Adults（成年人）usually do not remember most of the things that are taught by their teachers at school. But this story is one such lesson that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I think of this story.

       It was a normal Monday morning, and my teacher was teaching us on important things in life and about devoting ourselves to what is important to us. This is how the story went:

       An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get onto the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg（乞讨）. He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years.

       His house was dirty, and a stench (恶臭) came out of the house and it smelled terrible. The neighbors could not stand the smell any more, so they called for the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years.

       The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire (百万富翁). They waited outside his house expecting to share the good news with him. When the old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire.

       But the old man said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, sat at the street corner and continued to beg.

       Clearly, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant (有意义的) for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than（除了）staying focused on（专心于）the things we enjoy doing.

The underlined part in the first paragraph may mean ______.

A. I get tired of learning my subjects

B. I fail to listen to lessons attentively

C. I go in the wrong direction of life

D. I wouldn’t like to go to school

The neighbor called the police because ______.

A. the old man kept begging money from them every day

B. there was something dangerous in the old man’s house

C. the old man wouldn’t buy tickets for the train

D. they couldn’t bear the smell from the old man’s house

When the old man knew he was a millionaire, he ______.

A. remained calm        B. became excited  

C. felt worried         D. became nervous

What lesson do we learn from the story?

A. Make great plans for your life.          

B. Keep on doing what you like.

C. Do something that is good to society.     

D. Depend on yourself rather than others.   

Testing has taken the place of teaching in most public schools. Pretests, drills, tests, and retests. They know that the best way to read a textbook is to look at the questions at the end of the chapter and then read the text quickly for the answers. I believe that my daughter Erica, who gets excellent marks, has never read a chapter of any of her school textbooks all the way through. And teachers are often heard to say proudly and openly that they teach to the test.

Teaching to the test is a curious phenomenon（现象）. Instead of deciding what skills students ought to learn, helping students learn them, and then using some methods of assessment（评价） to discover whether students have mastered the skills, teachers are encouraged to teach the students in the opposite way. First one looks at a test. Then one chooses the skills needed not to master reading, but to do well in the test. Finally, the test skills are taught.

The ability to read or write might suggest the ability to do reasonably well on standardized tests. However, neither reading nor writing develops simply through being taught to take tests. We must be careful to avoid mistaking preparations for a test of a skill with the acquisition（习得）of that skill. Too many discussions of basic skills make this misunderstanding because people are tested rather than concerned with the nature and quality of what is taught.

Recently, many schools have faced what could be called the crisis of comprehension or, in simple words, the phenomenon of students with grammar skills still being unable to understand what they read. These students are quite good at test taking and filling in workbooks. However, they have little or no experience reading or thinking, and talking about what they read. They know the details but can’t see or understand the whole. They are taught to be so concerned with grades that they have no time to think about meaning, and reread things if necessary.

1. The author mentions Erica’s performance in her study in order to show_________.

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

3. In the author’s opinion, __________.

4.By “crisis of comprehension” (in Paragraph 4) the author means many students ______.

LONDON Thursday July 26 (Reuters)―Eddy missed his girlfriend Anna so much he flew back to Britain from Australia to propose（求婚）to her. The problem is she did the same in the opposite direction.

       He and Anna even managed to miss each other when they sat in the same airport waiting room in Singapore at the same time to wait for connecting flights.

       Anna, heartbroken when she arrived at Eddy’s Sydney flat to find he had flown to London, told The Times: “It was as though someone was playing a cruel joke on us.”

       “He is the most romantic person I have ever known .I think our problem is that we are both quite impulsive（冲动的）people. We are always trying to surprise each other.”

       After an 11,000-mile flight across the globe, she was greeted by Eddy’s astonished roommate asking what she was doing there.

       Eddy, a 27-year-old engineer ,had taken a year off to travel round Australia .But he was missing Anna ,a 26-year-old secretary, so much he got a job on a Sydney building site（工地）and started saving for a surprise.

       He then flew home to Britain and went to her flat armed with an engagement（订婚）ring, wine and flowers.

       “I really missed Anna and I’d been thinking about her all the time. I was so excited when she phoned me from Australia,” he said.

       Eddy then asked Anna to marry him on the phone. “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but I accepted,” she said.

       Anna was given a tour of Sydney by Eddy’s friends before going back home .Eddy had to stay in Britain for two weeks because he could not change his ticket.

45．What does the last sentence of the first paragraph tell us?

       A．Anna flew to Britain from Australia to marry him.

       B．Anna flew to Australia from Britain to marry him.

       C．Anna flew to Britain from Australia to propose to him.

       D．Anna flew to Australia from Britain to propose to him.

46．The underlined word “miss” in paragraph 2 most probably means      .

       A．escape from                                        B．fail to understand

       C．fail to meet                                          D．long to see

47．Eddy got a job on a Sydney building site because he      .

       A．wanted to travel round Australia

       B．needed money to pay his daily cost

       C．was an engineer at this building site

       D．hoped to make money from this job

48．Which of the following is TRUE about Eddy and Anna according to the text?

       A．Eddy proposed to Anna on the phone and Anna accepted.

       B．Anna stayed in Australia waiting for Eddy’s arrival.

       C．Anna had a good time touring Sydney with Eddy.

       D．Eddy met Anna in the airport waiting room by chance.

The power of humor and laugher is numerous. They entertain us and make us feel good. But, above all, we have discovered that humor and laughter are the best medicine. They relieve pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and are anti-aging and longevity facilitators（促进者）.

They are extremely necessary for helping us to find and maintain a balance between life and work. However, they are slipping away from us. We have become far too serious. The only ones who still enjoy humor, laughter, fun and play to the fullest are young children. Children tend to laugh an average of 200 times a day. For adults, however, it is a totally different story.

In the 1950s people laughed on average 18 times a day. Today, we are lucky if we average between 4-6 times a day.

As a matter of fact, a recent study found that people laugh 6 more times in the presence of one person but 30 more times in a group of people. You can get a chuckle(咯咯笑) from jokes you get on the Internet, but it is not the same as belly jiggling laughter (a deep laugh) you get when you interact with others.

Socializing(交际) with friends and relatives was much looked forward to. However, this is no longer the case. In fact, the majority of people can hardly find time, nor do they have the inclination towards socializing outside home. They turn to electronic media such as television, computers, the Internet, videos, CDs, and audio equipment, which can provide them with instant self-entertainment at the push of a button.

The workplace does not fare(进展) much better. Due to the pressures to produce more in the same or fewer hours available and to compete, for example, in a manufacturing field with cheaper labor elsewhere in the world, humor and laughter in the workplace have gradually eroded（逐渐毁坏） away.

I have developed a real appreciation, perhaps closer to a strong desire for the power of humor and laughter. This encouraged me to write my first book titled “The Power of Humor” and subsequently my second book titled “Kids Say the Goggonest Things” based on the natural humor, laughter, play and fun that kids experience and they freely share with parents, grandparents and teachers.

From writing about humor and laughter, people start to ask me to speak up for them. To date, I have developed a number of humor-laughter topics that I use in my keynote presentations. You are invited to subscribe to my free monthly e-magazine “The Humormeister’s Forum” by clicking on the Free Humor E-zine navigation button on the website.

1.According to the author, laughter is leaving us partly because ________.

A. the pace of change in our lives is becoming faster

B. we fail to reflect on fun times in our lives

C. we treat everything in a serious way

D. humor of situations lies beneath

2.The fourth paragraph mainly tells us that ________.

A. researchers have made a new discovery about the effect of laughter

B. people laugh more heartily when spending time with others

C. we can entertain ourselves with the help of the Internet

D. getting a deep laugh nowadays is difficult

3.The underlined word “inclination” in Paragraph 5 most probably means “________”.

A. destination     B. tendency      C. attitude             D. approach

4.Which of the following articles can we most probably find in “The Humormeister’s Forum”?

A. The power of honesty.                                      

B. Don’t be your own worst enemy.

C. Live life purposefully: The relationship within.

D. Funny Christmas stories to share with your loved ones.

　　If you met her at a party, you would notice how attractive she is. If you only heard her soft voice, you would want her as a considerate friend.

　　But if you came across her work, you would be surprised to discover that Yu Hongyan（于红岩）is the efficient（能干的）general manager of the Zhaodaola Internet Co Ltd，a major player on the Internet.

　　Yu, who prefers to be called Ruby, is the founder of Zhaodaola, the Website devoted to the fashionable（流行的）lifestyles of city women.

　　Yu describes herself as a witness to the growth of the Internet in China.

　　When her father encouraged her to major in the computer at college in 1979, Yu did not suspect（怀疑）what computers would mean to her own life. They bored her, and she tried to remove interest in them.

　　“It's difficult for me to give up something once I start,” she said.“My motto（座右铭）is ' stick to something and you will accomplish it. '”

　　And she did． Since its founding, Zhaodaola has become one of the most popular sites among city women. More than 500,000 visit it every day.

　　The site is“purple and pink”.“Purple” refers to problems concerning men and women , including sexual education.“Pink” refers to the romantic side of white-collar life.

　　“I want women to speak up about their real selves on our website,” Yu aid.“I want them to be braver and more independent.”

　　Yu has lived abroad for the past 16 years. She speaks as a woman familiar with the ways women in other countries think and live.

    “I want to show that Net surfing is not hard for women. Just do it. You'll find interesting things there.”she promised.

(1) From the passage，we can see Yu Hongyan is a woman of ______.

[　　]

A．self-importance

B．strong-will and self-confidence

C．self-respect

D．self-consideration

(2) The romantic side of white-collar life in paragraph 8 means ______.

[　　]

A．the romantic side of tile life of the office workers

B．the romantic side of the life of the office workers wearing white-collar shirts

C．the romantic side of the life of the office managers

D．the romantic side of the life of city women

(3) Which of the following is the most suitable title for the passage?

[　　]

A．At First Bored with Computer, but Yu Mastered it Then.

B．Efficiency Has No Gender（性别）

C．City Women Have More to Say than City Men

D．Purple and Pink

(4) The underlined word“accomplish” probably means ______.

[　　]

A．succeed in doing

B．fail to do

C．give up

D．go on with