You want to know about my staying in America, right? Well, to tell you the truth, it is really an eye-opening experience study here.

In China, I had English classes five times a week since fifth grade. However, I didn’t know how different textbook English could be from everyday English until I came to Hotchkiss School, Connecticut.

When I first studied English, I was told to say, “I am fine.” when people say “How are you?” But in the US, I found that people say, “I am good.” or “I’m tired.”

One day, someone greeted me with “What’s up?” It made me confused. I thought for a moment and then smiled because I didn’t know what to say.

Since then, I have discovered more and more differences between Chinese and US cultures.

To my surprise, US girls spend a lot of time in the burning sun to get a tan. However, in China, girls try every possible way to get their skin paler, or “whiter.” I also surprised by how hard-working US students are. In China, schoolwork is almost everything, so we study hard and that’s it. But here, a “good” student gets good grades, does a lot for the public and plays sports or music.

The kids here are so talented, I am starting to be sorry that I gave up playing the piano at an early age and that I have never thought about sports.

1. What does the word “tan” in the sixth paragraph mean in Chinese?

A. 晒黑        B. 晒白           C. 能量      D. 保护

2. A good US student spends his/her time ________.

A. only in doing homework      

B. only on sports

C. only on music             

D. on studies, sports or music and public work

3. Which of the following is NOT true?

A. The writer is now in US.         

B. American girls love to have white skin.

C. American girls love to have brown skin.   

D.US students are talented and hard-working.

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A. My Own Travel in the US          

B. My Studying in the US

C. My Opinion about the US          

D. My Studying in China

What is freedom? It seems like such a simple question. Freedom is being able to do what you want to do. Allow me to explain it.
I’m tired of working for a living. I’d rather collect taxes. So that’s what I’m going to do: collect a kind of tax. You are ordered to estimate your income from the past 12 months, and write me a check for 1%. I have provided a mailing address for this purpose on my contact page …
What? You have a problem with my plan? Oh, I see. If you have to send me a check for the tax, then I have hurt your freedom to spend that money as you see fit. We have a conflict! And our basic problem is: we cannot enjoy freedom at the same time; we must settle for a limit. But what limit?
Libertarians (自由论者) believe freedom should be based on self-control. They describe freedom as being able to do what you want to do as long as it doesn’t influence the equal right of others to do what they want to do. That is, freedom is being able to do what you like as long as you do not harm another person’s life, liberty or property.
You can build a set of legal and ethical (道德的) rules on the principle of self-control, and libertarians do. Their request for self-control often becomes more important than common sense, or even freedom itself.
The definition rules out the freedom to steal, murder, and so on. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want. There is no problem until you realize that taxation is theft, that war is murder, and that national service is a form of slavery. Since only the government has a legal right to use force, libertarians focus on making the government smaller, or even going without it. The libertarians’ definition of freedom is thus freedom from the government. Isn’t it ridiculous?

1. 1.

   According to the first three paragraphs, the author’s idea of collecting taxes is _________.

   1. A.
      reasonable
   2. B.
      responsible
   3. C.
      unacceptable
   4. D.
      understandable
2. 2.

   The author takes tax-collecting as an example in the passage to prove that freedom is _________.

   1. A.
      unreal
   2. B.
      unbelievable
   3. C.
      achievable
   4. D.
      limited
3. 3.

   In the opinion of libertarians, freedom is realized mainly by _________.

   1. A.
      the law
   2. B.
      self-control
   3. C.
      ethical rules
   4. D.
      common sense
4. 4.

   Which of the following statements is supported by libertarians according to the passage?

   1. A.
      National service should be canceled.
   2. B.
      People can do whatever they want.
   3. C.
      The government should have more power.
   4. D.
      They should be governed by the government.

根据对话内容，将方框内符合对话情境的句子填在对话空白处，使对话恢复完整。选项中有两项是多余的。

A: You look tired today. What’s the matter? 

B: 1.____________________. 

A: Why? 

B: I had a terrible dream. 2.___________________. 

A: Then? 

B: I shouted for a long time. 3.____________________. 

A: Then? 

B: Then I woke up. 4.______________________. I couldn’t get to sleep and I  kept awake until six. 

A: 5.___________________. Maybe you have too much pressure. Try to relax yourself. 

B: Thank you. 

A. When I was walking to school, I fell into a river. 

B. I’m tired, too. 

C. But nobody came to help me. 

D. I didn’t sleep well last night. 

E. What a terrible night. 

F. It was two o’clock in the morning. 

G. You are so lucky.

Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man.” She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice(临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter(计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said,” I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing.” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
【小题1】 The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to ______.

第二节完成对话

一welcome back!I didn’t see you in the history class on Friday．

一__61__．My geography class went on a field trip to look at some of the different rocks．   

一Really? ___62__!Where did you go?  

一A desert.It gets hot during the day，but it cools off very quickly at night． ___ 63__.

—Well，did you enjoy the trip?

--Of course I did．Since there are so few plants growing there，it’s very easy to see different rocks．

— ___64___．You must call me if you have the chance to go there again.

一No problem． _65__ .

E．I’m tired of this trip

F．I wasn’t here on Friday

G．We learnt a lot from this trip