At the time my son was born in 1956, I shared a hospital room with a young woman who bore a boy on the same day. Partly because my parents  46 a shop selling flowers, the room was soon  47  with the lovely scent of roses.

　  As the seventh floral arrangement was   48  , I was beginning to feel  49 , for no flowers had arrived for my roommate, Ann. She sat on the edge of her bed and leaned forward to admire the  50  bouquet. She was a pretty young woman, yet there was something about her large, brown eyes that made me think she had known too much  51 , too much sadness for one so young. I had the feeling she had always had to admire someone else’  52  .

　 “I’m enjoying every  53 of this”, she said as though she had read my   54  and was trying to reassure me. “Wasn’t I the lucky one to get you for a   55 ？”

　  I still felt uncomfortable, however.  56   there were some magic button I could push to  57   the sadness in her eyes. Well, I thought, at least,I can see that she has some flowers. When my mother and father came to see me that day, I asked them to send  58 some.

　　The flowers arrived just   59  Ann and I were finishing supper.

　　“More flowers for you,” she said,   60  .

　　“No, not this time,” I said, looking at the     61   “These are for you.”

　　Ann stared at the blossoms a long time, not saying anything. She ran her 62  across the pale blue bouquets and  63 touched each of the sweet roses as though trying to engrave（刻画） them on her 64 .

　　“How can I ever thank you” she said softly.

I was almost embarrassed. It was such a little    65  on my part.

第二节任务型阅读（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。

注意：每空格1个单词。

When we think about education and language learning, we are most likely to think of books. Although there are lots of language learning methods, many people still prefer to learn only by using books. So what are the advantages of learning a language from a book?

Here are its advantages: firstly, you can take language books wherever you go conveniently and you can use them whenever you want. Secondly, they are easy to follow because the courses in them are usually planned for you in strict order starting from the most basic concepts to the more complex. Thirdly, if you are unsure of something, you can continue to work on it as quickly as you like. Lastly, books are likely to have a lot of vocabulary and a lot of topics so you will get great value out of a book with lots of materials in it.

Using books to study a language has disadvantages, too. All textbooks and dictionaries usually include some kind of pronunciation guide. These are helpful when there is no other way to learn, but this can't help you practice your pronunciation. With an audio method, you can compare your pronunciation to that of a native speaker. Besides, some words are spoken faster in one sentence or slower in another, so the pronunciation of a word may change according to the emotion or feeling you want to convey. Also, books can’t actually help you hear the language with its unique rhythms spoken by native speakers. With an audio language learning method, you will be able to hear and understand the language better.

Therefore, if you can supplemental（补充）your book with some other language tools, such as audio tapes, internet radio or resources such as music or television, you will have a much better chance of understanding the books' pronunciation guide and using it to get a good grasp of the spoken language.

There was one thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy traffic．At present, we realize that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is really worldwide．On several occasions over the past decade，a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the east of the United States and brought health warnings in distant areas away from any industrial cities．In fact，the very climate of the entire earth may be infected by air pollution．Some scientists consider that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels(coal and oil)is creating a “greenhouse effect”—— keeping heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature．If this view is correct and the world's temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York，Boston，Miami，and New Orleans will be in water．

Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particular matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature—a result that would be equally disastrous．A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age，and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas．Today we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen．Perhaps，if we are lucky enough，the two tendencies will offset each other and the world's temperature will stay about the same as it is now．Driven by economic profits, people ignore the damage on our environment caused by the “advanced civilization”．Maybe the air pollution is the price the human beings have to pay for their development．But is it really worth-while?

1.People used to think that air pollution_________ .

A．caused widespread damage in the countryside

B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States

C．had a very bad effect on health

D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas

2.As to the greenhouse effect, the author_________.

A．shares the same view with the scientists．

B．is uncertain of its occurrence

C．rejects it as being ungrounded

D．thinks that it will destroy the world soon

3.The underlined word “offset” in the second paragraph could be replaced by_______.

A．counter-act    B．break from     C．get along    D．communicate

4.This passage is primarily about________ .

A．the greenhouse effect                    

B．the burning of fossil fuels

C．the potential effect of air pollution        

D．the possibility of a new ice age

Peter King, 15 and Mary King, 13 went to see a doctor together. Peter had a bad cold, so the doctor gave him some pills to take. Mary had a bad cough, so the doctor |gave her some cough medicine.                                                      

These are the words on the bottle of medicine:

1.Mary should take ____ in a day.

2.People aged ____ cannot take this medicine.

3.Mary or her mother should ____ the medicine after the tenth month of 1998.

People in the United States honor their parents with two special days：Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days make us think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child care.

These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery(墓地).On these days families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.

Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephone companies, and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.

1.Which of the following is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?

2.Which do you think is right about “carnation”?

3.What do you know from the passage?

4.On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, _______.