He is able to ___________ new jokes about the people and things around him.

B
ON March 17 there will be an explosion of green across the World in celebration of St Patrick’s Day．The Irish traditionally wear green on this day, as the color is associated with Ireland．
But there are others, non-Irish，who use the occasion to make jokes about the Irish．They use the stereotype(成见)of the Irish as hot-tempered(脾气暴躁的)drinkers，who love to fight and will do anything to avoid a day's work．
However, today the Irish are more often admired for their musical talent and many other abilities．It’s no accident that many of today's most popular music groups，such as singer Enya and rock band U2，are Irish born and bred．Lonely Planet readers even ranked Ireland in 2007 as the friendliest country in the world．
So where did the negative Irish stereotype come from? From the 19th century when it was a bad time to be Irish．
Ireland then was poverty-stricken and starving．Many Irish moved to the United States to escape famine, but there they had to compete---occasionally with their fists for jobs and housing with other immigrant groups，such as the Italians．It was on the US’ streets that the Irish earned their reputation for street fighting．
The stereotype of the Irish as big drinkers may be unfair, but Ireland can boast(为……自豪) its fair share of famous drinks．It was the Irish after all who created one of the world’s best-loved beers，Guinness．
65．What is the story mainly about?
A．How the Irish earned their reputation．
B．The festival-St Patrick’s Day．
C．Jokes about the Irish people．
D．Famous Irish stereotype and the truth．
66．Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A．St Palrick’s Day is celebrated nowhere else but Ireland．
B．Modern Irish show no interest in drinking alcohol．
C．Part of the stereotype about the Irish is that they are lazy．
D．Irish people usually get hot-tempered when laughed at．
67．Where did the negative Irish stereotype come from?
A．From their everyday behavior toward other people．
B．From the behavior of Irish immigrants to America in the 19th century．
C．From the historical record of 19th century Ireland．
D．From most people’s impression of Irish people

In the first week after arriving in the new city for further study, I fell and broke my leg. I was really ___36___by the kindness of my new roommate. “We are family now,” she said when she __37__me lying in my bed with a swollen leg, unable to move. She took me to ___38__ by taxi to get my leg examined. The driver was so___39__ that we arrived there very quickly. After that, my __40___continued helping me though I told her I could do things on my own.
So many blessing I had never expected came to me when I was alone and helpless. Bus drivers picked me up from anywhere they saw me. Many people __41__ the door for me. Such things were small but __42___ for a person on walking sticks.
___43___for people’s kindness, I did whatever I could to make people laugh. I made many jokes about my two sticks and the bad fall. And I tried not to __44__ a single time about what had happened. I also tried to be kind to other students who were injured. I took time to __45__ with a girl in a wheelchair who always ate lunch alone.
I soon realized that pain can be__46__ by mental strength. I could see that although I was using physical sticks, there were hundreds of mental sticks I could depend on. I also saw that sometimes ____47____ situation can be good. There are choices to discover great kindness in the world.

If you are a recent social science graduate who has had to listen to jokes about unemployment from your computer major classmates, you may have had the last laugh. There are many advantages for the social science major because this high-tech" Information Age" demands people who are flexi­ble (灵活的) and who have good communication skills.

There are many social science majors in large companies who fill important positions. For exam­ple, a number of research studies found that social science majors had achieved greater managerial success than those who had technical training or pre-professional courses. Studies show that social science majors are most suited for change, which is the leading feature (特点) of the kind of high­ speed, high-pressure, high-tech world we now live in.

Social science majors are not only experiencing success in their long-term company jobs, but they are also finding jobs more easily. A study showed that many companies had filled a large percentage of their entry-level positions with social science graduates. The study also showed that the most sought-after quality in a person who was looking for a job was communication skills, noted as "very important" by 92 percent of the companies. Social science majors have these skills, often without knowing how important they are. It is probably due to these skills that they have been offered a wide variety of positions.

Finally, although some social science majors may still find it more difficult than their technical­ly trained classmates to land the first job, recent graduates report that they don't regret their choice of study.

72. By saying that" you may have had the last laugh" in the first paragraph, the author means that you may have ________.

A. shared the jokes with computer majors

C. found jobs more easily than computer majors

B. earned as much as computer majors

D. stopped joking about. computer majors

73. Compared with graduates of other subjects, social science graduates _______.

A. are ready to change when situations change.

B. are better able to deal with difficulties

C. are equally good at computer skills

D. are likely to give others pressure

74. The underlined word “ land” in the last paragraph probably means ______.

A. keep for some time               B. immediately start

C. successfully get                     D. lose regretfully

75. According to the text, what has made it easy for social science graduates to find jobs?

A. Willingness to take low-paid jobs.

B. Skills in expressing themselves.

C. Readiness to gain high-tech knowledge.

D. Part-time work experience.

第三部分：阅读理解(共两节，满分40分)
第一节：选择题(共15小题，每小题2分，共30分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳答案，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
I was born an albino．No one in my family had ever known what an albino was，what it meant to be an albino，and what had to be done differently because I was an albino.
My parents treated me just like they treated everybody else. That was just about the best thing they could have done. It helped me trust myself，so when the annoyances came along，I could deal with them.
Actually，my photo always looked like a snowball with two pieces of coal for eyes. Kids would tease me，asking if I was joining the circus and calling me “Whitey”. Like most albinos，I had terrible eyesight，and my grades suffered until eventually I overcame my feeling ashamed of myself and realized it was okay to ask to sit in the front of the classroom so I could see the blackboard better. People stared at me when I held reading material right at the tip of my nose so I could see it well enough to read. Even when I was eight or nine. movie-theater clerks started asking me to pay adult prices because I “looked older”.
The worst part for me was that because my eyesight was so bad，I couldn't play sports very well. I didn't give up trying，though. And I studied harder. Eventually，I got better at school and loved it. By the time I got to college I was double majoring，going to summer school and devoting myself to every kind of extracurricular activity I could find. I had learned to be proud of being an albino. I did my best to make “albino” a positive word. And I decided to make my living with my eyes.
I couldn't see well enough to play spots，but with a solid education and the drive to do it，I could make a living involved in the field I loved. I've done it now for more than thirty years in print and in video，and now in cyberspace. People make jokes about how I'm the only “blind editor” they know，but most of the time the jokes are signs of respect. And I make jokes about being an albino.
I was just a proud albino kid from the coal country of Pennsylvania. I now realize that being born an albino helped me to overcome difficulties，gain confidence，and be proud of my personal achievement and humble about my professional accomplishments.
56．According to the passage，an albino refers to a person__________．
A．who has bad eyesight        B．who is born with white skin and hair
C．who looks older than his age  D．who joins the circus
57．What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A．The fact that the author was born an albino．
B．The way that the author's parents treated him．
C．What had to be done differently to the author．
D．The fact that the author had no idea what an albino was．
58．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Despite his bad eyesight，the author played sports well．
B．The author paid adult prices for movies when he was still young．
C．The author's study was affected by his eyesight at first． 
D．“Albino” has already become a positive word now．
59．In the passage，the author intends to tell us___________．
A．actually being an albino helped him achieve success
B．how an albino studied well
C．what it is like to be an albino
D．how people should treat an albino