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，在空格处填入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31～40的相应位置上。

    Chinese proverbs are rich and they are still widely used in Chinese people’s daily life.   31         these proverbs, there are often interesting stories. For example, the proverb, “plucking up a crop   32    (help) it grow”, is based on the following story.

    It is said that a short-tempered man in the Song Dynasty (960 — 1279) was very anxious to help   33         rice crop grow up quickly. He was thinking about   34          day and night. But the crop was growing much slower than he expected.

    One day, he came up with an idea   35             he would pluck up all of his crop a few inches. He did so the next day.

    He was very tired   36          doing this for a whole day,   37         he felt very happy since the crop did “grow”   38            (high).

    His son heard about this and went to see the crop. Unfortunately the leaves of the crop began to wither.

This proverb is saying we have to let things go in their   39            (nature) course. Being too anxious to help an event develop often   40             (result) in the contrary to our intention.

Maupassant（居·莫泊桑）was born in 1850 in northern France. His early life was not happy. His parents separated when he was 11. Most of his education came informally from Gustave Flaubert—his mother’s friend and his godfather, a journalist and novelist. Often Flaubert would let him take a walk and then ask him to write 100 lines about what he saw. This type of training developed in Maupassant a sense of observation, which he later put to use in his writing. Flaubert also allowed Maupassant to attend his Sunday gatherings with others in his literary circle

For a few years, Maupassant was connected with the Ministry of Public Instruction. It is interesting to note that Monsieur Loisel, a poor man character in The Necklace, worked there. He also served in the French army during the Franco-Prussian War. His favorite writing subjects were peasants, servants, in the city, and the Francd-Prussian War.

At an early age, Maupassant started writing short stories. In 1880, some of his works were published and he received a wide reputation for Boule de Suif (Ball of Tallow). With this success, he began to work full-time on writing. During the next ten years, he wrote over 300 stories, including six novels, three travel books, and a book of verse. Through them, he earn a lot of money.

His writing was classical and simple, avoiding social comments and dirty details. His works often showed a real world and an accurate knowledge of the subject. Although Maupassant wrote in many forms, he received widest recognition for his short stories. By 1890, Maupassant was suffering from the latter staged of syphilis（梅毒）. He died in 1893 in Paris.

1. Which of the following is TRUE about Gustave Flaubert?

A. He often went out for a walk with Maupassant.

B. He was a journalist and novelist working for church.

C. He had a great influence on Maupassant’s writing..

   D. He often helped Maupassant with his writing homework.

2. From text we know Monsieur Loisel is _______.

A. a man selling necklaces

B. a character in one of Maupassant’s works.

C. a short story written by Maupassant

   D. a friend of Maupassant the Ministry of Public Instruction

3. What are the characteristics of Maupassant’s stories?

A. They have few social comments.

B. They are simple and humorous.

C. They only focus on the lives of peasants.

     D. They are full of imagination.

4.What can we learn about Maupassant from the text?

A. Only in his 30s did he begin to write stories.

B. He did not received any formal education.

C. He spent his last years happily.

D. Boule de Suif was his first success.

O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank, when some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader’s surprise.

1. In which order did O. Henry do the following things?

a. Lived in New York.   b. Worked in a bank.       c. Travelled to Texas.

d. Was put in prison.    e. Had a newspaper Job.     f. Learned to write stories.

2.People enjoyed reading O. Henry’s stories because       

3.O. Henry went to prison because       .

4.What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?

5.Where did O. Henry get most material for his short stories?

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

I recently heard a story about a famous scientist who had made several very important medical breakthroughs. He was being interviewed by a reporter who asked him    36   he thought he was able to be so much more    37   than the average person.

He    38   that it all came from a(n)   39   with his mother that occurred when he was about 2. He had been trying to remove milk from the fridge when he    40   the slippery(光滑的) bottle, its contents running all over the kitchen floor.

When his mother came in,    41   shouting at him or giving him a lecture, she said, "Robert, what a great and wonderful    42   you have made! I have    43   seen such a huge pool of milk. Well, the damage has already been    44  . Would you like to get down and    45   in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?"

Indeed, he did. After a few minutes, his mother said, "Robert, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to    46   everything to its proper order. So, how would you like to do that? We could use a sponge(海绵), a towel or a mop. Which do you prefer?" He chose the sponge.

His mother then said, "You know, what we have here is a    47   experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle with two    48   hands. Let's go out in the back yard and fill the bottle with water and see if you can make it." The little boy learned that if he    49   the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it. What a wonderful    50  !

This scientist then remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn't need to be    51  to make mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just    52   for learning something new, which is,    53  , what scientific experiments are all about. Even if the experiment "doesn't   54  ," we usually learn something    55   from it.

36. A. why                          B. what                    C. when                    D. how

37. A. capable                      B. able                       C. creative                 D. original

38. A. responded                B. reacted                  C. recalled                 D. reminded

39. A. coincidence             B. experience            C. incident                       D. conflict

40. A. fell                                B. lost                          C. escaped                    D. dropped

41. A. rather than                 B. instead of                C. other than                 D. in place of

42. A. picture                      B. mass                      C. map                       D. mess

43. A. rarely                        B. happily                  C. frequently               D. angrily

44. A. obtained                    B. suffered                 C. done                       D. received

45. A. jump                         B. play                        C. enjoy                       D. draw

46. A. recover                      B. return                   C. restore                        D. regain

47. A. failed                             B. successful              C. fantastic               D. painful

48. A. strong                        B. tiny                       C. thin                       D. weak

49. A. controlled                B. possessed              C. seized                     D. grasped

50. A. example                     B. teaching                   C. lesson                      D. instruction

51. A. anxious                   B. nervous                  C. fearful                    D. afraid

52. A. situations                   B. opportunities            C. occasions                D. turns

53. A. after all                            B. above all                C. first of all                 D. in all

54. A. do                             B. finish                    C. go                        D. work

55. A. worthy                      B. costly                     C. valuable                   D. interesting

 Thomas Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Ohio, a state in the

US with a l______________ population. He didn’t have much school education

1.____________

because the m______________ of his teachers thought he was not clever enough,  

2. ____________

and his o_____________ of success is merely a dream. However, he became one    

3.____________

of the greatest ________________ (发明家) with a list of 1,093 U.S. patents. In

4. ____________

fact, there was evidence indicating that Edison was to distinguish ____________

5. ____________

later in life. The boy had a great d____________ for knowledge and was curious

6. ____________

about things. He did a lot of reading in the library while ___________ a living by

7. ____________

selling newspapers on trains. He often __________ (实验)with different things. All

8. ____________

these made him so extraordinarily ________________ (成功). Many people think   

9. ____________

that we owe our way of life _________ his ideas and efforts.           

10.____________