D
At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.
At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.
And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”
What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.
【小题1】The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.

(D)
At a certain time in our lives we consider every place as the possible site for a house. I have thus searched the country within a dozen miles of where I live. In imagination I have bought all the farms, one after another, and I knew their prices.
The nearest thing that I came to actual ownership was when I bought the Hollowell place. But before the owner completed the sale with me, his wife changed her mind and wished to keep it, and he offered me additional dollars to return the farm to him. However, I let him keep the dollars and sold him the farm for just what I gave for it.
The real attractions of the Hollowell farm to me were its position, being about two miles from the village, half a mile from the nearest neighbor, bounded(相邻) on one side by the river, and separated from the highway by a wide field. The poor condition of the house and fences showed that it hadn’t been used for some time. I remembered from my earliest trip up the river that the house used to be hidden behind a forest area, and I was in a hurry to buy it before the owner finished getting out some rocks, cutting down the apple trees, and clearing away some young trees which had grown up in the fields. I wanted to buy it before he made any more of his improvements. But it turned out as I have said.
I was not really troubled by the loss. I had always had a garden, but I don’t think I was ready for a large farm. I believe that as long as possible it is better to live free and uncommitted(无牵无挂). It makes but little difference whether you own a farm or not.
57.What do we know about the author?
A. He wanted to buy the oldest farm near where he lived.
B. He made a study of many farms before buying.
C. He made money by buying and selling farms.
D. He had the money to buy the best farm in the country.
58.Why did the author want to buy the farm in a hurry?
A. He was afraid the owner might change his mind.
B. He hoped to enlarge the forest on the farm.
C. He wanted to keep the farm as it was.
D. He was eager to become a farm owner.
59.The underlined words “the loss” in the last paragraph refer to _____?
A. the money the author lost in buying the farm
B. the sale of the garden in the Hollowell place
C. the removal of the trees around the house
D. the failure to possess the Hollowell place
60.What does the author believe as important in life?
A. To own a farm               B. To satisfy his needs
C. To be free from worries.       D. To live in the countryside.

C
For a girl who's interested in fashion, what would be the dream job for success? Being a model? Probably no—?that's for a pencil thin who doesn't eat．One answer is, fashion stylist （时装造型师）．
As more brands open stores in China to enlarge their reach, the increase in outdoor advertising might light a stylist spark in a girl' s heart．Fashion magazine offices are crowded with applicants, and fashionable brand HR managers get thousands of resumes （简历） of people looking for a stylist position．
"It looked too high before, but now I find it more approachable," said Xue Rui, 22, a Fudan University Chinese literature grad who works as an assistant stylist at Hermes in Shanghai．"There is no certain rule in dressing up models, and you can try every way with your own taste to make them pretty and attractive．"
The attractiveness of this line of work is not only in the elegant clothes．And it's not like it used to be．Now it's a well-paid and promising career．
"A stylist at a fashion magazine can have some special rights．You have a chance to contact （联系） famous persons and dress them up in a style you like," said Cheng Hong, chief editor of the Chinese version of L' officiel Hommes magazine．" You need to cooperate with top photographers and select places around the world to take photos in．You might also be invited to fashion shows of top brands and can select some of the favorite clothes．"
Girls can find it hard to ignore this field and it is opening up to normal girls, not only style or fashion design majors．A fashion designer knows how to make a dress pretty, but a stylist knows how to make a person beautiful, from head to toe．
There exist some problems, no matter how great you may think it is, it' s unbelievably hard work．You need to build good relations with various people, say stars, photographers, PR managers, other media, and even airlines．You need to take care of clothes in the workplace and pay for even a tiny spot you get on them．The worst thing is that you might work extremely hard for a week on some serious photos, but if the chief's not satisfied, you do them all over again．
So, remember, girls, you've been warned．
64．What does the underlined sentence in the first paragraph probably mean?
A．Being a model is thin girls' business．
B．A good model eats nothing but fruits．
C．To be a model, she must look like a pencil．
D．To be a model, she can not eat nutritious food．
65．As a stylist at a fashion magazine, you need to do the following things EXCEPT      .
A．make contact with famous persons     B．dress yourself up in a special style
C．co-work with top photographers      D．select the favorite clothes
66．We can infer from the passage that ______．
A．working as a stylist was not so appealing as it is today
B．a successful stylist must have a diploma in fashion design
C．fashion designers do more tough jobs than fashion stylists
D．skills for stylists are not so important as relationships with others
67．Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
A．Designing for Magazines            B．Styling for Success
C．Being an Attractive Designer         D．Arguing against Fashion Stylists

C
FOR many of us, cartoon strips（连环画） are simply one of our pastimes. The popular Japanese manga provides us with an escape from reality into a world of fantasy, adventure and romance. With much less text and pictures running for pages, it fits perfectly into today's fast, throwing away city lifestyle.
But Tsai Chih-chung, a famous Taiwanese illustrator (漫画家), doesn't agree. He believes cartoons can be a bridge connecting traditional Chinese culture and wisdom with the modern world in a much more wise and acceptable way.
He has interpreted（演绎） Lao Zi, Confucius, Mencius, Zhuang Zi and Sun Zi and made their works accessible to a global audience. He has also produced two books about Zen (禅宗), introducing oriental philosophy（哲学）. His cartoons are humorous yet full of wisdom and are admired as an easy way to learn Chinese classics.
After avoiding the public for ten years, Tsai made a comeback in late April with seven new works. But does his age, 61, work as a gap between him and his young readers? Tsai doesn't think so.
The topics he has covered range from philosophy in a time of individuality(个性) to the learning and memorizing techniques used at school. "Every child is a genius and has the potential beyond his own imagination," he said.
If popular Japanese manga is simply for entertainment, Tsai's work, to a large extent, is to light the power of thinking in a light-hearted way. Tsai uses different forms of water to refer to people. In his eyes some people are like an ocean, some are like vapor , while others may be ice or rain. But in essence they share a similarity – human being's forever chasing for the true and the good.
"The person who thinks over life issues is not necessarily a scholar or a philosopher," he said. "I've devoted my whole life to thinking and individual freedom, not making a living."
64．Which of the following statement is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Tsai’s work fits today’s city lifestyle.
B．All of Tsai’s works mainly introduce eastern philosophy.
C．Tsai’s works are humorous as well as full of wisdom.
D．Tsai’s works are not involved in children’s study.
65．What’s the word “vapor” mean in the 6th paragraph?
It means          .
A．a kind of food  B．a form of water       C．a form of solid D．a kind of people
66．From the passage we know that       .
A．Tsai once stopped writing his works for ten years
B．Tsai writes his works in order to make a living
C．Tsai thinks everyone should be a scholar or a philosopher
D．Tsai doesn’t think there is a gap between him and his young readers
67．In the author’s opinion,         .
A．Japanese Manga is more valuable than Tsai’s
B．Tsai’s works are more valuable than Japanese Manga
C．Japanese Manga is as valuable as Tsai’s
D．Both Japanese Manga and Tsai’s works are valueless