Have you ever dreamed of having a fashionable watch of great value?
A small watchmaker in Switzerland in 1922 designed the first automatic watch to show the day，month，and date．Only seven of these splendid watches were ever made and these watches were almost lost to history．Today，it is so hard to get an original watch that some watch historians are even willing to offer $ 200，000 for one．
These watches attracted a lot of people for their splendid color，fashionable style，and new uses in the 1920s．The owners of the watches were admired and set apart from the crowd．Because the number of the original watches is very limited，owning such a watch will make you feel very special．
Today，you are offered the same kind of watch with improvement．The watch has a 24-jewel mechanical(機械的)movement，the kind desired by watch collectors．The watchmaker has made the movement of the watch much more modern with an automatic rotor(上弦裝置)so that the watch never needs to be wound by hand．The watch comes in a very beautiful case with a crocodile design on it．To get a watch in such a perfect design means to get a chance to know a piece of watch making history and to wear such a watch will show your personal taste and social position．
You can get the watch either in person or by mail at an affordable price．You will also receive good service from the watch seller．If you are not satisfied with the watch after you get it，you may simply return it within 30 days．Don’t miss the chance to realize your dream．
41．The original automatic watches are valuable because          .  
A．the watches were made many years ago
B．the watches were made by a Swiss watchmaker
C．only rich people can afford the watches
D．only a few watches of the kind were made
42．Watch collectors want to get the improved watch，especially for its         ．
A．mechanical movement                            B．splendid color
C．fashionable style                                            D．new uses
43．The purpose of the passage is to encourage the readers to          .
A．buy the watch                                            B．return the watch
C．wear the watch                                              D．receive the service
44．The passage is probably taken from a           ．
A．novel    B．magazine                C．text book                    D．science book

  I graduated from the university with a degree of engineering．It is a good field but my heart was not in it．I wanted to be an actor or work in the entertainment industryliving a creative life．My choice of engineering was really a mistake but I realized too late．As soon as I graduated，I moved straight to Los Angeles—the home of the film and television industry!
I tried to get a job in that field．I often worked as an extra in movies and TV shows—standing in the background while actors are in the foreground．This was fun for a while，but I wanted a real acting job，where I was speaking! Sadly，in Los Angeles，there is too much competition．Every race and age is represented：old，young，black，white，Asian，and Midwestern types like me．Being an extra couldst make enough money for me to live in Los Angeles．I had to do something else for money．
After three years of trying，I gave up my dream of being an actor and started a different career．I then tried network marketing，but in the end，that failed．Seven years after graduating from college，I was still in debt，still searching for a satisfactory life．I decided to go back to engineering．
However，I was starting to get disappointed with my life．Why is life not like what I expected? I expected to have made a lot of money，gotten married，with a house and nice cars，kids，freedom，etc．Millions of people lead lives with their dreams on theshelf , existing but not really living. I wanted my life to be different，more satisfactory，more alive．I wanted a life filled with adventure，romance，friendships，Successes，and dreams realized．But America was not providing that for me．
…
Struggling in the US?
I decided to move to China．
53．What does the underlined sentence mean?
A．A lot of people are living but they are not enjoying their life．
B．A lot of people are living and their life is enjoyable．
C．A lot of people realize their dreams but live a bad life．
D．A lot of people don’t have dreams，nor do they want to live either．
54．What did the writer do before he finally decided to move to China?
A．Marketing→engineering→extra．
B．Extra→marketing→engineering．
C．Engineering→extra→marketing．
D．Extra→engineering→marketing．
55．What can we infer from the passage?
A．Life is difficult in China．
B．Life in the US is easy．
C．There is always somewhere in the world where you can enjoy life．
D．It is certain that more and more Americans will move to China．
56．How can we describe the writer’s attitude toward life?
A．Impractical．                B．Passive．              C．Disappointed．                   D．Positive．

C
Sitting in a dark movie theater with your friends. and a tub of popcorn (H^) sounds like a perfect way to spend a Saturday night, and it could be, if you are willing to share your popcorn with the entire row of moviegoers around you.
A review of movie-theater popcorn reveals an alarming amount of fat, salt and calories in even the smallest sizes. A large tub of popcorn at Regal Cinemas, for example, holds 20 cups of popcorn and has 1,200 calories, 980 milligrams of sodium (鈉) and 60 grams of saturated (飽和的) fat. Adding just a tablespoon of butter adds 130 calories. And do not forget that it comes with free refills.
Not so hungry? The medium size popcorn, even the small, at 11 cups, delivers 670 calories, 550 milligrams of sodium .and 24 grams of saturated fat. The findings may surprise those who believe it is a relatively healthy snack. In fact, plain air-popped popcorn is low in calories and free of saturated fat. Movie theater popcorn, however, is popped in oil, often coconut oil, which is 90 percent saturated fat. Add salt to it, and your once-healthy snack turns into a health offender.
One way to make your popcorn healthier? Ask the theater to pop the corn without salt. The best way to make your movie snack healthier, however, would be to skip the popcorn.
"You could share a tub of popcorn with 10 friends," Dr. Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University, said. "Or, what a concept, watch the movie without eating anything."
64. The review finds that movie theatre popcorn may contain all the following EXCEPT ______.
A. butter           B. sodium                 C. saturated fat         D. pepper
65. What does the author think of popcorn prepared in coconut oil?
A. It is a healthy snack.                        B. It does harm to our health.               C. It looks like a perfect choice.                 D. It is very nutritious.
66. Which kind of popcorn causes the least health concern?
A. Movie theatre popcorn.                                 B. Popcorn sold at Regal Cinemas.          C. Large size popcorn.                                      D. Plain air-popped popcorn.
67. What is Dr. Nestle's suggestion to moviegoers?
A. Avoid eating popcorn.                                  B. Share popcorn with friends.              C. Not eating anything in the movie theatre.          D. Try eating other kind of food.

   
D
When a storm is coming, most people leave the area as quickly as possible and head for safety…But there are a few people who will get into their cars and go straight for the center of the storm．These people are willing to risk (冒…危險) being killed by floods or 100-Kilometer- an-hour winds for the excitement of watching the storm close up．
“Storm chasing (追逐)”is becoming an increasingly popular hobby (喜好) ，especially in the Midwest of the United States, where there are frequent storms between March and July．A storm chaser begins the day by checking the Internet for the latest weather reports, and then drives up to l,000 kilometers to where the storm will be and waits for it to develop．
Although anyone can do it，storm chasing is extremely dangerous．The power of a big storm  can throw a cow into the air or destroy a whole house in seconds．Storm chasers are also often hurt in accidents caused by driving in a heavy rain．If you are a beginner, it is much safer to join a group for storm - chasing vacations during the storm season．
Even then，storm chasing is not all adventure and excitement．“Storm chasing is 95％driving，”says Daniel Lynch，who spends most of his summer storm-chasing．“Sometimes you
Can sit around for hours waiting for something to happen，and all you get is blue sky and a few light showers.”
However，for storm chasers，it is all worth it. “When you get close to a storm，it is the most exciting sight you will ever see in your life，”says Jasper Morley．“Every storm is an example of the power of nature．It is the greatest show on Earth．”
57．For storm chasing，the first thing storm chasers do is to       ．
A．head straight for the center of the storm   
B．get into the car for safety
C．wait patiently for the storm to develop
D．collect information about a coming storm
58．Beginners of storm chasing are advised_______
A．not to drive in a heavy rain   
B．to do it in an organized way
C．not to get too close to a storm
D．to spend more time on it in summer
59．By saying“it is all worth it”in the last paragraph，the author means that______
A．storm chasing costs a lot of money
B．storm chasing is worth hours of waiting
C．efforts in storm chasing are well paid
D．a(chǎn) storm presents the greatest show on Earth
60．What can we learn from the text?
A．Sometimes storm chasers get nothing but disappointment． 
B．Many storm chasers get killed in the storms．
C．Storm chasing is becoming popular around the world．
D．Storm chasing is only fit for young people

完形填空（共20小題；每小題1.5分，滿分30分）
閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個選項A、B、C和D中，選出空白處的最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。
If your father never says to you “I love you” when you are a child, it   36  to be more and more difficult for him to say the words as he grows   37 .
I do not   38  hearing the words from my father when I was growing up.   39 , I could not recall(回憶) when I had   40  said those words to him either.
One day, I decided to   41  the ice and make the first   42 . So in our next phone conversation I gathered all my   43  and let out the words in a low voice, “Dad… I love you!”
There was a   44  at the other end and he awkwardly   45 , “Well, same back at ya!”
I was unexpectedly   46  and my voice was raised, “Dad, I know you love me, and I know when you are ready, you will say what you want to say.”
Fifteen minutes later my mother called and   47  asked, “Paul, is everything okay?”
A few weeks later, Dad   48  our phone conversation with the words, “Paul, I love you.” I was so moved that tears were rolling down my cheeks as I finally “  49 ” the love. As I sat there in tears I realized that this   50  moment had taken our father-and-son relationship to a new   51 .Shortly afterwards, my father narrowly   52  death following heart surgery（外科手術(shù)）. Many times   53 , I have   54  if I had not taken the first step and Dad not   55  the surgery, I would have never “heard” the love.
36. A. works out               B. breaks out                 C. comes out                 D. turns out
37. A. wiser                 B. busier                        C. weaker                       D. older
38. A. remember          B. enjoy                        C. mind                               D. regret
39. A. Truthfully                B. Fortunately                   C. Naturally                      D. Obviously
40. A. only                          B. last                                 C. once                               D. first
41. A. melt                         B. break                              C. strike                              D. build
42. A. complaint               B. promise                         C. move                              D. impression
43. A. strength                          B. ideas                              C. words                             D. attention
44. A. sigh                          B. silence                           C. voice                              D. cry
45. A. refused                   B. shouted                         C. replied                           D. explained
46. A. touched                  B. frightened                     C. shocked                         D. annoyed
47. A. excitedly                 B. nervously                      C. willingly                         D. sadly
48. A. continued               B. checked                         C. concluded                     D. interrupted
49. A. accepted                B. expected                       C. learned                          D. heard
50. A. quiet                        B. difficult                          C. special                           D. different
51. A. level                        B. idea                                C. world                              D. end
52. A. managed                B. escaped                         C. avoided                          D. faced
53. A. then                         B. ago                                 C. before                            D. since
54. A. realized                  B. found                              C. doubted                         D. wondered
55. A. challenged             B. experienced                           C. survived                         D. received

Recently, one of my best friends, whom I’ve shared just about everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the weekend with me. Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we’ve both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each other.
Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up late into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with. She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he experimented with drugs and was into other self-destructive behavior. I was blown away! She told me how she had been lying to her parents about where she was going and even stealing out to see this guy because they didn’t want her around him. No matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better, she didn’t believe me. Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared.
I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and heading for big trouble. I felt like I was getting nowhere. I just couldn’t believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend.
By the time she left, I was really worried about her and exhausted by the experience. It had been so frustrating, I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship，but I didn’t. I put the power of friendship to the final test. We’d been friends for far too long. I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer anything.
A few days later, she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend. I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face. It was one of the truly rewarding moments in my life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.
56. In the writer’s opinion, her friend ________.
A. was a girl with no self-respect
B. could find a better boyfriend
C. was brave enough to stick to her own choice
D. didn’t value the writer’s suggestion
57. What did the writer worry about?
A. She would lose the friendship with her.
B. Her friend’s parents would be worried about their daughter.
C. Her friend would get into great trouble with the boy.
D. Her friend’s boyfriend would be in great trouble.
58. We may leam from Paragraph 3 that the writer ________.
A. didn’t want to go anywhere else
B. hated her friend’s hanging with her boyfriend
C. couldn’t believe that her friend’s choice was acceptable
D. doubted that she could in any way help her friend
59. What can be concluded from the passage?
A. Friendship starting from childhood is not reliable.
B. Friendship is a cure for any injury in life.
C. Friendship should be everlasting once begun.
D. Friendship can have magical power in life.

Dear Economist,
My newly-wedded wife and I are deeply in love. There is, however, one issue that threatens the happiness of our marriage. I absolutely insist on shopping at Walmart. My wife, meanwhile, would rather avoid Walmart at all costs.
　　I have recently tried to convince her that not only does Walmart offer the lowest prices known to man, but that the chain is also a force for good―lower prices mean better standards of living for all consumers, increased global trade means a tighter-knit(緊密團結(jié)的) international community, and efficient operations translate into higher productivity growth for the economy. My wife complains about poor labour policies, the “fact” that Walmart squeezes suppliers, and that it puts local shops out of business.
　　Who is right? Will our marriage survive?
　　                                                                                                                                                  Brian Gee
Dear Brian,
I have to agree with you about Walmart. Jason Furman, then an economist at New York University, now an adviser to President Obama, famously argued in 2005 that Walmart was unwittingly (不知不覺地) a progressive success story. The chain’s prices don’t much affect me (I prefer Whole Foods) but Furman estimated that they benefited low-and-middle-income Americans to the sum of around $250 billion a year.
　　Walmart does not pay much, so it may depress wages. Then again, it may increase wages by offering jobs to the otherwise-unemployed. Either way, the benefits of low prices to Walmart shoppers far outweigh any seemingly reasonable costs to Walmart employees. And while it is true that Walmart employees tend to be poor, the same is true of Walmart shoppers.
　　Armed with this information you can face your wife with confidence. You are sure to win the conversation. The divorce is likely to be more argued.
Economist
68. What concerns Brian Gee so much that he wrote the letter?
A. His wife refuses to shop at Walmart.
B. They are faced with a divorce.
C. They can’t afford the costs of shopping at Walmart.
D. They are in conflict about shopping at Walmart. 
69. Brian Gee’s wife tends to hold the opinion that _________.
A. it is wrong for Walmart to depress its employees’ wages
B. consumers’ lives have improved thanks to Walmart
C. Walmart’s business operation increases productivity in economy
D. Walmart’s business increases global trade
70. What can be inferred from the reply letter?
A. Some employees accept the low pay to keep the job.
B. Walmart appeals to only poor consumers and poor employees.
C. Employees suffer from Walmart’s low prices more than consumers.
D. Jason Furman, a New York University economist, spoke highly of Walmart.

The summer beach season is prime time for shark attacks. It seems like sharks are attacking all the time. But that is something of an illusion. The number of attacks is very small.
How does a shark hunt? Muscles and fins give the shark its speed and maneuverability in the water. A shark’s front fins act like the wings of a plane and let it “fly” through the water. The tail acts like a high-power propeller
But the big thing that gives the shark its edge in the ocean is its sensory package. The package includes the shark’s eyes, ears, skin, nose and mouth, as weir as electric sensing.
A shark’s nose is probably its most important sense. If you were to put a single drop of blood in a swimming pool, a great white shark could smell that. And they can tell the direction that the smell is coming from.
Sharks handle their electric sensing using cell located in the head. Whenever something moves using its muscles, a shark can detect the electrical impulses flowing to those muscles. A shark can electrically “see” anything that has muscles even if it is hiding or the water is not clear.
Sharks even have vibration sensors in their skin. Even something moves near the shark, tubes pick up the pressure changes and hairs inside the tubes send signals to the brain. This extra sense allows a shark to turn quickly and attack again.
When you put all these different senses together , it makes the shark a nearly ideal hunter. A shark can detect prey from miles away and then use eyes, electrosensing and movement sensing to home in.
Strangely, sharks do not seem to use these senses to home in on people. The very low number of sharks tells us that sharks do not hunt people in a regular basis. On the other hand, people love to hunt sharks, Millions of sharks die every year.  Without protection, extinction is a definite possibility.
68.From the text, we can know that_________________.
A. it is true that sharks are attacking all the time
B. a shark can see anything that has muscles even if it is hiding.
C. sharks deal with their electric sensing using cell located in the skin
D. what gives the shark its speed and maneuverability is fins and muscles
69.What gives the shark its edge in the ocean according to the text?
A. Its muscle.                                               B. Its nose.                      
C. Its sensory package.                                     D. Its fins
70. The underlined phrase home in on means___________.
A. swim                B. move                  C. hunt                       D. smell
71.In this text, the writer implies that__________.
A.there ara many shark attacks                     B. humans beings should protect sharks    
C. human beings dislike hunting shark             D. sharks’ nose is very important

      完形填空（共20小題，每小題1.5分，滿分30分）
Once there was a very brilliant, creative and educated man. He gained much   36   while traveling throughout the world. Unfortunately he lost his legs and left arm in a tragic accident, leaving only a finger and thumb on his right hand. He became so   37  that he was afraid he would spend his life   38   and would no longer be able to use his life in a(n)   39  way.
One day, he remembered how he had always loved getting   40  . He realized that he still had partial   41  of his right hand and could write with   42  . Then, he had an idea. “Why not write to other people who need encouragement?”
He   43   where he could find those who could be encouraged if they read his letters. He thought of people in   44 . Many of them had hope of regaining their   45  . Others would keep feeling depressed and remain put away for the rest of their lives. He decided that he must try to   46  them. So he wrote to a prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied that writing to the prisoners would be   47  . However, it would be against prison rules for the prisoners to write back.
48   with the intention, the man began sending   49   messages of God’s love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the   50 . He poured his heart and soul into his words,   51   his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.
It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of any   52  . Frequently, he felt discouraged, wondering if anyone   53   read his letters. However, this was his   54   chance，so he determined to continue.
At last, he received a letter from the prison officer, which said, “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell (牢房) to cell until they almost fall to   55  !”
We all have unique experiences, abilities and talents. We can discover ways to reach others in need of encouragement and strength.
36. A. wealth             B. faith      C. experience  D. confidence
37. A. depressed            B. embarrassed       C. ashamed       D. thrilled
38. A. writing        B. suffering       C. weeping      D. wandering
39. A. abnormal            B. regular          C. comfortable       D. meaningful
40. A. presents        B. e-mails          C. letters    D. prizes
41. A. sense              B. strength         C. shape        D. function
42. A. affection            B. caution          C. difficulty       D. confidence
43. A. estimated       B. doubted         C. assumed         D. wondered
44. A. hospitals            B. churches        C. prisons        D. charities
45. A. families            B. letters     C. freedom         D. conscience
46. A. release             B. reach         C. defend          D. know
47. A. acceptable      B. reasonable  C. prohibited       D. considered
48. A. Faced             B. Filled         C. Satisfied    D. Impressed
49. A. holy              B. daily          C. one-way     D. round-way
50. A. point              B. worst         C. degree       D. limit
51. A. sharing             B. learning        C. gaining       D. enriching
52. A. success             B. reply          C. help           D. progress
53. A. curiously            B. patiently        C. carefully       D. actually
54. A. only              B. better           C. extra         D. lost
55. A. ruin               B. pieces     C. the ground  D. the bottom

D
The thing is, my luck’s always been ruined. Just look at my name: Jean. Not Jean Marie, or Jeanine, or Jeanette, or even Jeanne. Just Jean. Did you know in France, they name boys Jean? It’s French for John. And okay, I don’t live in France. But still, I’m basically a girl named John. If I lived in France, anyway.
This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate. So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase. I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me, and then got no answer to my many phone calls, asking where my aunt and uncle were. Did they not want me after all? Had they changed their minds? Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them?
So when the cab driver, instead of getting out and helping me with my bags, just pushed a little button so that the trunk (汽車后備箱) popped open a few inches, it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day.
According to my mom, most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s. But now they’ve been divided up into apartments, so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor.
Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone, though. Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone. That’s practically one floor per person, since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids, my cousins Tory, Teddy, and Alice.
Back home, we just have two floors, but there are seven people living on them. And only one bathroom. Not that I’m complaining. Still, ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs, it’s been pretty frightful at home.
But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was, it was really narrow—just three windows across. Still, it was a very pretty townhouse, painted gray. The door was a bright, cheerful yellow. There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window, flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted, since it was only the middle of April, and not quite warm enough for them.
It was nice to know that, even in a sophisticated (世故的) city like New York, people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be. The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little.
Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today, and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay.
Like everything was going to be all right, after all.
Yeah. With my luck, probably not.
I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street, then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin. Leaving one bag on the sidewalk, I dragged the other up the steps with me. Maybe I took the steps a little too fast, since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk. I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…
67. Why did the author go to New York?
A. She intended to go sightseeing there.
B. She meant to stay with her aunt’s family.
C. She was homeless and adopted by her aunt.
D. She wanted to try her luck and find a job there.
68. According to the author, some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________.
A. she was given a boy’s name in French
B. the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags
C. her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs  
D. nobody had come to meet her at the airport
69. The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _________.
A. have an effect on    B. play tricks on     C. put pressure on      D. throw doubt on
70. From the passage, we can know that _________.
A. the author left home without informing her mother
B. the author arrived in New York in a very warm season
C. her aunt’s family lived a much better life than her own
D. her aunt and uncle were likely to forget about her arrival