I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as Mother sat doing letters(学问). Standing by her chair, looking at the ink bottle, pens, and white paper, I decided that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.

Years later, during her final illness, Mother kept different things for my sister and brother. “But the desk”, she said again, “is for Elizabeth.” I never saw her anger, never saw her cry. I knew she loved me; she showed it in action. But as a young girl, I wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter. They never happened. And a gulf opened between us. I was too emotional. But she lived “on the surface”.

As years passed, I had my own family. I loved my mother and thanked her for our happy family. I wrote to her in careful words and asked her to let me know in any way she chose that she did forgive（原谅）me. I posted the letter and waited for her answer. None came. My hope turned to disappointment, then little interest and, finally, peace-it seemed that nothing happened. I couldn’t be sure that the letter had even got to Mother. I only knew that I had written in, and I could stop trying to make her into someone she was not.

Now the present of her desk told me, as she’d never been able to, that she was pleased that writing was my chosen work. I cleaned the desk carefully and found some papers inside－a photo of my father and a one-page letter, folded and refolded many times. Give me an answer, my letter asks, in any way you chose. Mother, you always chose the act that speaks louder than words.

1.The writer began to love her mother’s desk _______.

2.The passage shows that _____.

3.The word gulf in the paragraph 2 means ______.

4.What did mother do with her daughter’s letter asking for forgiveness?

5.What’s the best title of the passage?

“You know, these cups bring to mind a tea quote(说法) I heard.” Mary’s aunt said.

She poured tea. There were four of them and there were four totally different cups on the table.

They took their tea cups.

“What quote?” Mary asked.

“Well, maybe I should rather say it is a story,” aunt said, “I heard that there was a wise teacher who took all his students for tea. They were surprised that all the cups on the table were different. Each of them took a cup and started drinking their tea, each looking at the cups of others. The teacher let them do that for a while and then said,‘ Do you notice your behavior? You are all looking at each other’s tea cup and I can see some of you with the broken ones are even envious(羡慕的) of the finer cups of others. Is this not so?’ ”

The students agreed, amused by their own behavior.

“You may have wondered why you all had different cups, but I put them here on purpose. You see they represent (代表) life itself. Life is like that tea and the cups are like the physical circumstances(状况) of your life. You all got the same thing in your cups — tea. And yet you can not truly enjoy it in your envy of another’s cup. It’s just the same with life. You forget to enjoy your own life when you concentrate on envying the circumstances of someone else’s life.

So now, close your eyes, and taste your own tea. Really taste it. And tell me — did it matter from which cup it came from?”

Aunt finished telling her short tea story and they all sat in silence for a while, tasting their tea. A sleepy fly buzzed(嗡嗡作响) past, a bird sang in the tree. And it really did not matter one bit from which tea cup they drank.

1. When the students found they had different tea cups, they_____________.

2.From the text, we know that _____________.

3. According to the passage, by comparing the cups to the physical circumstances of people’s life, the teacher meant that people_______.

4. In the passage the teacher’s message to the students was that _______.

5. What can be the best title for the passage?

阅读表达（共5小题；每小题3分，满分15分）

阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题。（请注意问题后的词数要求）

         〔1〕Too much TV-watching can harm children’s ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on children．

         〔2〕One of the studies looked at nearly 400 northern California third-graders．Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language arts tests than children without bedrooms TVs．

         〔3〕A second study, looking at nearly 1,000 grown-ups in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood．But the results don’t prove that TV is the cause and don’t rule out that already poorly motivated youngsters（年轻人）may watch lots of TV．

         〔4〕Their study measured the TV habits of 26-year-olds between ages 5 and 15．Those with college degrees had watched an average of less than two hours of TV per weeknight during childhood,___________ more than 2½ hours for those who had no education beyond high school．

         〔5〕In the California study, children with TVs in their rooms but no computer at home scored the lowest, while those with no bedroom TV but who had home computers scored the highest．

         〔6〕While this study does not prove that bedroom TV sets caused the lower scores, it adds to accumulating findings that children shouldn’t have TVs in their bedrooms．

1.What would be the best title for this text?

_______________________________________________________________________．

2.Which sentence in  the text is closest in meaning to the following one?

         Without the accurate proof , bedroom TV sets may be to blame for the reason for lower scores, besides．

__________________________________________________________________________．

3.Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words．（ no more than 8 words）

__________________________________________________________________________．

4.What information can we get from these studies?（within 15 words）

__________________________________________________________________________．

5.Translate the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 into Chinese．

__________________________________________________________________________

A company advertised in the newspaper for a sales position. Details of the requirements, salary and benefits were given. It was also clearly stated that applicants needed to take an aptitude test (能力倾向测试) and an interview. However, looking at the whole advertisement, one could not find any contact information of the company.

Most interested applicants thought that it was the company’s HR department’s carelessness or a printing error. They therefore waited patiently for the newspaper to publish an amendment(订正). But instead of waiting for the newspaper to publish the company details, another three applicants took the initiative(主动性) to find out the company’s contact information themselves.

Tim did a search on the Internet. By typing the company’s name, he easily obtained all the information including its contact number. Lisa called up the local telephone number search service and found out the company’s office number. She called up the office and got the required contact information. Donna put in a greater effort in her search. She remembered seeing a poster by the same company in the city so she drove all the way down and made a few rounds to search for it. She finally found it together with the company’s contact information.

Three days after that advertisement was published in the newspaper, most interested applicants were still waiting eagerly for an amendment. On the other hand, the application letters and resumes of Tim, Lisa and Donna had already reached the hands of the company’s HR manager. They were then called up for an interview. During the interview, all went well and immediately they were hired. The three of them were a little surprised at how fast things went on. They were expecting for an aptitude test as stated in the advertisement. The HR director answered them, smiling, “Our test is hidden in the advertisement itself. To be a good salesperson in this age, he or she has to be broad-minded and very importantly, does not follow rigid (死板的) steps or rules. You are all clever. In a short time, you’ve managed to find ways of contacting us. It shows clearly that you have passed the test with flying colors!”

The fools sit around waiting for their chances whereas the wise actively take actions with great initiative.

1.According to the passage the company wanted to test the applicants’ ______.

2. Whose search skill is the easiest of all?

3.What can we infer from the passage?

4.Which of the statements is NOT correct according to the passage?

5.The writer wants to tell us through this passage that ______.

第四节 完形填空（共20小题，每小题1分，满分20分）

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including    26  . One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would   27  , so all constructed boats and left, except Love.

    Love was the   28   one who stayed until the last possible moment. When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for   29  .

    Richness was   30   Love in a grand boat. Love said, “Richness, can you take me with you?” Richness answered, “No, I can’t. There is a lot of   31   and silver in my boat. There is no  32   here for you.” Love decided to ask Vanity who was   33   passing by in a beautiful vessel. “Vanity, please help me!” “I can’t help you, Love. You are all wet and might   34   my boat,” Vanity answered. Just then Sadness was   35  , so Love asked, “Sadness, let me go with you.” “Oh…Love, I am so   36   that I need to be by myself!” Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so   37   that she did not even   38   Love when Love called her.

   Suddenly, there was a voice, “Come, Love, I will   39   you.” It was a(n)   40  . So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder   41   they were going. When they arrived at dry   42  , the elder went her own way.

43   how much was owed the elder, Love asked Knowledge, another elder, “Who helped me?” “It was   44  ,” Knowledge answered. “Time?” asked Love. “But why did Time help me?” Knowledge   45   with deep wisdom and answered, “Because only Time is able to understand how valuable Love is!”

26. A. Vanity                   B. Richness             C. Time                    D. Love

27. A. float                   B. sink                 C. fly                        D. fall

28. A. very                   B. only                   C. likely                  D. first

29. A. advice                   B. help                C. money                D. time

30. A. passing by      B. looking at           C. facing to            D. thinking of

31. A. water                   B. food             C. gold               D. value

32. A. wealth         B. place                C. need                   D. chance

33. A. still               B. also                 C. even             D. just

34. A. dirty                  B. damage          C. turn              D. steal

35. A. far                    B. near              C. distant            D. closed

36. A. joyful                  B. surprised         C. sad                D. hurried 

37. A. happy              B. angry               C. amazed       D. proud

38. A. saw                  B. notice              C. catch                 D. hear

39. A. take                B. fetch                C. ask                  D. carry

40. A. adviser         B. elder                C. younger             D. helper

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

42. A. shore               B. grass              C. land                  D. room

43. A. Realizing            B. Believing          C. Understanding  D. Questioning

44. A. Kindness             B. Time               C. Power              D. Strength

45. A. cried                B. shouted          C. smiled               D. flushed