Like all other mothers who have small children, I, too, have to steal time-from my own children at home and from the children who know me as their teacher-just to put a few words down on paper. Many times I’ve wanted to write for myself, for other women, for my parents, for my husband, and especially for my children. I would have liked to leave a legacy (遗产) of words explaining what it has meant to have twins. One reason that there is not a great deal written about being a mother of a new baby is that there is seldom a moment to think of anything else but the baby’s needs.
With twins, I did not have a spare hand to write with.
Before my twins were born, my days were long and I had nothing to write about. After the twins’ birth I did have something to write about, but I found myself facing not a pen and paper but milk bottles.
Some nights, friends would visit. They would leave at 11 p.m., heading for bed, and for us the night was only just beginning. With twins, there is really no night. Each feeding lasts a long time. At 1:00 a.m., each of them would begin crying from hunger. At 4:00am, when I finally put them down, I felt exhausted.
Two years have passed since then and we’ve managed to live through it all. My days are still very full and even now there isn’t one evening when I put the twins down for the night that I don’t have a break. At last a little time for myself.
【小题1】When did the writer have time but she didn’t feel like writing anything?

Moving to a new city and state was difficult for me, especially in winter. Little did I know that a Colorado snowstorm would greet me after I had been in my new home for only a week.
I just missed home. But more than the old house and the beach, I missed Stacey, my best friend. And I missed our lovely tea. Going to a sweet little tearoom, we had discovered was a special treat for us. The place was a Victorian dream, with delicate teacups and tablecloths with flower prints. The hat shelf near the front door swept us back to childhood. Stacey and I became little girls, trying on different hats until we found the perfect one for our dress-up tea party. We would then choose a lovely table and order our tea. That was a precious time, filled with laughter between scones（煎饼） and sharing our lives between tiny cucumber sandwiches.
Springtime descended upon Denver, and the sun lightened my heart. But I still fought loneliness almost every day. I decided to explore the Denver area. While my husband went to the office, I took time to see what our new area had to offer.
One day, I was walking along the street when suddenly the words "Tea Leaves" caught my eye. A tea room? Here, in the land of loneliness and pain?
I walked through the doors, and tears came to my eyes. It was a beautiful room, not Victorian, but simple and lovely.
I sat down and ordered a pot of tea, a cucumber sandwich, and some scones.It felt silly and wonderful --- and it felt like home. For the first time since moving, I felt as if this new city and state could be, would eventually be, my home. I would come back here and bring new friends. When Stacey visited, we would come here.
I lifted my cup and made a silent toast. I toasted Stacey, whom I missed  ly, and I toasted the sweet little tearoom that lessened my pain.
【小题1】 The author's hometown ______________.

Moving to a new city and state was difficult for me, especially in winter. Little did I know that a Colorado snowstorm would greet me after I had been in my new home for only a week.
I just missed home. But more than the old house and the beach, I missed Stacey, my best friend. And I missed our lovely tea. Going to a sweet little tearoom, we had discovered was a special treat for us. The place was a Victorian dream, with delicate teacups and tablecloths with flower prints. The hat shelf near the front door swept us back to childhood. Stacey and I became little girls, trying on different hats until we found the perfect one for our dress-up tea party. We would then choose a lovely table and order our tea. That was a precious time, filled with laughter between scones（煎饼） and sharing our lives between tiny cucumber sandwiches.
Springtime descended upon Denver, and the sun lightened my heart. But I still fought loneliness almost every day. I decided to explore the Denver area. While my husband went to the office, I took time to see what our new area had to offer.
One day, I was walking along the street when suddenly the words "Tea Leaves" caught my eye. A tea room? Here, in the land of loneliness and pain?
I walked through the doors, and tears came to my eyes. It was a beautiful room, not Victorian, but simple and lovely.
I sat down and ordered a pot of tea, a cucumber sandwich, and some scones. It felt silly and wonderful --- and it felt like home. For the first time since moving, I felt as if this new city and state could be, would eventually be, my home. I would come back here and bring new friends. When Stacey visited, we would come here.
I lifted my cup and made a silent toast. I toasted Stacey, whom I missedly, and I toasted the sweet little tearoom that lessened my pain.
【小题1】The author's hometown ______________.

II.阅读（共两节，满分50分）

第一节 阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）

阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B，C和D项中选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Like all other mothers who have small children, I, too, have to steal time-from my own children at home and from the children who know me as their teacher-just to put a few words down on paper. Many times I've wanted to write for myself, for other women, for my parents, for my husband, and especially for my children. I would have liked to leave a legacy (遗产) of words explaining what it has meant to have twins. One reason that there is not a great deal written about being a mother of a new baby is that there is seldom a moment to think of anything else but the baby's needs.

With twins, I did not have a spare hand to write with.

Before my twins were born, my days were long and I had nothing to write about. After the twins' birth I did have something to write about, but I found myself facing not a pen and paper but milk bottles.

Some nights, friends would visit. They would leave at 11 p.m., heading for bed, and for us the night was only just beginning. With twins, there is really no night. Each feeding lasts a long time. At 1:00 a.m., each of them would begin crying from hunger. At 4:00am, when I finally put them down, I felt exhausted.

Two years have passed since then and we've managed to live through it all. My days are still very full and even now there isn't one evening when I put the twins down for the night that I don't have a break. At last a little time for myself.

26. When did the writer have time but she didn't feel like writing anything?

A. Before the birth of her twins.

B. When she faced bottles of milk.

C. After her friends visited her home.

D. When she had to think about the babies' needs.

27. What does the writer mainly write about?

A. Her role as a wife.                         B. Her work as a writer.

C. Her experience as a mother.            D. Her feeling as a woman.

28. Why did the writer say the night was just beginning (in the 4th paragraph)?

A. Because her friends left her house too late.

B. Because she started to take care of the twins even at night.

C. Because her babies often cried and she woke up.

D. Because she could not sleep till four in the morning.

29. This passage is probably from a(n) ______.

A. blog          B. newspaper               C. guidebook               D. advertisement

30. What can we learn from the passage?

A. The writer was unhappy because of no time for writing.

B. The writer cared her babies more than her own interests.

C. The writer hated to be a mother of twins.

D. The writer could steal a little time at night.

Moving to a new city and state was difficult for me, especially in winter. Little did I know that a Colorado snowstorm would greet me after I had been in my new home for only a week.

I just missed home. But more than the old house and the beach, I missed Stacey, my best friend. And I missed our lovely tea. Going to a sweet little tearoom, we had discovered was a special treat for us. The place was a Victorian dream, with delicate teacups and tablecloths with flower prints. The hat shelf near the front door swept us back to childhood. Stacey and I became little girls, trying on different hats until we found the perfect one for our dress-up tea party. We would then choose a lovely table and order our tea. That was a precious time, filled with laughter between scones（煎饼） and sharing our lives between tiny cucumber sandwiches.

Springtime descended upon Denver, and the sun lightened my heart. But I still fought loneliness almost every day. I decided to explore the Denver area. While my husband went to the office, I took time to see what our new area had to offer.

One day, I was walking along the street when suddenly the words "Tea Leaves" caught my eye. A tea room? Here, in the land of loneliness and pain?

I walked through the doors, and tears came to my eyes. It was a beautiful room, not Victorian, but simple and lovely.

I sat down and ordered a pot of tea, a cucumber sandwich, and some scones. It felt silly and wonderful --- and it felt like home. For the first time since moving, I felt as if this new city and state could be, would eventually be, my home. I would come back here and bring new friends. When Stacey visited, we would come here.

I lifted my cup and made a silent toast. I toasted Stacey, whom I missedly, and I toasted the sweet little tearoom that lessened my pain.

1.The author's hometown ______________.

A．never snows                           B．is still warm in winter

C．has a long history                       D．is in an area by the sea

2.The underlined word "treat" in Paragraph 2 probable means ____________.

A．delicious food                          B．something pleasant

C．service                               D．a kind of tea party

3.We can know from Paragraph 3 that the author ______________.

A．didn't adapt to the new life

B．felt comfortable in the new environment in spring

C．didn't feel lonely any more in spring

D．wanted to actively adapt to the new environment

4.Which of the following about "Tea Leaves" is true?

A．It made the author recall her childhood.

B．It looks silly and wonderful.

C．Cucumber sandwiches and scones are its specialties.

D．It touched the author.

5.We can infer from the text that the author would probably ____________.

A．open her own teahouse

B．ask the owner of the teahouse to decorate it like a home

C．make new friends in Denver

D．go back to her hometown to visit Stacey