At railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is as large a movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.

At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them ("Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon"), but more likely I didn't let them know, and just turned up or didn't turn up, not understanding that my parents' dashed hopes of seeing me were a greater casualty of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.

And in all this I suspect I was typical, at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of "empty-nest syndrome", even though its implication that the principal human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feelings of loss went without a name. Today, it's a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life. The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through "visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats". If you feel depressed, lean on loved ones or your mental health provider. Above all, stay positive: "Thinking about the extra time and energy you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home might help you adapt to this major life change."

What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.

1.The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that         .

A．young students will travel home for Christmas

B．young people will travel in every direction

C．it is a large movement of human beings

D．the traffic flows will be more contradictory

2.From the second paragraph we can learn that the writer      .

A．went home every week to wash dirty clothes

B．understood his parents’ desire of seeing him

C．didn’t understand his parents’ feelings

D．went home to see his parents regularly

3.The underlined word “remedies” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to          .

A．reasons           B．excuses           C．habits            D．solutions

4.From the last paragraph we know that        .

A．in modern society, children should leave home

B．Christmas is likely a time for family reunion

C．the significance of Christmas is celebration

D．Christmas is not a comfort for the non-religious

5.From the passage we can infer that by writing the article the writer’s purpose is to       .

A．persuade the young to show concern for their parents

B．ask the young to go home regularly

C．make the young understand their parents’ interests

D．enable the young to be more independent

A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset．As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance．As he drew   1　, he, who had been feeling so tired of teaching those naughty children at school, suddenly   2   the local native kept   3 down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water．Time and again he kept hurling （猛投） things out into the ocean．

As our friend   4   even closer, he found that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one   5  , he was   6   them back into the water．

Our friend was   7  ．He got close to the man and said, “Good evening, friend．I was  8  what you are doing．”

“I am throwing these starfish back into the ocean．You see, it’s   9   tide right now and all of these starfish have been   10   up onto the shore． 11   I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from   12   of oxygen．”

“I   13   that,” our friend replied, “but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach．You can’t  14   get to all of them．There are   15   too many．And don’t you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this   16  ．Can’t you see that you are not able to make a   17  ?”

The local native  18  , bent down and picked up yet   19   starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he   20  , “Made a difference to that one!”

1．A．farther                  B．nearer                 C．older                   D．stronger

2．A．observed               B．realized                C．discovered           D．noticed

3．A．slipping                 B．moving                C．bending               D．falling

4．A．marched               B．approached          C．swam                 D．ran

5．A．at a time                B．from time to time C．at times               D．in no time

6．A．giving                   B．throwing             C．dragging             D．waving

7．A．frightened             B．moved                 C．shocked             D．puzzled

8．A．recording              B．wondering           C．following             D．forecasting

9．A．low                      B．huge                   C．rising                  D．changeable

10．A．cleaned               B．dried                   C．pushed                D．washed

11．A．If                        B．Though               C．Because              D．Unless

12．A．quality                 B．lack                    C．balance               D．damage

13．A．challenge             B．suspect               C．understand          D．excuse

14．A．luckily                 B．possibly               C．hardly                 D．quickly

15．A．simply                 B．basically              C．approximately      D．especially

16．A．island                  B．coast                   C．ocean                  D．tide

17．A．sacrifice              B．choice                 C．profit                  D．difference

18．A．smiled                 B．prayed                C．sighed                 D．frowned

19．A．another               B．that                    C．one                    D．other

20．A．praised               B．commented          C．replied                D．added

阅读理解

　　In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to Animal Hospital to give them needless so that they won't carry disease. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in almost every store. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food. When you visit people's homes, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud(自豪的) of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder (喂食的器皿) in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed(允许) to kill any animals in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would he punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it.

　　People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be: Their family tie (关系) is not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve (解决) this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.

1．The passage mainly talks about ________.

[　　]

A．how to keep disease from pets

B．pets in Canada

C．how to take good care of pets

D．life of the old in Canada

2．They give their pets needles before keeping them at their houses because ________.

[　　]

A．the pets are sick

B．the pets are wild

C．they want to stop them from carrying disease

D．they want them to sleep on the way home

3．This passage shows that Canadians ________.

[　　]

4．Children leave their parents when they grow up because ________.

[　　]

A．they don't love their parents any more

B．they can only find jobs far from their parents

C．their parents' houses are too small

D．they wouldn't depend on (依靠)their parents any more.

5．Which of the following is right?

[　　]

A．People buy animal food only at the animal food stores.

B．Pets eat better than people.

C．Almost every family has a birdcage in his house.

阅读理解

　　In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to Animal Hospital to give them needless so that they won't carry disease. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in almost every store. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food. When you visit people's homes, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud(自豪的) of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder (喂食的器皿) in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and nobody is allowed(允许) to kill any animals in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would he punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it.

　　People in Canada have many reasons to like animals. One of them might be: Their family tie (关系) is not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve (解决) this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.

1．The passage mainly talks about ________.

[　　]

A．how to keep disease from pets

B．pets in Canada

C．how to take good care of pets

D．life of the old in Canada

2．They give their pets needles before keeping them at their houses because ________.

[　　]

A．the pets are sick

B．the pets are wild

C．they want to stop them from carrying disease

D．they want them to sleep on the way home

3．This passage shows that Canadians ________.

[　　]

4．Children leave their parents when they grow up because ________.

[　　]

A．they don't love their parents any more

B．they can only find jobs far from their parents

C．their parents' houses are too small

D．they wouldn't depend on (依靠)their parents any more.

5．Which of the following is right?

[　　]

A．People buy animal food only at the animal food stores.

B．Pets eat better than people.

C．Almost every family has a birdcage in his house.

Bum rate is the speed at which a startup business consumes money. My rate would be $ 50,000 a month when my new media company started. So, I began looking around for individuals who would be my first investors. “Angel money” it was called. But when I reviewed my list of acquaintances to find those who might be able to help, I found the number got small.

　　With no other choices, I began meeting with the venture-capital companies. But I was warned they took a huge share of your company for the money they put in. And if you struggled, they could drop you cold.

　　As I was searching for “angel money”, I started to build a team who trusted me even though I didn't have money for paychecks yet.

　　Bill Becker was an expert in computer programming and image processing at a very famous Media Lab at M. I.T. With his arrival, my company suddenly had a major technology “guy” in-house.

　　Katherine Henderson, a filmmaker and a former real-estate dealer, joined us as our director of market research. Steve White came on as operating officer. He had worked for the developer of a home-finance software, Quicken. We grabbed him.

　　We had some really good people, but we still didn't have enough money. One night, my neighbor, Louise Johnson, came for a visit. She and I were only nodding acquaintances, but her boys and ours were constant companions. She ran a very good business at the time.

　　Louise was brilliant and missed nothing. She had been watching my progress closely. She knew I was dying for money and I had prospects but could offer no guarantees of success.

　　She told me that her attorney had talked to mine and the terms had been agreed upon. She handed me an envelope. Inside was a check for $ 500,000.

　　I almost fell down. I heard her voice as if from heaven.

　　“I have confidence in your plan,” she said. “You' 11 do well. You're going to work hard for it, but it' s satisfying when you build your own company.”

　　Who would have thought I'd find an angel so close to home? There were no words sufficient for the moment. We just said good night. She left and I just stood there, completely humbled and completely committed.

1.For a newly-established business, bum rate refers to___________.

A. the salary it pays to its staff

B. the interest it pays to the bank

C. the way in which it raises capital

D. the speed at which it spends money

2.By "Angel money", the author refers to__________.

A. the money borrowed from banks

B. the money spent to promote sales

C. the money raised from close friends

D. the money needed to start a business

3.To get help from a venture-capital company, you may have to__________.

A. put up with unfair terms　         B. change your business line

C. enlarge your business scope      　D. let them operate your business

4.The author easily built a team for his company because__________.

A. they were underpaid at their previous jobs

B. they were turned down by other companies

C. they were confident of the author and his business

D. they were satisfied with the salaries in his company

5.Louise decided to lend money to the author because__________.

A. she wanted to join his company

B. she knew he would build a team

C. she knew his plan would succeed

D. she wanted to help promote his sales