第二节：完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Cyber Step-Mother

    I’ve often felt “step-parent” is a label  (标签 )we attach to whoever marries into families where children already exist. At   36   that’s how I feel about   37    a step-mother to my husband’s four children.

    Over the years, we all learned to    38   our new family arrangement. We enjoyed vacations together, ate    39   meals, and so on.   40  , I continued to feel somewhat like a(n)  41   . There was a boundary line that could not be   42  .

    When the children moved to a town five hours   43   , my husband was depressed. In order to    44   regular communication with the kids, we send e-mails. However, if a computer message came   45   to “Dad”, I’d feel forgotten and   46    . If my name appeared along with his, it would make me feel like I was part of their family unit   47    .

    Late one evening, as I was checking my e-mail, an “instant message” appeared on the   48  . It was Margo, who was also sitting in front of her computer five hours away. We sent several messages back and forth,    49    the latest news. When we would “chat” like that, she wouldn’t   50   know if it was me or her dad. That night, she didn’t ask and I didn’t identify myself either. At about 11, I commented that I should go to sleep. Her return message   51   , “Okay, talk to you later! Love you!”

    As I read this message, a wave of    52   ran through me and I realized that she   53   she was talking with her father. Feeling   54   for not identifying myself, yet not wanting to embarrass her, I simply responded, “Love you too! Good night!”

    I felt again the sharp (剧烈的) ache of emptiness (空虚) and otherness. Then, as I was   55  to leave, Margo’s final message appeared, reading “Tell Dad good night for me too.” With tears filled eyes, I turned the machine off.

36.   A. most    B. least    C. present        D. last

37.   A. to be    B. being   C. is D. was

38.   A. adjust  B. look forward to    C. expect D. adapt to

39.   A. family  B. school  C. meat    D. fish

40.   A. But       B. Though         C. However      D. So

41.   A. outsider       B. member       C. stranger       D. foreigner

42.   A. across B. cross    C. crossing       D. crossed

43.   A. far        B. away    C. far from        D. away from

44.   A. maintain      B. entertain     C. contain         D. obtain

45.   A. addressing  B. signing          C. signed D. addressed

46.   A. neglected    B. devoted        C. ignore  D. concerned

47.   A. in short         B. after all        C. above all      D. as a result

48.   A. programme B. window        C. screen D. keyboard

49.   A. sending        B. exchanging  C. discussing    D. commenting

50.   A. unexpectedly       B. carefully       C. fortunately  D. necessarily

51.   A. read     B. reads   C. reading         D. wrote

52.   A. sickness       B. anger   C. nervousness         D. sadness

53.   A. must think   B. might have thought     C. must have thought      D. might think

54.   A. responsible B. stupid  C. guilty   D. disappointed

55.   A. about   B. due       C. prepare        D. willing

Growing up in the U.S.A., I always wanted to experience another culture. The   1  came when I was 15. After several months of   2 , I was ready to spend the second term of my first year of high school as an exchange student in Australia.
Landing in Perth was one of the most exciting moments of my life. I   3  then that there was no turning back. The family I would live with was waiting for me, and it would be only five days   4  the new school year started.
The Catholic school I   5  was different from my public school back in the States. The uniform code was very strict. We were only   6  to wear one bracelet, which had to be a watch and one necklace, which had to have a Holy Cross. I was quite intimidated(害怕的) at first,   7  never having been to a new school—even in the United States. Everything went   8  , though. The teachers were welcoming and the students were friendly.
The most unforgettable time of my term abroad was with forty-one other international exchange students traveling around Australia during our term break. Our   9  were as extensive as our nationalities: we traveled to Sydney, Canberra, Mildura, Coober Pedy, Uluru, Kings Canyon, Alice Springs, Mount Isa, Airlie Beach, and the Cold Coast.
The few weeks we enjoyed together were crowded with   10  . We took a day-cruise on Darling Harbor and visited the Sydney Opera House. We slept in an “underground town”. We walked around the famous Ayers Rock and went sailing on the Pacific Ocean.
At the end of our   11  in Australia, we had three weeks of traveling time to share our stories and help each other deal with leaving. It was   12  that our last day together was filled with tears. We packed our camp, exchanged e-mail addresses, and gathered together for a final good-bye.

Today I showed some foreign friends in our city. We started 1. ________

off by a car from the Friendship Hotel at 8 o’clock am. We first went 2. ________

to the Zhongshan Park. We were both struck by its beautiful flowers  3. ________

there. Then, we visited the city museum. We saw plenty of valuable  4. ________

   things, from them we learned more about the city. After that we   5. ________

devote to the Jinshan Temple. There is a beautiful place of interest in  6. ________

 our city, but from there we enjoyed the wonderful scenery of the    7. ________

    sea.We had a delicious lunch at the Seafood Restaurant and come 8. ________

back at 1:20 pm. All the foreign friends were pleased my arrangement. 9. ________

I was happy that we do have a wonderful time today.              10. ________

Recently, we went on a vacation for a week that involved visiting four different ports in the sunny and warm climate of the Caribbean. There were         of laughter, fun and great food. It’s a        thing when you go away that each day of the vacation also        to the end and a return to work.

It was twelve years since we went on a vacation, so this vacation was viewed with         of a great break away from my daily routine. And we weren’t        .

But there was something very different about this vacation compared to those when we worked in a corporative environment. The main       was that when we returned, when the vacation was rapidly drawing to a close, we didn’t have the same feeling of      stress, anxiety and fear.

In this recent vacation, it wasn’t that we        enjoyed the various fun and new activities, the break away from routine, the pleasure of touring different countries and cultures, the         to do what we wanted when we wanted or the leisurely       of each day that was significant. What was significant was that we didn’t       fear the last day of vacation. You see, we know that we were        what we love to do not what we had to do.

The feelings experienced in the last couple of days of vacation were viewed with the same joy as the very first days. In the previous times, the last days of vacation were terrible. We experience an increasing        of stress       we knew that a return to our field of employment was “work” and not        that we loved and thoroughly enjoyed.

The        is this: If you do what you love, it doesn’t matter        that a vacation has to end. If you love what you do you will not         yourself wishing for even a few more days of vacation, or wishing that you could       enjoying this vacation for much, much longer. A love of what you do        you back like a magnet.

1.A. moments            B. possibilities           C. situations               D. ways

2.A. discouraging      B. bitter                               C. wonderful             D. funny

3.A. come up             B. count down                     C. give out                  D. die away

4.A. expectation                B. attempt                           C. opinion                  D. demand

5.A. satisfied                        B. tired                                  C. disappointed         D. optimistic

6.A. advantage           B. problem                          C. difference              D. drawback

7.A. approaching                B. relieving                          C. bearing                  D. overcoming

8.A. necessarily                  B. thoroughly                      C. relaxingly                D. smoothly

9.A. opportunity                B. desire                     C. possibility              D. right

10.A. pattern                      B. pace                                  C. lifestyle                   D. atmosphere

11.A. yet                               B. still                                    C. also                         D. even

12.A. returning to              B. submitting to                  C. turning to              D. heading for

13.A. number            B. knowledge                       C. sense                      D. awareness

14.A. although                    B. and                                   C. because               D. if

15.A. anything                    B. everything                      C. nothing                  D. something

16.A. lesson                        B. idea                                  C. point                        D. solution

17.A. in the least                B. for a moment                 C. after all                  D. at the moment

18.A. let                     B. find                                  C. make                      D. catch

19.A. maintain                    B. risk                                   C. keep                       D. stop

20.A. draws                         B. holds                                C. pushes                   D. welcomes

Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is on the Southern Hemisphere of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is small. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.

Enough laws have been made to fight against pollution. The cities in Australia have little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flower exhibition. There we saw large numbers of wild flowers on show, most of which we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. Every year in spring Perth has a wild flower exhibition. After visiting Perth, we spent a day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves very much. When we heard bells ringing at the top of the hills, we looked up, but what we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to our car as quickly as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us along the path.

Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos（袋鼠）. After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself among the white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere you can see sheep.

1.Which country is the writer most possibly from?

2.We can learn from the passage that _________.

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

4.The underlined word “exhibition” in the third paragraph means _________.