Dear Guys,

 I’d like to talk to you about the shame you subjected me to last night. Let me first refresh your memory: You, a group of fit, young men, were playing soccer on the field across from my apartment building. I, a better-than-average looking young woman, was walking along the sidewalk with my groceries. That’s when your ball came flying over the fence and landed in front of me.

One of you approached and asked politely if I would throw the ball back to you. Fighting the urge to drop my bags and run screaming down the street, I reluctantly (勉强地) agreed.

Before I continue, let me explain something that I didn’t have a chance to mention last night: I hate sports. More specifically, I hate sports involving balls. This results from my lack of natural ability when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting. I’m bad at aiming too. So you can understand why I’d be nervous at what I’m sure seemed to you like a laughably simple request.

However, wanting to appear agreeable, I put my bags down, picked up the ball and, eyes half-shut, threw it as hard as I could.

It hit the middle of the fence and bounced back to me.

Trying to act casually, I said something about being out of practice, then picked up the ball again. If you’ll remember, at your command, I agreed to try throwing underhand. While outwardly I was smiling, in my head, I was praying, Oh God, oh please oh please oh please. I threw the ball upward with all my strength, terrified by what happened next.

The ball hit slightly higher up on the fence and bounced back to me.

This is the point where I start to take issue with you. Wouldn’t it have been a better use of your time, and mine, if you had just walked around the fence and took the ball then? I was clearly struggling; my smiles were more and more forced. And yet, you all just stood there, motionless.

Seeing that you weren’t going to let me out of the trouble, I became desperate. Memories of middle school softball came flooding back. I tried hard to throw the ball but it only went about eight feet, then I decided to pick it up and dash with ball in hand towards the baseline, while annoyed thirteen-year-old boys screamed at me that I was ruining their lives. Children are cruel.

Being a big girl now, I pushed those memories aside and picked up the soccer ball for the third time. I forced a good-natured laugh while crying inside as you patiently shouted words of support over the fence at me.

“Throw it granny-style!” one of you said.

“Just back up a little and give it all you’ve got!” another offered.

And, most embarrassing of all, “You can do it!”

I know you thought you were being encouraging, but it only served to deepen the shame.

Anyway, I accepted your ball-throwing advice, backed up, rocked back and forth a little, took a deep breath and let it fly.

It hit the edge of the fence and bounced back to me.

I surprised myself-and I’m sure you as well-by letting out a cry, “DAMN IT!!!” I then willed myself to have a heart attack and pass out in front of you just so I’d be put out of my misery.

Alas, the heart attack didn’t happen, and you continued to look at me expectantly, like you were content to do this all night. I had become a sort of exhibition for you. I could feel your collective thoughts drifting through the chain-link: “Can she really not do it? But I mean, really?”

Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t really game to continue your experiment. Three failed attempts at a simple task in front of a group of people in a two-minute period was just enough blow for me for one night. I picked up the ball one last time, approached the fence and grumbled, “Please just come get the damn ball.”

And you did. And thanks to you, I decided at that very moment to never throw anything ever again, except disrespectful glances at people who play sports.

Sincerely, Jen Cordery

1.The writer agreed to throw the ball because ______.

A. she needed to have a relax carrying the heavy groceries

B. she wanted to refresh her childhood memories

C. she could not refuse the polite request from the young man

D. she had fallen in love with the young man at first sight

2.Why did the writer mention her middle school memory?

A. To explain why she failed the attempts to throw the ball back.

B. To complain that she had not mastered the ball throwing skills.

C. To show how cruel those 13-year-old boys were.

D. To express her dislike towards softball.

3.What the boys said before the writer’s third attempt actually made the writer _______.

A. inspired                B. encouraged             C. embarrassed                  D. depressed

4.What happened to the ball at last?

A. The writer managed to throw the ball back.

B. The boy got the ball back by himself.

C. The writer threw the ball away out of anger.

D. The boys got angry and left without the ball.

I’m not so sure I like my friends any more. I used to like them — to be honest. We’d have lunch, talk on the phone or exchange e-mails, and they all seemed normal enough. But then came Facebook and I was introduced to a sad fact: many of my friends have dark sides that they had kept from me.
Today my friends show off the more unpleasant aspects of their personalities via Facebook. No longer hidden, they’re thrown in my face like TV commercials — unavoidable and endless advertisements for the worst of their personalities.
Take Fred. If you were to have lunch with him, you’d find him warm, and down-to-earth. Read his Facebook and you realize he’s an unbearable, food-obsessed bore. He’d pause to have a cup of coffee on his way to save a drowning man — and then write about it.
Take Andy. You won’t find a smarter CEO anywhere, but now he’s a CEO without a company to lull. So he plays Mafia Wars on Facebook. He’s doing well — level 731. Thanks to Facebook, I know he’s playing about 18 hours a day. Andy, you’ve run four companies — and this is how you spend your downtime? What happened to golf? What happened to getting another job?
Take Liz. She is positive that the H1N1 vaccine will kill us all and that we should avoid it. And then comes Chris who likes to post at least 20 times a day on every website he can find, so I get to read his thoughts twice, once on Facebook and once on Twitter.
In real life, I don’t see these sides of people. Face to face, my friends show me their best. They’re nice, smart people. But face to Facebook, my friends are like a blind date which goes horribly wrong.
I’m left with a dilemma. Who is my real friend? Is it the Liz I have lunch with or the anti-vaccine lunatic(狂人)on Facebook? Is it the Fred I can grab a sandwich with or the Fred who weeps if he’s at a party and the wine isn’t up to his standards?
【小题1】Who is opposed to the H1N1 vaccine in the text?

(C)

When I decided to apply for a summer job, I was a freshman. After several attempts（尝试）, I got an interview with Dave Hensley, a manager in the games department at Cedar Point Amusement Park. I was a very shy and quiet boy, but I put aside my shy nature for the interview, and was as outgoing（外向的） as I knew how to be. Apparently（明显地）it worked. I was informed (通知) to go to the park the next day. However, when I arrived, Dave told me he was assigning (分派) me to be a guesser. That position required standing all alone, speaking to thousands of people over a microphone. I never dreamed Dave would assign me to that position.

Dave must have sensed my fear as he said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Then he took me to the Guessing Game location in an area of the park. Along the way, Dave talked to me, trying to improve my confidence. He told me to just relax and be myself, and then the microphone was put into my hand.

My mind was disorderly, but I knew I wanted to work at Cedar Point, and that desire meant I had to make it. After thirty minutes, Dave took the microphone and gave it to another guesser. He turned to me and said, “Well, at least you’re not afraid of the microphone!” Thanks to Dave’s trust and encouragement, I went on to become a very successful guesser. His support in helping me overcome that fear improved my life in more ways than Dave could ever imagine. In that same spirit, I successfully completed my Master’s degree in electrical engineering which I had once wanted to give up.

64. In order to get the job, the author _______.

A. had to have several interviews with Dave Hensley

B. often went to the amusement park at Cedar Point

C. let the manager know he was a very shy and quiet person

D. made the manager believe he was good at dealing with strangers

65. Right after the author heard that his position was a guesser, he was ____.

A. excited       B. afraid     C. happy       D. regretful

66. After reading the whole passage, we can infer that the author _______.

A. didn’t do well in electrical engineering at first

B. wanted to be a guesser all his life

C. could learn new things very quickly

D. wanted to be a person like Dave Hensley

67. By writing about his own experience, the author wants to tell us _______.

A. how to be a successful guesser as a freshman

B. how to be a popular person in a company

C. the importance of trust（信任）and encouragement

D. the importance of having a good manager

For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.

As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.

Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn’t involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.

Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No thanks, I’m amusic,’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”                                                                                                                       (335 words)

1.Which of the following is true of amusics?

A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them.

B．They love places where they are likely to hear music.

C．They can easily tell two different songs apart.

D．Their situation is well understood by musicians.

2.According to paragraph 3, a person with “defective hearing” is probably one who __________.

A．dislikes listening to speeches

B．can hear anything nonmusical

C．has a hearing problem

D．lacks a complex hearing system

3.In the last paragraph, Margaret expressed her wish that __________.

A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier

B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy

C．her problem could be easily explained

D．she were able to meet other amusics

4.What is the passage mainly concerned with?

A．Amusics’ strange behaviours.

B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music.

C．Musical talent and brain structure.

D．Identification and treatment of amusics.

Roger Alvarez, 22, was one of the 52 percent of students who didn’t make it through his senior year at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles.

    He dropped out several years ago, but by the time he was in ninth grade, Alvarez says he already knew he wasn’t going to graduate.

    “There’s a certain amount of knowledge you have to have when you enter in a specific grade, and I didn’t have it.” Alvarez says,“Every class I used to go in, I was like, ‘Do I know this? I don’t know this.’”

    It was a shameful attitude, he tells his former English teacher, Antero Garcia, 29.

    “You were determined to help me, but what was I willing to give? I could have actually tried.”

    For his part, Garcia wants to know how he could have reached out to Alvarez better, but Alvarez says Garcia had always been helpful.

    “I mean, you could cheer me up, and then I see other students doing way better,” Alvarez says,“So then, I get nervous. I get stuck, and then my motivation goes to the floor.” He felt the situation was hopeless.

    “You talked to me like if I could do it, but inside me, I knew I couldn’t.” he tells Garcia,“I just didn’t want you to think that I’m…stupid.”

    Now, school is a life tool that Alvarez says he’s missing—but his teacher isn’t to blame.

    “Always, I just wanted you to know…you were a good teacher, and I always respected you.” he tells Garcia,“Some teachers, I felt like they only wanted to teach a certain group of people. But you looked at me and you paid attention.”

    “Maybe it didn’t get me to graduate, but there’re a lot of teachers, they don’t take the time to take a look. And it was never your fault.”

    Alvarez now works the night shift at a loading dock(码头). He still hopes to get his degree one day.

1.When Alvarez entered a grade, he was sure that ___________.

A. he wasn’t going to pass the class

B. he would do better than other students

C. he might learn an amount of knowledge

D. he would try his best to learn at class

2.By saying “my motivation goes to the floor”,  Alvarez meant __________.

A. he hid his goal from others              B. he lost heart gradually

C. he built up his motivation               D. he fell to the ground completely

3.In the opinion of Alvarez, most teachers _______.

A. paid no attention to teaching             B. had no time to read books

C. didn’t care about what he did             D. showed no respect to students

4.The passage mainly tells us that _________.

A. a dropout complains about being treated badly

B. a dropout plans to get his degree again

C. a dropout shows respect for not graduating

D. a dropout has thanks to his teacher not blame