TANG Dynasty writer Du Mu once wrote in a poem titled Qingming: "The ceaseless drizzle drips all the dismal day; So broken-hearted fares the traveler on the way.Where can a wine house be found to drown his sadness ?A cowherd points to Almond Flower (Xing Hua) Village in the distance."
Qingming, the traditional tomb-sweeping day on the Chinese lunar calendar, falls on April 4 this year. Qingming Jie was proclaimed a Chinese national holiday in 2008. It is a time for remembering loved ones who have departed (去世). People visit their ancestors’ graves to sweep away the dirt and get rid of any weeds. They also leave offerings (祭品) of food and flowers, and burn incense (香) and paper money. Chinese tombs are usually built in the woods or on mountains, far from the city. It is believed that an area that faces south, with many pine trees, is a proper place for a tomb. People believe such a place will make the ancestors happy, and in return, they will look after the living family.
Nowadays, more and more residents are choosing environmental-friendly ways to spend the holiday such as flower sacrifices and memorial ceremonies on the Internet or at home. As one of the traditional ways to celebrate Tomb-sweeping Day – burning paper or incense – isn't exactly good for air quality.
In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope of Spring on this day. The Qingming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of Spring outings. At this time tourists are everywhere.
Many people fly kites on Tomb Sweeping Day. They are usually made from a bamboo crossbow with coloured paper. The kite vibrates and buzzes as it rises into the sky, counterbalanced by its tail. Large kites can be as broad as three metres across, with a tail of six to ten metres. Most kites have a rectangular shape, and many have patterns of crabs, centipedes, butterflies, dragonflies, or Chinese characters such as "good fortune" or "long life". (361words)
【小题1】What’s the main idea of the second paragraph?

The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and study music. My parents, although sharing my love of music, didn’t __36__ it as a profession. My grandfather, having taught music for years at college and, though much __37__, earned merely enough to support his family. As a result of this _38___in the family, I went to college -----quite __39__, for although I loved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I had many other _40___. Before my graduation from Columbia, I felt _41___my duty to leave college and take a job. Aside from the satisfaction of being able to ___42__the family, money is all I got out of it. My only ambition was to save enough to _43___ the job and go to Europe to study __44___. I used to get up at dawn to practice_45__ I left for “downtown “to work. . I continued to make money, and _46__, bit by bit, accumulated enough to enable me to ___47_.

The situation of my family improved, and my help was _48___necessary, so I resigned from my __49__and, feeling like a man released from jail, sailed for _50___. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and _51___every minute of it. I was a _52__man and I was doing what I__53__ to do and what I was meant to do. If I had stayed in business, I might be a quite wealthy man today, __54__ I wouldn’t have made a success of living . I would have _55__all those that money can never buy.

Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high price on it.

1.                A．receive         B．accept          C．refuse    D．keep

2.                A．respected       B．hated          C．doubted  D．scolded

3.                A．excuse         B．chance         C．promise  D．example

4.                A．happily         B．sadly           C．hopelessly D．nervously

5.                A．interests        B．pities           C．experiments   D．problems

6.                A．this            B．that            C．it    D．one

7.                A．question        B．help           C．warn D．visit

8.                A．give up         B．give in          C．go on D．throw away

9.                A．computer       B．law            C．history   D．music

10.               A．after           B．in case         C．before    D．the moment

11.               A．firstly          B．finally          C．generally  D．lately

12.               A．go back        B．go home        C．go abroad  D．go down

13.               A．no longer       B．of course       C．in fact D．much too

14.               A．position        B．college         C．home D．friends

15.               A．Asia           B．Europe         C．Africa D．North America

16.               A．wasted         B．lost            C．forgot D．enjoyed

17.               A．native          B．free           C．wise  D．weak

18.               A．repeated       B．offered         C．loved D．signed

19.               A．so             B．and            C．but   D．for

20.               A．missed         B．gained         C．achieved  D．won

完形填空（20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Everywhere, you will find "the white-haired boy", sometimes called "the fair-haired" boy．He gets special   36  , as if he were above everybody else．You will find him in school, in college, at home, or  37  you work．
In school, he is teacher's   38  , her favorite who can do nothing   39 ．Sometimes she lets him do little jobs for her．He comes to class in the morning, all shiny and clean．" He is always raising his hand,  40  with answers to the teacher' s questions．And he knows all the answers．
He gets into your hair, especially if you are at the  41  of the class and die teacher thinks you are slow at learning things．How you   42  the guy!
At college, he walks across the school ground as if he  43  it．Sometimes he wears a, colorful football or basketball shirt or sweater, with a bright red, or green or yellow college letter   44 worn on the front of it．What   45  shoulders, what muscles he has! He   46  the girls happy by just smiling at them．He has the mark of _47_ on him．   
At home, "the fair-haired boy" is  48  choice．Sometimes, he is the oldest son— 49 , the youngest．If you are in between, you are out of  50   ．
Then, you discover that there are others who   51  your feelings, ready to tell you their private  52  ．One of them asks, "What does he have that I haven't got?" You ask yourself the same question．
  53 , there comes a day when you decide to stop hating him. Is it  54 because he has been made boss and you  55  yourself working for him?

　　Olaf Stapledon wrote a book called First and Last Men, in which he looked millions of years ahead. He told of different men and of strange civilisations（文明）, broken up by long 'dark ages' in between. In his view, what is called the present time is no more than a moment in human history and we are just the First Men. In 2,000 million years from now there will be the Eighteenth or Last Men.
　　However, most of our ideas about the future are really very short-sighted. Perhaps we can see some possibilities for the next fifty years. But the next hundred ? The next thousand? The next million? That's much more difficult.
　　When men and women lived by hunting 50,000 years ago, how could they even begin to picture modern life? Yet to men of 50,000 years from now, we may seem as primitive（原始的）in our ideas as the Stone-Age hunters do to us. Perhaps through the spundels and ballalators, these words, which I have just made up, have to stand for things and ideas that we simply can't think of .
　　So why bother even to try imagining life far in the future ? Here are two reasons. First unless we remember how short our own lives are compared with the whole human history, we are likely to think our own interests are much more important than they really are. If we make the earth a poor place to live because. we are careless or greedy（贪婪） or quarrelsome,our grand-children will not bother to think of excuses for us.
　　Second, by trying to escape from present interests and imagine life far in the future, we may arrive at quite fresh ideas that we can use ourselves. For example, if we imagine that in the future men may give up farming, we can think of trying it now. So set your imagination free when you think about the future .
53．A particular mention made of Stapledon's book in the opening paragraph ____________
　　A．serves as a description of human history
　　B．serves an introduction to the discussion
　　C．shows a disagreement of views
　　D． Shows the popularity of the book
54．The text discusses men and women 50,000 years ago and 50,000 years from now in order to show that _________.
　　A．human history is extremely long    B．life has changed a great deal
　　C．it is useless to plan for the next 50 years
　　D．it is difficult to tell what will happen in the future
55．Spundels and ballalators are used in the text to refer to _________.
　　A．tools used in farming                   B．ideas about modern life
　　C．unknown things in the future         D．hunting skills in the Stone Age
56．According to the writer of the text, imagining the future will _________.
　　A．serve the interests of the present and future generations
　　B．enable us to better understand human history
　　C．help us to improve farming
　　D．make life worth living

Mom was right! If you say thank you, for even the smallest gift or slightest show of kindness, you’ll feel happy.

    Gratitude, says Robert A. Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California, is an important element of happiness. In his recent book, Thanks!, Emmons uses the first major study on gratitude to prove mom’s point.

    As one of the leading scholars of the positive psychology movement, he admits gratitude may be difficult to express. He advises you to begin by admitting that life is good and full of events and elements that make daily existence a wonder. Second, recognize that the source of life’s goodness is more than just you. That source may be your mom, a friend, partner, child, colleague at work or play.

    Gratitude is always other-directed, notes Emmons. You can be pleased or angry with yourself and feel guilty about doing something wrong, but you can never be grateful to or for yourself.

    Expressing gratitude shouldn’t be a reaction; it should be a state of mind. To feel grateful when life is a breeze and you have more than you need is easy. To feel grateful in time of crisis—anger, hatred and bitterness—is easier. Also, too many people are aware of life’s blessings only after these are lost.

    It’s crisis and chaos—danger, disease, disability and death—that bring many individuals to realize just how dependent they are on others. Yet it’s the way each of us begins life and ends it. It’s too bad that so many people waste those decades in between laboring under the illusion(幻觉) they are self-sufficient, says Emmons.

    The abundance of voices expressing gratitude from his studies of individuals with chronic health problems is many. But Emmons goes beyond his “groundbreaking” science to make his case for gratitude by including the inspirational writings of philosophers, novelists and saints, as well as the beliefs of various religious and their respective scripture(经文). Taken together, these observations are summed up quite nicely by famous humanist Albert Schweitzer, who said the secret of life is “giving thanks for everything”.

    To enable and embrace gratitude, Emmons encourages the readers of Thanks! to keep a gratitude diary. He even provides easy-to-follow directions on how to practise and develop gratitude.

    I’m not a reader or advocate of self-help books, but I am thankful for the reference I found in a newspaper article to the research Emmons was conducting on gratitude involving organ donors and recipients. The chance discovery led me to this book.

    Mom implied that kindness seems to find its way back to the giver because life really is all about giving, receiving and repaying. So I’ll pay attention to her professional advice and say: Thank you, professor Emmons.

1.. What is the text mainly discussed?

A. There are many ways of being thankful.

B. Gratitude is important to happiness.

C. Mom is great for her being thankful.     

D. Being thankful will keep you fit.

2.. The author mentions Robert A. Emmons’ book Thanks! in order to prove that __________.

A. Professor Emmons supports mom’s study on psychology.  

B. mom is as great a psychologist as Professor Emmons.

C. Professor Emmons is a famous psychologist.

D. mom is right about her viewpoint on gratitude.

3.. It will be easier for you to feel grateful when___________.

A. you live a comfortable life    

B. you receive gifts on your birthday

C. you get help during your hard times

D. you are congratulated on your success

4. What is the opinion of Professor Emmons?

A. It is enough to thank others orally

B. Whether you are thankful is always up to you

C. Remember to be thankful anytime and anywhere

D. It is easier to be thankful for yourself than for others.

5. In the writer’s opinion, Emmon’s book Thanks! On gratitude is________.

A. one-side   B. reasonable  C. puzzling  D. helpful