While watching the games the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, or a world record broken, but a show of courage.

The event was swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them false started, so they were disqualified. That left only one to complete. It would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is important.

I watched the man dive off the bock and knew right away that something was wrong. I’m not an expert swimmer, but I can tell a good dive from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he resurfaced, it was evident that the man was not out for gold — his arms were waving in an attempt at freestyle. The crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.

I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man who was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. It was pitiful. He made a few desperate strokes and you could tell he was worn out.

But in those few awful strokes, the crowd had changed.

No longer were they laughing, but beginning to cheer. Some even began to stand and shout “Come on, you can do it!” and he did.

A clear minute past the average swimmer, this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.

Just a short year ago, he had never even swum, let alone race. His country had been invited to Sydney.

In a competition where athletes remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch an underdog.

68.From the passage we can learn that the young man _______.

A. made his turn to start back pitifully    

B. was skillful in freestyle in the game

C. swam faster than the average swimmer   

D. was not capable enough to win the medal

69.   The crowd changed their attitudes because _______.

A. they felt sorry for the young man                 

B. they wanted to show their sympathy

C. they were moved by the young man              

D. they meant to please the young man

70.   According to the passage, “it is nice to watch an underdog” probably means _______.

A. it’s amusing to watch a man with awful swimming skills

B. it’s amazing to watch an ordinary man challenging himself

C. it’s cheerful for athletes to act proudly before their competitors

D. it’s brave enough for some athletes to remove the silver medals

71.   What’s the best title for the passage?

A. Go for it!                                      B. Try again！

C. Compete for Gold!                         D. Break a Record!

       In 1957 a doctor in Singapore noticed that hospitals were treating an unusual number of influenzalike cases. Influenza is sometimes called “flu”or a “bad cold”. He took samples from the throats of patients in his hospital and was able to find the virus（病毒）of this influenza.

There are three main types of influenza virus. The most important of these are types A and B, each of them having several sub-groups（亚群）. At the hospital the doctor recognized that the outbreak was because of a virus group A, but he did not know the sub-group. He reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization in Geneva. W. H. O. published the important news together with reports of the same kind of outbreak in Hong Kong, where about 15％～20％ of the population had become ill.

As soon as the London doctors received the package of throat samples, they began to test them. They found that they could reproduce themselves at a very high speed. Continuing their careful tests, the doctor checked the effect of medicine used against all the known sub-groups of type A virus. On this virus, none of them was of any use.

Having separated the virus, the two doctors now made tests on some selected seleceted animals. In a short time the usual signs of the disease appeared. These experiments showed that the new virus spread easily, but that it was not a killer. Scientists, like the general public, called it simply “Asian flu”.

19. The Asian flu mentioned in the passage ____.

A. had something to do with a virus group B

B. was reported to W. H. O in Geneva by a doctor in Hong Kong

C. broke out not only in Singapore but also in Hong Kong

D. was taken from the throats of the patients in a hospital in Singapore

20. London doctors considered ____. 

A. Asian flu as a bad cold

B. there were three main types of influenza

C. it was necessary to test the other groups of virus besides group A

D. the influenza called “Asian flu”a new one

21. The Singapore doctor helped the world by ____. 

A. making those with Asian flu well again

B. killing the virus that caused Asian flu

C. finding the sub-group of the virus

D. reporting the outbreak of Geneva

22. The Asian flu virus ____.  

A. was a killer

B. was very weak

C. could reproduce very quickly

D. died very fast

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

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

A man was driving at 70 miles in a 40-mile zone（区域）, when a    1.   came behind him.  2.  the man started thinking of excuses to give.

As the policeman came to him, he said, “Hi, officer, I guess you   3.   me a little bit over the speed limit. I was in a rush to get   4.  , to be with my wife and kids. You know my younger son wasn’t feeling too  5.   when I left home this morning. I’m afraid he’s ill.”

The policeman said, “Well, I guess so,” and started   6.   something in his notebook. As minutes went by, he could see from the side view mirror, the policeman was  7.   writing. When the man was wondering why he hadn’t asked for his driving   8.   so far, the policeman came to his window,  9.   him a piece of paper, and returned to his car without saying a single word. The man wondered: how much was this   10.  going to be? However, the man was  11.   it was not a ticket（罚单）at all and he began to   12.  :

“I had a daughter who was   13.   by a speeding car at the age of six by a speeding driver. He got a fine, a few months in  14.  , and then was free, free to hug his two daughters. I only had one, and now I have to  15.   until I get to heaven before I can hug her again. I have tried to     16.  that man a thousand times, and I thought I had. Maybe I really did forgive（原谅） him. So pray（祈祷）for me, and be   17.   when you drive again. My son is all I have been left with.”

The man was completely   18.   and could not move for the next few minutes. When finally he did, he drove  19.  , even a few miles   20.   the speed limit, praying for forgiveness.

21. A. truck            B. mail car         C. police car           D. taxi

22. A. Just now     B. Just so          C. Right now            D. Right away

23. A. remembered   B. caught           C. mistook          D. recognized

24. A. to school        B. home             C. out              D. to hospital

25. A. well         B. happy                C. free             D. bad

26. A. writing      B. looking for      C. listing              D. looking up

27. A. even         B. really               C. never                D. still

28. A. route            B. License（执照）  C. Journal          D. Insurance（保险）

29. A. handed       B. sent             C. rewarded         D. pushed

30. A. paper            B. note             C. notice           D. ticket

31. A. excited      B. upset                C. surprised            D. angry

32. A. laugh            B. smile                C. read             D. think

33. A. hit          B. knocked          C. trapped          D. killed

34. A. fear         B. trouble          C. prison               D. danger

35. A. stay         B. wait             C. remain           D. escape

36. A. forgive      B. attack           C. educate          D. support

37.A. honest            B. thankful         C. patient          D. careful

38. A. disappointed   B. nervous            C. shocked          D. frightened

39. A. quickly      B. slowly           C. fortunately      D. rapidly

40. A. under            B. over             C. to               D. with

The Touchstone

  When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for very little money.

The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the “Touchstone”! The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold.

The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along he still threw it away.

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are careful, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand, and it’s just as easy to throw it away.

1.The man bought the book because _____________.

  A. he wanted to read it            B. it was very interesting

C. there was a secret in the book   D. he wanted to find the touchstone

2. We can learn from the passage that the touchstone is _________.

A. pure      B. cold      C. magic      D. big

3. Why did the man throw the pebbles into the sea?

A. Because he didn’t want to get the same pebbles.

B. Because he didn’t want others to pick them up.

C. Because he didn’t like their ordinary looks.

D. Because he didn’t like the cold feelings.

4. What does the author want to tell us in the passage?

A. We should offer opportunities in our life.

B. We should seek for opportunities in the world.

C. We may seize opportunities when we are watchful.

D. We may discover opportunities when forming habits.

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。

It was a dreadfully cold and cloudy afternoon. I was on the bus with my children, aged four and two, heading home when it started to rain. I realized this would mean a wet walk home  1.                the bus stop.

2.  my house was merely two blocks away, it was not a pleasant walk with one small boy asleep in the pram (手推婴儿车), the other one in a raincoat and no umbrella for myself. A pick-up truck passed us on the road. I tried to thumb a ride but failed. My little boy woke up with a start and began to cry. I 3.    (convince) that things might become worse and nobody would bother to help on such a terrible day.

A few minutes later,   4. truck drove by, but to my surprise, I saw it  5.  (pull) back and the driver looking directly at us.

A young man put the window down. “Hey, here’s an umbrella for you, please take   6.  .” He called out.

I stood there   7.  (astonish), barely believing that the man   8.   existence was unknown to me only moments ago, could be so  9.   (consider). “Come on, give this to your mummy,” he said to my older son. I accepted the offer and expressed my gratitude to him.

This man might have needed the umbrella for himself later during the day but preferred to give it to me. It was a lesson to me   10.  it’s possible to give without expecting anything in return.