84. In which states are girls allowed to play baseball? (no more than 4 words)

SECTION C

Directions: Write an English composition according to the instructions given below in Chinese.

假设你是李华，昨天参加了美国朋友David的生日聚会，请写封感谢信，表达你对聚会的喜爱和对David的祝福。

注意：

83. What does the author think about girls’ capabilities in baseball? (no more than 10 words)

82. Where did Sementelli stay in a baseball team? (no more than 6 words)

81. When did Sementelli begin to play baseball? (no more than 6 words)

70. What can be the best title for the text?

　 A. New England’s dark day.

　 B. Voices of angry prediction.

C. There is no smoke without fire.

D. Tree rings and scientific discovery.

PART FOUR　 WRITING

SECTION A

Directions: Read the following passage. Complete the diagram by using the information from the passage.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

Rest is critical to life and work and a positive attitude towards rest needs to be maintained, for enough rest is significant to our body and mind while a lack of adequate rest, as well as misleading attitudes to rest, will do great harm to our health.

　　 Rest is vital to our ability to function at our best. Recent news stories report that scientists are learning surprising things about the importance of sleep. There is enough evidence suggesting that rest will refresh us, enabling our body and mind to work efficiently. Besides, rest is important for more than that; it is helpful in setting appropriate goals and deciding what goals to attain first. Those who are caught up in extremely busy lives lack the time to think about what they are doing and to make objective decisions, which blocks the maximization of their potential.　

On the contrary, lack of adequate rest damages brain function, so much so that sleep experts have been able to measure drops in IQ in patients who are short of sleep. Other studies have presented a negative effect on body movements in sleep-wanting subjects. It should not, therefore, be a surprise that the California Highway Patrol has stated that sleep-wanting drivers are as great a threat to road safety as are drunk drivers.

　　 However, rest is widely misunderstood by some people. Instead of sleep, they go to pubs and clubs and claim that this kind of entertaining is rest. For example, what they call social drinking or having a smoke with friends. Nowadays, the economy forces people to drink and gamble for the sake of the circles one moves in. This is what fools claim thoughtlessly that it’s restful. The truth is that rest means not using our labor both physically and mentally, even spiritually.

　　 We need to rest correctly and sufficiently; otherwise, tiredness and illness will occur. Without sufficient rest, good work is impossible. Rest is critical; it is not an end in itself.

Section B

Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and required words limit. Write your answers on your answer sheet.

Marti Sementelli has been a baseball player since preschool, throwing plastic balls and swinging a tiny wood bat from the time she was 3 years old. She was a solid player at every youth level, and sometimes a star. In 2007, Nike even featured the young Californian in a TV commercial.

Despite her experience, Sementelli, now 16, had a hard time finding a high school that would allow her to try out for the boys’ baseball team.

Two parochial schools (教会学校) near her family’s home in North Hollywood said no, and several public schools were lukewarm (冷淡的) to the idea. Finally, she found Burbank High School, where she’s now a sophomore and a member of the JV baseball team.

Sementelli’s story is not unique. Across the country, girls devoted to baseball--and with as many seasons of youth ball under their belts as their male teammates--are finding it isn’t easy to stay in the sport when they reach high school.

Biology does play a role in the situation: Boys, especially older ones, often have an edge over girls in size and strength, allowing them to throw harder and swing with greater force. But girls say that the toughest battles are not about capabilities, but against the traditional attitude that baseball is for boys.

“Most people just are incapable of seeing beyond what’s easy,” says Jennifer Ring, the author of Stolen Bases: Why American Girls Don’t Play Baseball, and a professor at the University of Nevada-Reno. “It is much neater if we say boys play baseball and girls play other sports.”

In at least one state, Massachusetts, girls are barred from trying out for boys’ baseball in high schools that also offer softball. Nebraska dropped its ban last year, and in January, Indiana removed its ban after being sued (控告) by the parents of Logan Young, a 15-year-old aspiring catcher and freshman at Bloomington South High School.

69. What can we know about the debates after the dark day?

A. They focused on causes of the event.

　 B. They swept throughout the Western world.

C. They were organized by scientific institutions.

D. They improved Americans’ ability to communicate.

68. According to the researchers, the origin of the event was 　　　　.

　 A. an east wind

　 B. a severe drought

C. some burning fuel

D. low barometric pressure

67. What can we infer about the event in New England on May 19, 1780?

　 A. Prayers remained silent and attentive.

　 B. Night birds no longer came out to sing.

　 C. People’s ears became sharper than usual.

　 D. Midday meals were served by candlelight.

66. New Englanders crowded into churches because they were frightened by 　　　　.

A. the pink color of the sun

　 B. the darkened sky at daytime

　 C. the Last Judgment on Friday

　 D. the American War of Independence

65. We can infer from the text that the author’s husband was 　　　　.

A. a doctor　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. a researcher

C. a teacher　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. a sailor　　　

C

At dawn on Friday, May 19, 1780, farmers in New England stopped to wonder at the pink color of the sun. By noon the sky had darkened to midnight blackness, causing Americans, still in the painful struggle of a prolonged war of independence, to light candles and tremble at thoughts of the Last Judgment. As the birds quieted and no storm accompanied the darkness, men and women crowded into churches, where one minister commented that “The people were very attentive.” John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that “Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp . . .”

A recent study of researchers, led by Richard Guyette from the University of Missouri’s Tree Ring Laboratory, has shown that vast forest fires in the Algonquin Highlands of southern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada brought this event upon New England. The scientists have discovered “fire scars” on the rings for that year, left when the heat of a wildfire has killed a part of a tree’s cambium (形成层). Evidence collected also points to a drought that year. An easterly wind and low barometric pressure (低气压) helped force smoke into the upper atmosphere. “The record fits pretty close,” says Guyette. “We had the right fuel, the drought. The conditions were all there.”

Lacking the ability to communicate quickly over long distances, Americans in 1780 remained in the dark about the event, which had disappeared by the next day. Over the next several months, the papers carried heated debates about what brought the darkness. Some were the voices of angry prediction, such as one Massachusetts farmer who wrote, “Oh! Backsliding New-England, attend now to the things which belong to your peace before they are forever hid from your eyes.” Others gave different answers. One stated that a “flaming star” had passed between the earth and the sun. Ash, argued another commentator. The debate, carried on throughout New England, where there were no scientific journals or academies yet, reflected an unfolding culture of scientific enquiry already sweeping the Western world, a revolution nearly as influential as the war for independence from the English.

New Englanders would not soon forget that dark day; it lived on in folklore, poems, and sermons for generations.