Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.

That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”

Mr.Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.

The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”

As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”

The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.

“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”

Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”

What can the “conversations” be best described as?

    A. Deep and one-on-one. B. Sensitive and mad.

    C. Instant and inspiring.   D. Ordinary and encouraging.

In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.

    A. pair freely with anyone they like

    B. have a guided talk for a set of period of time

    C. ask questions they themselves would not answer

    D. wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features.

From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.

    A. an attempt to promote thinking interaction

    B. one of the maddest activities ever conducted

    C. a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas

    D. an effort to give people a chance of talking freely

书面表达（满分25分）

下面是《21世纪报中学生班》（21^st Century School Edition ）刊登的一封读者来信，请你以编辑张华的身份给这位中学生写封回信。

Dear editor,

I spend most of my time studying; I hardly talk to my classmates. Sometimes I don’t care much about others, but I do want to talk. I just don’t know what to talk about and how to begin a conversation.

I feel so lonely. How I wish I had a good friend! Could you give me some advice?

                                                        Yours,

                                                        Jin Jing

注意：

1.回信的内容要包括以下要点：

要相信自己，你最大的问题是缺乏自信；

微笑面对同学，让他们相信你是友好的；

先试着与一个和你同样害羞的或与你有同样爱好的同学交谈，可以问一些学习上的问题，谈谈共同的爱好；

帮助学习和生活上有困难的同学。

2． 信的开头已写好，不计入总词数；

3． 词数: 100---120词（不含已写好的部分）。

Dear Jin Jing,

Your problem is a common one among middle school students. Maybe the following advice can help you. _________________________________________________________________

The role change from husband to father, although difficult, doesn’t seem so great as _____    from wife to mother.

   A．one         B．that         C．it            D．those

President Obama has said that he had discussed his administration's desire for _____ orderly change to _____ more open government in Egypt．

    A．/; the               B．an; a        C．the ; /          D．the ;an

He never does anything wrong. He should be the ________ to blame.

    A. least              B. last             C. worst             D. best

Many students are          about football． They          play a game whenever possible．  

    A． crazy; will B． crazy; are going to   

    C． fond; will  D． fond; are going to

He was a much older tennis player, but he had a(n)_______over other players in experience.

 A. benefit         B. profit          C. power        D. advantage.

You can’t go out because it is a stormy night;       , your homework hasn’t been done.

    A．moreover B．however  C．nevertheless D．therefore

  After suffering a heart attack, Michael Jackson was pronounced dead, ____ a tragic end to the world' s most popular entertainer.

A. to mark      B. marking          C. marked           D. having marked

完形填空 (共 20 小题; 每小题 1.5 分, 满分 30 分)

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。

Jerry is a restaurant manager who is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.

One day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get   36  ! You can’t be a __37__ person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself you have two __38__ today. You can choose to be in a good mood   39   you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. It’s your choice __40__ you live life.”

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never __41__ to do in the restaurant business…. He __42__ the back door open one morning and was held up at __43__ point by three armed robbers. He was shot by them while trying to fight back. __44__, Jerry was found relatively quickly and __45   to the local trauma(外伤) center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released   46 

the hospital with fragments of the bullets   47   in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the __48   . Jerry told me something happening in the ER( 急诊室). He said, “… the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the   49   on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really   50   . In their eyes, I   51   ‘he’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take   52   .” “What did you do?’ I asked. “Well, there was a nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked   53   I was allergic to anything. ‘ Yes’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘BULLETS!’ Over their   54   , I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead’.” Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude,   55   , is everything.

A. that   B. those    C. one  D. it

A. brave   B. good C. positive D. bad

A. causes B. choices  C. things   D. goals

A. and    B. or   C. but  D. then

A. how    B. what C. that D. when

A. supposed   B. expected C. encouraged   D. suggested

A. came    B. left C. broke    D. knocked

A. sword  B. stick    C. arrow    D. gun

A. Hopefully   B. Delightedly  C. Luckily  D. Disappointedly

A. pushed B. rushed   C. stepped  D. followed

A. to  B. towards  C. from D. down

A. even   B. ever C. once D. still

A. trouble    B. accident C. difficulty   D. trick

A. expressions    B. smiles   C. cries    D. tears

A. attracted  B. touched  C. scared   D. warned

A. mix    B. hope C. ask  D. read

A. care   B. action   C. turns    D. apart

A. what   B. that C. if   D. why

. A. laughter  B. disappointment   C. excitement   D. joy

A. after all  B. at all   C. in all   D. for all