Some years ago when I was in my first year in college, I heard Salome Bey sing for the first time. The moment was exciting. Salome’s   21 filled the room and brought the theater to life. I was so   22  that I decided to write an article about her.
I   23  Salome Bey, telling her I was from Essence magazine, and that I wanted to meet her to talk about her career. She   24  and told me to come to her studio next Tuesday. When I hung up, I was scared out of my mind. I   25  I was lying. I was not a writer at all and hadn’t even written a grocery list.
I interviewed Salome Bey the next Tuesday. I sat there   26 , taking notes and asking questions that all began with, “Can you tell me…” I soon realized that   27  Salome Bey was one thing, but writing a story for a national magazine was just impossible. The   28  was almost unbearable. I struggled for days   29  draft after draft. Finally I put my manuscript (手稿) into a large envelope and dropped it into a mailbox.
It didn’t take long. My manuscript   30 . How stupid of me! I thought. How could I   31  in a world of professional writers? Knowing I couldn’t   32  the rejection letter, I threw the unopened envelope into a drawer.
Five years later, I was moving to California. While   33  my apartment, I came across the unopened envelope. This time I opened it and read the editor’s letter in   34  :
Ms Profit,
Your story on Salome Bey is fantastic. Yet we need some   35  materials. Please add those and return the article immediately. We would like to   36  your story soon.
Shocked, it took me a long time to   37 . Fear of rejection cost me ly. I lost at least five hundred dollars and having my article appear in a major magazine. More importantly, I lost years of   38  writing. Today, I have become a full – time writer. Looking back on this   39 , I learned a very important lesson: You can’t   40  to doubt yourself.

Dear son,

The day that you see me old and I am already not in good health, have patience and try to understand me.

If I get dirty when eating, if I can not dress, have patience and remember the hours I   31   teaching it to you. If, when I speak to you, I   32  the same things thousand and one times, do not   33   me, listen to me. When you were small, I had to read to you thousand and one times the same story   34   you got to sleep. When I do not want to have a   35  , neither shame me nor scold me. Remember when I had to chase you with thousand excuses I   36  , in order that you wanted to bathe. When you see my   37   little about new technologies, give me the necessary time and do not look at me with your mocking(嘲弄) smile. I taught you   38   to do so many things: to eat food, to dress well, to confront life…. When at some moment I lose the memory or the   39  of our conversation, let me have the necessary time to remember, and if I cannot do it, do not become nervous, as the most important thing is not our conversation but surely to be with you and to have you   40   to me.

If ever I do not want to eat, do not force me. I know well   41   I need to and when not. When my   42   legs do not allow me to walk, give me your   43  , the same way I did when you gave your first   44  . And when someday I say to you that I do not want to   45   any more ---- that I want to rest forever, do not get ___46__. Someday you will understand.

Try to understand that my age is not lived but survived. Some day you will discover that, despite my mistakes, I always wanted the   47   thing for you and that I tried to prepare the way for you. You must not feel sad, angry or impotent(无可奈何) for seeing me   48   you. You must be next to me, try to understand me and to help me as I did it when you   49   living. Help me to walk, help me to end my way with love and  50  . I will pay you by a smile and by the immense love I have had always for you.

I love you, Son

Your father

1.                A．paid           B．spent           C．cost D．took

2.                A．praise          B．think           C．repeat   D．criticize

3.                A．interrupt       B．disturb         C．look D．avoid

4.                A．when          B．after           C．since D．until

5.                A．rest           B．word           C．shower   D．sleep

6.                A．discovered      B．invented        C．noticed   D．assumed

7.                A．knowing        B．fearing         C．enjoying  D．consulting

8.                A．what           B．when          C．how D．why

9.                A．news          B．attitude         C．material  D．thread

10.               A．talking         B．listening        C．responding D．appealing

11.               A．where         B．how           C．that  D．when

12.               A．tired           B．short          C．long  D．strong

13.               A．leg            B．ear            C．hand D．mind

14.               A．step           B．pace           C．laugh D．cry

15.               A．talk            B．live            C．write D．sleep

16.               A．careful         B．interested      C．calm  D．angry

17.               A．last            B．first           C．best  D．most

18.               A．near           B．behind         C．below D．against

19.               A．made          B．started         C．earned    D．found

20.               A．mercy         B．care           C．excuse    D．patience

Steve, a twelve-year-old boy with alcoholic parents, was failing. Surprisingly, he could read, yet,    21  his reading skills, Steve had been failing since first grade. Steve was a big boy, yet, he went unnoticed...    22   Miss White.
Miss White was a smiling, beautiful, young lady. For the first time in his    23  life, Steve couldn’t take his eyes off his teacher; yet,    24  he failed. In the middle of the first term, the entire seventh grade was    25  for basic skills. Steve hurried through his tests, and    26  to dream of other things, as the day passed slowly. One day, Miss White’s    27  voice broke into his daydreams. “Steve!” Startled (吓了一跳), he    28  to look at her. “Pay attention!” She began to    29  the test results. “You all did pretty well,” she told the class, “   30  one boy, and it breaks my    31  to tell you this, but...” She hesitated, pinning Steve to his seat with a sharp    32 . “... The smartest boy in the seventh grade is failing my class!”
After that, Steve still    33  do his homework. “Just try it,” Miss White said one day. “Steve! Please! I care about you!” Wow! Suddenly, Steve got it! Someone cared about him? Someone, so beautiful and perfect, cared about him! Steve went home from school,    34 ,  that afternoon.
The following Monday he arrived at school on time, and waited for Miss White to enter the classroom. She walked in, all sparkle and smiles! Immediately, she gave a    35  on the weekend homework. Steve was the first to    36  his paper. With a look of    37 , Miss White took his paper. Steve walked back to his desk, his heart beating strongly within his chest.
Miss White’s face was in total    38 ! Suddenly, her face broke into a bright smile. The smartest boy in the seventh grade had just    39  his first test! From that moment   40  was the same for Steve.

One day a police officer managed to get some fresh mushrooms(蘑菇). He was so   26  with what he had bought that he offered to   27  the mushrooms with his brother officers. When their breakfast arrived the next day, each officer found some mushrooms on his plate. "Let the dog _28__a piece first," suggested one__29_ officer who was afraid that the mushrooms might be poisonous(有毒的).
The dog seemed to_30__his mushroom, and the officers then began to eat their meal, saying that the mushrooms had a very strange __31___ quite pleasant taste.
An hour later, however, they were all astonished_32___the gardener rushed in and said_33___that the dog was dead. _34__, the officers jumped into their cars and rushed to the __35___hospital. Pumps(洗胃器) were used and the officers had a very_36___time getting rid of the mushrooms that__37__in their stomachs.
When they_38___to the police station, they sat down and started to__39__the mushroom poisoning. Each man explained the pains(痛苦) that_40___had felt and they agreed that these had grown worse on their_41___to the hospital. The gardener was  42__to tell the way in which the poor dog had died." Did it__43___much before death?" asked one of the officers, feeling very pleased that he had escaped a_44__death himself. "No," the gardener looked rather __45___. "It was killed the moment a car hit it."

More than a third of the babies born this year could receive a 100th birthday message from whoever happens to be on the throne in the second decade of the 22nd century, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It forecasts that 35% of the 826,000 people born in 2012 will live to become centenarians.

But a long life is not unalloyed good news. David Sinclair, head of policy and research at the International Longevity Centre UK, warned that for many the future may mean social isolation(隔离）as they live longer than friends and members of their families.

"It is of course good news that so many more people are living longer," he said, "but there is a big 'but¹. We will be older, but in worse health, and at high risk of living alone. The other problem is that we are very poor at forward planning. We deal with the problems that are under our noses, but even problems two or three years away seem quite distant enough to put off. When you're talking about forecasts for a time half a century away and more, I see no evidence that we are putting in place the measures to deal with it."

This year there will be 14,500 centenarians in the UK, a number which is expected to increase to 110,000 in 2035.

Women have higher life expectancies than men at every age: the likelihood of a girl born this year reaching her century is estimated to be 39%; for boys the figure is 32%.

The estimated number of female centenarians has risen from 500 in 1961 to more than 10,000 in 2010，a figure which is projected to reach 71,000 by 2035 and 276,000 by 2060.

Men are also living far longer, although their numbers are far fewer. There were an estimated 92 male centenarians in 1961 and just below 2,000 in 2010.

1.The underlined word centenarians probably means people who_____.

A. are born this year B. live longer than their friends

C. are in poor health D. are a hundred or more years old

2.From what David Sinclair said, we can learn_____.

A.he doesn't believe so many people are living longer

B. the older we are, the more likely we are to live alone and in poor health

C.the people who are good at forward planning are likely to live longer

D.too distant planning is not always necessary for most of us

3.Which of the following statement is true?

A.About 289，100 people born in 2012 will live to 100.

B.More men will reach their century than women in the future.

C.The number of the female centenarians was 1,000 in 1970s

D.More than 600 people reached their century in 1961.

4.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A.A long life is not always good news.

B.A long life also means social and physical isolation

C.In the future, more people will live to 100 in the UK.

D.It is good to live to 100.