The day was warm and the sun shone down like a new beginning on my life. I was waving goodbye to my son, the last one of my fledglings （刚会飞的鸟）to leave home and go to new woods, "University actually" . I felt so lighthearted after spending many years looking after my four children—cooking, washing, ironing, teaching them how to look after themselves and manage their finances—that I actually thought “At long last, freedom".

But, as I watched my last one leave, although it was a joyous occasion, I realized I had not really prepared for this day, I was too tied up with bringing up these adults of the future to realize that they would all leave the nest and lives independently.

At first I didn't know what "I" wanted to do. I tried a part time job, which ended in me running out in tears. I started a business making soft furnishings, but that didn't work either.  I grew my own veggies and fruit, which lasted 3 years, until I was advised by my doctor that my feet couldn't take any more "tools” driven through them.

I began wondering if I had a future of my own. I cried for the life I was used to, and hadn't known or wanted anything different.

Then one day I saw an ad. for foster parents, I discussed it with my husband who was always behind everything I tried and with great disturbance , I rang up the number.

I now laugh and sing with my 14-year-old foster daughter, even when my cooker is a mess and my bathroom is a disaster area. I now know, 8 years later, what “I” was meant to be doing with all the spare hours, days, and weeks I had on my hands when my last fledgling flew the nest. The sun shines once again in my home.

1.How did the mother first feel when her last child went off to university?

2.The underlined phrase “was tied up with” in the second paragraph means “        ”.

3.In the third paragraph, the poor mother did all the things just to         .

4.What did the empty-nested mother think of her husband?

5.Thanks to the foster daughter, the author         .

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.

What kind of life does George Brown lead?

A. Stable.         B. Dangerous.      C. Hard.        D. Comfortable.

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

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

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

A. Society.         B. Science.         C. Arts.         D. Business.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the great nineteenth century English novelist, was born near Portsmouth. His father ran heavily into debt and when he was twelve, he had to go and work in a factory for making boot polish. The only formal education he received was a two-year schooling at a school for poor children. In fact, he had to teach himself all he knew. He worked for a time as junior clerk in a lawyer's office. After that, he worked as a reporter in the law courts, and later in parliament, for London newspapers. His career as a writer of fiction began in 1833 with short stories and essays in periodicals, and in 1837 his comic novel The Pickwick Papers made him the most popular author at his time in England.
　　He was a great observer of people and their places because he was attracted by life and conditions in mid-nineteenth century London. He wrote 19 novels all his life and in many of them, Dickens gave a realistic picture of all classes of England society, showing deep sympathy for the poor and unfortunate, exposing the injustice and inhumanity（不人道） of the bourgeoisie（布尔乔亚阶级）.
　　Many of his novels like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and so on drew attention to the unsatisfactory social conditions that existed in England over a hundred years ago.
　　Dickens criticized capitalist society from the point of view of bourgeois humanism. He wished to see improvement in the living conditions of the poor, but failed to find any effective means to achieve that end.
【小题1】Dickens only received a little formal education because______.

The Wal-Mart in Cleburne, Texas, was crowded. People were waiting in long lines at checkout counters to pay for small things that would be next-morning treasures under someone’s Christmas tree.

       The woman standing in cashier Jeffrey Kandt’s line seemed to be living on the edge of subsistence（生计）. Her clothes were worn and her hands were those of a person who’d worked hard for what she had. She held a single item in her arms as she patiently waited to move to the front of the line — a Sony CD player. She had saved all year for this. With tax, the total would be close to $ 220.

       As the woman got close to the cashier, she suddenly shouted, “Where’s my money? All of my money fro my son’s gift! Oh no!”

       “Why my line?” Kandt thought as he watched the poor woman searching through her clothes. He was going to have to call his manager to avoid the sale but it would mean a long wait for the customers behind her. “I am going to go home late tonight,” Kandt thought.

       Then an amazing thing happened. At the back of the line, a man took out his wallet, pulled out $100 and passed it forward. As the cash moved up the line, a twen5ty-dollar bill was added here, and a ten-dollar bill was added there. When the collection finally reached the registewr, Kandt counted $ 220.

       Strangers had fulfilled a poor woman’s Christmas wish.

       The poor in his line at the Wal-Mart in Cleburne, Texas, had come together on Christmas Eve, 2002.

According to the passage, the woman’s Christmas wish was to ______.

       A．collect $ 220 for her family    B．buy her son a CD player as a gift

       C．buy enough food for her family     D．organize a big party for her son

Which of the following statements is TRUE about Jeffrey Kandt when the woman couldn’t find her money?

       A．He was impatient and wanted to go home.

       B．He wanted to see whether the woman had money or not.

       C．He wanted the woman to stand in another line.

       D．He didn’t think about the customers waiting behind the woman.

What does paragraph 5 mainly talk about?

       A．a description of a man standing in the line           

       B．the cashier, Jeffery Kandt

       C．the collection of $ 220

       D．a reason why the strangers collected he money

What can we learn from the passage?

       A．The woman collected money by herself.

       B．The woman seemed to be poor, but in fact had lots of money.

       C．Strangers in the line volunteered to help the woman.

       D．The woman had never ay money.

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
One winter evening, a storekeeper was going to close up  his shop. Suddenly he saw Seth, a lazy, good – for – nothing fellow grasp a pound of fresh butter and hid it in his hat. No sooner had the storekeeper seen the act than he hit upon exactly the right revenge(报复). He would punish the thief, and satisfy his own appetite for fun.     
Seth had his hat on his head, and the butter in his hat. He was anxious to leave. However, the rightful owner of the butter offered him a cup of hot drink, took him by the shoulders and planted him in a seat close to the stove. The grocer filled in the stove as many sticks of wood as he could. Seth already could feel the butter settling down closer to his hair, so he jumped up, declaring that he must go. “Sit down; don’t be in such a hurry,” replied the grocer, pushing him back into the chair again.      
Streak after streak of the butter came pouring from under the poor man’s hat. The fun-loving grocer kept on putting wood into the stove. Then, as if surprised, he remarked, “You seem to be sweating as if you were warm! Let me put your hat away for you.”     
“No! ” exclaimed poor Seth at last, unable to stand it a moment longer. “ No, I must go; let me out.” A greasy (油腻的) waterfall of butter was now pouring down the poor man’s face and neck, dipping into his clothes, and trickling down his body into his boots. He was bathed in oil from head to toe. Just as Seth rushed out of the door, the grocer said , “ I believe the fun I’ve had out of you is worth the money, so I shan’t charge you for that pound of butter in your hat.”
56．Why did Seth put the butter in his hat?
A．Because he didn’t want to pay for it.
B．Because he just wanted to play a trick on the grocer.
C．Because he wanted to revenge himself on the grocer.
D．Because he had nowhere to put the butter but in the hat.
57．What is not the action that the grocer took as a revenge?
A．The grocer offered Seth a cup of hot drink.
B．The grocer offered to take off Seth’s hat.
C．The grocer overcharged Seth for the butter.
D．The grocer forced Seth to take a seat near the stove.
58．What was the purpose of the grocer’s hospitality(热情好客)？
A．He wanted to be kind to him.
B．He wanted to sell more of his goods.
C．He wanted to make friends with Seth
D．He wanted to take his revenge on Seth by making the butter in his hat melt.
59．What is the best title of the passage?
A．Great Fun                     B．The Right Revenge
C．A Fun-loving Grocer            D．A Foolish Customer