“The pen is more powerful than the sword(剑).” There have been many writers who used their pens to fight things that were wrong. Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe was one of them. She was born in the U.S.A. in 1811.One of her books not only made her famous but has been described as one that excited the world, and was helpful in causing a civil war and freeing the enslaved race. The civil war was the American Civil War of 1861,in which the Northern States fought the Southern States and finally won.

This book that shook the world was called Uncle Tom’s Cabin. There was a time when every English-speaking man, woman, and child has read this novel that did so much to stop slavery. Not many people read it today, but it is still very interesting. The book has shown us how a warm-hearted writer can arouse(唤起) people’s sympathies. The author herself had neither been to the Southern States nor been a slave. The Southern Americans were very angry at the book, which they said did not at all represent true state of affairs, but the Northern Americans were wildly excited over it and were so inspired by it that they were ready to go to war to set the slaves free. According to the passage______.

    A．every English-speaking person has read Uncle Tom's Cabin

    B．Uncle Tom's Cabin was not very interesting

    C．those who don't speak English cannot have read Uncle Tom's Cabin

    D．the book Uncle Tom's Cabin did a great deal in the American Civil War

How old was Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe when her world famous book was published?

    A．About sixty years old.    B．Over fifty years old.

    C．In her forties.           D．Around twenty years old.

What do you learn about Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe from the passage?         

A．She had been living in the north of America before the American Civil War 

broke out.

    B．She herself encouraged the Northern Americans to go to war to set the slaves free.

    C．She was better as writing as swinging(挥舞)a sword.

    D．She had once been a slave.

What can we learn from the passage?　　

A．We needn’t use weapons to fight things that are wrong.

B．A writer is more helpful in a war than a soldier.

C．We must understand the importance of literature and art.   

D．No war can be won without such a book as Uncle Tom's Cabin .

读写任务(共1小题；满分25分)
阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror —— the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun’s rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping.
According to a weather expert’s prediction, the atmosphere will be 3℃ warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate. If this warming up took place, the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt, thus raising sea level several metres and severely flooding coastal cities. Also, the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere, possibly resulting in an alteration of earth's chief food-growing zones.
In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet. But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming, in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.
Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing. The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place. This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.
However, most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere, where temperatures seem to be falling. Scientists conclude, therefore, that up to now natural influences on the weather have exceeded those caused by man. The question is: Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?
【写作内容】
1.以约30个词概括短文的要点；
2. 然后以约120个词就“Solutions of slowing climate change”为主题写一篇短文，包括如下要点：
(1) 你认为地球会不会持续变暖；
(2) 其原因是什么以及人类在其中的作用；
(3) 谈谈你的建议。
【写作要求】
(1) 你可以使用实例或者其他论述方法支持你的观点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用阅读材料中的句子。
(2) 字迹清楚，书写工整。
【评分标准】 概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，从16-35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其涂黑。

I had always loved music and dreamed of being a musician, travelling to different countries, meeting lots of people and doing something I loved to earn my money.   16 , my parents had a farm and I didn’t want to do that—I wanted to do something   17 . However, I had always been shy and too nervous to try playing   18  in public.

I had been playing the   19  since I was ten years old, but the idea of playing in front of other people was very   20 .

I started one day,   21  a local youth club advertised a talent show—anybody who could play an instrument or sing could put his name down to be in concert. I   22  myself up.

When the day of the show came, I was so   23  that I couldn’t eat.   24  was the first time I had played in front of other people and I felt   25  unsure of myself. I had no idea whether I was   26  good and was worried that no one would like me.

When my turn came, I played my favorite tune and I even started to   27 ! I could not hear what I sounded like, but to my surprise, I eventually forgot about all the people in the audience and started to enjoy myself. When the song ended, everyone clapped and some people

  28 !

After the show a man   29  up to me to say how much he enjoyed my   30 . He said that he had a rock band, and they needed to   31  a guitar player. He asked me to come along the next day to have a try. This successful trial turned my dream into   32 . In the following days, we   33  around a lot, playing in concerts in lots of places around the world. Sometimes we would enter competitions and once we went on TV.

We really enjoyed ourselves and life was like a big long holiday. As we became more successful, we had to work harder and practice more and eventually I became   34  of travelling so much. But now, nearly fifty years later, I look back on those carefree days of my

  35  as among the best moments of my life.

America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect （影响） American society in many ways --- education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has made us a very different society - one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior （行为）is suitable （合适） at different ages.

A person's age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position, marriage or health. There's no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn't as strong as it used to be. It doesn't surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.

Many people say, ‘I am much younger than my mother -  or my father - was at my age.’ No one says ‘Act your age’ anymore. We've stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.

1.From the passage, we know in America____.

 A. they used to go to school or stop work at a certain age

 B. people won’t tell you their social position

 C. the children no longer go to school.

 D. people hold the old ideas about the age as before

2.It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America         .

A. has made people feel younger    B. has changed people's social position

C. has changed people's understanding of age

D. has slowed down the country's social development

3.The underlined word ‘one’ refers to          .

A. a society    B. America     C. a place D. population

4.‘Act your age’ means people should _______  .

A. be active when they are old    

B. do the right thing at the right age

C. show respect for their parents young or old

D. take more physical exercise suitable to their age

5. If a 25-year-old man becomes general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it       .

A. normal   B. wonderful   C. unbelievable D. unreasonable

After living in Pairs for fifty years he returned to the small town ________ he grew up as a child.

A．which? B．where

C．that D．when