Some people look at a hole and see empty space. Others see opportunity. That’s what Sheri Schmelzer spotted a few years ago when everyone—including her three children—started wearing Crocs, the colorful shoes dotted with holes.

“My kids and I were clowning around, and my eldest daughter, Lexie, got the sewing kit out. I brought one of the Crocs, pulled some buttons, rhinestones, and fabric out of the kit, and stuck them in the holes. Lexie said, ‘Mom, I love that!’”

Sheri and Lexie, then seven, spent the rest of the day filling holes in the family’s 12 pairs of Crocs. Every look-alike shoe was suddenly unique. When her husband, Rich, experienced in setting up businesses, came home later that day, says Sheri, “I could see the light bulb go on over his head,” Crocs had sold millions of pairs of shoes; the couple figured they could create a business simply by riding the wave. Rich refused to let a decorated Croc leave their Boulder, Colorado, house until he’d filed a patent.

But first they needed a name. “Rich and I had seen a movie where Meg Ryan says to Tom Hanks, ‘I’m such a flibbertigibbet!’ That became my nickname, so I called the business Jibbitz.” While Sheri designed, Rich strategized. They decided to sell the charms through a website, Jibbitz.com

Six months later, in February 2006, Sheri was doing so well that Rich left his business to work with her full-time. She was making hundreds of Jibbitz to order, by hand, by herself, in their basement. And filling those holes wasn’t as easy as it looked. The bigger the shoe, the bigger the holes; it took six models before Sheri figured out how to make her charms one-size-fits-all. Later Rich found a way to get plastic Jibbitz manufactured in China.

Someone at Crocs was sure going to notice the charms—after all, the company was headquartered (總部設(shè)在) just ten miles down the road. Duke Hanson, one of Crocs’ founders, spotted Lexie and her Jibbitz at the local pool, handed her his business card, and said, “Have your mom call me.”

Sheri and Rich met with Crocs executives, but no one suggested buying the company. Sheri was actually relieved because she wanted to see if she, not Crocs, could make it big. And she did. In December 2006, Crocs bought Jibbitz for $20 million, with the Schmelzers staying on board.

1. The passage is mainly about ____.

       A. how the Schmelzers found opportunities out of nothing.

       B. how the Schmelzers found opportunities and developed their business

       C. how creativity matters to a successful business

       D. how the business of Crocs became successful.

2. When Sheri said, “I could see the light bulb go on over his head”, she meant that ____.

       A. Rich was really excited              B. Rich liked their shoe charms

       C. saw this as a business opportunity   

D. Rich wasn’t satisfied with the decorations

3. From Paragraph 5, we can learn that ____.

       A. the Schmelzers kept improving to make their business successful

       B. Sheri does not trust others when it comes to designing Jibbitz

       C. making the products unique is key to business success

       D. Rich made a lot of sacrifices for their family business

4. Which of the following is arranged in the right order according to the text?

       a. the Schmelzers applied for a patent   b. Crocs’ shoes sold well

       c. the Schmelzers set up their website

       d. by making their products in China, the Schmelzers spread their business.

       A. acdb                 B.bacd                  C. bcad                 D. adcb

    第二部分：短文填詞（每空1分，滿分10分）

    閱讀下面短文，根據(jù)以下提示：1）漢語提示，2）首字母提示，3）語境提示，在每個(gè)空格內(nèi)填入一個(gè)適當(dāng)?shù)挠⒄Z單詞，并將該詞完整地寫在右邊相對應(yīng)的橫線上。所填單詞要求意義準(zhǔn)確，拼寫正確。

I’m sitting in the warm night air and reflecting on the day I went snorklling on

the reef offshore and saw extraordinary b       . It made me very excited.                  1.            

   I was aware of all the vivid colours          (圍繞) me and the corals were              2.        

fantastic. I swam a        all kinds of small fish.                                       3.        

   I saw the little orange and white fish that        (躲藏) in the waving long thin           4.         

seaweed, and I also saw the yellow and green parrotfish hanging upside           .           5.        

I love them and felt them very magical.      there were some creatures that I didn’t              6.      

want to get too close to, especially grey reef sharks. I felt scared to            .             7.       

   I thought I was brave while I was swimming over the         (邊緣) of the reef          8.      

and looking down into the depths of the ocean. My heart was beating w      . What a            9.     

magical day I had ! And          a  wonderful world it was down there!                10.     

All possible means _______to rescue the miners trapped underground so far.

       A. have been tried        B. has been tried    C. is being tried D. is to be tried

Olives are about the same size like grapes, but they taste very different. 76._______

Some are bitter, some are sour, and some are very salt. Men and women eat  77._______

Them with drinks before a meal, but the children usually don’t like them at all 78._______ 　

 Mr.Grey was drinking beer and eating olives while his small son Tommy   79._______

Came in. He saw that his father liked the olives very much, so he said, “May 80._______

I have one, Father?” “ Yes,” answered his father. “ Take one and try one.”   81._______

Tommy took one. He thought it tasted terrible. He watched her father      82.______

Take another and ate it. He could see that he was enjoying it, so          83._______

Tommy tried another olive, it was just as terrible as the first one          84._______

“You are taken all the good ones”, he cried, “ and leaving the bad ones for me. 85._______

Have you ever been to the square             was built last year?

       A. which               B. where    C. when                                       D. what

I asked two people to help me start my car , but         of them knew what to do .

       A. either                B. none                       C. both                  D. neither

--- Have you____Betty yet?

    --- Not really. She won’t forgive me for having told her lies.

       A．put up with      B．fit in with C．made up with   D．kept up with

．It rained for two weeks, completely _______ our holiday.

       A．ruined      B．ruin       C．to ruin          D．ruining

 Nowadays, scientists are working hard to find a best way of treating addictions __________ drugs.

  A. of             B. in            C. on            D. to

Of the two speeches, I think the ______ was better.

   A. latter             B. later           C. late             D. latest