A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn’t touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors(公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.

But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Absolutely, no question about it.

The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response(战或逃反应), which was originally described by Walter Cannon，the chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.

The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don’t kill you suddenly.

By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.

Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged?

A. Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman.

B. Because he caused an old woman’s terror and she died.

C. Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack

D. Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank.

Which of the following about the fight-or-flight response is true?

A. The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin A. Samuels.

B. It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.

C. The ancient humans had a superior fight-or-flight response than modern ones.

D. The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.

What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?

A. Winning a big lottery.                   B. Missing a dead family.

C. Watching a horror movie.                 D. Listening to a sweet song.

The purpose of the passage is_________.

A. to explain why people will die of a heart attack

B. to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure

C. to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death

D. to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death

Once there lived a rich merchant(商人) and a poor shoemaker in the same house. The merchant occupied the second floor,   36   the shoemaker lived and worked in a small room on the first floor. The shoemaker was one of the   37   persons on earth. He worked from morning till night, singing merrily. His heart was filled with   38   , whenever he saw the boots and shoes   39  . Now the merchant upstairs was so rich that he   40    knew how much wealth(财产) he had. He was always   41    over his gold and silver coins far into the night. Even in bed his uneasiness(不安) about his riches kept him 42   . When at last he had been asleep for an hour or two, up came the song of the happy shoemaker, who was an   43   riser. It continued all day and was a(n)   44   to the merchant. Day by day the merchant grew more and more tired through want of    45  . He asked a wise friend of his how he could put an   46   to the shoemaker’s song. “Well, if I were you, I would give the shoemaker a hundred pounds,” answered his friend. “You are rich enough to do that, I suppose. Ask for nothing in   47   . Simply give the money.” The merchant    48    the advice.

When the shoemaker    49   the bag that had been sent by the merchant, he was   50    to find shining coins. “I must hide this from the eyes of my neighbors. If they see it, they will think that I have stolen it,” he thought. “I will   51   it away even from my wife.” So he hid the bag of money under the floor. From then on he    52    his neighbors as much as he could. His wife who had been the best  53    to him, became troublesome. Now his mind was too much set on the money bag to   54   to his work with diligence(勤劳). He could not sing merrily now.   55   he thought of the money bag, he became uneasy and unhappy.

36．A．for    B．therefore   C．but    D．however

37．A．poorest     B．happiest    C．richest      D．shortest

38．A．smile B．sorrow      C．sadness     D．joy

39．A．being repaired  B．repair       C．to repair   D．to be repaired

40．A．always      B．completely       C．hardly      D．entirely

41．A．hiding      B．counting   C．calculating       D．figuring

42．A．awake      B．nervous    C．frightened D．asleep

43．A．early B．happy       C．noisy D．late

44．A．threat       B．matter      C．trouble     D．alarm

45．A．sympathy  B．understanding   C．sleep D．treatment

46．A．end B．notice       C．information      D．stop

47．A．trouble     B．need  C．turn   D．return

48．A．refused     B．agreed      C．asked D．followed

49．A．stole  B．opened     C．received    D．closed/carried

50．A．excited     B．amazed     C．ashamed                 D．disappointed

51．A．throw       B．keep  C．give  D．put

52．A．avoided    B．thanked    C．helped      D．attract

53．A．companion       B．fellow      C．shoemaker       D．merchant

54．A．tend        B．turn   C．attend       D．come

55．A．Wherever B．Whatever  C．Whenever D．However

第三节：书面表达（满分27分）

下面是《21世纪报中学生班》（21st Century School Edition ）刊登的一封读者来信，请你以编辑张华的身份给这位中学生写封回信。

Dear editor,

I spend most of my time studying; I hardly talk to my classmates. Sometimes I don’t care much about others, but I do want to talk. I just don’t know what to talk about and how to begin a conversation.

I feel so lonely. How I wish I had a good friend! Could you give me some advice?

                                                        Yours,

                                                        Jin Jing

注意：

1.回信的内容要包括以下要点：

要相信自己，你最大的问题是缺乏自信；

微笑面对同学，让他们相信你是友好的；

先试着与一个和你同样害羞的或与你有同样爱好的同学交谈，可以问一些学习上的问题，谈谈共同的爱好；

帮助学习和生活上有困难的同学。

2． 信的开头已写好，不计入总词数；

3． 词数：不少于100词（不含已写好的部分）。

参考词汇：自信self-confidence  n.

缺乏lack vt.

Dear Jin Jing,

Your problem is a common one among middle school students. Maybe the following advice can help you. _________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

                                                     Zhang Hua

卷II （非选择题  满分30分）

五、单词拼写（共10小题；每小题0.5分，满分5分）

根据下列句子及所给单词的首字母或中文，写出各单词的正确形式（每空限填一词）。

69. Langlang, a famous pianist, has a great t__________ for music.

70. Jack always o           the school rules and never breaks them.

71. After g           from high school, he will go abroad for further study.

72. It was so n__________ in the hall that he couldn’t make himself heard clearly.

73. Although it was hot, he still wore a dark business s__________ to attend the wedding.

74. The mother was trying to           （安慰）the tearful little girl.

75. His extreme __________（渴望）for success led him to his final failure.

76. It took a while for his eyes to __________（调节） to the total darkness.

77. People in big cities have taken action to fight against different kinds of __________（污染）.

78. He doesn’t seem to be __________（有意识的）of the coldness of their attitude to his advice.

I am a journalist in America.When reporting a story，I sometimes need to find a ____ kind of person—someone who has recently switched banks，or who is ____ cancer，or who owns both a Chevy pickup and Toyota sedan.

At such moments，I ____ my brother Keith，a telecommunication worker in eastern Kansas.Usually he says，“I know just the guy.”

His contacts are so diverse in large part ____ he is offline.At age 52，he’s ____ sent an e?mail，surfed the Web or bought anything online.Without any mobile e?mail system to ____ his attention when he is shopping，he is ____ to make a friend or two before ____.Without Web pages to instruct him on his latest project—how to build a cow fence or how to fix a wood?burning stove—he seeks out the help of neighbours who have done it and follows their ____，and during beer?drinking time afterwards he listens carefully to their ____ of health problems，banking habits and new?car ____.

“I like talking to people，” he says.“I do not ____ nowadays people send each other e?mails instead of talking while they’re in the ___ room.”

My older brother ____ considers himself as an old?fashioned man and the Internet ____ are making him more so，too.As a(n) ____ to the Web，my brother belongs to one of the nation’s fastest?decreasing ____.

During the first half decade of the 21st century，the proportion of Internet users ____ slowly，to 59% of adult Americans from just over 50%，according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.____ in the second half of the decade，that growth skyrocketed(猛升) and now nearly 80% of adult Americans use the Internet.At that pace，the offline Americans will no longer ____ in the coming decade.

1.A.rich? B．friendly

C．brave D．particular

2.A.battling B．avoiding

C．curing? D．developing

3.A.appoint? B．call

C．miss? D．search

4.A.when? B．until

C．unless? D．because

5.A.ever? B．frequently

C．never? D．seldom

6.A.divide? B．receive

C．pay D．gain

7.A.willing? B．likely

C．anxious? D．clever

8.A.settling down? B．using up

C．setting off? D．checking out

9.A.advice? B．plan

C．example? D．gesture

10.A.lesson? B．speech

C．talk? D．lecture

11.A.displays? B．purchases

C．exchanges? D．repairs

12.A.imagine? B．predict

C．understand? D．recommend

13.A.big? B．new

C．same? D．special

14.A.sometimes? B．recently

C．once? D．always

15.A.values? B．trends

C．techniques? D．benefits

16.A.stranger B．user

C．owner? D．beginner

17.A.workers? B．races

C．minorities? D．teams

18.A.increased B．developed

C．varied? D．moved

19.A.And? B．So

C．Or? D．But

20.A.change? B．exist

C．last? D．work