Vincent van Gogh was not always an artist. In fact, he wanted to be a(n) __21  and was even sent to the Belgian __22  community of Borinage. He discovered that the miners there __23  deplorable(悲惨的) working conditions and poverty-level wages. Their families  __24__  simply to survive. He felt concerned that the small amount of money he received from the church __25  him a moderate life-style, which, __26 , seemed to him unfair.
One cold February evening, while he watched the miners trudging(步履艰难)home, he __27  an old man staggering(蹒跚)toward him across the fields, __28 in a burlap sack for warmth. Van Gogh laid his own clothing out on the bed, __29 enough for one change, and decided to give__30 away. He gave the old man a suit of clothes and gave his overcoat to a pregnant woman whose __31 had been killed in a cave-in.
He lived on starvation rations and spent his money on __32  for the miners. When children in one family had fever, though __33  himself, he packed up his bed and took it to them.
A (an) __34  family in the community offered him free room and board. Van Gogh __35__ the offer, stating that it was the final temptation he must reject if he was to __36  serve his community of poor miners.
He believed that if he wanted them to __37  him, he must become one of them. And if they were to learn of love through him, he must love them enough to __38  with them.
He was aware of the wide chasm(鸿沟)between words and actions. He knew that our lives always __39  louder and clearer than words.
Others are “ __40 ” carefully to your actions. What are you saying to them?

Death Valley is one of the most famous deserts in the United States, covering a wide area with its alkali sand Almost 20 percent of this area is well below sea level, and Badwater, a salt water pool, is about 280 feet below sea level and the lowest point in the United States.
Long ago the Panamint Indians called this place “Tomesha”— the land of fire. Death Valley’s present name dates back to 1849, when a group of miners coming across from Nevada became lost in its unpleasantness and hugeness and their adventure turned out to be a sad story. Today Death Valley has been declared（宣告）a National Monument（纪念碑）and is crossed by several well-marked roads where good services can be found easily. Luckily the change created by human settlement has hardly ruined the special beauty of this place.
Here nature created a lot of surprise, almost like the sights on the moon, ever-changing as the frequent（频繁的）wind moves the sand about, showing the most unusual colors. One of the most surprising and variable（多变的）parts of Death Valley is the Devil’ s Golf Course, where it seems hard for one to tell reality from terrible dreams. Sand sculptures（沙雕）stand on a frightening ground, as evening shadows move and lengthen.
【小题1】.. _______ is the lowest place in the desert.

第二节完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
　　阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、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。
　　John Blanchard was at Grand Central Station,looking for the girl whose heart he knew,but whose face he didn't,the girl with the 36 .
　　His interest in her had begun 13 months before in a Florida 37 .He was reading a book there and was attracted by the 38 on the margins left by a reader named Miss Hollis Maynell.He 39 to find her address and wrote her a letter 40 himself.The next day he was shipped overseas for 41 in the army in World War Ⅱ.
　　During the next 13 months the two grew to know each other throught the 42 .When he returned,they decided their first 43 -7 pm at Grand Gentral Station. "Youll 44 me," she wrote,"by the red rose I'll be 45 on my coat."
　　A young girl in a green suit was coming 46 Blanchard.She was so beautiful that he started fixing his eyes upon her,entirely 47 to notice that she was not wearing a rose.Just then,he saw Hollis Maynell,who was 48 just behind the girl.She was a woman well past 40,with 49 hair under a worn hat.
　　Blanchard felt 50 .But he didn't hesitate.He said to 51 ,"I'm Lieutenant(中尉) John Blanchard,and you must be Miss Maynell.I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to 52 ?"
　　"I don't 53 what this is about,son," she said,"but the young lady 54 asked me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner,I should tell you that she is 55 you in the big restaurant across the street!"
　　You can hardly imagine how happy Lieutenant John Blanchard felt at the moment!　
　　36.A.book B.hat C.rose D.letter
　　37.A.library B.restaurant C.post office D.station
　　38.A.trails B.notes C.signs D.marks
　　39.A.attempted B.stopped C.intended D.managed
　　40.A.introducing B.displaying C.acknowledging D.claiming
　　41.A.business B.work C.service D.research
　　42.A.ship B.mail C.line D.telegraphy
　　43.A.greeting B.interview C.meeting D.talk
　　44.A.memorize B.impress C.run into D.recognize
　　45.A.putting B.carrying C.fixing D.wearing
　　46.A.toward B.over C.from D.off
　　47.A.refusing B.forgetting C.stopping D.managing
　　48.A.standing B.wandering C.chasing D.hurrying
　　49.A.lighening B.darkening C.graying D.thickning
　　50.A.excited B.shy C.embarrassed D.disappointed
　　51.A.the girl B.the woman C.himself D.the passer - by
　　52.A.dinner B.my house C.the hotel D.the train
　　53.A.guess B.believe C.know D.like
　　54.A.under a worn hat B.in the green suit C.with gray hair D.standing behind
　　55.A.preparing for B.looking for C.teating D.waiting for

About ten years ago, I was on a plane going west, and a young woman boarded and sat across the aisle (过道) from me. I ___41____ her for two reasons. She was very attractive, and she was holding a teddy bear about half her ____42____. I teased her by asking if she had a ___43___ for the bear. She laughed and said no.
About halfway through the flight she ___44____ over and told me she was going to Tucson to enter rehab (进行康复治疗). She ___45___ to share her life story with me. She had been working as a dancer in a nightclub. That ___46____ had led her down a dark ____47____ to drugs and alcohol. As I listened to her story. I was ____48____ at all she had gone through. I listened to all she shared and told her I was sure she was going to ____49___ it. At the end of the flight, she ___50____ me for listening to her.
A few years later, I got a ___51____ in the mail saying, “Wow, it’s been years since we met on that plane. It is ___52____ how you touched my life.” She went on to tell me that she had ____53____ to stay away from drugs, and had been working for a radio station. She felt she had achieved things she could not have ____54___ that day on the plane. We agreed to set up a time to get ___55___.
When I saw her, she was ____56____ the attractive young woman I remembered. She told me that that little ___57___ we had had turned her life around. She had boarded the plane ___58___ anything would work in her life, and my affirmation (肯定) of her as a person and of her ___59___ had given her the last bit of ___60___ she needed to work through her problems.
The young woman taught me it’s never too late to make a new start in life.

Bamboo is one of the nature’s most surprising plants. Many people call this plant a tree, but it is a kind of grass.
Like other kinds of grass, a bamboo plant may be cut very low to the ground, but it will grow back very quickly. A Japanese scientist recorded one bamboo plant that grew almost 1.5 meters in 24 hours! Bamboo grows almost everywhere in the world except Europe. There are more than 1,000 kinds of bamboo that grow around the world on both mountains and plains.
Not all bamboo looks the same. Some bamboo plants are very thin. They may only grow to be a few centimeters wide while others may grow to more than 30 centimeters across. This plant also comes in different colors, from yellow to black to green.
Many Asian countries have been using bamboo for hundreds of years. They often use bamboo for building new buildings. As a matter of fact, the cables that hold up the hanging bridge across the Min River in Sichuan are made of bamboo. The bridge has been in use for more than 1,000 years, and is still holding strong.
In Africa, engineers are teaching poor farmers how to find water using bamboo. These African countries need cheap ways to find water because they have no money, and their fields often die from no rain and no water. It seems that bamboo is one of the best things they can use. Bamboo pipes and drills can help to make the poor thirsty fields to be watered.
【小题1】How is bamboo like grass?