I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?” He looked perturbed (不安).“Do you want to try it first?" he said. It didn't quite sound like a question. "Do I need to?" I replied. "There's nothing wrong with it?" This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. "No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly." Compare it with the others. "

     I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.

     But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers... and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.

      Why do we think that new options (选择) still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.

1. The shop assistant insisted that the writer should __ .

     A. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it

     B. compare the camera he had chosen with the others

     C. get more information about different companies

     D. trust him and stop asking questions

2. What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"  (Paragraph 2) ?

     A. He should get a 50% discount.

     B. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.

     C. The quality of the camera was not good.

     D. The camera would soon fall in value.

3. The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he __ .

     A. knew very little about it

     B. didn't trust the shop assistant

     C. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best

     D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers

4. It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer's opinion, __

     A. people waste too much money on cameras

     B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life

     C. we don't actually need so many choices when buying a product

     D. famous companies care more about profit than quality

At the onset of a northern winter, many dream of warmer climates.In 1934 the Canadian-born composer Colin Mcphee did more than dream. He set out for the island of Bali.
In his book A House in Bali,Colin Mcphee described how he first gained insight into the essence of Balinese music.For about a month he had been working on transcribing a complete score to a Balinese play he had seen. It seemed impossible that so much beauty could be achieved with a scale(音阶)of only five tones.
But the distinctive embellishments(修饰音)of the music eluded him.Fortunately a young household helper and his friend decided to assist. One morning they set two objects next to Mcphee’s piano.They were gangas--metal keyed instruments.The two boys played them in what struck Mcphee as”a fast duet(二重奏） in Morse code”.
At last the composer had found the key to Balinese music.“Wait!” Mcphee would call out from the piano as the boys flew along,“Stop!Please!That bit once more!”
Patiently the boys would stop and began again.But soon they were flying again,faster than ever, amazing Mcphee with their memory and precision. Sometimes the patterns repeated.Sometimes they opened up into something new. Then, suddenly the whole duet would fly apart and the boys would burst out laughing,breaking the spell.
Although Colin Mcphee left the island in 1939,he remained spellbound by Balinese music.And its rich,distinctive sound would colour many of the compositions he would write for the next quarter century.
【小题1】From the passage we can learn that_______________________.

完形填空（每小题1.5分，共30分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36-55各小题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

I found out that doing a favor for someone could get you into a lot of  36 . I was in the eighth grade at the time, and we were having a final  37 . During the test, the girl  38  next to me whispered something, but I didn’t understand. So I leaned over her way and found out that she was trying to ask me  39 . I had an extra pen. She showed me that  40  was out of ink and would not write. I happened to have an extra one, so I took it out of my pocket and put it on her desk.

Later, after the test papers had been  41 , the teacher asked me to  42  in the room when all the other  students were  43 . As soon as we were alone, she began to talk to me about   44 it meant to grow up; she mentioned how important it was to stand  45  your own two feet and be responsible for your own acts. For a long time, she talked about honesty and emphasized（强调）the fact  46 people do something dishonest, they are really  47 themselves. She made me promise that I would think  48 about all the things she had said, and then she told me I could  49 , I walked out of the room wondering  50 she had chosen to talk to me about all those things.

Later on, I found out that she thought I had cheated in the test. When she saw me lean over to talk to the girl next to me, it looked  51 I was copying answers 52 the girl’s test paper. I tried to explain about the pen, but all she could say was that it seemed very strange to her that I hadn’t  53 anything about the pen the day she talked to me right after the test.

  54 I tried to explain that I was just doing the girl a favor  55  letting her use my pen, I am sure she continued to believe that I had cheated in the test.

完形填空(共20小題；每小題I. 5分，满分30分)

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填入空内处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

When Dunstan Cass left the cottage, Silas Marner was only a hundred meters away. He was walking home from the village, where he had   21 to buy what he needed  22   his next day's work. His legs were tired, but he felt almost happy. He was looking forward to  23  ,when he would bring out his gold. Tonight he had an extra reason to hurry home. He was going to eat hot meat, which was  24   for him. And it would 25  him nothing, because someone had given him a piece of meat as a present. He left it  26  over the fire. The door key was needed to hold it safe in place, but Cass was not at all   27  about leaving his gold in the cottage with the door  28  . He could not imagine that a thief would  29   his way through the mist, rain and darkness to the little cottage by the quarry (釆石场).

When he reached his cottage and opened the door, he did not notice   30   anything was different. He  31    his wet coat, and pushed the meat  32   the fire.  33   he was warm again, he began to think about his gold. It seemed a long time to wait until after super, when he usually brought out coins to look at.  34    he decided to bring out his gold immediately, while the meat was still cooking.

But when he  35  the floorboards near the loom (织布机)，and saw the 36   hole ,he did not understand  37  . His heart beat violently as his trembling hands felt all round the hole. There was  38   ！ He put his hands to his head and tried to think. Had he put his gold in a different place, and forgotten about it? He 39   every corner of this small cottage, until he could not pretend to himself any more. He had to accept the truth 一 his gold had been   40  ！

5.A. pay       B.spend    C take       D. cost

When my grandmother was raising me in Stamps，Arkansas，she had a particular routine when people who were known to be whiners entered her store.My grandmother would ask the customer，“How are you doing today，Thomas？”

The person would reply，“Not so good today, Henderson.You see，it's this summer heat.I just hate it.It just makes me tired.It's almost killing me.”Then my grandmother would stand calmly，her arms folded，and say，“Uh－huh，uh huh.”

As soon as the complainer was out of the store，my grandmother would call me to stand in front of her.Then she would say the same thing she had said at least a thousand times，it seemed to me.“Jane，did you hear what so－and－so complained about？”And I would nod.Grandmother would continue，“Jane，there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night，poor and rich and black and white，but they will never wake again.Those dead people would give anything，anything at all for just five minutes of this weather that person was complaining about.So you watch yourself about complaining，Jane.What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it.If you can't change it，change the way you think about it.Don't complain.”

I have learned a lot from my grandmother.Her opinions always hit the nail on the head.Whining is not only impolite，but can be dangerous.

6. The underlined word “whiners” in Paragraph 1 refers to those people who ________.

A. complain often         B. enter a store regularly

C. are afraid of hot weather  D. think little of themselves

7. From what the author's grandmother said we can infer  that________.

A. she tried to comfort the whiners

B. she was impolite to the whiners

C. she was against whining

D. she shared the whiners' opinions

8. The author's grandmother told her to________.

A. be sympathetic to the dead

B. treasure every moment of her life

C. keep away from the whiners

D. get used to things she disliked

9. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Grandmother once owned a store in Stamps，Arkansas.

B. The author was told different things after different whiners left Grandmother's store.

C. The author was told that she could change her way of thinking about things.

D. Grandmother's opinion that people shouldn't complain was reasonable.

10. What is the purpose of the author in writing the passage?

A. To show that complaining is not only rude but harmful.

B. To tell us a story about her grandmother.

C. To show how to live one's life to the fullest.

D. To tell us people's different attitudes towards complaining.