What was so _____about Jasmine Westland’s victory was that she came first in the marathon bare-footed.

A. awfulB. essentialC. impressiveD. obvious

Instead of blaming the child who had broken the vase, she gave him a______smile and let him go.

A. cautiousB. gratefulC. tolerantD. wild

Hardly had Sabrina finished her words when Albert said___，“Don’t be so mean，’’ pointing a finger of warning at her.

A. dreadfullyB. guiltilyC. indirectlyD. sharply

Check carrots，potatoes, onions and any other vegetables_____and immediately use or throw away any which show signs of rotting.

A. in demandB. in storeC. on loanD. on sale

When our restaurant business failed，we headed north in a camping truck to Texas，hoping to have a “fresh start”.

At the of Palo Duro Canyon (峽谷）State Park，I a job advertisement hiring park hosts. The position offered a ，permanent campsite in the park, and , the hosts served as a link between the park’s guests and the rangers (護(hù)林人). It was the perfect solution: a rent-free place to reorganize our lives. We entered the park and I made an for the following day.

The park was , so it took us some time to find an available site. That evening, as we finished our dinner, my wife saw two large skunks (臭鼠由）walking toward our table. We climbed onto the table and, for the next four hours, waited for them to our camp.

Having survived that night, we were that everything else would be all right. The next day we met with the people who ran the park. They explained our and gave us a beautiful campsite.

That evening, , we learned about the canyon . They were strong and cold, rocking our little camping truck violently，and we lay in the dark until the winds died away.

the weeks that followed, we learned to survive in our truck and the little money my wife by substitute teaching. Building a successful business and then losing it had left very little time for building a successful For a time after our business I thought I might lose my family as well.

Living in the tiny with no television, we sat close together reading and talking. One evening, standing under a jeweled sky，I found myself for all the hardships. We had walked the trails and climbed the canyon walls. We had become a family!

1.A. backB.edgeC. centreD. entrance

2.A. sponsoredB. publishedC. noticedD. answered

3.A. safeB. freeC. convenientD. beautiful

4.A. in returnB. in timeC. in shortD. in turn

5.A. attemptB. agreementC. appealD. appointmei

6.A. crowdedB. dangerousC. idealD. quiet

7.A. repeatedlyB. immediatelyC. eventuallyD. calmly

8.A. attackB.leaveC. passD. search

9.A. satisfiedB. determinedC. confidentD. aware

10.A. responsibilitiesB. requirementsC. circumstancesD. conditions

11.A. moreoverB. thereforeC. meanwhileD. however

12.A. windsB. snowsC. woodsD. trails

13.A. shakingB. quarrellingC. mourningD. aching

14.A. AfterB. BetweenC. DuringD. Beyond

15.A. give awayB. hand outC. live onD. put aside

16.A. borrowedB. earnedC. postedD. raised

17.A. businessB. careerC. familyD. image

18.A. startedB. failedC.expandedD. declined

19.A. truckB. parkC. houseD. camp

20.A. desperateB. readyC. suitableD. thankful

Before I had my son, I spent two years working with children with disabilities. I learned that shouting and threats of punishment would result in a disaster. Coming up against their behaviour could only make the job harder and their behaviour more extreme. I found something that worked, though.

There was a very naughty boy in the nursery and a teacher who was generally very confident with the children was asked to take charge of him. One day the boy joined a session in the room next to mine. His appearance created an atmosphere of tension. He spent the entire session running around, hitting and kicking, and destroying property.

I was in the craft room working with some other children when my co-worker told me that this boy’s teacher was in tears, and could not get control of the situation. As we were talking，the boy ran in. I told my co-worker that I would take care of him.

I closed the door. He was full of energy, throwing things around and making a huge mess. But I could see that he was doing all these to annoy me. He needed connection, and this was the only way he knew how to ask for it. So I sat back down and kept quiet. Then he slowed down and began making a rocket. I talked to him about it. We continued like this for a few minutes before I slipped into the conversation:

“So what happened today?”

It was purely a question, no blame or anger in my tone. I believe that if I had criticized him, the gate that was slowly opening would have shut firmly closed. He told me that the teacher didn’t let him do what he knew well due to safety but asked him to do what he disliked. He also admitted that he had enjoyed making her run around and saw it as a game. I explained that his teacher had not seen it as a game and was very upset. This again was stated simply as a fact. I suggested that next time he had a session, he talk about what he hoped to do at the start，which might be easier for everyone. He agreed and was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me with tears in his eyes before quietly asking if he could go to find his teacher to apologize.

1.The boy made trouble for his teacher because he_____.

A. was accused of destroying property

B. was told not to yell at other children

C. was made to do things against his will

D. was blamed for creating an air of tension

2.Why didn’t the author do anything about the boy’s bad behavior at first?

A. She didn’t want to make it worse.

B. She didn’t mind the huge mess at all.

C. She was tired of shouting and threats.

D. She hadn’t thought of a coping strategy.

3.The author managed to get the boy to talk to her by_____.

A. playing games with him

B. giving him a good suggestion

C. describing his teacher’s feelings

D. avoiding making critical remarks

4.Why did the boy have tears in his eyes in the end?

A. He was sorry about his reputation.

B. He was regretful about his behavior.

C. He was fearful of the author’s warning.

D. He was sad for the author’s misunderstanding.

London’s newest skyscraper (摩天大樓)is called the Shard and it cost about 430 million pounds to build. At a height of almost 310 metres, it is the tallest building in Europe. The Shard has completely changed the appearance of London. However, not everyone thinks that it is a change for the better.

The Shard was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. When he began designing the Shard for London, Piano wanted a very tall building that looked like a spire (尖頂)? He wanted the glass surfaces to reflect the sky and the city. The sides of the building aren’t regular. So the building has an unusual shape. It looks like a very thin，sharp piece of broken glass. And that is how the building got the name: the Shard. Piano says that the spire shape of the Shard is part of a great London tradition. The shape reminds him of the spires of the churches of London or the tall masts (桅桿）of the ships that were once on the river Thames.

The Shard has 87 floors. At the top, there is an observatory. At the moment the building is empty, but eventually there will be a five-star hotel. There will also be top quality restaurants, apartments and offices.

Before building work began, a lot of people didn’t want the Shard though the plans were approved. Now they are still unhappy about the Shard. Some critics say that such a tall skyscraper might be good in a city like New York, but not in London. They say that the best thing about the Shard is its spire shape. But that is the only thing. There is no decoration, only flat surfaces. The Egyptians did that 4,500 years ago. They also think the Shard is too big for London. It destroys the beauty of the city.

Other critics don’t like what the Shard seems to represent. They say that the Shard shows how London is becoming more unequal. Only very rich people can afford to buy the expensive private apartments and stay in the hotel. But the people who live near the Shard are among the poorest in London. So the Shard seems a symbol of the division in society between the very rich and the poor.

The Shard now dominates the London skyline. It is not certain, however, that ordinary London citizens will ever accept it as a valuable addition to the city.

1.London’s newest skyscraper is called the Shard because of._____

A. its cost

B its size

C .its shape

D .its height

2.When he designed the Shard, Piano wanted it to._____

A. change London’s skyline

B .inherit London’s tradition

C .imitate the Egyptian style

D. attract potential visitors

3.The critics who refer to social division think the Shard_______.

A .is only preferred by the rich

B .is intended for wealthy people

C. is far away from the poor area

D. is popular only with Londoners

4.Which would be the best title for the passage?

A. The Shard: Cheers and Claps

B. The Shard: Work of a Great Architect

C. The Shard: New Symbol of London?

D.The Shard: A Change for the Better?

Working with a group of baboons (狒狒）in the Namibian desert, Dr. Alecia Carter of the Department of Zoology，Cambridge University set baboons learning tasks involving a novel food and a familiar food hidden in a box. Some baboons were given the chance to watch another baboon who already knew how to solve the task, while others had to learn for themselves. To work out how brave or anxious the baboons were, Dr. Carter presented them either with a novel food or a threat in the form of a model of a poisonous snake.

She found that personality had a major impact on learning. The braver baboons learnt, but the shy ones did not learn the task although they watched the baboon perform the task of finding the novel food just as long as the brave ones did. In effect, despite being made aware of what to do, they were still too shy to do what the experienced baboon did.

The same held true for anxious baboons compared with calm ones. The anxious individuals learnt the task by observing others while those who were relaxed did not, even though they spent more time watching.

This mismatch between collecting social information and using it shows that personality plays a key role in social learning in animals, something that has previously been ignored in studies on how animals learn to do things. The findings are significant because they suggest that animals may perform poorly in cognitive (認(rèn) 知的）tasks not because they aren’t clever enough to solve them，but because they are too shy or nervous to use the social information.

The findings may impact how we understand the formation of culture in societies through social learning. If some individuals are unable to get information from others because they don’t associate with the knowledgeable individuals，or they are too shy to use the information once they have it，information may not travel between all group members, preventing the formation of a culture based on social learning.

1.What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A. The design of Dr. Carter’s research.

B. The results of Dr. Carter’s research.

C.The purpose of Dr. Carter’s research.

D. The significance of Dr. Carter’s research.

2.According to the research, which baboons are more likely to complete a new learning task?

A. Those that have more experience.

B. Those that can avoid potential risks.

C. Those that like to work independently.

D. Those that feel anxious about learning.

3.Which best illustrates the “mismatch” mentioned in Paragraph 4?

A. Some baboons are intelligent but slow in learning.

B. Some baboons are shy but active in social activities.

C. Some baboons observe others but don’t follow them.

D. Some baboons perform new tasks but don’t concentrate.

4.Dr. Carter’s findings indicate that our culture might be formed through.

A. storing information

B. learning from each other

C. understanding different people

D. travelling between social groups

For most city people, the elevator is an unremarkable machine that inspires none of the enthusiasm or interest that Americans afford trains, jets，and even bicycles. Dr. Christopher Wilk is a member of a small group of elevator experts who consider this a misunderstanding. Without the elevator, they point out, there could be no downtown skyscrapers or tall buildings, and city life as we know it would be impossible. In that sense, they argue，the elevator’s role in American history has been no less significant than that of cars. In fact, according to Wilk? the car and the elevator have been locked in a “secret war” for over a century, with cars making it possible for people to spread horizontally (水平地)，and elevators pushing them toward life in close groups of towering vertical (垂直的)columns.

If we tend to ignore the significance of elevators, it might be because riding in them tends to be such a brief, boring, and even awkward experience^one that can involve unexpectedly meeting people with whom we have nothing in common, and an unpleasant awareness of the fact that we’re hanging from a cable in a long passage.

In a new book, Lifted, German journalist and cultural studies professor Andreas Bernard directed all his attention to this experience, studying the origins of elevator and its relationship to humankind and finding that riding in an elevator has never been a totally comfortable experience. “After 150 years, we are still not used to it”， Bernard said. “We still have not exactly learned to cope with the mixture of closeness and displeasure.” That mixture, according to Bernard, sets the elevator ride apart from just about every other situation we find ourselves in as we go about our lives.

Today，as the world’s urban population explodes，and cities become more crowded, taller, and more crowded, America’s total number of elevators—900,000 at last count, according to Elevator World magazine’s “2012 Vertical Transportation Industry”一are a force that’s becoming more important than ever. And for the people who really, really love them, it seems like high time that we looked seriously at just what kind of force they are.

1.What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 1 refer to?

A. The general view of elevators.

B. The particular interests of experts.

C. The desire for a remarkable machine.

D. The enthusiasm for transport vehicles.

2.The author’s purpose in mentioning cars is.

A. to contrast their functions with elevators,

B. to emphasize the importance of elevators

C. to reveal their secret war against elevators

D. to explain people’s preference for elevators

3.According to Prof. Bernard, what has made the elevator ride different from other life experiences?

A. Vertical direction.

B. Lack of excitement.

C.Little physical space.

D. Uncomfortable conditions.

4.The author urges readers to consider.

A. the exact number of elevator lovers

B. the serious future situation of elevators

C. the role of elevators in city development

D. the relationship between cars and elevators