Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.
　　He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.
　　He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find something to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea.
　　At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.
　　While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.
　　Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”
　　No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.
　　Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”
　　Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing.”
　　“I’m going swimming. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work. You seem to like it very much.”

“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
　　Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,
　　“Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
　　Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind.
　　“No, no, it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”
　　“No — is that so? Oh come, let me just try. Only just a little.”
　　“Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly ...”
　　“Oh, I’ll be careful. Now let me try. I’ll give you half of my apple.”
　　“Well, here — No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afraid ...”
　　“I’ll give you all of it.”
　　Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures. The fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.
　　He had discovered a great law of human action that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get. 
72. Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?
   A. Because he was tired and wanted to play with his toys.
   B. Because he wanted to exchange his toys with his friends.
   C. Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends. 
   D. Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys.
73. Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because    

______.
   A. Tom wanted to do the whitewashing himself
   B. Tom planned to make Ben give up his apple first
   C. Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing
   D. Tom was afraid Ben couldn’t do the whitewashing well.
74. We can learn from the passage that ______.
   A. Tom was fond of whitewashing the fence
   B. Tom had a lot of friends who were ready to help him
   C. Tom managed to let other boys do the whitewashing for him
   D. Tom was better at whitewashing the fence than others

75. Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
   A. The Happy Whitewasher       B. Tom And His Fellows
   C. Whitewashing A Fence          D. How To Make Things Difficult To Get

“I grew up on Jackson’s music and I still have all his stuff on My iPod. I think that Michael Jackson will go down in history as one of our greatest entertainers. His brilliance as a performance also was paired with a tragic and in many ways，sad personal life.”

Michael Jackson was a singer，songwriter，dancer and celebrity icon with a vast catalog of hit records and countless awards to his credit. Beyond that，he had transfixed the world like few entertainers before or since. As a solo performer，he had enjoyed a level of superstardom previously known   ——Barack Obama

only to Elvis Presley，the Beatles and  Frank Sinatra.

Michael Jackson was unquestionably the biggest pop star of the 80s’，and certainly one of the most popular recording artists of all time.

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29,1958.The fifth and youngest son of steelworker Joe Jackson，Michael displayed a talent for music and dance from an extremely young age. His father began to organize a family musical group around his three eldest sons in 1962，and Michael joined them the following year，quickly establishing himself as a dynamic stage performer. Dubbed the Jackson 5，the group signed to Motown in 1968 and issued their debut single in October 1969，when Michael was just 11 years old. I Want You Back，ABC，The Love You Save and I’ll Be There all hit number one in 1970，making the Jackson 5 the first group in pop history to have their first four singles top the charts. Later in 1972，Jackson had his first number one solo single，Ben. In 1977，he met producer/composer Quincy Jones for the first time. With Jones producing，Jackson recorded his first solo album as an adult，Off the Wall.

Released（发行） in 1982，the Quincy Jones produced Thriller refined the strengths of Off the Wall：the dance and rock tracks were more driving，the pop tunes and ballads softer and more soulful，and all of it was recognizably Michael. There was no surprise that Thriller was a hit；what was a surprise was its staying power .Jackson’s duet with McCartney，The Girl Is Mine，was a natural single choice，and it peaked at number two；then Billie Jean and the Van Halen track Beat It both hit number one，for seven and three weeks respectively.

Michael Jackson died from heart disease on June 25 at age 50.

1.What does Barack Obama mean by saying “His brilliance as a performance also was paired with a tragic and in many ways，sad personal life”？

A．Michael Joseph Jackson was a success in his career as well as in life.

B．Michael Joseph Jackson was a success in his career.

C．Michael Joseph Jackson led a happy life.

D．Michael Joseph Jackson gained a lot in his career，but he also suffered a lot in his life.

2.According to the passage，which of the following is NOT true?

A．Barack Obama likes Michael Jackson’s song very much.

B．Barack Obama and Michael Jackson are good friends.

C．Michael is good at music as well as at dance.

D．Michael Jackson had his first number one solo single when he was 14 years old.

3.Choose the right time order of the following events.

a．Barack Obama，President of the US，assessed the whole life of Michael Jackson.

b．The family musical group signed to Motown.

c．Michael joined the family musical group.

d．His father began to organize a family musical group.

e．Thriller became a hit.

A．a－c－e－b－d  　　  B．d－c－b－e－a

C．b－e－a－c－d  　　  D．d－e－b－c－a

4.What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?

A．Michael Jackson’s job.  　　B．How Michael Jackson performed.

C．Michael Jackson’s great achievements.  D．Michael Jackson’s life.

第三部分　阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）

第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

It was getting dark when Lisa was returning from teaching out in a small community. She’d been traveling the same route for over a year and there was seldom traffic on this highway.

Lisa remembered back to her previous experiences. In those days she was constantly picking up strangers on the road. Her family became greatly concerned about her safety, but she continued the practice until the day her sister told her that one of her friends had been shot by a hitchhiker (搭便车者). That was when the family heard the promise, “No more hitchhikers, I promise!”

When she thought back to these things, she suddenly noticed that a car was parked on the road ahead. Then she saw a man waving. He was in trouble, she thought. But suddenly she remembered the promise. She knew this road well and the chances of another car coming along to help were very little. Now as the man ran toward her car she shook with fear, and didn’t know if he was truly in need. She could not leave him here in this storm. The stranger explained that his car was broken. She knew she had to break the promise. She told him to get in. They drove for an hour into the next city and she took him to a telephone box. She waited until he had made a call. When he reported back to her that a family member would soon be there for him, she wished him well and left.

Tears fell on her cheeks as she drove away. It felt as though she had been holding her breath for an hour. “I hope they’ll understand why I had to break my promise.”

56. We can learn from the text that Lisa promised______.

A. not to pick up free riders on her way home

B. not to drive home alone when it was late

C. to help those whose cars were broken

D. to learn from the friend of her sister’s

57. Which of the following can best describe Lisa?

A. Careful and serious         B. Faithful and clever   

C. Kind and helpful           D. Brave and patient

58. What was Lisa’s attitude toward her breaking the promise?

A. It was very serious.          

B. It should be forgiven    

C. She was too nervous to go home.

D. She felt regretful about her mistakes.

59. What would be the best title for the text?

A. Lisa’s adventure             B. An unusual travel     

C. Strangers’ kindness            D. The broken promise

One day in l965, when I worked at View Ridge School in Seattle, a fourth-grade teacher approached me. She had a student who finished his work before all the others and needed a challenge. "Could he help in the library?" She asked. I said, "Send him along."

　　Soon a slight, sandy-haired boy in jeans and a T-shift appeared. "Do you have a job for me?" he asked.

　　I told him about the Dewey Decimal System for shelving books. He picked up the idea immediately. Then I showed him a stack of cards for long-overdue books that I was beginning to think had actually been returned but were misshelved with the wrong cards in them. He said, "Is it kind of a detective job?" I answered yes, and he became working.

　　He had found three books with wrong cards by the time his teacher opened the door and announced, "Time for break!" He argued for finishing the finding job; She made the case for fresh air. She won.

　　The next morning, he arrived early. "I want to finish these books," he said. At the end of the day, when he asked to be a librarian on a regular basis, it was easy to say yes. He worked untiringly.

　　After a few weeks I found a note on my desk, inviting me to dinner at the boy's home. At the end of a pleasant evening, his mother announced that the family would be moving to neighbouring school district. Her son's first concern, she said, was leaving the View Ridge library. "Who will find the lost books?" he asked.

　　When the time came, I said a reluctant good-bye. I missed him, but not for long. A few days later he came back and joyfully announced: "The librarian over there doesn't let boys work in the library. My mother got me transferred back to View Ridge. My dad will drop me off on his way to work. And if he can’t, I'll walk!"

I should have had an inkling(感觉) such focused determination would take that young man wherever he wanted to go. What I could not have guessed, however, was that he would become a wizard of the Information Age: Bill Gates, tycoon of Microsoft and America's richest man.

What was the author when the story happened?

       A. A teacher.                 B. A librarian.               C. A detective.              D. A professor.

What was the boy told to do on his first day in the library?

A. To rearrange the books according to the new system.

B. To put those overdue books back to the shelves.

C. To find out the books with wrong cards in them.

D. To put the cards back in the long-overdue books.

The boy got transferred back to View Ridge because _______.

A. he did not like his life in the new school                            

B. the transportation there was not convenient

C. he missed his old schoolmates and teachers

D. he was not allowed to work in the school library

What impressed the author most was that the boy _______.

A. had a thirst for learning                               B. had a strong will

C. was extremely quick at learning                            D. had a kind heart

For most of the day construction worker Sidney Smith and his brother – in – law Joseph Chambers had been   21  along the banks of Lake Waco with little   22 . Chambers suggested they go home, but Smith　33　　that there were still several hours of daylight　24　　and there was one other place they might try a bit longer before 　25　.
Smith drove his pickup（小货车）a couple of miles along the　26　road to get to the other side of the lake. This road, in the truest sense, was a path wagging in the heavy　27　area. Even with the sun still high in the cloudless sky, the　28　of trees formed a leafy　29　over the road and it suddenly seemed 　30　in the evening.
“A guy could get lost and nobody would ever find him,” said Chambers.
Smith smiled, “We’re　31　there.” He said. A few seconds later, the smile was 　32　　from his face.
“What the hell is that?”
　　He braked to a stop. Less than twenty feet away was what appeared to be a  33 .
　　For several minutes the two men sat in the pickup　34　to decide whether they had happened to　35　someone’s bad practical joke or something far more serious. Smith with his brother-in-law got out of the pickup and 　36　walked towards that thing some distance before them.
It was a young man who was already dead. They had got to tell　37　. Back into the pickup, Smith backed the pickup down the road　38　he could turn around, then　39　back. With the dead young man still on his mind, Smith felt as if he was going to be sick. God, how he　40　　they had given up fishing and gone home early.