Learning Chinese has been like climbing a steep(陡峭的)mountain.

My mother was born in Tokyo,while my father moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong when he was seven years old. At home we speak English. I know some basic Chinese customs :to use chosticks gracefully (得体地)and what to say on Spring Festival to get a red envelope. But I never truly learned to speak Chinese.

Why should I need to learn the language ,anyway? I live in America where everyone speaks English.

I realized I was wrong in ninth grade when I arrived at Philips Academy,a famous boarding school in Massachusetts.The school encourages a global outlook(视野). There I decided to welcome the opportunity to learn Chinese. I met other American-born Chinese and together we spoke Ching-lish outside of the classroom.

I searched for ways to access Chinese culture through dramas such as Meteor Garden (《流星花园》)and music by singers such as S.H.E,Wilbur Pan and Jasmine Leung（梁静茹）. Listening to Chinese music is where I found my favorite singer in the whole world:Jay Chou. Even if I cannot understand what he is crooning（哼唱）, I do feel more Chinese whenever I listen to his music.

Last summer I spent five weeks in China,four of which were taking a language course at a Beijing high school. I was proud when I could understand the dialogue in Intitial D（《头文字D》） and when I could easily translate Fairy Tale sung by Kong Leung（光良）.

Learning Chinese has been a rocky trek（艰苦跋涉）, and I know it will continue to be that way before I arrive at a relative plateau（高地） of fluency（流利）.I hope that one day I will be able to work and maybe even live in China as a true Chinese.

1、The author wrote the text mainly to___.

A.share her experience of learning Chinese

B.tell us why she is interested in learning Chinese

C.show off(炫耀) the progress she made in learning Chinese

D.give advice on how to learn Chinese

2、The author's attitude to learning Chinese changed because___.

A.she found Chinese was interesting to learn

B.she wanted to take a course to pass easily

C.she realized she should have an open mind to the outside world

D.she made friends with some American___born Chinese at the school she studied

3、The author tried all of the following to learn Chinese EXCEPT___.

A.listening to Chinese music

B.practicing speaking Chinese with her parents

C.enjoying Chinese dramas

D.taking a Chinese course in China

4、We can learn from the text that___.

A.S.H.E.is the author's favorite singer

B.dialogues in Meteor Garden are easy to guess

C.the author enjoys learning Chinese though it is difficult

D.the author can speak fluent Chinese now

第二节完形填空。（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中选出最佳选项。
Christmas was an exciting season for my six-year-old son. For weeks, he’d been memorizing   36  for the “Winter Ceremony” in his kindergarten class. I went to  37  their rehearsal(排演).
As I waited, students were led into the room. Each class,  38  by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one  39  to perform their song. I didn’t expect anything other than fun.
My son’s class rose to sing “Christmas Love”. Those in the front row on the center stage held up large  40 , one by one, to spell out the  41  of the song. When the class sang: “C is for Christmas,” a child would hold up the letter C, then another would hold up “H” for happy, and on and on,  42  each child was holding up a letter, presenting the  43  message, “Christmas Love”.
The performance was going  44 , until suddenly we noticed her, a small, quiet girl in the  45  row holding the letter “M” upside down-totally  46  that her letter “M” appeared as a “W”. The audience began to laugh at this little girl’s  47 . But she had no idea that they were laughing at her, so she stood tall,  48  holding her “W”.  49  many teachers tried to quiet the children, the  50  continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A  51  came over the audience and eyes began to  52 . In that instant we understood the  53  why we were there, and even though it was such a busy holiday, there was a(n)  54  for celebrating Christmas. When the  55  letter was held high, the message read loud and clear: “ CHRIST WAS LOVE”. And I believe that this is why Christmas is so important.
36. A. songs                  B. message                   C. texts                        D. performance
37. A. direct                 B. celebrate                  C. design                      D. attend
38. A. led                            B. accompanied             C. looked                            D. pulled
39. A. stood                  B. turned                      C. rose                         D. came
40. A. letters                 B. words                      C. names                    D. boards
41. A. topic                  B. title                         C. idea                         D. theme
42. A. when                  B. after                        C. until                        D. while
43. A. exact                  B. complete                  C. proper                      D. right
44. A. smoothly            B. happily                    C. heatedly                   D. joyfully
45. A. back                   B. middle                            C. left                          D. front
46. A. ignoring                B. unknown                  C. unaware                   D. recognizing
47. A. action                 B. play                         C. mistake                    D. joke
48. A. highly                B. proudly                    C. clearly                            D. bravely
49. A. Unless                B. As                           C. Although                  D. In spite of
50. A. performance        B. laughter                   C. audience                   D. message
51. A. fear                    B. worry                      C. pride                        D. silence
52. A. widen                 B. close                        C. rise                          D. wink
53. A. cause                  B. reason                      C. way                         D. place
54. A. purpose                     B. excuse                      C. reward                            D. song
55. A. seventh               B. middle                            C. last                         D. full

Learning Chinese has been like climbing a steep(陡峭的)mountain.
My mother was born in Tokyo,while my father moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong when he was seven years old. At home we speak English. I know some basic Chinese customs :to use chosticks gracefully (得体地)and what to say on Spring Festival to get a red envelope. But I never truly learned to speak Chinese.
Why should I need to learn the language ,anyway? I live in America where everyone speaks English.
I realized I was wrong in ninth grade when I arrived at Philips Academy,a famous boarding school in Massachusetts.The school encourages a global outlook(视野). There I decided to welcome the opportunity to learn Chinese. I met other American-born Chinese and together we spoke Ching-lish outside of the classroom.
I searched for ways to access Chinese culture through dramas such as Meteor Garden (《流星花园》)and music by singers such as S.H.E,Wilbur Pan and Jasmine Leung（梁静茹）. Listening to Chinese music is where I found my favorite singer in the whole world:Jay Chou. Even if I cannot understand what he is crooning（哼唱）, I do feel more Chinese whenever I listen to his music.
Last summer I spent five weeks in China,four of which were taking a language course at a Beijing high school. I was proud when I could understand the dialogue in Intitial D（《头文字D》） and when I could easily translate Fairy Tale sung by Kong Leung（光良）.
Learning Chinese has been a rocky trek（艰苦跋涉）, and I know it will continue to be that way before I arrive at a relative plateau（高地） of fluency（流利）.I hope that one day I will be able to work and maybe even live in China as a true Chinese.
1、The author wrote the text mainly to___.
A.share her experience of learning Chinese
B.tell us why she is interested in learning Chinese
C.show off(炫耀) the progress she made in learning Chinese
D.give advice on how to learn Chinese
2、The author's attitude to learning Chinese changed because___.
A.she found Chinese was interesting to learn
B.she wanted to take a course to pass easily
C.she realized she should have an open mind to the outside world
D.she made friends with some American___born Chinese at the school she studied
3、The author tried all of the following to learn Chinese EXCEPT___.
A.listening to Chinese music
B.practicing speaking Chinese with her parents
C.enjoying Chinese dramas
D.taking a Chinese course in China
4、We can learn from the text that___.
A.S.H.E.is the author's favorite singer
B.dialogues in Meteor Garden are easy to guess
C.the author enjoys learning Chinese though it is difficult
D.the author can speak fluent Chinese now

Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. roots      B. but     C. covered     D. reproduce   E. energy

F. probably  G. gaining  H. surrounding  I. supplied     J. life

Life on land probably began about 430 million years ago, though it has existed in the water for perhaps as much as 3,000 million years. When we think of the first     1    on land, we     2   think of strange animals coming out of the oceans, but, in fact, no animals could have been living if plants had not been on land first. Plants had to be on land before animals arrived. They    3   the first land animals with the    4   and food necessary, since they ---the plants are the only form of life that is able to get and store    5    .

The first plants to exist out of the water were probably certain kinds of algae （ 藻类 ）which were followed by other plants that grew close to the ground and needed water in which to    6  . Once the move to land has been made, however, evolution took place quickly. By the end of 100 million years, plants had developed their    7  , and some have got tree-like forms since height was very important in    8   sunlight. About 300 million years ago, much of the world was     9   with forests of huge trees. In most ways they were like modern trees. They had roots, leaves, wood, but mostly they had not developed seeds.

Section B

Directions：Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

　　The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that over 50,000 people every year sustain some sort of winter-related back injury, and 5,800 of those are holiday decorating-related. These aches and pains can __41__ bring trouble to people’s life. It is said that people’s back could sustain all sorts of strain from carrying heavy __42__ , and from the increased stress of lugging suitcases, decorations and gifts. Dr. Alanna Levine spoke to Debbye Turner Bell on “The Early Show” about how to protect the back for the holiday season.

　　The first tip Dr. Levine gave was about carrying heavy shopping bags. Smaller bags, she said, are better. “You don’t want to load everything up into one bag and lug it around,” Dr. Levine explained. “You want to __43__ the weight on your body.” She also recommended putting heavier items towards the bottom in those bags and lighter items on top. Also, if you can, make    __44__ trips to the car to drop off purchases.

　　Travel can be another pain in the back — from carrying heavy luggage. Again, Dr. Levine    __45__ not to pack everything into one bag. Even though it may cost more, she said that packing two smaller bags is safer than packing one heavy one. Also, choose a light-weight bag, so that the only weight you’re carrying is the __46__ inside the suitcase.

　　When __47__ bags from an airport carousel, Dr. Levine suggests standing close to the carousel and bending your knees to lift it up. “You want to avoid that reach-and-lift. It puts a lot of    __48__ on your lower back,” she said.

　　When it comes to holiday decorating, people can get __49__. Dr. Levine suggests decorating in pairs, so one person can hand the lights and ornaments to the other person to hang, as to avoid reaching or twisting to get what you need.