One evening I went out and left my 17-year-old son and his girlfriend in charge of his 8-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister. I left with complete confidence that the older children would do a wonderful job of babysitting the younger children. Later, I discovered that I was completely wrong.

I had decided to return home earlier than planned so that my son and his girlfriend could go out. I called home with this happy news．But instead of hearing his cheerful, grateful voice on the other end of the line, all I heard was the sound of a telephone ringing.

It was, I should point out, after 10 p.m., when the two younger children should have been in bed, and when the two older children should have been answering the phone. “I’ll give him a lesson, ” I said．I decided they must be outside．Why they might be outside at 10:30 on a winter night I had no idea, but it was the only explanation I could come up with.

Finally, in desperation（绝望）, I called his girlfriend’s house. His girlfriend answered．“Yes,” she said brightly, “He’s right here.”

He came on the phone．I was not my usual calm, patient．After all, one of the rules of survival for modern parents is that you can’t trust modern teenagers. “Where are the children?” I said. He said they were with him．They had done nothing wrong．My son had taken the younger children over to his girlfriend’s house just for ice cream and cake． Well, it turns out that I shouldn’t have believed it．It was only part of the truth.

The following Saturday evening we were at my parents’ home, celebrating my birthday．My oldest son gave me the children’s gifts --- a series of lovely color photographs of my children, dressed in their best clothes, and wearing their most wonderful expressions. They are pictures to treasure a lifetime, all taken by the father of my son’s girlfriend.

1.The author went out and left her eldest son in charge of the younger children because

_____.

A．she knew that his girlfriend was a good baby-sitter

B．she believed he could take good care of the younger ones with the help of his girlfriend

C．the older children have always loved the younger ones

D．she could not find a baby-sitter on that winter night

2.Shortly after the author left home one evening, she discovered that _____.

A．her son had brought his girlfriend home

B．her son had left home with his girlfriend

C．she shouldn’t have completely trusted her son

D．she should have taken the children along with her

3.“It was only part of the truth.” implies that the children not only enjoyed ice-cream but also _____.

A．had their pictures taken                  B．received some gifts

C．had a birthday party                     D．showed off their best clothes

Nowadays, any traveler might be treated as a terrorist(恐怖分子) by the immigration(入境) officers in the USA.We returned from Iraq and landed safely. My heart 16 when I was asked to the back room by the immigration officer. My 17, with his very American last name, had no trouble at all. In fact, I am 18 American born and raised, but they weren’t quite ready to let me in yet. The only reason was 19 they thought my name looked like the one of 20 who’s on their wanted list(通缉令) and I had to wait till they checked me out 21 Washington.

Time passed 22. One hour, one hour and a half…I could not wait any longer and 23 my cellphone out to call the friend I had planned to meet that evening. An officer 24 over. “No Phone!” he said, “For all we know you could be calling terrorists and giving them 25.”

Oh, my! I was just a university professor. I had no 26 but to put my phone away. My husband and I were getting hungry and 27. I wanted to cry, to 28 onto a chair and shout: “I am but an American professor!”

After two hours in the back room, without explanation and 29, I was allowed to go after he gave me a piece of paper with a(n) 30 on it and told me I could write to the department if I wasn’t 31 with the treatment. He also 32 that nothing could stop it from happening again.

I shared my experience with my friends and the 33 was I should change my name. But name is personal, like the town you were born in.

Even though I had a troublesome experience at the airport, which made me realize being American could ever be so 34, like my father, I’ll keep the 35.

1.Mary: I never used to like stamp collecting. I read almost everything I can: books, magazines, newspapers. I go to the public library abut twice a week. If you’d like to send me something, maybe books are my favorite.

2.Tom: My wife says I should take up gardening. We have a big garden and she loves working in it. But the truth is, it bores me. My friends and my wife think I’m really boring, because I’m always listening to music. I go to concerts all the time. I love Mozart and all that classical staff.

3.Mike: I don’t really like video games and that sort of things. I prefer being outdoors, hiking or playing sports. I always go out with my family playing baseball and stuff all the time. I think most sports are pretty interesting.

4.Lisa: I’m a free writer, and a lot of people think my job is easier because I don’t have to go to the office everyday. And I don’t have to deal with office politics. But, you know, my job is very hard. I have to be very organized and much disciplined. And pretty self-motivated. And when I have a problem, there is no one around to help me.

5.Victor: My life is very stressful. In my working place, everyone is in a hurry and under tremendous pressure. The doctors are demanding, and there is always too much to do to save a dying patient.

请阅读以下相关的职业或兴趣爱好，然后匹配和相关的个人。

A. The person works in a hospital emergency room. His/her job is to assist doctors to rescue patients who are seriously ill.

B. The person likes sports activities the most. For him/her, having sports activities is very interesting.

C. The person works for himself/herself at home. He/She writes for others.

D. The person doesn’t like other things such as gardening. But he/she really likes music, especially classical music.

E. The person likes collecting all kinds of things, such as baseball cards and stamps.

F. Many people may like collecting things, such as collecting cards or stamps. But he/she likes reading very much.

Hobbs was an orphan（孤儿）. He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work made him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.

One day a lawyer said to him, “One thousand dollars, and here is the money.” As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded. He didn’t know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, “I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I’d like to do: painting pictures. I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place in the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it’s too much for one and too little for the other.”

“Here is the reading of your uncle’s will（遗嘱）,” said the lawyer, “telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it.”

“Yes, I see. I’ll do that,” said the young man.

1.Hobbs wanted to borrow money to _______.

A．study abroad                           B．work abroad

C．pay off the debts                        D．learn to paint pictures

2.What does the underlined word “dumbfounded” （in Paragraph 2） probably mean?

A．Surprised.                             B．Frightened.

C．Satisfied.                              D．Excited.

3.With the money he got, at first Hobbs _______.

A．planned to have a happy life for a few days

B．decided to give up his work in the factory

C．was to give a dinner to his friends

D．had no idea what to do

4.Hobbs was asked to _______.

A．tell the lawyer what he did with the money after spending it

B．read his uncle’s will

C．tell the lawyer what was to be done with the money

D．buy some pictures

                              A

George had stolen some money, but the police had caught him and he had been put in prison. Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty and sent to prison for a long time.

Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of the jury at his trial. Of course, he did not tell anybody, but he managed to see his friend secretly one day. He said to him, "Jim, I know that the jury will find me guilty of having stolen the money. I cannot hope to be found not guilty of taking it —— that would be too much to expect. But I should be grateful to you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add a strong recommendation for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty."

“Well, George,”answered Jim. “I shall certainly try to do what I can for you as an old friend, but of course I cannot promise anything. The other eleven people on the jury look terribly strong-minded to me.”

George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.

The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not. It took them five hours, but in the end they found George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy.

Of course, George was very pleased, but he did not have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial. At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.

"Well, George," Jim answered, "as I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out. Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!"

1.56. We are told that George expected Jim to help _____.

2.57. Which of the following is true about Jim?

3.58. The passage suggests that _____.

4.59. The title for this passage is ______.