted men.” They ________ him and waited for the police.

Later, Bruce and Jackson were shocked to learn the man was the ________ carjacker（劫车者）and suspected murderer, whose ________ —but with a full head of hair—had been recently printed in their own newspaper.

Neilson considers herself lucky ________ she suffered injuries. She believes the story might have had a________ ending if those good people had not come to her aid. “Unfortunately,” she said, “many people would________ have done what they did, and that’s the real truth.”

1.A. bring B. let C. gather D. send

2.A. recognized B. watched C. noticed D. met

3.A. realize B. understand C. imagine D. conclude

4.A. escaped B. struggled C. refused D. obeyed

5.A. by B. around C. with D. on

6.A. burying B. forgetting C. offering D. grabbing

7.A. trip B. visit C. break D. holiday

8.A. started B. stopped C. entered D. reached

9.A. carefully B. madly C. disappointedly D. patiently

10.A. fought B. turned C. jumped D. shouted

11.A. match B. target C. equal D. companion

12.A. remind B. phone C. invite D. beg

13.A. rolled B. folded C. bent D. tied

14.A. angrily B. kindly C. coldly D. warmly

15.A. caught B. thanked C. comforted D. ignored

16.A. ordinary B. professional C. honest D. outstanding

17.A. picture B. background C. character D. story

18.A. and B. but C. though D. when

19.A. ridiculous B. similar C. strange D. different

20.A. sometimes B. never C. often D. forever

短文改错

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：

1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

Last week we held a discussion on which we should do for our school before we graduate．The students in our class have different suggestion．Some students thought that we can collect money to buy some books for the school library or everything else for the schoo1．Other students argue that there’s not necessary to spend money．We can study hard and make our school feeling proud of us．

In my opinion, we don’t have to spend money. We can do something meaningfully without money. For an example，we can do some voluntary work to beautify the school and try to get better results in the coming exams so that our school will proud of us．

书面表达

假设你是Abby，是学校英文报社“知心学长”栏目主编。一位叫Sophia的学妹来信反映自己有“拖延”的坏习惯。即使她有很多如做作业、弹琴等重要的事要做，也总是不由自主地把时间花在看电视、玩手机等琐事上，为此她非常苦恼。请用英文给她回信，提一些建议。

内容包括：1．拖延的本质；2．改正的建议。

注意：1.词数100左右；

2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3．文章的开头和结尾已给出，不计人总词数。

参考词汇：procrastination n．拖延，耽搁

Dear Sophia，

I am glad to hear from you. ________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

In a word, don't spoil yourself. Although you have a long way to go, the first step is very essential. Good luck!

Yours,

Abby

Samuel Osmond is a 19-year-old law student from Cornwall, England. He never studied the piano. However, he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music by listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes in his head. Two years ago, he played his first piece Moonlight Sonata（奏鸣曲）by Beethoven. He surprised everyone around him.

Amazed that he remembered this long and difficult piece of music and played it perfectly, his teachers say Samuel is unbelievable .They say his ability is very rare, but Samuel doesn’t even realize that what he can do is special. Samuel wanted to become a lawyer as it was the wish of his parents, but music teachers told him he should study music instead. Now, he studies law and music.

Samuel can’t understand why everyone is so surprised. “I grew up with music. My mother played the piano and my father played the guitar. About two years ago, I suddenly decided to start playing the piano, without being able to read music and without having any lessons. It comes easily to me ---I hear the notes and can bear them in mind---each and every note,” says Samuel.

Recently, Samuel performed a piece during a special event at his college. The piece had more than a thousand notes. The audience was impressed by his amazing performance. He is now learning a piece that is so difficult that many professional pianists can’t play it. Samuel says confidently,” It’s all about super memory---I guess I have that gift.”

However, Samuel’s ability to remember things doesn’t stop with music. His family says that even when he was a young boy, Samuel heard someone read a story, and then he could retell the story word for word.

Samuel is still only a teenager. He doesn’t know what he wants to do in the future. For now, he is just happy to play beautiful music and continue his studies.

1.What is special about Samuel Osmond?

A. He has a gift for writing music.

B. He can write down the note he hears.

C. He is a top student at the law school.

D. He can play the musical piece he hears.

2.What can we learn from Paragraph 2 ?

A. Samuel chose law against the wish of his parents.

B. Samuel planned to be a lawyer rather than a musician.

C. Samuel thinks of himself as a man of great musical ability.

D. Samuel studies law and music on the advice of his teachers.

3.Everyone around Samuel was surprised because he _________.

A. received a good early education in music

B. played the guitar and the piano perfectly

C. could play the piano without reading music

D. could play the guitar better than his father

4.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A. The Qualities of a Musician

B. The Story of a Musical Talent

C. The Importance of Early Education

D. The Relationship between Memory and Music.

Like many new graduates, I left university full of hope for the future but with no real idea of what I wanted to do. My degree, with honors, in English literature had not really prepared me for anything practical. I knew I wanted to make a difference in the world somehow, but I had no idea how to do that. That’s when I learned about the Lighthouse Project.

I started my journey as a Lighthouse Project volunteer by reading as much as I could about the experiences of previous volunteers. I knew it would be a lot of hard work, and that I would be away from my family and friends for a very long time. In short, I did not take my decision to apply for the Lighthouse Project lightly. Neither did my family.

Eventually, however, I won the support of my family, and I sent in all the paperwork needed for the application. After countless interviews and presentations, I managed to stand out among the candidates and survive the test alone. Several months later, I finally received a call asking me to report for the duty. I would be going to a small village near Abuja, Nigeria. Where? What? Nigeria? I had no idea. But I was about to find out.

After completing my training, I was sent to the village that was small and desperately in need of proper accommodation. Though the local villagers were poor, they offered their homes, hearts, and food as if I were their own family. I was asked to lead a small team of local people in building a new schoolhouse. For the next year or so, I taught in that same schoolhouse. But I sometimes think I learned more from my students than they did from me.

Sometime during that period, I realized that all those things that had seemed so strange or unusual to me no longer did, though I did not get anywhere with the local language, and I returned to the United States a different man. The Lighthouse Project had changed my life forever.

1.According to the Paragraph 2, it is most likely that the author

A. discussed his decision with his family.

B. asked previous volunteers about voluntary work

C. attended special training to perform difficult tasks

D. felt sad about having to leave his family and friends

2.In his application for the volunteer job, the author

A. participated in many discussions

B. went through some interviews and presentations

C. wrote quite a few papers on voluntary work

D. faced strong competition from other candidates

3.On arrival at the village, the author was

A. asked to lead a farming team

B. sent to teach in a schoolhouse

C. received warmly by local villagers

D. arranged to live in a separate house.

Still seeking a destination for your weekend break? There are some places which are probably a mere wall away from your college.

King’s Art Centre

A day at the Centre could mean a visit to an exhibition of the work of one of the most interesting contemporary artists on show anywhere. This weekend sees the opening of an exhibition of four local artists.

You could attend a class teaching you how to ‘learn from the masters’ or get more creative with paint – free of charge.

The Centre also runs two life drawing classes for which there is a small fee.

The Botanic Garden

The Garden has over 8,000 plant species; it holds the research and teaching collection of living plants for Cambridge University.

The multi-branched Torch Aloe here is impressive. The African plant produces red flowers above blue-green leaves, and is not one to miss.

Get to the display house to see Dionaea muscipula, a plant more commonly known as the Venus Flytrap that feeds on insects and other small animals.

The Garden is also a place for wildlife-enthusiasts. Look for grass snakes in the lake. A snake called ‘Hissing Sid’ is regularly seen lying in the heat of the warm sun.

Byron’s Pool

Many stories surround Lord Byron’s time as a student of Cambridge University. Arriving in 1805, he wrote a letter complaining that it was a place of “mess and drunkenness”. However, it seems as though Byron did manage to pass the time pleasantly enough. I’m not just talking about the pet bear he kept in his rooms. He spent a great deal of time walking in the village.

It is also said that on occasion Byron swam naked by moonlight in the lake, which is now known as Byron’s Pool. A couple of miles past Grant Chester in the south Cambridge shire countryside, the pool is surrounded by beautiful circular paths around the fields. The cries of invisible birds make the trip a lovely experience and on the way home you can drop into the village for afternoon tea. If you don’t trust me, then perhaps you’ll take it from Virginia Woolf – over a century after Byron, she reportedly took a trip to swim in the same pool.

1.As mentioned in the passage, there is a small charge for ____.

A. attending the masters’ class

B. working with local artists

C. learning life drawing

D. seeing an exhibition

2.“Torch Aloe” and “Venus Flytrap” are ____.

A. common insects

B. impressive plants

C. rarely-seen snakes

D. wildlife-enthusiasts

3.We can infer from the passage that Byron seemed ____.

A. to fear pet bears

B. to like walking

C. to be a heavy drinker

D. to finish university in 1805

4. In the passage Byron’s Pool is described as a lake ____.

A. surrounded by fields

B. owned by Lord Byron

C. located in Grant Chester

D. discovered by Virginia Woolf

完形填空

An old man who lived in a small back street of my hometown had to tolerate the nuisance of boys playing football and making a lot of noise outside his house at night.

One evening when the boys were particularly ________ ，he went out to talk to them. He explained that he had just ________ and was happy when he could see or hear boys playing his ________ game—football. He would ________ give them $25 each week to play in the street at night. The boys got ________ ，for they could hardly believe ________ they were being paid to do something they ________ .

The first two weeks had passed，the boys came to the old man’s house each weekend，and went away ________ with their $25. The third week when they came back, ________ ，the old man said he hadn’t had much money ________ himself and sent them away with only $15. The fourth week，the man said he had not yet received his ________ from the government and gave them only $10. The boys were very disappointed，but there was________much that they could do about it.

At the ________ of the fifth week，the boys came back and ________ at the old man’s door，waiting for their ________ . Slowly，the door opened and the old man appeared. He ________ that he could not afford to pay them $25 ________ he had promised，but said he would give them $5 each week without ________ .

This was really too much for the boys. “You expect us to play seven days a week for merely $5！”They yelled.“ ________ ！”

They ________ away and never played on the street again.

1.A. hot B. noisy C. troublesome D. naughty

2.A. retired B. studied C. worked D. appointment

3.A. interesting B. amusing C. acceptable D. favorite

4.A. more ever B. therefore C. willingly D. forever

5.A. shouted B. cried C. thrilled D. smiled

6.A. how B. when C. that D. what

7.A. expected B. enjoyed C. admired D. respected

8.A. happily B. thankfully C. gratefully D. tearfully

9.A. but B. in addition C. however D. besides

10.A. earned B. saved C. remained D. left

11.A. paychecks B. insurance C. food tickets D. salary

12.A. not B. no C. so D. very

13.A. final B. end C. start D. beginning

14.A. kicked B. hit C. beat D. knocked

15.A. rewards B. awards C. checks D. wages

16.A. expressed B. apologized C. stated D. expected

17.A. as B. like C. when D. though

18.A. fail B. hesitation C. joke D. question

19.A. No way B. No possible C. No problem D. No play

20.A. walked B. stormed C. broke D. backed