As soon as I learned to say the word “beauty”, I set out to look for it. Before I could find it, I asked my mother what a beauty was like. She said that a beauty is 1 who has large bright eyes and fine skin.

When I was in Grade Four, I 2 such a girl. I sat right in front of her and 3 her to see if she was a real beauty. She 4 a beauty in my eyes until the day she 5 with me. She demanded that I 6 her pencil box which I 7 knocked on to the floor. I 8 . Suddenly she flew at me and threw me onto the ground and we rolled about 9 each other.

During the years that followed, I came across 10 explanations given to me by different people. Some said a girl with a thin figure(体形) is a beauty, 11 that a girl with a gentle voice is beautiful, 12 said it is a girl with hair that is like a waterfall. I 13 give these a second thought.

I searched for a beauty 14 had told me before, but it was useless. Then I met an old man. He told me that a beauty is a girl who might not be quite 15 with natural beauty. However, she becomes a beauty 16 experiencing hardship. After a 10-year hunt for a beauty, I found her. She became my 17 . She was not very pretty but she was 18 . She was born in a 19 family and had to take care of herself from young. When we married, I really got the idea about a beauty. She was the one the 20 old man had described to me.

1.A. your classmate B. a girl 　　　 C. an experienced girl D. an ugly girl

2.A. liked 　　　　 B. was tired of C. was against 　　 D. found

3.A. stared at 　　 B. scolded 　　 C. beat 　　　　　 D. laughed at

4.A. wasn’t　 　　　 B. pretended to be C. treated himself D. was

5.A. quarreled 　　 B. talked 　　　 C. played 　　　　 D. studied

6.A. steal 　　　　 B. rob her of 　 C. like 　　　　　 D. pick up

7.A. by chance 　　 B. by no means C. by herself 　　 D. by the way

8.A. agreed 　　 B. refused 　　 C. was happy 　 D. did so

9.A. talking with B. helping 　　 C. hitting 　　　　 D. leaving

10.A. the same 　　 B. different 　 C. the opposite 　 D. some correct

11.A. but 　　　　 B. or 　　　 C. as 　　　　　 D. so

12.A. Everyone 　　 B. The others 　 C. Nobody 　　　　 D. Others

13.A. did 　　　　 B. must 　　 C. didn’t 　　　　 D. should

14.A. an old man 　　　 B. some people C. nobody 　　　　 D. my mother

15.A. lucky 　　　 B. sad　 　　 C. willing 　　　　 D. happy

16.A. after 　　　 B. without 　　 C. liking 　　　　　 D. against

17.A. friend 　　　 B. teacher 　　 C. classmate 　 D. girlfriend

18.A. ugly 　　　　 B. beautiful 　 C. lovely 　　　　 D. bright

19.A. rich 　　　　 B. farmer’s 　 C. happy 　　　 D. poor

20.A. foolish 　　 B. kind-hearted C. wise 　　　　 D. honest

C

As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friend’s house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods,” with a tone of airy acceptance. It’s similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.

We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring (探险). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Italian burial mound.

Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly — tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.

It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us has reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence (青春期). In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.

48. The author and his fiends were often out in the woods to ______.

A. spend their free time               B. play golf and other sports

C. keep away from their parents        D. escape from doing their schoolwork

49. What can we infer from paragraph 2?

A. The activities in the woods were well planned.

B. Human history is not the result of exploration.

C. The author explored in the woods aimlessly.

D. Exploration should be a systematic activity.

50. The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

A. calm                 B. doubtful            C. serious              D. optimistic

51. From the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A. they usually didn’t go to the woods in winter

B. the author and his friends are of the same age

C. all high school students would go dancing on Friday evenings

D. they stopped going to the woods because they were adults now

52. How does the author feel about his childhood?

A. Happy but short.                                   B. Lonely but memorable.

C. Boring and meaningless.                 D. Long and unforgettable.

As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods．“The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse．If I went to a friends house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone（语气） of airy acceptance．It is similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk．” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while．

We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring（探索）．Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today．History seemed to be mostly about explorers．Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way．Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Indian burial mound．

Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were．If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees．There were four or five trees that we visited regularly—tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in．

It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end．By then some of us had reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）．In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring．We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree．Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria．

The author and his friends were often out in the woods to _______．

     A．spend their free time               B．play golf and other sports

     C．avoid doing their schoolwork  D．keep away from their parents

What can we infer from Paragraph 2 ?

     A．The activities in the woods were well planned．

     B．Human history is not the result of exploration．

     C．Exploration should be a systematic activity．

     D．The author explored in the woods aimlessly．

The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______．

     A．calm       B．doubtful   C．serious      D．optimistic

How does the author feel about his childhood?

     A．Happy but short．            B．Lonely but memorable．

     C．Boring and meaningless．      D．Long and unforgettable．

A Tour City—Pompeii

Every year thousands of tourists visit Pompeii, Italy. They see the sights that Pompeii is famous for its stadium(运动场) and theatres, its shops and restaurants. The tourists do not, however, see Pompeii's people. They do not see them because Pompeii has no people. No one has lived in Pompeii for almost 2,000 years.

Once, Pompeii was a busy city of 22,000 people. It lay at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, a grass－covered volcano(火山). Mount Vesuvius had not erupted(喷发)for centuries, so the people of Pompeii felt safe. But they were not.

In August of AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted. The entire top of the mountain exploded,_and a huge black cloud rose into the air. Soon stones and hot ash began to fall on Pompeii. When the eruption ended two days later, Pompeii was buried under 20 feet of stones and ashes. Almost all of its people were dead.

For centuries, Pompeii lay buried under stone and ash. Then, in the year 1861, an Italian scientist named Ginseppe began to uncover Pompeii. Slowly, carefully, Ginseppe and his men dug. The city looked almost the same as it had looked in AD 79. There were streets and fountains, houses and shops. There was a stadium with 20,000 seats. Perhaps the most important of all, there were everyday objects, which tell us a great deal about the people who lived in Pompeii. Many glasses and jars had some dark blue colour in the bottom, so we know that the people of Pompeii liked wine. They liked bread too. Metal bread pans were in every bakery. In one bakery there were 81 round, flat loaves of bread—a type of bread that is still sold in Italy today. Tiny boxes filled with a dark, shiny power tell us that women liked to wear eye－makeup.

Ginseppe has died, but his work continues. One－fourth has not been uncovered yet. Scientists are still digging, still making discoveries that draw the tourists to Pompeii.

1. Why do large numbers of people come to Pompeii each year?

A. To visit the volcano.

B. To shop and eat there.

C. To watch sports and plays.

D. To see how Pompeiians lived.

2. Why had so many people remained by volcanic Mount Vesuvius?

A. The city nearly offered all kinds of fun.

B. The area produced the finest wine in Italy.

C. Few people expected the volcano to erupt again.

D. The mountain was beautiful and covered with grass.

3. Why did the city uncovered look almost the same as it had looked in AD 79?

A. Because Ginseppe and his men dug it slowly and carefully.

B. Because the city was buried alive and remained untouched.

C. Because scientists successfully rebuilt the city with everyday objects.

D. Because nobody had lived in the city ever since the volcano erupted.

4. What's the meaning of the underlined word “exploded” in the third paragraph?

A. 爆发       B. 震动       C. 倒塌       D. 爆裂

5. What do we know about the Pompeiians who lived 2,000 years ago?

A. They lived more or less the same as Italians now do.

B. They liked women wearing all kinds of makeup.

C. They enjoyed a lazy life with drinking and eating.

D. They went back to Pompeii after the eruption in AD 79.

When I began planning to move to Auckland to study，my mother was worried about a lack of jobs and cultural differences. Ignoring these 36 ，I got there in July, 2010.  37 I arrived，I realized the importance of getting a job  38  my living experience. Determined to do this __39__ ，I spent several weeks going door-­to-­door for a job，but found __40__ response(回应)．
One afternoon，I walked into a building to ask _41__ there were my job opportunities. The people there advised me not to continue my job search in that __42__ .As I was about to_43__，a man who had been listening approached me and asked me to wait outside __44__.Nearly ten minutes later，he __45__.He asked me about my plans and encouraged me to stay __46__.Then he offered to take me to Royal Oak to __47__ a job.
I was a little surprised，but had a __48__ feeling about him. Along the way，I realized that I had __49__ resumes(简历)．Seeing this，the man __50__ at his business partner’s office to make me fifteen __51__ copies. He also gave me some __52__ on dressing and speaking. I handed out my resumes and went home feeling very __53__ .The following day，I received a __54__from a store in Royal Oak offering me a job.
It seems that the world always __55__ to you when you need it. And this time，it was a complete stranger who turned out to be a real blessing.