My house _____ when you visited Beijing last time, so I didn’t invite you to my home.

A．was being decorated                     B．is being decorated

C．has been decorated                     D．was decorated

One year ago, I traveled 15,000 kilometers from Australia to the US. I am from a beachside town in the   16  of Sydney, and thought there would be almost no   17  differences between my home country and my 18  . I was surprised at how wrong I was, and at  19  different the two countries could be.

The United States is   20  in almost every aspect. The buildings are gigantic (巨大的) and so are the people who   21  and work in them. At mealtimes, the portions (份额) often   22  to me to be big enough for three or four people. I once   23  a baked potato which turned out to be bigger than my head! This was a big   24  for me.

The longer I spent in the US, the more I started to   25  smaller differences like the culture of   26  in restaurants. In Australia we don’t tend to give a tip   27  the service has been really excellent. In the US you tip for   28  everything, even at the hairdresser. Waiters and shop assistants   29  to be given 15 percent of the bill, although in places   30 New York or Washington DC, a tip can be as much as 20 percent.

  31 , I also became more wary (谨慎的) of believing the stereotypes (成见) I had heard at home as I traveled. Not all Americans are ignorant of geography, for example.

Despite this, certain stereotypes about places did seem to   32  true for me. There is an immense (强烈的) sense of speed in New York. Everyone   33  to and fro, and very seldom takes time to   34  the moment. This is very different from the Australian lifestyle. Australians are laid back. Even in a major city like Sydney, we “Aussies” take time to “stop and smell the roses”---very different from our American counterparts.

Navigating (驾驭) the culture divide between Australia and the US was challenging at times. But I took up that   35  and learned a lot from it. It was an adventure.

1.                A．heart          B．city            C．center   D．suburbs

2.                A．cultural         B．commercial      C．economic D．scientific

3.                A．home town      B．departure       C．location  D．destination

4.                A．how           B．why            C．however  D．where

5.                A．big            B．modern         C．small D．fashionable

6.                A．travel          B．survive         C．live  D．serve

7.                A．happened       B．seemed         C．proved   D．managed

8.                A．brought        B．ordered        C．designed  D．fetched

9.                A．laughter        B．pleasure        C．shock    D．embarrassment

10.               A．prefer         B．notice          C．tell   D．appreciate

11.               A．serving         B．tipping         C．donating   D．toasting

12.               A．unless         B．if             C．when D．since

13.               A．rarely          B．mostly         C．almost D．hardly

14.               A．try            B．wait           C．think D．expect

15.               A．like            B．along          C．for   D．in

16.               A．So            B．Therefore       C．However  D．But

17.               A．come          B．become        C．turn  D．get

18.               A．walks          B．drives          C．wanders   D．rushes

19.               A．depend on      B．reflect on       C．spy on D．watch on

20.               A．experience     B．job            C．challenge  D．business

The Donkey Mobile Library

It is a bright morning in the Ethiopian countryside. Yohannes walks beside a pair of donkeys that are pulling a two-wheeled cart. They arrive at the agricultural town of Awassa where Yohannes opens the sides of the cart to display, not the usual vegetables or tools, but children’s books. This is the Donkey Mobile Library, the first of its kind in Ethiopia and one of only a few in the world.
Yohannes was born in Ethiopia, North Africa, but trained to be a librarian in the USA and returned to Ethiopia years ago. The cart is full of picture books donated by American libraries, teachers and school children.
Yohannes arranges small painted benches in the shade of the trees, and suddenly Ethiopian children come shouting and racing down every road and path. It’s mobile library day! They circle the bookshelves with great excitement. Until the Donkey Mobile Library began its regular two-monthly visits, many of these children had never seen a book.
“Without books, education is very dull, like food without salt. You can survive but you can’t really come alive,” says Yohannes. “The ability to read is the basis for greater productivity, better health and longer life. Even though the children lack material goods, with books they can imagine a world of possibilities.”
Yohannes first worked in the children’s section of the main library in America. Surrounded by books he had never seen before, he realized how joyful and imaginative children’s literature is. He says, “I always thought of Ethiopia. But how could I bring children’s books to my home country when it had almost no libraries to keep the books in?”
He contacted Jane Kurtz, a writer born in America but brought up in Ethiopia, and together they created the Donkey Mobile Library. The children say that the Library has given them ideas about what they might do in the future. A child called Dareje wants to be a scientist and find a cure for life-threatening diseases. An eleven year-old girl, Fikerte, wants to do research about the moon and discover new facts about outer space. Tamrat, aged 10, comes every time.
“What brings you back here time and time again?” the librarian asks him.
“The stories,” Tamrat replies instantly. 
【小题1】How do the children feel when they see the Donkey Mobile Library?

As a child, I was truly afraid of the dark and of getting lost; these fears were very real and caused me some uncomfortable moments.

Maybe it was the strange   36 things looked and sounded in my familiar room at night that  37 me so much. There was never total  38 , but a streetlight or passing car lights 39   clothes hung over a chair take on the   40  of a wild animal. Out of the corner of my 41  , I saw the curtains seem to move when there was no  42 . A tiny sound in the floor would seem a hundred times louder than in the daylight. My   43 would run wild, and my heart would beat fast. I would   44 very still so that the "enemy" would not discover me. zxxk

Another of my childhood fears was that I would get lost, 45  on the way home from school. Every morning I get on the school bus right near my home--that was no  46 . After school,   47  , when all the buses were  48  up along the street, I was afraid that I'd get on the wrong one, and be taken to some  49 neighborhood. On school or family trips to a park or museum, I wouldn't  50 the leaders out of my sight.

Perhaps one of the worst fears  51 all I had as a child was that of not being liked or   52 by others. Being popular was so important to me  53 , and the fear of not being liked was a 54  one.

One of the processes of growing up is being able to  55 and overcome our fears. Understanding the things that frightened us as children helps us achieve greater success later in life.

1.                A．place          B．time           C．way D．reason

2.                A．frightened      B．destroyed       C．surprised D．wounded

3.                A．darkness        B．quietness       C．emptiness     D．loneliness

4.                A．got            B．made           C．forced    D．caused

5.                A．spirit           B．height          C．body     D．shape

6.                A．eye            B．window         C．mouth    D．door

7.                A．breath         B．sound          C．air   D．wind

8.                A．belief          B．feeling          C．imagination    D．doubt

9.                A．lay            B．lie             C．rest D．hide

10.               A．simply         B．especially       C．probably   D．directly

11.               A．discussion       B．joke           C．problem   D．matter

12.               A．though         B．yet            C．although   D．still

13.               A．called          B．backed         C．packed    D．lined

14.               A．old            B．unfamiliar       C．poor D．crowded

15.               A．leave          B．send           C．order     D．let

16.               A．above          B．in             C．of    D．at

17.               A．protected       B．accepted       C．believed   D．guided

18.               A．then           B．there          C．once D．anyway

19.               A．strict          B．right           C．heavy     D．powerful

20.               A．realize         B．remember      C．recognize D．recover

—Welcome to my home! But why didn’t you pay a visit to me last time?

— I would have, but I _____ your address.

A. have forgotten   B. would have lost   C. forgot   D. had lost