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

（三）

A

I recently spent two years in the Arctic filming the series Blue Planet. I love being in an environment that hasn't changed for 20,000 years. Of course it's freezing, but it must be a healthy place because you never catch colds.

When I'm filming, I like to really feel how lonely the environment is. Filming underwater involves cutting through thick ice and diving in tied to a line. The person at the other end has to be ready to pull you out fast if necessary.

Originally I was a research diver for the British Antarctic Survey project, but for me science lacked excitement. I'd always enjoyed photography, and whenever camera teams passed through, they encouraged me to watch and learn. I was then able to move into filming in 1985 and have concentrated on Arctic and Antarctic wildlife ever since.

I prefer to be faced with the animals I'm filming. I haven't got in the water with killer whales yet, but I plan to. Of course, it's dangerous if you choose the wrong moment. They're big animals and can move fast, so I'd be stupid to film them searching for food!

I've never had problems with polar bears, although once I was frightened when one tried to get into my tent. Polar bears are bold, clever and dangerous. But I made this one see I wasn't about to attack it - I'm sure it realised I wouldn't hurt it.

When I come home back from my trips, I work in the mornings and spend the afternoons swimming to keep fit. Now I'm fifty, filming is harder. The challenge for me is to continue to deliver high-quality work.

56. In this text, the writer is describing __________.

A. the challenges of the environment he works in       B. the beautiful scenery of the Arctic

C. the career opportunities in TV camera work.  　　D. the difficulties of having to work alone

57. What does the writer say about his early career?

A. He was bored by working only in Antarctic.

B. It taught him how to become a skilled diver.

C. He wasted the years he spent as a scientist.

D. It provided him with a chance to learn about filming.

58. When talking about killer whales, the writer says that __________.

A. he has always been careful when diving with them

B. he tries to avoid any danger by facing them

C. he will only film them from a safe distance

D. he believes there are safe opportunities to film them

59. How does the writer describe his experience with a polar bear?

A. The writer realized he was wrong to trust polar bears.

B. The writer felt nervous that the bear might come back.

C. The bear seemed to know the writer wasn’t a danger.

D. The animal was much more afraid than the writer was.

With a determined(坚定的) look on his face, Chicago’s Michael McCarthy held on to the banister(扶手) and climbed to the top of the Willis Tower not long ago. The Tower stands 1,451 feet(442 meters) tall, the 21 building in the US.

As he got to the last step, McCarthy 22 fell down, but that didn’t stop him. The 14-year-old boy finally finished climbing the 2,109 steps and arrived at the top, where he 23 cheers from many people.

“I just want to show people that  24 a kid with no legs can do it, anyone can do it,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy, who was born without legs, has to wear prosthetic legs(假肢) and use a stick to walk. But McCarthy has a strong 25 . He believes having a disability(残疾) shouldn’t stop anyone  26  achieving his or her success.

He has been in a special school  27  he was four. When he decided to climb the Willis Tower, his teacher, Jeff Kohn, was   28  by his determination(决心) and offered to help train him. They   29  more than ten hours practicing climbing stairs and keeping balance with the prosthetics and sticks on the steps every day. “  30  seems that he never knows how difficult it is.  31  I was so tired that I asked him to rest for a day,”said Kohn. “But he said he was still full of energy and wanted more  32 .”

Kohn always walked with McCarthy for the climb. “I   33   the last 10 floors, he went faster,” said Kohn. “He’s the most craven sportsman I’ve ever trained.”

McCarthy said he was   34  of himself and that the tower now holds special meaning. “When I’m older, I’ll   35  to the building and say ‘Look at this building I climbed’,” he said.

1.A. largest  B. highest            C. earliest    

2.A. seldom     B. hardly           C. almost

3.A. enjoyed   B. needed            C. made      

4.A. while      B. though                C. if        

5.A. heart     B. hope              C. body      

6.A. by                 B. for                 C. from

7.A. as                 B. since               C. until       

8.A. pleased    B. beaten           C. moved      

9.A. used               B. spent               C. took        

10.A. Here                  B. There               C. It

11.A. However B. Sometimes          C. Then

12.A. friends       B. helpers              C. exercise

13.A. tried     B. saw              C. did        

14.A. thinking   B. talking             C. proud

15.A. point   B. go                     C. turn        

完形填空部分（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。

Anna lived on the side of a valley. One winter, there was a very big flood, and a lot of houses  36    Anna's were washed away. Anna's house was high enough to escape the flood, so when the water had disappeared and the other houses were __37    there with no roof and no walls and all covered with __38   , her house was    39   quite all right.

     Her house was quite small, her husband was dead, and she had four children ,    40    Anna took in one of the families that had lost   41    in the flood and she  42   her home with them until it was    43   for them to rebuild their houses.

    Anna's friends were   44    when they saw Anna do this. They could not understand why Anna wanted to give   45   so much more work and trouble when she already had quite a few children to   46   .  

"Well," Anna   47  her friends, "at the end of the First World War, a woman in the town where I  48   lived found herself very poor, because her husband   49    in the war and she had a lot of children,   50    I have now. The day before Christams, this woman said to her children, ‘We won’t be able to have much for   51    this year, so I’m going to   52    only one present for all of us. Now I’ll go and get it.’ She came back   53    a girl who was even poorer than they, and who had no parents. ‘Here’s our present, ’ she said to her children. The children were    54    to get such a present. They welcomed the little girl, and she grew up as their sister.   55    was that Christmas present.”

36．A．down below       B．just around         C．next to       D．above

37．A．rising B．appearing  C．falling         D．standing

38．A．water         B．trees C．dust   D．mud

39．A．just    B．already       C．yet     D．still

40．A．so       B．but     C．for      D．since

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

42．A．made B．found C．shared        D．built

43．A．possible     B．necessary  C．important  D．valuable

44．A．worried      B．disappointed      C．puzzled      D．impressed

45．A．them B．herself        C．them all     D．her

46．A．support      B．supply         C．grow  D．keep

47．A．explained to       B．asked for   C．talked with         D．spoke as

48．A．actually      B．then   C．before        D．later

49．A．had killed   B．might be killed   C．had been killed  D．killed

50．A．for      B．as       C．like     D．that

51．A．you     B．us       C．Christmas D．your birthday

52．A．get     B．send  C．buy     D．make

53．A．for      B．from  C．like     D．with

54．A．sad     B．happy         C．worried      D．sorry

55．A．It        B．She     C．Such   D．I

Maybe you’re really busy. Maybe you don’t have much to say. Or maybe you’re just lazy. Not a problem. This free service works by letting you broadcast a group text message to your {fiends’ mobile phones from either your own phone, an instant message or an online form at twitter, com. All your notes are then stored and displayed on your personal profile page on the site, which includes links to your friends’ Twitter pages, a thumbnail picture of your choice, and a short bio. All this is what the new service Twitter can bring you. Just remember to keep it short: posts are limited to !40 characters, and the topic is, invariably, “What are you doing?”

More often than not, it turns out, Twitter’s 100,00 members--twice as many as it had just a month ago, according to Twitter business development director Biz Stone--are simply killing time. Even Presidential hopeful John Edwards is on it, although he seems to be the only one thinking about more than lunch. As I type this, Caroline is mulling over some Girl Scout cookies, Ian Hocking is “waiting for Jessica to arrive so we can eat!” and Hlantz is “having a nice cup of Soft Starmint tea.”

The chatter (闲话) about Twitter turned into a virtual roar two weeks ago during the South by Southwest Multimedia Festival in Austin, Texas, when the barebones service owned by Blogger founder Evan Williams, 34, was named the best blogging tool and attendees used it to meet up at parties. Nevertheless, Twitter has been the top term on blog search engine Technorati for the past two weeks.

Plenty of people would happily have Twitter silenced, rather than tolerate the beeping alert for yet another new text message. But I’m betting that Twitter will get a lot noisier before netizens move on to the next new thing. We cyberjunkies need a new thrill, and what is better than a service like Twitter that combines social networking, blogging and texting? And if you don’t like it, well, in the words of one Twit from San Francisco, “I’m so sick to death of Twitter-haters. If you don’t like it, why waste your time writing, reading, or talking about it?”

1. This text is intended to __________.

A. point out the virtues and faults of Twitter    B. tell people how to use Twitter to communicate

C. give a general outline of Twitter. Com       D. introduce a new and easy way of instant communication

2. According to the text, Twitter is designed mainly for the purpose of ___________.

A. promoting products and services                 B. talking about small daily things

C. discussing serious social matters                 D. attracting voters for presidential election

3. We know from the text that Twitter may be superior to Blogger in that ________.

A. it limits each user’s texting under 140 words                         B. it saves users’ time and thinking

C. it can be easily operated through users’ mobile phones

D. it is newly invented by Blogger owner Evan Williams

4. By quoting one Twit from San Francisco, the author implies that ___________.

A. like it or not, Twitter will be accepted by more and more people

B. if one doesn’t like Twitter, he/she can choose not to mention it

C. writing, reading and talking about Twitter is a waste of time

D. twitter users naturally have a strong dislike for non-Twitter users