Martha was busy with her job. She believed she had to work harder because she loved her father who was sick with cancer. She had to provide for his expensive medicines. Her brothers and sisters meanwhile stayed with their father most of the time. They bathed him, sang for him, spoon-fed(用匙喂) him or simply kept him company.
One day Martha was hurt. She overheard(无意中听到) her father telling her mother, "All our children love me except Martha."
"How can this be?" Martha thought. "Am I not the one killing myself in my work to have money to pay for his medicines? My brothers and sisters do not even provide their share in the expenses."
One night, as Martha was as usual late in going home, she saw her father was lying awake. She walked close to his bedsides. Her father held her hands and said, "I miss you. I don't have much time. Stay with me." And she stayed with her father holding his hand the whole night.
The next morning Martha said to everybody, "I have taken a leave of absence. I would like to be with father. I will bathe him and sing for him from now on." Her father had a beautiful smile. He knew Martha loved him, too.
As children, we need the presence of our loved ones. Adults need no less. I have observed my mother’s orchids(兰花). When she is away for a long time, they are unhealthy and many of them wither(干枯). But when she is around , they bloom with beautiful flowers. My mother does nothing special . She just spends her time looking after them.
【小题1】Before Martha heard her parents’ talk ,she thought her father _____.

单词拼写:根据中文意思或首字母提示写出正确的单词。（共10小题；满分5分）
【小题1】 Please r________ me of the time when we have to hold the important meeting.
【小题2】Without the teacher’s p_____, you cannot play with the computer in our class.
【小题3】C_______(好奇心) is part of a child’s nature.
【小题4】Knowledge can be of great b______ to everybody.
【小题5】I am looking for a job in which I can c        my work with my interest.
【小题6】He ______（发现） his old friend Jack in the crowd.
【小题7】In many parts of China, there e______ the idea that boys are important than girls.
【小题8】It is a t________ to play tricks on others on April 1.
【小题9】Today’s festivals have many o_________ ,some religious , some seasonal , and some for
special people or events .
【小题10】There was frost in the ground, c_______ that fall had arrived .

Ⅲ 阅读（共两节。满分40分）
阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word cold. For centuries, the body’s blood has been linked closely with the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold-blooded. Cold-blooded people act in merciless ways. They may do brutal things to others, and not by accident. For example, a newspaper says the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer. The killer murdered someone, not in self-defense. He seemed to kill for no reason, and with no emotion, as if taking someone’s life meant nothing. Cold can affect other parts of the body. The feet, for example. Heavy socks can warm your feet, if your feet are really cold. But there is an expression -- to get cold feet -- that has nothing to do with cold or your feet.
The expression means being afraid to do something you had decided to do. For example, you agree to be president of an organization. But then you learn that all the other officers have resigned. All the work of the organization will be your responsibility. You are likely to get cold feet about being president when you understand the situation.
Cold can also affect your shoulder. You give someone the cold shoulder when you refuse to speak to them. You treat them in a distant, cold way. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone, instead of speaking to him face-to-face. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has not kept a promise he made to you. Or, to someone who has lied about you to others.
A cold fish is not a fish. It is a person. But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone.
Out in the cold is an expression often heard. It means not getting something that everybody else got. A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise, that he was left out in the cold. And it is not a pleasant place to be.
41. The passage is intended to tell us that______.
A. cold weather has a great effect on human bodies
B. many English expressions contain the word cold
C. cold is a word closely linked with human emotions
D. the word cold has many different meanings in English
42. The underlined word brutal in paragraph 1 most probably means _______.
A. impolite      B. illegal      C. cruel          D. extreme
43. Which of the following expressions can best describe a person who is unwilling to offer anything to others?
A. Cold-blooded.                 B. To get cold feet.
C. A cold shoulder.                D. A cold fish.
44. You can say Tom ______ if the teacher gives all the boys except him a pen as a prize.
A. is given the cold shoulder
B. is left out in the cold
C. has got cold feet
D. is murdered by a cold-blooded killer
45. We can draw a conclusion from the passage that ______.
A. all the expressions containing the word cold have a negative meaning
B. all the expressions containing the word cold have something to do with cold
C. People who show no human emotions or feelings have cold blood
D. Many parts of the human body can be badly affected by cold.

第三部分阅读理解(共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254．He was the most famous Westerner to visit Asia during the Middle Ages．He wrote a book about his travels．In his book he wrote about all the things he saw and heard．Many people read the book, but few believed what Marco Polo said．He spoke of strange people and places that nobody knew about at that time．But, he even said, “What I have written down is only half of what I have seen．”
As a young man, Marco Polo decided to travel together with his father．It took them more than three years to travel to China．He became the Chinese emperor’s (皇帝)friend．He learned the Chinese language when he traveled around and talked to many people．Before he reached the age of 30 he was made a Chinese official．After nearly 17 years in the east, Marco and his father prepared to return home．When they finally arrived in Venice, their family and friends were surprised to see them again．They had been away for almost 25 years and everybody thought that they must have died a long time ago．
56、What did Marco Polo write about in his book?
A. About Venice．                                    B. About the Chinese emperor．
C. About what he saw and heard in Asia．   D. About how he returned home．
57、What did Marco Polo learn Chinese for?
A.To become a Chinese official．       
B.To become the Chinese emperor’s friend．
C.To become a translator for his father.
D. To travel around conveniently in China．
58、Which is NOT true according to the text?
A. Marco Polo and his father had been in China for 17 years．
B. Marco Polo and his father spent nearly 5 years returning home．
C. Marco Polo’s father died on the way home．
D. Marco Polo spent more than three years traveling from Venice to China．
59、By saying “What I have written down is only half of what I have seen…”,  Marco Polo meant that_________．
A.he only saw half of the country during his stay in China        
B.there were still a lot more he couldn’t write down
C. half of the people went to China during that time
D. he wanted to write down the other half of what he saw in China

Last night was the last game for my eight-year-old son's soccer team. It was the final quarter. The score was two to one, my son's team in the lead. Parents surrounded the playground, offering encouragement.
With less than ten seconds remaining, the ball suddenly rolled in front of my son's teammate, Mickey O’ Donnel. With shouts of "Kick it!" echoing（回响）across the playground, Mickey turned around and gave it everything he had. All around me the crowd erupted（爆发）. O'Donnel had scored!
Then there was silence. Mickey had scored all right, but in the wrong goal, ending the game in a tie. For a moment there was a total hush. You see, Mickey has Down syndrome (唐氏综合症) and for him there is no such thing as a wrong goal. All goals were celebrated by a joyous hug from Mickey. He had even been known to hug the opposing players when they scored.
The silence was finally broken when Mickey, his face filled with joy, hugged my son tightly and shouted, "I scored! I scored. Everybody won! Everybody won!" For a moment I held my breath, not sure how my son would react. I need not have worried. I watched, through tears, as my son threw up his hand in the classic high-five（致礼）salute and started chanting, "Way to go Mickey! Way to go Mickey!" Within moments both teams surrounded Mickey, joining in the chant and congratulating him on his goal. Mike happily and everyone sent their wishes to him.
Later that night, when my daughter asked who had won, I smiled as I replied, "It was a tie. Everybody won."
【小题1】Which is the most correct description of the author’s too? He was/had       .