Every night for a year, Neil Simons quietly went out of his house. He wanted to “talk” to an owl (猫头鹰)settling for the night at the end of his garden. He made owl cries like a real wild owl and was happy to hear the bird “hooting (大声叫嚣)” back to him.
Last year Fred Cornes moved in next door. He heard an owl hooting and answered back. For 12 months the neighbors got into the back gardens of their homes, thinking they were talking with nature. Mr. Simmons kept a diary of all his talks with his bird friend. They would both be out again tonight if it wasn’t for a chance talk between their wives.
Mr. Simmons said. “My wife Kim was telling Fred’s wife Wendy about my owl watching and described how I got the birds to boot back. She said, ‘That’s funny — that’s just what Fred has been doing.’ Then the penny dropped, I felt such a fool when I found out. The trouble is that owl calls aren’t exactly the same and it’s easy to make a mistake.” ks5u
Mr. Cornes said, “I’m really flattered (过奖). I didn’t know I sounded so real. I love nature and I couldn’t resist hooting at the owls. I was very excited when they hooted back. I’m sorry that I was fooling my neighbor who was fooling me.” w*w^w.k&s#5@u.c~o*m
(    )64. After the talk between the wives, the two men would probably _________ .
A. stop observing owls                         B. not stay up hooting again
C. not enter the back garden again          D. make no mistakes about wild owl cries
(    )65. “Then the penny dropped.” most probably means “Then __________.”
A. I understood                       B. everybody knew about it
C. I heard the noise                         D. no money was paid
(    )66. Mr. Simmons felt upset about the whole thing because __________.
A. all his efforts seemed to be meaningless   B. his wife let out his secret by chance
C. garden owls hooted so differently       D. Fred had been doing the same
(    )67. The text suggests that __________.
A. Nail seldom heard natural owl calls      B. the owl never hooted back to Neil
C. Fred was always good at pleasing owls   D. owl watching is no longer interesting to Fred

A new reading tool was put on the market this week for the two-to five-year-old set. It is sold for at least $389, an expensive purchase for a kid – and that doesn’t even include a $99 annual subscription (订阅) fee for games, e-books, and age-appropriate software.
That might be fine for parents willing and able to pay thousands for private nursery schools, but will the tool actually help kids learn language and reading skills more effectively than traditional books?
Probably not, said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center for Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. “There is a sensory components (感官因素) to books that isn’t there with e-books,” he explained. “You can smell it, turn the pages, and taste it, as young kids are likely to do.”
That might help little ones become more familiar with the books, helping them learn from them, but far more important is whether a person is actually sitting with them while they’re looking at the pages.
Researchers have shown time and again that kids learn better when they’re having interaction (互动) with real people, rather than electronic voices reading to them from a computer or speaking to them from the TV.
A Georgetown University study found that kids who learned to put on gloves from watching a video took six times as long to learn the process as those who watched it shown by an adult standing in front of them.
“I’m a big believer in teaching kids to live in the digital society and use what the rest of the family uses, but they do need to be supervised,” said Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, a Boston-based children’s doctor and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We don’t recommend that young kids use any type of technology for very long since they have the attention span (注意力持续时间) of a butterfly.”
【小题1】According to the text, the new tool        .

完形填空（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）
When she was seven, we found out that Jenny had a few problems. Several ___36___ and many speech classes later, we found out that besides hearing, she also had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis（幼儿类风湿性关节炎）.
She could not put ___37___ on the heels of her feet, so she walked on tiptoe and when the pain became unbearable, I carried her.
All ___38___ grade school, and on into high school, Jenny suffered, yet never complained. She ___39___ a smile on her face, a song on her lips, and a(n) ___40___ and acceptance of others. I don’t remember her ever
___41___ self-pity. She ran when she could run. She played when she could play, and she danced when she could dance. And, when she could do ___42___ of these things, she took her medicine, and she waited until she ___43___.
Jenny never competed in a sport. She could not even take part in a gym class. Jenny continued to have one operation after another on her ___44___. Finally, her hearing improved to 60%, and she taught herself to ___45___ lips.
She was ___46___ popular and funny, attending every football game, and cheering the team on. She carried her pillow everywhere she went, so that she could ___47___ the pain, when she sat down. Then came her senior year. She would be considered for scholarships; however, school activities, especially ___48___, could often mean the ___49___ between receiving an award and losing out.
So Jenny came to a decision. She ___50___ the high school football coach to let her participate. She got her best friend to sign up with her. Finally the coach ___51___, saying, “If you miss one game, you are out!” So, Jenny became a member o the Garrett High School Football Team.
She carried bottles of water to her teammates. She did much preparation work for the team. She worked so actively that it ___52___ to be one of the best year for the Garrett High School Football Team, in its 25-year history.
When asked why he thought the team was winning all their games, even in the ___53___ of injury, one team member explained, “Well, when you’ve been knocked down, and you can’t seem to move, you ___54___ and see Jenny Lewis. It makes anything the rest of us may suffer seem pretty ___55___.”
36. A. trials                  B. examinations                   C. experiments              D. treatments
37. A. control        B. power                             C. strength                    D. pressure
38. A. through              B. across                      C. over                         D. above
39. A. expressed            B. wore                               C. took                         D. made
40. A. love                   B. admiration                C. envy                        D. desire
41. A. speaking             B. talking                            C. sharing                     D. voicing
42. A. nothing        B. all                                  C. none                        D. some
43. A. would                 B. could                              C. should               D. might
44. A. ears                    B. legs                                C. arms                        D. mouth
45. A. see                     B. learn                               C. read                         D. hear
46. A. never                  B. totally                      C. occasionally              D. seldom
47. A. struggle              B. lose                                C. stop                         D. ease
48. A. grades         B. relationships                    C. sports                D. communication
49. A. importance   B. difference                 C. chance                     D. choice
50. A. begged        B. demanded                        C. required                   D. managed
51. A. gave out             B. gave in                            C. held up                    D. held on
52. A. turned over  B. turned out                C. turned up                 D. turned in
53. A. sight                   B. fear                                C. risk                          D. face
54. A. looked down       B. looked in                         C. looked up                 D. looked out
55. A. different             B. worth                              C. difficult                   D. unimportant

（D）
As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have．It’s likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen will have a washing machine and a microwave oven．Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need． You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week．
Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for．Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world．They feel that the long-hour work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes．Many are turning to other ways of living and downshifting_is one of them．
Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year．One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz．They used to work in central London．He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank．They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs （郊区）, leaving their two children with a nanny（保姆）．Most evenings Daniel wouldn’t get home until eight or nine o’clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings．They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by．
Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales．“I always wanted to have a farm here,” says Daniel, “and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift．It’s taken some getting used to, but it’s been worth it．We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays．However, I think it’s made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier．”
Liz, however, is not quite sure．“I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours．I’m not really a country girl, but I suppose I’m gradually getting used to looking after the animals．One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children．My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do it at all．”
68．What do the first two paragraphs tell us?
A．People seldom work long hours to make money．      
B．People hardly buy more things than necessary．
C．People are sure everything they own is in the right place．
D．People realize more is involved in life than just making money．
69．Daniel agrees that the move to the farm __________．
A．was easy to organize               B．has improved family life
C．was extremely expensive           D．has been a total success
70．The underlined word "downshifting" in the second paragraph means ________．
A．repairing your car by yourself
B．spending money carefully
C．moving out to the countryside to live a simpler and better life
D．living in a big house in the suburbs and dining out once a week

第二部分阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
阅读下例短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
Once a group of 17-year-old schoolboys decided to break the world basketball marathon（马拉松）record. They wanted to play for 90 hours and add 6 hours to the record. Each team had 9 players, with 5 at a time. The boys decided each person would play 21.5 hours and then rest for 2 hours. Then they started at 6 o’clock in the evening.
The first night was very hard for the players. When it was their turn to rest, they were too excited to fall asleep at once. After sleeping for a short time, they had to play again. On the second night,they fell asleep as soon as they stopped, Some of them had trouble with their feet and hands, but the only serious problem was a psychological（心理学的）one. Each boy was thinking: Why am I doing this? How can I play any longer? After the third night, the players knew they could finish the 90 hours. The basketball on the fourth night was very slow. But in the final hours, the players got better. For the last few minutes, the players looked as fresh as when they started. How happy everyone was!
41．Before this basketball marathon, the world record was       .
A．84 hours   B．86 hours   C．90 hours   D．96 hours
42．The first night was hard for the players because_______.
A．they were too excited      B．they only slept for a short time
C．no one watched them play      D．it was very long
43．“…the players looked as fresh as when they started.”Here “fresh”means_______.
A．不熟练的 B．兴奋不己的     C．精神饱满的     D．伤痕累累的
44．Which of the following is not true.
A．Some of the boys were hurt when they played
B．It was hard for the players to fall asleep at night
C．The boys started playing at 6 o’clock in the evening
D．In the end, all the boys felt happy