There was a very special teacher who made a far-reaching difference in my life.  

Fall, 1959, the first day of class at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School was about to begin. “Who”, I asked a senior, “is Mrs. McNamara, my 10^th grade English teacher?” He just  31  and said something about my being in  32 . Soon, I understood what he meant. Mrs. McNamara had a pattern of  33  that she repeated again and again. We would have a literature reading task for  34 . The next day, when we came to class, there would be two or three topics on the blackboard  35  to the homework reading. We were  36  to write an in-class essay about one of the topics. The following day, she would  37  the corrected and graded essays and each person would be called  38  to stand in front of the class and to  39  his/her essay. The class were required to criticize （评论） that essay,  40  the grade of everyone in class would be reduced.  

The first time that I  41  her read-write-criticize method, I had not  42 to do the homework and had written something without knowing what it meant.  43  the extreme embarrassment I suffered, standing before my classmates,  44  myself. No one laughed at me; no one would be  45  enough, or foolish enough, to do that in Mrs. McNamara’s class. The embarrassment came from  46  and along with it came a strong  47  not to let it happen again.  

Mrs. McNamara kept all of our written work in files; it was easy to see the  48  in writing that had occurred. What was not so easy to see was the inner transformation that had taken place, at least for me. What Mrs. McNamara  49  me to do was to see myself as others see me and, having done that, I could improve myself. And I  50 . Thank you, Mrs. McNamara.  

The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them. But more damaging may be the cellphone’s interruption of our thoughts.
We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is in generally a healthy, protective development. “I didn’t hear it ring” or “I didn’t realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach.
The concept of being unreachable is not new – we have “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors of hotel rooms. So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?
The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication. Until the recent mass use of cellphones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the globe. We came to take it for granted.
But cellphones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves. Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished. Even cellphone devotees, myself usually included, can’t help at times wanting to throw their phones away, or curse this invention.
But we don’t and won’t, and there really is no need. That we have the right to take back our private time is a general social recognition.
In other words, we don’t have to pay too much attention to the rings of our own phones. Given the ease of making and receiving cellphone calls, if we don’t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later.
A cellphone call deserves no more importance than a word from the person next to us. Though the call on my cellphone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg–who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie. But most likely it is not, and I’m better off, thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I’ll eat for lunch.

【小题1】.
What does the writer think about people telling “white lies” about their cellphones?

Last summer, I travelled to Meixian County with my friends. It is a small county at the foot of Taibai Mountain in Shanxi Province. We stayed there for one week and I__1__ my vacation because of the beautiful scenery at the top of the mountain.

I will__2__ forget the day when we climbed the main peak(山顶). The __3__in that area changes very quickly: it was sunny in the early morning when we set out, __4__ it began to rain heavily when we were only halfway up.

Soon，we were all__5__ and some of us wanted to go home. They said, “There is nothing__6__ here. We came to see the scenery，__7__the pouring rain！” However, the guide__8__， “Since we have got wet already, why not just go on with our journey？”

So we carried on up the mountain and，__9__we even noticed, the rain stopped and the sun was smiling again. When we reached the top of the peak, the view was unique (独特的)．

Up there, it was bright and clear. The sky was__10__and the air was fresh. The gentle wind made us feel cool. All the clouds were just like waves in the ocean, __11__ and falling under our feet. We could only see the peaks of mountains, as if they were __12__ floating sparsely (稀疏的) in the ocean. It was a really magical experience.

While we were enjoying the scene, the guide said __13__，“You see, I knew that there would be no rain above the clouds.”

It is __14__. While it may rain below the clouds, the sun is still there above them.

You will never see the sun __15__ you don't try your best to climb to the top of the mountain. If we had stopped and gone home when the rain was very heavy, we would never have seen the beautiful scenery __16__ the clouds. I think this is also true in __17__.

As the song says, “You won't see the rainbow unless you have gone through the thunder and storm.” I think in the__18__， whenever I have any difficulties in my life, I will remember the__19__from the top of Taibai Mountain and the __20__ which touched my heart deeply: There is no rain above the clouds.

1．A.spent　　　B．killed　　　C．had　　　D．enjoyed

2．A.ever       B．never      C．certainly  D．perhaps

3．A.scenery    B．cloud      C．sky       D．weather

4．A.so        B．while      C．but        D．instead

5．A.tired      B．hungry     C．angry      D．wet

6．A.necessary  B．fun       C．important    D．instructive

7．A.not       B．no         C．never      D．hardly

8．A.suggested  B．ordered     C．asked     D．demanded

9．A.when            B．before  C．while         D．then

10．A.dark          B．green      C．black         D．blue

11．A.jumping   B．dropping  C．going      D．rising

12．A.islands   B．fish       C．animals     D．waves

13．A.excited   B．proudly    C．angrily     D．happily

14．A.false     B．a lie        C．a guess     D．true

15．A.when     B．unless      C．if         D．while

16．A.over     B．on         C．above      D．under

17．A.study      B．rest       C．real world  D．life

18．A.past      B．present      C．future   D．life

19．A.weather   B．change     C．view      D．time

20．A.word    B．phrase       C．speech     D．sentence

 On May 27, 1995, our life was suddenly changed. It happened a few minutes past three.  36   my husband, Chris, fell from his horse as it   37   over a fence. Chris was paralyzed（瘫痪）from the chest down,   38   to breathe normally. As he was thrown from his horse, we entered into a life of   39   with lots of unexpected challenges（挑战）. We went from the “haves” to the “have-nots”. Or so we thought. 40   what we discovered later were all the gifts that came out of   41   difficulties. We came to learn that something   42   could happen in a disaster. All over the world people   43   Chris so much that letters and postcards poured in every day. By the end of the third week in a   44   center in Virginia, about 35, 000 pieces of   45   had been received and sorted.

As   46  , we opened letter after letter. They gave us   47   and became a source of strength for us. We used them to   48   ourselves. I would go to the pile of letters marked with “Funny” if we needed a   49  , or to the “Disabled” box to find advice from people in wheelchairs or   50   in bed living happily and   51  .

These letters, we realized, had to be shared. And so   52   we offer one of them to you.

Dear Chris,

My husband and I were so sorry to hear of your   53   accident last week. No doubt your family and your friends are giving you the strength to face this   54   challenge. People everywhere are also giving you best wishes every day and we are among those who are keeping you   55  .

                                                      Yours sincerely

                                                      Nancy Reagan

Along a long path we came to a deep valley, on the far side of which the path led into some very thick bushes. Rather than push through up again and rejoin the path on the far side of the bushes.

       As I climbed down into the valley a bird flew off h rock on which I had put my hand. On looking at the spot from which the bird had risen, I saw two eggs. They were the kind that I did not have in my collection, so I placed them carefully in my bag, wrapped in a little dry grass.

       As we went further down the valley the sides became steeper and not far from where I had entered. It came to drop of about twelve to fourteen feet. The water that rushed down all these small valleys in the rainy season had worn the rock as glass. As it was too deep to climb down, I handed my gun to one of the men and slid down it. My feet had hardly touched the sandy bottom when the two men jumped down, one on each side of me. They quickly gave me the gun and asked me if I had heard the tiger. In fact, I had heard nothing; possibly because of the noise I made sliding down the rock. The men said they had heard a tiger growling somewhere nearby, but they did not know from which direction the noise had come.

According to the text we know that __________.

       A. the writer decided to push through the thick bushes

       B. the writer decided to walk along the valley

       C. the writer wanted to stop climbing

       D. the writer tried to find two eggs

When the writer found the eggs, he ________.

       A. wrapped them in dry grass and put them aside

       B. wrapped them in dry grass and took them with him

       C. tried to find the bird

       D. made the bird fly off

At the end of the story, the writer knew that ____________.

       A. a tiger had run away                  B. a tiger was close to them

       C. the men had seen a tiger                D. a tiger had seen them

Which of the following orders is RIGHT about what happened in their travel?

       A. hear the sound of tiger→find eggs→push through the bushes→climb down into the valley

       B. climb down into the valley→push through the bushes→hear the sound of tiger→find eggs

       C. push through the bushes→climb down into the valley→find eggs→hear the sound of tiger

       D. find eggs→climb down into the valley→hear the sound of tiger→push through the bushes