Nobody Benefits

NEW YORK—America has been experiencing the longest economic increase in its history.Incomes have risen, unemployment has fallen, and cities such as New York are bursting with new office buildings.

But just a short walk from Manhattan's skyscrapers, George Brown sits on the side-walk, cooking a lunch of rice and bits of fish over a can of cooking fuel.

Brown is homeless — one of the 2.3 million people in the US who end up on the street.

During the day, Brown collects aluminium cans and sells them for five cents a piece.At night, he sleeps on the street.w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m

"I have been on the street about eight or nine years, something like that," said the 62-year-old former construction worker.

Brown admits he's had problems with alcohol and has smoked cocaine.But he said he still wants a more stable housing arrangement.He could afford it just with the money he earns by collecting cans and small pieces of metal, if only truly low-income housing were available.

However, he sees no hope of finding affordable housing in New York.

With the strong economy and unemployment down, beautiful housing is being built to meet demand.

A US report shows rents in New York city rose more than 27 percent between 1984 and 1999, from US $549 to US $700 a month.

One of the side effects of the strong economy is that rents have been going up.

The majority of people who experience homelessness really just need some affordable housing help.

But few housing companies have been built for the poor.Many small apartments in the city now rent for US $1,500 a month or more.

Brown, the homeless New Yorker, said he has a daughter who lives in the city but he rarely sees her.She is angry about his drinking and won't allow it in her house.

Smiling, he said he also has seven grandchildren whom he'd like to see more often.

"All I've got to do is clean up my act," he said.

What kind of life does George Brown lead?

       A.Homeless and dangerous.              

       B.Homeless and childish.

       C.Homeless and miserable (痛苦的).            

       D.Homeless and sleepless.

From George Brown's life we can find that ______.

       A.old Americans lead a hard life

       B.old Americans want to live alone

       C.American cities are crowded with poor people w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m

       D.bad habits play a role in some poor people's Life

It can be inferred from this passage that ______.

       A.America is short of housing companies

       B.the poor can't benefit from the increasing economy

       C.poor people in America will become rich

       D.housing companies will build more houses for the poor

If this passage comes from a paper, on which page would it be?

       A.Society.      B.Science.        C.Economy.                D.Business.


第二节完型填空(共20小题,每小题1.5分,满分30分)
阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出一个最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
In Glasgow, Scotland, a young lady, like a lot of  teens today, got tired of home. The daughter objected to her family’s    36     lifestyle and said , “I don’t want your God . I am leaving !”
She left home .Before long , she was disappointed and unable to find a job , so she took to the streets to do everything she could to   37  money. Many years passed by , her father died , her mother grew    38   , and the daughter became more and more entrenched (固执) in her way of life .
No contact was made between mother and daughter during these years . The mother , having    39     her daughter’s whereabouts , went to the poor part of the city in   40    of her daughter . She stopped at each of the rescue missions with a simple    41     . “Would you allow me to    42    this picture ?” It was a picture of the smiling , gray-haired mother with a handwritten    43     at the bottom : “I love you still…come home !”
One day the daughter wandered into a rescue mission for a hot meal . She sat    44    listening to the service , all the while letting her    45    wander over to the bulletin board . There she saw the picture and thought , could that be my mother ?
She couldn’t    46    until the service was over . She stood and went to look .It was her mother , and there were those words , “I love you still…come home !”   47    she stood in front of the picture , she wept . It was too     48    to be true .
It was night , but she was so     49   by the message that she started walking home .   50     the time she arrived it was early in the morning . She was afraid and    51    her way timidly . As she knocked , the door    52     open on its own . She thought someone must have broken into the house . Concerned for her mother’s    53    , the young woman ran to the bedroom and shook her mother awake and said, “It’s me ! It’s me ! I’m home!”
The mother couldn’t believe her eyes . They fell into each other’s arms . The daughter said , “I was so worried and    54     someone had broken in.” The mother replied gently , “No, dear . From the day you left , that door has never been    55    .”
36.A.shabby                   B.religious                 C.awful                            D.simple
37.A.earn                       B.win                        C.offer                      D.approach
38.A.lonelier                   B.slower                   C.elder                       D.older
39.A.told about               B.heard of                 C.learned from           D.informed of
40.A.sight                      B.charge                   C.search                   D.want
41.A.request                  B.remark                   C.question                  D.speech
42.A.bring up                 B.lay off                    C.drop out                 D.put up
43.A.record                   B.advice                     C.message                 D.notice
44.A.constantly               B.absent-mindedly       C.frequently               D.carefully
45.A.eyes                       B.hands                     C.thoughts                 D.imaginations
46.A.help                        B.evaluate                  C.wait                       D.consult
47.A.After                      B.Since                      C.Until                       D.As
48.A.lucky                      B.good                       C.skeptical                 D.coincidence
49.A.astonished               B.touched                  C.blamed                   D.ashamed
50.A.By                          B.At                          C.During                    D.Before
51.A.walked                   B.led                         C.made                      D.held
52.A.seemed                   B.blew                       C.proved                    D.flew
53.A.safety                     B.anxiety                    C.danger                    D.relief
54.A.observed                 B.realized                   C.found                     D.thought
55.A.adopted                  B.opened                    C.locked                    D.Fixed

The day was Thankful Thursday. It's a weekly tradition that my two little girls and I began years ago. Thursday has become our day to go out and make a positive contribution. On this particular Thursday, we had no idea exactly what we were going to do. At noon, I drove to a McDonald’s with my daughters because they kept complaining that they hadn’t had enough to eat at breakfast. There we saw some homeless people in the street and we bought lunch for them.
We were about to complete when we found a small woman standing at the corner, asking for change. We handed her some food, and then started to head home. Suddenly from the mirror of the car, I saw the woman waving at us, so I had to turn around and stopped where the small woman stood. She walked to our car, and said, "Thank you, lady! No one has ever done anything like this for me before." I replied, "Well, I'm glad that we were the first." Feeling uneasy, and wanting to move the conversation along, I asked, "So, when do you think you'll eat your lunch?"
She just looked at me with her huge, tired brown eyes and said, "Oh honey, I'm not going to eat this lunch." I was confused, but before I could say anything, she continued. "You see, I have a little girl of my own at home and she just loves McDonald's, but I can never buy it for her because I just don't have the money. But you know what…tonight she is going to have McDonald's!"
I don't know if the kids noticed the tears in my eyes. So many times I had questioned whether our Acts of Kindness were too small to have effect on those poor people. Yet at that moment, I realized the truth of Mother Teresa's words: "We cannot do great things — only small things with great love."
【小题1】
According to this passage, the small woman was ______.

A.too happy to stand at the corner
B.too eager to ask for more food
C.too poor to buy McDonald’s
D.too busy to care for her daughter
【小题2】
What can we know from the passage?
A.The author finally realized what she did was of use to the poor.
B.The author would stop doing her acts of kindness to the poor.
C.The author’s daughters found their mother cried at the end of the day.
D.The author’s daughters would make friends with the woman’s daughter.
【小题3】
What would be the best title of the passage?
A.No Pains No Gains
B.No Pleasure Without Pain
C.No Small Act of Kindness
D.No Sweet Without Sweat

Nobody Benefits
NEW YORK—America has been experiencing the longest economic increase in its history.Incomes have risen, unemployment has fallen, and cities such as New York are bursting with new office buildings.
But just a short walk from Manhattan's skyscrapers, George Brown sits on the side-walk, cooking a lunch of rice and bits of fish over a can of cooking fuel.
Brown is homeless — one of the 2.3 million people in the US who end up on the street.
During the day, Brown collects aluminium cans and sells them for five cents a piece.At night, he sleeps on the street.w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m
"I have been on the street about eight or nine years, something like that," said the 62-year-old former construction worker.
Brown admits he's had problems with alcohol and has smoked cocaine.But he said he still wants a more stable housing arrangement.He could afford it just with the money he earns by collecting cans and small pieces of metal, if only truly low-income housing were available.
However, he sees no hope of finding affordable housing in New York.
With the strong economy and unemployment down, beautiful housing is being built to meet demand.
A US report shows rents in New York city rose more than 27 percent between 1984 and 1999, from US $549 to US $700 a month.
One of the side effects of the strong economy is that rents have been going up.
The majority of people who experience homelessness really just need some affordable housing help.
But few housing companies have been built for the poor.Many small apartments in the city now rent for US $1,500 a month or more.
Brown, the homeless New Yorker, said he has a daughter who lives in the city but he rarely sees her.She is angry about his drinking and won't allow it in her house.
Smiling, he said he also has seven grandchildren whom he'd like to see more often.
"All I've got to do is clean up my act," he said.
【小题1】What kind of life does George Brown lead?

A.Homeless and dangerous.
B.Homeless and childish.
C.Homeless and miserable (痛苦的).
D.Homeless and sleepless.
【小题2】From George Brown's life we can find that ______.
A.old Americans lead a hard life
B.old Americans want to live alone
C.American cities are crowded with poor people w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m
D.bad habits play a role in some poor people's Life
【小题3】It can be inferred from this passage that ______.
A.America is short of housing companies
B.the poor can't benefit from the increasing economy
C.poor people in America will become rich
D.housing companies will build more houses for the poor
【小题4】If this passage comes from a paper, on which page would it be?
A.Society.B.Science.C.Economy.D.Business.

请阅读下列应用文及相关信息,并按照要求匹配信息。请在答题卡上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑。
以下是请求帮助者的资料:
A.  As we know, the 2008 Olympic Games will be held in Beijing and many people from other countries will come to visit China. The taxi drivers in Dongfeng Taxi Company think the way to show kindness is to be able to greet the foreigners in their languages. They need someone who can teach them languages and the best time is at night when they are not so busy.
B.  Tom is so addicted to on-line games that he cannot concentrate on his study like before. Now he often misses school in order to play games, thus telling lies to his teachers and parents again and again. Though he realizes what he does is wrong, he just can’t stop it. How badly he needs someone’s help.
C.  Mane, a 44-year-old single mother of three, has to walk two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she doesn’t know which bus to take. What’s worse, since she does not know words, she can not write out a shopping list. Also, she can only recognize items by sight, so if the product has a different label, she will not recognize it as the product she wants.
D.  "Helping Hand"Organization will hold an event to help the starving children in Africa. The event starts in August and those taking part in will go without food for 30 hours. In this way, it is expected that money will be raised for the poor children.
E.  "Green Earth" cares a lot for the animals in danger. Still many people in the world don’t know much about the importance of animal protecting. This summer vacation a lot of events will be organized to call on people to live in harmony with our earth.
F.  A group of young children in a remote village in southwest China are in great need of teachers. Because of the low salary, many teachers came and then went. The villagers hope to have a teacher who can stay for at least a year, because they know knowledge can make a difference to the children’s future.
以下是乐于提供资助的人员信息介绍。请匹配他们与所对应的资助对象。
【小题1】Stephen:  Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer. When I began to discover what other people’s lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.
【小题2】Ben:  After graduation, I don’t want to apply for a job at once Instead, I plan to spare one year to help those who need help most and try my best to improve their lives. You know, education is essential to poverty relief and at the same time I’ll get valuable experience for my future career.
【小题3】Susan:  I’m a girl from England and have studied French for years. I’m here in Beijing University studying Chinese. I like China as it is full of mysteries. So I hope the voluntary work will help me to get in touch with Chinese people and get to know about China. Although my study is busy, I can be free at night and at the weekends.
【小题4】Tim:  Since I myself have overcome a lot of difficulties in my life, I understand young people’s problems and I know how to listen patiently to others and offer some advice. I’m working now in the daytime so I can only spend two to three hours a day at night helping others.
【小题5】Lisa:  I burst into tears when I saw those children in a TV program. What a sight. They are only bone and skin left. What’s worse, every day the children are dying because of lack of food. I realized how lucky I am with enough food and a good chance to get education. The summer vacation is coming and I hope I can do something for them.

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