-- The doctor’s discovery has had __ profound effect on mankind.

-- So it has. It has made __ great difference to our life span.

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

 Private cars really provide much convenience to people, and __ they cause too many problems.

A. therefore   B. meanwhile   C. otherwise   D. instead

 -- The lion is considered to be the king of the forest as it is a(n) __ of courage and power.

-- Oh, I see.

A. symbol   B. signal   C. mark   D. sign

--You have made the same mistake.

 --____ It’s none of your business.

A. Never mind.   B. So what?   C. No problem.   D. Why not?

随着生活节奏的加快，人们很少有时间坐下来读书。但是书是我们的良师益友，给我们带来无穷的乐趣，因此我们还是鼓励人们多读书。请以Reading—A Bright Way to A Better Life为题写一篇英语作文，要点需包括下列信息：

1、 读书的好处；

2、 正确选择阅读材料和安排阅读时间；

3、 你的做法。

注意：1. 词数120左右。

2. 短文标题与开头已给出,不计入总词数；

Reading—A Bright Way to A Better Life

With the rapid pace of modern life, people seldom sit down and read. ________                 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

`

 完成句子

1. The donkey can carry a heavy b             .

2. They were pleased to meet after such a long _______________.（分开）

3. His fame was bought at the _____________ of health and happiness.（代价）

4. This kind of dress is now __________ ___________.（流行）

5. When you __________ _________ _________ a woman, you should offer an engagement ring.（向某人求婚）

6. I _________ _________ go to bed earlier during the winter. (往往会)

7. Luckily when I felt I could walk no further, a black taxi driver _________ us _________ _________.（让…搭便车）

8. Cordelia’s devotion to Your Majesty is __________ __________.（毫无疑问）

9. Shackleton never ________ ________ _________ disappointment, even when the ship sank.（向…让步）

10. John is not good at sports, but ________ ________ _________ ________ physics, he is the best in the class.（当谈到…）

阅读下列短文，根据以下提示：（1）汉语提示（2）首字母提示（3）语境提示，在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，并将该词完整地写在右边相对应的横线上。

I am a Senior 3 student. I often quarrel with my mother

over ______ or not I can watch TV after school. My mother                     76.                

holds the view that students in Senior 3 are ______ busy to spare  77.               

any time to watch TV. It s         to her that once I am allowed                78.               

to do that I will not be able to control ______ and forget all              79.               

about my study. She also thinks that it is bad for my e        .           80.               

But I really can’t accept her ideas. I think it is ______ (放松的)  81.               

to watch TV after a day’s hard work. B        , it can broaden    82.               

my horizons. Now we have r       an agreement that I can           83.                

only watch  TV ______ weekends, and the programs should       84.               

be ______ (限制) to news and programs of education or sports.    85.                

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.
　　He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.
　　He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find something to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea.
　　At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.
　　While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.
　　Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”
　　No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.
　　Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”
　　Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing.”
　　“I’m going swimming. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work. You seem to like it very much.”

“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
　　Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,
　　“Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
　　Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind.
　　“No, no, it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”
　　“No — is that so? Oh come, let me just try. Only just a little.”
　　“Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly ...”
　　“Oh, I’ll be careful. Now let me try. I’ll give you half of my apple.”
　　“Well, here — No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afraid ...”
　　“I’ll give you all of it.”
　　Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures. The fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.
　　He had discovered a great law of human action that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get. 
72. Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?
   A. Because he was tired and wanted to play with his toys.
   B. Because he wanted to exchange his toys with his friends.
   C. Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends. 
   D. Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys.
73. Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because    

______.
   A. Tom wanted to do the whitewashing himself
   B. Tom planned to make Ben give up his apple first
   C. Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing
   D. Tom was afraid Ben couldn’t do the whitewashing well.
74. We can learn from the passage that ______.
   A. Tom was fond of whitewashing the fence
   B. Tom had a lot of friends who were ready to help him
   C. Tom managed to let other boys do the whitewashing for him
   D. Tom was better at whitewashing the fence than others

75. Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
   A. The Happy Whitewasher       B. Tom And His Fellows
   C. Whitewashing A Fence          D. How To Make Things Difficult To Get

Everyone wants to achieve true happiness in life. But the biggest factor holding most of us back is actually our own selves. The Huffington Post released a list of seven mistakes we need to let go of in order to become happier people. Let’s take a look.
1. Placing too much emphasis on fulfillment (成就感)
    Those who put a lot of pressure on themselves to be happy feel more lonely on a daily basis than those who do not, according to research conducted at the University of Denver, US.
2. Keeping it all in
    Keeping it all together during tough times can hurt you. Crying is the body’s emotional response to outside triggers (诱因). By suppressing it, you may be damaging your mental and physical health.
3. Looking at your smartphone all the time
    Connecting with others may be the key to happiness, but a recent University of Michigan study found that the more time participants spent on social networking sites, the less happy they felt.
4. Not moving
    It’s no secret that a healthy lifestyle is a big part of happiness. Something as simple as a walk can help you increase your creativity and expose you to essential vitamins.
5. Not reflecting on the past
    In a 2012 study on nostalgia (怀旧) and emotion, participants reported a higher sense of physiological(生理的)comfort when they looked back on the past. Affection for heartwarming memories helps people relate their past experiences to the present in order to create a greater sense of meaning.
6. Resisting change
    A study on the psychology of choices shows that the human brain naturally tries to avoid loss — but that resistance can cause stress. Whether it’s fear of the unknown or fear of losing what you currently have, the pressure to hold on to the present can harm your future life satisfaction.
7. Not being mindful
    Setting aside time for meditation allows your body to relax, cultivates an attitude of gratitude and lowers your stress level, according to researchers at University of California, Los Angeles, US.

68. What is the main purpose of the article?
A. To inform readers of the benefits of being happy.
B. To explain why our happiness depends on our own actions.
C. To point out the things we do that prevent us from being happy.
D. To discuss some typical characteristics of happy people.

69. The underlined word “suppressing” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.
A. focusing on     B. holding back     C. thinking about    D. ignoring

70. According to the article, to be a happy person, it is important for us to ______.
A. set goals and achieve as much as we can
B. avoid recalling the past
C. do exercise in our spare time
D. spend more time on social networking sites

71. According to the article, meditation is helpful mainly because ______.
A. it increases our creativity
B. it makes us less afraid of the unknown
C. it helps us relax and thus reduce our stress
D. it allows us to relate our past experiences to the present

Charles Dickens is often thought of as one of the greatest British writers. February 7 marked the 200th anniversary of his birthday. Yet for many, his language is old-fashioned and his stories often improbable. So why do so many people know and read Dickens today?
    One reason is the British government’s insistence that every child studies a Dickens novel at school. Alongside William Shakespeare, Dickens is on every English literature school reading list.
    His stories, though often long by today’s standards, are great moral tales. They are filled with colorful characters.
    Earlier this month, a ceremony was held in Portsmouth, where Dickens was born. Prince Charles said at the ceremony, “Dickens used his creative genius to campaign passionately for social justice… His characterization (人物刻画) is as fresh today as on the day it was written.”
    His books stand out from many other writers because of his insight into human nature. Dickens, like Shakespeare, tells us truths about human behavior. They are as true in the 21st century as they were to his readers in the 19th century.
    Readers have returned to Dickens’ books again and again over the years to see what he has to say about their own times.
    No surprise then that it was Dickens whom Britons turned to during the economic crisis in the last couple of years. Dickens helped them make sense of a world that was rapidly falling apart. The BBC adapted one of his less well-known novels, Little Dorrit, into a popular television drama that introduced many Brits to the novel for the first time. A dark story about greed and money, it was the perfect illustration of bad times.
    As long as Dickens’s novels have something to say to modern audiences, it seems likely that he will remain one of Britain’s best-loved writers.

64. In the article, the author intends to tell us ______.
A. why Dickens’ novels still appeal to readers in modern times
B. that Dickens’ works are no longer popular among young people
C. why the British government puts Dickens on school reading lists
D. that Dickens and Shakespeare’s works are required for study at school

65. In Britain, people still read Dickens because of ______.
a) romance in his books
b) moral value in his books
c) his colorful characters
d) his insight into human nature
e) government education requirement
f) his prediction of the current economic crisis
A. abdf              B. bcde               C. bdef             D. abed

66. We can infer from the article that ______.
A. it’s better to read Dickens in time of difficulty
B. Dickens was a great social observer of his time
C. human nature seems worse during bad times
D. Dickens’s novels are short and easy to read

67. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Little Dorrit is one of Dickens’ best-known novels.
B. Dickens’ novels are of greater value during economic crisis.
C. Dickens’ works have gained more popularity than Shakespeare’s.
D. Dickens’ novels are still of realistic significance to today’s world.