阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

One day a few years ago we had an uninvited guest—a sparrow.  36  the little bird had flown into our open garage. Then I  37  the bird before I saw it.

“What’s that?”I asked when I first heard the sound.

“It’s coming from the  38  .”my wife, Anita, said. “Maybe it’s one of the little  39  .”

I looked into the garage. No children at all. But there was that sound again, coming from right up there. And that’s  40   I saw the sparrow. It was flying  41  just inches below the ceiling. It was clearly  42  to get out, but couldn’t see the way out was not up, but  43  and and out through the garage door. So the bird continued flapping its wings and bumping its little head 44  the ceiling.

I tried to terrify it out, but only succeeded in driving it into the  45  open space between the door and the ceiling. Then I tried to show the bird how to fly down a few feet  46   it could get outside, but that only seemed to  47  it more.

“Why don’t we just leave for a few minutes,” Anita  48  .“I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually.”

We went back into the house, where we  49  to hear the ongoing struggle between the sparrow and the ceiling. Then suddenly, it was  50  and our uninvited guest was gone.

I’ve  51  that little sparrow through the years, and I’ve decided that birds are not different much from people. We think we were  52  to fly ever upward, and we don’t even consider the  53  that something good might happen if we just fly down a little bit. Once we figure out that we can make  54  without banging（碰）our heads against ceilings, we can usually save ourselves much  55  .

36.A. Still              B. Somehow          C. Instead              D. Perhaps

【答案】B

【解析】不知怎么的，这只小鸟飞进了我们开着的车库。B.不知怎么的。

37.A. heard            B. caught               C. searched           D. observed

【答案】A

【解析】根据下文when I first heard the sound， 可知本句的意思是“未见其鸟，先闻其鸣”。

38.A. house           B. backyard           C. garage               D. basement

【答案】C

【解析】根据36题所在的句子可知， 小鸟进入了garage,所以声音应该从garage传来。

39.A. birds            B. guests               C. cats                  D. kids

【答案】D

【解析】根据下文no children at all.可知, 作者的妻子认为是期中一个孩子

40.A. when            B. how                  C. why                  D. whether

【答案】A

【解析】when引导表语从句。“就在那时我看到了那只麻雀。”

41.A. quickly         B. anxiously           C. cautiously          D. slowly

【答案】B

【解析】anxiously不安的，焦虑的。因为被困，所以很焦虑。

42. A. deciding       B. hesitating           C. trying                D. choosing

【答案】C

【解析】try to get out努力要出去。

43. A. up               B. backward          C. forward            D. down

【答案】D

【解析】但是它看不到出去的路不在上方，而在下方。

44. A. against         B. off                    C. along                D. into

【答案】A

【解析】bump its little head against the ceiling 小脑袋撞击天花板

45. A. free             B. small                 C. wide                 D. dark

【答案】B

【解析】门和天花板之间的空间很小。

46. A. in case         B. even if               C. as though          D. so that

【答案】D

【解析】so that 引导目的状语从句。

47. A. puzzle          B. confuse             C. frighten             D. disturb

【答案】C

【解析】但是这样似乎使它更害怕。Frighten sb使某人害怕， 吓唬某人

48. A. suggested     B. explained           C. insisted             D. demanded

【答案】A

【解析】why don’t sb do 是表示建议的用语。 所以选择A。

49. A. attempted     B. continued          C. refused             D. failed

【答案】B

【解析】continue to do sth继续干某事

50. A. fierce           B. empty               C. safe                  D. silent

【答案】D

【解析】根据下文our uninvited guest was gone， 所以没有声音了，很安静

51.A. looked after   B. worried about    C. thought about    D. brought up

【答案】C

【解析】Ａ．照看　Ｂ．担心 Ｃ．思考  Ｄ． 提出。下文题到“鸟和人没有什么不同”，所以作者是在思考。

52. A. forced         B. determined         C. born                 D. urged

【答案】C

【解析】be born to do 天生就是干某事的。 “我们认为我们天生就是往上飞的”

53. A. idea             B. possibility          C. challenge           D. problem

【答案】B

【解析】我们甚至没有考虑这种可能性，如果我们飞的低一些，好事也可能会发生。

54. A. progress      B. peace                C. decisions           D. efforts

【答案】A

【解析】make progress取得进步

55. A. panic           B. pressure            C. loss                  D. trouble

【答案】D

【解析】save some trouble 省去很多麻烦。

Bertie knew there was something in the wind. His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick，just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him，his head warm on Bertie’s feet，when Father cleared his throat and began, “You’ll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We’ve found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England. ”
His heart filled with a terrible fear, all Bertie could think of was his white lion. “But the lion,” he cried, “What about the lion?”
“I’m afraid there’s something else I have to tell you, ” his father said. Looking across at Bertie’s mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus owner from France, who was over in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.
“No! You can’t send him to a circus!” said Bertie. “People will come to see him. He’ll be shut up behind bars. I promised him he never would be. And they will laugh at him. He’d rather die. Any animal would! ” But as he looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.
Bertie felt completely betrayed (出卖). He waited until he heard his father’s deep breathing next door. With his white lion at his heels，he crept (蹑手蹑脚地移动) downstairs，took down his father’s rifle (步枪) and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his legs could run no more. As the sun came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion’s neck. The time had come.
“Be wild now”，he whispered. “You’ve got to be wild. Don’t ever come home. All my life I’ll think of you. I promise I will. ” He buried his head in the lion’s neck. Then, Bertie climbed down the hill and walked away.
When he looked back, the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then he stood up, yawned, stretched, and sprang down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.
There was only one thing left to do. With tears filling his eyes and his mouth，he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired over the lion’s head.
【小题1】Bertie’s mother was sad probably because she _____.

He’s an old cobbler  (修鞋匠)  with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven't time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street;
he'll fix them for you right away.
But I’d had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman (手艺人). “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can’t do it well. ”
“The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait” — without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap (鞋带) you might as well just throw away the pair.
My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped his hands on his blue apron (围裙), looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said,“Come back in a week. ”
I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.
“See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work. ”
When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty felt hat, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.
These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption (消费) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.
68. Which of the following is true about the old cobbler?
A. He was equipped with the best repairing tools.
B. He was the only cobbler in the Marais.
C. He was proud of his skills.
D. He was a native Parisian.
69. The sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend. ” (paragraph 7) implies that _______.
A. nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him
B. it was difficult to communicate with this man
C. the man was very strange
D. the man was too old
70. According to the author, many people work just to _______.
A. realize their abilities                          B. gain happiness
C. make money                                         D. gain respect
71. This story wants to tell us that_______.
A. craftsmen make a lot of money           B. whatever you do, do it well
C. craftsmen need self-respect                     D. people are born equal

第二部分：阅读理解（共两节，满分50分）
第一节 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
A
Michael Phelps and his U.S. teammates crowned the greatest single Olympic performance Sunday morning with a win in the 4×100－meter medley relay(混合泳接力).
The victory gave Phelps his eighth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, the most golds ever won by an athlete at one Games. With gold No. 8, Phelps earned an unusual place in the Olympic record books.
"There is no comparison in the swimming world for what Michael has done," said Gregg Troy, coach of U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte, who finished third to Phelps in two races here in Beijing but also won gold alongside him in the 4×200－meter freestyle relay. It's hard to find comparisons even in the sports world overall. Phelps is solidly in the company of seemingly undefeatable superstars such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.
"I think years and years down the road we'll realize more and more how amazing he is and how special he really is." U. S. teammate Natalie Coughlin said. The 23－year－old from Baltimore capped a brilliant meet at the Water Cube. He set a world record in every event aside from the 100 butterfly which he narrowly won on Saturday, completing a program of 17 races in nine days.
Phelps has won 14 Olympic gold medals and 16 total medals. He holds the record for most medals won by a man, surpassing Soviet gymnast Nikolai Andrianov, who won 15 from 1972－1980. Soviet female gymnast Larysa Latynina holds the record with 18.
At the 2004 Athens Games, Phelps won six gold medals and two bronze. He has already said he'll swim in the 2012 London Games. Phelps' victories in Beijing include: 200－meter freestyle, 200 and 400 individual medleys, 100 and 200 butterfly, 4×200 free relay, 4×100 medley relay, and 4×100 free relay.
41．Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A．Phelps Plans To Attend 2012 London Games
B．Phelps Wins 4×100－meter Medley Relay
C．Phelps Writes Games Gold History
D．Phelps Finishes His Competitions
42．Why are Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods mentioned in the 3rd paragraph?
A．To memorize the two heroes' contributions to the world.
B．To indicate Phelps' great efforts to his championship.
C．To attract the world's attention to the young Phelps.
D．To emphasize Phelps' unique position in swimming.
43．Which of the following is true of Phelps?
A．Phelps has got the most gold medals in Beijing Olympic.
B．Phelps has won 18 Olympic gold medals till now.
C．Phelps won 8 gold medals at the Athens Games.
D．Phelps defeated Nikolai Andrianov in Beijing.
44．It can be inferred from the text that __________.
A．Phelps is a swimming genius by nature
B．Phelps succeeded in Athens at the age of 18
C．Phelps has won the most golds all by himself
D．Phelps will have a brilliant future in the 2012 London Games

Six Ways to Improve Reading Comprehension
Help your child keep what he reads—a crucial skill, especially as he gets older and needs to gain important information from textbooks.
Have him read aloud. This forces him to go slower, which gives him more time to process what he reads.  71 
Provide the right kinds of books. Make sure your child gets lots of practice reading books that aren’t too hard.  72  Stopping any more often than that to figure out a word makes it tough for him to focus on the overall meaning of the story.
  73  To gain meaning from text, your child needs to read quickly and smoothly—a skill known as fluency. Rereading familiar, simple books gives your child practice at decoding words quickly so he'll become more fluent.
Talk to the teacher. If your child is struggling hard with comprehension, he may need more help with his reading—for example, building his vocabulary or practicing phonics skills.
Supplement class reading. If his class is studying a particular theme, look for easy-to-read books or magazines on the topic. Some prior knowledge will make his way through tougher classroom texts.
Talk about what he's reading. This “verbal processing” helps him remember and think through the themes of the book.  74 For example:
●Before: “What interests you in this book? What doesn't?”
●During: “  75 Is it turning out the way you thought it would? ”
●After: “Can you summarize the book? What did you like about it?”