On a hot day, I decide to mow our extremely hilly lawn. It was likely to    21    a jungle（丛林）with weeds growing wildly. I need to mow it at once.

After several false    22      , I had to examine it and finally got our old lawn mower     23      . I was mowing and trying hard to push the machine uphill, which was really a hard job, for the machine was too old to work well. I was so   24  that I complained under my breath, so I decided to take a short break.

At the top of a rise, I   25  to see my 12-year-old John Thomas standing there, with a smile on his face and a glass of    26   in his hand.  "Here, Mom, "he said, "have a drink, Want me to help you? Dad   27  me work on hte flat places."

I  28   the ice water and went to sit in the      29   of a tall tree. As I took my drink, I   30     my son. To my surprise, he didn't seem to be    31    the normal mowing pattern. And he kept smiling at me   32    he worked. I wondered    33  made him so happy? I thought to myself.

After a while, he    34   mowing and looked in my direction. "Hey, Mom. Could you  35  here? "   "He's always　naughty like this, lazy again?" I said to myself    36     .  Then I stood up and walked across the lawn, noticing that he had missed a sizable spot. "John, you didn't..."  My angry words gradually became      37      , for the spot I thought he'd missed had been       38     mowed into the shape of a（an）   39   , suddenly I felt something warm and gentle rising from inside.

"Like it, Mom? It's mine and it's for you."  he asked with a big    40  .

"Now I'll finish the job."

21. A. turn on B. turn into     C. turn down  D. turn up

22. A. starts    B. words C. ends    D. behavior

23. A. work    B. move  C. going  D. flying

24. A. cheerful       B. tired   C. cared  D. boring

25. A. looked through    B. looked over       C. looked after       D. looked up

26. A. hot tea  B. chocolate    C. milk   D. ice water

27. A. asks      B. allows C. lets     D. agrees

28. A. drank   B. heated C. accepted     D. received

29. A. shade    B. leaves C. root    D. top

30. A. saw      B. watched     C. observed    D. noticed

31. A. feeling  B. finding       C. following   D. feeding

32. A. if  B. since   C. whether      D. as

33. A. what     B. that     C. all      D. it

34. A. continued     B. went on      C. stopped      D. finished

35. A. go over B. turn over    C. driver over D. come over

36. A. happily B. angrily       C. eagerly       D. anxiously

37. A. heavier B. thicker       C. louder D. quieter

38. A. carefully      B. carelessly   C. casually      D. comfortably

39. A. heart                  B. apple  C. hand   D. foot

40. A. sign      B. smile  C. surprise      D. sigh

On receiving my learner driver license a couple of months ago, I started driving lessons straight away. In New Zealand, the __33__driving age is 15.
However it wasn’t __34__ two days ago that Dad finally allowed me to drive on the motorway. Our __35__ was Orewa, a seaside town about 60 kilometers away from my home in Auckland. That morning I __36__ sure I had enough to drink and went to the toilet (厕所) about three times __37__ we left. I thought I was totally __38__ for the journey, but nothing could have prepared me for my family’s __39__. "Relax! Don’t hold the steering wheel(方向盘) so __40__. The car is going zigzag (弯弯曲曲的)," called a nervous voice from the __41__. "Speed up. 70km/h isn’t fast enough. You are holding up the traffic," another voice ordered from the seat next to mine.
How __42__ ! My parents were really starting to get on my nerves. To satisfy them I sped up and within a second, an angry voice began to yell again. "Stop! __43__! Are you crazy? ” Everything did not go fine until I pulled off the motorway and drove into the city, __44__ the speed limit was only 50km/h.
My family seemed relieved (放心的) and __45__ telling me what to do. They all looked out of the windows and enjoyed the scenery .  __46__, that silence didn’t last very long. My mum suddenly cried out, "Look at those birds above us. __47__ they lovely?"
How did she expect me to look up in the __49__? As the driver I had to __48__ . Who knows what would have happened if I had taken my eyes off the __50__? Four hours later we drove home. This time the journey was much __51__ than before as everyone else __52__ fast asleep. So, I just took my time and enjoyed the drive.

On 27th February 2008, something very unusual happened in the UK; there was a rather large earthquake. It was the biggest earthquake in 25 years in the UK. There have been very small tremors in the past but they pale into insignificance compared to this one.
It was felt in a large area across the country too, from as far north as Edinburgh in Scotland to as far south as Plymouth on the south coast of England.
The epicenter of the earthquake was in a small town in Lincolnshire, which is an area about two and a half to three hours north of London by car. A magnitude of 5.2 was registered on the Richter scale.
There were lots of reports in the news from people who felt the earth move. One man said, "We had loads of vibrating and wall shaking and stuff, noise coming off the roof. I came outside – the chimney's on the floor!"
A collapsed chimney was the cause of what was probably the worst injury from the earthquake; a man broke his pelvis when the chimney fell on him.
Another man who spoke to the BBC described the moment the earthquake occurred, "Everything was shaking. As soon as it happened we all went outside and saw everyone else down the street, coming out and just realized it was an earthquake."
The huge rumble, which was felt by a lot of people, surprisingly caused very little structural damage to property.
Most British people would be surprised to learn that there are 200-300 earthquakes in Britain every year, but most of them are so small, they go unnoticed. The magnitude of this earthquake is fairly small in comparison to some other natural disasters that have made international news, but for the people affected, it certainly came as quite a surprise.
60. Before this earthquake _______.
A. there was no signs of any shakings at all.
B. people did not feel anything unusual.
C. many people realized there would be a bigger one to come.
D. some small quakes were only too small to be ignored.
61. From this passage we know ______ is in the south of Great Britain.
A. Lincolnshire                      B. Edinburgh
C. Plymouth                         D. Scotland
62. This earthquake  _____.
A. hardly caused any damages to the people’s belongings..                
B. brought down many buildings in England.
C. scared many people to death.
D. made the world greatly surprised.
63. After reading this passage we can infer_______.
A. people in England faced the earthquake bravely.
B. this earthquake seemed to be felt all over Great Britain.
C. this earthquake is the biggest one in history.
D. the chimneys in Britain are the most poorly built parts of the houses.

On August 5 at 10:31 p.m. PST, a rover（探测器）named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat.
My name is Clara, and when I was in Grade 6, I won the essay contest NASA held to name its next Mars rover. The essay I wrote was not even 250 words long, but somehow it was enough to change my life.
I still remember that cold December day, sitting in a science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and decided to get a Time for Kids magazine off Mrs. Estevez’s bookshelf. It was the 2008 Invention Issue, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye. In the magazine, there was an article about a girl who named the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The article also talked about the essay contest NASA was holding to name its next Mars rover. Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.
I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home from the bus stop, sat down at the computer and typed until my fingers ached. It turned out that I was just in time. A few days later, and the contest would have closed.
Five months later, shortly after I had turned 12, I was watching a National Geographic special on mammoths when the phone rang. My mom answered, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face. When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being, I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.
Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandfather and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. He’d tell me stories and point out the stars.
My grandfather lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess some mystery.
In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like – you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.
People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. Why do we explore? My answer to that is simple: because we can; because we’re curious; because we as human beings do not just stay holed up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.
The curiosity rover is more than just a robot. It is more than just a titanium body and aluminum wheels. Curiosity represents the hard work, passion, love and commitment of thousands of people from all over the world who were brought together by science. Science is so awesome. It is breathtaking and mind-blowing; and sometimes, it’s just a little bit crazy. The discoveries we make about our world are incredibly humbling. They move us forward and have the potential to benefit all of mankind.
This December it will be four years of my life that have been tied to Curiosity in some way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this experience, from scientists to engineers to administrators to volunteers. Their devotion and enthusiasm inspire me greatly. My journey with Curiosity and the MSL mission team has shaped the person that I am today, as well as the person I would one day like to become.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have this amazing adventure.
And to you, I hope your curiosity takes you far.
【小题1】 The method the writer uses to begin the passage is _____.

On a typical hot August day in Xianyou County, Fujian Province, Zeng Demei, a retired worker in his seventies, hurries down a busy street．In his hand is a black leather bag．Zeng opens his bag, taking out two forms．

1..

         Each of the forms contains detailed information of a student．On his arrival two hours later a woman greets him and leads him to her office where another man is waiting．They are the two village officials．They inspect the forms handed to them by Zeng and immediately recognize the girls．2.? "It’s a pity but it doesn't matter．" says Zeng, who wastes no time in deciding to look for the remaining child, Su Qiuju．

         After half an hour, they stop outside a small house made of mud brick．A middle-aged man and a girl in a faded pink dress greet them．Su Qiuju is eight years old．She was forced to drop out of school after both her parents died．She is now living with her uncle who cannot afford his own children's education．However, the year of education Su Qiuju did complete was a successful one．3.．

         When they are about to leave, Zeng says, "I must find a supporter for this girl to sponsor her education．" Zeng has made it his retirement task to help children complete their schooling．Back in 1999, Zeng took part in a campaign started by the local women's organization to help students from poor families．4..

         His task had begun and since then he has spent his time persuading his friends and neighbors and others to donate money．"To me, children's education is the most important． 5. I have to find sufficient funding before the school opens in September．"

         When asked how long he will keep up his vital work as the community's guardian angel, he has a simple reply．" Not until my eyes can't see, and my feet can't move．"

A．They were having problems with their schoolwork

B．These are for the two girls he's going to visit this morning

C．They live in a small village not very far, though only one of the girls is still living at home

D．She displayed a talent for handwriting, writing her three-character name neatly and beautifully

E．The thought of students dropping out of school bothers me so much that I can't get to sleep at night

F．Of course, some people question why I would want to give up my retirement to go to so much trouble

G．He was so overcome by the tough situation of many poor children ?that he donated all his money to help out a girl