He must have been completely lost in something he was reading because I had to tap on the windshield to get his attention.

“Is your taxi  1  ?” I asked when he finally looked  2  at me. He nodded, then said  3  as I settled into the back seat, “I'm sorry, but I was reading a  4  .” He  5  as if he had a cold .

“I am not in a hurry,” I told him. “Go ahead and finish your letter.” He  6  his head. “I've read it several times already. I guess I  7  know it by heart.”

“Letters from home always mean a lot,” I said. “From a child?”

“This isn't  8  ,” he replied. “Although it  9  just as well have been family. Old Ed was my oldest friend. In fact, we used to call each other 'Old Friend' when we'd meet. I'm not much good at  10 .”

“I don't think any of us keep  11  our correspondence (通信) too well,” I said. “I know I don't. But I take it he's someone you've  12  quite a while?”

“All my life. We were kids together, went to school together and all the  13  through high school.”

“There are not too many people who've had such a long friendship,” I said.

“ 14 ,” the driver went on, “I hadn't seen him more than once or twice a year over the past 25 or 30 years because I  15  away from the old neighbourhood and you kind of lose touch  16  you never forget.”

“You said 'was'. Does that mean—?” He nodded. “ 17  a couple of weeks ago.”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “It's no fun to lose any friend—and losing a real old one is  18  tougher.”

He didn't  19  to that, and we rode on in silence for a few minutes. But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke again, almost more to himself than to me: “I should have kept in touch.”

“Well,” I agreed, “we should all keep in touch with old friends more than we do. But things  20  and we just don't seem to find the time.”

When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away. First I had to write a letter and mail it.

1. available    B. acceptable          C. beneficial       D. occupied

2. A.       down      B.    up    C.    to    D. off

3. A.       unexpectedly      B. curiously        C. apologetically D.  definitely

4. A.       booklet       B. novel              C.       book          D. letter

5. A.       sounded   B. spoke  C.    seemed    D. continued

6. A.       hung      B.       nodded       C. shook       D. kept

7. A.       anyhow   B.    hardly     C.    almost     D. really

8. A.       friendship       B.    family     C.    leadership       D. colleague

9. A.       could      B. might  C.    maybe     D. would

10. A.     writing    B.    reading    C.    talking    D. earning

11. A.      up    B.    with C.    on    D. in

12. A.     found      B.    written    C.    known     D. seen

13. A.     curriculum      B.    coincidence     C.    life  D. way

14. A. Eventually   B.    Actually  C.    Additionally   D. Besides

15. A. removed      B.    left  C.    headed    D. moved

16. A.     even though    B.    as though C.    when       D. whereas

17. A.     Died       B. Suffered     C. Choked      D. Survived

18. A.     ever B.    even C.    fairly      D. quite

19. A.     appeal          B. reply    C.    adapt       D. talk

20.   A.    take up         B. pick up          C. come up             D. break up

Many years ago there lived a young couple in a small town. The husband was out of job for a long time and the wife   36 make a living by sewing for others. They were so poor that there was almost nothing in the house but a jar under a  37 table, in  38 was a little rice  39 from their neighbor for the coming New Year. 40 New Year’s Eve, the wife had already fallen asleep, but the husband was  41  in bed, worrying about the life. Suddenly he heard something. In the darkness he saw a man breaking into the room.
“It  42   be a thief.” He thought, “but it  43   matter, there is nothing that can be 44 .” So he  45  to be asleep and kept watching over the thief.
The thief began to 46 the room. At last he found the rice in the jar.
“But  47 can I take it away?” the thief thought hard. Then he had an idea. He 48 his coat and spread it on the ground between the bed and the table. After that he turned round to take the jar.
Now the husband realized what the thief 49 . He picked up the coat quickly and 50 himself with it while the thief was turning around.
The thief 51 the jar, poured the rice out on the place where he had just spread his coat and squatted (蹲) down to feel it. But to his surprise, his coat had  52  .
“Hey”, he couldn’t help 53  out. The   54  woke up the wife. She asked her husband, “Did you hear any sound? Maybe there is a thief in the room.”
“ Nonsense(胡说)!” replied her husband. “Go back to sleep. There is no thief in the room.”
“No, that’s   55  ,” the thief shouted loudly. “If there isn’t a thief, then, where’s my coat?”

第三部分：阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读下列短文，从每篇短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”
Wally smiled into the back-view mirror.
“No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the taxi drivers do. Then I heard the personal growth of Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Distinguish yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles fly high above the crowd.’”
“That hit me right between the eyes. Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other taxis and their drivers. The taxis were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”
“I take it that has paid off for you,” I said.
“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple(增四倍) it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at taxi-stands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a trustworthy friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a first-class service out of a Yellow Taxi.
I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty taxi drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally, the Taxi Driver, made a different choice.
51.   The underlined word “phenomenal” means ______.
A．easy-going           B．warm-hearted      C．flexible              D．remarkable
52.   Wally doesn’t park his taxi at taxi-stands just because _______.
A．his income doubles.
B．his taxi is usually fully booked
C．he has a company of his own.
D．he has a look of a disgusting eagle
53.   Wally’s income doubled when he improved his service about ______.
A．one year ago                                        B．two years ago
C．five years ago                                       D．seven years ago
54.   After reading the passage we may draw a safe conclusion that ______.
A．kindness must be rewarded
B．it’s easy to say but hard to do
C．good service pays off in the end
D．the early bird catches the worm

第三部分：阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)

阅读下列短文，从每篇短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the back-view mirror.

“No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the taxi drivers do. Then I heard the personal growth of Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Distinguish yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles fly high above the crowd.’”

“That hit me right between the eyes. Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other taxis and their drivers. The taxis were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” I said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple(增四倍) it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at taxi-stands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a trustworthy friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a first-class service out of a Yellow Taxi.

I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty taxi drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally, the Taxi Driver, made a different choice.

51.   The underlined word “phenomenal” means ______.

A．easy-going           B．warm-hearted      C．flexible              D．remarkable

52.   Wally doesn’t park his taxi at taxi-stands just because _______.

A．his income doubles.

B．his taxi is usually fully booked

C．he has a company of his own.

D．he has a look of a disgusting eagle

53.   Wally’s income doubled when he improved his service about ______.

A．one year ago                                        B．two years ago

C．five years ago                                       D．seven years ago

54.   After reading the passage we may draw a safe conclusion that ______.

A．kindness must be rewarded

B．it’s easy to say but hard to do

C．good service pays off in the end

D．the early bird catches the worm

Many years ago there lived a young couple in a small town. The husband was out of job for a long time and the wife   36 make a living by sewing for others. They were so poor that there was almost nothing in the house but a jar under a  37 table, in  38 was a little rice  39 from their neighbor for the coming New Year. 40 New Year’s Eve, the wife had already fallen asleep, but the husband was  41  in bed, worrying about the life. Suddenly he heard something. In the darkness he saw a man breaking into the room.

“It  42   be a thief.” He thought, “but it  43   matter, there is nothing that can be 44 .” So he  45  to be asleep and kept watching over the thief.

The thief began to 46 the room. At last he found the rice in the jar.

“But  47 can I take it away?” the thief thought hard. Then he had an idea. He 48 his coat and spread it on the ground between the bed and the table. After that he turned round to take the jar.

Now the husband realized what the thief 49 . He picked up the coat quickly and 50 himself with it while the thief was turning around.

The thief 51 the jar, poured the rice out on the place where he had just spread his coat and squatted (蹲) down to feel it. But to his surprise, his coat had  52  .

“Hey”, he couldn’t help 53  out. The   54  woke up the wife. She asked her husband, “Did you hear any sound? Maybe there is a thief in the room.”

“ Nonsense(胡说)!” replied her husband. “Go back to sleep. There is no thief in the room.”

“No, that’s   55  ,” the thief shouted loudly. “If there isn’t a thief, then, where’s my coat?”

1.                A．was able to      B．wanted to       C．had to    D．would

2.                A．good           B．old            C．nice D．broken

3.                A．it              B．which          C．where    D．that

4.                A．borrowed       B．asked          C．lent  D．taken

5.                A．During         B．At             C．In   D．On

6.                A．working        B．sewing         C．lying D．thinking

7.                A．will            B．must           C．can  D．may

8.                A．isn’t          B．wasn’t        C．doesn’t D．didn’t

9.                A．lost            B．carried         C．destroyed D．stolen

10.               A．pretended      B．tried           C．decided   D．started

11.               A．look into        B．search         C．discover   D．examine

12.               A．what           B．when          C．why  D．how

13.               A．used           B．took off        C．put on D．brought

14.               A．had done       B．did            C．would do  D．could do

15.               A．hung          B．covered        C．studied    D．dressed

16.               A．shook          B．laid            C．lifted D．touched

17.               A．lost            B．missed         C．left   D．disappeared

18.               A．to cry          B．crying          C．to jump   D．jumping

19.               A．sound          B．voice          C．noise D．saying

20.               A．right           B．all right         C．nothing   D．impossible