The drug store was closing for the night. Young Alfred Higgins, the shop-assistant, was ready to go home. Mr. Carr, the boss, stared at him and said: “Hold on, Alfred. Maybe you'd be good enough to take the things out of your pockets and leave them here before you go.”Alfred's face got red. After a little hesitation, he took out what he had stolen. Mr. Carr said, “Maybe I should call your mother and let her know I'm going to have to put you in prison.”

Alfred thought his mother would come rushing in, eyes burning with anger. But, to his surprise, she arrived wearing a smile. “Hello, I'm Alfred's mother. Is he in trouble?”she said. Mr. Carr was surprised, too. He had expected Alfred's mother to come in nervously, shaking with fear, asking with wet eyes for a mercy for her son. But no, she was most calm, quiet and pleasant and was making Mr. Carr feel guilty…. Soon Mr. Carr was shaking his head in agreement with what she was saying. “Of course”, he said, “I don't want to be cruel. You are right. Sometimes, a little good advice is the best thing for a boy at certain times in his life and it often takes the youths long time to get sense into their heads.”And he warmly shook Mrs. Higgins's hand.

Back home, without even looking at Alfred, she said, “You are a bad luck. It is one thing after another, always has been. Why do you stand there so stupidly? Go to bed.”In his bedroom, Alfred heard his mother in the kitchen. There was no shame in him, just pride in his mother's strength. He felt he must tell her how great she was. As he got to the kitchen, he saw his mother drinking a cup of tea. He was shocked by what he saw. His mother's face was a frightened, broken one. It was not the same cool, bright face he saw earlier in the drug store. As she lifted the tea cup, her hand shook. And some of the tea splashed on the table. Her lips moved nervously. She looked very old. He watched his mother without making a sound. The picture of his mother made him want to cry. He felt his youth coming to an end. He saw all the troubles he brought his mother in her shaking hand and the deep lines of worry in her grey face. It seemed to him that this was the first time he had ever really seen his mother.

1.The reason why Mr. Carr felt guilty was that ________.

A．he found Alfred was in fact innocent

B．he should have called a policeman in first

C．Alfred's mother appeared polite and gentle

D．he thought he was partly responsible for it

2.Which of the following is probably said by Mrs. Higgins while talking to Mr. Carr?

A．“Please, for God's sake, you know, he is just a kid.”

B．“I can't believe it! You are treating my son like that!”

C．“You know, it takes time for a youth to truly grow up.”

D．“Punishment makes sense because it teaches about the law.”

3.What does the underlined phrase "his mother's strength"(Para. 3) refer to?

A．Mrs. Higgins's calmness and communicating skills.

B．Mrs. Higgins's attitude towards parental sufferings.

C．Mrs. Higgins's love and care for her son Alfred.

D．Mrs. Higgins's greatness as a woman.

4.After the incident, young Alfred would probably ________.

A．feel ashamed of her mother

B．change his attitudes towards life

C．learn to live an independent life

D．hate Mr. Carr for hurting her mother

A. Arguments are pointless.

B. Your parents only want what's best for you.

C. Everyone's opinion matters only as much as you want them to.

D. You learn by doing.

E. Your emotions are under your control.

F. You aren't stuck in any situation

Life is the greatest teacher

There always comes a moment when I wonder where I will end up and this moment always serves as a strong motivation for me to learn life lesson. I've learned a great many things, but these are the lessons that I wish I'd learned earlier:

1._________

There was a time when everyone's opinion was mine as well. Whatever preferences I formerly held were dashed in the face of another's. This most likely came from a need to please others. Remember that your opinion matters just as much as the next guy's, whether they make more money than you or are less popular than you. Everyone's opinion holds the same weight.

2._________

Drama, chaos, and emotional unrest — these were what took up most of my time as a teenager. If I had heard someone said bad things behind my back, I'd be angry. Go crazy. Looking back on those tantrums now, I'm not too surprised. After all, when you have little self control, anything is possible. The lesson here is, remain aware of how you react.

3._________

Will one small argument among friends decide the fate of the entire universe? In my world it felt like it. I just wanted so much to be right and for them so much to be wrong. But in the end, it only resulted in me wasting my time and in the other person storming off in frustration. Is there really a point to arguing? Unless it's absolutely necessary, I've learned that it's better to hold your breath on things you can't control at all. Arguing to change someone's mind is one of them.

4._________

I'm not saying every parent wants what's best for you (there are outliers), but in general, parents do what they do for you in your best interest. My parents used to make me do the dishes, cook dinner, sweep the floors, mow the lawn, take out the garbage… the list goes on and on. And at every turn, I'd whine and complain. I'd eventually end up doing it. Now, I honestly see the value in having learned those skills. I can efficiently cook and clean up after myself.

5._________

Whenever I’d lose a friend, get an awful grade, or disappoint my parents, I stewed in my own muck. Waiting for the bad moments to go away seemed to be the only solution. Fortunately, I know now that you don’t have to be stuck in bad situations. You can go out and create better ones. It all depends on perspective; on how you see the situation. Viewing everything as a learning experience makes life more pleasurable, even during the hard times. You aren't stuck. You can move on.

I'm glad to have learned these lessons the way I did. Each experience helped shape me to become a better person. I don't know if any young people are reading this, but if they are, I'd like to say this: “Listen to life and its experiences. Everyone goes through mostly the same things.”

Uncertainty spreads through our lives so thoroughly that it dominates our language，Our everyday speech is made up in large part of words like probably, many, soon,great,little.What do these words mean? 

Such verbal imprecision is not necessarily to be criticized. Indeed, it has a value Just because it allows uw to express judgments when a precise quantitative statement is out of the question.

We have been trying to pin down by experiments what people meari by these expressions in specific contexts, and how the meanings change with age. For instance,a subject is told "There are many trees in the park" and is asked to say what number the word may mean to him. Or a child is invited to take "some" sweets from a bowl and we then count how many he has taken. We compare the number he takes when he is alone with the number when one or more other children are present and are to take some sweets after him, or with the number he takes when told to give

“some" sweets to another child.

First, we find that the number depends, of course, on the items involved. To most people some friends means about five, while some trees means about twenty. However, unrelated areas sometimes show parallel values. For instance, the language of probability seems to mean about the same thing in predictions about the weather and about politics: the expression is certain to( rain,or be elected)signifies to the average person about a 70 percent chance; is likely to, about a 60 percent chance; probably will, about 55 percent.

Secondly, the size of the population of items influences the value assigned to an expression.Thus, if we tell a subject to take "a few" or“a lot of" glass balls from a box, he will take me if the box contains a large number of glass balls than if it has a small number, But not proportionately more: if we increase the number of glass balls eight times, the subject takes only half as large a percentage of the total.

Thirdly, there is a marked change with age. Among children between six and fourteen years old, the older the child, the fewer glass balls, he will take. But the difference between a lot and a few widens with age. This age effect is so consistent that it might be used as a test of intelligence.

51. What's the right attitude towards the words like probably, any and soon ?

A. They are inaccurate and we should avoid them.

B. They are necessary since we cannot be always precise.

C. They should be criticized because there are too many of them.

D. Their value is not yet clear since we don't know their meaning.

52. Why do we do experiments with the words many and some?

A. To prove that people are insensitive to these words.

B. To prove that the words dominate our everyday speech.

C. To find out how the meanings vary with age and contexts.

D. To find out whether the words can mean a precise quantity.

53. Which of the following expressions means a larger chance in weather broadcast?

A. Possible.   B. Probable.   C. Be likely to.  D. Be certain to.

54. Which of the following is similar to the underlined word signifies in its meaning?

A. makes    B. means     C. predicts    D. indicates

55. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. Uncertainty in the Language Use.

B. How to Use Language in an Uncertain Way

C.Uncertain Words and their Use in Specific Contexts

D. Experiments on Relationship between Uncertainty and Language Use

More than a year later he arrived back in America ______.

    A.ill, tired and unhappy               B.with ill, tired and unhappy

    C. felt ill, tired and unhappy            D. be felt ill, tired and unhappy

A jobless man wanted very much to have the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. “You have passed the test,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the form to fill in and the date when you may start.” The man replied, “But I don’t have a computer, neither an e-mail.” “I’m sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, that means you are not living. And anyone who isn’t living cannot have the job.”

The man left with no hope at all. He didn’t know what to do with only $10 in his pocket. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He repeated the operation three times, and started to go early every day, and returned home late. Shortly, he bought a cart , then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles(运货车队). Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商)  in the US.

One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said, “I haven’t got one.” His friend couldn’t believe his ears. “Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “Yes, I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”

1.What did the man do for the test?

A．He sent e-mails.                         B．He did the cleaning

C．He sold computers.                      D．He filled in forms.

2.The man didn’t get the job because he_____________.

A．disliked such a job

B．didn’t pass the test

C．didn’t have an e-mail

D．knew nothing about computers

3.The man ______after he left Microsoft.

A．went to look for another job

B．asked for food from door to door

C．thought of an idea to make monkey

D．bought a computer and got an e-mail

4.Why could the man become one of the biggest food retailers in the US?

A．Because he had many friends to help him.

B．Because he was smart and worked very hard.

C．Because he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles.

D．Because he wanted to show Microsoft he was living.

5.What does the story want to tell us?

A．Computers are very important in our daily life.

B．Everyone can make a lot of money with only$10.

C．The HR manager didn’t find the ability of the man.

D．Nothing in the world is impossible if we work hard.