But Liu, 32, when asked, laughed off the idea that there might be an "answer" to his magic. "The most fascinating thing is the puzzling process. People enjoy how magicians make the impossible come true, " said Liu.

Few people today believe in the possibility of real magic. They also often fail to consider magicians' devotion to their art. It can take a magician years' of practice to perfect a trick before he performs it on stage.

Part of Liu's star appeal is his astonishing skill. However, when he began in the industry, he was all embarrassingly clumsy. "I could practice thousands of times for one single act. It wasn't much fun, " he said.

No magician's supernatural powers on stage extend to their life off stage. Liu says his life was no easier or funnier because he was a magician.

He developed an interest in magic at a young age, but didn't consider making a living out of it until he graduated from university. He had studied Japanese and found himself unable to find a job. "My parents never considered being a magician as a proper job. To begin with, I had little confidence I would be doing this in the long term, " he said.

Yet Liu felt a powerful calling to become a magician. "For many people, magic somehow means a miracle, which is something we all secretly wish for no matter how hard-bitten we become, " he said

Liu may be right. A popular modern dream is of the fairy godmother, who waves her magic wand (魔杖) and makes our dreams come true. But according to Liu, we all have the power to create magic in our lives. As Liu puts it: it's not the magic that makes it work; it's the way we work that makes it magic.

【1】According to the passage, we can tell that __________.

A. being a famous magician, Liu Qian leads a comfortable life

B. it is a hard job for magicians to perform magic tricks well

C. Liu Qian's parents supported his wish to be a magician

D. Liu Qian showed great talents for magic tricks when he first took it up

【2】Talking of whether there's real magic, Liu Qian believes __________.

A. there is no real magic and what counts in our life is the way we work

B. if we secretly wish for something, magic will turn out to be a miracle

C. the puzzling process of performing magic tricks is the answer to magic

D. there exists a fairy godmother waving her magic wand to make our dreams come true

【3】Which of the following is similar to the underlined sentence in meaning?

A. All roads lead to Rome.

B. A miss is as good as a mile.

C. Every dog has his day.

D. No pains, no gains.

【4】What is the best title for the passage?

A. Magic Power by Liu Qian

B. The Magic Skill

C. A Popular Magician—Liu Qian

D. How to Be a Successful Magician

【5】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. Liu Qian is a born magician.

B. Liu Qian studied magic at university.

C. Liu Qian became successful mainly because he was hardworking.

D. Godmother helped him.

求的最佳选项，选项中有一项是多余选项。请在答题卡上按题号56-60将相应选项字母涂黑。

请阅读以下五个人的信息，然后为他们选择最适合的一处地方：

【1】Joe comes from Moscow（莫斯科）. He has studied in Beijing for two years. So he misses his hometown very much. He hopes to go to a city where he can find the feeling of returning home.

【2】Mary is an American girl. She likes going shopping. This year she’ll graduate from a famous Chinese college. So she is planning to travel to a city where she may find a job.

【3】Henry is from Canada. He is interested in surfing and diving. But the city in which he is living is far from the sea. So he is expecting to get to a place where he can do these activities and taste bananas and pineapples（菠萝）.

【4】Rosa comes from Britain. She cannot stand hot weather. And she thinks some Chinese cities have too much pollution. So she wants to go somewhere clean and peaceful.

【5】Timmy comes from Japan. He has great interest in taking photos. He is looking forward to staying close to nature. He even wants to take a boat while taking photos. However, he doesn’t like hot food.

We will drive to the home of the Church of England—Canterbury, the county town of Kent, and enjoy a tour of the ancient Cathedral and its walled city.

We’ll travel on through some of the country roads of Kent only in mini tourist coaches(长途汽车) and arrive in Dover at the coast just 32 miles across the sea from France and mainland Europe. We can enjoy the wonderful view of White Cliffs and Dover Castle before returning to the most beautiful castle（城堡）in England—Leeds Castle.

The Leeds Castle is surrounded by a lake with its history dating back as far as the Doomsday Book. We can explore its inside part and grounds before we return to London whenever we like.

Prices: Adult—55.00; Under16— 50.00; A 10% off for a family

Time: Saturdays & Sundays

Tour includes:

Return mini coach travel

Services of an experienced Tour Manager

Tour of Canterbury Cathedral

Scenic drive through Kent

Visit to the White Cliffs of Dover

Entrance to Leeds Castle

On all tours we will pick you up between 7:25 am and 7:45 am at YOUR chosen London Zone 1 location, so we can beat the crowds and the traffic and be early on the open road.

Visit our website 24 hours a day at www. andersontours. co. uk. Click on the tour and the date you want, and then follow the easy on-line booking directions.

Call Anderson Tours direct at 020 7436 9304 (Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-18:00 p.m.) with your credit card(信用卡) information.

Or you can book through our network of special agents(代理商) throughout London.

【1】What can we learn from the passage?

A. Tourists can enjoy all of the best sights in England

B. Leeds Castle is the oldest and most beautiful castle in England

C. The country roads of Kent can’t be reached by large tourist coaches

D. Tourists can be picked up and sent to wherever they choose in England

【2】The Greens, together with a 10-year-old son, need to pay __________ for the tour.

A. 115 B. 144 C. 160 D. 155

【3】We can call to book the tour __________.

A. at 8:00 a.m., Sunday B. at 19:00, Friday

C. at 13:00, Saturday D. at 17:00, Wednesday

【4】What’s the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?

A. To attract more tourists to join them.

B. To introduce some culture in England.

C. To show tourists more beautiful sights.

D. To ask more tourists to ride their mini coaches.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。

修改：在错词下面画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

We’ll never forget a day when my classmates and I paid a visit a chemistry factory. It is a large one with nearly 20, 000 workers. It looks like a garden but we saw colorful flowers, grass and trees there. We also visited some workshop and found workers working hard. We talked to them and learned a lot of. We understood them farther. On the way home we felt very tiring, but we both thought we had a very good day. We really hoped what we could get more chances of learn about society.

Using a computer takes some training. People who are experts are sometimes called hackers. A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language. But the word “hacker” is also used to describe a person who tries to steal information from computer systems.

Another well known computer word is Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e. It is the name of a popular “search engine(引擎)”for the Internet. People use the search engine to find information about almost any subjects on the Internet. People who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number. It is the number followed by one hundred zeros.

When you “Google” a subject, you can get a large amount of information about it. Some people like to Google their friends or themselves to see how many times their names appear on the Internet. If you Google someone, you might find that person’s name on a blog. A blog is the shortened name for a Weblog. A blog is a personal Web page. It may have stories, opinions , pictures and links(链接) to other Web sites. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.

Blogs are not the same as spam. Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic mailbox...

【1】According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A. A mouse didn’t have a wire at the beginning.

B. Hackers steal information from computer systems.

C. Hackers can only write special computer language.

D. A mouse attracts more people to play computer games.

【2】The company was named Google mainly because __________.

A. this name was very interesting

B. there were many zeros in this name

C. it was very easy to remember this name

D. it stands for an extremely large number in mathematics

【3】What would most probably be talked about next?

A. More about the word spam.

B. More about sales messages.

C. More about blogs and bloggers.

D. The use of an electronic mailbox.

【4】What would be the best title of the passage?

A. Google and Blog.

B. What’s Google.

C. Computer Technology.

D. Special Computer Words.

要求（1）就此材料发表你的看法;（2）紧扣材料，有明确的观点;

（3）词数不少于60;（4）在答题卡上作答。

参考词汇：多米诺效应 Domino Effect

The student in Dongcheng High School in Mianyang, Sichuan Province was on his way to class after an afternoon nap(小睡) when the big earthquake hit the area.

“It’s a complete shock! As soon as I heard someone screaming Earthquake! I saw our classroom building being torn apart just in front of my eyes. The next second I saw a student jumping out of the window from the second floor,” Tang recalled.

As the electricity was cut off, his teachers shouted as loud as they could to gather all the students in the school onto the playground. Although some were wounded by falling objects or injured while running out, they at least escaped death.

Thousands of people, young and old, were buried in ruins, mostly in the small cities and counties, such as Wenchuan, Beichuan, Dujiangyan, Anxian and Qingchuan, which are surrounded(包围) by hills and mountains.

By last Friday, around 19,000 people died because of the earthquake, which is the worst in China in 30 years. And the number is still rising.

More than 100,000 troops have continued to arrive at destroyed areas since the day after the quake hit. And more neighboring people were doing all they can to offer help.

Kang and his parents were among them. They drove in rain to Anxian County, an hour drive away from Mianyang, with water, instant noodles and plastic for building tents. Kang’s family finally found his terrified grandparents in Anxian on Wednesday morning.

“We first thought the worst had happened to my grandparents. But they had a narrow escape and were rescued by kind people, who were completely unknown to us. We are thankful to them and hope to do whatever we could to help others,” said Kang.

【1】 The underlined word “terror” in Paragraph 1 probably means “_______ ” .

A. fear B. peace C. anger D. power

【2】From the passage, we can learn Kang’s grandparents were rescued by ________.

A. some neighbours B. Kang Heng and his classmates

C. some kind people D. Kang Heng and his parents

【3】 What can we know from Paragraph 5?

A. This strong earthquake is the worst in China in 20 years.

B. The young and the old all died after the earthquake happened.

C. People in hilly and mountainous areas suffered the most in this disaster.

D. Thousands of people were buried in ruins because they live in the countryside.

【4】 Where does the text probably come from?

A. A research plan. B. A newspaper.

C. An advertisement. D. A science magazine.

Some learners hold the view that “I don’t have any gift for learning English, it’s difficult for me”. Of course, I don’t agree with the idea. It’s indeed a fact that some people are more gifted(有天赋的) than others, but everyone can learn, as long as you find a suitable learning method and work harder.

Some think that the key to learning English well is to remember a rich vocabulary. As far as I’m concerned, that is far from being a successful English learner. Vocabulary is vital, but knowing how to use the exact words and expressions in certain situations is more important.

I disagree that in order to speak English well you have to live in an English-speaking country. I know many people who speak excellent English but they have never been abroad. But it doesn’t mean environment is not important. Being in an English-speaking country, you can not only be exposed(暴露) to the language but also learn the culture of the country, which is helpful to you. However, not everyone has a chance to go abroad. So, we are learning English, we should speak more. As what I believe, “Don’t be shy! Just try!” No matter what we do, mistakes will happen. All we should do is learning from the mistakes, and trying to correct them in the next.

There is a saying goes, silence is gold. However, when it comes to English learning, silence means nothing. If we are always being afraid of making mistakes, we will get nothing in the end.

Finally, confidence is important to our English learners. Being given a chance to speak, you should seize it and speak out. Only after you speak out can others know your opinions. All you should do is not worry about making mistakes, but try to express your opinion clearly. Besides, speaking itself is so good a chance to test and improve your spoken English.

【1】The writer thinks that the least important in learning English is ________.

A. environment B. confidence C. gift D. vocabulary

【2】The word “vital” in Paragraph 3 probably means “________”.

A. useless B. different C. difficult D. important

【3】According the passage, we can learn that ________.

A. we can not avoid making mistakes when learning a foreign language.

B. it’s true that some people don’t have any gift for learning English.

C. we can’t speak English well unless living in a foreign country for some time.

D. words and expressions are more important than grammar rules in learning English.

【4】What could be the best title for the passage?

A. Hamlet and English learners.

B. Tips about English Learning.

C. How to learn spoken English.

D. Different learners learn different English.

【1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage？

A. The voyage through the wormhole is a considerable challenge．

B. A team of crime fighters uncovers a criminal plot in Big Hero．

C. President Coin pushes Katniss to protest Peeta．

D. Penguins have to wrestle with problems in District 13．

【2】The similarity that exists in the four films is that ________．

A. each of them is a branch of film series

B. all of them are concerned with positive energy

C. they all have the best actors and actresses in the world

D. the four films all have something to do with exploration

A consumercomplaint or customer complaint isan expression of dissatisfaction on a consumer’s behalf to a responsible party. It can also be described in a positive sense as a report from a consumer providing documentation about problems with a product or service.

So what are the common reasons for customer complaints? The most common complaints about retail(零售) storesfall into several aspects. First, they have to circle the filled parking lot endlessly, which is a waste of time and a test for their patience. They also can’t stand clutteredshelves, over-loaded racks, out-of-stock items and long check-out lines. Worst of all, sometimes some salespeople are rude, turning their mood into a bad one.

In fact, some modern business consultants urge businesses to view customer complaints as a gift but not a trouble.Some retailers, however,ignore complaints or deal with them dishonestly, which can cause a chain of events like bad reputation, leave theirbusiness with fewer and fewer customers. The resulting “snowball effect” can be disastrous to retailers.In the most severe cases, it can even cause companies to shut down.

Increasing competition is forcing companies to take more effective measures to satisfycustomers and better their customer service.During peak shopping hours, some moonlighting(业余兼职的) local police have been employed as parking attendants bysome retailers to solve the parking problems. Some hire flag wavers to direct customers to parking spaces that are empty. This guidance can avoid confrontation between those eyeing the same parking space.Retailers can relieve the headache by redesigning store layouts, pre-stocking sales items, hiring the cashiers with much experience, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions.Most importantly, salespeople should be trained to deal with angry customerswith politeness.Try their best to resolve the problem if they can.

Quickly and properly solving customer complaints can help retailers smooth over issues and their business can grow and prosper.