After spending a year in Brazil on a student exchange program, her mother recalled, Marie Colvin returned home to find that her classmates had narrowed down their college choices. “Everyone else was already admitted to college,” her mother, Rosemarie Colvin, said from the family home. “So she took our car and drove up to Yale and said, ‘You have to let me in.’ ”

Impressed—she was a National Merit(全國英才) finalist who had picked up Portuguese in Brazil—Yale did, admitting her to the class of 1978, where she started writing for The Yale Daily News “and decided to be a journalist,” her mother said.

On Wednesday, Marie Colvin, 56, an experienced journalist for The Sunday Times of London, was killed as Syrian forces shelled the city of Homs. She was working in a temporary media center that was destroyed in the attack.

“She was supposed to leave Syria on Wednesday”, Ms. Colvin said. “Her editor told me he called her yesterday and said it was getting too dangerous and they wanted to take her out. She said she was doing a story and she wanted to finish it. ”

Ms. Colvin said it was pointless to try to prevent her daughter from going to conflict zones. “If you knew my daughter,” she said, “it would have been such a waste of words. She was determined, she was enthusiastic about what she did, it was her life. There was no saying ‘Don’t do this.’ This is who she was, absolutely who she was and what she believed in: cover the story, not just have pictures of it, but bring it to life in the deepest way you could.” So it was not a surprise when she took an interest in journalism, her mother said.

58. From the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 we can infer that       .

A. Yale University was her last choice

B. Yale must keep its promise to Marie

C. Marie Colvin was confident of herself

D. Marie Colvin was good at persuading

59. Marie Colvin’s story suggests some of the best qualities of being a journalist are       .

A. patience and confidence                 B. honesty and curiosity

C. flexibility and creativity              D. determination and courage  

60. Which of the following is the correct order to describe Marie Colvin’s life?

a. She was doing a story in Syria and got killed.

b. She was admitted to Yale University.

c. She studied in Brazil as an exchange student.

d. She was hired by The Sunday Times of London.

e. She began to take an interest in journalism.

A. d→e→c→a→b                                 B. c→b→e→d→a       

C. e→d→c→b→a                                 D. b→c→d→e→a

A yoga master made a shocking statement that Abraham Lincoln had been a Himalayan yogi in a past life．Lincoln delivered a proclamation setting up Thanksgiving as an American holiday in 1863．Research throws light on a possible Hindu （印度的）origin for the American celebration of Thanksgiving．

"The holiday of Thanksgiving has a Hindu origin," says Richard Salva, author of a book on the reincarnation （轉(zhuǎn)世）of Abraham Lincoln entitled Soul Journey ： From Lincoln to Lindbergh which is based on a statement by the great master of yoga, Paramhamsa Yogananda， who declared that Abraham Lincoln had been a Himalayan yogi in a past life, and that he was reborn as the famous pilot, Charles Lindbergh．

“During my search for signs of a past-life yoga practice,” SaIva said, “I noticed that President Lincoln repeatedly chose Thursdays as national days of prayer, fasting （禁食），and thanksgiving．This was interesting, because Thursday is considered a holy day — a day for prayer, fasting, and spiritual reflection — among Hindus, who call it‘guru day’．”

“ Lincoln also set aside time on Thursdays to grieve for his son，Willie, who died in Washington．Clearly, Thursdays had a spiritual significance in Lincoln's mind．”

In his book, Richard Salva presents more than 500 connections between Lincoln_, Lindergh, and the ancient spiritual science of yoga．The connections run through every aspect of the human condition and provide convincing evidence that Lincoln had had a Hindu past life.

More than one out of every five Americans today believes in reincarnation—yet few are aware of how past-life patterns affect them．Soul Journey tries to fill this gap, by offering a substitute experience of reincarnation．Through clear and persuasive similarities between the lives of Lincoln and Lindbergh, the book discovers how the hidden laws of fate and reincarnation impact the events of his or her daily life．It addresses other issues, such as the secret spiritual history of America's greatest president, including his past life as a Himalayan yogi; the hidden clues that reveal past lives； the greatness he achieved； and the spiritual principles behind the yoga postures that millions now practice．

54. Based on Richard Salva’s view, ______.
A. Hindus started the holiday of Thanksgiving
B. the Americans copied Thanksgiving from Hindus
C. Thanksgiving had Hindus roots
D. Charles Lindbergh had been a Himalayan yogi

55. We can draw a conclusion from the passage that ______.
A. in India Thursday is a religious day
B. in India all the prayers are done on Thursday
C. Abraham Lincoln was once a famous pilot
D. Paramhamsa Yogananda once taught Lincoln yoga

56. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______.
A. the book discovers the laws of fate and reincarnation
B. yoga is closely connected with religion
C. the book gives a scientific description of Lincoln’s spiritual life
D. Lincoln and Lindbergh must have influenced each other a lot

57.When it came to the comparison between Lincoln and Lindbergh, the author held a ______ attitude.

A. neutral        B. doubtful       C. negative       D. positive

Tiangong-1 (or Heavenly Palace) space module（艙） is the first step toward China's plan to build a space station around 2020. Its launch by China has upset some countries, which are asking why China did not add on to the International Space Station that has been in place since 1998. After all, the Americans, Russians, Europeans and Japanese are using one platform to experiment in space. 

Questions have also been asked about China's ultimate purpose in space and suggestions made that there is something as unpleasant as the theme in a James Bond movie, in which Chinese-looking enemies were at the root of some evil plot to control the world. 

Chinese don't see themselves that way, and never in history have they been flag-planting colonialists. Most Westerners are schooled in the exploits of the great European explorers, headed by Christopher Columbus and James Cook, and followed closely by the groups of culture egotists(自大者) with a mix of guns, gold and the Bible in their hands. 

In contrast, Zheng He, the great Chinese navigator, took fleets to Africa and the Middle East to promote goodwill, with gifts of chinaware and art. No flags claiming possession of distant colonies. But this is strange to Western society. 

In this century, it is clear that space cannot be claimed by one nation. Yet advantage of technology in space does seem to be on some minds. Former US president Ronald Reagan caused shocks and worries with his ambitious Star Wars program. So when China shot down its own satellite as a test in January 2010 there were anxieties in the West about Star Wars-like scenario(劇本) becoming reality in the near future. 

50. The launch of Tiangong-1____.

   A. is appreciated by countries like the USA and Japan

   B. will bring trouble to the western countries in space

   C. is part of China’s plan to set up a station in space

   D. will help China be a member of the Space Station

51. It is most probable that the US, Russia, Europe and Japan____.

   A. are competing against one another in space wars

   B. feel anxious about China’s setting up a space station

   C. are cooperating to compete against China in space

   D. have warned the world of China’s final purpose

52. The author of the passage mentions Zheng He____.

   A. to tell people China will never be enemies of world peace

   B. to compare him to the great European explorers like Columbus

   C. to indicate that he is the pride of the Chinese people

   D. to show that the Chinese people are as great as other peoples

53. From the last paragraph, we can infer that____.

   A. China’s shooting down its satellite made the scenario become reality

   B. some countries are trying to be ahead of the others in space exploration

   C. China will be in control of the world if she starts space exploration

   D. if a nation has a better technology in space, it will start a star war

Blogging may have psychological(心理的) benefits for teens suffering from social anxiety, improving their self-esteem and helping them relate better to their friends, according to the new research published by the American Psychological Association. "Research has shown that writing a personal diary and other forms of expressive writing are a great way to release emotional stress and just feel better," said the study's lead author, Meyran Boniel-Nissim, PhD, of the University of Haifa, Israel. "Teens are online anyway, so blogging enables free expression and easy communication with others."

Blogging has a stronger positive effect on troubled students' well-being than merely expressing their social anxieties and concerns in a private diary, according to the article published online in the APA journal Psychological Services. Opening the blog up to comments from the online community strengthens those effects.

The researchers randomly surveyed high school students in Israel, who had agreed to fill out a questionnaire about their feelings on the quality of their social relationships. A total of 161 students -- 124 girls and 37 boys, with an average age of 15 -- were selected because their scores on the survey showed they all had some level of social anxiety or stress. All the teens reported difficulty in making friends or relating to the friends they had. The researchers assessed the teens' self-esteem, everyday social activities and behaviors before, immediately after and two months after the 10-week experiment.

Four groups of students were assigned to blog. Two of those groups were told to focus their posts on their social problems, with one group opening the posts to comments; the other two groups could write about whatever they wanted and, again, one group opened the blog up to comments. The number and content of comments were not evaluated for this experiment. The students could respond to comments but that was not required. Two more groups acted as controls -- either writing a private diary about their social problems or doing nothing. Participants in the writing and blogging groups were told to post messages at least twice a week for 10 weeks.

Four experts, who held master's or doctor’s degrees in consulting and psychology, assessed the bloggers' social and emotional condition via their blog posts. Students were assessed as having a poor social and emotional state if they wrote a lot about personal problems or bad relationships or showed evidence of low self-esteem.

Self-esteem, social anxiety, emotional stress and the number of positive social behaviors improved significantly for the bloggers when compared to the teens who did nothing and those who wrote private diaries. Bloggers who were instructed to write specifically about their difficulties and whose blogs were open to comments improved the most. All of these results agreed with the two- month follow-up.

The authors admitted that the skewed（有偏向的） sex rate was a limitation to the study. However, the researchers analyzed the results separately by gender and found that boys and girls reacted similarly to the experiment and there were no major differences. However, they said future research should attempt to control the subjects sex.

46. The selection of students for the experiment was largely based on____.　　　　　
　 A. their social relationships　　　　 B. their self-esteem
　　 C. their problems in social life　　 D. their willingness to fill out a questionnaire
47. What’s the function of “controls” (Paragraph 4) in the experiment?
　　 A. To write down some social problems in a private diary.
　　 B. To post messages to the blog and respond to comments.
　　 C. To help evaluate the number and content of blog comments.
　　 D. To offer a comparison for checking the experimental result.
48. From the experiment we can know that____.

A. writing private diaries makes no difference to the relief of one’s emotional stress.

B. teenagers opening their blogs up to comments have more psychological benefits.

C. the positive effects of expressing one’s emotions by blogging don’t last very long.

D. those describing bad relationships on blogs tend to develop more mental problems.

49. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. The authors insisted that all the research findings were accurate.
B. Sex rate had been taken into account before the survey was conducted.

C. The authors were intended to improve the experiment in the future.
D. Similar reactions of boys and girls indicated the failure of the experiment.

Steve Kimball started a career in March as a school - bus driver for First Student Norwich. The morning of April 8 seemed   26   , Kimball recalled, except that he didn’t quite feel right. Noah got in the bus and noticed immediately that the driver didn’t    27   well; he wasn’t talking and joking    28     the two of them are used to doing every morning.

Throughout the brief ride to   29   more riders, Noah kept asking Kimball, "Steve, are you all right?".

Kimball said the boy's persistence was getting him annoyed. So Noah    30   sent a quick text message to his parents   31   the driver was definitely sick but  32   he was OK. His father  33   the bus company immediately. Soon the ambulance came over and drove Kimball to the nearest  34   .

"The doctor said I suffered a severe heart attack," Kimball said Thursday,  35 recovering at his Norwich home. Kimball said. "God worked a miracle  36  Noah. He saved my life, plain and simple. "

Kimball wasn't the only one  37   . On Tuesday, First Student held a ceremony at Noah's school   38  him for his "heroic leadership. " Company officials  39   him with a plaque (匾牌) and a $50 prize.

"You are being  40   for your quick thinking and showing great care and  41    for your driver, and because of you, he will be just fine," the plaque  42   .

Noah doesn't care for the sudden   43  . He had to be coaxed (哄勸) by Kimball to attend Tuesday' s ceremony. "I just did what was the right  44   to do," he said.

But Noah wasn't shy when asked whether he was    45  Steve's return to work.
“Oh, yeah!” he said.
 

—What has made him upset recently?

—____alone to face a troublesome milk case.

A. Left　　 　　　 B. Being left　　 　　C. Having left　 　　　D. To leave

 —Another cup of coffee? That’s your third since lunch.

—Yeah, well, I ____ all night preparing for my history exam. I can hardly keep my eyes open.

A. stayed up      B. have stayed up   C. have been staying up  D. will stay up

 “You ____not be too careful in the exam. Do and check your papers carefully and you ____not take your papers out of the examination room after the exam.” the teacher told us before the exam.

A. must; should       B. can; shall        C. must; shall        D. can; should

 We must apply what we have learned to our daily work because in no case ____ from practice.

A. should theory separate                B. should theory be separated
C. theory should separate                D. theory should be separated

 —Why do you look so worried?

—My computer broke down and my essay ____ unfinished since.
A. was left           B. has left          C. left               D. has been left