Each spring brings a new wildflower blooming in the fields along the highway I travel daily to work.

There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eye. I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours. The afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day each year for about two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.
This spring, I started a wildflower garden in my yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the fields would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers.
Every day I drove past the flowers, thinking, "I'll stop on my way home and dig them." "Gee, I don't want to get my good clothes dirty…" Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a tool one year for that expressed purpose.
One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had cleared up the fields and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, "Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring. "
A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a cancer. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven't been as close as we all would have liked.
I couldn't help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband's sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.
And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, I'm sure I'll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden.
【小题1】How long might the blue flower bloom in spring?

There are many TV programs on Chinese cuisines(烹饪、美食)，but few are like A Bite of China（舌尖上的中国）. It tries to bring something new by introducing more cultural features related to dishes, such as eating habits and wonderful stories about food.

It’s said that more than 100 million Chinese people are watching the program. Most Chinese people see this program as more than just the regular food shows. They see it as an amazing documentary providing a special view of Chinese as well as the relations between people and food and between people and society.

On the other hand, the documentary also stimulates(刺激) Chinese people’s consumption(消费). Taobao, one of China’s biggest online shopping sites, reports that the search(搜索) on food items that were introduced by the documentary has increased to 4 million times within one week, and sales have increased to 5.82 million, or 20%.

To get enough good stories, the production team spent three months doing research and interviews in about 60 cities before they started making the documentary last July. Filming lasted about nine months.

Liu Wen, the director, says “As CCTV-9 serves as a window, allowing the world to better understand China, the documentary aims to help the world not only appreciate the beauty of Chinese cuisines, but also learn Chinese customs.”

1.A Bite of China is a     .

2.This program is quite different from other food shows because it has more features of     .

3.The main idea of the 3^rd paragraph is that the program brings a new opportunity on      .

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to this passage?

四、阅读理解（本题有两节，共16小题，每小题2分，共32分）
第一节：阅读下列材料并做后面的题目。从所给的A, B, C, D四个选项中，选出最佳答案。
A
Have you seen big dogs in stores or restaurants and wondered why they were there? Those dogs might have been guide dogs.
People who are blind sometimes use guide dogs called seeing-eyes dogs. These special dogs help people get around. They help them do everyday things. Some people who have hearing problems have hearing-ear dogs. These dogs tell their owners when an alarm clock goes off or when the doorbell rings.
Guide dogs learn to wear something on their backs called a harness. Their owner holds onto it. The dogs learn what words such as “left” and “right” mean. They learn to never take their owner into traffic.
Each guide dog trains for months. Then, it spends one month working with its future owner. At that time ,the owner and dog get to know one another and train together!
Because guide dogs are trained, they are welcome almost anywhere. So, the next time you are out, don’t be surprised if you see a dog. It might just be a guide dog!
46. ______ use guide dogs.
A. People who want dogs to play with     B. Babies
C. Anyone wants to                                D. People who cannot hear or cannot see
47. How long do guide dogs train?______
A. days           B. weeks                    C. months                     D. They don’t train
48. Guide dogs train with their owner for ______.
A. two days        B. one week               C. one month                D. one year
49. Guide dogs can go _______.
A. almost anywhere  B. only stores     C. anywhere but restaurants   D. only outside places

I grew up in New Hampshire, a small town in South Canada, where in my father’s words for the seasons were “Spring, Summer, Fairtime and Winter!” At that time, a week-long fair was held in the town every autumn. Thousands of people from other towns came to sell and buy things. It was the busiest time of the year.

When “Fairtime” came, my grandma became the most “useful” and busiest person of the family. Grandma was a kind, well-educated old lady. She was good at cooking. All her rrelatives liked the foodshe cooked. During “fairtime”, they would come to live in her house and have meals there. Grandma was always happy to look after them.

Year after year, many people moved to big cities. There was no loner “Fairtime”. Grandma became very old and was gradually going blind. My parents and I moved to live with Granma in her house. We did our best to make her day-to-day life as comfortable as possible. I was at high school then. What I often did at home was to help Grandma with the daily newspaper’s crossword puzzle. However, she didn’t look happy. She often sat in her room for hours, without saying a word.

With his game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer, Jeremy Lin (林书豪) finished the New York Knicks' dramatic reversed(扭转) victory to defeat the Toronto Rapters.

The Knicks have won six games in a row, and Jeremy Lin has put up impressive numbers during the continuous period of competitions. Although the season is still young, the Knicks have reversed course in just one week from the NBA's most disappointing team to a playoff (季后赛) contestant. Lin, not team's high-paid stars, has saved the Knicks season and likely coach D'Antoni's job.

After nearly 15 years of disappointing, sometimes unsuccessful seasons, Madison Square Garden is alive again, and New York City can't stop talking about the Knicks. To put things into perspective（角度）, consider this: Just several years back, Knicks fans protested nightly outside of the Garden calling for the team's ownership to fire their resented coach Isiah Thomas.

Now, Madison Square Garden Co. shares are at a record high, the Knicks' average household television rating is up 70 percent since Lin joined the starting lineup (首发阵容), and jersey sales are increasing very quickly. I watched the Knicks-Lakers game at a bar in Harlem, and have not felt that kind of energy from fans since the great playoff between the Knicks and Miami Heat in the late 1990s.

Beyond the Knicks, Lin may be saving the NBA as well. Just a few months back, the NBA took a massive credibility（威信）hit during a multi-month lockout（停工）, where the owners did not allow the players to go back to play until they accept the new salary levels. As a consequence, the season did not even begin until Christmas Day. Over the past few years, LeBron James' (勒布朗﹒詹姆斯) relatively long and unpleasant free-agent (自由职业球员) events, combined with poor play around the league, have angered fans and damaged the league's brand.

Lin is leading a one-week NBA basketball revival. His legendary story has inspired Asian-Americans, increased NBA sales in China, and turned the basketball world upside down.

1.The passage is mainly about______

A. why the New Yorkers thought well of Jeremy Lin 

B. why Jeremy Lin became a member of the Knicks  

C. how the Knicks defeated its opponents in a great playoff          

D. how Jeremy Lin saved the Knicks, probably including the NBA

2.According to the passage, Jeremy Lin's excellent performance saved the following except___

A. The NBA

B. Coach Isiah Thomas  

C. The Knicks

D. Madison Square Garden Co.’s shares  

3.The underlined word “young” in Paragraph 2 probably means "______"

A. not old yet.  B. not completely grown.

C. in the development  D. in the early stage 

4.The NBA suffered the credibility crisis months ago because____

A. The NBA delayed the season because of players’ wage disagreements

B. the NBA was disappointed at James’ free-agent event.

C. The NBA canceled the basketball match for the coming Christmas

D. James had a bad performance in the basketball court

5.Which one of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. These Knicks’ stars who were paid well saved the Knicks season

B. The Knicks didn’t satisfy its fans for nearly 15 years until this season

C. The fans objected to dismissing Coach Isiah Thomas outside the Garden

D. The owners and the players didn’t agree on raising the TV ratings