It was 4 o'clock in the morning, when I received the phone call.

“This is the emergency room calling and your son was just   36  in with severe burns on his face, neck and arms. We have called for a(n)  37  and are going to fly him to the burn unit in Seattle.” Seattle was 350 miles from his college, so we knew immediately this was  38  . The doctor described the  39 , which caused the burns. At 6 am, our son and his friends decided to barbecue hamburgers in the courtyard of their apartment. When they   40  the charcoal(木炭),it burst into flames because they had sprayed too much gasoline(petrol).The flames  41  my son’s shirt tail and shot from his waist to well over his head.

  42 , one of the boys was quick-minded, grasped my son, and  43  him on the grass. While it saved his life, it was not in  44   to save him from severe burns and the terrible scars(伤疤).

After he  45  from the treatments, the doctors told him they would not do plastic surgery(整容)for 6 months  46  it takes that long for the skin to stop shrinking and wrinkling. So, he had to return to college with scars typical of severe burns.

When I was a child, my mother told my sister, who had a 10-inch very  47  scar on her arm, “Nancy, if you ignore the scar, other people will ignore it. It does not mean they will not   48  it, but it means it will not matter to them if it doesn’t matter to you.”

I   49   this wisdom on to my son. He took my advice to  50   and returned to school with his head held high--glad he was alive.

By the end of the six-month waiting period, he decided that the scars did not  51 . So he made the  52   to give up any plastic surgery. We all have “scars” that we believe  53  people to keep away from us. And we spend a lot of time thinking that if only we looked differently, or dressed differently, people would like us better.  

But you see, people will only judge you by your looks, or your clothes, if you are judging yourself by these same  54  standards. Put your imperfections out of your mind and concentrate on what you value  55   yourself, and your beauty will shine through.

1.                A．brought        B．given           C．turned   D．showed

2.                A．doctor         B．hospital         C．aircraft   D．ambulance

3.                A．serious         B．terrible         C．dangerous D．important

4.                A．event          B．process         C．reason   D．accident

5.                A．got            B．lit             C．burned　　   D．moved

6.                A．took           B．held　　        C．caught 　　   D．attracted

7.                A．Fortunately      B．Surprisingly      C．Happily   D．Slowly

8.                A．Pushed         B．threw          C．dropped  D．rolled

9.                A．shape          B．place           C．fact  D．time

10.               A．benefited       B．recovered      C．suffered   D．relaxed

11.               A．if             B．while          C．because   D．although

12.               A．normal         B．violent         C．obvious   D．popular

13.               A．mention        B．notice          C．laugh D．hide

14.               A．sent           B．kept           C．handed   D．passed

15.               A．heart          B．life            C．practice   D．considerate

16.               A．grow          B．matter         C．exist  D．appeal

17.               A．mistake        B．effort          C．decision   D．request

18.               A．invite          B．cause          C．allow D．Remind

19.               A．false           B．strict           C．moral D．general

20.               A．by            B．over           C．beyond   D．within

Online Communication

In an age when technology moves faster than most can keep up with, a small group of people still remain in the time of old-fashioned letter. Frankly speaking, I was once certain that traditional letters could never be replaced by other means of communication.

But a story about online communication changed my mind.

An old man, who suffered a lot from Parkinson’s disease, was not able to talk clearly and could hardly write his name. Living totally alone, he managed to keep in touch with nearly all the members of his family. How did he achieve this? He clicked out words on his computer keyboard.

I, therefore, managed to get an E-mail box as soon as the opportunity came. My life changed. E-mail, and all online communication, is something truly different. It has capabilities（能力） that few other products can match.

E-mail is convenient. It takes less time with its fast speed and 24-hour connection. The slow postal service is no match. If you wouldn’t want to have a face-to-face talk with your manager, you might talk with him through E-mail even if you are in the same office.

Naming all the good things about online communication is not easy. But wait. E-mail can be inconvenient. It can waste time and energy. Just think what may happen when you take a short vacation and return to find your e-mail box filled with 200 unread messages. You could easily spend half a day clearing junk ads.

Then, online communication will keep us staying at our computer while it connects us to distant strangers. Once we throw ourselves into the machine, we may forget the human touches we once held so dear. I’m sure there is and always will be a place for the old-fashioned letter, phone call, and face-to-face meeting… even in the world of modern communication.

As I listen to the sound of the modem(调制解调器), I was excited at stepping out to the outside world but, at the same time, I sensed a loss of control over something valuable in my personal life.

1.What is the most probable meaning of the underlined word “junk” in paragraph6?

A. old and useless   B. New and useful   C. Short but valuable     D. Long but clear

2.What does the writer think of online communication?

A. It should replace old-fashioned letters completely.

B. It is perfect and always does good to you.

C. It is extremely useful and convenient, but it may be inconvenient or even harmful.

D. It does more harm than good.

3.What caused the writer to become interested in E-mail and online communication?

A. The sound of the modem.           B. His own illness.

C. The changing of his life.            D. A sick old man’s experience.

4.According to the writer, traditional means of communication will never disappear because ________.

A. they are convenient and popular though they are slow

B. they help to keep the friendly relationship between people

C. most people cannot keep up with the development of technology

D. modern means of communication does too much harm

5.How did the sick old man keep in touch with his family members?

A. With the help of his computer.        B. By writing letters with his pen.

C. By making telephone calls.          D. By visiting them regularly.

About 97% of the world’s water is salty and is found in our oceans and seas. But, as we can’t drink sea water, how can it be important?

Every part of our seas and oceans contains an amazing number of animals and fish that live at different ocean depths. Most of the different species of animals and fish depend on simple plants for their food. These simple plants called algae (海藻) drift near the surface of the ocean and use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into food and oxygen. In fact, algae produce over half of the oxygen people breathe. How important sea water is!

Each plant or animal in our seas and oceans is an important link in a food chain. The algae are eaten in large amounts by microscopic animals, which are in turn consumed by larger animals. These food chains are delicately balanced.

The bad news about the food chains in the oceans is that they are under threat because of man. People once thought that the oceans were so big that it didn’t matter if we dumped rubbish into them or caught huge quantities of fish and whales for food. But we now know this is not true and fish stocks in the oceans have started to drop.

Thankfully, the world is taking steps to protect the future of our oceans by introducing international agreements to protect marine habitats. Most countries have introduced fishing restrictions to protect fish stocks in the oceans and new techniques are being pioneered to cope with pollution. Finally, the importance of protecting oceans is being made known to more people. This is just the beginning of a long process to protect the oceans for our future. We depend on the oceans for fish which are an important part of the human diet. How important sea water is! 

46. Which of the following is the proper order of the food chain?

A. small animals→algae→microscopic animals→large animals→man

B. algae→microscopic animals→large animals→larger animals→man

C. small animals→algae→large animals→microscopic animals→man

D. microscopic animals→algae→large animals →larger animals→man

47. People used to think that the rubbish thrown into the sea ________.

A. wouldn’t harm the fish in the sea   B. would change the balance of the food chain

C. would be broken down in the sea   D. wouldn’t do much harm to the sea

48. From the passage, we learn that _________. 

A. most fish and sea animals live at the surface of the seas

B. it is very difficult to break the balance of a food chain

C. excessive fishing has caused the decrease in fish stock

D. it won’t be long before the problems concerning oceans will be solved

49. Which of the following is NOT a way being used to protect oceans?

A. The use of international agreements.   

B. Forbidding fishing to protect fish stocks.

C. The use of new techniques.          

D. Raising people’s awareness of the need to protect oceans.

50. What would be the best title of the passage?

A. The importance of seawater.

B. Life in the oceans.

C. How to protect food chains.

D. How to deal with seawater pollution.

My l4-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat which was hanging at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass. While the other coats drooped(低垂), this one looked as if it were   36  itself up. The coat had beautiful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and a(an)   37  price of $28, which was popular just then with   38 , but could cost several hundred dollars new. This coat was even better, bearing that   39  of classic elegance（优雅）. John tried it on and the fit was perfect.

John   40  the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said,   41  folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a   42  came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and reasoned discussion replaced fierce   43 . He became more mannerly and   44 , eager to please. He would generously loan his younger brother his tapes and lecture him   45  his behavior.

When I mentioned this incident to his teacher and   46  what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It   47  be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good   48  not only because he had earned   49  but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran into a friend “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly,   50  John’s new height, assessing the cut of his coat and extending his hand, one gentleman to another.

John and I both know we should never   51  a person’s clothes for the real person within them.   52  there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for   53  what is on the inside to what is on the outside.

For John it is a time when it is as easy to try on different approaches to   54  as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape   55  all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.

1.                A．turning         B．showing         C．holding   D．hanging

2.                A．unreasonable    B．expected        C．acceptable    D．unbelievable

3.                A．adults          B．teenagers       C．women   D．strangers

4.                A．color          B．style           C．price D．size

5.                A．wore          B．carried         C．lent  D．sent

6.                A．carefully        B．comfortably     C．casually   D．quickly

7.                A．happiness       B．matter          C．smile D．change

8.                A．doubt          B．argument       C．fight D．war

9.                A．thoughtful      B．handsome       C．hopeful   D．curious

10.               A．of             B．with           C．on   D．at

11.               A．discovered      B．confirmed      C．concluded D．wondered

12.               A．can            B．should         C．will   D．must

13.               A．present        B．mark           C．word D．result

14.               A．it             B．them          C．this   D．one

15.               A．taking up       B．looking down to  C．checking up    D．looking up at

16.               A．trust           B．exchange       C．mistake   D．regard

17.               A．Though         B．But            C．Since D．So

18.               A．matching       B．attaching       C．relating   D．connecting

19.               A．career         B．life            C．study D．success

20.               A．how           B．why           C．where D．when

This is the letter that Mr. White wrote before his death about his three books for children:
Dear Reader:
I receive many letters from children and can't answer them all -- there wouldn't be time enough in a day. That is why I am sending you this printed reply to your letter. I'll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.
Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte's Web? Well, many years ago I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started.
As for Charlotte's Web, I like animals and my barn（谷仓） is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours. One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save a pig's life. I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation（拯救） on a farm. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)
Sometimes I'm asked how old I was when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early -- as soon as I could spell. In fact, I can't remember any time in my life when I wasn't busy writing. I don't know what caused me to do it, or why I enjoyed it, but I think children often find pleasure and satisfaction is trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was no good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing can be a way of earning a living.
Some of my readers want me to visit their school. Some want me to send a picture, or an autograph, or a book. And some ask questions about my family and my animals and my pets. Much as I'd like to, I can't go visiting. I can't send books, either -- you can find them in a bookstore or a library. Many children assume that a writer owns (or even makes) his own books. This is not true -- books are made by the publisher. If a writer wants a copy, he must buy it. That's why I can't send books. And I do not send autographs（亲笔签名，手稿） -- I leave that to the movie stars. I live most of the year in the country, in New England. From our windows we can look out at the sea and the mountains. I live near my married son and three grandchildren.
Are my stories true, you ask? No, they are imaginary tales, containing fantastic characters and events. In real life, a family doesn't have a child who looks like a mouse; in real life, a spider doesn't spin words in her web. In real life, a swan doesn't blow a trumpet（喇叭，小号） . But real life is only one kind of life -- there is also the life of the imagination. And although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too -- truth about the way people and animals feel and think and act.
Yours sincerely,
E.B. White
【小题1】What does the author do?