第二部分：阅读理解（本题有两小节，第一节共20小题，每小题2分；第二节共5小题，每小题2分；满分50分）

第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

The Pillow

         At the age of sixteen, I joined a volunteer group with my dad. I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that “our family” was living in a trailer (拖车) that was in poor condition. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.

         We decided the only reasonable solution was to build a new house—something unusual but necessary under these circumstances. The family was overjoyed with their new house that was twenty by thirty feet with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen.

         On Tuesday of that week, while we ate lunch together, I asked the family’s three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, “What do you want for your new room?” Expecting toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were astonished when Josh responded, “I just want a bed.”

         The boys had never slept in a bed! They were accustomed to plastic mats. That night we had a meeting and decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding.

         When we saw the delivery truck coming, we told the family about the surprise. We could hardly contain ourselves. It was like watching excited children on Christmas morning.

         That afternoon, as we fitted the frames of the beds together, Eric ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.

         As my father slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, “What is that?”

         “A pillow,” he replied.

         “What do you do with it?” Eric continued to ask.

“When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” I answered softly. Tears came to my eyes as my father handed Eric the pillow.

         “Oh…that’s soft,” he said, hugging it tightly.

         Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my dad gently asks, “Do you have a pillow?”

We know exactly what he means.

1. The writer’s first volunteer project was ______.

         A. working on a poor trailer   B. helping a poor family

         C. donating beds and bedding          D. dealing with a housing problem

2. On hearing Josh’s answer, the writer was shocked because ______. 

   A. the family lived in a trailer           B. he expected to get some toys

   C. he didn’t know what a bed was           D. the boys had no bed to sleep in

3. From the passage, we can learn that Eric had never seen ______ before.

         A. a trailer       B. a truck         C. a pillow       D. a house

4. By saying “Do you have a pillow?”, the writer’s father means that ______.  

         A. what they want to get may be unnecessary       B. they should not waste money on small things

         C. they should do more volunteer work for the poor     D. what he will buy is not what they want but a pillow

四、阅读理解（本题有两节，共16小题，每小题2分，共32分）
第一节：阅读下列材料并做后面的题目。从每题多给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳答案。
A
I was walking along Orchard Road when I realized a tall young man wearing a jacket and tie was following me. I noticed him because not many people wear a jacket and tie in the middle of a hot summer day, and I had already seen this man four times that afternoon.
To make sure he was following me, I walked on quickly, turned right into a shopping center and then stopped to look in a shop window. Soon the man appeared and stopped at another shop window. I walked on and stopped several times. When I stopped, he stopped too.
I began to be rather worried and decided to try to lose this strange man. When I saw a taxi coming, I jumped into it. As I was telling the taxi driver where to go, I found the man get into another taxi, which then followed mine. As the two taxies slowly made their way along Orchard Road, I looked back at the taxi behind, and saw that the stranger was looking out at me. At MRT station, I told the taxi driver to stop and I got out. As I was paying my fare, I saw the man was getting out of his taxi.
By now I got angry, so I turned and walked straight to him. I asked him why he was following me.  At first he said he was not following me at all, but when I threatened(威胁) to call the police, he admitted he was. He then told me that he was a news reporter and that he was writing an article on how elderly people in Singapore spend their time. He said he was observing me to gather materials for his article. 
46. What is strange about the man who followed the writer?
A. He seemed to be wearing too much.           B. He was out on such a hot day.
C. He walked quickly behind.                      D. He was a tall young man.
47. What did the stranger do when the writer jumped into a taxi?
A. He got into another taxi.                         B. He tried to stop the taxi.
C. He almost gave up following him.             D. He made his way along Orchard Road.
48. How did the writer have the stranger admit(承认) he was following him?
A. He threatened to take him to the police.            B. He called the police.
C. He said he would call the police.                             D. He talked to the police.
49. Why did the stranger follow the writer?
A. He was interested in elderly people.                  B. He often does such things.
C. He was writing a book about young people.          D. He needed materials for his article.

四、阅读理解（本题有两节，共16小题，每小题2分，共32分）
第一节：阅读下列材料并做后面的题目。从所给的A, B, C, D四个选项中，选出最佳答案。
A
Have you seen big dogs in stores or restaurants and wondered why they were there? Those dogs might have been guide dogs.
People who are blind sometimes use guide dogs called seeing-eyes dogs. These special dogs help people get around. They help them do everyday things. Some people who have hearing problems have hearing-ear dogs. These dogs tell their owners when an alarm clock goes off or when the doorbell rings.
Guide dogs learn to wear something on their backs called a harness. Their owner holds onto it. The dogs learn what words such as “left” and “right” mean. They learn to never take their owner into traffic.
Each guide dog trains for months. Then, it spends one month working with its future owner. At that time ,the owner and dog get to know one another and train together!
Because guide dogs are trained, they are welcome almost anywhere. So, the next time you are out, don’t be surprised if you see a dog. It might just be a guide dog!
46. ______ use guide dogs.
A. People who want dogs to play with     B. Babies
C. Anyone wants to                                D. People who cannot hear or cannot see
47. How long do guide dogs train?______
A. days           B. weeks                    C. months                     D. They don’t train
48. Guide dogs train with their owner for ______.
A. two days        B. one week               C. one month                D. one year
49. Guide dogs can go _______.
A. almost anywhere  B. only stores     C. anywhere but restaurants   D. only outside places

第二部分：阅读理解（本题有两小节，第一节共20小题；每小题2分，第二节共5小题；每小题1分；满分45分）

第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出一个最佳选项

    I must have been about fourteen then, and I put away the incident from my mind with the easy carelessness of youth. But the words, Carl Walter spoke that day, came back to me years later, and ever since have been of great value to me.

    Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.

     "Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?"

     "I try to.”

     "Well, don't,” he exclaimed. “When you grow up, time won't come in long stretches.    Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life."

When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but class periods, theme-reading, and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment, at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript ready for revision, later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were idle moments which could be caught and put to use. I even took up piano--playing again, finding that the small intervals of the day provided sufficient time for both writing and piano practice.

    There is an important trick in this time--using formula: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing, you can't afford to waste four chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.

      I admit I have never learnt how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a tremendous influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I plunge in without delay.

41. What is the best title of this passage?

 A. Concentrate on Your Work                       B. A Little at a Time

C. How I Became a Writer                       D. Good Advice

42. Which of the following statements is true?

A. The writer owes great thanks to his teacher for teaching him to work in long stretches.

B. Carl Walter has had a great influence on the writer’s life since he became a student.

C. The writer didn't take the teacher's words to heart at first.

D. Rapid concentration is actually more difficult than most people imagine.

43. The underlined part "counted on" can he replaced by____

A. enriched             B. concentrated            C. valued                D. expected

44. We can infer that the writer             . 

  A. has new books published each year however busy his teaching is

  B. is always tired of interruptions in life because his teaching schedule is always heavy

  C. has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels

 D. can find sufficient time for mental preparations beforehand, so he’s devoted to work   instantly

四、阅读理解 （本题有18小题，共25分）

第一节： 阅读下列短文并做每篇后面的题目。从A,B,C,D四个选项中，选出能回答所提问题或完成所给句子的最佳答案。（本节有14小题，每小题1.5分，共21分）

                                Early rising is helpful in more than one way. First, it helps us to have good health. We all need fresh air. It makes our health better to take morning exercises. The air is never so fresh as early in the morning. Early rising helps us in our studies. In the morning we learn more quickly and find it easy to learn something by heart.

Early rising makes people able to plan the work for the day. We can’t work well without a good plan. Just as the plan for the year should be made in the spring, the plan for a day should be made in the morning. Early rising gives us enough time to get ready for our work, such as to wash our hands and eat our breakfast. So the popular saying says, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

51. What does “early rising” mean in the passage?

A. waking up     B. getting up      C. have breakfast     D. making a day’s plan

52. Why does the passage advise us to take exercises early in the morning？

A. Because we can save much time.       B. Because we are not busy in the morning.

C. Because air in the morning is very fresh. D. Because we don’t need to prepare for breakfast.

53. We can work well with _____.

A. enough time    B. a good reading   C. clean hands       D. a good plan