I learned about life from an ant farm. When I was seven years old, my family tried to __1__ an ant farm at home. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box, and then we brought some ants from the backyard and placed them into the __2__ home.

Shortly after the new __3__ were dropped into the glass structure, they got to work making tunnels. I was amazed that each one knew __4__ what to do. After hours of staring, I realized that the ants had particular given jobs. With my mom’s help, I kept a journal of what happened each day and __5__ the ants. My favorite was the biggest, Cinderella. I drew a picture of her in my journal, which I still have.

On day five a disaster __6__ the ant farm. While I was __7__ the ants, I had put my face so close to the structure that I accidentally tipped it over, __8__ in all the tunnels. Although the ants __9__ their earthquake, one by one they began to die. I was __10__ as I watched them give up their tunnel-building to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm. My mother reported that the ants were dying of “frustration”—feeling annoyed and impatient as they couldn’t control the situation. They simply could not __11__ the reality that their tunnels had been destroyed. Cinderella was the last to die; she did so while carrying a dead ant on her back.

Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, __12__ it taught me much more. __13__ the years, I came to realize the ants were a study in the benefits of __14__. Working together, they were able to create a(n) __15__ world for themselves. I also learned that they should be __16__ for their hard work. Day in and day out, each labored at their task. The ant farm demonstrated that teamwork and perseverance are indeed two key __17__ to success. But there was an even larger lesson that I did not __18__ until recently: Disaster is a natural part of life, and must be __19__. Unlike the ants, humans cannot give up when they face __20__. Unlike the ants, we have to realize that if a tunnel caves in, we just have to build another.

1.                A．get            B．buy            C．run  D．find

2.                A．empty          B．new           C．strange   D．distant

3.                A．guests          B．settlers         C．friends   D．members

4.                A．probably        B．roughly         C．exactly   D．normally

5.                A．named         B．trained         C．compared     D．measured

6.                A．affected        B．struck          C．kicked    D．beat

7.                A．removing       B．teaching        C．observing D．collecting

8.                A．turning         B．rushing         C．filling D．caving

9.                A．experienced     B．predicted       C．faced D．survived

10.               A．annoyed        B．horrified        C．moved    D．thrilled

11.               A．reflect         B．ignore         C．confirm   D．stand

12.               A．and           B．but            C．so    D．or

13.               A．In             B．For            C．From D．Over

14.               A．teamwork       B．devotion        C．responsibility   D．organization

15.               A．relaxing        B．amusing        C．moving    D．amazing

16.               A．supported      B．inspired        C．admired   D．admitted

17.               A．certificates      B．approaches     C．ingredients D．circumstances

18.               A．give           B．realize         C．take  D．adopt

19.               A．accepted       B．suffered        C．achieved D．managed

20.               A．challenges      B．barriers        C．pressure  D．disappointment

December 24 arrived along with a heavy snow. It was my first Christmas Eve without my mother, and the day’s usual  36  had disappeared.
The telephone rang. I  37  it and went to my bedroom to bury the continuous 38 , knowing it must be my friend Rebecca calling. How could I be  39 ? I wanted to be left  40 .
My heart felt as  41  as the falling snow.  42  can I stop missing my mother?
I  43  the window. Seeing Rebecca’s car parked out front, I went back to my bed and drew the covers over my head.
“Lucy!” she shouted. “I know you’re in there. Answer the door!”
“Leave me alone!” I  44  back. I heard paper rustling(沙沙作响) as she slid  45  under the door.
“Merry Christmas, ” she called out.
Not answering the  46  made me even 47. It wasn’t fair to my best friend. Her father and sister  48  in a car accident when she was eight years old.  49 , her mother had to return to  50 , and Rebecca was left to look after herself.
When she left, I carried the small package, sat down and  51  it. Inside was a golden pen and a journal. When I opened the journal’s front cover, out fell a bookmark with a(n)   52  written on it:
Dear Lucy,  
My words won’t heal（治愈）the 53  . But your own words can.
Love,
Rebecca
As I stared at the journal’s blank pages, a single tear fell on the page which quickly absorbed it.
That night, I  54  the phone and dialed her number.
“Looks like the snow is melting(融化), ” I said. “Spring was just ___55____the corner.”

Treatment for HIV has become more widespread, especially in poorer countries. It's also become cheaper, as medicine companies have lowered their prices for life-saving anti-retroviral drugs(抗逆转录病毒药物). But these drugs are still expensive and many countries are looking to create the biggest impact with limited resources. That's where World Health Organization guidelines come in, says Rochelle Walensky, a disease researcher from Harvard.
Walensky and her colleagues used computer programs to model the most cost-effective disease interventions(干预), as well as collected data from clinics in Africa and India about what works best. They found that among the choices of what to do first, earlier anti-retroviral therapy (疗法)improved five-year survival dramatically and resulted in the longer life expectancy. But cost-effective doesn't always mean affordable, especially for governments in poor countries. Countries still have to make difficult choices about how much treatment they can afford.
People in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010, protest a potential free trade area agreement between the EU and India that could see cheap anti-AIDS drugs phased out（逐步淘汰）. However, Walensky notes that first-line anti-retrovirals—those medicine given to newly diagnosed patients that can keep away from symptoms for years - are much cheaper than they were a decade ago. "Second-line therapy have come down quite a bit but not to the level of first-line and countries are having a hard time affording them and increasingly over time, people are going to fail first-line therapy and they're going second-line therapy and then, eventually, they're going to need third-line therapy, some of them."
According to Walensky, history has shown that drug prices can come down when international pressure is applied to drug makers. But for now, she says, countries should focus on treating as many people as they can, as early as possible
Her paper is published in the online journal PLoS Medicine.
【小题1】 Which is the best title for the passage?

完型填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36—55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上涂黑。
As a physician who travels quite a lot, I spend a lot of time on planes listening for that dreaded “Is there a doctor on board?” announcement. I’ve been  36 only once-for a woman who had merely fainted. But the   37 made me quite curious about how  38 this kind of thing happens. I wondered what I would do if  39 with a real mid-air medical emergency-without access  40 a hospital staff and the usual emergency equipment. So   41 the New England Journal of Medicine last week   42 a study about in-flight medical events, I   43 it with interest.
The study estimated that there are a(n)  44 of 30 in-flight medical emergencies on U.S. flights every day. Most of them are not   45 ; fainting and dizziness are the most frequent complaints.  46 13% of them-roughly four a day-are serious enough to   47 a pilot to change course. The most common of the serious emergencies   48 heart trouble, strokes, and  difficult breathing.
Let’s face it: plane rides are   49 . For starters, cabin pressures at high altitudes are set at roughly   50 they would be if you lived at 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. Most people can tolerate these pressures pretty   51 , but passengers with heart disease   52 experience chest pains as a result of the reduced amount of oxygen flowing through their blood.  53 common in-flight problem is deep venous thrombosis（血栓）-the so-called economy class syndrome（综合症）.  54 happens, don’t panic. Things are getting better on the in-flight emergency front. Thanks to more recent legislation（立法）, flights with at   55 one attendant are starting to install emergency medical equipments to treat heart attacks.
36. A. called         B. informed       C. addressed      D. surveyed
37. A. accident       B. incident       C. condition      D. disaster
38. A. soon           B. many           C. long           D. often

I learned about life from an ant farm. When I was seven years old, my family tried to __1__ an ant farm at home. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box, and then we brought some ants from the backyard and placed them into the __2__ home.
Shortly after the new __3__ were dropped into the glass structure, they got to work making tunnels. I was amazed that each one knew __4__ what to do. After hours of staring, I realized that the ants had particular given jobs. With my mom’s help, I kept a journal of what happened each day and __5__ the ants. My favorite was the biggest, Cinderella. I drew a picture of her in my journal, which I still have.
On day five a disaster __6__ the ant farm. While I was __7__ the ants, I had put my face so close to the structure that I accidentally tipped it over, __8__ in all the tunnels. Although the ants __9__ their earthquake, one by one they began to die. I was __10__ as I watched them give up their tunnel-building to carry the bodies to a corner of the farm. My mother reported that the ants were dying of “frustration”—feeling annoyed and impatient as they couldn’t control the situation. They simply could not __11__ the reality that their tunnels had been destroyed. Cinderella was the last to die; she did so while carrying a dead ant on her back.
Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, __12__ it taught me much more. __13__ the years, I came to realize the ants were a study in the benefits of __14__. Working together, they were able to create a(n) __15__ world for themselves. I also learned that they should be __16__ for their hard work. Day in and day out, each labored at their task. The ant farm demonstrated that teamwork and perseverance are indeed two key __17__ to success. But there was an even larger lesson that I did not __18__ until recently: Disaster is a natural part of life, and must be __19__. Unlike the ants, humans cannot give up when they face __20__. Unlike the ants, we have to realize that if a tunnel caves in, we just have to build another.