We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests’ coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.

         The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.

         Each of the guests made a particular fuss over (对…关爱倍至)Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smiles. They said she was an unusual girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.

         I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big “to do” over the younger one because she’s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions (意图).

         But we seldom think of how it might affect (影响) the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was ignored. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.

         I said, “What are you doing, my dear?”

         She turned to me with a sad expression and said, “Mommy, why don’t people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I’m not pretty? Is that why they don’t say nice things about me as much?”

         I tried to explain to her, kissing her to make her feel better.

         Now, whenever I visit a friend’s home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.

1．The underlined expression “make a big ‘to do’ over” (in paragraph 4) means _______.

         A．show much concern about         B．have a special effect on

         C．list jobs to be done for           D．do good things for

2．The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs for her _______.

           A．pretty clothes                  B．lovely smile  C.  young age      D．beautiful hair

3．Kristen felt sad and cried because ______.

         A．the guests gave her more coats to carry

         B．the guests praised her sister more than her

C．her mother didn’t introduce her to the guests

         D．she didn’t look as pretty as Kelly

4．We can conclude from the passage that _______.

         A．parents should pay more attention to the elder children

         B．the younger children are usually more easily hurt

         C．people usually like the younger children more

         D．adults should treat children equally

完形填空（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所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项。
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know a new classmate. I stood up to 36  when a gentle hand   37   my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady looking up at me with a  38  .
She said, “Hi. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a 39  ?” I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze (an act of pressing).
“Why are you in college at such a young,    40  age ?”I asked. “I always dreamed of having a  41   experience and now I’m getting   42  !” she told me.
Later, we became close friends. Every day we would leave class together and she   43   her wisdom and  44   with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a (an)    45  icon（偶像） and she easily made friends wherever she went.
At the  46  of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. When she was  47  , frustrated and a little embarrassed, she cleared her  48  and said, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we  49  old because we stop playing. There are only two secrets to staying   50  , being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find 51   every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you  52  .”
One week after graduation Rose died   53   in her sleep. Many college students attended her funeral in tribute to（悼念）the wonderful woman who taught us by    54  that it’s never too late  to 55  all you can possibly be.

B
Taste is such a subjective matter that we don’t usually conduct preference tests for food．The most you can say about anyone’s preference is that it’s one person’s opinion．But because the two big cola companies-Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola-are marketed so aggressively, we’ve wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty．We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-cola or Pepsi fans: Find your brand in a blind tasting．
We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic or Pepsi, Diet Coke, or Diet Pepsi．These were people who thought they’d have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand．
We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers．Then we fed them with four unidentified samples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for the other．We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi; then we analyzed the records statistically to compare the participants’ choices with what mere guesswork could have accomplished．
Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand．In the end, only 7 out of 19 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials．The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse-only 7 out of 27 identified all four samples correctly．
Both groups did better than chance would predict, but nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times．Two people got all four samples wrong．Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so tiredness, or taste burnout, was not a factor．Our preference test results suggest that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price．
41．According to the passage the preference test was conducted in order to ________．
A．show that a person’s opinion about taste is mere guesswork
B．compare the ability of the participants in choosing their drinks
C．find out the role taste preference plays in a person’s drinking
D．reveal which cola is more to the liking of the drinkers
42．The statistics recorded in the preference tests show that________．
A．there is not much difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi
B．few people had trouble telling Coca-Cola from Pepsi
C．people’s tastes differ from one another
D．Coca-Cola and Pepsi are people’s two most favorite drinks
43．It is implied in the first paragraph that________．
A．the competition between the two colas is very strong
B．blind tasting is necessary for identifying fans
C．the purpose of taste test is to promote the sale of colas
D．the improvement of quality is the chief concern of the two cola companies
44．The underlined word “burnout” here refers to the state of________．
A．being seriously burnt in the skin           
B．being badly damaged by fire  
C．being unable to burn for lack of fuel     
D．being unable to function because of too much use
45．The author’s purpose in writing this passage is to________．
A．emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other
B．recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas
C．show that taste preference is highly subjective
D．argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy

Taste is such a subjective matter that we don’t usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone’s preference is that it’s one person’s opinion. But because the two big cola companies-Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola-are marketed so aggressively, we’ve wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-cola or Pepsi fans: Find your brand in a blind tasting.

       We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic or Pepsi, Diet Coke, or Diet Pepsi. These were people who thought they’d have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand.

       We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them with four unidentified samples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for the other. We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi; then we analyzed the records statistically to compare the participants’ choices with what mere guesswork could have accomplished.

       Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7 out of 19 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse-only 7 out of 27 identified all four samples correctly.

       Both groups did better than chance would predict, but nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people got all four samples wrong. Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so tiredness, or taste burnout, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price.

According to the passage the preference test was conducted in order to ________.

A. show that a person’s opinion about taste is mere guesswork

B. compare the ability of the participants in choosing their drinks

C. find out the role taste preference plays in a person’s drinking

D. reveal which cola is more to the liking of the drinkers

The statistics recorded in the preference tests show that________.

A. there is not much difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi

B. few people had trouble telling Coca-Cola from Pepsi

C. people’s tastes differ from one another

D. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are people’s two most favorite drinks

The underlined word “burnout” here refers to the state of________.

A. being seriously burnt in the skin            

B. being badly damaged by fire   

C. being unable to burn for lack of fuel      

D. being unable to function because of too much use

The author’s purpose in writing this passage is to________.

A. emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other

B. recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas

C. show that taste preference is highly subjective

D. argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy

We invited her to dinner but she didn’t even bother to _______.