In 1970, at the age of 35, my father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. There was not much      done at that time and my father had to rely on the medication and treatment that were      at that time. But one thing was      , my father was not a quitter. He was a teacher who       children with special educational needs in Chicago Public High School. Every day we would hear      about “his kids”. These “kids” did not usually      my sister and I.

One day, my father arrived at his school and walked up the     for his first period. He was having a very       day because the disease was really taking everything out of him. He       once and bruised (擦伤) his knee but he still kept going.       did he know that someone was watching.

As the day      his steps began to get a little lighter. At the end of the day, he was about to leave      a young girl entered his office. He had met her in the hallway but she was not one of his      . He asked what he could do for her and she said, “I just wanted to thank you for     my life.”

He looked at her and couldn’t       what he had done. She then went on      . “When I got up this morning, I felt as if I was at the end of my      and ready to kill myself. But when I saw you trying to go up the stairs and then you fell, I felt    and the feeling of sadness just kept getting     . And now you are walking as      as ever. It’s really true that everything will get better as the days go on.”

1.A. information                      B. research                            C. knowledge             D. experience

2.A. favorable                     B. believable                        C. reasonable            D. available

3.A. obvious                       B. special                         C. natural              D. strange

4.A. abandoned              B. followed                           C. taught              D. attended

5.A. stories                              B. jokes                 C. songs                       D. humors

6.A. connect                      B. change                     C. mean                       D. defeat

7.A. mountains                B. stairs                                 C. ladders        D. streets

8.A. normal                   B. pleasant                           C. simple              D. difficult

9.A. fell                            B. stood               C. happened         D. appeared

10.A. Few                          B. Little              C. Seldom             D. Never

11.A. arrived                          B. progressed         C. broke               D. stopped

12.A. until                                 B. before                C. when                      D. while

13.A. students                             B. friends             C. teachers               D. workers

14.A. losing                     B. giving               C. passing     D. saving

15.A. write down                 B. figure out                         C. cut off               D. put up

16.A. responding             B. admitting                          C. explaining           D. complaining

17.A. rope                B. wall               C. road                 D. work

18.A. sorry                B. bad               C. lucky                 D. proud

19.A. lower                  B. weaker           C. higher             D. stronger

20.A. carefully             B. quickly           C. lightly              D. slowly

It’s not easy growing up. Growing up can be a real “pain” for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren’t allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel sad, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don’t understand why we can’t stay young forever. But we should take a look back on all the hardships (苦难) in life with a positive attitude and learn from them. We should realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!

Throughout our lives we are going to face many challenges and pains, but we should never let these obstacles keep us from following our dreams. We must overcome every obstacle one small step at a time.

As a young girl, my parents forced me to do so many things that I didn’t like. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music and I also hated them. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched (丰富) my life in so many ways. I now realize that my parents and teachers wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.

We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just part of our life. Think about how we would feel if we had no challenges and lived a life like that. Life would be really boring and meaningless. The future is ours! A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps (碰撞) on our road to success, we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!

1. What would be the best title for this passage?

A. No pains, no gains

B. Growing pains and gains

C. Growing up is a pain         

D. Growing up is easy

2. The underlined word “obstacles” (in Paragraph 2) refers to things that _____.

A. make it easy for you to do sth        

B. make it difficult for you to do sth

C. make you happy                            

D. make you full of energy

3. What does the author now think about what her parents did for her in the past?

A. She is angry with them.                     

B. She is dissatisfied with them.

C. She is thankful to them.                  

D. She couldn’t forgive them.

4. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Growing pains are part of our life.

B. Our growing pains will finally turn into growing gains.

C. We should stop when facing many challenges.

D. Life without challenges is boring and meaningless.

I didn’t see her in the meeting room this morning. She ______ have spoken at the meeting.

A. mustn’t      B. shouldn’t

C. needn’t      D. couldn’t

第三节：阅读理解（每小题2分，共40分） 
A
I had gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric(古怪的)  
farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understand anything. Finally all I could make out was that someone called Millry had a very bad accident. No matter who she was I obviously had to go.
It had been snowing heavily that day. I didn’t know the way. I had been driving for at least an hour when I finally found his place. He was standing there, waiting for me. It seemed Millry had died. “She meant more to me than anyone…even my own wife!” he said. I could see that he had been crying. I thought something terrible had taken place, it may be a scandal(丑闻). I was even more shocked when he told me be had put her in the barn(厩). “I wouldn’t leave her out in the cold!” he said.
Millry had clearly been a secret lover of his. I was about to tell him he could not expect me to cover anything up when he opened the barn door. He lifted his candle and I saw a dark figure on the ground, “She was such a good cow! I wouldn’t let anyone but a doctor touch her!”  
he said, and bust into tears again.
56. The underlined phrase “make out” in the first paragraph means        .
A. expect        B. understand          C. see clearly        D. hear clearly
57. Before he arrived at the farmer’s house, the writer expected to see Millry lying       .  
A. on the ground of a barn        B. on the floor of a room
C. in bed in a room               D. in bed in a barn
58. The farmer wished that the writer might       .
A. look into the matter          B. bring Millry back to life
C. free him from a scandal       D. keep a whole thing a secret
59. The person who told the story is probably a             .
A. farmer        B. policeman       C. country doctor      D. newspaper reporter 

In a cab, a woman seemed in such a hurry. She constantly rushed the cab driver to drive quickly. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts of getting to the airport as soon as possible that she was not aware they were going by a different route.

All of a sudden, a young man got inside the cab. He took her handbag in which she had put her visa, passport, and all the money for the trip.

The cab driver, who was in collusion with the robber, left her in the exactly middle of a dark street. She thought that she was rather unfortunate in the very situation.

During the very night, she was told a piece of shocking news. Tears came down her cheek. Flight 360, the plane that she should have got on board, had crashed. Had she not lost her important belongings, she could surely have lost the thing far more precious——her life.

Sometimes bad things really happen. There are times when nothing seems to go our way. So what should we do about it? We must get rid of all these frustrations and start all over again in the faith that we will get what we deserve. 

Don’t waste your time and energy on things that can’t be changed. Continuous worrying will only affect your health and you’ll be doing much more damage than what was previously done.

What if it was the other way round? What if we never ran out of good luck?

There was a man who won the lottery. He became greedy and wasted all his money on everything he could get his hands on.

But when he one day made it to the front page of the newspaper again, it was a different story. He had been killed because of his riches. If you attain good luck, you can never be too secure about it. Life is so unpredictable. You never know what will happen next.

Live one day at a time. We sometimes subject ourselves to unnecessary emotional trouble. But please don’t forget: sometimes misfortune can be the source of happiness. Live for the moment. Do what must be done for the present and the future will turn out just fine. Believe me. And believe in yourself. As Captain Planet always says, “The power is yours！”

1. The underlined phrase “in collusion with” in Paragraph 3 probably means “________.”

A. was forced by                              B. was fighting bravely against 

C. was doing one’s best to beg             D. had cooperated with

2. From the passage, we learn that ________.

A. robbers are sure to get what they want        

B. somebody never runs out of good luck

C. the woman was lucky to miss her flight 

D. if one feels oneself lucky, he or she will continue to be so

3. The writer presents the second example in order to ________.

A. warn people of the danger of winning the lottery

B. tell people life is unpredictable

C. encourage people to buy lottery  

D. persuade people not to be greedy

4. According to the author, which of the following choices is the correct attitude to adopt to life?

A. Never waste any time or energy because time is so limited.

B. One needn’t be worried or feel frustrated. Believe in yourself.

C. Even while everything appears to be going smoothly, we should keep fully alert.

D. Worrying about what you don’t have

5. The passage above is intended to tell us ________.

A. misfortune sometimes is a blessing

B. we should save up for a rainy day

C. fortune just goes with those prepared minds

D. both losses and gains go hand in hand