In the kitchen of my mother's houses there has always been a wooden stand with a small notepad and a hole for a pencil.

　 I'm looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later,the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can't be the same pencil The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.

　 "I'm just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these years." I say to her, walking back into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. "You still use a pencil. Can't you afford a pen?"

　 My mother replies a little sharply. "It works perfectly well, I've always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.,

　 Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, "One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back, It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I Was working on."

　 This story, which happened before I was born, reminds me how extraordinary my mother was,and is also a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a

cheap wooden breadboard, invisible exhibits at every meal.

41. Why has the author's mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

　 A. To leave messages.　　　　　　　　 B. To list her everyday tasks.

　 C. To note down maths problems.　　　　 D. To write down a flash of inspiration.

42. What is the author's original opinion about the wooden stand?

　 A. It has great value for the family.

　 B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.

　 C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

　 D. It should be passed on to the next generation.

43. The author feels embarrassed for____________

　 A. blaming her mother wrongly

　 B. giving her mother a lot of trouble

　 C. not making good use of time as her mother did

　 D. not making any breakthrough in her field

44. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

　 A. The mother is successful in her career.

　 B. The family members like traveling.

C. The author had little time to play when young.

　 D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

45. In author's mind, her mother is__________

　 A. strange in behavior　　　　　　　　　　 B. keen on her research

　 C. fond of collecting old things　　　　　　 D. careless about her appearance

阅读理解

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman. A man goes shopping because he needs something. His purpose is settled and decided in advance. He knows what he wants, and his objective is to find it and buy it; the price is a secondary consideration. All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want. If the shop has it in stock, the salesman promptly produces it, and the business of trying it on follows at once. All being well, the deal can be and often is completed in less than five minutes, with hardly any chat and to everyone's satisfaction.

　　For a man, slight problems may begin when the shop does not have what he wants, or does not have exactly what he wants. In that case the salesman, as the name implies, tries to sell the customer something else, he offers the nearest he can to the article required. No good salesman brings out such a substitute impolitely; he does so with skill: “I know this jacket is not the style you want, sir, but would you like to try it for size? It happens to be the colour you mentioned.” Few men have patience with this treatment, and the usual response is:“This is the right colour and may be the right size, but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on.”

　　Now how does a woman go about buying clothes In almost every respect she does so in the opposite way. Her shopping is not often based on need. She has never fully made up her mind what she wants, and she is only “having a look round”. She is always open to persuasion; indeed she sets great store by what the saleswoman tells her, even by what companions tell her. She will try on any number of things. Uppermost in her mind is the thought of finding something that everyone thinks suits her. Contrary(相反的) to a lot of jokes, most women have an excellent sense of value when they buy clothes. They are always on the lockout for the unexpected bargain. Faced with a roomful of dresses, a woman may easily spend an hour going from one rail to another, to and fro, often retracing her steps, before selecting the dresses she wants to try on. It is a laborious process, but apparently an enjoyable one. Most dress shops provide chairs for the waiting husbands.

1．What does the passage tell us about women shoppers for clothes?

[　　]

A．They welcome suggestions from anyone.

B．Women rarely consider buying cheap clothes.

C．Women often buy things without giving the matter proper thought.

D．They listen to advice but never take it.

2．What does a man do when he can not get exactly what he wants?

[　　]

A．He buys a similar thing of the colour he wants.

B．He usually does not buy anything.

C．At least two of his requirements must be met before he buys.

D．So long as the style is right, he buys the thing.

3．Many jokes make fun of women shoppers by saying that ________.

[　　]

A．they waste money on inferior(劣质的) goods

B．they should buy only the best clothes

C．they are much more sensible than men

D．they think of the price of clothes and nothing else

4．What is the most obvious difference between men and women shoppers?

[　　]

A．The fact that men do not try clothes on in a shop.

B．Women bargain for their clothes, but men do not.

C．Women stand up to shop. but men sit down.

D．The time they take over buying clothes

How to Be a Winner

Sir Steven Redgrave  

Winner of 5 Olympic Gold Medals  

“In 1997 I was found to have developed diabetes （糖尿病） . Believing my career （职业生涯）was over, I felt extremely low. Then one of the specialists said there was no reason why I should stop training and competing. That was it----the encouragement I needed. I could still be a winner if I believed in myself. I am not saying that it isn’t difficult sometimes. But I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t finished yet. Nothing is to stand in my way.”  

Karen Pickering  

Swimming World Champion  

“I swim 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I manage that sort of workload by putting it on top of my diary. This is the key to success―you can’t follow a career in any field without being well-organized. List what you believe you can achieve. “Trust yourself, write down your goals for the day, however small they are, and you’ll be a step closer to achieving them.”  

Kirsten Best  

Poet ＆ Writer  

“When things are getting hard, a voice inside my head tells me that I can’t achieve something. Then, there are other distractions, such as family or hobbies. The key is to concentrate. When I feel tense, it helps a lot to repeat words such as ‘calm’, ‘peace’ or ‘focus’, either out loud or silently in my mind. It makes me feel more in control and increases my confidence. This is a habit that can become second nature quite easily and is a powerful psychological （心理的） tool.”  

 　　60. What does Sir Steven Redgrave mainly talk about?

　　A. Difficulties influenced his career.

　　B. Specialists offered him medical advice.

　　C. Training helped him defeat his disease.

　　D. He overcame the shadow of illness to win.

　　61. What does Karen Pickering put on top of her diary?

　　A. Her training schedule.

　　B. Her daily happenings.

　　C. Her achievements.

　　D. Her sports career.

　　62.What does the underlined word “distractions” probably refer to？

　　A. Ways that help one to focus.

　　B. Words that help one to feel less tense.

　　C. Activities that turn one's attention away.

　　D. Habits that make it hard for one to relax.

　　63. According to the passage ,what do the three people have in common?

　　A. Courage.

　　B. Devotion.

　　C. Hard work.

　　D. Self-confidence.