Rich or poor, we all have problems: that unfaithful mate, that irritating (惱人的) colleague, that persistent disease, the investment that is turning into a huge loss. How do we remain calm, positive and even elegant in the face of all these difficulties of life?

    That following suggestions may help.

    It comes with the pay. I have a friend who used to complain about her dead-end job and unreasonable boss. Sound familiar? One day I told her, “Look at it this way. You are getting paid for the annoyance as well as the work. It comes with the pay.” This has become my favorite saying for work-related frustrations. “Take every day as a bonus.” When we learn to treasure every moment of what we have, we begin to see life in a whole new perspective.

    It’s all in the mind. Sure, the psychologists tell us it is important we work at resolving problems. But they also say if you try to resolve a problem that would not go away, it would only compound (使更復(fù)雜) the frustration. If you tell yourself there isn’t a problem, there won’t be one. It’s all in the mind.

    Stop thinking about your own problem ---help others instead. A lady who is combating a life-threatening disease revealed she coped with her illness by making herself useful, by offering help to others in a similar situation. She has spoken to at least five other women with breast cancer. She says that the sharing has helped her to find fresh meaning in her own life.

    Never give up on your dream. Why do we give in and give up when meet difficulties? Is it because we have no confidence in our cause and no commitment (致力) for what we pursue? It was said that Albert Einstein’s last request on his death bed was to be given his equations and his unfinished statement declining the presidency of Israel. Einstein first picked up his equations and lamented to his son, “If only I had more mathematics!” What a great persistent spirit!

    One strong-hearted lady was the late head of the tragic Kennedy family, Rose Kennedy. She said this on nationwide television one week after losing yet another son to an assassin’s bullet---Boddy Kennedy: “And we go on our way with no regrets not looking backwards to the past, but we shall carry on with courage.”

    Not the end of the world. Do you know something else? I’ve learned that care as you might, love as you might, some people just don’t care back. And it’s not the end of the world. After all, it’s not the event that makes a person, is it? It’s what we do about that happens to us.

69. Which of the following may serve as an appropriate title for this passage?

  A. How to Face Problems                         B How to Resolve Problems

  C. How to Hold on to Your Dream             D. How to Remain Cheerful

70. “Take every day as a bonus” (in Paragraph 5) means _____.

  A. we should see life from a new perspective    

  B. we should treasure every day in our life.、

  C. we should regard every day as the last day    

  D. we should enjoy ourselves every day

71. Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned by the author?

  A. Helping others will make it easier for us to solve our own difficulties.

  B. We can learn to see life from a fresh light.

  C. We should have confidence in our cause so that we won’t give in easily.

  D. We should not be overwhelmed by problems in our life.

Dior was born in Normandy in 1905, and his family’s original plans for him included a career in the diplomatic service, but by the time he was twenty-three, with his parents’ money, he opened a small art gallery in Paris. By 1931, the money had been used up. Dior’s friends in the art gallery asked him to draw and he took his first step at designing and drawing. His first job was with Lucien Lelong from whom Dior learned his craft (手藝).

In February, 1947, Dior started the New Look in his first major Paris collection. He was backed by a famous textile producer. Boussac, who looked after the dollars, while Dior looked after the fashions. Dior knew nothing about cutting and sewing, but he was good at fashion design.

The New look started an entirely different look to costume, with a tiny waist, a rounded shoulder and a shapely bust (胸圍), usually with a low-cut neckline and a long, full skirt. To women who had lived through the war years, the femaleness of the New Look was a great success, for people were tired of the extremely plain, wartime restrictive fashions.

It is said that dresses by Dior were “constructed like buildings,” but young people were attracted to his design, and all over the western world, manufacturers plunged (投入) into the production of his new style. Dior’s revolutionary designs lighted up a whole cycle of fashion, rounded, gentle, feminine, a delight in elegance. A New Look House of Dior opened in 1948, followed by one in London. Considered as King of Couture (Women’s clothing) for years, the Dior empire grew until it covered every country in the western world, and included furs, hosiery, jewelry, perfumes, men’s wear and so on . More than 1,000 people worked at the Paris headquarter then.

His sudden death in 1957 when he was 54 years old did not stop the growth of the House of Dior. Even now, so many years after his death, his name is closely connected with fashion throughout the world, and indeed is one of the most recognized names in the world. His first, great New Look, with its long skirts was an expression of freedom in the late 1940s.

    More than one million children in the United States do not go to school. Instead, they learn at home. Most often, their parents are their teachers. Educational companies, libraries and the Internet provide many families with teaching material.

    Parents choose home schooling for several reasons. Some choose it because of their religious beliefs. Others say it provides more time for the family to be together. They say the home offers a better place for learning. Some parents believe home schooling avoids problems of rational schools. Critics, however, say children need to attend school with other children.

    All fifty American states and the District of Columbia permit home schooling. Some states do not require much preparation by parents or testing of children. Other states have more requirements for home schooling. Home schooling in the United States began when the country was established. In farm areas, people often lived far from a school. Widespread home schooling took place until about the middle of the nineteenth century. Then, in 1852, the state of Massachusetts passed the first law requiring children to attend school.

    Over the years, the American public education system strengthened and grew. By the 1960s and 1970s, however, some Americans believed that traditional education was not helping their children. So a number of parents began home schooling.

    Home schooling expert Linda Dobson says many people have helped the movement grow. She says many kinds of people have joined the movement. These include rich people and poor people. They represent many races, religions and political beliefs. Ms. Dobson says the number of home-schooled children has increased an estimated fifteen to twenty percent each year during the last fifteen years.

61. Teaching materials for home schooling do NOT come from _______.

  A. parents                                  B. libraries       

C. the Internet                           D. educational companies

62. Which of the following is one of the reasons why parents choose home schooling?

  A. It makes parents and their children have less time together.

  B. Some people have different religious beliefs from the others.

  C. It can’t provide a comfortable place for children to be in.

  D. There are too many students in a home classroom.

63. Home schooling was started in ________.

  A. the 1960s                            B. the 1970s

  C. the 1850s                            D. the 1770s

64. Home schooling in the United States now is __________.

  A. facing many difficulties

  B. struggling

  C. growing fast

  D. decreasing in large numbers

We walked in so quietly that the nurse at the desk didn’t even lift her eyes from the book. Mum pointed at a big chair by the door and I knew she wanted me to sit down. While I watched mouth open in surprise, mum took off her hat and coat and gave them to me to hold. She walked quietly to the small room by the lift and took out a wet mop. She pushed the mop past the desk and as the nurse looked up, mum nodded and said, “Very dirty floors.”

“Yes. I’m glad they’ve finally decided to clean them,” the nurse answered. She looked at mum and said, “But aren’t you working late?”

Mum just pushed harder, each sweep of the mop taking her farther and farther down the hall. I watched until she was out of sight and the nurse had turned back to writing in the big book.

After a long time mum came back. Her eyes were shining. She quickly put the mop back and took my hand. As we turned to go out of the door, mum bowed politely to the nurse and said, “Thank you.”

Outside, mum told me: “Dagmar is found. No fever.”

“You saw her, mum?”

“Of course. I told her about the hospital rules, and she will not expect us until tomorrow. Dad will stop worrying as well. It’s a fine hospital. But such floors! A mop is no good. You need a brush.”

56. When she took a mop from the small room, what mum really wanted to do was         .

A. to clean the floor                                            B. to please the nurse

C. to see a patient                                               D. to surprise the story-teller

57. When the nurse talked to mum, she thought mum was a         .

A. nurse                  B. visitor                      C. patient                            D. cleaner

58. After reading the story, what can we infer about the hospital?

A. It is a children’s hospital.                        

B. It has strict rules about visiting hours.

C. The conditions there aren’t very good.     

D. The nurses and doctors there don’t work hard.

59. From the text we know that Dagmar is most likely         .

A. the story-teller’s sister                             B. mum’s friend

C. the story-teller’s classmate                       D. dad’s boss

60. Which of the following words best describes mum?

A. beautiful                                                       B. warm-hearted                 

C. clever                                                           D. hard-working

   Last week I was invited to a doctor’s meeting at the Ruth hospital for incurable patients. In one of the wards a patient, an old man, got up shakily from his bed and moved towards me. I could see that he hadn’t much time to  36 , but he came up to me and placed his right foot close to mine on the floor.

    “Frank!” I cried in astonishment. He couldn’t  37 , as I knew, but all the time  38  his foot against mine.

    My  39  raced back more than thirty years to the  40  days of 1941, when I was a student in London. The  41  was an air-raid shelter, in which I and hundreds of other people slept every night. Two of the regulars were Mrs. West and her son Frank.

     42  wartime problems, we shelter-dwellers(防空洞居住者) got to  43  each other very well. Frank West  44  me because he wasn’t  45  , not even at birth. His mother told me he was 37 then, but he had  46  of a mind than a baby has. His “ 47 ” consisted of rough sounds―sounds of pleasure or anger and  48  more. Mrs. West, then about 75, was a strong, capable woman, as she had to be, of course, because Frank  49  on her entirely. He needed all the  50  of a baby.

    One night a policeman came and told Mrs. West that her house had been flattened by a 500-pounder. She  51  nearly everything she owned.

    When that sort of thing happened, the rest of us helped the  52  ones. So before we  53  that morning, I stood beside Frank and  54  my right foot against his. They were about the same size. That night, then, I took a pair of shoes to the shelter for Frank. But as soon as he saw me he came running and placed his right foot against mine. After that, his  55  to me was always the same.

―______.

―I think quite the opposite.

      A. She must be quite satisfied with the progress that has been made.

      B. If you have any question, don’t hesitate to call me!

      C. I wonder if you could come over and help me a while. I just can’t manage it.

      D. Nobody knows what he means. He just keeps his mouth closed all the day.

―______.

―I think quite the opposite.

      A. She must be quite satisfied with the progress that has been made.

      B. If you have any question, don’t hesitate to call me!

      C. I wonder if you could come over and help me a while. I just can’t manage it.

      D. Nobody knows what he means. He just keeps his mouth closed all the day.

We must ______ of him whether he has heard from her recently.

      A. require                      B. ensure                       C. remind                D. demand

 Can it have been on the sports ground _______ you lost your watch yesterday?

      A. on which                   B. where                       C. that                     D. what

The young lady prefers dressing up for a party to ______ by others.

      A. be noticed                                                     B. being noticed      

      C. having been noticed                                        D. have been noticed