It is really hard to say which is better than the other，city life or rural life.__【小题1】__
Living in a city，people have certain advantages. First，people enjoy various entertainments，both foreign and domestic. Second，there are more cultural activities in a city. Third，city people gain access to better information service and educational facilities.__【小题2】__The overcrowded population，traffic jam，housing problem，industrial pollution and other issues may result in depression，nervousness and diseases.
Life in the village and on the farm is very different from life in the city. Living in the country，people can enjoy living in pure nature.__【小题3】__But rural life may not be that perfect. People usually lack cultural activities. They are relatively ill informed.__【小题4】__And people miss some golden opportunities of making a fortune. Opportunities for bright young people are greater in cities，so the chances of their children being admitted to colleges are slim.
Obviously，whatever life they lead，people can never feel perfectly satisfied，for conveniences and inconveniences always coexist. People wish that they could enjoy the pleasures of both lives. With the rapid economic development，nowadays city people can relax themselves in the country during vacation.__【小题5】__

三、阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
A
What exactly is a lie? Is it anything we say which we know is untrue? Or is it something more than that? For example, suppose a friend wants to borrow some money from you. You say, "I wish I could help you but I'm short of money myself." In fact you are not short of money but your friend is in the habit of not paying his debts and you don't want to hurt his feelings by reminding him of this. Is this really a lie?
Professor Gerald Gullion of the University of Southern California has made a scientific study of lying. According to him, women are better liars than men, particularly when telling a "white lie", such as a woman at a party telling another woman that she likes her dress when she really thinks it looks awful. However, this is only one side of the story. Other researchers say that men are more likely to tell more serious lies, such as making a promise which they have no intention of fulfilling. This is the kind of lie politicians and businessmen are supposed to be particularly skilled at: the lie from which the liars hopes to profit or gain in some way.
Research has also been done into the changes of people’s behavior in a number of small, clearly unimportant ways when they lie. It has been found that if they are sitting down at the time, they tend to move about in their chairs more than usual. To the trained observer they are saying “I wish I were somewhere else now”. They also tend to touch certain parts of the face more often, in particular the nose. One explanation of this may be that lying causes a slight increase in blood pressure. The nose is very sensitive to such changes and the increased pressure makes it itch (痒).
Another gesture which gives away is what the writer Desmond Morris in his book Man Watching calls “the mouth cover”. He says there are several typical forms of this, such as covering part of the mouth with fingers, touching the upper-lip or putting a finger of the hand at one side of the mouth. Such a gesture can be understood, as an unconscious attempt on the part of the liar to stop himself or herself from lying.
Of course, such gestures as rubbing the nose or covering the mouth, or moving about in a chair cannot be taken as proof that the speaker is lying. They simply tend to occur more frequently in this situation. It is not one gesture alone that gives the liar away but a whole number of things, and in particular the context in which the lie is told.
41．According to the passage, a “white lie” seems to be a lie _______.
A．that other people have interest in
B．that other people cannot believe
C．told in order to avoid offending(冒犯) someone
D．told in order to take advantage of someone
42．Research suggests that women _______.
A．are better at telling lies than men do     B．generally lie far more than men
C．often make promises they later break    D．lie at parties more often than men do
43．Researchers find that    when a person tells lies．
A．his or her blood pressure increases greatly
B．he or she looks very serious and moves about more
C．he or she tends to make small changes in his behavior
D．he or she uses his unconscious mind
44．One reason people sometimes rub their noses when they lie is that_______
A．1ying causes a slight increase in blood pressure
B．the nose is sensitive to physical changes caused by lying
C．they want to cover their mouths
D．they are trying to stop themselves from telling lies
45．Which of the following may best betray (出卖) a liar?
A．The touching of the tip of one’s nose．  B．The change of one’s behavior.
C．“The mouth cover” gesture.           D．The situations in which his lies are told．

I can’t say which sofa looks better. It’s just a (an) _____ of personal preference.

I can't say which wine is best-it's a (n) ___ of personal taste.

A．affair B．event C．matter D．variety

One of the political issues that is heard a lot about in the States lately is campaign（竞选）finance reform（改革）. The people who are  36  for reform usually want the  37  to pay for campaigns and/or limit the amount of money that candidates（候选人）and their  38  can spend.

One reason that reform is called for is that it costs so much to  39  for political office. Candidates have to spend a great deal of time and effort  40  money. The incumbents (those already in office) have less time to do chief jobs since they must  41  so many money raising events.

Another  42  is the fear that candidates will be owned or  43  by the “special interest groups” that give money to their campaigns. Sometimes this certainly seems to be the  44 .

On the  45  side are those who say that it doesn’t mean it’s really  46  just because you call something “reform”. They argue that the right to freedom of speech is  47  if the government can limit anyone’s ability to get his or her message out to the people.

If one person or a group of people want to tell the  48  what they think about an issue or candidate, they have to buy  49  on TV, radio, and in newspapers and magazines. They might want to put up advertisements along highways and on websites. All this costs a lot of  50 .

Those against laws that control or limit spending say that you don’t really have freedom of  51  or freedom of the press if you can’t get your message out. They say the government should never be able to control  52  discussions. They believe that this is most important when the voters are about to make  53 .

What do you think about this  54 ? Listen to what the candidates for national office have to say. Which candidates  55  the most sense to you?

36．A．waiting                   B．calling                    C．standing                  D．preparing

37．A．government            B．president                 C．candidates               D．citizens

38．A．leaders                   B．bosses                     C．supporters               D．states

39．A．pay                        B．compete                  C．wait                       D．work

40．A．raising                    B．earning                   C．giving                    D．getting

41．A．notice                     B．report                     C．guard                            D．attend

42．A．event                      B．cost                        C．reason                    D．office

43．A．encouraged             B．forced                    C．controlled               D．ordered

44．A．joke                       B．purpose                  C．case                        D．example

45．A．other                      B．same                      C．another                   D．different

46．A．worse                     B．better                            C．easier                     D．harder

47．A．meaningless            B．unimportant            C．unnecessary             D．impossible

48．A．reporters                 B．truth                       C．story                      D．public

49．A．time                       B．copies                     C．rights                            D．advertising

50．A．energy                    B．effort                            C．time                       D．money

51．A．argument                B．opinion                   C．speech                    D．election

52．A．common                 B．political                  C．general                   D．special

53．A．profit                            B．trouble                   C．plans                      D．decisions

54．A．quarrel                   B．problem                  C．issue                       D．affair

55．A．find                       B．make                      C．create                     D．produce