—Your neighbours may ____ you of playing the piano at midnight.

—I know. They never say anything favorable to me.

The United States became a rich industrial nation toward the end of 1800s. There were more goods, more services, more jobs, and a higher standard of living. There was more of everything, including problems. One problem was monopoly, that is, to be the only seller of a certain line of products or a service. In some cases, several companies that manufactured the same product would agree not to compete with one another. They would all agree to charge the same price. These arrangements made it impossible for customers to shop around for lower prices for certain products.

Some people decided that huge corporations had too much power and controlled too many markets. Because of their wealth and power, they could see to it that governments passed laws favorable to them. Many people believed that monopoly and price fixing were bad for customers and bad for the country so that they should be broken up.

Finally the national government and some states passed laws that placed limits on corporations and big companies. These laws made it illegal for companies to make agreements to charge only a certain price. Later on the national government forced monopoly to be broken up.

Such laws and government action didn’t entirely do away with monopolies. Nor did they stop the growth of huge corporations. But they did show that American people had decided that some of the changes that had occurred were harmful. (from www.nmet168.com)

1. The underlined word “monopoly” in the first paragraph most probably means ________.

A. the production of certain kinds of goods  B. complete control and possession of trade

C. a big corporation of company             D. an agreement on prices

2. Because of the agreements between big companies ________.

A. people had to buy things at certain shops  B. the prices of their goods were much lower

C. customers had no choice but to buy      D. there were fewer markets in some states

3. According to the laws, companies ________.

A. were not allowed to control the markets

B. could not force the customers to buy their products

C. should have fixed prices for their products

D. must produce the same kind of goods for the same markets

4. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?

A. Big companies could not influence the government.

B. A large number of markets were controlled by big companies.

C. Many Americans were worried about the changes in their country.

D. Some of the laws were in favor of customers.

When Andrea Peterson landed her first teaching job, she faced the daunting task of creating a music program with almost no money for equipment or supplies in a climate where standards-based learning was the focus and music just provided a break for students and teachers.

For her drive and creativity in overcoming those challenges, she’s been named national teacher of  the year.

Principal Waynes Kettler said he’s worked with many outstanding teachers in his 22 years as an educator, but Peterson is “just that one step above anybody I’ve ever worked with before.”

Kettler and others at Monte Cristo Elementary School talk about the ways she has introduced the learning from other classrooms into her music program and her creativity in working around things such as the lack of money for new music.

When students were reading S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders in their regular classroom, Peterson helped them write a 30-minute play with scenes from the book. Then they chose three Broadway tunes that focused no race, equality and social justice, the themes of the book. Peterson composed two other songs herself after classroom discussions about the play and the book.

The honor means a lot to residents of Granite Foils. It’s inspiring to know that people from small towns own even win national honors.

As national teacher of the year, Peterson will spend the more year outside the classroom, as a national and international spokeswoman for education.

Not surpassingly. She is a big believe in the white of acts education. She said it’s essential for schools to offer classes such as act or music and physical education because for some kids one of those subjects is the only thing that motivates them to come back to school day after day.

65．The underlined word “daunting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means __________.

A．discouraging   B．interesting   C．creative    D．unbearable

66．When Peterson began her teaching career, ____________.

A．music was a focus of learning in most schools

B．theenvironment was favorable to music teaching

C．the school backed teaching facilities for music

D．immemorial support for music programs was unavailable

67．What is the most important reason that Peterson won the award?

A．She concerned herself with current social problems.

B．She motivated students to learn music with her creativity.

C．She has aught music at the elementary school for 22 years.

D．She make great efforts to amuse students’ interest in literature.

68．Which of the following is an example of Peterson’s way of teaching music?

A．She wrote plays on themes of race, equality and social justice.

B．She made use of the contents of other classes in her teaching.

C．She organized classroom discussions of Broadway tunes.

D．She helped students compose songs by themselves.

69．In Peterson’s opinion, ____________.

A．art music and PE classes are all important

B．more subjects should be offered to students

C．students should be nativated to attend art classes

D．arts education is more important than other subjects

70．It can be inferred from the text that ________.

A．Peterson’s honor was a surprise for the local people

B．Peterson’s art classes attracted students back to school

C．Peterson aroused the local residents’ passion for music

D．Peterson will change her profession next year

    —Your neighbours may ____ you of playing the piano at midnight.
—I know. They never say anything favorable to me.

第二节 读写任务(共1小题，满分25分)

阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

Some people think studying under pressure keeps us motivated. Maybe a little pressure does good to us, but too much pressure is not favorable to students. Scientific studies show people studying under too much pressure generally don’t perform as well as they do when they are not under extreme pressure. Psychologically, too much pressure can lead to mental problems or disorders. In recent years, there has been an increase in stress related diseases among college and high-school students. A newspaper article says many students admit that they have cheated in exams because of excessive pressure coming from their parents and teachers who demand high marks in their examination.

著名英国心理学专家最近应邀赴你校做中学生心理健康辅导，你准备参加一个讨论会，你的英语老师提供以上英文材料给你们作为参考话题，你参加其中的“压力对学生有害”讨论，你准备写一份发言稿，内容要点包括：

1． 以约30个词概括短文要点：

2． 以约120个词，就“压力对学生有害”这个主题发表你的看法，至少包括以下要点：

（1）陈述你自己学习、生活的压力事例并说明其影响；

（2）对你的学习成绩好坏，你父母持什么态度；

（3）你对“压力对学生有害”的观点和看法。

1．在作文中可以使用自己亲身的经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；

2．作文中不能出现自己的真实姓名和学校名称。

3.  题目自拟。

1