Some people live in the world for body while others for dignity(尊严).
I once took a walk along the street   16 a Saturday dusk, with a Pepsi can in my hand. An old woman in ragged clothes,   17 was living on collecting used cans, jars and tins, moved slowly towards me, with a bag on the back!   18 (walk) nearer, she looked up at me and then fixed her eyes on my can. At that time, I hadn’t finished my cola, so I gave   19  several coins instead.
She stared at me for a few seconds   20  handed back the money. Quite confused, I asked: “Why not? Isn’t that   21 you want?”
“I am not a beggar,” she said   22  (serious), word by word.
Instantly, I felt so sorry. I had intended   23  (help) her, completely misunderstanding her. Thus I hurt her. What I could do at that moment was only to drink up the cola and handed her   24  emptied can. This time, she gave me a smile with   25  (satisfy) and gratitude in her eyes. The woman is poor in material life but is so respectable as a man. I am not only moved but also have learned a good lesson.

I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.

I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.

It takes confidence to make a new start — there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.

Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.

The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal—that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.

It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck—of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract（合同）of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding（有回报的）.

1.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?

2.The author decided to write a novel ______ .

3.How did the writer feel halfway with the novel?

4.What does the author mainly want to tell readers in the last paragraph?

Question: I have been learning English for about 7 years.    1.    And I still can’t make myself understood in English. However, I love learning English. How can I learn English well? Please help me.

Answer: Many people have asked me this question.    2.    Here I will give you several tips for learning English.

●    3.  

First of all, you must want to learn. If you are not interested in learning English, no class will help you and no book will help you. So you have to be honest with yourself. Ask yourself, “Do I really want to learn English?” If you can’t answer “yes” to this question, it is better for you to set English aside until you’re ready and willing to learn.

● Set goals (目标).

To learn English well, you must set some goals.    4.    It will also help you to see your progress. Ask yourself, “What are my goals? What areas would I like to improve?” Think about what your goals are, and review once in a while to see that you are making progress toward your goals.

● Practice, practice, and practice.

After you have set your goals, you have a better idea of what you need to practice. Just like the athlete whose goal is the Olympics must train daily, you as a language learner must practice language every day to make progress toward your goal.    5.  

A. Want to learn.

B. I think it is not easy to learn it well.

C. Make friends with some Americans online.

D. Reading is a very good way to learn new words.

E. The answers are as different as the people asking the question.

F. The more you practice, the more progress you will make.

G. Having goals will help you remember what areas you want to work on.

Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 a.m. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark exvept for a single light in a ground floor window.

I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.

I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated. ”

“Oh, you’re such a good man.”  She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “ Could you drive through downtown?”

“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.

“ Oh, I’m in no hurry.” She said, “I’m on my way to a hospice (临终医院)。 I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter(计价器)

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

At down, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

“How much do I owe you?” She asked.

“Nothing.” I said.

“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment joy.”

1.The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to           .

   A. Show she was familiar with the city

   B. reach the destination on time

   C. let the driver earn more money

   D. see some places for the last time.

2.The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he             

   A. wanted to do her a favor

   B. shut off the meter by mistake

   C. had received her payment in advance

   D. was in a hurry to take other passenhers

3.What can we learn from the story?

   A. Giving is always a pleasure

   B. People should respect each other

   C. An act of kindness can bring people great joy.

   D. People should learn to appreciate others’ concern.

三、完形填空 （共20小题，20分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从各题A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳答案。

When I come across a good article in reading newspapers, I often want to cut and keep it. But just as I am about to do so I find the article on the __36__ side is as much interesting. It may be a discussion of the way to __37__ in good health, or __38__ about how to behave and conduct oneself in society. If I cut the front article, the opposite one is likely to __39__ damage, leaving out half of it or keeping the text __40__ the title. Therefore, the scissors would __41__ before they start, __42__ halfway done when I find out the __43__result.

Sometimes two things are to be done at the same time, both worth your __44__. You can only take up one of them, the other has to wait or be __45__ up. But you know the future is unpredictable --- the changed situation may not allow you to do what is left __46__. Thus you are __47__ in a difficult position and feel sad. How __48_nice chances and brilliant ideas should gather around all at once? It may happen that your life __49__ greatly on our preference of one choice to the other.

In fact that is what __50__ is like: we are often __51__ with the two opposite sides of a thing which are both desirable like a newspaper cutting. It often occurs that our attention is drawn to one thing only ____52____ we get into another. The __53__ may be more important than the latter and give rise to a divided mind. I __54__ remember a philosopher’s remarks: “When one door shuts, another opens in life.” So a casual __55__ may not be a bad one.

36 A. front                   B. same                        C. either                       D. opposite

37 A. get                      B. keep                        C. lead                         D. bring

38 A. advice                 B. news                        C. a theory                   D. a report

39 A. suffer                  B. reduce                      C. prevent                    D. cause

40A. on                        B. for                           C. without                    D. off

41A. use                 B. handle                      C. prepare                    D. stay

42 A. or                       B. but                          C. so                            D. for

43 A. satisfying             B. regretful                   C. surprising                 D. impossible

44 A. courage               B. strength                    C. attention                   D. patience

45A. given                   B. held                         C. made                       D. picked

46 A. near                    B. alone                       C. about                       D. behind

47 A. filled                   B. attracted                   C. caught                      D. struck

48 A. dare                    B. come                       C. deal                         D. do

49 A. improves             B. changes                    C. progresses                D. goes

50 A. study                   B. society                            C. nature                      D. life

51 A. faced                   B. supplied                   C. connected                 D. fixed

52 A. before                 B. after                        C. until                        D. as

53 A. following             B. next                         C. above                       D. former

54 A. still                            B. also                         C. once                        D. almost

55 A. treatment             B. action                      C. choice                      D. remark