A concert violinist was performing a difficult piece in front of a large audience. Suddenly there is a loud snap( 断裂声 ) and the__31___could be heard throughout the auditorium( 礼堂 ).The audience ___32___knew that a string( 弦)had broken. They all __33____the concert to stop for a short time ___34___another instrument was brought to the musician.

But instead, the __35___composed( 使镇定 ) herself and then signaled the conductor to start again.The orchestra( 管弦乐团 ) continued where they had __36___and the musician played the music on three strings. In her __37____she worked out new fingering to make up for the missing string. A work that few people could play __38___on four strings, the violinist played on three.

When she __39____and bowed to the audience,there was a silence in the hall. And then the crowd rose to their feet and cheered wildly. The violinist ___40___and wiped sweat from her forehead. When __41____returned to the hall, she ___42___why she had continued to play although there was a __43___string. "You know," she said, "sometimes it is the artist's __44___to find out how much music you can still ___45___with what has been left."

Maybe we've lived most of our lives and we have only a little time left. Maybe disease has ___46___us of our capacity( 能力 ) to work. Or perhaps a financial(财政的) loss has left us very__47___. Can we still make "music"?

There will come a time when we all __48___loss. Can we find the __49___to discover how much "music" we can still make with what has been left, just like the violinist? And if it takes extra courage to make the "music", others will __50___ your effort. Some people have lost more than others, but they are brave enough to face it. They inspire the rest of us to reach greater heights.

31. A. voice           B. sound         C.music        D. screamw

32. A.immediately      B. gradually       C. hardly       D.eventually

33. A. hoped          B. advised         C.urged        D.expected

34. A.when           B.until            C.after         D. since

35. A.audience        B.conductor        C.violinist      D.pianist

36. A.left             B. stopped         C.remained     D.arrived

37. A.hands           B. eyes            C.opinion      D.mind

38. A.fast             B.badly           C.well         D.gently

39. A.started          B.performed        C.finished      D.paused

40. A.worried         B.smiled          C.apologized    D.escapedw

41. A.thought         B.happiness        C.excitement    D.silence

42. A.asked          B. wondered        C.explained     D.introduced

43. A.broken         B.lost              C.bad          D.difficult

44. A.dream         B. plan              C. suggestion    D. task

45. A.take           B.get               C.make         D.carry

46. A.warned        B.reminded          C. required      D.robbed

47. A.poor          B.brave              C.guilty        D.rich

48. A.appreciate      B.avoid             C.experience     D.improve

49. A. assistance     B. hope              C. support       D.courage

50. A. comment      B.applaud            C. accept        D.blame

    A famous foreign company that invested in China wanted to employ a reception secretary for its public relation department.

    A beautiful girl with a master degree in electric engineering became a winning candidate(候选人) through the difficult process of employment. At its last stage she faced an oral test together with another girl who was her equal not only in good looks but also in education standard. The girl we talk about was confident in herself and successful in the oral test. It seemed that she would get the chance. The examiner told her on behalf of the company that she could come to office of company next Monday as a new employee. At last he asked her, “Have you anything else to say? Shocked by the unexpected question, the beautiful girl was quite at a loss, saying with hesitation(犹豫不决),”“I have to talk with my parents before I give an answer.”Surprised, the examiner said calmly,“In that case, let’s wait till you are ready.”

    The next day the girl came to tell that her parents agreed to her beginning work next Monday. But the examiner said regretfully,“Sorry, the job position is filled by another suitable candidate. You had better have a try in another place.”The beautiful girl was surprised. She asked for an explanation and was told,“What is needed here is a person who knows her own mind.”

 That was how a good opportunity slipped away right under the nose of a beautiful girl.

What did the examiner value most?

A．One’s beautiful looks.    B．One’s knowledge.

C．One’s young age.          D．One’s independence.

It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．the other girl who failed at the last oral test was most likely to get the job

B．another girl chosen in next test held the company

C．the company lost its best employee

D．the examiner was surprised at his first choice

Why did the beautiful girl want to ask her parents for advice?

A．She didn’t know what to do.

B．She couldn’t answer the question.

C．She hadn’t expected the examiner would ask such a question.

D．Her parents would scold her if she agreed without their permission.

The best title of this passage probably is ________.

A．Make your decision quickly    B．Have your own judgment

C．Seize your chance in time      D．Hesitation leads to failure     

A Concussion（脑震荡） happens when the brain is shaken, often in a car crash or a fall or a strike on; the head in sports．Concussions can be mild, but doctors may order a CT scan to look for a more serious injury．But a recent study warned that more children than necessary are being exposed to radiation this way．

A national team led by two doctors at the University of California, Davis, studied hospital records from thousands of children with head injuries. They found that in many cases, the risk of developing cancer from the radiation outweighed the risk of a serious brain injury.

The study found that one in five children over age two had a low risk of serious injury but received CT scans anyway. The same was true of almost one in four children under two years of age.

The researchers have developed rules to predict if a head injury is serious enough for a scan. For children under two, doctors are advised against it if there is:

·Normal mental activity.

·No swelling in the back of the head.

·No feeling of a broken bone in the skull. (头骨)

·And no loss of consciousness for more than five seconds.

Doctors should also consider how the child was injured and whether the parents say the child is acting normally.

For patients from two to eighteen, the guidelines are similar ——except there should be no loss of consciousness, no vomiting（呕吐） and no severe headache. 

 Earlier this year, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published new guidelines for concussions in children and teens. International experts said they should not return to sports or school until fully recovered. The brain also needs a "cognitive rest," they say, by restricting activities like video games, texting and watching TV.

It often takes young people longer than adults to recover from a concussion. The experts say individual progress and not a set time period should always guide a decision to return to play. More than one million cases of concussion are reported each year in the United States alone. A congressional committee has called a hearing Wednesday to discuss legal issues related to head injuries in football.

The researchers at the -University of California found that children who received CT scans

    A．were likely to suffer brain injuries

    B．wouldn't have normal mental activity

    C．would lose consciousness now and then   

    D．were likely to develop cancer

For patients from two to eight, the guidelines are similar to the ones for children under two except___________.

 A. there is normal mental activity.

B. there is no swelling in the back of the head.

C. there is no feeling of a broken bone in the skull.

D. there should be no loss of consciousness

What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

    A．Texting is harmful to patients’ recovery from concussions．

    B．Patients with brain injuries can play many sports．

    C．Adults need a longer time than teens to recover from concussions．

    D．It takes at least a year for individuals with brain injuries to fully recover．

The author of the passage mainly___．

    A．describes the risks of brain injuries

    B．suggests CT scans are of practical use

    C．tells us about the risks of brain injury tests

    D．argues against new guidelines for concussions

A

A higher reading rate, with no loss of comprehension, will help you in other subjects as well as in English, and the general principles apply to any language. Naturally, you will not read every book at the same speed. You would expect to read a newspaper, for example, much more rapidly than a physics or economics textbook-but you can raise your average reading speed over the whole range of materials you wish to cover so that the percentage gained will be the same whatever kind of reading you are concerned with.

The reading passages which follow are all of an average level of difficulty for your stage of instruction. They are all about five hundred words long. They are about topics of general interest which do not require a great deal of specialized knowledge. Thus they fall between the kind of reading you might find in your textbooks and the much less demanding kind you will find in a newspaper or light novel. If you read this kind of English, with understanding at four hundred words per minute, you might skim (浏览) through a newspaper at perhaps 650-700, while with a difficult textbook you might drop to two hundred or two hundred and fifty.

Perhaps you would like to know what reading speeds are common among native English-speaking university students and how those speeds can be improved. Tests in Minnesota, USA, for example, have shown that students without special training can read English of average difficulty, for example, Tolstoy's War and Peace in translation, at speeds of between 240 and 250 words per minute with about seventy percent comprehension. Students in Minnesota claim that after twelve half-hour lessons, once a week, the reading speed can be increased, with no loss of comprehension, to around five hundred words per minute.

According to the passage, the purpose of effective reading with higher speed is most likely to help you ________.

A. only in your reading of a physics textbook

B. improve your understanding of an economics textbook

C. not only in your language study but also in other subjects

D. choose the suitable materials to read

Which of the following does not describe the types of reading materials mentioned in the second paragraph?

A. Those beyond one's reading comprehension.

B. Those concerned with common knowledge.

C. Those without much demand for specialized knowledge.

D. Those with the length of about five hundred words.

The average speed of untrained native speakers in the University of Minnesota is ________.

A. about 300 words per minute

B. about 245 words per minute

C. about 650-700 words per minute

D. about 500 words per minute

According to the passage, how fast can you expect to read after you have attended twelve half-hour lessons in the University of Minnesota?

A. You can increase your reading speed by three times.

B. No real increase in reading speed can be achieved.

C. Yon can increase your reading speed by four times.

D. You can double your reading speed.

A university graduate described as a “respectable and intelligent” woman is seeking professional help after being convicted of （证明有……罪）shoplifting for the second time in six months.

       Ana Luz, recently studying for her PhD, has been told she could end up behind bars unless she can control the desire to steal from shops.

       Luz ,who lives with her partner in Fitzwilliam Road, Cambridge, admitted stealing clothes worth ￡9.95 from John Lewis in Oxford Street, London, on March 9.

       Phillip Lemoyne, prosecuting（起诉）,said Luz selected some clothes from a display and took them to the ladies’ toilet in the store .When she came out again she was wearing one of the skirts she had selected, having taken off the anti-theft security alarms（防盗警报装置）.

       She was stopped and caught after leaving the store without paying, Mr. Lemoyne said.

       He added that she was upset on her arrest and apologized for her actions.

       Luz, 28, was said to have been convicted of shoplifting by Cambridge judges last October, but Morag Duff, defending, said she had never been in trouble with the police before that.

       “She is ashamed and embarrassed but doesn’t really have any explanation why she did this,” Miss Duff said. “She didn’t intend to steal when she went into the store. She is at a loss to explain it. She is otherwise a very respectable and intelligent young lady. She went to her doctor and asked for advice because she wants to know if there is anything in particular that caused her to do this.”

       Judge David Azan fined Luz ￡ 50,  and warned : “You’ve got a criminal record .If you carry on like this ,you will end up in prison ,which will ruin your bright future you may have.”

       Luz achieved a degree in design at university in her native Spain, went on to a famous university in Berlin, Germany for her master’s degree and is now studying for a PhD at Cambridge University, UK.

What does the underlined sentence “She is at a loss to explain it” mean?

A. In her opinion it was a loss to the clothes shops where she stole things.

B. She doesn’t have any idea why she has the desire to steal from shops.

C. She thinks it is a loss for her to explain why she stole things from shops.

D. Personally she feels ashamed and embarrassed for her shoplifting actions.

Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word “shoplifting” used in the passage?

A. Carrying goods in a lift for a shop.      B. Taking goods to the ladies’ toilet.

C. Selecting some goods from a display.      D. Taking goods from a shop without paying.

From the passage we can learn that           .

A. Ana Luz is already got her PhD at Cambridge University, UK

B. Ana Luz is ashamed and embarrassed and knows why she often did so

C. the university graduate will be put in prison if she steals in shops once more

D. Phillip Lemoyne is the “respectable and intelligent” woman’s defense lawyer