America has been experiencing the longest economic increase in its history. Incomes have risen, unemployment has fallen, and cities such as New York are bursting with new office buildings.

But just a short walk from Manhattan’s skyscrapers, George Brown sits on the side-walk, cooking a lunch of rice and bits of fish over a can of cooking fuel.

Brown is homeless——one of the 2.3 million people in the US who end up on the street.

During the day, Brown collects aluminum cans and sells them for five cents a piece. At night, he sleeps on the street.

“I have been on the street about eight or nine years, something like that,” said the 62-year-old former construction worker.

Brown admits he had problems with alcohol and has smoked cocaine. But he said he still wants a more stable housing arrangement. He could afford it just with the money he earns by collecting cans and small pieces of metal, if only truly low-income housing were available.

However, he sees no hope of finding affordable housing in New York.

With the strong economy and unemployment down, beautiful housing is being built to meet demand.

A US report shows rents in New York City rose more than 27 per cent, from ＄549 to ＄700 a month.

One of the side effects of the strong economy is that rents have been going up.

The majority of people who experience homelessness really just need some affordable housing help.

But few housing companies are building for the poor. Many small apartments in the city now rent for ＄1,500 a month or more.

Brown, the homeless New Yorker, said he has a daughter who lives in the city but he rarely sees her. She is angry about his drinking and won’t allow it in her house.

Smiling, he said he also has seven grandchildren whom he’d like to see more often. “All I’ve got to do is clean up my act,” he said.

1.What kind of life does George Brown lead?

A．Stable.

B．Dangerous.

C．Hard.

D．Comfortable.

2. It can be inferred from this passage that     .

A．America is short of housing companies

B．the poor can’t benefit from the increasing economy

C．poor people in America will become rich

D．housing companies will build more houses for the poor

3.The underlined part “clean up my act” in the last paragraph means “   ”.

A. remove my cans                B kick my bad habits   

C. make a lot of money             D. see my grandchildren

4.Which part of a newspaper is the passage possibly taken from?

A．Society.

B．Science.

C．Arts.

D．Business.

 

 完形填空 (共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分)

请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Do you know what kind of things the young people are reading? More and more   46    and parents have noticed another kind of   47   , which came from the printed papers   48   on the streets.

These printed things   49  newspapers but have hardly  50   to do with them. You can only find reading materials badly made up there----some are too strange for anyone to   51 ; others are  52   stories of something   53   . However, many of the young readers are getting interested in such  54   reading, which   55   them what they should pay for their breakfast and brings them nightmares（噩梦）and    56   ideas in return. Homework was left  57  ; daily games lost.

These sellers shout on streets selling their papers well. The writers, publishers and printers,   58  they are, we never know, are   59   their silent money.

The sheep-skinned wolf’s story seems to have been forgotten once again. Why not   60  this kind of things? Yes,    61   the teachers and parents have asked each other for more strict control of the young readers.   62   , the more you want to stop it,   63  they want to have a look at it.   64   you may even find out several children, driven by the curious natures,   65  one patched paper, which has travelled from hand to hand.

1.A. readers     B. writers     C. teachers       D. students

2.A. result      B. effect        C. education     D. pollution

3.A. found    B.  sold     C. given      D. shown

4.A. appear      B. seem as      C. look like       D. are

5. A. nothing     B. anything     C. something     D. everything

6.A. get       B. find        C. believe       D. know

7.A. puzzling    B. pleased      C. worried        D. frightening

8. A. too bad    B. still worse     C. even better     D. very good

9.A. poisonous   B. wonderful      C. interesting      D. useless

10.A. takes       B. uses        C. costs       D. pays

11.A. ordinary    B. immoral       C. valuable      D. unpunished

12.A. undone     B. unknown      C. much       D. less

13. A. who        B. what         C. whoever       D. which

14.A. using       B. making       C. spending       D. losing

15.A. allow       B. forbid        C. separate       D. leave

16.A. neither     B. some       C. most         D. both

17.A. Happily     B. Luckily        C. Unfortunately   D. Badly

18.A. the less     B. so that         C. the more       D. as though

19. A. Seldom   B. Always        C. Sometimes    D. Hardly

20. A. find      B. share       C. get         D. hold

 

America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect （影响） American society in many ways --- education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has made us a very different society - one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior （行为）is suitable （合适） at different ages.

A person's age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position, marriage or health. There's no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn't as strong as it used to be. It doesn't surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.

Many people say, ‘I am much younger than my mother -  or my father - was at my age.’ No one says ‘Act your age’ anymore. We've stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.

1.From the passage, we know in America____.

 A. they used to go to school or stop work at a certain age

 B. people won’t tell you their social position

 C. the children no longer go to school.

 D. people hold the old ideas about the age as before

2.It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America         .

A. has made people feel younger    B. has changed people's social position

C. has changed people's understanding of age

D. has slowed down the country's social development

3.The underlined word ‘one’ refers to          .

A. a society    B. America     C. a place D. population

4.‘Act your age’ means people should _______  .

A. be active when they are old    

B. do the right thing at the right age

C. show respect for their parents young or old

D. take more physical exercise suitable to their age

5. If a 25-year-old man becomes general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it       .

A. normal   B. wonderful   C. unbelievable D. unreasonable

 

 阅读表达（共5小题；每小题3分，满分l 5分）

Do you want to work with people or animals or machines or tools? Do you want to work indoors or outdoors, directly serve people in need or serve people behind the scenes? These are the typical questions that a volunteer service agency would ask.

   Every year, thousands and thousands of people in the west offer volunteer services. Volunteering greatly strengthens the community partly because it helps the old, the young, the weak, the sick, the disabled and the injured to overcome difficulties.

   Volunteers usually help in many different ways. They may give people advice, offer friendship to the young, drive the elderly to church, counsel kids against drugs. Work as an assistant in a school or nursing home, raise funds, plant trees, help out in local libraries and do many other things.

Volunteering can be a few hours a week or a few hours a month, time during the day, evenings or weekends, either part time or full time. Anybody __________ can become a volunteer.

The art of volunteering is a process of both giving and receiving. Volunteering allows volunteers to meet new people and make new friends and mix with people from all walks of life. Volunteering is an excellent way to experiment, practice and try out new techniques and skills. It is much more effective to practice a skill than to read about it or study it in a classroom. Volunteering is a great way to develop good teamwork skills, discover your individual talents and explore career choices. Being a volunteer takes individuals on a wonderful journey and helps them learn many important things beyond their school.

76. What is the best title of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words)

_______________________________________________________________________77. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?

Volunteer service can provide chances for volunteers to make acquaintance of all kinds of people.

_______________________________________________________________________78. Please fill in the blank in the fourth paragraph with proper words, phrases or sentences to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words.)

______________________________________________________________________

79. What kind of volunteer jobs would you like to take? Why? (Please answer within 30 words)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

80. Translate the underlined sentence in the fifth paragraph into Chinese?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

阅读表达（共5小题；每不题2分，共10分）

   阅读下面短文，请根据文后的要求进行答题。（请注意问题后的字数要求）

   Do you like chocolate? Most people do．Some like it in bars．Others just like big squares of．it．

Say you just got a box of chocolate．Which piece do you pick first? A study carried out by a professor in the University of Virginia showed that people's choices of chocolates show their personality．If you choose a round piece, you are a person who likes to party．If you select an oval shape, you are a person who strives．You like to make things and push yourself to be successful．Picking a square shape shows that this is an ．honest and truthful person you can depend on．

What kind of chocolate do you pick? Maybe you like milk chocolate．This shows you have warm feelings about the past, while dark chocolate means something else—the person who chooses it looks forward to the future．What about white chocolate? Would you like to choose it? If so, you may find it hard to make up your mind．Those who like chocolate with nuts are people who like to help others．

Do you believe these ideas? Can chocolate tell all these things? It doesn't matter．There is one sure thing about eaters of chocolates - they eat it because they like it．

1．What is the best tide of the text? （Please answer within 8 words．）

 

2． Which sentence in the text can be replaced by the following one?

     In that case, it will be difficult for you to make a decision.

3．What does the underlined word “strives” mean here in English?

 

4．What’s the writer’s attitude towards the information about chocolate in the text? (Please answer within 15 words)

 

5．As described in the passage, the          and         of chocolate can show your characteristics and qualities.