Disease, poverty, hate, love—Charles Dickens’ stories opened his readers eyes to the most important themes of his age. Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens’ legacy(遗产) was far greater than just “great literature”
February 7 marks the 200^th anniversary of the writer’s birthday. To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world. Let’s take a look at two of them.
A white Christmas
Dickens is described as “the man who invented Christmas”—not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive season today. In the early 19^th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt. The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day – unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off.
Many people believe that Dickens’ popular descriptions of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come. In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas, but also painted a picture of glowing warmth –“ home enjoyments, affections and hopes”.
In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote: “ Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas.”
“Dickensian” poverty
Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian (the period during British Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901) London.
He helped popularize the term “red tape” to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy（官僚作风） in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society.
“Dickensian” has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty. In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about deprivation in some areas of Britain, she did not use words like “terrible” or “horrific”, but rather described it as “life mirroring the times of Dickens”. 
【小题1】What is the main idea of the article?

第三部分　阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）

第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

It was getting dark when Lisa was returning from teaching out in a small community. She’d been traveling the same route for over a year and there was seldom traffic on this highway.

Lisa remembered back to her previous experiences. In those days she was constantly picking up strangers on the road. Her family became greatly concerned about her safety, but she continued the practice until the day her sister told her that one of her friends had been shot by a hitchhiker (搭便车者). That was when the family heard the promise, “No more hitchhikers, I promise!”

When she thought back to these things, she suddenly noticed that a car was parked on the road ahead. Then she saw a man waving. He was in trouble, she thought. But suddenly she remembered the promise. She knew this road well and the chances of another car coming along to help were very little. Now as the man ran toward her car she shook with fear, and didn’t know if he was truly in need. She could not leave him here in this storm. The stranger explained that his car was broken. She knew she had to break the promise. She told him to get in. They drove for an hour into the next city and she took him to a telephone box. She waited until he had made a call. When he reported back to her that a family member would soon be there for him, she wished him well and left.

Tears fell on her cheeks as she drove away. It felt as though she had been holding her breath for an hour. “I hope they’ll understand why I had to break my promise.”

56. We can learn from the text that Lisa promised______.

A. not to pick up free riders on her way home

B. not to drive home alone when it was late

C. to help those whose cars were broken

D. to learn from the friend of her sister’s

57. Which of the following can best describe Lisa?

A. Careful and serious         B. Faithful and clever   

C. Kind and helpful           D. Brave and patient

58. What was Lisa’s attitude toward her breaking the promise?

A. It was very serious.          

B. It should be forgiven    

C. She was too nervous to go home.

D. She felt regretful about her mistakes.

59. What would be the best title for the text?

A. Lisa’s adventure             B. An unusual travel     

C. Strangers’ kindness            D. The broken promise

My First Trip in the United States

I still remember my first day in the U. S. very clearly. My friend was waiting for me when my plane   36  at Kennedy Airport at three o’clock in the afternoon. The weather was very  37 and it was snowing, but I was too excited to   38  . From the airport, my friend and I took a taxi to my    39   .On the way, I saw the skyline of Manhattan for the   40  time and I looked in surprise at the famous skyscrapers（摩天大楼） and their man-made   41  .  42   me unpack at the hotel, my friend left and promised to return the next day.

  43  my friend had left, I went to a   44   near the hotel to get something   45    . Since I couldn’t speak a single word of English, I couldn’t tell the    46   what I wanted. I was very worried and started to make some   47   ,but he didn’t understand me. Finally, I ordered the    48  thing as the man at the next table was   49   . After dinner, I started to walk along Broadway   50   I came to Times Square with its theatres, neon lights, and crowds of people. I did not feel tired, so I   51  to walk around the city. I wanted to see   52  on my first day, although I knew it was impossible.

When I returned to the hotel, I couldn’t fall asleep, lay    53  and thought about New York. It was a very big and amazing city with many high-rise buildings and streams of cars, and full of   54  and busy people. I also decided right then that I had to learn to    55  .

短文改错（共10小题，每小题1分，满分10分）
此题要求改正所给短文中的错误.对标题号的每一行做出判断：如无错误，在该行右边的横线上划（√）；如有错误（每行只有一个错误），则按下列情况改正：
此行多一个词：把多余的词用斜线划掉，在该行右边横线上写出该词，并也用斜线划掉。
此行缺一个词：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。
此行错一个词：在错的词下划一横线，在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。
注意：原行没有错的不要改。
特别注意：下面的题为选A卷的考生必做。
One day a doctor was starting his morning works. Suddenly                         81. _______
a man ran his room. His face was red and he could                             82. _______
only say"Quick! Quick!"The doctor thought he can be                              83. _______
very ill. His assistant helped to get the poor man sit in                            84. _______
a chair. The doctor gave the man some medicine to make                          85. _______
him to sleep. Then he looked into the man's mouth and                            86. _______
pulled out all the bad tooths. As soon as the man woke                            87. _______
up, he said"Quick, doctor, Quick,"with a low voice.                                88. _______
"It's all over now,"the doctor told him."You don't understand,"                    89. _______
said the man."I came to tell you your house is on the fire."                         90. _______

短文改错
When Jack bowed to someone, he always did it much too quickly. They needn't to wait any longer after he finished nodding his head. So he was blamed for no manner. Then a warm-hearted man teaches him, "When you bow to somebody next time, you can count the January, February, March, until December. Then you can lift your body. Thus, the ceremony will almost perfect. The next day, he met his uncle, but he did as the man told him to. The bow was too long that it made his uncle escape soon with a surprising look. When Jack looked down, he found his uncle gone. So he asked a passer-by, "In which month did she go away?"