In March 1987, I started a new magazine called Creating Excellence. It was a very proud moment for me. I’d worked hard for over a year to create it, and the premiere issue (首次发刊) was a real success.

Shortly after we mailed 25,000 copies, I received one in the mail. But this one wasn’t as beautiful as the ones we’d sent out. It was marked in red ink correcting the grammatical errors (语法错误) in it. A talented editor had read the issue carefully and found more errors than I could have imagined.

I felt abashed. A magazine called Creating Excellence should be perfect in its content (内容). The stories were good, but the errors this woman had found showed that we were far from being excellent.

At first, I was upset with my editor for not having caught more mistakes, and also upset with the woman who seemed to have taken pleasure in pointing them out. Later, I was upset with myself for not having employed a better editor.

Then I realized that I had to face up to my mistakes. I called the woman who had shown me that we were not so excellent. I thanked her for taking the time to read our magazine so carefully. As painful as it was, I accepted responsibility for it.

Then I offered her the job of editing our publication. The result was a great improvement in it; we could now be very proud of our magazine.

From this I learnt that an upsetting moment could be an opportunity to see the truth, and accepting responsibility could help to prevent one making the same mistakes for a second time, and to make "excellence" a reality.

1.From the first paragraph we learn that _____.

A．the author put little effort into his first magazine

B．the author’s job was selling magazines

C．the author was very satisfied with his work

D．the author experienced a total failure

2.What does the underlined word "abashed" mean?

A．excited.           B．embarrassed.       C．interested.        D．exhausted.

3.What do we learn about the woman who had found the errors in the magazine?

A．She was causing trouble on purpose.

B．She liked pointing out the errors of others.

C．She contributed a lot to the success of the premiere issue.

D．She ended up joining the magazine.

4.What do we learn from this passage?

A．Pride is the biggest enemy of success.

B．Success is behind many failures.

C．Picking holes in something can help you find a job.

D．Accepting responsibility for one’s errors can lead to real excellence.

Federal regulators Wednesday approved a plan to create a nationwide emergency alert（警报）system using text messages delivered to cell phones.

Text messages have exploded in popularity in recent years，particularly among young people.The wireless industry’s trade association, CTIA，estimates（估计）more than 48 billion text messages are sent each month.

The plan comes from the Warning Alert and Response Network Act，a 2006 federal law that requires improvement to the nation's emergency alert system.The act tasked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with coming up with new ways to alert the public about emergencies.

“The ability to deliver accurate and timely warnings.and alerts through cell phones and other mobile services is an important next step in our efforts to help ensure that the American public.has the information they need to take action to protect themselves and their families before, and during,disasters and other emergencies. ”FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said following approval of the plan.

Participation in the alert system by carriers—telecommunications companies is voluntary, but it has received solid support from the wireless industry.

The program would be optional for cell phone users. They also may not be charged for receiving alerts.

There would be three different types of messages，according to the rules.  

The first would be a national alert from the president，likely involving a terrorist attack or natural disaster.The second would involve “approaching threats，”which could include natural disasters like hurricanes or storms or even university shootings. The third would be reserved for child abduction（绑架）emergencies,or so-called Amber Alerts.

The service could be in place by 2010.

1. What is the purpose of the approved plan?

2. The improvement to the present system is in the charge of ________.

3. The carriers' participation in the system is determined by ________.

4.. Which of the following is true of cell phone users?

5.. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A，Cell Phone Alerts Protecting Students

B.   Cell Phone Alerts by Wireless Industry

C. Cell Phone Alefts of National Disasters

D. Cell Phone Alerts Coming Soon

When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.
One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching  (紧握)  at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.
“ We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing,” I said.“We’ll share what we have with them.”
I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods.
While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.
“I’ll help you find something for the little girl when I’m done with this,” I said.
The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy’s flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.
“Oh, Honey,” I said.“You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.”
Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. ‘”Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she’ll make that other little girl happy, too．”
Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True generosity is giving that which you value most.
Honest benevolence  (善行)  is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl she doesn’t know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.
The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.
A slow smile spread across Brett’s face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some of his prized Matchbox cars.
Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan’s gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.
Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.
It’s easy to give that which we don’t want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart..
【小题1】Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?

Every January, Breckenridge hosts the International Show Sculpture Championships Fourteen teams travel from all over the world to Swizerland to compete. Teams sculpt for sixty-five hours over five days. Each team hopes that when the time is up, its sculpture will be judged the best.

As the championship begins, the fourteen teams are faced with huge blocks of snow that weigh twenty tons each. The sculptors bring out their favorite tools that work best on the hard iced snow, but they are not allowed to employ tools that use electricity.

Most teams are inspired by what they have seem in daily life. For example, one team carved a teapot with tea pouring out. Another team sculpted a little cat on its hind feed（后脚）reaching into a fish bowl complete with water ripples（涟漪）and a crab(螃蟹) trying to attack the cat. In 2006, Team USA sculpted a golden dog looking at its image reflected in a mirror. To create the effect that the little dog saw its reflection in the glass, the artists carved two dogs facing each other with their paw （脚爪）touching.

As the final hours of the competition tick by, exhausted team members add last-minute details. They use small brooms to brush off snow caught in tiny holes. One team member counts down the last five minutes while others are busy cleaning up the tools. If they leave any tools behind, they will be out. When the whistle blows, everyone must step away from the sculpture. The judges the vote on creativity, technical skill, and visual impact(视觉效果) of the designs.

In 2006, Team USA took firs place for their golden dog sculpture titled “Discovery”. But the competition is not just about medals and ribbon.” It’s not about the prize,” said Rob Neyland, Team USA’s captain.” It’s about touching the audience.”

Every year, as the championship ends, each team is already dreaming of the next masterpiece it will desigh.

73. What kind of tools are the sculptures Not permitted to use? (回答词数不超过6个)

   _________________________________________________________________________

74. What gives the sculptors ideas for their creative work? (回答词数不超过9个)

   __________________________________________________________________________

75. Why did Team USA win the competition in 2006? (回答词数不超过15个)

   __________________________________________________________________________

Research advances over the past decade have told us that, with a little work, we humans can clone just about anything we want, from frogs to monkeys and probably even ourselves!
So, we can clone things, but why would we want to?
Of all the reasons, cloning for medical purposes has the most potential to benefit large numbers of people. How might cloning be used in medicine?
1. Cloning animal models of disease
Much of what researchers learn about human disease comes from studying animal models such as mice. Often, animal models are genetically engineered to carry disease-causing mutations(变异) in their genes. Creating these transgenic（转基因的） animals is a time-intensive process that requires trial-and-error and several generations of breeding（培育）. Cloning technologies might reduce the time needed to make a transgenic animal model, and the result would be a population of genetically identical animals for study.
2．Cloning stem cells(干细胞) for the treatment of diseases
Stem cells are the body's building blocks, responsible for developing and repairing the body throughout life. As a result, they might be used to repair damaged or diseased organs and tissues. Researchers are currently looking up cloning as a way to create certain human stem cells for the research of diseases.
3. Cloning farm animals for drug production
Farm animals such as cows, sheep and goats are currently being genetically engineered to produce drugs or proteins that are useful in medicine. Just like creating animal models of disease, cloning might be a faster way to produce large herds of genetically engineered animals.
【小题1】From Purpose One, we can infer that      .