During the fall months at high school guidance counseling programs, juniors run to the stage to participate in an exercise to help them understand that it is not “where you go” that matters. They hold posters with the names and faces of famous people while their peers (同齡人) and parents shout out with confidence the names of elite (精英) colleges they assume the celebrities attended. The “oohs” and “aahs” follow when they learn that Steven Spielberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropped out of college, that Oprah Winfrey is a graduate of Tennessee State and that Ken Burns graduated from Hampshire College. If even a few stressed students and their anxious parents benefit from this information, it is a worthwhile exercise.

Even better is giving the students a task to identify the happy, successful people in their own circle of family, friends, co-workers and neighbors and challenging them to go and ask “if or where they went to college” as a means of broadening the conversation in their search for a life after high school.

The key to success in college and beyond has more to do with what students do with their time during college than where they choose to attend. A long-term study of 6,335 college graduates published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that graduating from a college where entering students have higher SAT scores -- one marker of elite colleges --- didn’t pay off in higher post-graduation income. Researchers found that students who applied to several elite schools but didn’t attend them --- either because of rejection or by their own choice --- are more likely to earn high incomes later than students who actually attended elite schools.

In a summary of the findings, the bureau says that “evidently, students’ motivation, ambition and desire to learn have a much stronger effect on their future success than average academic ability of their classmates.”

The late author Loren Pope, who wrote Looking Beyond the Ivy League and Colleges That Change Lives, noted that the greater the opportunity for engagement and critical, creative and cooperative learning with staff, peers and community, the more likely the chance for future success.

59. The purpose of the guidance counseling programs is to help students ______________.

A. apply for suitable colleges

B. learn about college life

C. choose the most famous colleges

D. know about famous graduates

60. Ken Burns’ example shows that the successful people ______________.

A. don’t need support from their friends

B. have their own circle of family

C. don’t necessarily graduate from a famous college

D. graduate from a famous college

61. What contributes most to students’ success in college and after graduation is ______________.

A. whether they enter the elite college or not

B. whether they have spared no effort in college or not

C. whether they possess a higher SAT scores or not

D. whether they have famous schoolmates or not

62. According to Loren Pope, future success depends more on ______________.

A. staff, peers and community

B. motivation, ambition and desire to succeed

C. average academic ability of the classmates

D. creation, cooperation and opportunity

Talking plants might sound like characters in a fairy tale. But recent scientific studies have shown that plants communicate with each other and with other living things in a surprising number of ways. To understand them, scientists say, we just have to learn their language. Farmers are especially interested in what plants have to say.

“Plants are able to communicate with all sorts of organisms (有機(jī)體). They can communicate with giant bacteria, with other plants and with insects. They do this chemically,” said Cahill, an Ecology Professor of the University of Alberta in Canada.
Plant scientists are just beginning to understand this chemical “ language”. Cahill says studies have shown, for example, that plants can evaluate conditions in their immediate environment and take appropriate actions. Plants have an ability, for example, to signal pain or discomfort caused by anything from temperature extremes to an insect attack. Jack Schultz, a professor of chemical ecology at the University of Missouri, says when a plant senses that it’s being eaten, it cannot walk away from trouble; on the contrary, it will release a chemical vapor that alerts other plants nearby.
“Their language is a chemical language, and it involves chemicals that move through the air that are easy to be changeable, and most of all are smells that we are familiar with,” Schultz explained.
“All plants responded to the attack by changing their chemistry to defend themselves,” Schultz recalled. “But we were quite surprised to find that nearby plants also changed their chemistry to defend themselves, even though they were not part of the experiment.”
Studies have also shown that plants under attack release pleasant chemicals. Those chemicals attract friendly insects that attack the pests eating the plant.

In the end, plants’ ability to communicate their needs---and our ability to understand them--- could help farmers reduce the use of poisonous chemicals, cut operating costs and limit damage to the environment.

55. The recent scientific studies have shown that plants can ______________.

A. communicate with other living things in a chemical way

B. hardly react to any sudden change in temperature

C. use a very special chemical language which is familiar to us

D. respond to the attack by giving off poisonous chemicals

56.When being eaten by an insect, the plant will ______________.

A. walk away from trouble

B. change its chemistry to kill the insect

C. release a chemical vapor to “ask” other plants for help

D. give off nice chemicals to attract friendly insects killing the pest

57.The underlined word “alert” most probably means “______________”.

A. warn B. protect C. threaten D. allow

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

A. Communication between Plants B. A Chemical “Language”

C. Plants Can Talk D. How Plants Protect Themselves

At the age of ten I could not figure out what this Elvis Presley guy had that the rest of us boys did not have. I mean, he had a head, two arms and two legs, just like the rest of us. About nine o’clock on Saturday morning I decided to ask Eugene Correthers, one of the older boys, what it was that made this Elvis guy so special. He told me that it was Elvis’ wavy hair and the way he moved his body.

About half an hour later all the boys in the orphanage（孤兒院）were called to the main dining-room and told we were all going to downtown Jacksonville, Florida to get a new pair of Buster Brown shoes and a hair cut. That is when I got this big idea, which hit me like a ton of bricks. If the Elvis hair cut was the big secret, then that’s what I was going to get.

All the way to town I told everybody, including the matron（女管家）from the orphanage who was taking us to town, that I was going to look just like Elvis Presley and that I would learn to move around just like he did and that I would be rich and famous one day, just like him.

When I got my new Buster Brown shoes, I could hardly wait for my new hair cut and now that I had my new Buster Brown shoes I would be very happy to go back to the orphanage and practice being like Elvis.

We finally arrived at the big barber shop, where they cut our hair for free because we were orphans（孤兒). I looked at the barber and said, “I want an Elvis hair cut. Can you make my hair like Elvis?” I asked him, with a big smile on my face. “Let’s just see what we can do for you, little man,” he said. I was so happy when he started to cut my hair. Just as he started to cut my hair, the matron signed for him to come over to where she was standing. She whispered something into his ear and then he shook his head, like he was telling her “No”. Then he told me they were not allowed to give us Elvis hair cuts. Then I saw my hair falling onto the floor.

51.In the author’s eyes, Elvis Presley was ______________.

A. disgusting B. admirable C. ambitious D. dynamic

52. From the passage, we can know that ______________.

A. Buster Brown was more appealing than Elvis Presley

B. An Elvis hair cut cost the orphans a lot of money

C. The author was fascinated with the stars Buster and Elvis

D. The barber was unwilling to give the boy an Elvis hair cut

53. We can learn from the underlined sentence that the boy was ______________.

A. excited to have an Elvis hair cut

B. worried to think about the secret

C. anxious to remove the ton of bricks

D. careful to seize the chance

54. How would the boy probably feel when he walked out of the barber shop?

A. Delighted. B. Guilty. C. Self-satisfied. D. Depressed.

It was the old lady's birthday. She got up early to be ready for the post. From the second floor flat she could see the postman when he came down the street, and a little boy, Johnnie, _ _31___ her letters from the ground floor on the rare_ _32___ when anything came.
Today she was sure there would be something. Myra_ _33___ forget her mother's birthday, even if she _ _34___ wrote at other times. Of course Myra was busy, but _ _35___, Enid, the daughter the old lady loved most, died two years ago. Since then Myra had been to see her mother three times, but her husband, Harold, never.

The old lady was eighty today. She had put on her best dress. Perhaps--perhaps Myra might come. After all, eighty was a _ _36___ birthday, another decade lined or tolerated just as you chose to look at it. _ _37___Myra did not come, she would send a present. The old lady was _ _38___ of that. Two spots of colour _ _39___ her cheeks. She was _ _40___ like a child. She would enjoy her day!
Now, she stood by the window, _ _41___. The postman turned round the corner on his bicycle. Her heart beat _ _42___. Johnnie had seen him too and ran to the gate. Then clatter (咔嗒聲), clatter up the stairs. Johnnie knocked at her door. He had got her post---four envelopes. Three were unclosed cards from old friends. The fourth was closed, in Myra's writing. The old lady felt a sharp pain of _ _43___.There was no parcel for her! Maybe the parcel was too large to come by letter post. That was it. It would come later by parcel post. She said to herself. She must be _ _44___.

Almost _ _45___she tore the envelope open. _ _46___in the card was a piece of paper. Written on the card was a message under the printed Happy Birthday --- Buy yourself something nice with the _ _47___, Myra and Harold. The cheque moved quickly to and fro in the air to the floor like a bird with a broken wing. Slowly the old lady _ _48___to pick it up. Her present! her _ _49___ present! With _ _50___fingers she tore it into little bits.

31. A. took away B. brought up C. moved off D. set down

32. A. occasion B. opportunity C. ceremony D. anniversary

33. A. mustn’t B. mightn’t C. wouldn’t D. needn’t

34. A. occasionally B. always C. almost D. seldom

35. A. unhappily B. unfortunately C. unforgettably D. unkindly

36. A. casual B. remote C. special D. conventional

37. A. Even if B. So that C. In case D. Now that

38. A. proud B. capable C. sure D. afraid

39. A. sharpened B. weakened C. widened D. brightened

40. A. excited B. alarmed C. inspired D. satisfied

41. A. thinking B. imagining C. welcoming D. watching

42. A. steadily B. wildly C. nervously D. randomly

43. A. discontent B. loneliness C. disappointment D. annoyance

44. A. patient B. anxious C. urgent D. mild

45. A. immediately B. cheerfully C. angrily D. unwillingly

46. A. Pinned B. Folded C. Lined D. Roped

47. A. card B. bonus C. cheque D. cash

48. A. bent B. leaned C. struggled D. stretched

49. A. painful B. sad C. expensive D. lovely

50. A. moving B. trembling C. reacting D. freezing

 Currently, some overseas universities are simply selling diplomas to Chinese students __________ their academic performance, so China should check in a regular basis.

A. on account of B. in addition to C. regardless of D. in relation to

 E-mails, though _________ exposed to misleading information, are considered far more convenient than traditional letters.

A. occasionally B. especially C. originally D. naturally

 The named ticket system, where_________ ID is needed when people purchase tickets, was first introduced during the Spring Festival this year.

A. stable B. universal C. favorable D. valid

 Her adaptable mind is always open to new knowledge and ________of others' viewpoints, which makes her popular with her colleagues.

A. particular B. tolerant C. jealous D. ambitious

 A charity campaign to offer care to the elderly in our city attracted many participants on March 5 --- "Learn from Lei Feng Day", a day _________ to honor the spirit of helping others.

A. set down B. set about C. set aside D. set back

 In the 1990s, Mr. Bean became a star using mime to _________ difficult social situations much as Charlie Chaplin had done.

A. highlight B. overlook C. assess D. update