Some people would go through anything just to achieve their dream. Kasia Siwosz is proof. For the final year student on the university women’s tennis team, the road to Berkeley, University of California was met with poor advice and misinformation from her home country and two unsuccessful stops along the way that fell short of expectations.

    Born in Poland, Siwosz began playing tennis at seven years old and developed the skills that helped her earn a top-50 ranking among the ITF Junior division (国际网球联会青少年赛).. Siwosz wanted to do more with her life than just play tennis, which led her to seek chances that would also allow her to obtain a top education. While most who grow up in the U.S. are naturally accustomed to the American tradition of collegiate (大学的) sports, such a custom is not as familiar in a country like Poland. “There’s no collegiate sports in Poland and no culture of sports and academic (学术的) study there. You can only do one, not both,” Siwosz said.

    Her desire to have a quality education led her to America to follow her dream. While Siwosz was talented enough to begin her collegiate tennis career, she could only attend community college because she missed the deadline to apply to four-year schools, mainly due to misinformation provided in her home country of Poland.

    When she had earned all her credits and was able to transfer (转学), Siwosz made the decision to attend Baylor in Texas. Her friends from Poland put in a good word for the university, saying that it was a good fit because there were many international players at Baylor. “I thought it would be a good idea, but it really wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Siwosz said. “I wasn’t happy at Baylor. The level of tennis was high, but the academic standards were no match and I just wanted more.”

    After one year at Baylor, Siwosz’s luck finally began to change when she made the decision to transfer to Berkeley, which was due in large part to Lee, a former Berkeley student. Lee, who is a keen tennis player himself, met Siwosz four years ago in Texas. “I knew she was unhappy there,” he said. “I saw the opportunity for her to come here.” Siwosz visited Lee in Berkeley. “I ended up loving this place and this school,” Siwosz said. “I came here a lot over the summer, I gave it a shot and I ended up with a Berkeley education and a spot on one of the best college tennis teams in the country.”

1.What does “two unsuccessful stops” (Paragraph 1) refer to?

A. Poland and the U.S.

B. Baylor and Berkeley.

C. The community college and Baylor.

D. The ITF Junior division and the Berkeley tennis team.

2.Why did Siwosz want to leave her homeland for America?

A. Poland had no culture of sports.

B. Berkeley had always been her dream university.

C. She wanted to play tennis and have a good education.

D. She wanted to improve her tennis skills and get a higher ranking.

3. Why did she leave Baylor?

A. The level of tennis there was not high.

B. It was not suitable for international students.

C. She couldn’t get along with her friends there.

D. She was not satisfied with the education level there.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. How Siwosz left Poland.

B. How Siwosz realized her dream.

C. How Siwosz became a top tennis player.

D. How Siwosz transferred from Baylor to Berkeley.

A boy, about 10 years old, got to my clinic with his sick cat for cure. Thc cat was a tiny beautiful thing, about the boy's own   36  . I could see she was   37   very strong and lovely with the fur of a  38   and Tigress was her name. She  39  me with a friendly nub against my hand.

    I   40   her and found a tumor(????). She had no  41  of recovery. I looked at the fresh-faced boy and back at Tigress. I began to 42  pity on the boy. At such a young age, he had to face to part with his beloved one.

    I told him as 43 as I could what I had found, and what it meant. The boy's face twisted (???) and turned away. I sat down and 44  Tigress to give the boy some time to recover. I felt Tigress's old beautiful fur  45  we discussed the possible choice with him: I could give her an operation, which would be very   46   and would not make her live longer than a month, or an  injection and put her to sleep.

    After some time, the boy accepted the reality.  "I've seen her 47 recently, so I'd like her to die peacefully." I could see  how  48   it was costing him in making such a  49  .

    I asked if he wanted to take her home overnight to say goodbye. He said he just wanted to be 50   with her for a few minutes. I went to get the 51 which I would use to put her to sleep. I could not control the   52  streaming down my face.

     She fell asleep, her head   53   in his hand, lovely and quiet, but her owner now had all the  54  . "This is the finest   55   you could give. You bear the pain so that the loved one might rest." The boy nodded and he understood.

1. A. age           B. child            C. baby            D. size

2.A. always         B. now              C. once            D. often

3. A. tiger        B. animal           C. cat        D. dog

4.A. nodded         B. greeted          C. looked at      D. saw

5. A. saw           B. felt             C. rubbed          D. examined

6.A. desire         B wish              C. hope            D .choice

7.A. give           B. want             C. feel            D. take

8.A. possible       B. gently           C. long            D. soon

9.A. turned away    B. turned to        C. turned down     D. turned in

10.A. after         B. before           C. while           D. because

11.A. expensive     B. simple           C. cheap           D. quick

12.A. starve        B. change           C. play            D. suffer

13.A. long          B. often            C. much            D. soon

14.A. way           B. effort           C. leap            D. decision

15.A. lonely        B. alone            C. sad             D. glad

16.A. gift         B. knife            C. medicine        D. operation

17.A. tears         B. heart            C. feeling         D. emotion

18.A. shaking        B. nodding         C. turning          D. lying

19.A. relief         B. suffering       C. sleep            D. fun

20.A. gift              B. injection        C. examination      D. treatment

Grandpa Nybakken loved life—especially when he could play a trick on somebody. At those times, his large Norwegian frame shook with laughter while he pretended innocent surprise, exclaiming, “Oh, forevermore!” But on a cold Saturday in downtown Chicago, Grandpa felt that God played a trick on him, and grandpa wasn’t laughing.

Grandpa worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building some boxes for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage abroad. On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. He remembered putting them there that morning, so he drove back to the church．His search proved fruitless.

Suddenly, he realized what had happened. The glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the boxes, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China!

The Great Depression was at its height, and Grandpa had six children. He had spent twenty dollars for those glasses that very morning.

“It’s not fair,” he told God as he drove home in frustration. “I’ve been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and now this.”

Several months later, the director of the orphanage was on vacation in the United States．He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him, so he came to speak on Sunday night at my grandfather’s small church in Chicago．Grandpa and his family sat in their usual seats among the small congregation（教堂会众）.

“But most of all,” he said, “I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year.”

“Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses．Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my co-workers and I were much in prayer about this．Then your boxes arrived．When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on the top.” After a long pause, he continued, “Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom-made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that!”

The people listened, happy for the amazing glasses．But the director surely must have confused their church with another, they thought, there were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas.

But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.

56．Which of the following is NOT true about Grandpa Nybakken according to the passage?

    A．He was an outgoing man and held an active attitude towards life.

    B．He had a large family to support.

    C．He was a carpenter working in the church.

    D．He was a loyal Christian.

    Reading is the key to school success and, like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. The great athlete practices until he can play quickly, accurately, without thinking. Educators call it “automaticity”.

    A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and decoding the words. With practice, he stumbles less and less, reading by the phrase. With automaticity, he doesn’t have to think about decoding the words, so he can pay more attention to the meaning of the text.

    It can begin as early as in the first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found automatic readers in the first grade who were reading almost three times as fast as the other children and scoring twice as high on comprehension tests. At fifth grade, the automatic readers were reading twice as fast as the others, and still outscoring them on accuracy, comprehension and vocabulary.

    “It’s not IQ but the amount of time a child spends reading that is the key to automaticity. ”According to Rossman, any child who spends at least 3. 5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will in all likelihood reach the average child who spends 25 hours a week watching television. It can happen by just turning off the set just one night reading books.

    You can test your child by giving him a paragraph or two to read aloud—something unfamiliar but appropriate to his age. If he reads aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, he probably is an automatic reader. If he reads haltingly(不顺畅，结巴), one word at a time, without expression  or meaning, he need more practice.

67. The underlined word “automaticity” probably means _______ .

A. being done without thinking

B. being done quickly

C. being done accurately

D. being done perfectly

68. How can the children learn to read?

A. They just read word by word.

B. They just read the words out.

C. They read by sounding out the letters and decoding the words.

D. They read by practicing more.

69. How many hours should a child spend in reading books every day?

A. 0. 5～0. 6.                                                  B. 3. 5～4.

C. 2. 5.                                                    D. 3. 6.

70. Which of the following is an automatic reader?

A. A child reads a book with stops.

B. A child reads one word at a time.

C. A child reads without expression or meaning.

D. A child reads with expression and meaning of the sentences.

Nick Santonastasso has one arm equipped with one finger. He has no legs. He also has no limitations(局限).
“ I know anything’s possible ,” the 12-year-old told TODAY ’s Ann Curry.
He can play baseball and football, play the keyboard and drums, and play video games with his brothers.
When Nick was born, he suffered a disease only found in 11 other people. The Santonastassos had three other children, and they decided to treat Nick the same as others, with love but without excuse
“ We’re supposed to be heroes to our children, but Nick is a hero to us,” his father Michael said. But heroes have heroes, too, and Nick’s is Tiki Barber, the former football superstar who retired last year and became a reporter for TODAY. Curry told Nick that for his birthday, the show wanted to give him a new skateboard. The person who presented it to him was Barber.
“ You’re an inspiration,” Barber said. “ There are a lot of kids who might be at a disadvantage.
You give them strength.”
Curry observed that most parents try to protect their kids from failure, but the Santonastassos didn’t do that with Nick.
“Absolutely not, “Nick’s mother Stacey said. “ If you do have a small failure, it just makes you stronger to succeed at the next stop.”
“ It builds self-confidence in yourself to try it again,” Nick added.
Recently, Nick entered a drawing in a statewide contest in New Jersey. His drawing was a tree with a spreading canopy (树冠) and deep toots. Above the tree were the words, “The roots of a family are…” Below the ground, the roots spelled out the final word for the message: “ Love.”
It won the contest. The judges didn’t know Nick’ physical condition. He won on merit (成绩), the same way he does everything else in life.
【小题1】How did the Santonastassos treat Nick?