We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it,” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack (车顶行李架). I’ve always wanted one like that.”

　 What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.

　 In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.

　 After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.

　“Right, sir,” he said.“Do you need any more help?”

　I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer,” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”

　 He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well,” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”

　 My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “ Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.”I drove home as fast as I could.

1. In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.

A．would like very much to buy               B．badly wanted

C．would rather not buy                    D．was glad to have bought

2.Other drivers thought they were _______.

A．carrying a cupboard to the church

B．sending flowers to the church

C．carrying nothing but a piece of furniture

D．going to attend a funeral(葬礼) at the church

3.The police will be more polite to those who are _______.

A．in great sadness                        B．driving in gathering darkness

C．driving with wild flowers in the car          D．carrying furniture

4.What did the husband think of this matter?

A．It was very strange.                      B．He felt ashamed of it.

C．He took great pride in it.                  D．He was puzzled at it.

Poster 1

I am a journalist living in Barcelona and I would like to travel exchanging my apartment. I have an apartment in the city center with 2 bedrooms. You can get to the airport by bus or taxi in 20 minutes. And there is a metro station really close to the apartment. The area has many shops, theatres, bars and restaurants.

Poster 2

I am looking forward to exchanging my apartment in Madrid for yours in a nice location in Beijing. It’s a really nice apartment in the centre of Madrid, within walking distance of the main attractions. You can walk to the Puerta del Sol, Royal Palace, Opera, Plaza Mayor, etc. in a few minutes; everything is so close! The apartment has all the facilities（设备）and it is very modern.

Poster 3

Hello, I am a Canadian IT professional and accounting student looking for a room in Wudaokou or other areas near ShangDi (my office location). I want to pay 1,400 RMB to 2,500RMB depending on the room and location. I can sign a contract for at least three months. My email address: vhjvm3584098242@hous.craigslist.org.

Poster 4

My 21-year-old son Matthew would like to visit China in the spring for three to four weeks. If you can offer him a safe, clean, cost-free place to stay, I will offer you or your family a stay at my second home 28 miles outside of Reno, Nevada, USA. This is a single-story home on the edge of the desert. You have access to 70 acres of land, clean air and clean water. Fishing and golfing are available nearby. I will provide transportation to the home, and pick you up when you have finished. My son Matthew is honest, safe and clean-living.

Reply to: hbxdd-3537187673@hous.craigslist.org.

1. Poster 1 mainly focuses on the apartment’s ________.

A．low rent          B．large space        C．quality facilities     D．convenient location

2.Which of the following is TRUE of the Puerta del Sol?

A．It’s a district of Madrid.                  B．It’s a main attraction in Madrid.

C．It’s the name of the apartment.            D．It’s an attraction outside of Madrid

3.Where is the house in Poster 4 located?

A．In a stadium.                           B．In the centre of desert.

C．In the countryside.                      D．In an area of the downtown.

When talking with young Swedish students, Mo Yan showed respect for Chinese authors that he learned writing from, particularly Shen Congwen, who was twice nominated（提名）for the Nobel Prize.

“Lu Xun, Lao She, Mao Dun and Shen Congwen, they are more qualified（有资格的）for the Nobel Prize than me,” he said,. Among the writers he learned from, he said he especially felt close to Shen Congwen, as they have similar life experiences.

Both of them left school early and did not get formal education. Shen quit after high school and Mo only finished the fifth grade. They both joined the army after school. “ We both learned from the book of life,” said Mo.

The themes of their writing are also similar. Both writers have their hometown as the theme and root of their writings. Shen’works are mostly about his hometown, Xiangxi, and most of Mo’s stories are set in his hometown, Gaomi, in Shandong Province.

Mo said he also learned from Shen how to deal with characters in a fiction. Unlike most Chinese writers, Shen has a humanistic（人文主义的） touch towards all of his characters. Said Mo, “In his works, there are no particularly bad person or good person. Even gangsters（匪徒） and thieves have their humane（仁慈的）side,” he said.

“I try to use the same approach in my writing. It shows the ability of a novelist when he treats all the characters as humans,” he said.

Mo said he also learned Lu Xun’s depth and Lao She’s humor. “They are all my teachers, and I am the student,” he said. “I feel ashamed from my heart that teachers did not get the prize, but the student got it.”

1.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the similarity between Mo Yan and Shen Congwen?

A．Writing themes                         B．Sense of humor

C．Life experiences                        D．Approaches in writing

2.By saying “We both learned from the book of life”, what did Mo Yan mean?

A．They both love reading throughout their life.

B．They both earned their living by writing books.

C．They both got nutrition（营养）from life.

D．They both experienced many difficulties.

3.According to Mo Yan, Shen Congwen was special in the way _________.

A．he described bad persons                 B．he created characters

C．he made sentences                      D．he told stories

4.From what Mo Yan said in the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A．he is a modest person                    B．he feels shy

C．Lu Xun’s depth influenced his early life     D．he thinks he doesn’t deserve the prize

America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us develop more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.

Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.

Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they treat  us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the custom in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.

For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

1.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.

B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives

C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

2.From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.

A．warmly welcomed at the airport            B．offered a ride to his home

C．treated hospitably at his home              D．treated to dinner in a restaurant

3.The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.

A．willing to spend time                     B．serious with time

C．careful with time                        D．strict with time

4.A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.

A．Friendships between Chinese              B．Friendships between Americans

C．Americans’ hospitality                  D．Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships

Tips on Making a Decision

Decision-making never ends. It is an important part of everyday life, and it is how we choose our path.   1. Sometimes we leave things to luck. Other times we take a more active role. Here are some of the ways we usually make decisions.

◆ Make a list of pros and cons（利与弊）. When you try to make a difficult decision, you can take out a piece of paper, and then list the pros and cons of each choice.   2. 

◆ Ask a friend.  3. While I don’t think this is always true, I can see how friends can point out certain things that we may be unaware of. By getting a choice from a third party who knows us well, we can get good ideas that we didn’t take into consideration before.

◆ 4. Some decisions require that we know more about the subject we are deciding on. Making a choice without first doing some research can turn things into a nightmare（噩梦）, so don’t hurry. Take your time to search Google or Wikipedia or find a forum（论坛）to ask a couple of questions. Be careful and check your sources.

◆ Go to an expert. Seldom are we the most knowledgeable person on a particular subject. Our friends can sometimes be no better.  5. Investing（投资）? Talk to a market analyst. Feeling depressed? Go to see a psychologist. Not sure how to write a book? Discuss tips with other authors.

A．Do your research.

B．Leave our choices to chance.

C．We make decisions in all kinds of ways.

D．These can be important questions to ask.

E.This can help provide a bigger picture of what you are working with.

F.In this case it may be better to get advice from an expert in the field.

G.Some studies have shown that others may know us better than ourselves.

短文改错（共10小题； 每小题1分， 满分10分）

Women are playing a much important part in society than before. Now women are working as teachers, scientists but even leaders. Almost all jobs that used to be done by men is done perfectly well by women. Women are no longer looked down in society. As the changes in their social role, women’s position in the family has been improved as well. That is hard to find the wife is busy while the husband is sitting in an armchair, watches TV. Though there are a lot of changes, the great number of men still guard their rights. Sometimes few women are allowing to attend important meetings. This is the problem we should try to solve it now.

近年来中学校园里的早恋现象越来越严重。假如你是李华，打算给当地一家报纸的编辑写一封信，反映这一现象。要点如下：

注意：1. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

2. 词数：100字左右。 3. 开头已经写好，不计入总次数。

参考词汇：早恋：puppy love   不成熟：immature

Dear Editor,

I am writing to raise public concern over puppy love in high school. _______________Yours,

Li Hua

He told ______ lie to his friends that he was heavily in ______ debt because he wanted to borrow some money from them.

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

He is ________that all of us like him very much.

A．a boy so lovely     B．a such lovely boy    C．so a lovely boy      D．such a lovely boy

The headmaster asked the boy to apologize ______ the teacher _______ what he had done, but he refused to.

A．for; for           B．to; to             C．for; to            D．to; for