It is worth considering what makes “convenience” foods so popular, and        better ones of your own.

A. introduces                B. to introduce                     C. introducing               D. introduced

When I entered Berkeley, I hoped to acquire a scholarship. Having been a Straight-A student, I believed I could    1    tough subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he    2   in class.

When I took the first exam, I was    3    to find a 77, C-plus, on my test paper,   4  

English was my best subject. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained    5   .

I decided to try harder, although I didn’t know what that    6    because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77 Again, I    7    with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn’t change his    8   .

One more test before the final exam. One more    8    to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time,   10    the meaning of the word “thorough”, But my    11    did no good and everything    12    as before.

The last hurdle（障礙）was the final. No matter what    13    I got, it wouldn’t cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the    14    goodbye.

I stopped working hard. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even    15    myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I’d have 16 with a test.

A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into Professor Jayne’s office. He 17 to be expecting me. “If I gave you the as you    18   , you wouldn’t continue to work as hard.”

I stared at him.   19    that his analysis and strategy（策略）were correct. I had worked my head    20   , as I had never done before.

I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. It was the only A-plus given. The next year I received my scholarship. I’ve always remembered Professor Jayne’s lesson: you alone must set your own standard of excellence.

1. A. take                      B. discuss                     C. cover                D. get

2. A. sought                         B. presented                  C. exchanged         D. obtained

3. A. shocked                       B. worried                    C. scared               D. anxious

4. A. but                              B. so                            C. for                    D. or

5. A. unchanged                   B. unpleasant                C. unfriendly          D. unmoved

6. A. reflected               B. meant                       C. improved           D. affected

7. A. quarreled                     B. reasoned                   C. bargained          D. chatted

8. A. attitude                        B. mind                        C. plan                  D. view

9. A. choice                         B. step                         C. chance                     D. measure

10. A. memorized                 B. considered                C. accepted           D. learned

11. A. ambition                     B. confidence                C. effort                D. method

12. A. stayed                        B. went                        C. worked             D. changed

13. A. grade                         B. answer                            C. lesson               D. comment

14. A. scholarship                 B. course                      C. degree               D. subject

15. A. helped                        B. favored                    C. treated                     D. relaxed

16. A. fun                            B. luck                         C. problems           D. tricks

17. A. happened                   B. proved                            C. pretended          D. seemed

18. A. valued                        B. imagined                   C. expected           D. welcomed

19. A. remembering                     B. guessing                   C. supposing          D. realizing

20. A. out                                   B. over                         C. on                    D. off

Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living.  One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM.  When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.

I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute.” answered a weak, elderly voice.

After a long pause, a small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.

I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”

“Oh, you’re such a good man,” she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked,” Could you drive through downtown?”

“It’s not the shortest way.” I answered quickly.

“Oh, I’m in no hurry.” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice（臨終醫(yī)院）.I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter（計(jì)價(jià)器）.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that bad once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

At dawn, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

“How much do I owe you?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said.

“You have to make a living.” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark. “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”

1. The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to        .

   A. show she was familiar with the city         B. see some places for the last time

   C. let the driver earn more money               D. reach the destination on time

2. The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he         .

   A. wanted to do her a favor                              B. shut off the meter by mistake

   C. had received her payment in advance      D. was in a hurry to take other passengers

3. What can we learn from the story?
   A. Giving is always a pleasure.

   B. People should respect each other.

   C. An act of kindness can bring people great joy.

   D. People should learn to appreciate others’ concern.

Domestic(馴養(yǎng)的) horses now pull ploughs, race in the Kentucky Derby, and carry police. But early horses weren’t tame(馴服的) enough to perform these kinds of tasks. Scientists think the first interactions humans had with horses were far different from those today.

Thousands of years ago, people killed the wild horses that lived around them for food. Over time, people began to catch the animals and raise them. This was the first step in domestication.

As people began to tame and ride horses. They chose to keep those animals that had more desirable characteristics. For example, people may have chosen to keep horses that had a gentle personality so they could be ridden more easily. People who used horses to pull heavy loads would have chosen to keep stronger animals. Characteristics like strength are partly controlled by the animals’ genes. So as the domesticated horses reproduced, they passed the characteristics on to their young. Each new generation of horses would show more of these chosen characteristics.

Modern day horse breeds come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This variety didn’t exist in the horse population before domestication. The Shetland horse is one of the smallest breeds－typically reaching only one meter tall. With short, strong legs, the animals were bred to pull coal out of mine shafts(礦井) with low ceilings. Huge horses like the Clydesdale came on the scene around 1700. People bred these heavy, tall horses to pull large vehicles used for carrying heavy loads.

The domestication of horses has had great effects on societies. For example, horses were important tools in the advancement of modern agriculture, Using them to pull ploughs and carry heavy loads allowed people to farm more efficiently. Before they were able to ride horses, humans had to cross land on foot. Riding horses allowed people to travel far greater distances in much less time. That encouraged populations living in different areas to interact with one another. The new form of rapid transportation helped cultures spread around the world.

1. Before domestication horses were________.

   A. caught for sports                     B. hunted for food

   C. made to pull ploughs                  D. used to carry people

2. The author uses the Shetland horse as an example to show_______.

   A. it is smaller than the Clydesdale horse

   B. horses used to have gentle personalities

   C. some horses have better shapes than others

   D. horses were of less variety before domestication

3. Horses contributed to the spread of culture by______.

   A. carrying heavy loads

   B. changing farming methods

   C. serving as a means of transport

   D. advancing agriculture in different areas

4. The passage is mainly about_______.

   A. why humans domesticated horses

   B. how humans and horses needed each other

   C. how human societies and horses influenced each other

Dear Hamilton,

We are fortunate that in such a large, high-pressure office we all get along so well. You are one of the people who keep the social temperature at such a comfortable setting. I don’t know anyone in the office who is better liked than you.

You can perhaps help with this. The collection of contributions towards gifts for employees’ personal-life events is becoming a little troubling. Certainly, the group sending of a gift is reasonable now and then. In the past month, however, there have been collections for two baby shower gifts, one wedding shower gift, two wedding gifts, one funeral(葬禮) remembrance, four birthday gifts, and three graduation gifts.

It’s not only the collected-from who are growing uncomfortable (and poor), but the collected-for feel uneasy receiving gifts from people who don’t know them outside the office. Who wouldn’t even recognize their graduating children, their marrying daughters and sons, or their dead relatives?

This is basically a kind gesture (and one that people think well of you for), but the practice seems to have become too wide-ranging and feels improper in today’s office setting.

Thank you for understanding.

1. The underlined word “contributions” probably means _______.

   A. money               B. suggestions               C. reports             D. understanding

2. Hamilton is expected to__________.

   A. show more kindness

   B. discontinue the present practice

   C. quit being the organizer for gift giving

   D. now more about co-workers’ families

3. This is basically a letter of________.

   A. apology            B. sympathy              C. appreciation     D. dissatisfaction

When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate(照亮) me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.

When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say:” Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changed into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.

When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend. He was in despair（失望） and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.

For almost four years I have had a remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think: “Yes, I must tell…”We have never met.

It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist(心理學(xué)家), who will only fill up the healing(愈合的) silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.

1. In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was to ______.

   A. become serious about her study             B. go to her friend’s house regularly

   C. learn from her classmates at school        D. share poems and stories with her friend

2. In Paragraph 3, “We game London to each other” probably means__________.

   A. our exploration of London was a memorable gift to both of us

   B. we were unwilling to tear ourselves away from London

   C. our unpleasant feelings about London disappeared

   D. we parted with each other in London

3. According to Paragraph 4, the author and her friend_______.

   A. call each other regularly                           B. have similar personalities

   C. enjoy writing to each other                       D. dream of meeting each other

4. In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to_____.

   A. seek professional help                        B. be left alone

   C. stay with her best friend                         D. break the silence

5. What is the best title for the passage?

   A. Unforgettable Experiences                        B. Remarkable Imagination

   C. Lifelong Friendship                                 D. Noble Companions

--How do you find your new classmates?

--Most of them are kind, but _______is so good to me as Bruce.

A. none    B. no one    C. every one    D. some one

________in the queue for half an hour ,the old man suddenly realized he had left the cheque in the car.

A. Waiting    B. To wait     C. Having waited      D. To have waited

A great man shows his greatness ________ the way he treats little men.

A. under    B. with    C. on    D. by

It is usually warm in my hometown in March, but it ________be rather cold sometimes.

A. must     B. can    C. should    D. would