I grew up in a small town. My father raised chickens and ran a construction company. I was barely 10 years old when my dad gave me the responsibility (责任) of feeding the chickens and cleaning up the stable. He believed it was important for me to have those jobs to learn responsibility. Then, when I was 22, I found a job in Natchbill at a country music club called the Natchbill Palace, I washed dishes and cooked from 4: 00 pm to 9: 00 pm and then went on stage and sang until 2:00 in the morning. It wasn’t long before I became known as a singing cook. I had been rejected so many times by record companies that it was hard not to be discouraged. One night, a woman executive (懂事) from a company named Warner Brothers Records came to hear me sing. When the show was over, we sat down and talked and after she left, I said to myself it was one more rejection. A few weeks later, my manager received a phone call — Warner Brothers wanted to sign me to a record deal. Soon after, I released my first record in June 1986. It sold over 2 million copies. My best efforts had gone into every job I’ve ever held. It was the sense of responsibility that made me feel like a man. Knowing that I had done my best filled me with pride. I still feel that way today, even though I have become a well-known singer.

　　 Why was the writer once known as the singing cook?

　　A. Because he was a cook at a country-music club.

　　B. Because he sang for guests while he worked as a cook.

　　C. Because he often sang while cooking.

　　D. Because he liked singing better than cooking.

　　 Who first recognized his talents and helped make his career successful?

　　A. Wamer Brothers.                        B. His manager.

　　C. His father.                                 D. A businesswoman.

　  What made the writer proud of himself?

　　A. His ability to live independently.

　　B. His sense of responsibility in whatever he did.

　　C. His courage in the face of rejections.

D. His hard work in his early days.

　　A few days ago I asked my sons’ governess（女家庭教师）Julia to come into my study. “Be seated, Julia, ”I said, “Let’s settle our accounts. I guess you most likely need some money, but maybe you’re too polite to mention it. Now then, we agreed on thirty dollars a month...”

　　“Forty.”

　　“No, thirty. I made a note of it. I always pay our governess thirty. Well, um, you’ve been here two months, so...”

　　“Two months and five days.”

　　“Exactly two months. I made a special note of it. That means you have sixty dollars coming to you. Take off nine Sundays... you know you didn’t work with Tom on Sundays, you only took walks. And three holidays... ”Julia was biting her finger nail nervously, her face red, but - not a word.

　　“Three holidays, therefore take off twelve dollars. Four days Tom was sick and there were no lessons, as you were occupied only with Dick. Three days you had a toothache and my wife gave you permission not to work after lunch. Twelve and seven - nineteen. Take nineteen off ... that leaves. hmm.... forty one dollars. Correct？”

　　Julia’s left eye reddened with tears welling up. Her chin trembled; she coughed nervously and blew her nose, but - still not a word.

　　“Around New Year’s Day you broke a teacup and a saucer; take off two dollars. The cup cost more, it was a treasure of the family, but- forget it. When didn’t I take a loss! Then, due to your neglect （疏忽）, Tom climbed a tree and tore his jacket; take away ten. Also due to your carelessness the maid stole Dick’s shoes. You ought to watch everything! You get paid for it. So, that means five more dollars off. The tenth of January I gave ten dollars.”

　　“You didn’t. ”sobbed Julia.

　　“But I made a note of it.”

　　“Well... if you say so.”

　　“Take twenty seven from forty one -that leaves fourteen.”

　　Both her eyes were filled with tears. Beads of sweat stood on the thin pretty little nose. Poor girl!

　　“Only once was I given any money,” she whispered, her voice trembling, “and that was by your wife. Three dollars, nothing more.”

　　“Really? You see now, and I didn’t know that! Take three from fourteen.. leaves eleven. Here’s your money, my dear. Three, three, three, one and one. Here it is !”

　　I handed her eleven dollars. She took them and pocketed them.

　　“Merci （法语: 谢谢）,”she whispered.

　　I jumped to my feet and started pacing the room. I was overcome with anger. “For what, this - ‘merci’?” I asked.

　　“For the money. ”

　　“But you know I’ve cheated you - robbed you ! I have actually stolen from you ! Why this‘merci’？”

　　“In my other places they didn’t give me anything at all.”

　　“They didn’t give you anything? No wonder! I played a little joke on you, a cruel lesson, just to teach you... I m going to give you all the eighty dollars! Here they are in the envelope all ready for you... Is it really possible to be so spineless （懦弱）?Why didn’t you protest? Why were you silent? Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws（爪）—to be such a fool?”

　　Embarrassed, she smiled. And I could read her expression,“It is possible.”

　　I asked her pardon for the cruel lesson and, to her great surprise, gave her the eighty dollars. She murmured her little“merci”several times and went out. I looked after her and thought,“How easy it is to crush the weak in this world !”

　　While talking to Julia, the wrier expected from her ________.

　　A. a protest　　　　　　　　　　　B. gratitude

　　C. obedience　　　　　　　　　　 D. an explanation

　　What shocked the writer was Julia’s ________.

　　A. nervousness in front of her boss

　　B. acceptance of injustice

　　C. shyness when talking about money

　　D. reluctance to express herself

　　The writer said, “Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws?” He was actually telling the governess ________.

　　A. to be more aggressive

　　B. to be more careful in her work

　　C. to protect her right

　　D. to live independently

　　At the end of the story, the writer said,“ How easy it is to crush the weak in this world!”to show ________.

　　A. his understanding of Julia’s anxiety

　　B. his worry about Julia’s future

　　C. his concern on the living condition of working - class people

　　D. his sympathy for the mental state of those exploited

阅读理解

　　Tim Berners-Lee is the man who wrote the software program that led to the foundation of the World Wide Web. Britain played an important part in developing the first generation of computers. The parents of Tim Berners-Lee both worked on one of the earliest commercial(商业)computers and talked about their work at home. As a child he would build models of computers from packaging material. After graduating from Oxford University he went on to the real thing. In the 1980's scientists were already communicating using a primitive version of e-mail. While working at a lab in Switzerland Tim Berners-Lee wrote a program, which let him store these messages. This gave him another idea that he was going to write a program that would let academics(学术界人士)from across the world share information on a single site. In 1990 he wrote the HTTP and HTML programs, which formed the basis of the World Wide Web.

　　The next year his programs were placed on to the Internet. Everyone was welcome to use them and improve them if they could. Programs used his codas to work with different operating systems. New things like web browsers and search engines were developed. Between 1991 and 1994 the number of web pages rose from 10 to 100,000.

　　In 1994 Tim Berners-Lee formed the newly World Wide Web consortium(协会), or W3C. More than 200 leading companies and labs are represented by W3C. Together they make sure that everyone can participate equally on the Web.“The Web can help people to understand the way that others live and work. It helps us understand the humanity of people”he says.

(1)From the passage we can infer that Tim Berners-Lee is most probably ________.

[　　]

A．British　　　　B．American

C．Swiss　　　　D．French

(2)The main idea of the passage is ________.

[　　]

A．when the internet came into being

B．how Tim Burners-Lee formed W3C

C．why computers develop so rapidly

D．how the World Wide Web started

(3)Scientists began to communicate using e-mail ________.

[　　]

A．in 1980　　　　    B．after the 1980's

C．before 1990　　　　D．in the 1960's

(4)He made up his mind to write a program that would let people from across the world share information on a single site when ________.

[　　]

A．he was a child

B．he studied on Oxford University

C．he formed W3C

D．he worked at a lab in Switzerland

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分 30分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C、和D）中，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

   Once upon a time there lived an old man in a nice cottage with a large garden. The old man was seen   36   his flowers all the time. They were so well-tended that every passer-by could not but   37   for a glance.

   One day a young man went by the garden. He gazed at the splendid garden,   38   in admiration at the beauty of these sceneries. Then, suddenly he   39   the old gardener was blind.40   , the young man asked, “Why are you busy tending these flowers every day which you can’t  41  in fact?” The old man smiled and answered that “ I can tell you  42   reasons. First I was a   43  when I was young, and I really like this job. Second, although I can’t see these flowers, yet I can   44  them. Third，I can smell sweetness of them. As to the last one, that’s  45  .

   “Me? But you don’t know me,” responded the young man   46   .

   “Yeah, it’s   47  that I don’t know you. But I know everyone knows flowers and would never   48   them down. I know the beauty of my garden will get many people into a good  49   . In the meantime, it also   50  a chance to me to have a word with you here and to enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

    The old man’s  51  astonished me. The blind man grows flowers and  52  them as a link of minds so as to make   53   enjoy the sunshine in spring. Isn’t it one kind of happiness？

   I believe every flower has   54  with which they can see the kindness of the man’s heart. The blind man grows flowers in his heart. Though   55  to see the beauty of blossoming, he surely can hear the voice of it, I suppose.

1. A. loving            B. watering         C. tending          D. planting

2. A. stop     　　     B. stay             C. live         D. run

3. A. kept              B. dropped          C. fallen       D. lost

4. A. realized          B. noticed          C. felt         D. thought

5. A. Excited           B. Frightened       C. Shocked      D. Satisfied

6.A. feel          B. see              C. hear         D. eat

7. A. one          B. two              C. three            D. four

8.A. gardener       B. teacher          C. farmer       D. painter

9. A. taste             B. plant            C. touch        D. appreciate

10.A. it                B. me               C. them        D. you

11. A. with pleasure    B. in surprise          C. with hope    D. in anger

12. A. true             B. possible         C. a pity       D. a shame

13. A. put              B. turn             C. get         D. knock

14.A. mind              B. life             C. future       D. mood

15.A. introduces        B. offers           C. stands       D. leaves

16.A. words             B. behavior         C. story        D. attitudes

17. A. treats           B. acts             C. works        D. serves

18.A. anybody           B. somebody         C. everybody   D. nobody

19. A. ears             B. soul             C. eyes        D. heart

20.A. refusing          B. trying          C. pretending   D. Failing

We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it,” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack (车顶行李架). I’ve always wanted one like that.”
　 What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.
　 In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
　 After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
　“Right, sir,” he said.“Do you need any more help?”
　I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer,” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
　 He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well,” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
　 My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “ Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.”I drove home as fast as I could.
【小题1】 In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.