King Midas used to love gold. One day he met a fairy who allowed him to make a wish for something. The king replied at once , ‘‘I love gold . I want everything I touch to change into gold”. ‘‘Very well , tomorrow morning, everything you touch will turn into gold .”Saying this, the fairy disappeared.

The king waited excitedly till the next morning. To his joy ,everything he touched changed immediately into gold. ‘‘I’m the richest man in the world now.” He shouted.

  Soon Midas became hungry. He sat down at his table. All the foods and drinks turned into gold in his hand . ‘‘I’m dying of hunger.” He cried.

Just then his daughter came running in . ‘‘Why are you so sad , dad ?” she asked, putting her arms around him. There and then she became a golden statue. The king loved his daughter very much .Seeing this ,he began to cry. He looked up and suddenly saw the fairy before him.  ‘‘Don’t you like the golden touch?” asked the fairy. ‘‘ Please take it away,” begged the king, ‘‘ give me back my daughter.”  ‘‘Well, you have learned your lesson. Go and wash in the river. Then the golden touch will be gone.” The king ran quickly to the nearby river.

1.The fairy allowed the king to make a wish because_____

A．she hoped to make the king the richest in the world.

B．She loved gold too.

C．She wanted to teach the king a lesson.

D．She wanted to turn the king’s daughter into gold.

2.When the foods and drinks turned into gold the king was _____

A. excited      B. hungry      C. worried       D  happy

3.The king’s daughter became a golden statue when _____

A．she saw her father

B．the king went to meet her

C．she put her arms around her father

D．the king loved her very much

4.Which of the following might have happened afterwards?

A．The king died in the river.

B．The king’s daughter changed back from gold to a lovely girl.

C．All the things the king had touched changed back into real ones.

D．Both B and C

5.What do you think the story tries to tell us?

A．Gold makes people unhappy.

B．More gold , more happiness.

C．Gold is not the thing that makes life happy.

D．People feel happy if they have not gold.

 

 

第二节：完形填空（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55题所给的四个选项A、B、C、D中，选出最佳选项。

At the end of a party，he invited her to have coffee with him．In a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, and she felt uncomfortable，thinking, “Please let me go home.’’

Suddenly he asked the  36 ,“Would you please give me some 37 ? I'd like to put it in my coffee．’’

Everybody stared at him—so 38! His face turned red，but when the waiter brought some salt for him, he still put it in his coffee and drank it．

She asked him 39，“Why do you have this hobby(嗜好)?”

He 40，“When I was a little boy，I was living 41 the sea．I liked playing in the sea，and I could 42 the taste of the sea，just like the taste of the salty coffee．Now every time I have the salty coffee，I always think of my 43．I miss my hometown and my parents so much．’’  

 She was 44 touched(感动)! A man who can tell out his homesickness must be a man who loves home，45 about home，and has responsibility for home．

 They continued to date（约会）… Then they got married. And，every time she 46 coffee for him，she put some salt in the coffee．

 After 40 years，he died，leaving her a 47 which said，“My dearest，please forgive(宽恕) my whole life lie．This was the 48 lie I told to you— the salty coffee．

 “Remember the 49 we dated? I was so nervous at that time．Actually I wanted some sugar，but I said “salt” instead．It was hard for me to correct the mistake，so I just went 50．

 “I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life，51 I was too afraid to do that，as I have promised not to lie to you for 52．

 “Now I'm 53，I'm afraid of nothing ,so I tell you the truth：I 54 the salty coffee．What a strange bad taste! But I have had the salty coffee in my whole life!…”

 Her tears made the letter totally wet．

 Someday，someone asked her，“What’s the taste of salty coffee?” “It’s 55!” she replied．

 36．A．friend          B．manager      C．waiter         D．customer

 37．A．sugar         B．salt         C．water          D．tea

 38．A．smart         B．strange            C．serious         D．important

 39．A．curiously      B．patiently    C．bravely       D．happily

 40．A．wrote         B．added             C．agreed         D．replied

41．A．in             B．over         C．near         D．above

42．A．consider       B．feel          C．observe      D．compare

43．A．childhood      B．teachers      C．friends        D．future

 44．A．hardly          B．nearly           C．possibly      D．deeply

 45．A．thinks       B．talks         C．cares        D．comes

 46．A．made               B．drank              C．finished      D．bought

 47．A．telephone      B．word        C．notice          D．letter

 48．A．only          B．first          C．last           D．best

 49．A．last time       B．first time     C．second time  D．many times

 50．A．away               B．off          C．ahead         D．around

 51．A．and           B．so             C．or                 D．but

 52．A．anything        B．nothing       C．somebody     D．anybody

 53．A．dead                B．married      C．dying          D．boring

 54．A．like           B．hate         C．remember    D．forget

 55．A．terrible        B．strange         C．delicious      D．sweet

 

After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner.   36   woman was my mother, who has been a widow for 19 years, but my work had made   37   impossible to visit her very often. That night I called to   38  her to go out for dinner.“What’s wrong? Are you   39  ?”she asked. “I thought that it would be   40   to spend some time with you. Just the two of us,”I answered. She thought about it   41   moment, and agreed.

That Friday after work,   42   I drove to pick her up, I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I   43   that, she, too, seemed to be   44   about our date. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to   45   her last wedding anniversary.

We went to a restaurant that,   46   not elegant, was very nice and cozy. When I read the menu, Mom sat there   47   at me. A nostalgic(怀旧的)smile was   48   her lips. During the dinner, we had a(an)   49   conversation—nothing special but catching up on(了解)recent events of each other’s life.

A few days   50  , my mother died of a heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have a chance to do   51   for her. Sometime later, I received an envelope with a note   52  “You will never know what that night meant to me. I’m looking forward to the   53   dinner. I love you, Son.”

At that moment, I understood the importance of saying in time“I LOVE YOU”. Nothing in life is more important than your   54  . Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be   55   till“some other time”.

1.A. Another        B. This other       C. Other            D. Others

2.A. this           B. that             C. one              D. it

3.A. force          B. order                C. advise           D. invite

4. A. happy     B. good             C. well             D. bad

5.A. glad           B. pleasant         C. interesting      D. pleased

6.A. at the     B. for a                C. in a             D. for the

7.A. until          B. after                C. as               D. since

8.A. noticed        B. observed         C. watched          D. heard

9.A. confused       B. calm             C. nervous          D. easy

10.A. congratulate  B. celebrate            C. memorize     D. honor

11.A. though        B. even             C. but              D. yet

12.A. glancing      B. staring          C. glaring          D. smiling

13.A. in            B. beyond           C. above            D. on

14. A. deep         B. curious          C. agreeable            D. short

15.A. later         B. after                C. before           D. ago

16.A. anything      B. everything       C. nothing          D. something

17.A. writing       B. saying           C. speaking         D. telling

18.A. first         B. second           C. last             D. next

19.A. mother        B. wife             C. family           D. work

20.A. put off       B. taken over       C. cut off          D. picked up

 

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 ______.

A．show she was familiar with the city	B．see some places for the last time
C．let the driver earn more money	D．reach the destination on time

【小题2】The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he ______.

A．wanted to do her a favor

B．shut off the meter by mistake

C．had received her payment in advance

D．was in a hurry to take other passengers

【小题3】What can we learn from the story?

A．Giving is always a pleasure.

B．People should respect each other.

C．An act of kindness can bring people great joy.

D．People should learn to appreciate others’ concern.

A woman named Emily renewing her driver’s license at the County Clerk’s office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a …”

“Of course I have a job,” said Emily. “I’m a mother.”

“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation… ‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.

One day I found myself in the same situation. The clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title. “What is your occupation?” she asked.

The words simply popped out. “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”

The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in midair.

I repeated the title slowly, then I stared with wonder as my statement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

“Might I ask,” said the clerk with new interest, “Just what you do in this field?”

Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t), in the lab and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most careers and rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up (受鼓舞) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants---ages 13, 7, and 3.

Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 month old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.

I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable (不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother.”

Motherhood…What a glorious career! Especially when there’s a title on the door.

 

1.What can we infer from the conversation between the woman and the recorder at the beginning of the passage?

A. The recorder was impatient and rude.

B. The woman felt ashamed to admit what her job was.

C. The author was upset about the situation that mothers faced.

D. Motherhood was not recognized and respected as a job by society.

2.How did the female clerk feel at first when the author told her occupation?

A. curious        B. indifferent                    C. puzzled            D. interested

3.Why did the woman clerk show more respect for the author?

A. Because the author cared little about rewards.

B. Because she thought the author did admirable work.

C. Because she admired the author’s research work in the lab.

D. Because the writer did something she had little knowledge of.

4.What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A. To show how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it.

B. To argue that motherhood is a worthy career and deserves respect.

C. To show that the author had a greater job than Emily.

D. To show that being a mother is hard and boring work.