Glynis Davis:
I first piled on the pounds when I was in the family way and I couldn’t lose them afterwards. Then I joined a slimming club. My target was 140 pounds and I lost 30 pounds in six months. I felt great and people kept saying how good I looked. But Christmas came and I started to slip back into my old eating habits. I told myself I’d lose the weight at slimming classes in the new year… but it didn’t happen. Instead of losing the pounds, I put them on. I’d lost willpower and tried to believe that the old bag of fish and chips didn’t make any difference — but the scales don’t lie.
Roz Juma:
To be honest, I never weigh myself any more. I’ve learnt to be happy with myself. It seemed to me that I would feel sorry about every spoonful of tasty food that passed my lips. My idea is simple. You shouldn’t be too much thinking about food and dieting. Instead, you should get on with life and stop dreaming of a super thin body. This is obviously the size I’m meant to be and, most of all, I’m happy with it.
Lesley Codwin:
I was very happy at winning Young Slimmer of the year. I’d look in the mirror unable to believe this slim lady was me! That might have been my problem — perhaps from then on I didn’t pay any attention to myself. Winning a national competition makes everything worse, though. Because you feel the eyes of the world are fixed upon you. I feel a complete failure because I’ve put on weight again.
Ros Langfod:
Before moving in with my husband Gavin, I’d always been about 110 pounds, but the pleasant housework went straight to my waist and I put on 15 pounds in a year. Every so often I try to go on a diet… I’m really good in a few days, then end up having the children’s leftovers or eating happily chocolate — my weakness. I’d like to be slim, but right now my duty is the children and home. I might take more exercise when my kids are older.
【小题1】What do you think the four women were talking about?

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36-55题所给的A.B.C.D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Two brothers lived on the 80^th floor. On coming home one day, they were depressed to realize that the lifts broke 36 . Although they carried a big pack of luggage, it seemed to have no other choice, so they decided to climb the 37 up together!

When they arrived at the 20^th floor, the elder brother 38 putting the luggage there and coming back for it the next day. Feeling much more relaxed, they 39 to climb up. When they 40 to the 40^th,the younger started to complain and 41 of them quarreled till the 60^th floor. Arriving there, they were so tired that they didn't have any 42 to quarrel. The younger said,“Don't quarrel, let's 43 climbing the stairs.”And they went on climbing 44,finally reaching the 80th!They felt 45 arriving at the door of their home. But soon they found their 46 were kept on the 20th.

This story is a reflection on our lives. Many of us live under the 47 of our parents, teachers and friends when young. We seldom get to do the things we love.

By the age of twenty,with so much pressure, we get 48 and then decide to throw down this load.49 from this load, we work energetically with ambitious dreams.

But at the age of forty,we discover the youth has already died, so much 50 is produced unavoidably, and begin to feel sorry for that. When you 51 the age of sixty ,we discover life hasn't remained too much, so we tell ourselves not to complain and 52 the remaining days! Upon that we walk silently over our own 53 years of life. Arriving at the 54 of the life, we think there is nothing left to disappoint us, only the 55 that we can't rest in peace. Follow your dream , so you will not live with regrets.

Many trees in the Brackham area were brought down in the terrible storms that March. The town itself lost two great lime trees from the former market square. The disappearance of such striking features had changed the appearance of the town center entirely, to the annoyance of its more conservative inhabitants(居民).
Among the annoyed, under more normal circumstances, would have been Chief Inspector Douglas Pelham, head of the local police force. But at the height of that week's storm, when the wind brought down even the mature walnut tree in his garden, Pelham had in fact been in no fit state to notice. A large and healthy man, he had for the first time in his life been seriously ill with an attack of bronchitis.
When he first complained of an aching head and tightness in his chest, his wife, Molly, had tried to persuade him to go to the doctor. Convinced that the police force could not do without him, he had, as usual, ignored her and attempted to carry on working. Predictably, though he wouldn't have listened to anyone who tried to tell him so, this had the effect of fogging his memory and shortening his temper.
It was only when his colleague, Sergeant Lloyd, took the initiative (主动) and drove him to the doctor's door that he finally gave in. By that time, he didn't have the strength left to argue with her. In no time at all, she was taking him along to the chemist's to get his medicine and then home to his unsurprised wife who sent him straight to bed.
When Molly told him, on the Thursday morning, that the walnut tree had been brought down during the night, Pelham hadn’t been able to take it in. On Thursday evening, he had asked weakly about damage to the house, groaned (含糊不清地说) thankfully when he heard there was none, and pulled the sheets over his head.
It wasn't until Saturday, when the medicine took effect, his temperature dropped and he got up, that he realized with a shock that the loss of the walnut tree had made a permanent difference to the appearance of the living-room. The Pelhams’ large house stood in a sizable garden. It had not come cheap, but even so Pelham had no regrets about buying it. The leafy garden had created an impression of privacy. Now, though, the storm had changed his outlook.
Previously, the view from the living-room had featured the handsome walnut tree. This had not darkened the room because there was also a window on the opposite wall, but it had provided interesting patterns of light and shade that hid the true state of the worn furniture that the family had brought with them from their previous house.
With the tree gone, the room seemed cruelly bright, its worn furnishings exposed in all their shabbiness. And the view from the window didn’t bear looking at. The tall house next door, previously hidden by the tree, was now there, dominating the outlook with its unattractive purple bricks and external pipes. It seemed to have a great many upstairs windows, all of them watching the Pelhams' every movement.
“Doesn’t it look terrible?” Pelham whispered to his wife. But Molly, standing in the doorway, sounded more pleased than dismayed. “That's what I’ve been telling you ever since we came here. We have to buy a new sofa, whatever it costs.”
【小题1】Why were some people in Brackham annoyed after the storm?

Butterfly’s wings
One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon（茧）, a man sat and watched for the butterfly for several hours as it was struggling to __36__ its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten __37__ it could and it could go no further. So the man decided to __38__ the butterfly: he took a pair of scissors and __39__ the remaining part of the cocoon. The butterfly then __40__ easily.
But it has a swollen（肿胀的）body and __41__ wings. The man continued to __42__ the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the __43__ would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would __44__ the time span(跨度). Neither happened! __45__, the butterfly spent the rest of its life  __46__ around with a swollen body and small, shriveled（褶皱的）wings. It __47__ was able to fly. What the man did in his __48__ and haste（匆忙）did no good to the butterfly. He didn’t know the __49__ cocoon and the struggle __50__ for the butterfly to get through the tiny __51__ were the natural way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings __52__ it would be ready for flight once it achieved its __53__ from the cocoon.
Sometimes the __54__ is exactly what we need in our life. If we are allowed to go through our life without any __55__, it would not be a good thing to us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

A man found the cocoon (茧) of a moth (蛾). He took it home so that he could    1  the moth come out of the cocoon. On that day a small   2  appeared. He sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to   3  the body through that little hole. Soon it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had    4  as far as it could and it could go no further. It just seemed to be stuck. So the man, out of his kindness, decided to help the moth. He took a pair of scissors and cut off the  5___  bit of the cocoon. The   6  then came out easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriven (无用的) wings. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and   7  to be able to support the    8  , which would get smaller in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life   9  around with a swollen body and shriven wings. It was   10  able to fly.
What the man in his kindness   11  was that the small cocoon and the  12__of the moth to get through the   13  opening was a way to push fluid (液体)   14  the body of moth   15   its wings so that it would be ready to fly   16  it got out of the cocoon. Freedom and    17  would come only after the struggle. By taking the struggle away, he also took away the moth’s health.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we were to   18  our lives without any difficulties, we would become disabled. We would not be as    19  as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance. Leave no room for   20   .