Write a winning story!

       You could win ￡1,000 in this year’s Fiction Prize and have your story printed in Keep Writing magazine. Ten other lucky people will win a cheque for ￡100.

       Once again, we need people who can write good stories. The judges, who include Mary Littlejohn, the novelist, Michael Brown, the television reporter, and Susan Hitchins, the editor of Keep Writing, are looking for interesting and original stories. Detective fiction was extremely popular last year, although the competition winner produced a love story. You can write down about whatever you want but here’s some advice to start your thinking:

       Write about what you know

       This is the advice which every writer should pay attention to and, last year, nearly everyone who wrote for us did exactly that. Love, family, problems with friends ---- these were the main subjects of the stories. However, you need to turn ordinary situations into something interesting that people will want to read about. Make the reader want to continue reading by writing about ordinary things in a new and surprising way.

       Get your facts right

       It’s no good giving a description of a town or explaining how a jet engine works if you get it wrong. So avoid writing anything unless you’re certain about it.

       Hold the reader’s attention

       Make the beginning interesting and the ending a surprise. There is nothing worse than a poor ending. Develop the story carefully and try to think of something unusual happening at the end.

       Think about the characters

       Try to bring the people in your story alive for the reader by using well-chosen words to make them seem real.

       Your story must be your own work, between 2,000 and 2,5000 words and typed, double-spaced, on one side only of each sheet of paper.

       Even if you’re in danger of missing the closing date, we are unable to accept stories by fax or email. You must include the application form with your story. Unfortunately your story cannot be returned, nor can we discuss our decisions.

       You should not have had any fiction printed in any magazine or book in this country ---- a change in the rules by popular request ---- and the story must not have happened in print or in recorded form, for example on radio or TV, anywhere in the world.

       Your fee of ￡5 will go to the Writers’ Association. Make your cheque payable to Keep Writing and send it with the application form and your story to:

       Keep Writing

       75 Broad Street Birmingham

       B12 4TG

       The closing date is 30 July and we will inform the winner within one month of this date. Please note that if you win, you must agree to have your story printed in our magazine.

1.How should writers deal with ordinary situations while writing?

A. They should make them appealing to readers.  

B. They should copy others’ ideas.

C. They should change some facts to make them interesting. 

D. They should describe them as they are.

2.What shouldn’t a writer do?

 A. Making the contents interesting. 

B. Getting the facts right.

C. Meeting the deadline. 

D. Making the end ordinary.

3.Writers should present their works in the following ways except that ____________.

A. they should write originally

B. they can type their stories as they like

C. they should follow some rules

D. they should hand in their stories in time

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

A. Late stories can be faxed if necessary.                            

B. Entry needs no fee.

C. Winners can have their stories printed in other magazines.  

D. All stories should be presented by mail

London, Reuters--What could annoy teenagers enough to make them stop hanging out with friends and go home？
No, it's not a visit from their mothers, and not a threat to take away their cellphones or pocket money.
It's high-frequency noise. The UK police recently agreed to use a device (装置) called the Sonic Teenager Deterrent. It sends out a sound that makes teenagers become so impatient and angry that they have to cover their ears tightly and walk away.
The sound is at extreme high-pitch that can be heard by those under 20. The body's natural ability to detect some wave bands decreases almost entirely after 20, so few adults can hear the sounds. The black-box device, nicknamed the Mosquito because of its sound, can be fixed to the outside walls of shops, offices and homes. It sounds to youngsters like a crazy insect or a badly played violin. But it causes no physical damage.
A number of police forces and councils have given permission to use the system and want to install (安装) it at trouble spots.
Staffordshire Police Inspector Amanda Davies, who has given the device to shopkeepers in the Moorlands area, said," It is controlled by the shopkeepers--if they can see through their window that there is a problem, they turn the device on for a while until the group has run away."
【小题1】The device can be used to _______.

第二节语法填空(共10小题；每小题1．5分，满分15分)

阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填人一个适当的

词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卡标号为3l-40的相应位置上。

During My school years I was always struggling to learn English because my parents at the time did not approve of us    31    (speak) English while we were at home. I found out that was causing me problems at school. When writing a paper or essay    32    ideas were not clear. I would confuse words. I was reading poorly. I then started to read a lot of comics, books and   33   (watch) more TV. Talking to my friends in English more often helped. Participating in school events as much as possible was a big plus.

Several years later and now, knowing the English language I felt I could do something to help my parents. I was able to help my parents become US    34     (city). When my parents came to    35    country like other immigrants    36   were afraid that sooner or later they     _  37    (force) to leave for Mexico. I took it upon myself to inform my parents that    38  _   was important for us to take care of this problem. I learned everything I could     39   what we had to do to become permanent Residents. Once we became Residents we decided that we would become US Citizens as well. My taking the time to read and learn about becoming a US Citizen proved there was   40   I could not do.

My parents have certainly had their troubles, and as their child I’ll never know how they made it to 38 years of marriage. They loved each other, but they didn’t seem to like each other very much. Dad was too fond of his beer, and he talked down to Mom a lot. When she tried to stand up to him, a fight would unavoidably follow.

   It was my dad’s disease that began to change things. The year 1998 was the beginning of a remarkable transformation for my family. My father, Jim Dineen, the always healthy, weightlifting, never-missed-a-day-of-work kind of dad, discovered he had kidney (肾)disease.

   The decision to go ahead with a transplant for my father was a long and tough one, mostly because he had liver damage too. One physician’s assistant told him, “According to your file, you’re supposed to be dead.” And for a while, doctors mistakenly thought that he would need not just a kidney transplant, but a liver transplant too. Dad’s future hung in midpoint.

   When the donor testing process finally began in the spring of 2003, numerous people, including me, my uncle Tom, and my mom, came back as matches of varying degree. But Mom was the one who insisted on going further. She decided to donate a kidney to my father. She said she was not scared, and it was the right thing to do. We all stepped back in amazement.

   At last a date was chosen – November 11, 2003. All of a sudden, the only thing that seemed to matter Dad was telling the world what a wonderful thing Mom was doing for him. A month before the surgery, he sent her birthday flowers with a note that read, “I love you and I love your kidney! Thank you!”

   Financially, the disease was upsetting to them. So my sister and I were humbled and surprised when, shortly before his surgery day, Dad handed us a diamond jewelry that we were to give to Mom after the operation. He’d accumulated his spare dollars to buy it.

   At the hospital on the day of the transplant, all our relatives and friends gathered in the waiting room and became involved in a mean euchre (尤克牌游戏) tournament. My family has always handled things with a lot of laughter, and even though we were all tense, everybody was taking bets on how long this “change of conduct” would last in my parents.

   We would inform Dad that if he chose to act like a real pain on any particular day after the operation, he wasn’t allowed to blame it on PMS just because he’d now have a female kidney.

   The surgeries went well, and not long afterward, my sister and I were allowed to go in to visit. Dad was in a great deal of pain but again, all he could talk about was Mom. Was she okay? How was she feeling? Then the nurses let us do something unconventional. As they were wheeling Mom out of recovery room, they rolled her into a separate position to visit Dad. It was strange to see both my parents hooked up to IVs and machines and trying to talk to each other through tears. The nurses allowed us to present the diamond jewelry to Mom so that Dad could watch her open it. Everyone was crying, even the nurses.

  As I stood with digital camera in hand, I tried to keep the presence of mind to document the moment. My dad was having a hard time fighting back emotion, and suddenly my parents unexpectedly reached out to hold each other’s hands.

  In my nearly 35 years of existence, I’d never seen my parents do that, and I was spellbound. I snapped a picture and later rushed home to make sure I’d captured that enormous, life-defining moment. After so many years of disagreement, it was apparent to me that they finally understood how much each loved the other. 65—70

1.From the first paragraph we can learn that ____________.

A. Dad was fond of drinking                        B. My parents got along well

C. Dad often beat Mom                           D. Mom never obeyed Dad

2.The underlined part “Dad’s future hung in midpoint” in Para.3 suggests that ____________.

A. Dad was bound to die

B. Dad came to a serious moment in his life

C. Dad’s future was decided by doctors

D. Dad faced a tough decision in his life

3.Before the surgery, which of the following words can best describe the feeling of the families?

A. Worried and negative.                     B. Anxious and helpless.

C. Nervous but optimistic.                    D. Relaxed and positive.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according the passage?

A. Dad bought a diamond jewelry to Mom for their wedding anniversary.

B. Dad asked the nurse to visit Mom soon after the operation.

C. Despite a lot of pain, Dad was eager to know Mom’s condition soon after the operation.

D. On the day of the transplant, the families involved in a euchre tournament to relax themselves.

5.What’s in the writer’s photo?

A. Everyone was crying, even the nurses.

B. His parents were trying to talk to each other.

C. Dad watched Mom opening the gift.     

D. His parents were holding each other’s hands.

6.What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Dad’s disease      B. Mom’s decision       C. The Gift of Life       D. The photo of hands

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Why did I come today? I wondered. My feet ached almost as much as my head. My Christmas    36   contained several people that claimed they needed nothing but I knew their feelings would be hurt  37 I bought them something, so gift buying was   38  but fun.

Hurriedly, I finished shopping and   39  the long checkout lines. In front of me were a boy of about five and a younger girl. She carried a beautiful pair of    40  slippers. When we finally   41   the checkout register, the girl   42  placed the shoes on the counter. She treated them as though they were a    43  .

“That will be $ 6.09,” the cashier said. The boy    44  his pockets. He finally came up with $ 3.12. “I guess we will have to put them back,” he bravely said. “We will come back some other time, maybe tomorrow.” With that statement, a soft  45  broke from the little girl. “But    46   would have loved these shoes,” she cried.

 “Well, we’ll go home and work some more. Don’t cry. We’ll surely   47  ,” he said. Quickly I handed $ 3.00 to the cashier. These children had waited in line for a long time. And,   48   , it was Christmas. Suddenly a pair of arms came around me and a small voice   49    said, “Thank you, lady.” “What did you  50  when you said Jesus would like the shoes?” I asked. The boy answered, “Our mommy is sick and going to   51  . Daddy said she might go before Christmas to be with Jesus.” The girl spoke, “My Sunday school teacher said the streets in heaven are shiny gold, just like these shoes. Won’t mommy be 52   walking on those streets in these shoes?”

My eyes  53  as I looked into her tear-stained face. “Yes,” I answered, “I am  54   she will.” Silently I thanked God for using these children to   55  me of the true spirit of giving I once was familiar with.

1.A. plan                              B. list                                    C. goods                              D. purchases

2.A. unless                          B. because                         C. if                                      D. since

3.A. something                  B. nothing                           C. anything                         D. everything

4.A. waited                         B. joined                              C. attended                        D. gathered

5.A. cotton                          B. leather                            C. gold                                  D. silver

6.A. approached                B. got                                   C. checked                          D. found

7.A. immediately     B. hesitantly                      C. shyly                                D. carefully

8.A. gift                                B. treasure                         C. life                                    D. prize

9.A. opened                        B. touched                          C. reached                          D. searched

10.A. tear                      B. sob                                   C. smile                                D. sigh

11.A. mommy                    B. daddy                              C. we                                    D. Jesus

12.A. leave                          B. come                              C. return                              D. arrive

13.A. above all                   B. at last                              C. at least                            D. after all

14.A. gratefully                  B. sweetly                           C. gracefully                       D. kindly

15.A. request                     B. expect                             C. mean                              D. attempt

16.A. hospital                     B. tomb                                C. heaven                            D. sky

17.A. equal                B. comfortable                   C. convenient                     D. beautiful

18.A. pained              B. wetted                            C. shut                                 D. froze

19.A. sure                           B. afraid                               C. glad                                  D. confident

20.A. inform                       B. warn                                C. cure                                 D. remind