A certain good woman one day said something that hurt her best friend of many years. She regretted it immediately and would have done anything to have taken the words back. So she went to an older, wiser woman in the village and 21 advice.

Listening to her, the older woman 22 the younger woman’s distress and knew she must help her. She also knew she could 23 ease her pain, but she could teach.

Then, she said. “There are 24 things you need to do. The first is extremely difficult. Tonight, Take your best 25 pillows and open a small hole in each one. Then, 26 the sun rises, you must put a single feather on the doorstep of each house in town. When you are through, 27 to me. If you’ve done the first thing 28, I’ll tell you the second.”

The young woman hurried home to prepare for her chore, 29 the pillows were very 30 to her and very expensive.

All night long, she went from doorstep to doorstep. Her fingers were 31. The wind was so sharp that it caused her eyes to water, but she ran on through the 32 streets, 33 there was something she could do to put things 34 the way they once were. Finally she placed the last feather on the steps of the last house. Just as the sun rose, she returned to the older woman.

She was exhausted but 35 ,thinking that her efforts would be rewarded.

“Now,” said the wise woman, “Go back and 36 your pillows. Then everything will be as it was before.”

The young woman was stunned, “You know that’s impossible! The wind 37 each feather as fast as I placed them on the doorsteps! You didn’t say I had to get them back! If this is the second 38, then things will never be the same.”

“That’s true,” said the older woman. “Never forget. Each of your words is like a feather in the wind. Once 39, no amount of effort, 40 how heartfelt or sincere, can ever return them to your mouth. Choose your words well and guard them most of all in the presence of those you love.”

A. asked about        B. asked for              C. asked to         D. ask around

A. witnessed           B. touched                C. guessed         D. sensed

A. ever                  B. almost                  C. never                   D. seldom

A. one                    B. two                       C. three              D. four

A. feather               B. leather                  C. woolen          D. cotton

A. when                  B. after                     C. as                  D. before

A. come back          B. go back                 C. put back        D. draw back

A. promptly           B. absolutely             C. completely    D. unfortunately

A. so as to              B. even though          C. now that        D. in spite of

A. hard                   B. rare                      C. nice              D.

A. freezing              B. freezingly             C. froze             D. frozen

A. brightened         B. widened               C. darkened       D. broadened

A. amazing            B. lucky                          C. thankful        D. surprising

A. on                     B. up                        C. off                D. back

A. tired                  B. relieved                C. grateful         D. nervous

A. refill                 B. get                       C. purchase        D. seek

A. blew up             B. blew on                C. blew away      D. blew over

A. requirement       B. situation               C. consequence   D. circumstance

A. speak                 B. spoken                  C. speaking         D. being spoken

A. however             B. whatever                C. although        D. regardless

阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。

注意：每个空格只填一个单词。

Although stressful and unpleasant, examinations are a part of education that students all over the world have to experience. Exams are not recent methods of testing knowledge. They have been used since ancient times and our ancestors probably went through the same anxious preparation as students today.

China, exams were first introduced more than 1,300 years ago during the Sui Dynasty. Known as the Imperial Examinations or keju, the ten subject tests were used to select people for government jobs. A career in public service was considered the highest profession, and the examinations attracted millions of hopeful participants each time they were held. The tests had three levels: for local, provincial and national government. Only about 5% of those taking each level passed, and the number of students who passed all the levels was even smaller－ perhaps as low as 0.0004%.

The exams were so important in China that some people spent nearly their whole lives retaking the exams in the hope of eventually passing. Others tried to cheat by hiding notes in cakes or on their clothes. Historians found one undergarment that had 353 model essays written on it. Perhaps if this particular student had spent as much time studying as he did writing on his clothes, he would have passed!

The Imperial Examinations lasted until 1905, when they were replaced. Exams, however, are still a compulsory part of education in China. As nobody has yet come up with an alternative method of judging students’ abilities, it seems likely that the system of examinations will continue for more years.

We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong. A day may begin well enough, but suddenly everything seems to get out of control. It seems as if a single unimportant event set up a chain of reactions. Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time. The telephone rings and this means your troubles are beginning. While you are on the phone, the baby pulls the tablecloth off the table, destroying your half prepared meal. You hang up hurriedly and attend to your baby. Meanwhile, the meal gets burnt. As if this were not enough to bring you to tears, your husband arrives, unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.

    Things can go wrong on a big scale, as a number of people recently discovered in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney. During the rush hour one evening two cars hit each other and both drivers began to argue. The woman immediately behind the two cars happened to be a learner. She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car. This made the driver following her brake hard. His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake. As she was thrown forward, the cake went right through the windscreen and landed on the road. Seeing a cake flying through the air, a lorry driver who was drawing up alongside the car, pulled up all of a sudden. The lorry was loaded with empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the vehicle and on to the road. This led to yet another angry argument. Meanwhile, the traffic piled up behind. It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again. In the meantime, the lorry driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles. Only two dogs benefited from all this confusion, for they were happily having what was left of the cake. It was just one of those days!

1.According to the author’s opinion, ______.                                                      

A. a small matter may cause great trouble  B. accidents may happen anytime

C. anyone may have trouble any day      D. troubles always come in groups

2. When the telephone rings, ______.                                                                 

A. your trouble is approaching if you are taking care of your baby

B. you should never go to answer it in a hurry unless you know it’s an important one

C. you’d better have your baby a little distant from your table before going to answer it

D. you’d better just let it ring all the way unless you can find someone to take care of

your baby

3. What did the police do after the accident?                                                       

    A. They helped the drivers to go on with their journey.

    B. They helped the truck-driver to clean up the road.

    C. They would find out who should be fined.

    D. They tried to stop the people from arguing.

4.From the story we can see ______.                                                                  

    A. such accidents are usually funny

       B. such accidents are rather common

    C. no one can explain why such accidents happen

    D. some drivers should take responsibility for their carelessness

We keep reading that TV is bad for you. If this is true, how come the current generation of TV-addicted kids is much smarter than we are? In my home, the only people who can work the remote control are the children.

Perhaps TV does educate you. For example, you learn a useful medical fact: A person who has been shot always has time to speak an incomplete sentence before he dies. “The killer was…” (dies)

But I guess the biggest things we learn from TV can be regarded as “Life Skills”. Bad things only happen on dark and stormy nights. Emotional breakdowns cause people to wander in the heavy rain without umbrellas. And contrary to what scientists say, the crack(霹雳) of lightning and the accompanying flash happen at exactly the same time, wherever you are.

I’ve even acquired useful geographical facts from science-fiction shows: Aliens speak English no matter which planet they come from.

Making use of what we learn from TV can improve our security. Consider these truths. If you are ever attacked by 20 bad guys, don’t worry about being outnumbered. The criminals will hang back and take turns to approach you in ones and twos just so you can conveniently defeat them all. Bad guys who are completely covered in black clothes always remove their black masks to reveal that they are in fact, aha, women.

TV also teaches us important information about escaping from danger. Watch and learn. (1) If anyone is running after you down a passage, you will find that boxes have been conveniently placed near all the walls you need to jump over. (2) If you are tall and handsome, you can run from any number of armed criminals, and every shot will miss you.

Be warned, however. If your name card says “henchman” (帮凶) and you are part of a group of plain-looking people trying to catch a handsome individual, a single shot will kill you. But don’t be anxious: TV also delivers useful information for bad guys. All cars are inflammable (易燃的) and have amazing shock absorbers that enable them to fly into the air and land without damage — except police cars.

TV even teaches us about TV. Whenever anyone turns on a TV, it shows a news flash about someone they know. They then turn the box off immediately after that news item.

By saying “A person who has been shot always has time to speak an incomplete sentence

 before he dies” (Paragraph 2), the writer shows his________.

A. humor                                                            B. sympathy

C. deep concern                                            D. medical knowledge

We can infer from Paragraph 3 that in the real world_______.

A. bad things cause people to break down in the rain

B. bad things never happen on dark and stormy nights

C. people with emotional problems like to walk in the rain without umbrellas

D. the crack of lightning and the accompanying flash don’t happen at the same time

On TV what usually happens when a person turns it on?

A. The news shown is always about someone the person knows.

B. The person always turns off the TV when it’s time for news.

C. The program shown is always about the importance of TV.

D. TV always shows news about famous people.

What’s the main idea of this passage?

A. Life skills can be learned from TV.

B. TV plays an important role in society.

C. Watching TV makes people more creative.

D. What happens in TV is very different from reality.

Celebrating sleep

World Sleep Day, observed on 21 March, was created to bring attention to the growing number of sleep problems worldwide. Sleep is a natural part of human life, but many people in the modern world ignore its importance. As a result, sleep problems are increasingly common.

In 2002, scientists at the University of Athens in Greece conducted a survey of over 35,000 people in 10 countries around the world, including China, Belgium and South Africa. Of the people that responded to the survey, 24 percent said that they did not sleep well, and based on their responses, 31.6 percent were diagnosed (诊断)with insomnia（失眠）and another 17.5 percent were diagnosed with borderline insomnia. In addition, 30.7 percent of survey respondents reported visiting a doctor for help with sleep problems and 11.6 percent said that they felt very sleepy during the day.

Overall, the survey found that ninny people suffer the effects of poor quality sleep, some examples of which are being unable to fall asleep and waking up in the middle of the night. The main factors causing these problems are pressure from school or work and a fast pace of life, but noise pollution and light pollution also interfere with sleep and contribute to poor quality sleep. The survey’s findings are particularly troubling because large numbers of people were found to have difficulty sleeping at night. The short-term effects of this are tiredness and trouble concentrating. If this happens for a long time, the risk of putting on weight and having a heart attack may increase.

There are many things you can do to improve the quality of your sleep. First, you should have regular sleep habits. Try to go to bed and wake up around the same time each day. You also need to make your bedroom a cool, dark, quiet place to sleep so that heat, light and noise do not disturb you. At night, you should also avoid things that contain caffeine, such as chocolate, coffee, tea and many soft drinks, as caffeine may keep you from sleeping.

     Getting a good night's sleep is important for everyone. By following the advice above, you can rest better at night and work better during the day.

                     Title: Celebrating Sleep