The summer I was ten, my mother decided to bring us to the world of art. My brother and I were not very excited when we realized what my mother meant. What she meant was that we would have to spend one afternoon a week with her at the Fine Arts Museum. Before each visit to the museum, she made us read about artists and painting styles. It was almost as bad as being in school. Who wants to spend the summer thinking about artists when you could be with your friends at the swimming pool?

     First we had to read about ancient Egyptians and their strange way of painting faces and then go to look at them at the museum. My 12-year-old brother thought this was so funny, but I was not interested. Later we had to learn about artists in the Middle Ages who painted people wearing strange long clothing. We had to look at pictures of fat babies with wings and curly (鬈曲的) hair and with no clothes on flying around the edges of paintings. I certainly couldn't see what was so great about art.

     On our last visit to the museum, something happened when I saw a painting by a woman called Mary. In it, a woman was reading to a child. The colors were soft and gentle, and you could tell by the mother' s expression how happy she was just to be with the child. I couldn't stop looking at this painting ! I wanted to see every painting Mary had ever made! It was really worth looking at so many paintings to find a painter who could interest me so much.

The aim of the mother' s plan was to _________.

  A. take them to visit the museum              B. introduce them to the world of art

  C. ask them to read about artists               D. show them different painting styles

What was the writer' s experience in the museum before the last visit?

  A. She came to feel her mother' s love.   B. She liked many paintings.

  C. She hardly enjoyed herself.             D. She could understand the pictures of fat babies.

What made the writer go through a change that summer?

  A. One of Mary's paintings.           B. A strange way of painting.

  C. Artists in the Middle Ages.          D. Her mother' s instruction.

From the text, we can see _________.

  A. the importance of curiosity          B. the effect of art

  C. the value of learning                D. the power of family education

A woman was in a hurry to go to the airport. She told the cab driver to drive quickly. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she was not aware they were going by a different route.

Suddenly, a man got inside the cab. He took her handbag where she had placed her visa, passport, and all her money for the trip.

The driver, who was in cahoots with the robber, left her in the middle of that dark street. She cursed the world for being so mean to her, and thought how unlucky she was in that situation.

That very same night, she heard some shocking news．Tears flowed down her face．Flight 230,which was the plane that she was supposed to have boarded, had crashed．If she had not lost her precious belongings, she could have lost something far more important—her life．

Sometimes bad things really happen．We lose money, fail our exams, or are rejected by others．There are times when nothing seems to go our way．

So what should we do about it? Should we be disappointed? The answer is a resounding “No!" We must get rid of all these frustrations and start all over again in the consistent faith that we will get what we deserve．

Don't waste your time and energy on things that can't be changed．Continuous worrying will only affect your health and you'll be doing much more damage than what was previously done．

What if it was the other way round? What if we never ran out of good luck?

There was a man who won the lottery．He thought he was the luckiest person in the world．He became greedy and wasted all his money on everything he could get his hands on．

One day, he made it to the front page of the newspaper again．But this time, it was a different story．He had been killed because of his riches．

If you attain good luck, you can never be too secure about it．Hope for protection and guidance．Life is so unpredictable．You never know what will happen next．

Live one day at a time．we sometimes subject ourselves to unnecessary emotional trouble．We ask ourselves: "What if I don't get this done in time?" or "What if my family leaves me and I've got no one else to turn to?"

Live for the moment．Do what must be done for the present and the future will turn out just fine． Believe me．And believe in yourself．As Captain Planet always says: "The power is yours!"

1.The underlined phrase "in cahoots with" in Paragraph 3 probably means "____"．

2.From the passage, we learn that___．

3.According to the author, which of the following is the right attitude to adopt towards life?

4.The stories are intended to tell us___．

第三部分 阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列段文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

A poor traveller stopped under the tree to eat the boiled rice and vegetables which he had brought with him. A few metres away, there was a small shop by the side of the road where a woman was frying (油炸)fish and selling it to travelers. The woman watched the poor traveler carefully, and when he finished his food and began to go, she shouted rudely, “You haven’t paid me for the fried fish!”

“But I have not had any fried fish!” he said.

“But everyone can see that you enjoyed the smell of my fried fish with your rice and vegetables,” said the woman, “If you had not smelled the fish, your meal would not have been so pleasant!”

Soon a crowd collected, and although they supported the poor traveler, they had to admit that wind was blowing from the shop to the place where he had eaten, and that it had carried the smell of the fried fish to him.

Finally, the woman took the poor traveler to a judge, who said, “The woman says that the traveler ate his meal with the smell of her fried fish. The traveler agrees that the wind was blowing from the woman’s shop to the place where he ate his rice and vegetables, and that it carried the smell of her fried fish to his nose while he was eating, so he must pay for it. What does your fried fish cost?” he asked the woman.

“Twenty-five cents a plate,” she answered, delighted.

“Then go outside together,” said the judge. “There the traveler must hold up a twenty-five-cent piece so that its shadow（影子）falls on the woman’s hand. The price of the smell of a plate of fried fish is the shadow of twenty-five cents.”

51. The traveler refused to pay the woman for the fried fish because       .

A. he was poor                                                 B. he was rude

C. he was supported by a crowd                  D. he hadn’t eaten her fried fish at all

52. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. The traveler bought the boiled rice and vegetables and ate them by the side of the road.

B. The judge had no idea what the woman meant.

C. In the fifth paragraph, the first “it” has the same meaning as the second “it”.

D. The woman got nothing but the shadow of twenty-five cents in the end.

53. The best title for the passage should be       .

A. The Smell and the Shadow

B. A Poor Traveler

C. A Rude Woman

D. A Woman and a Traveler

第三部分 阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列段文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
A poor traveller stopped under the tree to eat the boiled rice and vegetables which he had brought with him. A few metres away, there was a small shop by the side of the road where a woman was frying (油炸)fish and selling it to travelers. The woman watched the poor traveler carefully, and when he finished his food and began to go, she shouted rudely, “You haven’t paid me for the fried fish!”
“But I have not had any fried fish!” he said.
“But everyone can see that you enjoyed the smell of my fried fish with your rice and vegetables,” said the woman, “If you had not smelled the fish, your meal would not have been so pleasant!”
Soon a crowd collected, and although they supported the poor traveler, they had to admit that wind was blowing from the shop to the place where he had eaten, and that it had carried the smell of the fried fish to him.
Finally, the woman took the poor traveler to a judge, who said, “The woman says that the traveler ate his meal with the smell of her fried fish. The traveler agrees that the wind was blowing from the woman’s shop to the place where he ate his rice and vegetables, and that it carried the smell of her fried fish to his nose while he was eating, so he must pay for it. What does your fried fish cost?” he asked the woman.
“Twenty-five cents a plate,” she answered, delighted.
“Then go outside together,” said the judge. “There the traveler must hold up a twenty-five-cent piece so that its shadow（影子）falls on the woman’s hand. The price of the smell of a plate of fried fish is the shadow of twenty-five cents.”
51. The traveler refused to pay the woman for the fried fish because       .
A. he was poor                                                 B. he was rude
C. he was supported by a crowd                  D. he hadn’t eaten her fried fish at all
52. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A. The traveler bought the boiled rice and vegetables and ate them by the side of the road.
B. The judge had no idea what the woman meant.
C. In the fifth paragraph, the first “it” has the same meaning as the second “it”.
D. The woman got nothing but the shadow of twenty-five cents in the end.
53. The best title for the passage should be       .
A. The Smell and the Shadow
B. A Poor Traveler
C. A Rude Woman
D. A Woman and a Traveler

They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-date accessories(配饰)．Yet these are not girls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies．A generation which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now favouring the same high street looks worn by those half their age．
Professor Julia Twigg, a social policy expert, said, “Women over 75 are now shopping for clothes more frequently than they did when they were young in the 1960s．In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter．It was an expensive item that they would purchase only every three or four years — now you can pick one up at the supermarket whenever you wish to．Fashion is a lot cheaper and people get tired of things more quickly．”
Professor Twigg analysed family expenditure(支出) data and found that while the percentage of spending on clothes and shoes by women had stayed around the same — at 5 or 6 percent of spending — the amount of clothes bought had risen sharply．
The professor said, “Clothes are now 70 percent cheaper than they were in the 1960s because of the huge expansion of production in the Far East．In the 1960s Leeds was the heart of the British fashion industry and that was where most of the clothes came from, but now almost all of our clothes are sourced elsewhere．Everyone is buying more clothes but in general we are not spending more money on them．”
Fashion designer Angela Barnard, who runs her own fashion business in London, said older women were much more affected celebrity(名流) style than in previous years．
She said, “When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties, they want to follow them．Older women are much more aware of celebrities ．There’s also the boom in TV programmes showing people how they can change their look, and many of my older customers do yoga to stay in shape well in their fifties．When I started my business a few years ago, my older customers tended to be very rich, but now they are what I would call ordinary women．My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten years ago．”
【小题1】Professor Twigg found that, compared with the 1960s, _________．

A．Age Is No Barrier for Fashion Fans	B．The More Fashionable, the Less Expensive
C．Unexpected Changes in Fashion	D．Boom of the British Fashion Industry