Being a parent is not always easy and being the parent of a child with special needs often carries with _____extra stress.

 A. it                  B. one                      C. them                 D. him

   Barbara often makes a schedule to get herself   of what she is to do in the day.

A. remind   B. to remind    C. reminded D. reminding

A metaphor is a poetic device that deals with comparison. It compares similar qualities of two dissimilar objects. With a simple metaphor, one object becomes the other: Love is a rose. Although this does not sound like a particularly rich image, a metaphor can communicate so much about a particular image that poets use them more than any other type of figurative language(修辞). The reason for this is that poets compose their poetry to express what they are experiencing emotionally at that moment. Consequently, what the poet imagines love to be may or may not be love we see it. Therefore, the poet’s job is to enable us to experience it, to feel it the same way as the poet does.

Let’s analyze this remarkably unsophisticated metaphor concerning love and the rose to see what it offers. Because the poet uses a comparison with a rose, first we must examine the characteristics of that flower. A rose is spectacular in its beauty; its petals(花瓣) are nicely soft, and its smell is pleasing. It’s possible to say that a rose is actually a feast to the senses of sight, touch, and smell. The rose’s appearance seems to border on(近似于)perfection, each petal seemingly symmetrical(对称的) in form. Isn’t this the way one’s love should be? A loved one should be a delight to one’s senses and seem perfect. However, there is another dimension added to the comparison by using a rose. Roses have thorns(刺). The poet wants to convey the idea that roses can be tricky(机警的). So can love, the metaphor tells us. When one reaches out with absolute trust to touch the object of his or her affection, ouch, a thorn can cause great harm! “Be careful,” the metaphor warns: Love is a feast to the senses, but it can overwhelm us, and it can also hurt us and cause acute suffering. This is the poet’s perception of love--a warning. What is the point? Just this: It took almost 14 sentences to clarify what a simple metaphor communicates in only four words! That is the artistry and the joy of the simple metaphor.

According to the passage, what is a metaphor?

A. A comparison between two different objects with similar features.

B. A contrast between two different things to create a vivid image.

C. A description of two similar objects in a poetic way.

D. A literary device specially employed in poetry writing.

The main idea of this passage is that         .

A. rose is a good image in poetry    B. love is sweet and pleasing

C. metaphor is ambiguous          D. metaphor is great poetic device

It can be inferred from the passage that a metaphor is        .

A. difficult to understand        B. rich in meaning    C. not precise enough      D. like a flower

As is meant by the author, thorns of a rose_________.

A. protect the rose from harm              B. symbolize reduced love

C. add a new element to the image of love    D. represent objects of one’s affection

The meaning of the love-is–a-rose metaphor is that____________-

A. love is a true joy              B. true love comes once in a lifetime

C. love does not last long          D. love is both good and bad experiences

①Researches show what we already suspected: Three out of four babies who died of SIDS(婴儿猝死) involved co-sleeping. We’ll say it again. The safest course is not to sleep with babies.

②We know the argument: Bad parenting, not co-sleeping, is to blame for the dozens of babies’ deaths. Some parents stick to co-sleeping because it helps them bond with their newborns. They say those who give co-sleeping a bad name either had been drinking, used drugs or were too tired to notice that they rolled over on their children.

③But, most of the cases did not involve drugs or alcohol. There’s a “but” here, however. Submitting to a test for drugs or alcohol in these cases is voluntary, so it’s difficult to know with certainty.

④Organizations like the Black Health Coalition and others have explained the safe way to co-sleep. While we understand those arguments, we also know that mistakes can happen and that it only takes one time for something to go terribly wrong. The risk outweighs the benefit.

⑤In all likelihood, parents will continue to co-sleep, and some will do so without ever having an incident, but babies are too vulnerable(易受伤的) for parents to take such chances. Therefore, the best place for babies to sleep is in their own beds, on their backs, with no pillows, blankets or toys. No parent wants a tragedy to occur. The best way to make sure the tragedy doesn’t happen is to allow babies to sleep alone in their own cribs.                                         

According to the author, most of the SIDS cases happened because of ________.

A. drugs    B. co-sleeping    C. drinking     D. bad parenting

Some parents think sleeping with their babies can ________.

A. keep the babies healthy

B. give co-sleeping a good name

C. prevent themselves from drinking

D. develop a good relation with their babies

The author holds the opinion that ________.

A. parents can sleep with babies, but cautiously

B. co-sleep helps to bring babies closer to parents

C. parents can’t take chances to sleep with their babies

D. accidents only happen to those careless parents

Which of the following best describes the structure of the text?

A.  ①        B.  ①②      C.  ①         D.  ①

↙↘                ↓         ↙↓↘        ↙↓↓↘

②③  ④           ③④    ②③④       ②③④⑤

↘ ↙           ↓        ↘↓↙

⑤              ⑤          ⑤

短文改错（共15小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）

此题要求改正所给短文中的错误。对标有题号的每一行作出判断：如无错误，在该行右边横线上画一个勾(√)；如有错误(每行只有一个错误)，则按下列情况改正：此行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。此行缺一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(Λ)，在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。此行错一个词：在错的词下划一横线，并在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。

注意：原行没有错的不要改。

—Thanks for your help, but can you do me one favor, please?

— ___________, sir. What’s it then?

A. Just a minute                 B. It’s very nice of you.

C. That’s all right                D. At your service

The Worst Part

Mom is usually home on Sunday but this week she was going to a big golf game and I was all alone in the house. I was mad at Mom for divorcing Dad.

I kept looking at the telephone until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I picked up the receiver and dialed Dad’s number over in Bakersfield. I even remembered to dial 1 first because it was long distance. “You promised to phone me this week but you didn’t,” I said, feeling I had to talk to him.

“Take it easy, kid,” he said. “I just didn’t get around to it. I was going to call this evening. The week isn’t over yet.”

I thought about that.

“Something on your mind?” he asked.

“I hoped you would call, so I waited and waited.” Then I was sorry I said it.

“There was heavy snow in the morning,” he said, “I had to chain up on highway 80 and lost time.”

I know putting chains on eight big wheels in the snow is no fun. I felt a little better, as long as we were talking. “How is Bandit?” I asked.

There was a funny silence. For a minute I thought the line was dead. Then I knew something must have happened to my dog.

“Well, kid—”, he began. “My name is Leigh!” I almost yelled. “I’m not just some kid you met on the street!”

“Keep your shirt on, Leigh,” he said. “When I had to stop along with some other truck drivers to put on chains, I left Bandit out of the cab, I thought he would get back … I have sent out a call to CB radio, but I didn’t get an answer yet.” I was about to say I understood when there came the bad part, the really bad part. I heard a boy’s voice say, “Hey, Bill, Mom wants to know when we’re going out to get the pizza?”

We can conclude from the passage that              .

A. Leigh’s mother often went to golf games B. Leigh was a deserted boy

C. Leigh’s dad never had a rest on Sundays     D. Leigh’s father lived in another city

Which is true about Bandit?

A. It was killed by a truck     B. It was let out of the cab and got lost

C. It was frozen to death.      D. It ran off Highway 80 and into the mountain.

The underlined sentence “Keep your shirt on”（last para） probably means “        ”.

A．Cool down    B．Stop talking C．Be quiet    D．Keep warm

The worst part in Leigh’s eyes may be that            .

A. he forgot to go to get the pizza B. his parents got divorced

C. his dad got remarried    D. his dad didn’t love him

Step to Discovering Your Passion

By Julie Jordan Scott

    Even before the first tip, you simply must get out a notebook, journal, piece of paper, napkin … SOMETHING to write on to save your discoveries! These tips will only help if you pursue them, so please either take a moment to find writing tools NOW or print this out and promise yourself to complete this exercise later. It may take you some thinking time to get it done . . . and now . . . here are your tips . . . . .

1. Find Your Joy Factor

    Look at the whole of your life history. When did you experience the most sustained period of Joy? What were you doing then? Where were you? Who were you with? How did it feel?

2. What Are Your 3 Most Favorite things to do?

    If you had a free day with NO commitments, where would you be found? What would you be doing with whom?

3. In what area do you excel? (NO MODESTY ALLOWED HERE!)

    Truly, what are you complimented on a lot? This could be ANYTHING.

4. What do you most want to be remembered for?

    If you were designing your epitaph(墓者铭), what would you want it to say? (NOT what your Mom wants, or your SPOUSE(配偶的一方) wants or your third cousin twice removed, but what do YOU want your headstone to say?)

5. If you had a magic wand(魔杖), what would you change about your life TODAY?

    How would it look compared to how it looks now? which aspects of your life ARE changeable, both short term and long term?

6. How does your Joy factor overlap with your favorite things and the areas in which you excel? Do the areas in which you excel bring YOU joy, or are they really for someone else . . . . . do you see which are obvious matches, and which do not fit? Those that overlap, that bring YOU the most Joy, are most likely the things that would bring you into Passionate Living.

7. What is the first even teeny tiny step you can take to living out your Passion as you have defined in #6?

    Take some time to really think this one through . . . . . . concentrate and focus, and then you will be able to start the the next step . . . BUILDING YOUR ROAD MAP.

The purpose of the first paragraph is        .

    A. to arouse the readers’ interest and show them what to do

    B. to find the piece of paper that is useful for the tips   C. to print the tips out and show them to others

    D. to copy the tips and read them

The underlined word “commitment” has the closest meaning to          .

    A. time             B. exercise             C. work             D. joy

The underlined word “compliment” means        .

    A. scold                B. praise                   C. criticize            D. question

Of the following,           would probably give the correct evaluation of you.

    A. You Mom          B. Your spouse          C. Your children        D. You yourself

        are most likely to bring into passionate living.

    A. Your favorite things                         B. The areas in which you excel

    C. Your joy factor                              D. The things that overlap

对话填词(共10分)

Steve: Hello. Can I (1) s________  to Pippa, please?

Voice: (2) T_______ is no Pippa here. This is 8826049.

Steve: I'm sorry. I think I dialed the wrong (3)n______.

Bob:  Hello.

Steve: Hello. Is that Bob?

Bob:  Yes, it is.

Steve: Hi, this is Steve. Is Pippa there?

Bob:  Yes, she is. (4) W________  you like a word with her?

Steve: Yes, please.

Bob: (5) H______ on. I'll  go and get her.

Steve: Pippa. I called to ask you if you'd like to come to a  lecture on Thursday evening at the college. It's (6)c______with the protection of cultural relics. The speaker should be excellent.

Pippa: Great. I’m interested to know something about (7) v______ cultural relics but I'll see if I'm free. Oh, sorry. (8) A______to the schedule, I've already got something on that evening.

Steve: What a pity! Never (9) m______. We can get together some other time for a chat.

Pippa: Yes, good (10)i______.

Steve: I'll have to go now. Somebody wants to use the phone. All the best.

Pippa: Bye.

I don’t know why she’s looking at me ______ she knew me. I’ve never seen her before in my life.

A. as       B. although C. even if   D. as if