Autumn means different things to different people. It all depends on your personality, said British naturalist Richard Mabey. "Personality shapes your view of the season," he said. "You may see it as a fading away, a packing up（结束）, or as a time of packing in another sense – the excited gathering of resources before a long journey."
If this is true, perhaps it tells us a little about, for instance, Thomas Hood, the 19th Century English poet. About November, he wrote:
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees
November!
On the other hand, another English poet John Keats, already sensing he was seriously ill, was inspired by a late September day to pen one of the most famous poems in the English language, To Autumn. He wrote to a friend afterwards that there was something comforting and healing about it.
According to Richard Mabey, Keats has the biological evidence on his side. Autumn is not a time of slowing down, but a time of new beginnings and great movements of creatures. For example, just at the moment that Keats's "gathering swallows" （in To Autumn） are departing for Africa, millions of creatures are fleeing from the frozen north like Iceland, Greenland and Russia to winter along the east and south coasts of Britain. According to scientists, before falling, the leaves transfer their chlorophyll（叶绿素） and carbohydrates into the woody parts of the tree for safe-keeping over winter. What remains are the natural antioxidants（防老剂） in the leaves: the yellow and orange carotenoids（类胡萝卜素）, and another protective chemical specially produced for autumn, the bright-red anthocyanin（花青素）. High color is not a signal of deterioration（退化） and decline, but of detox（排毒的） ability and good health.
A century after Keats, the American poet Loren Eiseley wrote in his journal: "Suppose we saw ourselves burning like maples in a golden autumn. [And that we could] disintegrate（瓦解） like autumn leaves…dropping their substance like chlorophyll. Would not our attitude towards death be different?"
【小题1】From Thomas Hood’s poem, we may infer that _______.

Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York--he in computers, she in special education. "Teaching means everything to us," Tim would say. In April1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.

      Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton' s foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's home town of Sevier, Tennessee.“I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire," Tim recalls.  He placed the brochure on his desk, "as a reminder."

      Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library .com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.

The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look-see. “We didn’t want to give the children rubbish,” says Linda. The books-reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members-included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama series.

     Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: “This program introduces us to books I’ve never heard of .”

  The Richters spend about ＄400 a month sending books to 200 children. “Some people sit there and wait to die,” says Tim. “Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left.”

1.

What led Tim to think seriously about the meaning of life?

A. His health problem.                       B .His love for teaching.

C.The influence of his wife.                   D .The news from the Web.

2.

What did Tim want to do after learning about Imagination Library?

A.Give out brochures.                        B .Do something similar.

C. Write books for children                    D. Retire from being a teacher.

3.

According to the text, Dollly Parton is           .

A. a well-known surgeon                     B. a mother of a four-year-old

C. a singer born in Tennessee                  D .a computer programmer

4.

Why did the Richters go to Dollywood?

A. To avoid signing up online.

B. To meet Dollywood board members.

C. To make sure the books were the newest.

D. To see if the books were of good quality.

5.

What can we learn from Tim’s words in the last paragraph?

A. He needs more money to help the children.

B. He wonders why some people are so busy.

C. He tries to save those waiting to die.

D. Hconsiders his efforts worthwhile.

Autumn means different things to different people. It all depends on your personality, said British naturalist Richard Mabey. "Personality shapes your view of the season," he said. "You may see it as a fading away, a packing up（结束）, or as a time of packing in another sense – the excited gathering of resources before a long journey."

If this is true, perhaps it tells us a little about, for instance, Thomas Hood, the 19th Century English poet. About November, he wrote:

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees

November!

On the other hand, another English poet John Keats, already sensing he was seriously ill, was inspired by a late September day to pen one of the most famous poems in the English language, To Autumn. He wrote to a friend afterwards that there was something comforting and healing about it.

According to Richard Mabey, Keats has the biological evidence on his side. Autumn is not a time of slowing down, but a time of new beginnings and great movements of creatures. For example, just at the moment that Keats's "gathering swallows" （in To Autumn） are departing for Africa, millions of creatures are fleeing from the frozen north like Iceland, Greenland and Russia to winter along the east and south coasts of Britain. According to scientists, before falling, the leaves transfer their chlorophyll（叶绿素） and carbohydrates into the woody parts of the tree for safe-keeping over winter. What remains are the natural antioxidants（防老剂） in the leaves: the yellow and orange carotenoids（类胡萝卜素）, and another protective chemical specially produced for autumn, the bright-red anthocyanin（花青素）. High color is not a signal of deterioration（退化） and decline, but of detox（排毒的） ability and good health.

A century after Keats, the American poet Loren Eiseley wrote in his journal: "Suppose we saw ourselves burning like maples in a golden autumn. [And that we could] disintegrate（瓦解） like autumn leaves…dropping their substance like chlorophyll. Would not our attitude towards death be different?"

From Thomas Hood’s poem, we may infer that _______.

         A．he suffered a lot from cold November

         B．he missed the shining summer days very much

         C．he had a negative attitude towards autumn

         D．he enjoyed butterflies and bees very much

Which word can best describe Loren Eiseley’s attitude towards autumn?

         A．Optimistic.        B．Fearful.     C．Doubtful.   D．Realistic.

In autumn, leaves turn yellow before falling because ______.

         A．they can’t bear the freezing

         B．they can’t get enough water from the wood part

         C．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have been lost through leaves

         D．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have come back to the wood part

What does the underlined sentence mean?

         A．Man can never live long, just as leaves must leave the tree annually.

         B．Man is different from autumn leaves, which will come again the next spring.

         C．Man should treat death calmly, just like autumn leaves fall to the ground.

         D．Man should have a positive attitude towards death, quite different from autumn leaves.

Ⅲ. 阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节：阅读理解（共15题；每小题2分，满分30分）
Anyone who is addicted to reading bus tickets or cereal packets will understand the appeal of poems on the underground. Some years ago, a few acquaintances who lived and worked in London , who used the Tube and loved poetry, decided that it would be pleasant to read a few lines by their favorite poets as they traveled around by Tube, instead of just glancing upwards at the tiresome advertisements. The underground had a surplus (剩余的)of advertising space on the trains. They suggested filling the blank space on the trains, for the entertainment of the traveling public.
The poems took on a new life when they were removed from books and placed alongside the adverts. Commuters enjoyed the idea of reading Keats’“Much have I traveled in the realms of gold” on a crowded Central Line train, or trying to learn by heart a sonnet between Hammersmith and Piccadilly. The choice of poems wasn’t arbitrary （随机的）but specially chosen. It catered for all tastes including living and dead poems from the homeland and from all over the English-speaking world, and especially poems which have association with London.
The success of the poems on the underground enterprises confirmed that Britain was a nation of poetry lovers. Hundreds of people corresponded with London Underground suggesting poems, or just to say thank you. In January 1989, on the third anniversary after the first poems on the Underground, London Underground promised to donate all the spaces free, to increase the number available (at least one poem in each train carriage), and to pay for the production costs as well. They also updated the poems every few months. Posters of the poems decorated the British Council libraries throughout the world, but the best way to view the poems is to see them by yourselves, on whichever train you choose, in every zone of the network—for the price of an underground ticket.
41.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Shelly and Keat’s Poems  
B. The Poems on the Underground
C. Travelling on the Tube in London   
D. The Poems about London
42.The poems were _________.
A. removed from books and placed in empty advertising spaces
B. taken from throughout the English-speaking world and chosen to please everyone
C. including poems about London by Shelly, Burns, Keats and by the commuters themselves
D. meant to be read aloud and learnt by heart
43. Which is the closest in meaning to “association”?
A.Connection.   B.Difference.   C.Similarity.  D.Comparison.
44. The best place to see the poem is ________.
A. in any train on the network                          
B. in libraries around the world
C. in trains on the Central Line and between Hammersmith and Piccadilly
D. in some carriage anywhere on the network
45. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage above?
A. People who like reading bus tickets advocate poems on the underground .
B. Spaces which were used for advertisements are now completely occupied by poems on the tube.
C. You can appreciate the poems you like at the cost of only a tube ticket in London.
D. The success of the poems on the underground indicates people’s love for the tube of London.

 Autumn means different things to different people. It all depends on your personality, said British naturalist Richard Mabey. "Personality shapes your view of the season," he said. "You may see it as a fading away, a packing up（结束）, or as a time of packing in another sense – the excited gathering of resources before a long journey."

If this is true, perhaps it tells us a little about, for instance, Thomas Hood, the 19th Century English poet. About November, he wrote:

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees

November!

On the other hand, another English poet John Keats, already sensing he was seriously ill, was inspired by a late September day to pen one of the most famous poems in the English language, To Autumn. He wrote to a friend afterwards that there was something comforting and healing about it.

According to Richard Mabey, Keats has the biological evidence on his side. Autumn is not a time of slowing down, but a time of new beginnings and great movements of creatures. For example, just at the moment that Keats's "gathering swallows" （in To Autumn） are departing for Africa, millions of creatures are fleeing from the frozen north like Iceland, Greenland and Russia to winter along the east and south coasts of Britain. According to scientists, before falling, the leaves transfer their chlorophyll（叶绿素） and carbohydrates into the woody parts of the tree for safe-keeping over winter. What remains are the natural antioxidants（防老剂） in the leaves: the yellow and orange carotenoids（类胡萝卜素）, and another protective chemical specially produced for autumn, the bright-red anthocyanin（花青素）. High color is not a signal of deterioration（退化） and decline, but of detox（排毒的） ability and good health.

A century after Keats, the American poet Loren Eiseley wrote in his journal: "Suppose we saw ourselves burning like maples in a golden autumn. [And that we could] disintegrate（瓦解） like autumn leaves…dropping their substance like chlorophyll. Would not our attitude towards death be different?"

1.From Thomas Hood’s poem, we may infer that _______.

         A．he suffered a lot from cold November

         B．he missed the shining summer days very much

         C．he had a negative attitude towards autumn

         D．he enjoyed butterflies and bees very much

2.Which word can best describe Loren Eiseley’s attitude towards autumn?

         A．Optimistic.             B．Fearful.                   C．Doubtful.                 D．Realistic.

3.In autumn, leaves turn yellow before falling because ______.

         A．they can’t bear the freezing

         B．they can’t get enough water from the wood part

         C．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have been lost through leaves

         D．chlorophyll and carbohydrates have come back to the wood part

4.What does the underlined sentence mean?

         A．Man can never live long, just as leaves must leave the tree annually.

         B．Man is different from autumn leaves, which will come again the next spring.

         C．Man should treat death calmly, just like autumn leaves fall to the ground.

         D．Man should have a positive attitude towards death, quite different from autumn leaves.