Our cat has a sweet nature, and she can let us know what she wants. When we fail to meet her needs, she gently leads us in the proper direction. When I forget to fill her water bowl early in the morning, she runs after my legs, and then pushes me in the direction of her bowl. She doesn’t get irritated (生气的); instead, she expresses her wishes in the best way. And I always understand what she is telling me.
One day I found myself envying (羡慕) her simple expression. How many times had I expected my husband or my children to know my wants without my ever giving voice to them? How many times had I been disappointed that they couldn’t understand when I needed a hug, a compliment (恭维) or a chocolate bar?
After a pleasant afternoon with my husband, I wanted to stop somewhere nice and have dinner, but he didn’t understand my hints (暗示). “Couldn’t you see that I wanted to go out to dinner?” I complained when he pulled into our driveway.
“Why didn’t you say so? I can’t read your mind,” he answered in impatience. His words gave me pause. Had I expected him to read my mind? Why hadn’t I expressed my desire more clearly? I realized I had fallen into the female trap of “If you love me, you can read my mind.”
Now, I state my needs clearly and directly. I look at my cat and know she agrees.
【小题1】Why was the author disappointed in her husband or her children?

第二节：完型填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Many years ago, Dad worked as a farmhand (农场工人). At that time, he had a horse. Every Saturday he __31    to the town after dinner and spent a few hours on social   32   with other farmhands, such as drinking, chatting, and playing cards in the café. On Saturday evenings, the café was   33   because many farmhands were there. Before midnight Dad returned home on his horse, quite satisfied with his   34  . In his words, he   35   thought of changing his job.
At the age of 31, Dad married my mother who was a schoolteacher. In the following spring I came   36   into the world. Life became hard, so my mother felt   37  . She told Dad that they must make a   38  .
My mother had   39   of how some famous persons, especially Thomas Edison who was born in a poor family, fought against fate and achieved greatness and   40  . And she   41   that I would some day become a great leader   42   men or cities and Dad should be a successful businessman. So she   43   Dad to give up his job as a farmhand, sell his horse and   44   a small business of his own. And I went to high school and college. She even sent me abroad for   45   education when I graduated from college. Under the drive of my mother’s hope, Dad and I  46   what we have today. Dad runs a big international   47   and I am a successful lawyer   48   great fame in my country,   49   not a leader as my mother expected.
Dad said, without my mother, we wouldn’t be what we are today; at least, he would remain a farmhand.   50   he got a lesson of life —sometimes we really need drive from outside.
31．A．rode            B．walked            C．ran                      D．drove
32．A．conversations  B．games             C．relationships      D．activities
33．A．cold               B．crowded      C．quiet                  D．dirty
34．A．horse              B．entertainment  C．life                        D．beer
35．A．often          B．ever            C．never                     D．sometimes
36．A．laughing     B．singing             C．sleeping                  D．crying
37．A．unimportant    B．busy                C．unsatisfied           D．tired
38．A．living         B．change             C．decision                  D．house
39．A．dreamed          B．heard               C．thought                   D．spoken
40．A．honesty           B．money             C．fame                      D．energy
41．A．cared               B．knew               C．forgot                     D．hoped
42．A．training           B．ruling             C．helping                  D．protecting
43．A．warned            B．wanted            C．allowed                  D．persuaded
44．A．start                      B．find                 C．design                    D．sell
45．A．farther            B．higher             C．easier                        D．closer
46．A．showed           B．kept                C．lost                      D．achieved
47．A．company         B．school             C．farm                   D．café
48．A．suffering         B．sharing            C．enjoying                D．following
49．A．though          B．if                    C．and                    D．since
50．A．So                  B．However          C．Or                     D．Because

My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau（衣橱）and picked out a wonderful skirt. “Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago .She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion.” Well, I guess this is the occasion.

He took the skirt from me and put it on the bed. His hands touched the soft material for a moment, then he shut the drawer and turned to me, “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.”

I’m still thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my attitude to life. I’m spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to enjoy, not suffer. I’m trying to recognize these moments now and treasure them.

“Someday” and “one of these days” are being lost from my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now . I’m not sure what my sister would have done if she had known she wouldn’t have tomorrow.

I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend her fences for past things. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food.

If I knew that my hours were limited, those little things left undone would make me angry. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with someday. Angry and sorry because I didn’t tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them.

I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that every day, every minute, and every breath truly, is…a gift from God.

1.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Every day is a gift

B. My poor sister

C. Value friendship every day

D. Every day is an important occasion

2.Jan bought the wonderful skirt but didn’t wear it, because(   )

A. She wanted to wear it on special occasions

B. She kept it as a special gift for someone else

C. She saved it until she grew older

D. She wanted to keep it as a sweet memory

3.Which of the following is not the writer’s attitude to life?

A. Spending more time staying with family every day.  

B. Attending social activities as often as possible

C. Enjoying life and valuing every day.

D. Trying to get along well with friends

Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always told me, “You should have goals like climbing the mountain.” Without the mountain-climbing that we both enjoyed. We couldn’t have enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from mountain-climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thought as well as develop my patience.
Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing. I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the birds’ singing, but as time passed, I got a pain in both of my legs. I wanted to quit climbing. In fact, I hated it at that mountain, but my father said to me, “You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can’t see it before you reach the top. Only there at the top, can you see all of the nice things, just like in life.”
At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later after that, I got knew hope and confidence. I found myself standing at the top of the sky in my life, which was as clear as crystal (水晶).
【小题1】The passage tells us that mountain-climbing was _____for Father and Son.

Signs can sometimes be seen at the entrance of a house, expressing that a tramp（流浪汉） has passed. This special sign-language is frequently   36  by tramps to inform their  37  whether the host of a certain house is friendly or unfriendly, and to  38  them the trouble of making unnecessary calls.
Quite  39  one day, I came across a real tramp. He was such a rare sight these days that I stood some distance away and watched him. He was dressed just as a tramp should be  40 , old worn trousers, and a jacket many sizes too big for him. On his head there was a battered old hat and his boots were so old and worn; they were almost coming into   41 . But the man himself looked cheerful as if he had not been a   42  in the world. He rubbed his nose with his forefinger,  43  a funny turn, laid a small parcel by the front gate, and began   44  a sign made by a former caller. Although the sign was meaningless to me, it must have been   45 , for the tramp’s face lit up with  46 . He entered the front gate confidently and rang the bell. When the door opened, I saw him   47  his hat but couldn’t hear his words. The  48  was very short indeed, for no sooner had he spoken a few words than the door closed fiercely in his face. I felt  49  for him as he walked   50  out of the house, But just as quickly, his face lit up again and he moved quickly towards the gate. There he stopped, looked at the sign, and   51  his head seriously as if he had made a bad mistake.   52 deeply into his pockets, he produced a piece of chalk, rubbed out the  53  sign and made a new one in its place. He stared at it for a moment smiling to himself, then gathered his  54 , pushed back his hat and began walking towards the next house at an unhurried  55 , whistling as he went along.