—Sorry I’m late. I got stuck in traffic.

—________. You’re here now. Come in and sit down.

A．You are welcomeB．That’s right

C．I have no ideaD．Never mind

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从31—50各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

I Was Forced to Find My Gifts

I was a pretty typical 17-year-old with a strong interest in painting when something happened. One Sunday, I went to an old swimming hole and dove in. I ________ something under the water head-on and broke a couple of vertebrae（椎骨）of my neck.

For five months I stayed at the hospital, feeling like a ________ to my family. My self-image was instantly ________. I was described with terms like “disabled” or “crippled.” I was angry and ________ after I failed so many times at some ________ task—dropping something on the floor and trying to get it back up again.

Near the end of my stay in the hospital, my doctor almost forcibly tied a ________ to my hand. He had seen my paintings I’d done before and ________ me to paint. Fortunately, I found that I ________ had this artistic ability left. It was like a big weight had been ________. At least I could do something worthwhile again, and it became a ________ part of my recovery.

After I left the hospital, I stayed at home, feeling desperately ________. It seemed like I was cut off from ________. No one can get along ________ love and acceptance. So that fall, I started at the University of Texas, majoring in graphic design.

One day a man happened to see one of my paintings. He had a great ________ for it and asked if I ever did art shows. So I was given a(n) ________. Much to my surprise, I found that people liked my paintings and would pay for them. That was about 11 years ago. Today, 1,500 ________ have carried my work.

It was the art that provided the ________ for me to get up every morning and do something, ________ sitting in front of the television. Society has such ________ expectations of the disabled person, so it’s very easy to get sucked into a dependency routine — you know, the “give me” kind of attitude. And that’s what I take the most ________ in — the fact that what I’m doing today is well received all over.

1.A. sawB. hitC. touchedD. picked

2.A. burdenB. failureC. jokeD. patient

3.A. improvedB. createdC. changedD. judged

4.A. helplessB. carelessC. nervousD. tired

5.A. difficultB. specialC. simpleD. important

6.A. bandageB. towelC. ropeD. paintbrush

7.A. allowedB. taughtC. orderedD. encouraged

8.A. alreadyB. stillC. evenD. always

9.A. gainedB. carriedC. liftedD. measured

10.A. vitalB. strangeC. boringD. different

11.A. lonelyB. weakC. frightenedD. guilty

12.A. successB. classmatesC. societyD. treatment

13.A. inB. forC. behindD. without

14.A. sympathyB. fondness

C. talentD. responsibility

15.A. exhibitionB. challengeC. permissionD. message

16.A. hospitalsB. galleriesC. schoolsD. families

17.A. imaginationB. chanceC. motivationD. curiosity

18.A. instead ofB. apart fromC. due toD. but for

19.A. highB. lowC. enoughD. unrealistic

20.A. powerB. prideC. comfortD. advantage

Why do some people live to be older than others? You know the standard explanations: keeping a moderate diet, engaging in regular exercise, etc. But what effect does your personality have on your longevity（长寿）? Do some kinds of personalities lead to longer lives? A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at this question by examining the personality characteristics of 246 children of people who had lived to be at least 100.

The study shows that those living the longest are more outgoing, more active and less neurotic （神经质的) than other people. Long-living women are also more likely to be sympathetic and cooperative than women with a normal life span. These findings are in agreement with what you would expect from the evolutionary theory: those who like to make friends and help others can gather enough resources to make it through tough times.

Interestingly, however, other characteristics that you might consider advantageous had no impact on whether study participants were likely to live longer. Those who were more self-disciplined, for instance, were no more likely to live to be very old. Also, being open to new ideas had no relationship to long life, which might explain all those bad-tempered old people who are fixed in their ways.

Whether you can successfully change your personality as an adult is the subject of a longstanding psychological debate. But the new paper suggests that if you want long life, you should strive to be as outgoing as possible.

Unfortunately, another recent study shows that your mother’s personality may also help determine your longevity. That study looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and found that those moms who were more anxious, depressed and angry were more likely to feed their kids unhealthy diets. Patterns of childhood eating can be hard to break when we’re adults, which may mean that kids of depressed moms end up dying younger.

Personality isn’t destiny（命运), and everyone knows that individuals can learn to change. But both studies show that long life isn’t just a matter of your physical health but of your mental health.

1.The aim of the study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society is ________.

A. to see whether people’s personality affects their life span

B. to find out if one’s lifestyle has any effect on their health

C. to investigate the role of exercise in living a long life

D. to examine all the factors contributing to longevity

2.What does the author imply about outgoing and sympathetic people?

A. They have a good understanding of evolution.

B. They are better at negotiating an agreement.

C. They generally appear more resourceful.

D. They are more likely to get over hardship.

3.What finding of the study might prove somewhat out of our expectation?

A. Easy-going people can also live a relatively long life.

B. Personality characteristics that prove advantageous actually vary with times.

C. Such personality characteristics as self-discipline have no effect on longevity.

D. Readiness to accept new ideas helps one enjoy longevity.

4.What does the recent study of Norwegian mothers show?

A. Children’s personality characteristics are invariably determined by their mothers.

B. People with unhealthy eating habits are likely to die sooner.

C. Mothers’ influence on children may last longer than fathers’.

D. Mothers’ negative personality characteristics may affect their children’s life spans.

5.What can we learn from the findings of the two new studies?

A. Anxiety and depression more often than not cut short one’s life span.

B. Longevity results from a combination of mental and physical health.

C. Personality plays a decisive role in how healthy one is.

D. Health is in large part related to one’s lifestyle.

As Artificial Intelligence（AI） becomes increasingly sophisticated, there are growing concerns that robots could become a threat. This danger can be avoided, according to computer science professor Stuart Russell, if we figure out how to turn human values into a programmable code.

Russell argues that as robots take on more complicated tasks, it’s necessary to translate our morals into AI language.

For example, if a robot does chores around the house, you wouldn’t want it to put the pet cat in the oven to make dinner for the hungry children. “You would want that robot preloaded with a good set of values,” said Russell.

Some robots are already programmed with basic human values. For example, mobile robots have been programmed to keep a comfortable distance from humans. Obviously there are cultural differences, but if you were talking to another person and they came up close in your personal space, you wouldn’t think that’s the kind of thing a properly brought-up person would do.

It will be possible to create more sophisticated moral machines, if only we can find a way to set out human values as clear rules.

Robots could also learn values from drawing patterns from large sets of data on human behavior. They are dangerous only if programmers are careless.

The biggest concern with robots going against human values is that human beings fail to so sufficient testing and they’ve produced a system that will break some kind of taboo（禁忌）.

One simple check would be to program a robot to check the correct course of action with a human when presented with an unusual situation.

If the robot is unsure whether an animal is suitable for the microwave, it has the opportunity to stop, send out beeps(嘟嘟声), and ask for directions from a human. If we humans aren’t quite sure about a decision, we go and ask somebody else.

The most difficult step in programming values will be deciding exactly what we believe in moral, and how to create a set of ethical rules. But if we come up with an answer, robots could be good for humanity.

1.What does the author say about the threat of robots?

A. It may constitute a challenge to computer progranmers.

B. It accompanies all machinery involving high technology.

C. It can be avoided if human values are translated into their language.

D. It has become an inevitable peril as technology gets more sophisticated.

2.What would we think of a person who invades our personal space according to the author?

A. They are aggressive.B. They are outgoing.

C. They are ignorant.D. They are ill-bred.

3.How do robots learn human values?

A. By interacting with humans in everyday life situations.

B. By following the daily routines of civilized human beings.

C. By picking up patterns from massive data on human behavior.

D. By imitating the behavior of property brought-up human beings.

4.What will a well-programmed robot do when facing an unusual situation?

A. keep a distance from possible dangers.

B. Stop to seek advice from a human being.

C. Trigger its built-in alarm system at once.

D. Do sufficient testing before taking action.

5.What is most difficult to do when we turn human values into a programmable code?

A. Determine what is moral and ethical.

B. Design some large-scale experiments.

C. Set rules for man-machine interaction.

D. Develop a more sophisticated program.

After many years on the endangered list of animals, Japan’s Amami Black rabbit can finally breathe a sigh of relief — That’s because this year, the rare animal is no longer in danger of dying out!

The effort to save the dark-furred rabbit, often called “a living fossil”, began in 1921, when the Japanese government promoted it to the status of “natural monument”. This meant that it could not be hunted down for food. However, when that did not work, it got yet another promotion to “special natural monument”, which meant that the rabbit could not be trapped or hunted.

While that helped, it was not enough — By 2004 with only 2,000-5,000 specimen (样本) left in the wild, the Amami rabbit was officially declared endangered! The reason for the serious population decrease was due to loss of habitat caused by forest clearing for home and agriculture use and the introduction of a new species not native to the island — the Mongoose. Brought in to get rid of the snake population, the Mongoose instead seemed to prefer the black rabbit. In 2005, the government carried out a strict mongoose capture (捕获) order and slowly but surely, the rabbit started to come back.

This rabbit live in a rather unusual lifestyle. Its ideal habitat is a forest that features both trees and large grasses — the former to find acorns (橡树子) to feed on and the latter, to hide its babies. That's because to protect them from being eaten by their enemies, the Amami rabbit buries them deep into the ground among the grasses and covers them up with dirt during the day. Then, in the middle of the night, still keeping a vigilant eye out for their enemies, it digs them out from their hiding place and feeds them. No wonder the animal is sometimes called “midnight rabbit”.

Though many measures have been taken to stop this furry animal from being wiped out from the world, there are many more that are still in danger. We surely hope that officials in other parts of the world try their best to save the endangered species.

1.The status of “natural monument” means ________.

A. you can’t kill them

B. you can’t capture them

C. you can’t catch them for food

D. you can’t trap or hunt them

2.Why was the rabbit still in danger after it was promoted to “special natural monument”?

A. Because it was always eaten by snakes.

B. Because people still wanted to capture it for food.

C. Because the rabbit lives in a rather unusual lifestyle.

D. Because of loss of habitat and a new species.

3.In Amami rabbit’s ideal habitat, large grasses are used ________.

A. to feed on

B. to protect its babies

C. to hide themselves

D. to give birth to babies

4.The underlined word “vigilant” in the fourth paragraph can be replaced by ________.

A. watchfulB. uninterestedC. fearfulD. shiny

5.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. Many officials don’t pay attention to the black Amami rabbit.

B. The black Amami rabbit was no longer endangered.

C. Saving the black Amami rabbit still has a long way to go.

D. The measures taken to protect the black Amami rabbit were useless.

The Board Meeting had come to an end. Bob started to stand up and knocked into the table, spilling his coffee over his notes. “How embarrassing! I am getting so clumsy in my old age.”

Everyone had a good laugh, and soon we were all telling stories of our most embarrassing moments. It came around to Frank who sat quietly listening to the others. Someone said, “Come on, Frank. Tell us your most embarrassing moment.”

Frank laughed and began to tell us of his childhood. “I grew up in San Pedro. My Dad was a fisherman, and he loved the sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out until he caught enough to feed the family. Not just enough for our family, but also for his Mom and Dad and the other kids that were still at home.”

He looked at us and said, “I wish you could have met my Dad. He was a big man, and he was strong from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch. When you got close to him, he smelled like the ocean. He would wear his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls. His rain hat would be pulled down over his brow. No matter how much my mother washed them, they would still smell of the sea and of fish.”

Frank’s voice dropped a bit. “When the weather was bad he would drive me to school. He had this old truck that he used in his fishing business. That truck was older than he was. It would wheeze and rattle down the road. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he would drive toward the school, I would shrink (畏缩) down into the seat hoping to disappear. Half the time, he would slam to a stop and the old truck would belch (喷出) a cloud of smoke. He would pull right up in front, and it seemed like everybody would be standing around and watching. Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Here, I was twelve years old, and my Dad would lean over and kiss me goodbye!”

He paused and then went on, “I remember the day I decided I was too old for a goodbye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I put my hand up and said, “No, Dad.” It was the first time I had ever talked to him that way, and he had this surprised look on his face. I said, “Dad, I’m too old for a goodbye kiss. I’m too old for any kind of kiss.” My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to tear up. Then he turned and looked out the windshield. “ You’re right,” he said. “ You are a big boy....a man. I won’t kiss you anymore.”

Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes, as he spoke. “It wasn’t long after that when my Dad went to sea and never came back. It was a day when most of the fleet (船队) stayed in, but not Dad. He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with its nets half in and half out. He must have gotten into a strong wind and was trying to save the nets and the floats.”

I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Frank spoke again. “Guys, you don’t know what I would give to have my Dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek…to feel his rough old face… to smell the ocean on him… to feel his arm around my neck. I wish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never have told my Dad I was too old for a goodbye kiss.”

1.When his father drove him to the school, Frank would shrink down into the seat hoping to disappear because ________.

A. he was ashamed of his father’s old truck

B. he thought he was old enough to go to school alone

C. he didn’t want his schoolmates to see his father

D. he hated the way his schoolmates stared at his father

2.In Frank’s eyes, when his father said “You are a big boy… a man.”, he probably felt ________.

A. disappointedB. hurtC. excitedD. proud

3.According to the story we can conclude that Frank’s father ________.

A. was quite confident in his skills in fishing

B. loved his children but hardly expressed it

C. seldom gave up faced with challenges

D. was full of devotion to his family

4.By saying the sentence “I wish I had been a man then…”, Frank meant ________.

A. he was fed up with his father kissing him goodbye

B. he deeply regretted what he had done to his father

C. he was then too young to refuse a goodbye kiss

D. he hoped that his father would forgive him

5.Which of the following may be the best title for this passage?

A. The Smell of the Ocean

B. We All Need Love

C. A Goodbye Kiss

D. Father’s Embarrassment

Once a circle missed a wedge（楔子）. The circle wanted to be 1. , so it went around looking for its missing piece. It was uncompleted and therefore could roll only very slowly. While rolling, it admired the flowers along the way, 2. (chat) with worms and enjoyed the sunshine.

One day the circle found a piece that 3. perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole with nothing missing. It fixed the missing piece in itself and began to 4. . Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to 5. . When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it 6. and left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strange 7. we are whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some way a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to desire, to hope, to nourish his soul 8. the dream of something better.

When we accept that imperfection is part of human being, and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciate it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can 9. wish to.

If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to share in another’s happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fullness that 10. other living creature will ever know.

你校正在进行“英语论坛周”活动，请以“To Be a Popular Student”为题，就以下三方面提出要成为一名受欢迎学生应具备的素质，用英语写一篇100~120词的短文参加该主题的讨论。

1. 对待集体；

2. 对待他人；

3. 对待自己。

注意：短文的开头已给出（不计词数）。

To Be a Popular Student

To Be a Popular Student, we should be equipped with the following qualities. _______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

The worst tourist (旅行者) in the world may be Nicholas Scottie of San Francisco. Once he flew from the US. to his hometown in Italy. He had some troubles on his journey. The night before, he stayed up late to deal with some emails, so when he boarded on the plane he decided to have a sleep. Hours later, he was woken up by some noise and he found the plane had landed.

As he thought he had arrived home, Mr. Scottie got off the plane . He thought he was in Rome. However, the truth was that the plane made a one-hour stop to get oil at Kennedy Airport of New York.

Mr. Scottie waited at the airport for some while, but nobody was there to meet him, he thought maybe they were held up by heavy traffic which was very common in Rome. He decided to give his family a phone call. Unfortunately, he found he had left his cellphone at the hotel in San Francisco. Therefore, he decided to go home by himself. While he was walking in the city, Mr. Scottie found that the old “Rome” had changed a lot. Many old buildings were replaced by high modern ones. He also found that many people spoke English instead of Italian and that many street signs were written in English. What made him most surprised was that drivers’ awareness of traffic safety was improved and he hardly found any driver speeding on the road. All cars were driving in line. The condition was widely different from that in the past. He was feeling proud.

Mr. Scotti knew very little English, so he asked a policeman (in Italian) the way to the bus station . He happened to meet a policeman who was also born in Italy and answered him in the same language. Mr. Scotti thanked him, left, quickly found the bus station and got on a bus. He looked outside of the bus window.

注意：

1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；

2.应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；

3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；

4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。

Paragraph 1 ：

After twelve hours' travelling round on a bus, Mr. Scotti thought to himself that Rome had changed so much that he even failed to find his home

Paragraph 2 ：

To get him on a plane back to San Francisco, he was sent to the airport in a police car with sirens (警报) on.

It was late one evening. I can’t remember what it was about, but my dad and I had a very big argument (争吵) when my mom was away. We both said things we didn’t mean, and in the end I said, “I’m leaving.” And he said, “Good. The sooner, the better.”

I threw a few things in a suitcase and closed the door angrily behind me, not knowing where I was going. After walking aimlessly for about 20 minutes, I stopped at a local supermarket. Then my phone rang. It was my mom calling. She said, “Hey, Mary. Where are you? Dad is worried about you.”

“How can he worry about me? I’ve been away for nearly half an hour, but he didn’t call,” I said with annoyance (烦恼). My anger returned and I remembered all the hateful things he’d shouted to me. “Listen, Mom. You can tell Dad that I’m fine. I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said and hung up.

I walked around the store, trying to get my thoughts together. By the time I paid for my purchases, it had been much later than I used to be out alone. When I left the supermarket, a large piece of white paper was in front of me. On the piece of white paper were these words: “Please come home! I miss you and I’m worried about you!”

Then a car pulled up beside me. Hanging out of the window was my dad. Beside him, smiling gently, sat my mom. And that’s when I started laughing. I laughed so hard that I cried. Despite (尽管) my best efforts to run away from home, my father finally managed to track me down. I couldn’t leave now, not with him sitting there with caring eyes.

1.Hearing Mary decided to leave home, Mary’s father was very__________.

A. worried B. angry

C. nervous D. surprised

2.After her mother called her, Mary__________.

A. became angrier than before

B. gave in to her father

C. cried and calmed down

D. agreed to go home

3. What does the underlined word “purchases” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. actions Mary regretted B. goods Mary bought

C. telephone calls Mary made D. lessons Mary learned

4. What probably happened at the end of the story?

A. Mary returned home happily.

B. Mary still refused to go home.

C. Mary’s father became angry again.

D. Mary’s mother hated her father.