41. How did Adrian communicate with other children in the special school?

A. By speaking.　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. By using sign language.

C. By reading lips.　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. By making loud noises.

39. What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?

　 A. It is quite popular among students.

　 B. It is the only book ever written by Cisneros.

　 C. It wasn’t a success as it was written in Spanish.

　 D. It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine.

答案　 36.B　 37.D　 38.C　 39.A

Passage 10

(08·浙江A篇)

Adrian’s “Amazing Race” started early when his parents realized that he, as a baby, couldn’t hear a thing, not even loud noises. In a special school for the hearing-impaired (聽覺受損的)，he learned sign language and got to mix with other disabled children. However, the sight of all the disabled children communicating with one another upset his mother. She wanted him to lead a normal life. So after speaking to an advisor, she sent him to private classes where he learned to read lips and pronounce words.

　　 Later on, Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school. But the headmaster tried to prevent them from doing so, saying regular schools couldn’t take care of a special needs student. His parents were determined to take the risk and pushed him hard to go through his work every day because they wanted to prove that, given the opportunity, he could do anything. Adrian made the grade and got accepted. It was a big challenge. The pace(節(jié)奏)was faster so he had to sit at the front of the class and really pay attention to the teacher, which wasn’t always easy. But he stuck to it and did a lot of extra work after school.

　 　The efforts made by Adrian and his parents paid off. Adrian graduated with good grades and got into a top high school. He also achieved a lot in life outside school. He developed a love for the outdoors and went to Nepal to climb mountains. He even entered the World Yacht Race 05/06-being the first hearing-impaired Asian to do so.

　　 But none of these achievements would have been possible without one of the most important lessons from his mother.“If you believe in yourself and work hard, you can achieve great results,”she often said.

38. According to Cisneros, what played the decisive role in her success?

　 　A. Her early years in college.　　　　　　　　 　 B. Her training in the Workshop.

　 C. Her feeling of being different.　　　　　　 　 D. Her childhood experience.

37. The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to _____.

　 A. work for a school magazine　　　　　　　　　　 　 B. run away from her family

　 C. make a lot of friends　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 D. develop her writing style

36. Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?

A. She had seven brothers.　　　　　　　　　　 　 B. She felt herself a nobody.

　 C. She was too shy to go to school.　　　　　　　 　 D. She did not have any good teachers.

67．What is the author’s attitude towards Nigel’s actions?

A．He is mildly critical.　　　　 　　　　　　 B．He is strongly critical.

C．He is in favor of them.　　　　 　　　　　 D．His attitude is not clear.

答案　 64.D　 65.C　 66.D　 67.A

Passage 9

(08·天津A篇)

Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had “seven fathers,” because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated(躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.

In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university’s Writers’ Workshop, however, she felt lonely-a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her “creative voice.”

“It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That’s when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn’t write about.”

Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children’s book, and a short-story collection.

66．Why did Nigel help Alicia finish her robot?

A．He tried to make friends with her.　　　　 B．He was fond of building robots.

C．He intended to help her.　　　　　　　　　　　 D．He didn’t want her to suspect him.　　　

65．Nigel’s original intention of joining the contest was to ___　　　 ．

A．be the top student of the school　　　　　　 B．being great honor to his school

C．construct a robot with the Lego sets　　 D．wins the thousand-dollar prize

64．What reward did Nigel receive for doing well in his school work?

A．He was offered a part-time job.

B．He was honored with a scholarship.

C．He helped his teachers construct a robot.

D．He helped in the computer laboratories.

75.Which of the following can be inferred from the text?

A.Adults are resource-sucking people.

B.Poe sought help from a youth organization.

C.Kids F.A.C.E.members are from the U.S.

D.Kids are urged to save natural resources.

答案　 72.D　 73.C　 74.B　 75.D

Passage 8

(08·江西C篇)

Topping the class academically was certainly an advantage．Studying was a breeze for 　Nigel．The reward was certainly incomparable to the little effort that he had to put it．It began when he was selected to help the teachers in the computer laboratories．

The peak of his school career came not when he topped the school but when he was selected

for the nationwide competition．Unlike everyone else, Nigel wanted to join the contest because he liked playing with the Lego sets and making something out of them．Nigel spent the next two months rebuilding the robot．It was during the time that Nigel found out about the prizes for the competition as well as another competitor, Alicia, from a neighboring school．His early intentions were forgotten．Getting the thousand-dollar prize was more important than anything else．Nigel decided to befriend Alicia．Unaware of his intentions, she told him all about the robot that she had been building for the competition．He even helped her to put the finishing touches to her robot．He was glad with the way things had progressed．His robot looked even better than Alicia’s and it was able to bounce a ball with its arm, something Alicia had failed to do．

On the day of the competition, he saw Alicia．Everything dawned on her the minute she saw

him among the competitors. She stared at him, puzzled at first, then angry and finally a look of helplessness came over her．

The flashbulbs of the camera exploded in Nigel’s face．The robot had performed actions so

unique and different that the specialists’ judgments were the same．Nigel was so pleased with himself that he did not even notice the girl standing a few feet away from him．Without her, he would never have won the competition．