The idea of sailing west to reach the riches of the East Indies and the Asian mainland was much in fashion with cultured Europeans during the late fifteenth century. Learned people agreed that the earth was round: their only questions were how long and how dangerous would be a trip to reach the Orient. Christopher Columbus, the son of an unknown weaver, and himself a weaver of ambitious dreams, made his historic voyage to the New World in 1492. He didn't go to school very much, but be learned to read and write Spanish during his travels. He also taught himself Latin because all the geography books were written in Latin. Sailing with a tiny fleet of three ships, the Santa Maria and two smaller ships, the Pinta and the Nina and a crew of ninety sailors, be found the thirty-three-day crossing easier than his nearly-decade-long effort to find royal sponsors willing to support it. The trip drew not only on his own skills as an expert ship's captain, but also on his ability to plan such an expedition, obtain governmental approval and financing, and finally, demonstrate its success so that such explorations could continue. He tried for years to get King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to supply him with ships and money. Finally they agreed, but he made more demands. He wanted to be made a knight, admiral of the Ocean Sea. He wanted to be the viceroy(总督)and governor general of all lands he would discover. Also he wanted one-tenth of everything he found of value in the new lands. The explorations that followed Columbus-those of Cabot, Verrazano, Cartier, and many others-benefited from a new maritime technology borrowed from Arab sailors and from a variety of new vessels (船，舰) such as the light-weight caravels employed by Columbus. Sailors also perfected sails and various types of riggings that gave ships added stability and greater maneuverability(可操作性)on the open seas. And when leaving sight of the coast, new navigational aids-charts, compasses, and astrolabes-permitted them to determine their position with some, though not perfect, accuracy. Columbus himself made a total of four voyages to the New World but he did not become rich as he had hoped. At the end of his life he only had a pension the king and queen had given him because he was the first to reach the New World. He spent the last few months of his life in bed because of the pain of arthritis(关)． Columbus not only discovered a New World, but led the way for other explorers.

1.What was the dream destination of Europeans in the late fifteenth century?

2.What preparations did Columbus make for his first voyage to the New World?

①He planned the expedition thoroughly.

②He spent almost ten years in looking for sponsors.

③He gathered a great many ships.

④He hired 90 sailors.

⑤He demonstrated his success of former far-reaching explorations.

3.We can learn from the passage that ________.

4.What equipment aided the sailors in locating relatively more accurately?

5.In the passage, the author mainly tells us ________.

完形填空（共20小题，每小题1分，满分20分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

Our three-year-old daughter Becky wanted a dog. But we were too busy to buy one. One day, Becky ran in, shouting, “Mom! Come to see my dog!” Her face was red with   1 .

I followed her to the bush and found a   2 ! He was hurt. Seeing me, he stood up   3 ! I could see his teeth! God! My mouth felt dry. “Don’t be afraid. That’s Mom. She  4 you, too.” Becky said. Then he became friendly. It was  5 !

I   6  to find my husband and told him about the wolf. We should have  7  the wolf, but Becky loved him. Besides, he was gentle(温柔的) to Becky. So we called the vet finally.

Becky named the wolf (狼) Ralph ,  8  she carried food to him every day. Later, Ralph got well. They played together in the daytime. At night, Ralph would return to the mountains. Sometimes he   9  but came back several days later.

On Becky’s first day of school, we could see Ralph’s   10 . After the school bus left, Ralph lay by the side of the road and   11  . When Becky returned, he got happy again. This   12  throughout Becky’s school years.

Twelve   13  passed.

One day we heard that a she-wolf was killed. The other wolf was hurt and ran away. We were   14  about Ralph. That night, Ralph returned with a wound (伤). Fifteen-year-old Becky held his head and   15  him. We hope he could come through. However, he   16 .

Becky cried. I noticed something strange in the bush — two little yellow eyes! Ralph’s  17 ! Before he died, Ralph   18  his child to us! He knew he would be  19  here, as he had been. Ralph, Ralph. I was   20 .

“Don’t be afraid, little ... Ralphie. That’s Mom. She loves you, too.”

1.                A．encouragement  B．entertainment    C．agreement    D．excitement

2.                A．dog            B．fox            C．wolf D．tiger

3.                A．lovely          B．finally          C．suddenly  D．patiently

4.                A．hurts          B．loves           C．kills  D．hates

5.                A．wonderful      B．unhappy        C．unbelievable   D．normal

6.                A．prepared       B．rushed         C．pretended D．wanted

7.                A．loved          B．found          C．damaged  D．killed

8.                A．and            B．but            C．so   D．or

9.                A．disappeared     B．turned         C．passed   D．came

10.               A．sadness        B．dream         C．understanding  D．anger

11.               A．slept           B．left            C．sang  D．waited

12.               A．stopped        B．joined          C．lived  D．continued

13.               A．days           B．weeks          C．months    D．years

14.               A．surprised       B．puzzled         C．worried   D．careful

15.               A．comforted      B．beat           C．washed   D．amused

16.               A．succeeded      B．died           C．cried D．woke

17.               A．mother         B．father          C．wife  D．child

18.               A．posted         B．brought        C．sold  D．threw

19.               A．safe           B．happy          C．warm D．friendly

20.               A．confused       B．disappointed    C．moved    D．frightened

A few days ago I got a call from my old college friend whom I haven’t seen for a very long time. The topic, which was about all the good old times that we had changed to a touching story when he started talking about his father.　　

His father’s declining health made him stay at the hospital. Because of his illness, his father suffered from insomnia (失眠) and often talked to himself. My friend, who had not been able to sleep for a few days as he had to keep watching his father’s condition, became irritated and told his father to keep silent and try to get some sleep. His father said that he really wanted to sleep well because he was very tired and told my friend to leave him alone in the hospital if he did not want to keep him company.　　

After his father finished talking, he fell unconscious (失去知觉). My friend was very sorry for speaking the ill words towards his father. My friend, whom I knew as a tough person, cried as a baby on the other end of the telephone. He said that from that moment on, he prayed every day, asking God to let his father wake up from his coma. He promised himself that whatever words came out from his father’s mouth after he regained his consciousness, he would gladly take them. His only hope for God was to give him a chance to rectify his past mistake.　　

Often, we complain when we have to accompany or watch over our parents for years, months, days, hours or even minutes. But do we realize that our parents keep us company and watch over us for as long as we (or they) live? From the day we were born to our adulthood, and even when deaths come to us, they are always at our side.

    Imagine how sad our parents will be when they hear a seemingly innocent word of “no” come out from our mouths. We can make promises to ourselves that from now on there will be no more complaints that come out from our mouths when we have to watch over or accompany our parents. No more complaints come out from our mouths when we feel that our parents have treated us like little children. There are so many unlucky ones who have neither fathers nor mothers. They long to have the things that we most complain about, but never have them.

    Actually, it takes only a second to think and light the lamp that will bring us to a place where peace is dwelling.

1.Which of the following word can be used to describe the writer’s friend?

A. Sad      B. Sorry      C. Regretful        D. Pitiful

2.What does the underlined word “rectify” mean in Para. 3?

A. put…right    B. recite…by heart   C. realize    D. recognize

3.What does the writer want to tell us in the passage?

A. Your parents will keep talking to themselves when they are old.

B. Be good to your parents when you still have the chance.

C. You will regret in your life if you don’t show your kindness to your parents.

D. It is not easy to take good care of sick old parents.

单词拼写（根据所给首字母或中文写出合适的单词，每题1分，满分10分）

1. Keeping calm is the most important thing you should remember in time of e_______.

2. Tom d________ the gold medal in the speech competition as he had made so many efforts that hardly could anybody imagine.

3.Medical teams were ________（准备）to leave Sichuan Province to treat the survivors(幸存者)from the earthquake.

4. He said that he p________ to stay at home rather than go with us.

5.It’s going to be some time before I ______(恢复)my strength.

6.Most parts of African countries have s________ from drought(干旱) in recent years.

7.When I began to sing, he laughed and made me e____________.

8.City people want to be outdoors on the weekend and do something ______(挑战性的)

9. He ______(赞成) the idea, and two years later I am in charge of the radio club as the oldest student member.

10.Since teenagers have difficulty ________(平衡)these needs, they often question who they are and how they fit in society.

C

A poor chimney-sweeper, who had not enough money to buy a meal, stopped one hot summer day at noon before an eating-house, and remained regaling his nose with the smell of the victuals．The master of the shop told him several times to go away, but the sweeper could not leave savory smell, though unable to purchase the taste of the food．At last the cook came out of the shop, and taking hold of the sweeper, declared that, as he had been feeding upon the smell of his victuals (food and drink), he should not go away without paying half the price of a dinner．The poor fellow said that he neither could nor would pay, and that he would ask the first person who should pass, whether it was not an unreasonable and unjust demand．

The case was referred to a policeman, who happened to pass at that moment．He said to the sweeper: “As you have been feasting one of your senses with the odor (smell) of this man’s meat, it is but just you should make him some recompense; therefore you shall, in your turn, regale (amuse) one of his senses, which seems to be more insatiable than your appetite．How much money have you?”

“I have but two pence in all the world, sir, and I must buy me some bread．”

“Never mind,” answered the officer, “take your two pence between your hands; now rattle (cause to make a lot of quick little noises)them loudly．”

The sweeper did so, and the officer, turning to the cook, said, “Now, sir, I think he has paid you: the smell of your victuals regaled his nostrils(openings at the end of the nose); the sound of his money has tickled your ears．”

This decision gave more satisfaction to the bystanders than to the cook, but it was the only payment he could obtain．

66．The sweeper stopped one hot summer day at noon before an eating-house, because _______ .

A．he wanted to regale his nose with the smell of the victuals

B．he was hungry and he wanted to have dinner

C．he was hungry but he had no enough money to buy a meal

D．he wanted to smell if the food was delicious．

67．The cook’s demand that the sweeper should pay half the price of a dinner was 

obviously _______ .

A．reasonable     B．not fair  C．logical   D．proper

68．We infer that the way that the policeman settled the problem was _______ .

A．foolish        B．kind      C．clever    D．stupid

69．The passage implied that _______ .

A．it’s a pity that the cook did not get what he wanted

B．the master of the shop and the cook were cool-hearted

C．the cook was cruel

D．the sweeper got what he wanted

70. Which is true according to the passage?

A. This story is arranged in order of time.

B. This story is arranged in order of place.

C. There were four people in the scene.

D. The case was judged by law.