In Victorian times, certain flowers expressed meanings because the flower selection was limited. Therefore, flower as a gift was an effective tool in social communication. With so many choices today, we have no rules in flower choosing. However, people tend to give a certain flower their own personal meaning--- maybe it can remind them of some particular friends or events. Here I would introduce the traditional meanings of some gift flowers as a reference for your flower choosing.

Carnation（康乃馨） is a good gift for your female teacher or mother, but not all kinds of carnations mean respect and love. Different colours have different meanings. Generally, carnation means “fascination and woman love”. Specifically, pink carnation means “I’ll never forget you” and red carnation says “I admire you”. But some carnations have very negative meanings. If you want to say goodbye to your girlfriend, you can send her a bunch of striped carnations or yellow ones, because it means “Sorry I can’t be with you. You disappointed me.”

Rose is no doubt the best gift for girls in love. Basically, it relates to the love between men and women, but roses with different colours stand for different stages of love. Red rose is man’s best friend when he wants to show his love to a girl. In the peak of his love, pink rose is more suitable because it means “perfect happiness and please believe me”. While the love gets into trouble, yellow rose seems to be the best symbol. It means “the decrease of love and jealousy”.

Though you are free to choose any kind of flower as long as it is beautiful, I think this brief introduction can help you avoid making mistakes. Besides, the receivers must be happier if he or she gets to know the good will you convey in flowers.

1. Why do we choose certain flowers as gifts?

A. Because they are the best gifts for you. 

B. Because flowers all look beautiful

C. Because different flowers smell good.  

D. Because they can express specific meanings.

2. In different stages of love, ________.

A. roses of different colours show love to a girl.

B. you can choose red rose at any occasion

C. yellow rose is the best symbol for your love

D. pink rose implies that your love comes to maturity(成熟).

3. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. Carnation is better than rose            B. Like the carnation, like the rose

C. Different flowers have different meanings  D. Flowers of different colours

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

As the hot tears rolled down her cheeks, I knew I had asked the wrong question. The ___21___reverberated(回荡)in my mind: Widowed or divorced? I looked into the lady’s __22___, now dampened （使潮湿）with the __23___ tears my words had caused.

    “ Well, you could call me widowed,” she replied. “ My husband ___24___ five months ago .”

    “ I am so ____25___ ,” I mumbled. “ I need it to fill out your credit application.”

    “Don’t worry about it, honey,” she ____26___. “if I never thought about it, I would not ___27____ the love and the memories we shared. Even after 50 years of ___28____ ,each passing moment would bring a deeper meaning to the word love. Now, trust me, I know how ____29___ that sounds. We had our share of challenging times, but in the end ____30___ of that mattered.”

Unsure of what to say, I laughed ___31___ . I picked up the phone to relay her information. After finally completing the credit application, I ____32____ to find myself riveted（固定） to the lady’s face again.

Her eyes began to sparkle ___33___ she continued in a heart-to-heart way. I couldn’t believe someone could open up to a perfect stranger, but it was not my place to ___34____ . I enjoyed listening to her just as much as she ___35___ having somebody to talk to.

“ Have you ever been ____ 36___?” she  asked.

I couldn’t help but ___37____. “Ah, no.” I replied. “I’m only 16.”

“Sixteen?” she murmured. “That’s a great age, an age of ____38____. There’s so much worth learning.”

She then spoke in a whipser, “Never take anyone for granted. If you are in ____39___ with someone, let it known. Otherwise, life may pass you by. Don’t spend your life angry . The ridiculous arguments which you think are important won’t even be remembered in a short time.”

Then, she hugged me and thanked me for letting her talk. As she turned to walk away, I could see that tears still hung in her eyes, but the smile that lit her face was amazing. After that,    I have never seen that woman again, but her words of inspiration still live in me. At that time, the words were only little bits of advice. Now, ___40___, they are the words which I try to live by, words that will always remind me of my special friend.

A. tunes          B.whistles              C. songs            D. words

A. eyes           B. hands               C. ears             D. arms

A. grateful        B. miserable            C. happy           D. sweet

A. failed          B. worked              C. died            D. retired

A. sorry           B. lucky               C. anxious         D. gloomy

A. encouraged      B. explained           C. persuaded        D. comforted

A. understand      B. remember           C. experience       D. enjoy

A. teaching        B. struggle             C. marriage         D. life

A. foolish         B. terrible              C. mysterious       D.wonderful

A. few            B. all                 C. some            D. none

A. loudly          B. nervously           C. bravely          D. bitterly

A. attempted       B. began              C. turned           D. went

A. as             B. because             C. before           D. until

A. comment       B. surprise             C. doubt            D. criticize

A. avoided        B. appreciated          C. imagined          D. considered

A. blamed        B. interviewed          C. married           D. employed

A. laugh          B. sigh                C. cry              D. complain

A. success        B. wonder              C.failure            D. lessons

A. peace          B. love                C. agreement        D. harmony

A.but            B. so                  C. however          D.although

完形(15%)
Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” Once __41 __, such opportunities are like valuable diamonds hidden in the sand.
Several years ago, I spoke at a school about how we were surrounded by “___42___  ” if we could only recognize them. A man stopped by to see me, and I remembered him as somebody who had suffered through a(n) ___43___ divorce (离婚) and was examining what was most important to him. He took a small ___44___ out of his pocket. Here is what he said to me that day.
“I ___45___ on this stone when I was leaving church last Sunday. You had spoken about  ___46___ opportunities—diamonds. I put the stone in my ___47___ to remind me to look for those “diamonds” that I need. I have been trying to sell my business . On Monday morning, a man who seemed interested in ___48___ some of my stock (股票) stopped by. I thought, ‘Here’s my diamond—don’t let it ___49___!’ I sold the entire stock to him by noon. Now my next diamond is to find a new ___50___  !”
Not long afterward, he did find a new and better job. From then on, he decided to keep his stone with him all the time as a ___51___ to look for “diamonds” as he dug through the ___52___ of life.
Richard DeVos is right when he points out. “This is an exciting world. It is filled with opportunities. Great moments wait around every corner.” Those moments are diamonds that,   ___53___ left unrecognized, will be forever lost.
Are you looking for “diamonds” every day? If not, you may ___54___ pass them by! Perhaps there is a diamond of opportunity hidden in the difficulty you’re ___55___ now.

【小题15】

A．expressing B．satisfying C．breaking D．experiencing

Why did I come today? I wondered. My Christmas (36) _______ contained several people that claimed they wanted nothing but I knew their feelings would be hurt (37) _______ I didn’t buy them anything, so buying gifts was (38) _______ but fun.
Hurriedly, I finished shopping and (39) _______ the long checkout lines. In front of me were a boy of about 5 and a younger girl. She carried a beautiful pair of (40) _______ slippers. When we finally (41) _______ the checkout register, the girl (42) _______ placed the shoes on the counter. She treated them as though they were a (43) _______.
“That will be $6.09,” the cashier said. The boy (44) _______ all his pockets. He finally came up with $3.12. “I guess we will have to put them back,” he said (45) _______, “We will come back some other time, maybe tomorrow.” With that statement, a soft (46) _______ broke from the little girl. “But Jesus would have loved these shoes,” she cried.
“Well, we’ll go home and work some more. Don’t cry. We’ll surely (47) _______,” he said. Quickly I handed $3 to the cashier. These children had waited in line for a long time. And, (48) _______, it was Christmas. Suddenly a pair of arms came around me and the girl said (49) _______, “Thank you, lady.”“What did you (50) _______ when you said Jesus would like the shoes?” I asked. The boy answered, “Our mommy is sick and going to (51) _______. Daddy said she might go before Christmas to be with Jesus.” The girl spoke, “My Sunday school teacher said the streets in heaven are shiny gold, just like these shoes. Won’t mommy be (52) _______ walking on those streets in these shoes?”
My eyes (53) _______ as I looked into her tear-streaked face. “Yes,” I answered, “I am (54) _______ she will.” Silently I thanked God for using these children to (55) _______ me of the true spirit of giving.