I still remember my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened. On my way to school I wondered what sort of questions the other boys would ask me and practiced all the answers: “I am nine years old. I was born here but I haven’t lived here since I was two. I was living in Farley. It’s about thirty miles away. I came back to London two months ago.” I also wondered if it was the custom for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age. I hoped they would decide not to risk it.

No one took any notice of me before school. I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say “hello”, but no one spoke to me. When a teacher called my name and told me where my classroom was, one or two boys looked at me but that was all.

My teacher was called Mr. Jones. There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn’t stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon. Mr. Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens and he had decided to read aloud to us from David Copperfield, but first he asked several boys if they knew Dickens’ birthplace, but no one guessed right. A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said: “Timbuktu”, and Mr. Jones went red in the face. Then he asked me. I said: “Portsmouth”, and everyone stared at me because Mr. Jones said I was right. This didn’t make me very popular, of course.

“He thinks he’s clever,” I heard Brian say.

After that, we went out to the playground to play football. I was in Brian’s team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal. No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper.

“He’s big enough and useless enough.” Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me.

I suppose Mr. Jones, who served as the judge, remembered Dickens, too, because when the game was nearly over, Brian pushed one of the players on the other team, and he gave them a penalty (惩罚). As the boy kicked the ball to my right, I threw myself down instinctively (本能地) and saved it. All my team crowded round me. My bare knees were injured and bleeding. Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me.

“Do you want to join my gang (帮派)?” he said.

At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger.

1.The writer prepared to answer all of the following questions EXCEPT “          ”.

2.We can learn from the passage that           .

3.The underlined part “I didn’t stand out” in paragraph 3 means that the writer was not       .

4.The writer was offered a handkerchief because          .

The small unframed painting called “Fisherman” was signed by a little-known Italian artist, Maveleone (1669-1740). When it was sold recently in New York for $27,000, the seller, Mr. Oliver Pitt, was asked to explain how the picture had come into his possession.

Pitt said, “I didn’t know it was so valuable. I’m not an art expert. Photography is my hobby. I bought ‘Fisherman’ in Italy in 1970 for $140. The picture was dirty, and I couldn’t see the artist’s signature. But anyway it wasn’t the picture that I liked. I bought it because of the frame. ”

“It’s a most unusual frame, made of tiny, silvery sea-shells. They are set in such a way that they reflect perfect light onto the surface of a picture. I now have a photograph of my wife in that frame, and I’ll never part with it.”

“When I returned to New York I showed the painting in its frame to a customs officer. I told him that I had paid $140 for it but admitted I didn’t know its actual worth. The customs man valued it at $140, and I was asked to pay duty on that value. I did so, there and then. ” 

“Later, I took off the frame, and that uncovered Maveleone’s signature. My wife suggested in fun that the painting might be a valuable one, so I cleaned it and put it up for sale.”

As a result of this explanation, Oliver Pitt had to appear in court. He was accused of knowingly making a false statement of the value of a picture so as to cheat the Customs Department.

Pitt was not happy. “I told the truth as I knew it then,” he said, “What else could I say?”

And then the judge agreed with him. “The Customs Department is to be responsible,” he said, “for making a true valuation of goods brought into the country, so that the correct amount of duty may be charged. Mr. Pitt did not cause or try to cause the mistake that was made. He paid the duty that was demanded. If, now, the Customs Department finds that its valuation was not correct, it cannot be allowed to have another try. Pitt is not guilty”.

When Oliver Pitt bought the picture, ________.

    A. it was unframed                     B. Maveleone signed the deal

    C. he suggested that it was valuable        D. it was the frame that attracted him 

From the passage we can infer that if Maveleone had been a well-known artist,        _.

    A. the painting would have cost much more than $ 140

    B. he wouldn’t have sold his painting

    C. the customs officer wouldn’t have been cheated

    D. Pitt wouldn’t have had the intention to buy any of his paintings

Pitt took off the frame probably in order to        _.

    A. clean the painting to put it up for sale

    B. look for the artist’s signature

    C. use it for his wife’s photograph

    D. find the painting’s true value

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the story?  

    A. In the end Pitt was asked to pay the correct amount of duty.

    B. In the end Pitt sold the frame of the painting at an even higher price.

    C. In the end the Customs Department had no right to revalue the painting.

    D. In the end Pitt’s wife was regarded as an expert because of her wise suggestion.

I remember my math teacher Mr. Young very well. He stood out because the kids made fun d him. He was missing one of his fingers, and always pointed at students with his middle finger.

I was not very good at English and math. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not figure out why I did not understand what all the other kids found so easy to learn.

One day, I was told that if I got one more E on my report card, I would be taken to the “big person for kids”

I tried really hard for weeks. I just couldn't understand how to make different parts of members into whole things.

The day before report cards were to come out, 1 knew that Mr. Young would give me an E, just like he always did.

I went to Mr. Young and told him that the orphanage (孤儿院) was going to send me to the big person if I got another E on my report card. He told me there was nothing he could do; it would be unfair to the other kids if he gave me a better grade than I had actually earned.

I smiled at him and said, "Mr. Young, do you know how the kids make fun of you because you’re missing your finger?" He looked at me, moved his mouth to one side and said nothing.

“They shouldn’t do that to you because you can't help having a finger, Mr. Young. Just like I can’t help not being able to learn numbers and stuff like that.” I said

The next day, when I got my report card, I tucked it into one of my books. While on the school bus, I opened it: Geography, B+; Mechanical Drawing, C-; English, D-l; History, C-; Gym, B+; Art, C; Math, D-.

That math grade was the most favorite one I ever received. Because I knew that someone in the world finally understood what it was like for me to be missing a finger inside my head.

59. From the second paragraph we can infer that the boy is _________ in some subjects.

A. mind-blowing (给人印象极深的 )         B. slow-witted (头脑迟钝的)

C. fun-loving                              D. badly- behaved

60. Where may the boy live according to the passage?

A. In an orphanage.    B. In a big prison.   C. In the school dormitory.      D. In his home.

61. What grade should the boy have got in the math test this time?

A. D-.                  B. B +               C. D.                     D. E.

62. The underlined word "tucked" in the passage most probably means “________”.

A. stuck             B. listed               C. hid                   D. copied

63. The reason why the boy remembers Mr. Young is that ________.

A. he missed one of his fingers               B. he treated his students very well

B
A man noticed his father alive on television — five years after he thought he had cremated(火化) him. A body discovered three years after his disappearance in 2000 was thought to be the pensioner (a retired person), but it’s now emerged(显出) it wasn’t.
When John Delaney disappeared, he was spending much of his time living outside, and sleeping on the streets. He was last seen in a hospice(收容所) in Manchester. His family searched the streets of the city for him but had no luck. So when a badly-rotten body was found in the grounds of the Manchester Royal Infirmary in 2003, wearing similar clothes, police believed it was Mr Delaney and his family held a funeral.
But earlier this year his son, John Renehan, saw a picture of his father on a BBC programme.
An appeal was being made for anyone who knew the man — who had memory loss—to give information.
John Renehan:
Well I knew at that very moment that was my dad. I knew at that very moment. Obviously his face, it was a bit changed, but I just knew at that very moment that was my dad. It emerged that John Delaney had been living in a care home for the last eight years.
Police have admitted they made mistakes and their enquiries were insufficient. Mr Delaney’s son now wants to know the identity of the man he cremated — thinking it was his father.
41．John Renehan cremated his “father”         .
A．in 2003                  B．in 2000                   C．in 2005                   D．in 2008
42．What mistake did police make?
A．They couldn’t find Mr Delaney as soon as possible.
B．In 2003, they took a badly-rotten body for Mr Delaney.
C．They didn’t give any information to John Renehan.
D．They made John Renehan cremate the rotten body.
43．The most probable reason why Delaney disappeared was that        .
A．he had memory loss.                                   B．his family disliked him
C．he liked to live outside                     D．he met with a friendly family
44．It can be inferred from the passage that Delaney       .
A．has recovered his memory
B．often quarrelled with his family
C．loitered(游荡) in the streets for 5 years
D．was once a man with luck
45．Which of the following is the best title?
A．A Badly-rotten Body                                   B．Missing Body
C．Missing Father                                       D．Dead Father

III. Reading Comprehension 40%
Section A 30%
Directions：Read the following four passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
A
Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route—through the boot(行李箱).
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch(沟渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape. Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot.
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and jumped out of the ditch.”
His hands and arms cut and bruised(擦伤), Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.
41. What is the best title for this newspaper article?
A. The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman
B. Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route
C. Driver Escapes Through Car Boot
D. The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident
42. Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson?
A. The hammer.     B. The coin.  C.The screw.         D. The horn.
43. Which statement is true according to the passage?
A. Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down.
B. Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam.
C. Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the slippery road.
D. Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat.
44. “Finally it gave” (Paragraph 4) means that _______. 
A. Luckily the door was torn away in the end
B. At last the hammer went broken
C. The lock came open after all his efforts
D. The chance was lost at the last minute
45. It may be inferred from the passage that _______. 
A. the ditch was along a quiet country road
B. the accident happened on a clear warm day
C. the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch
D. Mr. Johnson had a tender wife and was well attended