It was the first day of school. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a little old lady smiling at me. She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?”
I laughed and said, “Of course!” And she gave me a big hug. “Why are you in college at such an age?” I asked.
She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have kids and then retire and travel.”
“No seriously.”
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”
We became friends at once. Over the course of the year, Rose easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she was happy with the attention given to her from the other students. At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet（宴会）. I’ll never forget what she taught us in her speech.
“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one useful thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity to do productive things. Have no regrets（遗憾；后悔）. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but we regret for things we did not do.”
At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral to honor the wonderful woman!
【小题1】While meeting Rose at the college for the first time, the author was curious about _______.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意， 然后从20－40各题所给的A，B，C，D四个选项，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is the longest wall in the world. It __21__from west to east,__22__ mountains, __23__ valleys and finally __24__ the sea.

The Great Wall has a history of over two __25__ years. People began to __26__ the wall __27__ the Spring and Autumn Period in Chinese history. In about 221BC Qin Shihuang had all the walls __28__. __29__, the Great Wall came to the world. The Great Wall is __30__ 6,000 kilometers long, 6—7meters high and 4—5 meters wide. In most places it is __31__ enough for five horses or ten men to walk __32__ along the top. It was very __33__ to build __34__ a great wall in the old __35__.Thousands of men __36__ when they built it, The Great Wall was made not only of stones, but millions of __37__.

Today, the Great Wall has become a place __38__ interest not only to the Chinese but also to people all over the world. __39__ the Egyptians feel proud of their pyramids, __40__ Chinese people also feel proud of our Great Wall.

A. comes           B. goes             C. lies           D. stands

A. through          B. along            C. over           D. across

A. and             B. from             C. to             D. through

A. gets             B. comes            C. reaches        D. arrives

A. thousand         B. million            C. hundred       D. billion

A. create            B. design            C. form          D. build

A. between          B. at                C. in            D. on

A. made up          B. joined up          C. sent up        D. put up

A. Since then on      B. Now and then      C. from then on    D. After then

A. no more than      B. not more than      C. less than       D. more than

A. wide             B. long              C. high          D. tall

A. one by one       B. day by day         C. side by side    D. step by step

A. easy             B. difficult            C. good         D. bad

A. like              B. look               C. so           D. such

A. times            B. history            C. countries      D. enemies

A. killed            B. died              C. murdered      D. gone

A. life              B. live              C. lives          D. living

A. of               B. with              C. for           D. about

A. Just as           B. As if              C. Look like     D. Such

A. us               B. we               C. our          D. ours

With 10, 600 bicycles in circulation，Paris city officials are hoping the program will provide people with more environmentally friendly transportation．

??? It seems both Parisians and tourists are taking advantage of the program．Since its launch a little over two weeks ago，Vélib has already seen almost half a million rentals．And，with the addition of 10，000 more bikes and 700 more stations in the next 12 months，city officials expect at least 200，000 regular users by year end．

???? Parisian Olivier Bioret has already gone for a spin on one of Vélib’s vehicles and plans to make use of them more often．

??? “It’s a real pleasure—when，like me，you don’t have space enough in your flat to have your

own bike—to be able to discover．to cross Paris and not have to take the subway，”he said．

???? As a socialist and longtime green activist，Mayor Bertrand Delanoe regards Vélib as just a part of his plan to reduce car traffic and，thus，lower pollution by 2020．

???? Apart from its environmental benefits，Vélib is also being praised as a way of collecting money for the city，for all the money from rentals goes to the city government．

???? Paris is not alone in its attempt to profit from the power of the bicycles．

???? Across the globe，cities such as Barcelona，which stated its bike-share program in March with 1,500 vehicles and 100 stations，and New York，which launched a five-day trial program last month，are using bicycles as a way to cut back on both traffic and pollution．

???? However，it remains to be seen whether people’s acceptance of these programs is simply a

passing fashion or whether this movement has the power to take root and transform the face of public transportation around the world．

1.The real purpose of Vélib is________．

A．to help people save money and space

B．to make some money for the city government

C．to provide convenience to both Parisians and tourists

D．to reduce traffic and pollution in the city

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．There will be 700 stations in one year’s time．

B．There will be over 20, 000 bikes in use in a year．

C．In the first two weeks there were nearly a million rentals．

D．There will be 200, 000 regular rentals each day by year end．

3.We can know from the passage that_________．

A．other cities also have such programs

B．Parisians can use the bicycles free of charge

C．Paris sets an example to many other cities

D．Paris is the first city to start such a program

4.As to the future of the program，the author is_________．

A．critical????????????? ????????????? ????????????? B．optimistic????????????? ????????????? ????????????? C．uncertain ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? D．negative

When people hear that I’m the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, they all have the same question: How did a 22-year old woman row a 19-foot boat for 70 days through high winds and crashing waves? Well, the biggest difficulty for me wasn’t physical. By the time I decided to do the ocean row, I had already biked 3,300 miles cross-country, run across the Mojave Desert, and swum the 325-mile length of the Allegheny River. No, the tough part would be mental: How would I handle the loneliness, the boredom of the vast sea?

I set off on January 3, 2010. I set my sights on getting past the quarter-way mark, which would take about 20 days.

Day 20, January 22, was gray and cloudy. I could have done something to celebrate, such as treating myself to a chocolate bar. But I didn’t.

I was suffering from terrible loneliness. I hadn’t seen landing over two weeks. Every day was beginning to feel the same. Eating, rowing, sleeping, watch the sky, watch the ocean.

Then, around sunset, I saw something move on the horizon. They were dolphins! They circled my boat. Suddenly I felt so grateful. They had come to help me celebrate, just when I needed them. I rowed at full strength for the next 20 minutes with the dolphins around. By the time we went our separate ways, I was no longer lonely. Better yet, I knew I would be okay.

I did make it, all 2,817 miles. I hit the coast of Guyana, South America, on March 14, after 70 days and five hours at sea. My ocean row raised $70,000 for the Blue Planet Run Foundation, which funds drinking water programs around the world. I know some athletes spend the entire journey imagining the end, and that helps them get through. But for me, the secret is to focus on the moment, where you experience the personal growth — those moments of awareness of being connected to the sun, the weather, and the waves. And, on the best day of my life, those dolphins, which freed myself from terrible loneliness.

1.Which is the step taken as part of preparation for the tough row?

A．swimming the 325-mile length of the river

B．answering the same question raised by people

C．running 3,300 miles cross-country

D．biking across the Mojave Desert

2.What does the underlined part mean?

A．I didn’t have any chocolate bar for energy.

B．I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate my first goal.

C．It’s a pity not to celebrate my passing the quarter of the way

D．It’s a pity not to treat myself to a chocolate bar on Day 20.

3.What can be implied from the last two paragraphs?

A．Imagination was an effective way to help me get through.

B．The Blue Planet Run Foundation helped me a lot.

C．The dolphins accompanied me to reach my destination

D．The unexpected dolphins swept away my loneliness

4.Which can be the best title of the passage?

A．The day I stopped being lonely

B．The only challenge for a 22-year old

C．How to overcome loneliness at sea.

D．How to row alone across the Atlantic

Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories, destroying (摧毁) fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged (破坏) that their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or broken roofs. One person was killed, several were badly hurt and taken to hospital, and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were homeless after the storm.

A farmer, Mr. Tan, said that the storm began early in the morning and lasted for over an hour.

“I was eating with my wife and children,” he said, “When we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us. We tried our best to climb out but then I saw that one of my children was missing. I went back inside and found him,

safe but very frightened.”

Mrs. Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she felt that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children.

“There was no time to take anything,” she said, “A few minutes later, the roof came down.”

Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded (水淹的) area and the welfare department (福利机构) brought them food, clothes and shelter.

1.How many homes altogether (总共) were damaged in the storm?

2.Where was Mr. Tan when the storm first began?

3. Mrs. Woo and her family didn’t get hurt because _________.

4. The underlined word “shelter” in this passage means ______.

5.Which of he following may be the best title for this passage?