A few years ago, when I was still in high school, I met a wonderful and warm teacher. At that time in my life, there were many changes to adjust to, apart from the usual teenage troubles. My parents had divorced, so my elder brother and I had chosen to stay with my dad. Due to the fact that he was keeping the house, we didn’t have to move.
During this time, my teacher took a special interest in me. Being my English teacher, she encouraged my mind to travel to creativity I had long given up. She brought me out of the shell I built.
She became my mother, my older sister, my friend and my teacher. The one thing she couldn’t do though was to make me more girly as growing up with only my dad and brother made me a real tomboy.
Sometimes, I would be really immature（不成熟的）, especially if she was scoring me less than others on purpose. She knew I could do better than what I was handing in and so pushed me to extend further than limits.
When I finished school and then after college I was about to leave my hometowns she gifted me a watch that every second, with my pulse, should remind me of the one person who will forever wait and love me without reservation.
Time has passed and our friendship is distant, but in my heart, soul and mind, she is the closest I ever got.
【小题1】The writer and her elder brother chose to live with their father simply because _________.

Bursting into the classroom from recess(学生的课间休息), 15 children take their seats and face the woman they know as Ms. Yang.
“What day is it today?”she asks, in Mandarin(普通话的旧称) Chinese.
“Confucius’ birthday!”the fifth graders shout in Mandarin.
“Why do we celebrate Confucius’ birthday?”
“Because he’s the greatest teacher in the history of China!”exclaims a brown-haired girl. She too is speaking Mandarin.
English is rarely heard in Lisa Yang’s class at the Chinese American International School(CAIS), despite the fact that few students are native speakers of Mandarin.
The United States is actively trying to increase the group of students in“critical languages”such as Mandarin. The students at CAIS are way ahead in such a trend.
Mandarin explosion in America
Founded 25 years ago, this small private school in San Francisco, USA, does what few other American schools do: It produces fully fluent speakers of Mandarin Chinese, by far the most commonly spoken language in the world.
Mandarin Chinese is suddenly hot in American schools. As China becomes the world’s leading economy sometimes this century, schools in the U.S. are scrambling to add Mandarin to their roster of foreign languages or expand Chinese programs already in place.
“It really is almost unprecedented(无前例的). People are looking at China as a force to be reckoned with…And to ensure that the U.S. has the ability to conduct trade, and to work with the Chinese, certainly having an understanding of Chinese language and culture is an advantage,”said Marty Abbott of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL)(美国外语教学协会).
Cultural differences in teaching styles
To develop Chinese-language programs has not been smooth. A shortage of trained teachers has made it difficult for some schools to join the race. When schools do get teachers, they often hire them straight from China, and the teachers usually suffer culture shock when they come to the U.S.
Robert Liu remembers his first two years in an American classroom. It was not an easy adjustment. “In China, students respect their teachers,”he said. Liu found that American students, however, expect an active teaching style. He had to use games to engage them rather than lectures.
To avoid many of the problems with foreign teaching styles, the CAIS has been working with the Chinese government to improve training of teachers who are sent to the U.S.
【小题1】Which of the following is the best title?

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to find one more person in our world who is kind and caring. It was about 11:00 p.m.   16   my telephone rang. The caller ID showed the number of a Best Western Hotel.   17  , I would ignore this type of call. For some reason,   18  , I went ahead and answered.

The man on the other end asked if I knew Samual K. I   19  , as he is my 91 – year – old grandfather. Still not   20   why I was the one that had been called, the caller went on to tell me that I was the only   21   listed in the phone book. He said his name was Mason and that he was the   22   at the Best Western Hotel. The   23   was that grandpa had no money with him, and that he couldn’t   24   any phone numbers, so Mason called all over the state trying to get help.

Grandpa told me that he just wanted me to tell Mason that he is a (n)   25   guy and would pay the money once he got home. But the man in charge there was   26   because my grandfather seemed to be   27  . He had been going somewhere else when he got on the wrong bus and   28   100 miles from home.

Not wanting to turn him away and not wanting the police to   29   him to the police station, Mason,   30   any normal duty, not only took the time to   31   me, but also charged just $ 39 so that grandpa could   32   safely and comfortably overnight. (The rooms normally rent for about $ 140!) Besides, he had the staff of that hotel all   33   him until my uncle was able to drive the 100 miles to pick him up!

So, it’s just one more piece of   34   that proves that there are still good people out there; wherever you go, there is always one who   35  .

16．A．while       B．when C．after        D．before

17．A．Obviously B．Personally C．Actually   D．Generally

18．A．however   B．besides     C．otherwise  D．therefore

19．A．was   B．did    C．had   D．would

20．A．admitting  B．accepting  C．understanding   D．recognizing

21．A．neighbor   B．relative     C．colleague  D．friend

22．A．manager   B．waiter       C．mayor      D．guest

23．A．disadvantage    B．question    C．problem    D．pity

24．A．write B．remember C．repeat       D．keep

15．A．easy – going    B．generous   C．forgettable       D．okay

26．A．concerned B．disappointed     C．convinced D．surprised

27．A．hurt  B．moved      C．annoyed    D．lost

28．A．went up    B．added up   C．ended up   D．sent up

29．A．take  B．bring C．invite       D．carry

30．A．except      B．against      C．beyond     D．from

31．A．contact     B．persuade   C．warn D．approach

32．A．leave B．live   C．adapt D．stay

33．A．look for    B．watch over       C．care about D．adjust to

34．A．news B．information      C．advice      D．evidence

35．A．minds       B．cares C．sees   D．matters

三、阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分；满分30分）
A
On a cold winter morning in the late 1930s, Bobby awoke early. It was a day that Bobby would never forget. Bobby, his brother and his mother were once again abandoned(抛弃) by his father. When times got hard, the man left home. Bobby wasn’t surprised. He must take the responsibility for caring for his family.
He put on the warmest clothes he had and pulled on his old socks and torn shoes. After thinking of a way to keep his feet dry, he went outside looking for work.
Coming across some men working on the road, he joined in and worked hard for hours. Suddenly, rain poured down. “Go home and get out of this weather,” the men shouted, giving him a few coins.
Bobby used the money to buy as much food as he could afford in the nearest store. While holding a small bag of food ,Bobby stopped to adjust(调整) the thick paper in his shoes.
A man, who was a member of the Salvation Army, saw Bobby’s problem. He bought Bobby a new pair of shoes.
I wasn’t there on that cold day. But I’ve heard the story many times and can always imagine my father, as a child, dancing and wearing a pair of new shoes home.
Several years later, Bobby joined the navy. He continued to support his family and meanwhile worked for the Salvation Army so that another little boy somewhere might receive a new pair of shoes for Christmas.
The tradition lasted until my father became too ill. Daddy died six years ago. While the new shoes kept his feet warm in the 1930s, Daddy’s act of giving back for tens of years warmed his heart in a greater way.
36. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to Paragraph 1?
A. It wasn’t the first time that Bobby’s father had abandoned the family.
B. Bobby’s father was irresponsible toward his family.
C. Bobby was glad that his father left home. 
D. Bobby was an independent and strong-minded boy.
37. How did the men working on the road treat Bobby?
A. They didn’t care for him               B. They gave him some money
C. They refused to let him work with them   D. They laughed at him
38. By putting thick paper in his shoes, Bobby wanted to ___________.
A. keep his feet dry                                         B. protect his socks
C. make himself walk faster                          D. hide his poverty
39. According to the passage, people from the Salvation Army__________.
A. are the members of the army                  B. are willing to help the poor
C. serve at the local church                         D. are local shop assistants

TaIL Spin
Two dolphins race around in a big pool in the Ocean Park. The smaller dolphin Grace, shown off a few of her tricks, turning around and waving hello to the crowd. The most amazing thing about her, however, is that she’s even swimming at all. She doesn’t have a tail.
Grace lost her tail as a baby when she got caught up in a fish trap. When the dolphin arrived at the Ocean Park in December 2005, she was fighting for her life. “Is she going to make it?” Her trainer, Abbey Stone, feared the worst. Grace did make it --- but her tail didn’t. She ended up losing her flukes and the lower part of her peduncle.
Over the past six years, she has learned to swim without her tail. Dolphins swim by moving their flukes and peduncle up and down. Grace taught herself to move another way---like a fish! She pushed herself forward through the water by moving her peduncles from side to side.
The movement put harmful pressure on Grace’s backbone. So a company offered to create a man-made tail for her. The tail had to be strong enough to stay on Grace as she swam but soft enough that it wouldn’t hurt her.
The first time Grace wore the artificial tail. She soon shook it off and let it sink in the bottom of the pool. Now, she is still learning to use the tail. Some days she wears it for an hour at a time, others not at all. “The tail isn’t
necessary for her to feel comfortable,” says Stone, “but it helps to keep that range of motion(动作) and build muscles(肌肉).”
Now, the dolphin is about to get an even happier ending. This month, Grace will star in Dolphin Tale, a film that focus on her rescue and recovery. Her progress has inspired more than just a new movie. Many people travel from near and far to meet her. Seeing Grace swim with her man-made tail gives people so much courage.
【小题1】 When Grace first arrived at the Ocean Park, her trainer worried about her        .