ONCE again, I was in new school.  36 was a girl in my class named Paris. That’s where the similarities  37  . I was tall and she was small. I was one of the   38  in the class while she was the youngest. I was awkward and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t stand her, considering her my  39  .

  40  she wanted to be friends.

       One day, she invited me   41   and I said yes I was too shocked to say no．42  no one had invited me over to play before．But this girl, who wore the   43   fashions, wanted to see me．She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister- When we got to the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies which was my next   44 ．I would have thought she'd outgrown them．I had   45   played with them．But we sat on the floor of a walk-in cupboard laughing as we   46  crazy stories about the Barbies．That's when we found out that we both wanted to be   47  when we were older．We both had wild   48  ．

       We had a great day that afternoon．Our jaws （下巴） 49  from smiling so much．She showed me her   50  , which had mostly come from a designer clothing store （时装设计店） down the block．The woman who owned it used her as a   51  sometimes for her newspaper ads and gave her clothes in exchange．

       Paris had the whole   52   charmed．The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines, the 53__ gave her free passes and the pizza place let her have free pieces．Soon I was   54  in her magic world．We slept over at each other's houses, spent every free moment together．My dark hair grew out and I learned to love being tall．

       Paris, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the   55   teenage years and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: your "worst enemy" can turn out to be your best friend．

A．It           B．So          C．She        D．I

A．ended       B．started       C．came        D．began

A．youngest    B．shortest      C．oldest           D．tallest

A．enemy       B．friend        C．sister          D．rival

A．And        B．But         C．So             D．Or                  

A．off         B．up             C．over          D．in

A．However    B．Actually       C．Therefore      D．Besides

A．modem     B．new           C．late           D．latest

A．surprise      B．joy          C．delight         D．happiness    

A．once         B．ever          C．never         D．yet                

A．made for     B．made up         C．put up          D．made into             

A．writers       B．singers       C．dancers        D．designers

A．laugh      B．imaginations  C．behaviors       D．experience

A．harmed            B．ached               C．injured        D．wounded

A．books        B．paintings     C．food ．         D．outfits                 

A．writer      B．outfits          C．model          D．exchange

A．family     B．neighborhood  C．class           D．school

A．colleges    B．clothing stores  C．restaurant    D．movie theater

A．attracted     B．drawn        C．included     D．attached

A．tough         B．happy          C．colorful        D．rich

While still in its early stages, welfare reform has already been judged a great success in many states-at least in getting people off welfare. It’s estimated that more than 2 million people have left the rolls since 1994.

In the past four years, welfare rolls in Athens County have been cut in half. But 15 percents of the people who left in the past two years took jobs that paid less than $6 an hour. The resuit: The Athens County poverty rate still remains at more than 30 percent-twice the national average.

 For advocates (代言人) for the poor, that’s an indication that much more needs to be done.

“More people are getting jobs, but it’s not making their lives any better,” says Kathy Lairn,a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and policy Priorities in Washington.

A center analysis of US Census data nationwide found that between 1995 and 1996, a greater percentage of single, female-headed households were earning money on their own, but that average income for these households actually went down.

But for many, the fact that poor people are able to support themselves almost as well without government aid as they did with it is in itself a huge victory.  

“Welfare was a poison. It was a toxin(毒素) that was poisoning the family,” says Robert Rector, a welfare?reform policy analyst. “The reform is changing the moral climate in low?income communities. It’s beginning to rebuild the work ethic(道德观), which is much more important.”

Mr. Rector and others argued that once “the habit of dependency is cracked, ”then the country can make other policy changes aimed at improving living standards.

13.From the passage, it can be seen that the auther .      

A.believes the reform has reduced the government’s burden

B.insists that welfare reform is doing little good for the poor

C.is overenthusiastic about the success of welfare reform

D.considers welfare reform to be fundamentally successful

14.Why aren’t people enjoying better lives when they have jobs?

A.Because many families are divorced.        B.Because government aid is now rare.

C.Because their wages are low.               D.Because the cost of living is rising.

15.What is worth noting from the example of Athens County is that .      

A.greater efforts should be made to improve people’s living standards

B.15 percent of the people there have been employed for two years

C.50 percent of the population no longer relies on welfare

D.the living standards of most people are going down

16.From the passage we know that welfare reform aims at_______ .

A.saving welfare funds                       B.rebuilding the work ethics(观念)

C.providing more jobs                        D.cutting government expenses

While attending a conference, I returned to my hotel room late one rainy evening．The overhead light outside my door was   36  and I had difficulty finding the keyhole．When I finally  37   to open the door, I  38    around the wall for a light switch．I found a  39   where a switch was once installed… but no switch．

No discouraged easily, I remembered seeing a   40   by the bed when I put away my luggage   41   in the day．I found the bed in the dark and felt around until I found the lamp, but when I switched it on,   42   happened! Now what?

Though I knew that it was dark outside my window   43   the outdoor light was burned out, I thought that   44    if I opened the curtains I might be able to use the light from the   45   to find another lamp．So I   46    my way slowly across the room to the curtains and… no draw-string!

I finally stumbled（跌跌撞撞） around until I found a desk lamp that actually   47  ! That evening I discovered in a whole new way just how dark the world can be and how necessary   48   is．

But even more necessary than   49   light is the light that shines from people — the light of love, sympathy and   50  ．Because, for many people, the world is a dark and   51   place．

It is the shining that is important, for someone today just may be stumbling in discouragement or fear and in   52  of some light．

So let your light shine．Whatever light you  53  may be a beacon（灯塔）of hope and encouragement in someone’s darkness．And if you feel that your light is   54   a candle in a forest, remember this — there isn’t enough darkness in the world to   55   the light of one small candle．

A．burning      B．broken         C．shining    D．smooth

A．managed      B．attempted        C．succeeded D．meant

A．touched       B．turned          C．felt        D．looked

A．light          B．plate            C．lamp        D．signal

A．lamp          B．switch          C．desk        D．window

A．later          B．earlier          C．sooner      D．first

A．something     B．everything       C．nothing     D．anything

A．when          B．unless           C．since        D．although

A．certainly     B．surely           C．absolutely D．perhaps

A．star           B．street         C．room     D．shop

A．forced         B．struggled       C．made     D．pushed

A．worked        B．failed           C．did        D．closed

A．love          B．thinking         C．dream       D．light

A．spiritual       B．physical         C．mental      D．inner

A．faith          B．soul            C．help        D．attention

A．mixed         B．fancy         C．lonely       D．complicated

A．lack           B．need            C．favor       D．face

A．devote         B．receive          C．offer        D．throw

A．only          B．even            C．ever      D．much

A．give out       B．leave out        C．take out    D．put out

Since people first sent rockets into space in the 1950s, we have been leaving behind all sorts of things. Some of them, like the camera, were lost by astronauts while they did work outside their spaceship. But much of the space junk is made up of little pieces of things that were once bigger objects, until they struck each other and broke apart.
Some things we send into space fall back toward the earth and burn up in the atmosphere. But larger pieces sometimes survive the extreme heat and hit the ground or the ocean at great speeds. So there is always concern that something may fall from the sky and do some harm.
But space junk falling on housetops (屋顶) is not the biggest worry. Scientists are concerned about what happens when an empty rocket strikes another while orbiting (绕轨道飞行) the earth. Two big things become many smaller things. They then hit other things. The pieces get smaller and smaller until they form a cloud of junk that blocks the path of future space vehicles.
So what can be done to clean up the space around our planet? Marco Castronuovo, an Italian researcher, talks about sending a satellite into space that would get very close to some of the larger pieces of space junk. The satellite would connect a small rocket to the useless object. When the rocket explodes, it pushes the junk into a lower and slower orbit, nearer the earth. After a time, the junk burns up in the atmosphere.
Mr. Castronuovo has proposed (提议) using a number of small satellites with robotic arms. One arm would catch the space junk, and another arm would connect the rocket. He imagines that each satellite would jump from one large piece of junk to another. He thinks this method could destroy about ten large objects each year.
Scientists have been concerned about space junk for many years. Right now, the costs of the clean-up have been too great. Mr. Castronuovo says his system could be put in place for a much more reasonable amount of money.
【小题1】Much of the space junk _____.

While still in its early stages, welfare reform has already been judged a great success in many states—at least in getting people off welfare．It's estimated that more than 2 million people have left the list since 1994．
In the past four years, welfare list in Athens County have been cut in half．But 70 percent of the people who left in the past two years took jobs that paid less than $ 6 an hour．The result: The Athens County poverty rate still remains at more than 30 percent —twice the national average．For advocates（代言人） for the poor, that's an indication that much more needs to be done．
"More people are getting jobs, but it's not making their lives any better," says Kathy Lairn, a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington．A center analysis of US Census data （户口普查资料） nationwide found that between 1995 and 1996, a greater percentage of single, female-headed families were earning money on their own, but that average income for these families actually went down．
But for many, the fact that poor people are able to support themselves almost as well without government aid as they did with it is in itself a huge victory．"Welfare was a poison．It was a poisonous substance that was poisoning the family," says Robert Rector, a welfare-reform policy analyst．"The reform is changing the moral climate in low-income communities．It's beginning to rebuild the work ethic （道德观）, which is much more important．"
Mr．Rector and others argued that once "the habit of dependency is cracked," then the country can make other policy changes aimed at improving living standards．
【小题1】．From the passage, it can be seen that the author __   __．