When Mike told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which had just broken. There were pieces of me all over the tidy floor. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving,   31  it was for the best, I could do better, it was his   32  and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still hurt; perhaps one cannot   33  such pain.
He left and I tried to   34  my life. I filled the kettle (水壶), put it on to boil, took out my old red cup and   35  the coffee powder falling into the bone china. Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing warning, I   36  not to hear it. That’s what Mike’s leaving had been like, sudden and with a(n)   37  end. I would rather just   38  in uncertainty than have things finished. I laughed at myself. Just about a cup of coffee, I must be getting   39 .
And yet it was a young woman who   40  back at me from the mirror, a young woman full of   41  and hope, a young woman with bright eyes just waiting to see the world.  42 , there are more important things. More important than   43 , I insist to myself firmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closing on the whole Mike experience.
He didn’t   44  my dreams as I feared that night.   45 , I am flying far across fields and woods,   46  on those below me. I fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some   47  that there is a bird out there for me, there is another person, not necessarily a lover perhaps just a   48 , but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken   49  again and realize that I have gathered myself back together, what Mike has is   50  a little part of my time in earth, a little understanding of my physical being. He has merely, a little piece of me.

第二部分　阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)

Each time I see a balloon, my mind flies back to a memory of when I was a six-year-old girl. It was a rainy Sunday and my father had recently died. I asked my mom if Dad had gone to heaven. "Yes, honey. Of course," she said.

    "Can we write him a letter?"

    She paused, the longest pause of my short life, and answered, "Yes."

    My heart jumped. "How? Does the mailman go there?" I asked.

    "No, but I have an idea." Mom drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon. I asked her what it was for.

    "Just wait, honey. You'll see." Mom told me to write my letter. Eagerly, I got my favorite pen, and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink. I wrote about my day, what I learned at school, how Morn was doing, and even about what happened in a story I had read. For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive. I gave the letter to Mom. She read it over, and a smile crossed her face.

    She made a hole in the corner of the letter where she looped(缠绕) the balloon string. We went outside and she gave me the balloon. It was still raining.

    "Okay, on the count of three, let go. One, two, three."

   The balloon, carrying my letter, darted(猛冲) upward against the rain. We watched until it was swallowed by the mass of clouds.

   Later I realized, like the balloon, that Dad had never let his sickness get him down. He was strong. No matter what he suffered, he'd persevere, dart up, and finally transcend(超越) this cold world and his sick body. He rose into sky and became something beautiful. I watched until the balloon disappeared into the gray and white and I prayed that his strength was hereditary(遗传的). I prayed to be a balloon.

56. When the girl asked her mother if they could write to her father, her mother ______.

   A. felt it hard to answer                           B. thought her a creative girl

C. believed it easy to do so                       D. found it easy to lie

57. When the girl was told that she could send a letter to her father, she ______.

   A. jumped with joy                        B. became excited

   C. started writing immediately            D. was worried that it couldn't be delivered

58. In the eyes of the author, what was the rain like?

A. An incurable disease.                        B. An unforgettable memory.

   C. The hard time her father had.                    D. The failures her father experienced.

59. What would be the best title for the passage?

    A. The strong red balloon                         B. An unforgettable experience

   C. Fly to paradise                          D. A great father

I had been rather proud of myself when my friends and family got the ticket，whether it was for speeding，parking or stop sign violations (违反)．It was something that happened to others. But last Friday I joined the club.

I was asked to do a new project last week. On Friday morning on my way to work，I suddenly remembered that I had spent the past six weeks without considering that I had a week’s vacation planned during that time. I was very disappointed with myself for not remembering it. The fact  is that I was not paying enough attention to my driving and I did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign in front of a school. I was so distracted (思想不集中的)that I didn’t even notice I had a policeman on my tail with his lights flashing. Finally I looked in my mirror and caught on.

The policeman was rude and took my papers. Fortunately，I had everything up to date and since I had never had a ticket before，there was nothing for him to do but write me a ticket. While I was sitting there in the seat of “shame”，I felt bad. If I had been that distracted and a child had run onto the road，perhaps I would have not reacted as well as I could have. It was a wake-up call.

People at work asked me if I tried to talk my way out of it. Frankly，it never occurred to me. I felt guilty. Now I no longer have a clean driving record. Please be careful out there，as a moment’s distraction can lead to tragedy.

1.What is this passage mainly about?

2.We can infer that the underlined part “the club” in Paragraph 1 here refers to ________.

3.What made the writer unable to focus on her driving?

4.From the experience，the writer has probably learnt ________.

I knew I was all right now.  Nobody else would come a­hunting after me. I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a tent out of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldn't get at them. I caught a catfish and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had supper.

         When it was dark I sat by my camp fire, feeling pretty satisfied; but by and by it got sort of lonesome, so I went and sat on the bank and listened to the current crashing along, and counted the stars and drift logs and rafts that came down, and then went to bed; there was no better way to put in time when you are lonesome; you can't stay so, and you soon get it over.

         And so for three days and nights. No difference—just the same thing. But the next day I went exploring around the island.  I was boss of it; it all belonged to me, and I wanted to know all about it; but mainly I wanted to spend the time. I found plenty of strawberries and green summer grapes; and the green blackberries were just beginning to show.

         Well, I went fooling along in the deep woods till I judged I wasn't far from the foot of the island. I had my gun along, but I had shot nothing; it was for protection. About this time I almost stepped on a good­sized snake, and it moved quietly and smoothly through the grass and flowers, and I was after it, trying to get a shot at it. I clipped(疾驰) along, and all of a sudden I bounded(跳) right on to the ashes of a camp fire that was still smoking.

         My heart jumped up among my lungs. I never waited to look further, but unlocked my gun and went sneaking back on my tiptoes as fast as I could. Every now and then I stopped a second among the thick leaves and listened, but my breath came so hard that I couldn't hear anything else. I moved quietly along another piece further, then listened again; and so on, and so on. If I saw a stump(树桩), I took it for a man; if I stepped on a stick and broke it, it made me feel that a person had cut one of my breaths in two and I only got half, and the short half, too.

         There was no time to be fooling around. When getting to the camp, I got all my traps into my canoe again to have them out of sight. I put out the fire and threw the ashes around to look like an old last year's camp, and then climbed a tree.

         I suppose I was up for two hours; but I didn’t see or hear anything—I only thought I heard and saw as much as a thousand things. Well, I couldn’t stay up there forever, so at last I got down, but I kept in the thick woods and on the lookout all the time. All I could get to eat was berries and what was left over from breakfast.

1.The underlined part “put in time” in the second paragraph probably means _____.

A. kill the time            B. take the time

C. employ the time    D. waste the time

2.Why did the boy always carry his gun with him wherever he went?

A. To show off his gun.

B. To hunt some animals for food.

C. To protect himself.

D. To play with it for fun.

3.How did the boy feel when he saw the ashes of a camp fire that was still smoking?

A. Surprised.                       B. Excited.                            C. Frightened.         D. Puzzled.

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The boy brought with himself a tent

B. The boy felt a bit lonely on the island.

C. The boy was surely the only person on the island at that time.

D. The boy might be bitten by some animal when the story happened.

Just recently I had been wondering if there was much point in doing little acts of kindness. So often they get   36 , and occasionally they come back to bite you!
Then, just last week, after a long travel, I found myself   37   at a bus station. The bus was four hours late! So, I guess I wasn’t in a good   38 .
That’s when a woman asked me if I had any spare   39   to help her get a bus ticket.
“Oh, sure,” I said sarcastically (挖苦地). “How much would you like?”
As I spoke, I mentally kicked myself for my  40   and reached into my bag for some money. As I handed her five dollars, I heard low sounds from her stomach because of real    41 .
I reached back into my bag and brought out a   42   I had bought earlier. I handed it to her with a(n)   43   that I hoped would make up for my earlier tone of voice. Getting a   44   look at her now, I realized she was extremely tired, like she had had several months of   45   days!
As she took the food, a look of   46   washed over her. In return, she tried to give me a Milwaukee bus ticket! I don’t live in Milwaukee and the ticket will probably   47   be used, but I took it.
A few minutes later she came back over, apologized, and told me she was still  48   of five dollars. I took some singles out of my bag and slipped a twenty in there as well.   49 , the voice in my head told me I was being a fool.
Five minutes later she came back again and tried to   50   my twenty. When I said it was for her so she could get something else to   51 , and that I was completely serious and I wasn’t taking it   52  , she started crying and hugged me.
From now on, when I wonder if it is   53   trying to help someone, I will remember that woman. Maybe I am really making a   54   for someone. So, sure, sometimes my efforts might not be noticed, and sometimes they might come back to bite me, but they might actually   55   another human being!

【小题9】

A．quick B．gentle C．good D．cold