The price system is a complex network _______ the prices of all the products bought and sold in the economy as well as those of a great number of services.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Armed with two over-packed suitcases, we arrived at the airport just in time for my flight. As I watched her unload my luggage, I could see the ___36___ in her eyes. One last hug and a final good-bye, and I would be on my way to a new life ___37____. “You'd better go or you'll miss your flight,”she said.
“I'll __38_____ you,”I replied , and with those words I __39___. By the time I reached the customs I was __40__. While boarding the plane I was still crying. I did not have the ___41__ to put my bag in the overhead locker, so I put it on the empty seat next to mine.
Born barely fifteen months __42___, we not only looked alike, we were alike. We both had that same mix of ___43___ and fear of all things unknown to us. One sunny summer day I was playing outside when she came ___44___ to me and said, “Want to come to the attic(阁楼)?”The answer was always “___45__”. We were frightened of the attic but also ___46_____ by its smells and sounds. Together we would flight many spiders and battle through the numerous boxes __47_____ we found what we needed.
The plane shook ___48___ and my bag fell on the floor. My aspirin, hairbrush and some other things were __49___ on the floor. I __50_____ over to gather them up when I saw a (an) ___51___ little book in the middle of my belongings. It was a diary.
Immediately I __52___ my sister's handwriting. “Hi Sis. What a day it has been today. You let me know that you are moving abroad...”Only __53___ did I realize that my sister had been ___54___ a diary for the past month.
I read about my sister's coming and going during the flight. Even though a large ocean ____55___ us, at some point it felt like she was actually there.

A very important world problem－in fact, I am inclined(倾向) to say it is the most important of all the great world problems which face us at the present time－is the rapidly increasing pressure of population on land and on land resources.

It is not so much the actual population of the world but its rate of increase which is important. It works out to be about 1.6 percent per annual net increase. In terms of numbers this means something like forty to fifty－five million additional people every year. Canada has a population of twenty million－rather less than six month's climb in world population. There are ten million people in Australia. So, it takes the world less than three months to add to itself a population. Let us take our own crowded country－England and Wales: forty－five to fifty million people－just about a year's supply.

By this time tomorrow, and every day, there will be added to the earth about 120,000 extra people－just about the population of the city of York.

Here I am not talking about birth rate. This is net increase. To give you some idea of birth rate, look at the seconds hand of your watch. Every second three babies are born somewhere in the world. Another baby! You cannot speak quickly enough to keep pace with the birth rate.

This enormous increase of population will create immense problems. By 2020 unless something desperate happens, there will be as many as seven billion people on the surface of the earth! So this is a problem which you are going to see in your lifetime.

1. According to the author, ________ is the most important in the world at the present time.

A. the quality of the increasing population

B. the actual population of the world

C. the rapidly increasing pressure of population

D. farming land is reducing at great speed

2. From the passage we know that the author is a(n) ________.

A. Canadian      B. Australian

C. American      D. Englishman

3. It takes ________ for the world to have a population of Australia.

A. about three months

B. about six months

C. one year

D. more than four months

4. According to the passage ________ babies are born on the earth per hour.

A. 180         B. 3 million

C. 120,000      D. 10,800

5. The author mentions the different populations of several countries in order to ________.

A. show how small those countries are

B. show how thickly those countries are populated

C. emphasize the low increase of the world population

D. emphasize the high rate of increase of world population

The worst tornado of all time occurred in 1925, ______ three US states.

Someone said that encouragement is simply reminding a person of the “shoulders” he’s standing on, the heritage he’s been given. That’s what happened   36   a young man, the son of a(n)   37   baseball player, was chosen by one of the minor league teams. Hard as he tried, his first season was   38   , and by midseason he expected to be removed   39   day. The coaches were    40   by his failure because he possessed all the characteristics of a superb athlete, but he seemed to have become   41   from his potential.
His   42   seemed darkest one day when he had already struck out his first time at bat. Then he stepped up to the batter’s box again and quickly ran up two strikes. The catcher called a   43   and ran for a conference to discuss strategies. While they were busy, the   44  , standing behind him, spoke casually to the boy.
Then play   45  , the next pitch was thrown and the young man knocked it out of the park. That was the turning   46  . From then on, he played the game with a new confidence and power that quickly   47   the attention of the parent team, and he was called   48   to the majors.
On the day he was leaving for the city, one of his coaches asked him what had caused such a turnaround. The young man replied it was the   49   remark the judge had   50   that day when his baseball career had seemed   51  .
“He told me I reminded him of all the times he had stood   52   my dad in the batter’s box,” the boy explained. “He said I was holding the bat just the way Dad had held it.   53   he told me, ‘I can see his genes in you; you have your father’s   54   .’ After that, whenever I swung the bat, I just   55   I was using Dad’s arms instead of my own.”