It's no secret that many children would be healthier and happier with adoptive parents than with the parents that nature dealt them. That's especially true of children who remain in abusive homes because the law blindly favors biological parents. It's also true of children who suffer for years in foster homes (收养孩子的家庭) because of parents who can't or won't care for them but refuse to give up custody (监护) rights.
Fourteen-year-old Kimberly Mays fits neither description, but her recent court victory could eventually help children who do. Kimberly has been the object of an angry custody baffle between the man who raised her and her biological parents, with whom she has never lived. A Florida judge ruled that the teenager can remain with the only father she's ever known and that her biological parents have "no legal claim" on her.
The ruling, though it may yet be reversed, sets aside the principle that biology is the primary determinant of parentage. That's an important development, one that's long overdue.
Shortly after birth in December 1978, Kimberly Mays and another infant were mistakenly switched and sent home with the wrong parents. Kimberly's biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, received a child who died of a heart disease in 1988. Medical tests showed that the child wasn't the Twiggs' own daughter, but Kimt only was, thus sparking a custody battle with Robert Mays. In 1989, the two families agreed that Mr. Mays would maintain custody with the Twiggs getting visiting fights. Those rights were ended when Mr. Mays decided that Kimberly was being harmed.
The decision to leave Kimberly with Mr. Mays rendered her suit debated. But the judge made clear that Kimberly did have standing to sue ( 起诉) on her own behalf. Thus he made clear that she was more than just property to be handled as adults saw fit.
Certainly, the biological link between parent and child is fundamental. But biological parents aren't always preferable to adoptive ones, and biological parentage does not convey an absolute ownership that cancels all the rights of children.
36. What was the primary consideration in the Florida judge's ruling?
A. The biological link.              　　  B. The child's benefits.  
C. The traditional practice.         　　 D. The parents' feelings.
37. We can learn from the Kimberly case that
A. children are more than just personal possessions of their parents
B. the biological link between parent and child should be emphasized
C. foster homes bring children more pain and suffering than care
D. biological parents shouldn't claim custody rights after their child is adopted
38. The Twiggs claimed custody rights to Kimberly because
A. they found her unhappy in Mr. Mays' custody     B. they regarded her as their property
C. they were her biological parents               D. they felt guilty about their past mistake
39. Kimberly had been given to Mr. Mays
A. by sheer accident          B. at his request       C. out of charity          D. for better care
40. The author's attitude towards the judge's ruling could be described as
A. doubtful             B. cautious         C. critical          D. supportive

阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A，B，C和D）中选出最佳选项。

　　The producer appeared behind the recording studio window and smiled and waved to me like an old friend. And after I had read out a little test piece, he said,“That's fine, wonderful, Your voice is perfect, lovely, wonderful.”Then I read a longer passage in English about the delights of touring in Britain, and another about the delights of visiting

　　London, and both were“excellent”and“just right”, and I began to consider a job in radio. To be honest, I was fairly sure of myself though I lacked experience. Across the room in the Hamburg News Agency where we both worked, a friend named Peter Turner called to me, “I say, Mike, a man on the phone here wants someone to do a recording in English, and I'm booked up. Would you read something to him in English as a sort of test?”I did, and they said,“Perfect, lovely, wonderful…”Would I cane round?

　　It was after reading their passage in English in the studio that they noticed my vowel pronunciations were not altogether King's English, or even Prince Philip's, there was a larger silence than usual, then the voice said,“Fine, lovely, but you said the word ‘castle’with a short ‘a’. Could we have the passage again, please? But this time say ‘carsele’.”

　　This was easy. But then he noticed other differences in my pronunciation.

　　“It's my northern English accent,”I said, angry, because I had to apologize for it.

　　“Oh, I see…but Mr. Jamieson, we'll have to get it right, I'm afraid. The recording is for teaching English to German schoolchildren, and it must be spoken in the way it is taught in German schools.”

　　I read the passage again and again. But of course you cannot change the pronunciation of a lifetime in an hour. The studio men were in the state of having lost hope and underlined the vowels which caused me to feel angry, so that I'd remember them. Few, really. But because I had to concentrate(集中) on them, I made a lot of mistakes in my reading. Everyone got somewhat angry, so we all went out for a beer.

1．Broadcasting did not make Mike nervous ________.

[　　]

A．although he had never done any before

B．because he worked in a news agency

C．although the passage was long

D．because he was used to talking on the phone

2．What happened after Mike had done the recording a second time?

[　　]

A．They said nothing.

B．They could not understand one of the words.

C．They began to discuss Prince Philip's English.

D．They made him repeat it.

3．They wanted Mike to change his pronunciation because ________.

[　　]

A．German schoolchildren didn't like a northern accent

B．German schoolchildren were taught through recordings

C．it was different from the English taught in German schools

D．it was different from the English spoken in Germany

4．Why did Mike's reading of the passage get worse?

[　　]

A．He could not learn so many new sounds.

B．He was trying hard to get certain sounds right.

C．He needed a drink to clear his throat.

D．He was trying to do the recording in an hour.

At two o’clock a bank robber stole in.“This is a holdup,” the man said loudly. He took a gun from under his jacket, pointing to George.“Hand it over!” George reached into his money-box and took all the bills from the top part-close to six thousand dollars. The robber took them and turned to leave.

　　Then, while everyone watched the robber, George calmly lifted the top part of the money-box, took bills from the bottom part and put them into his own pocket secretly.

　　The door was shut and the bank robber was gone. George fainted（晕倒）.

　　As soon as he was safely behind his bedroom door, George counted the money. He had eight thousand dollars. He was very happy.

　　The next morning, while the others were examining the bank's records, George was called into Mr Burrow's office and was introduced to Mr. Carruthers, who used to be president of the bank.

　　“Good morning, George, I was sorry to give you a hard time yesterday, but with all the banks being robbed these days I thought it would be a good idea to prove that our little bank can be robbed too. I have retired（退休）, but I’m always thinking of our bank. That's why I played my little game yesterday, just to keep everyone on his toes（趾）. Now, I have put the money back in your money-box all six thousand.”

This passage tells us ______.

A. a serious case            B. one part of a play

C. a humorous story          D. a meaningful story

Which of the following do you think is true?

A. George wanted to protect the money for the bank.

B. George had been thinking of taking money away.

C. This bank had been robbed several times.

D. Nobody knew the bank would be robbed that day.

Why was George called into Mr. Burrow’s office?

A. His stealing money was disclosed.

B. Mr. Burrow wanted to say sorry to him.

C. Mr. Carruthers wanted to explain the whole thing to him.

D. Mr. Burrow wanted to tell him the money had been put back.

In this article “to keep everyone on his toes” means “______”.

A. to make everyone work hard

B. to keep everyone standing straight

C. to make everyone do a kind of exercise

D. to keep everyone paying attention to the coming danger

Which sentence can be used to end the story?

A. George turned cold with fear.          B. George turned red with anger.

C. George was pleased with the end.       D. George was disappointed with the end.

Mr. Smith wrote to your newspaper to complain that his telephone was out of order for more than a week.

We received a complaint from Mr. Smith at 2:30 p.m. on May 6. The next day we sent workmen to Mr. Smith’s house to repair his telephone. The men discovered that there was something wrong with the underground cable. They dug up 15 feet of the cable and saw many white ants. These ants had attacked the cable and damaged it badly.

On May 8~10, our workmen dug up another 30 feet of the cable and found that it was also damaged. On May 11~13 the men took out the useless cable and replaced it with a new one. To do this they had to connect more than 4 000 wires and the work was not easy.

On May 14, the cable was completely repaired and Mr. Smith’s telephone was working properly. He did not have to pay for the work.

Yours faithfully,

B.Jones

Manager of Telephone Company

1.Mr. Jones wrote to a newspaper because he wanted to ______.

A. explain why his telephone did not work properly

B.complain about his telephone

C.explain why Mr. Smith’s telephone was out of order for several days

D.complain that the Telephone Company was slow to repair his telephone

2.The workmen spent ______ days in repairing the cable.

A. eight　　　　　　　　　　    B.three　　　　　　　　　　　　 C.four　　　　　　　　   D.six

3.The workmen had to join thousands of wires when they ______ the old cable.

A. damaged　　　　　　　　  B.repaired　　　　　　　　　　 C.replaced　　　　　　　　    D.put in

4.The ______ to the cable were paid by the Telephone Company.

A. damage　　　　　　　　    B.damages　　　　　　　　    C.repairs　　　　　　　　　　  D.replacement

5.The word “discovered” means ______.

A. were learned　　　　　　 B.were seeing　　　　　　   C.find out　　　　　　　　　　 D.found out

I was cleaning out an old box when an old card caught my eye：Queen City Casket Company．“What is it?” I wondered．I 　36　 it over．There，in faded ink, was a hand-scrawled(手写的) 　37　. Immediately my mind traveled  38   many years．

   I was nine years old, walking down the cold，wet streets of Springfield，with a bag of magazines on my shoulder．On my   39  that day．I came to that Company finally, whose owner, Mr. Rader，had always taken me there to ask his workers  40  they wanted any magazines．

    Shaking off the  41  like a wet dog．I entered Mr. Rader's office．After a quick glance ,he  42  me over to the fire-place．Noticing the  43   in the top of my  44   ，he said，“Come with me!”，pulling me into his pickup  45  ．we pulled to a stop before a shoe store．Inside，a salesman  46   me with the finest pair of Oxfords I had  47  seen．I  48  about 10 feet tall when I got up  49  them．“We’d like a pair of new socks too．” Mr Rader said．

    Back in his office, Mr Rader took out a  50   ，wrote something on it, and handed it to me．With   51  eyes，I read，“Do to others as you would have them do to you．” He said affectionately(深情地)，“Jimmy，I want you to　52　　I  love  you”．

    I said good-bye, and for the first time I  53    a flicker of hope that somehow things would be  54  ．With people like Mr Rader in the world，there was hope，kindness and love，and that would always make a   55  ．

1.A．read          B．thought        C．turned       D．passed

2.A．address       B．1ist            C．message     D．information

3.A．forward       B．so             C．ahead       D．back

4.A．return         B．rounds         C．trip         D．arrival

5.A．if only        B．how           C．whether      D．why

6.A．dust          B．sweat          C．tail          D．rain

7.A．led           B．followed        C．watched     D．carried

8.A．hole          B．mud           C．water        D．cover

9.A．magazine      B．shoe           C．sock         D．bag

10.A．truck         B．factory         C．home        D．store

11.A．dressed        B．fitted          C．showed      D．comforted

12.A．ever          B．already         C．never        D．hardly

13.A．appeared      B．seemed         C．looked 　    D．felt

14.A．for           B．with            C．on　 　     D．in

15.A．pen          B．paper           C．card　　     D．notebook

16.A．tearful        B．unbelievable     C．curious.　    D．puzzled

17.A．admit         B．know           C．consider 　  D．express

18.A．sensed        B．received         C．lost　       D．gained

19.A．mistaken      B．fight            C．all right 　   D．possible

20.A．deal          B．fortune          C．choice　　   D．difference