I HEAR America beeping(嘟嘟响).

 Beep,says my cellophane when it gets a text message.

  Beep,says my microwave oven when my sandwich  is warmed up. 

 Sometimes  I long for a natural sound:a bird singing,dog barking,children laughing, anything to drown out  the maddening beeps that have become the soundtrack(配乐)to modern life.

  My cellophane? It isn’t enough that its ring tone offerings seem to stretch from  “annoymg” toextremely “annoying”. It also has to beep whenever someone texts messages me. 

The microwave? A bell rings when it's finished heating my food.But is that enough? No.If I don’t rush to it right away, it starts beeping,like an impatient child tugging(用力拉) at my sleeve(袖子).

 The smoke detector(探测器) is the worst offender.When its batteries are in need of replacement,it 1ets out a series of chirps.The things that don’t beep buzz(嗡嗡响).And for some reason,beeping and buzzing is beneath them,they clear their throats and perform a symphony. Like my TV, each time I turn it on, it performs an aria(咏叹调):La di da di dum.Salutions! Here I am! Same thing when I turn it off: La di da di dum.Good bye, kind sir! Until the next time

But at 1east I know where each of these sounds is coming from.That isn’t always the case.For weeks, my wife and I were awoken in the night by a beeping.There,in the stillness, we went through the possible suspects.Could we have a text message? Could it be any of the devices(装置)able to make a sound? Curling iron, rice cooker, smoke detector, TV set,clock radio...

The only way to tell was to chase the sound down ,but no sooner  would we pull on our bathrobes than the beeping would stop. We didn’t hear it every night but often enough that we would climb into bed wondering whether our sleep  would be interrupted by that maddening sound,that beep.

  Finally,early one morning,my wife found it:in the study,under a desk,a big plastic cube that was plugged into the wall.It was an uninterruptible power supply that we’d inherited(继承)from my wife’s mother.We’d never known it was capable of speech. 

I think it just wanted someone to talk to.

14.What does the writer truly mean by saying“I hear America beeping”?

A.American people like devices that beep.

B.Americans are crazy about sending text messages.

C.In modern society people are dependant on technology.

D.The soundtrack to modern life is no longer natural.

15.Why couldn’t the author and his wife find the source of the noise in their house in the beginning?

A.There were too many devices for them to check.

B.They were unwilling to get up at midnight.

C.They had never known that thing could beep too.

D.The noise didn’t come every day.

16.After reading this passage,we can probably tell the author    

   A.enjoys being surrounded by beeps  B.has a touch of humor in his writing

C.tries to avoid using anything that beeps

D.understands the beeping is designed to be user-friendly


D
I entered high school having read hundreds of books. But I was not a good reader. Merely bookish, I lacked a point of view when I read. Rather, I read in order to get a point of view. I searched books for good expressions and sayings, pieces of information, ideas, themes—anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated. When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a “complicated idea” until he had read at least two thousand books, I heard the words without recognizing either its irony (嘲讽) or its very complicated truth. I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read. Strict with myself, I included only once a title I might have read several times. (How, after all, could one read a book more than once?) And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length. (Could anything shorter be a book?)
There was yet another high school list I made. One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college. The article had a list of the “hundred most important books of Western Civilization.” “More than anything else in my life,” the professor told the reporter with finality(firmly) , “these books have made me all that I am.” That was the kind of words I couldn’t ignore. I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles. Most books, of course, I hardly understood. While reading Plato's The Republic, for example, I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about. However, with the special patience and superstition (迷信) of a schoolboy, I looked at every word of the text. And by the time I reached the last word, pleased, I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic, and seriously crossed Plato off my list
68. On hearing the teacher's suggestion of reading, the writer thought _______.
A. one must read as many books as possible
B. a student should not have a complicated idea
C. it was impossible for one to read two thousand books
D. students ought to make a list of the books they had read
69. While at high school, the writer _______.
A. had plans for reading                               B. learned to educate himself
C. only read books over 100 pages                D. read only one book several times
70. The writer's purpose in mentioning The Republic is to _______.
A. explain why it was included in the list
B. describe why he seriously crossed it off the list
C. show that he read the books blindly though they were hard to understand
D. prove that he understood most of it because he had looked at every word
71 The writer provides two book lists to _______.
A. show how he developed his point of view
B. tell his reading experience at high school
C. introduce the two persons' reading methods
D. explain that he read many books at high school


D
I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my adult-education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-year-old daughter. He and his wife thought they couldn’t bear that first loss; but, as he said, “Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days.”
This double bereavement was almost too much to bear. “I couldn’t take it,” this father told us. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone.” At last he went to the doctors; one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip, but neither helped. He said, “My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice(大钳子), and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter.” The tension of grief(悲伤) — if you have ever been paralyzed(使瘫痪) by sorrow, you know what the meant.
“But thank God, I had one child left — a four-year-old son. He gave me the solution to the problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked, ‘Daddy, will you build a boat for me?’ I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent fellow! I had to gave in. Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.”
“The following night, I made a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired. Amazingly, I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention. During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am busy now that I have no time for worry.”
No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said, “I am too busy. I have no time for worry.”
53. The underlined word “bereavement” in the second paragraph refers to _____.

A. having lost a loved one
B. having lost a valuable article
C. having lost a profit-making business
D. having lost a well-paid job
54. Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because _____.
A. he couldn’t earn enough money to support his family
B. he was suffering from sleeplessness disease
C. he couldn’t get out of mental pressure
D. he felt tired of adult-education classes
55. Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because _____.
A. he hadn’t been able to spare time to mend them
B. he wanted to kill his free time by repairing them
C. the items had actually been broken and needed attention
D. repairing the items helped crowd worry out of his mind
56. At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to _____.
A. prove that he followed Churchill’s example
B. support his student’s solution to his problem
C. show that he was successful in his career
D. make it clear how his conclusion was reached


D
I told my friend Graham that I often cycle the two miles from my house to the town centre but unfortunately there is a big hill on the route.He replied, "You mean fortunately." He explained that I should be glad of the extra exercise that the hill provided.
My attitude to the hill has now changed.I used to complain as I approached it but now I tell myself the following; This hill will exercise my heart and lungs.It will help me to lose weight and get fit.It will mean that I live longer.This hill is my friend.Finally as I wend my way up the incline I comfort myself with the thought of all those silly people who pay money to go to a gym and sit on stationery exercise bicycles when I can get the same value for free.I have a smug smile of satisfaction as I reach the top of the hill.
Problems are there to be faced and overcome. We cannot achieve anything with an easy life, Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to gain a University degree.  Her activism and writing proved inspirational.She wrote, " Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved."
One of the main determinants of success in life is our attitude towards adversity.From time to time, we all face hardships, problems, accidents, and difficulties.Some are of our making but many confront us through no fault of our own.While we cannot choose the adversity we can choose our attitude towards it.
Douglas Bader was 21 when in 1931 he had both legs cut off following a flying accident.He was determined to fly again and went on to become one of the leading flying experts in the Battle of Britain with 22 aerial victories over the Germans.He was an inspiration to others during the war.He said, "Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t do this or that.That's nonsense.Make up your mind, you’11 never use crutches or a stick, then have a go at everything.Go to school, join in all the games you can.Go anywhere you want to.But never, never let them persuade you that things are too difficult or impossible."
The biographies of great people are filled with examples of how they took kinds of steps to overcome the difficulties they faced.The common thread is that they did not become defeatist or depressed.They chose their attitude.They chose to be positive.They took on the challenge.They won.
68.The writer has a smug smile of satisfaction as he reaches the top of the hill because________.
A.he was actually killing two birds with a stone
B.compared with those silly people, he was smarter
C.he lost weight by cycling to the town center every day
D.he was informed of a short route from his house to the town
69.The writer quoted Helen Keller and her saying as an example to demonstrate_________.
A.one cannot achieve anything with an easy life
B.only disabled persons can experience hardship deeply
C.one' s success is determined by nothing but his/ her attitude
D.it' s rare for a deaf and blind person to gain a University degree.
70.From this passage we know that Douglas Bader was a person of___________.
A.individual and creative character        B.stubborn yet charming personality
C.great bravery and strong will           D.excellent speaker with great influence
71.In writing style, the last paragraph serves as____________
A.an explanation        B.a demonstration    C.an introduction  D.a summarization


D
I don’t like getting up too early unless I have to. When you’re filming, you’ve got make-up on, which doesn’t happen often. As I’m not filming at present I’ll get up at 8.30.
Work normally means Matt coming over to my house about 10 am. We’re writing at the moment. We’ll chat for a bit before going to my study. One of us will have an idea for a sketch (梗概), we’ll talk about the characters and when we feel we have enough we’ll start writing.
Matt and I met at the National Youth Theatre in 1990 and started doing shows together in ’95, at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. We know we’re onto something if we’ve made each other laugh, and that’s a really special moment. It’s not always like that, but we’re comfortable enough with each other that we can be honest and go. Some days you’re not in the mood to be funny—like writing when my dad was dying of cancer, or when Matt was separating from his partner.
We stop for lunch and sometimes go to Wagamama in Camden, but the last time we were followed by paparazzi (狗仔队), which gets you down—who wants to be pictured eating noodles?
When I’m not writing with Matt I work on other projects. My second children’s book comes out later in the year. It’s called Mr. Stink. The first one I dedicated to my three-year-old nephew, Eddie. Both books have been illustrated by Quentin Blake; it’s been a thrill to work with him—like 20 years ago reading a Roald Dahl book and looking at those drawings, then one day that person illustrates your work… magical.
At 5 I go swimming in Soho. My trainer makes me do horrible exercises, but I always feel better after.
Being in all day, I like to go out in the evening and look smart, but not like I’ve come out of the City. I’m a tall, broad guy and well-dressed.
For dinner I’ll meet friends. When you’re a single guy it’s great to have some good female friends. Or I might take my mum to the theatre, as I know she really appreciates it. I like watching TV comedy shows to see what everyone’s doing. When you see something impressive it makes you work harder. I also love Larkin’s poems: they don’t try to transcend (超越) the commonplace; they’re much more straightforward.
Poetry is great to dip into before going to bed, rather than falling asleep reading a novel and being confused over what you’ve read or not. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in seven years; unfortunately, I rely on pills. I’ve tried everything. If I could wish anything for myself, I’d wish I could sleep better.
67. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
A. the author spends much time with his friends
B. the author and Matt are both famous in the district
C. the author doesn’t care much about what to wear
D. the author works at home and seldom goes out every day
68. Where does the passage most likely appear?
A. In a travel diary.                         B. In a news column.
C. In an online diary.                    D. In a research paper.
69. Why does the author read some poetry before going to bed?
A. Because poetry can often bring him some funny ideas.
B. Because poetry is much easier to understand than novels.
C. Because poetry is very abstract and reflects unusual things.
D. Because poetry can be of some help for him to kill time.
70. What might be the best title for the passage?
A. A day’s work with Matt                 B. A new life-style 
C. A life in the day                       D. A good way to write

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