A 56-year-old Canadian man who left home after his business went bankrupt（破产）completed an 11-year walk around the world on Sunday? and told people his new goal was to promote peace．

Jean Beliveau, who arrived to a hero's welcome in Montreal of Canada from loved ones and supporters, said his real task was to urge Canada and other governments to create peace．"We are all different, and that is what is beautiful about life on Earth—our different colors, different beliefs, different political systems," he said．"Those are all musical notes．．．we must create harmony （和谐） from them．"

Beliveau left Montreal on the day of his 45th birthday—August 18, 2000—after his small business went bankrupt．He decided to run around the world to try to escape the pain．The Canadian ran all the way to the city of Atlanta, Georgia, USA and started his walk for what would become the longest walk around the worlds 75,000 kilometers （46,600 miles） across 64 countries．Over 11 years, he traveled across deserts and mountains．He fell in love for nine days in Mexico, wore a turban （穆斯林的头巾） and a long beard in Sudan （苏丹）, ate snake in China．

Upon his return on Sunday, Beliveau reunited with his mother, whom she had not seen for 11 years．She welcomed him in a tight embrace．Longtime girlfriend Luce Archambault who offered Beliveau emotional and financial support for his journey, and his two children from a previous marriage were also present at the celebration．More than 100 supporters walked the final kilometers with Beliveau through the streets of Montreal．

56．Beliveau said that his new goal is to _____．

       A．promote world peace                     B．forget his pain

       C．create a common belief                   D．have a good rest

57．Which foreign country did Betiveau first enter in his long journey?

       A．Sudan．           B．USA．              C．Mexico．          D．China．

58．Many people took part in the celebration to welcome Beliveau's return EXCEPT _____．

       A．his mother                                      B．his girlfriend          

       C．his children                                     D．his former wife

59．What would be the best title for this passage?

       A．How can exercise kill mental problems?

       B．What is the best way to escape from pain?

       C．Beliveau, a world peace promoter and his family

       D．Canadian man completes 11-year round-the-world walk

         A businesswoman, a mother of four, an international fashion icon（偶像） , a woman committed to making the world a better place for women and children—Queen Rania of Jordan is truly changing the world．

         Rania was bom in Kuwait, in 1970．Shortly after Iraq invaded that country in 1990, her family fled and settled in Jordan．After graduating from a business school, Rania became successful in the business world．

         When she was just 22, she went to a dinner party that changed her life forever．It was there that she met Jordan' s Prince Abdullah．Six months later, Rania and Abdullah had a royal wedding and started a family．

         After the death of her father – in – law, King Hussein, in 1999, Prince Abdullah was crowned King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Rania became the world' s youngest living queen．

         In her role as Queen, Rania has become well known around the world for her charity work and her efforts to improve educational opportunities for girls．She is an outspoken advocate of women' s rights, education reform, and child abuse．She is also well - known for her efforts to remove Western stereotypes （旧观念） about the Muslim world．

         Rania explains that there is a direct relationship between increasing education and eliminating poverty．" You can change the course of a nation through education," she says．" One of the most important things you can do for a girl is empower her with her education．Once she has the education she can then have control over her income, she can change her life, she can have choices．"

         In the future, Rania says, she hopes for a more open and secure world．"We look at problems happening halfway across the world and we think,' Well, that' s their problem．' But it' s not," she says．" When you solve somebody else' s problem, you are solving a problem for yourself, because our world today is so interconnected．"

56．Rania and her family moved to Jordan because ____．

         A．she was engaged to Jordan' s Prince Abdullah

         B．she wanted to attend a business school there

         C．Jordan was a more developed country than Kuwait

         D．the war broke out between Kuwait and Iraq

57．Rania became the world' s youngest living queen when she was ____．

         A．a girl of 22        B．at the age of 23      

         C．in her thirties              D．29 years old

58．In her role as Queen, Rania is more devoted to ____．

         A．her business work    B．girls' education      

         C．fashion shows             D．her family

59．Rania thinks that ____．

         A．women have brought about great changes to the world

         B．education can help a girl find a wealthy husband

         C．in the world today, all countries depend on each other

         D．the Muslim world needs more help from the western countries

60．The text mainly describes Rania as ____．

         A．a caring mother             B．a fashion model

         C．a social activist             D．a smart businesswoman

A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house,

reduced to waist-high ruins, smelly and dirty.

Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up

the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was,

“No charge.” She said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I

went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.

As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage（抵押贷款）on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d began to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans.

It sounded too good to be true, but I replied, thanking him for his exceptional generosity, that we had no plan go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to let his house to me. While he want to England on his one-year paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.

Throughout this painful experience , the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity .It’s almost worth losing you worldly possessions to be reminded that people really when given half a chance.

56.The garage employee’s attitude toward the author was that of _______.

A.unconcern                              B.sympathy                        C.doubt                      D.tolerance

57.What do we know about James Kennedy?

A.He was a writer of an online magazine.                 B.He was a poet at the University of Florida

C.He offered the author a new house free of charge.  

D.He learned about the author’s sufferings via e-mail.

58.It can be inferred from the text that _______.

A.the author’s family was in financial difficulty

B.rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster

C.houses were difficult to find in the hurricane-stricken area

D.the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank

59.The author learned from his experience that _______.

A.worldly possessions can be given up when necessary

B.generosity should be encouraged some cases           C.people benefit from their sad stories

D.human beings are kind after all.

A

A rock group called the Rocket Crew is on tour. Their agent (经纪人) has asked the town officials about Wilbour City on the tour. The stadium in the town is large enough to hold the expected crowd. Ticket sales in the area would be good because several towns are around Wilbour City. However, many people in the town don't want a rock concert because they fear the damage the crowd might cause. To settle the problem about whether or not to invite the group to appear, the mayor took a poll(民意测验). The results are:

Would buy tickets Would not buy tickets Undecided 6180 (41.2％) 5914 (39.4％) 2920 (19.4％) Fear the damage Not fear the damage Undecided 3043 (20.3％) 8746 (58.3％) 3225 (21.4％) Thought it would help the city Didn't think it would help the city Undecided 9412 (62.7％) 2085 (13.9％) 3517 (23.4％)

56. The mayor took the poll among _____ people.

A. 15,014 B. 6,180 C. 9,412 D. 8,746

57. From the results of the poll, we know that half of the people or more _____.

A. would buy the tickets for the concert

B. haven't yet given their own opinions

C. are against the invitation to the group

D. are for the invitation to the group

58. The concert is probably to be held in _____.

A. a cinema B. a stadium C. a theatre D. a concert hall

59. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. A Poll B. The City of Wilbour C. Rocket Crew D. A Rock Concert

A Tchaikovsky concerto（协奏曲）is what made Romel Joseph fall in love with the violin.

He learned how to play in Haiti, where he was born, but a Fulbright scholarship brought him to the United States, and he finally earned a master’s degree, reports CBS News reporter Katie Couric. Music had changed his life. He wanted to do the same for the children of Haiti.

Joseph built a school in Port-au-Prince nearly 20 years ago. He was on the third floor when suddenly “It was like boom boom boom and everything just opened,” Joseph said. “And the next thing I knew I was on the ground.”

Blind since birth, Joseph tried to feel his way out, but was pinned（夹）beneath heavy concrete（混凝土）. He remained trapped for 18 hours. He prays that his new wife, seven months pregnant（怀孕的）, will be found.

He is now being treated at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital for two injured legs and an arm.

Joseph wonders if he’ll ever play the violin again. He can feel sensation（知觉）in his fingertips. He said, “If you were to give me a violin and if I didn’t have to fold the fingers, I would be able to play.”

Joseph’s daughter Victoria spent three terrifying days unsure of her father’s fate. For her, having him home is the sweetest music.

“Can you imagine your dad not being able to play the violin?” Couric asked.

“No, I can’t,” Victoria Joseph said. “But I will love him all the same if he can’t.”

Romel doesn’t know how many of his 300 students died in the quake. As he waits for news about his wife, Romel Joseph is already planning a return to Haiti to rebuild the school and continue teaching there.

“We can save two children, 20, 200, 300, 500 through education and music, and these children will make a difference,” Romel Joseph said.

54．Romel began to like music ________.

A. because he was blind since birth

B. after he had listened to a famous piece of music

C. when he got a scholarship to study in America

D. since he was born in Haiti

55．From what Romel said in Paragraph 6, we can infer that he was ________.

A. upset        B. fearful          C. excited          D. optimistic

56．To Victoria, the best thing is ________.

A. to see her father recover from the injury quickly

B. to listen to her father playing the sweetest music

C. to play the violin as well as her father

D. to be sure that her father could play the violin

57．Why does Romel want to go back to Haiti?

A. To save his students from the earthquake.

B. To change the life of children by teaching music.

C. To find out how seriously his school was damaged.

D. To look for his wife who is pregnant.

58．Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. Music education: keep your creativity alive

B. A great blind musician and his students

C. Haiti earthquake: a story of a music teacher

D. How did some Haiti earthquake victims survive