One day I heard that one of my dear friends had lost his mother. This made me sad, for my friend was very close to his mother. He had been by her side as she traveled through her long and hard journey with cancer. At this time, many memories about my loved ones that had passed away came flooding to me. Finally these memories passed, but it was really sad to think that my friend would have to go through the pain.
Three times I tried to write an email to my friend and three times words failed me. I am a person who is not often lost for words and I decided to have a sleep. Upon waking up I could hardly wait for my computer to work, the words I needed were there. I was still left with a heavy heart although I had sent an email.
Everything in this universe is balanced and indeed it is. Three days later, I received his reply letter. I was happy to hear that he’d been admitted to (录取) Cambridge University. It served as a gentle reminder for me that my friend would be okay and that life would go on.
Everything in life is balanced; the lowest feelings change places with the highest feelings. Without the lows, we would never appreciate the highs. No matter how dark the clouds seem to be, the sunshine is always there and just waiting for the opportunity to shine through.
【小题1】When the author learnt her friend had lost his mother, she ______.

第三节：阅读理解（每小题2分，共40分） 
A
I had gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric(古怪的)  
farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understand anything. Finally all I could make out was that someone called Millry had a very bad accident. No matter who she was I obviously had to go.
It had been snowing heavily that day. I didn’t know the way. I had been driving for at least an hour when I finally found his place. He was standing there, waiting for me. It seemed Millry had died. “She meant more to me than anyone…even my own wife!” he said. I could see that he had been crying. I thought something terrible had taken place, it may be a scandal(丑闻). I was even more shocked when he told me be had put her in the barn(厩). “I wouldn’t leave her out in the cold!” he said.
Millry had clearly been a secret lover of his. I was about to tell him he could not expect me to cover anything up when he opened the barn door. He lifted his candle and I saw a dark figure on the ground, “She was such a good cow! I wouldn’t let anyone but a doctor touch her!”  
he said, and bust into tears again.
56. The underlined phrase “make out” in the first paragraph means        .
A. expect        B. understand          C. see clearly        D. hear clearly
57. Before he arrived at the farmer’s house, the writer expected to see Millry lying       .  
A. on the ground of a barn        B. on the floor of a room
C. in bed in a room               D. in bed in a barn
58. The farmer wished that the writer might       .
A. look into the matter          B. bring Millry back to life
C. free him from a scandal       D. keep a whole thing a secret
59. The person who told the story is probably a             .
A. farmer        B. policeman       C. country doctor      D. newspaper reporter 

The school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids as they played during the break .She seemed so small as she pushed her way __36__ the crowd of boys on the playground . She___37__ from them all.
I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing __38__.She would practice dribbling（运球）and shooting over and over again, sometimes until __39__. One day I asked her __40__ she practiced so much. She looked __41__in my eyes and without a moment of hesitation she said, "I want to go to college. The only way I can __42__ is that if I get a scholarship, I am going to play college basketball. I want to be __43__. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don't count."
Well, I had to give it in to her--- she was __44__.One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head __45_ in her arms. I walked toward her and quietly asked what was _46___. "Oh, nothing," came a soft reply. "I'm just too short." The coach told her that at her height she would probably __47__get to play for a top ranked team,__48__offered a scholarship. So she _49___stop dreaming about college.
She was __50___ and I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just didn't __51__ the power of a dream. He told her __52__she really wanted to play for a good college, if she truly wanted a scholarship, __53___could stop her except one thing-- her own attitude. He told her again," if the dream is big enough, the facts don't count."
The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was seen by a college recruiter（招聘人员）. She was indeed offered a __54__ .She was going to get the college education that she had __55___and worked toward for all those years.

When I was fourteen, I earned money in the summer by cutting lawns（草坪）, and within a few weeks I had built up a body of customers. I got to know people by the flowers they planted that I had to remember not to cut down, by the things they lost in the grass or struck in the ground on purpose. I reached the point with most of them when I knew in advance what complaint was about to be spoken, which request was most important. And I learned something about the measure of my neighbors by their preferred method of payment: by the job, by the month—or not at all.
Mr. Ballou fell into the last category, and he always had a reason why. On one day, he had no change for a fifty, on another he was flat out of checks, on another, he was simply out when I knocked on his door. Still, except for the money apart, he was a nice enough guy, always waving or tipping his hat when he’d seen me from a distance. I figured him for a thin retirement check, maybe a work-related injury that kept him from doing his own yard work. Sure, I kept track of the total, but I didn’t worry about the amount too much. Grass was grass, and the little that Mr. Ballou’s property comprised didn’t take long to trim (修剪).
Then, one late afternoon in mid-July, the hottest time of the year, I was walking by his house and he opened the door, mentioned me to come inside. The hall was cool, shaded, and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the dim light. 
“I owe you,” Mr Ballou said, “but…”
I thought I’d save him the trouble of thinking of a new excuse. “No problem. Don’t worry about it.”
“The bank made a mistake in my account,” he continued, ignoring my words. “It will be cleared up in a day or two. But in the meantime I thought perhaps you could choose one or two volumes for a down payment.
He gestured toward the walls and I saw that books were stacked (堆放) everywhere. It was like a library, except with no order to the arrangement.
“Take your time,” Mr. Ballou encouraged. “Read, borrow, keep, or find something you like. What do you read?”
“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I generally read what was in front of me, what I could get from the paperback stack at the drugstore, what I found at the library, magazines, the back of cereal boxes, comics. The idea of consciously seeking out a special title was new to me, but, I realized, not without appeal--- so I started to look through the piles of books.
“You actually read all of these?”
“This isn’t much,” Mr. Ballou said. “This is nothing, just what I’ve kept, the ones worth looking at a second time.”
“Pick for me, then.”
He raised his eyebrows, cocked his head, and regarded me as though measuring me for a suit. After a moment, he nodded, searched through a stack, and handed me a dark red hardbound book, fairly thick.
“The Last of the Just,” I read. “By Andre Schwarz-Bart. What’s it about?”
“You tell me,” he said. “Next week.”
I started after supper, sitting outdoors on an uncomfortable kitchen chair. Within a few pages, the yard, the summer, disappeared, and I was plunged into the aching tragedy of the Holocaust, the extraordinary clash of good, represented by one decent man, and evil. Translated from French, the language was elegant, simple, impossible to resist. When the evening light finally failed I moved inside, read all through the night.
To this day, thirty years later, I vividly remember the experience. It was my first voluntary encounter with world literature, and I was amazed by the concentrated power a novel could contain. I lacked the vocabulary, however, to translate my feelings into words, so the next week. When Mr. Ballou asked, “Well?” I only replied, “It was good?”
“Keep it, then,” he said. “Shall I suggest another?”
I nodded, and was presented with the paperback edition of Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa (a very important book on the study of the social and cultural development of peoples—anthropology (人类学) ).
To make two long stories short, Mr. Ballou never paid me a cent for cutting his grass that year or the next, but for fifteen years I taught anthropology at Dartmouth College. Summer reading was not the innocent entertainment I had assumed it to be, not a light-hearted, instantly forgettable escape in a hammock (吊床) (though I have since enjoyed many of those, too). A book, if it arrives before you at the right moment, in the proper season, at an internal in the daily business of things, will change the course of all that follows.
【小题1】Before his encounter with Mr. Ballou, the author used to read _____________.

  China is the biggest market in the world, and many countries such as Germany, the USA, the UK and Russia do a lot of business in China. Let’s have a look at some important tips to help you be successful when dealing with these nationalities,                                          
First, you must be punctual(准时的) with Germans. Even 5 minutes late makes a bad impression. Being punctual is also very important in the USA. In the UK, it’s important to be punctual for business meetings, but nobody expects you to be on time for a social event. Half past seven really means a quarter to eight, or even eight o’clock! With Russians, you should always be on time, though it is not unusual for them to be one or even two hours late!
It is best to dress formally and wear dark colours when you meet people from all the four countries. In Russia, designer clothes are very common.. Don’t be surprised if you go to an office in the UK on a Friday and find everyone wearing jeans. Many companies have "dress down Friday", when people wear casual (随便的) clothes.
In Germany, first names are only used by family members and close friends, so be prepared to use titles and last names. In the USA you will usually be invited to use first names almost immediately. The British are quite informal and using first names in business is more and more common, especially among younger people. In Russia, however, nobody uses first names, so use titles and last names.
In conversation, the British and the Americans value humour, and both like to talk about sport. The weather is also a good topic of conversation with the British and the Americans, but avoid talking about politics. In Russia, say positive (积极的)things about their country, but avoid making complaints（抱怨）. The Germans, however, prefer to get straight down to business!
So, use these tips, and you will be on your way to a successful international business career!
【小题1】Which color should you NOT wear when meeting a person from the USA?

A．complain about something

B．say something negative about his country

C．say something good about his country

D． point out some disadvantages in politics