I didn’t mean to cheat, but I had to admit that it was cheating ________.

A. anyhowB. somehowC. howeverD. otherwise

________ I have made this first visit, I hope I can come many more times.

A. As ifB. In thatC. Even ifD. Now that

He insisted that the problem discussed at the meeting ________ right away.

A. be carried out

B. was carried out

C. would be carried out

D. was to carry out

The company won the bid for the project by saying that it would do the cleaning up afterwards ________.

A. for freeB. in chargeC. in controlD. on average

It is hard for us Chinese students to learn spoken English well in a family, in which ________ of the parents speaks the language.

A. noneB. neitherC. bothD. each

—Sorry, Sir. I can’t remember all the new words we learn every day.

—________. Practice more.

A. I’m afraid notB. It’s hard to say

C. You are not aloneD. All right

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。

A Pennsylvania patrol (巡逻) officer rescued（营救）a German shepherd (牧羊犬) from a car accident in South Londonberry.

Since the rescue, a photo of patrol officer Nick Ague carrying the ________ that his fellow police officers posted to Facebook has got nearly 4,500 likes and tons of ________ comments(评论).

"Amazing people still do exist (存在)!” one user ________.

The act of heroism began on Aug. 11, when Ague heard on the radio that there had been a car ________ nearby, and that two dogs involved in the crash had fled (逃离) from the ________.

"I heard other people say they saw a German shepherd ________," Ague told ABC News.com. "Based on the location I could ________ the dog was heading west."

So Ague and a few fellow ________ set out to find the dog, who they later learned was named Mya. They flagged Mya down, ________ every time they stopped their patrol cars, she would run from them. They called Mya's ________, and when she arrived on the scene, Mya ________ stopped running. And then the dog wouldn't move at all.

That was when Ague realized something was ________. He quickly realized that it wasn't that the dog wouldn't move but ________ not move.

"The dog was not moving because the skin on her feet was hanging off ________ the distance she ran," Ague explained. "She ran two miles from the crash on hot asphalt (柏油).

"When I realized that's why she couldn't walk," he said, "the ________ thing I could think of doing was to pick her up."

So he ________ Mya up, who he said weighed around 75 pounds, and ________ her about 100 yards to her owner’s car.

Mya's owner, Megan Smith, said that Mya's feet were already healed(痊愈), and she was now walking ________.

Ague, who has a German shepherd of his own and described himself as "a real animal ________", said he never thought of doing anything besides ________ Mya.

1.A. manB. babyC. catD. dog

2.A. interestingB. admiringC. shortD. helpful

3.A. wroteB. arguedC. criedD. doubted

4.A. engineB. accidentC. driverD. park

5.A. roomB. zooC. sceneD. hospital

6.A. runningB. climbingC. swimmingD. sleeping

7.A. declareB. hopeC. imagineD. tell

8.A. doctorsB. officers

C. reportersD. operators

9.A. unlessB. sinceC. butD. though

10.A. ownerB. trainerC. sellerD. leader

11.A. nearlyB. reallyC. finallyD. secretly

12.A. stupidB. funnyC. simpleD. wrong

13.A. shouldB. mustC. mightD. could

14.A. in spite ofB. because of

C. in addition toD. instead of

15.A. lastB. otherC. sameD. only

16.A. liftedB. gaveC. dressedD. waked

17.A. carriedB. pulledC. pushedD. drove

18.A. carefullyB. normallyC. calmlyD. regularly

19.A. keeperB. researcherC. dealerD. lover

20.A. curingB. findingC. rescuingD. leaving

◆The Big Cake Show comes to the WestPoint Arena in Exeter, England, March 21-22. Hopefully, cakes of all sizes will be on sale and on show. An impressive list of famous people sharing their great knowledge and skill includes Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and Gregg Wallace. Tickets, from ￡12, are available online (bigcakeshow.com).

◆From January 17 to March 8, RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, England has some special guests to brighten the winter: beautiful butterflies. The Glasshouse introduces a group of butterflies from other countries feeding on fruit and the juice-rich plants of the Exotic Zone. Tickets for adults are ￡13.20, for children are ￡6.60. For a family with 2 adults and 2 children, they should pay ￡32.75 in total. For groups of more than 10 adults, each should pay ￡10.80 (rhs. org.uk/wisley).

◆The week-long London Wine Week starts from May 18. Buy a ￡5 wristband to qualify for a pocket-sized guidebook and discounted wine around the capital. Partnering with London' s best bars and restaurants, we will be organizing events such as master classes and meet-the -maker time, plus offering discounts to wristband wearers (londonwineweek.com).

◆The World Shakespeare Festival begins in April, with everything from foreign productions of Shakespearean plays at Shakespeare's Globe to Shakespearean plays at the Royal Opera House. Plays will run until the end of the year in London, Birmingham, Newcastle and Gateshead. And there' s a programme of events such as director talks and family workshops. Prices start from ￡60 (worldshakespearefestival.org. uk).

1.We can infer that Paul Hollywood is most likely to be ________.

A. a ticket dealerB. the cake show host

C. the event organizerD. a professional cook

2.If you want to buy wine at lower prices, you should ________.

A. buy a wristband first

B. pay ￡5 for a discount card

C. eat in the specific restaurants

D. obtain a guidebook

3.Which of the following activities lasts for the longest time?

A. The Big Cake Show.

B. The World Shakespeare Festival.

C. Butterflies in the Glasshouse.

D. The London Wine Week.

Last week, my granddaughter started kindergarten, and I wished her every success. But part of me didn’t. I actually wanted her to fail in some ways because I believe that failure can be good for our learning process. Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do, or doing something correctly the first time, which can often be a problematic (存在问题的) victory. First-time success is usually a fluke (侥幸). First-time failure, however, is supposed to be the natural order of things. Failure is how we learn.

In Africa they describe a good cook as “She who has broken many pots.” If you’ve spent enough time in the kitchen to have broken a lot of pots, probably you know a fair amount about cooking. I once had dinner with a group of cooks, and they spent time comparing knife wounds and burn scars. They knew how much credibility (可信) their failures gave them.

I earn my living by writing a daily newspaper column. Each week I know that one column I write is going to be the worst column. I try my best every day. I have learned to love that column. A successful column usually means that I am discussing my familiar topic, writing in a style I am used to or saying the same things as anyone else but in a better way.

My younger daughter is a trapeze artist (荡秋千演员). She spent three years practising a show, and she did it successfully for years. There was no reason for her to change it but she did anyway. She said she was no longer learning anything new and she was bored. And if she was bored, there was no point in subjecting (使……服从于) her body to all that stress. She risked failure and great public embarrassment in order to feed her soul.

My granddaughter is a perfectionist. She will feel her failures, and I will want to comfort her. But I will also, I hope, remind her of what she learned, and how she can do better next time. I hope I can tell her, though, that it’s not the end of the world. Indeed, with luck, it is the beginning.

1.Why did the author want his granddaughter to fail?

A. She would learn more from failure.

B. He wanted her to be strong enough to face hardships.

C. It’s impossible to do everything successfully.

D. Success is boring though good.

2.What’s the author’s attitude toward his daughter changing her show?

A. Negative.B. Worried.C. Anxious.D. Positive.

3.The author develops the article mainly by ________.

A. following the time order

B. giving examples

C. comparing different opinions

D. giving a cause and analyzing its effects

4.The writer talked about his own experience to show that ________.

A. past failures made him dare not take risks in writing

B. we should try every possible way to avoid failure

C. the thought of failure will make you work even harder

D. we cannot depend on luck to live a good life

If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.

The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.

The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate(价钱). From then on, they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly(相应地).

With so many loopholes(漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.

In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?

1.While taking a taxi in Finland, ________.

A. a passenger can go anywhere without having to pay the driver

B. a passenger can never be turned down by the taxi driver wherever he wants to go

C. a passenger pays two US dollars for a taxi ride

D. a passenger needs to provide good faith demonstration (证明) before leaving without paying

2.We know from the passage that big hotels in Finland ________.

A. provide meals for any diners

B. are mostly poorly managed

C. provide free wine and charge for food

D. provide meal for only those who live in the hotels

3.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The workers in Finland are paid by the hour.

B. The workers are always honest with their working hours.

C. The bosses in Finland are too busy to check the working hours of their employees.

D. The workers and their bosses will make an agreement in advance about the pay.

4.The word “those” in the last but one paragraph probably refers to ________.

A. people who are worthy of trust

B. people who often have meals in big hotels

C. people who often take taxis

D. people who are dishonest