(C)

Most American students said goodbye to expensive fruits these days. In school canteens across the country, cheaper fruits like apples and oranges heave replaced them. “People are afraid to spend now” said Linda Morrow, who owns a shoe and handbag store. “They basically don’t know what the future will bring and keep waiting till after the Presidential Election.”

The current financial crisis(金融危机)， during which several of the country’s biggest banks have been forced to sell or close, has made lots of Americans unwilling to buy expensive goods.

Samira Martino, a restaurant owner in Miami, found everyone is ordering water instead of juice and more people are sharing meals. In more than two dozen interviews with the Associated Press across the country last month, American talked about their concerns, from worries about small businesses to doubts about simply making ends meet.

The crisis began last year. Experts blame it on U.S. banks lending money too easily. A lot of people and companies, who borrowed money, have found themselves unable to pay it back. This left the banks, as well as the people who put their money in the banks, without money. Since the banks borrowed money between themselves and even across borders, the whole world’s financial markets were involved.

This month the U.S. government agreed on a $ 700 billion plan to try to save the financial market. But a turn-around(转机) is not sure. President George W. Bush has warned it will take some time for the full effects of the plan to take hold in an economy that has had a world of trouble.

Last week top finance officials from 20 major economies promised to work together to find a way out of the money trouble. They believe the current crisis is the worst since the Great Depression in 1929. And they all think international cooperation is the key to solve it.

51. From the first paragraph, we can infer that______

A. apples and oranges become more expensive

B. people are worrying about the Election

C. people are expecting a turn-around after the Election

D. expensive fruits are in short supply in American markets

52. Samira Martino’s restaurant is mentioned in the passage in order to ______

A. show that people cut down their expenses.

B. attract more people to come to his restaurant

C. show how hard he is trying to run his business

D. encourage people to start businesses like him

53. What is the cause of the current financial crisis of America?

A. The Presidential Election

B. U.S. banks lending money too easily.

C. The decreasing economy.

D. America’s rapid development.

54. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A. Many students can not eat expensive fruits in school canteens.

B. Americans are very worried about their lives.

C. The international cooperation is most needed.

D. The current financial crisis is the worst in American history.

55. This passage mainly talks about______

A. the terrible life of Americans

B. the situation of the financial crisis

C. the way to go through the crisis

D. the world financial market

Most American students have to say goodbye to fancy (高档的) fruits these days. In school restaurants across the country, cheaper fruits like apples and oranges have taken their place.
“People are afraid to spend now.” said Linda Morrow, who owns a shoe and handbag store. “They don’t know what the future will bring”. During the financial crisis (金融危机), several of the country’s biggest banks have been forced to sell or close. This has made lots of Americans afraid to buy expensive things.
The crisis began last year. Experts (专家) think it was because US banks lend money too easily. Last year a lot of people and companies, who borrowed money, found themselves unable to pay it back. This left the banks, as well as the people who put their money in the banks, without money. Since the banks borrowed money between themselves and even across borders (国界), the whole world was in trouble.
This month the US government agreed on a $700 billion plan to try to save the financial market. But no one is sure whether it will help or not. Last week presidents from 20 countries promised to work together to find a way out of the money trouble.
【小题1】This passage is probably taken from ___________.

John Smith was a writer, who wrote detective stories for magazines（杂志）, though he never dealt with criminals（罪犯）. One evening he could not finish an end for a story. He sat in his study（书房）, but he had no ideas. So he decided to go to the cinema.

When he came back, he found that he had had a visitor. Someone had broken into his house. The visitor had had a drink, smoked several of his cigarettes and had read his story. The visitor left him a note. “I have read your story and I don’t think it is very good. Please read my suggestions and you can finish it. By the way, I am a thief. I’m not going to steal anything tonight. But if you become a successful writer, I will return.”

John read the thief’s suggestions. Then he sat down and wrote the rest of the story. He is still not a successful writer, and he is waiting for his “visitor” to return. Before he goes out in the evening, he always leaves a half-finished story in his study.

1.Detective stories are stories about_____.

2.John went to the cinema because_____.

3.The visitor came to John’s house in order to_____.

4.The visitor_____.

5.John would like to_____.

Jack London had endured more hardships by the age of twenty-one than most people experience in a lifetime. His struggles developed in him sympathy for the working class and a lasting dislike of hard work and provided inspiration for his career as a writer.

London grew up in San Francisco in extreme poverty. At an early age, he left school and supported himself through a succession of un skilled jobs ----working as a paper boy, in bowling alleys, on ice wagons, and in canneries（罐头食品厂） and mills. Despite working long hours at these jobs, London was able to read constantly, borrowing travel and adventure books from the library.

The books London read inspired him to travel, and his job experiences led him to become active in fighting for the fights of workers. He sailed to Japan on a journey aiming at catching seals and joined a cross-country protest march with a group of unemployed workers. After being arrested for vagrancy near Buffalo, New York, London decided to educate himself and reshape his life. He quickly completed high school and entered the University of California.

After only one term, however, the appeal of fortune and adventure proved uncontrollable. London gave up his studies and traveled to the Alaskan Yukon in 1897 in search of gold. Jack London was among the first of these miners. He may have searched for more than gold, however. London once commented, “ True, the new region was mostly poor; but its several hundred thousand square miles of coldness at least gave breathing space to those who else would have choked at home.” Although he was unsuccessful as a miner, London’s experiences in Alaska taught him about the human desire for wealth and power and about humankind’s inability to control the forces of nature. While in Alaska, London also absorbed memories and stories that would make him known one hundred years later.

Once back in California, London became determined to earn a living as a writer. He rented a typewriter and worked up to fifteen hours a day, spinning his Alaskan adventures into short stories and novels.

According to legend, London’s piles of rejection slips from publishers grew to five feet in height!

    Even so, London preserved. In 1903, he earned national fame when he published the popular novel The Call of the Wild. He soon became the highest paid and most industrious writer in the country. During his career, he produced more than fifty books and earned more than a million dollars. Several of his novels, including The Call of the Wild(1903),the Sea-Wolf(1904),the White Fang(1906),have become American classics. In fact, he was a creative writer whose fiction explored several regions and their cultures: the Yukon, California, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands. He experimented with many literary forms, from traditional love stories and dystopias（反面乌托邦小说）to science fantasy. His noted journalism included war communication, boxing stories, and the life of Molokai lepers（麻风病患者）. He was among the most influential figures of his day, who understood how to create a public persona and use the media to market his self-created image of poor-boy-turned-success. London's great passion was agriculture, and he was well on the way of creating a new model for spreading through his Beauty Ranch when he died of kidney disease at age 40. He left over fifty books of novels, stories, journalism, and essays, many of which have been translated and continue to be read around the world. His best works describe a person’s struggle for survival against the powerful forces of nature. “To Build a Fire”, for example, tells the story of a man’s fight to survive the harsh cold of the Alaskan winter.

1._________made Jack London reconsider his life in the future.

    A. His job experience                       B. The books he read

    C. Being arrested                           D. Long-hour work

2.What is TRUE about Jack London?

    A. Jack London was poor all his life.

    B. Jack London got enough money while in the search of gold.

    C. The books Jack London read inspired him to travel and become active.

    D. The experience of gold searching made Jack London determined to write novels about Alaska adventures.

3.After the experience in Alaska, Jack London ________________.

    A. realized the nature of human beings.

    B. knew people could control the nature finally.

    C. regretted being there.

    D.thought highly of himself.

4.In paragraph 4, the sentence “True, the new region was mostly poor; but its several hundred thousand square miles of coldness at least gave breathing space to those who else would have choked at home.”  implies_______________________________.

    A. Jack London regarded Alaska a poor place as he never got any gold there.

    B. people would have been ill at home if they had never been Alaska.

    C. People searching for gold there still have chance to win.

    D. Alaska was a poor but large region.

5.Which one of following works doesn’t belong to Jack London according to the passage?

    A. love stories     B. poetry       C. journalism       D. essays

6.What can we learn from Jack London’s final success?

    A. Failure is the mother of success.

    B. Practice makes perfect.

    C. Knowledge is powerful.

    D. All of above.

One day my math teacher asked me to help him save back-up copies of his work in the computer. I then realized I was able to  36 the grades for all of his classes. I showed him how to copy files from one disk to another and he  37 me.
A few days later be asked me to help him again, because he   38 how to do it. when I began to show this to him, some students in my class   39 and began to talk among themselves   40 . Later that day, at lunch time, I was   41 by several of them.
“Hey, could you help us change our grades in math? We’ll  42 you…”
I could not believe what I was hearing．I could get paid for something very   43 ．" All right．I'll do it．" The next day my math teacher   44 me to help him out．When he was not paying attention, I began to change their grades from F's to A's．
I soon became very   45  among my friends．They began to treat me like a god with a magical  46 ．I began to change the grades of students．Word   47  quickly and I became very rich．
Everything was going fine   48  I was called into the headmaster's office．When I got there, my teacher was mad, and the headmaster had an angry   49  in his eyes．  "I have known you for three years now．I don't want to  50  what your teacher said, but I'm afraid that I must．He has too much  51  , " he said．" Do you have anything to say   52  yourself?" he asked．
"No．" I said finally．I did not realize how serious my actions had been．I had violated the     53 of my teacher, and the headmaster．And there was no way   54 ．I was forced to leave my school．
That was a good   55 for me．