第二节写作(满分25)

某中学生英语报习作栏正在就下列漫画举行征文活动。请仔细观察漫画，并根据漫画所表述的内容，用英语写一篇短文向该报投稿。

75．In response to stress，how does crying make us feel better?(回答词数不超过10个单词)

74．The underlined part“tears seem to be uniquely human”in Paragraph 2 infers that“　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　” ．(回答词数不超过6个单词)

73．What's the main idea of the first paragraph?(回答词数不超过8个单词)

72．The examples of California and New York show that　　 ．

　　 A．the recession is deepening

B．the economic downturn started in New York and then influenced California

C．banks tend to buy more houses instead of individuals

D．the housing market in cities is not as active as in suburban areas

第二节简答题(共3小题；每小题2分,满分6分)

阅渎下面短文，根据文后各题的具体要求回答问题，并将答案转写到答题卡上。

Tears are nature's way of making us feel more comfortable．When our eyes are made uncomfortable by some small pieces of pollution, or when we are cutting onions，or when we are exhausted and“red-eyes”from over work and late hours, tears form in our eyes to clean and refresh them．

Tears are also a sign of strong emotion．We cry when we are sad and we cry when we are happy．And tears seem to be uniquely human．We know that animals also experience emotion fear，pleasure，loneliness，but they do not shed(流)tears．

Biologically speaking，tears are actually drops of saline fluid，which is a little bit salty，produced by a gland(腺)in the body．Because salt is an important component，tears may actually constitute the most conclusive evidence that the human animal is the end product of a long evolutionary process that began in the sea．

And it is clear that，in addition to the emotional benefits，the shedding of tears has a specific biological function as well．Through tears，we can eliminate from our body certain chemicals which build up in response to stress and create a chemical imbalance in the body．Crying actually makes us feel better by correcting that imbalance and making us feel good again．And thus the emotional and the biological functions of tears merge(合并)into one and make us even more“human”than we would otherwise be．

71．According to the passage，which of the following is NOT true?

　　 A．Not all vacant houses are for sale or for rent at the moment．

　　 B．The Obama administration plans to repay loans for troubled borrowers．

　　 C．This March-to-June season will be the worst season ever．

D．Home values in California used to fall，but now they start to rise．

70．Why do experts think this spring season will be tougher than the last?　

　　 A．Because there are few signs of recovery in hard-hit areas．

B．Because citizens feel pessimistic about the Obama administration．　　

C．Because prices keep falling and more homes will flood onto the market．

D．Because many mortgages were illegal or in foreclosure．

69．What would be the best title for the passage?

　　 A．A Gloomy Outlook for Home Sales' Big Season

　　 B．New York Facing More Housing Problems

　　 C．A Negative Effect of America's Financial Recession

D．Houses Becoming Cheaper in America

68．The reason why Jobs doesn't involve himself much in animation is that　　　 ．

　　 A．he considers himself neither professional nor qualified

　　 B．he spends most of his time at Apple and spares little time at Pixar

　　 C．he shows no talent for animation，nor is he into it

D．his 69 percent share of Pixar is worth about $1．3 billion，which enables him not to be concerned about the management

D

The“For Sale”signs are just starting to grow, but already experts worry that this spring home-buying season will be even tougher than the last．

Despite tentative signs of recovery in hard-hit areas like California and Florida，the broader housing market is far from reaching bottom, economists say．Across much of the nation, prices are likely to keep falling into 2010．

So this March-to-June season, when most homes are bought and sold，will be bad，perhaps the worst since the market began to spiral down in 2006．

Across the nation, 19 million houses and apartments-nearly one out of every seven-are vacant, the highest percentage since the 1960s．But only about six million of those homes are for sale or for rent．That means millions more could still flood onto the market，depressing prices further．

For would-be sellers, the bad news keeps coming．This week，one new report showed that one in nine mortgages(抵押)was illegal or in foreclosure(失去赎回权)，while another showed that January contract signings for sales of previously owned homes fell at their fastest pace in two years．

On Wednesday, the Obama administration announced details of a plan that will pay banks to lower monthly payments for troubled borrowers，hoping to prevent millions of foreclosures and keep more homes occupied．Despite that effort，most analysts expect the outlook to worsen．

But as the recession deepens，the downturn in housing, where the economic crisis began, is starting to play out in new，unexpected ways．Cities where home values held up last year are suffering now, while some suburban areas where prices fell arc slowly starting to improve．

“The further you get from the city，the more prices have declined，and that's where we see sales increasing．”said Glenn Kelman，chief executive of Redfin，a real estate brokerage firm．“Eighteen months ago, the city was the only place where people were still buying homes．”

In inland areas of California，for instance，sales are surging now that prices have fallen sharply．But most of the sellers are not individuals but rather banks that foreclosed on homeowners who could not or would not pay their mortgages．By contrast, in cities like New York and San Francisco, where prices have not fallen as much, the market is largely frozen．