It was late afternoon when the train pulled into the station．There were many people standing there，and Jeff could see his grandfather standing near the hack of the crowd．Each summer Jeff spent a month with him at the seashore．

    When Jeff and Iris grandfather reached Grandpa's old truck．Grandpa lifted the suitcase into the back of the truck．They started their way down the road to Grandpa's cottage．As they parked in front of the cottage，Grandpa smiled and nodded his head toward the beach．“Go on，”he said with a smile，“and I’ll get supper on．”

    Sand shifted and settled beneath Jeff's feet as he walked along the beach．Jeff loved how calm the water was at sunset．He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of salty air．Suddenly the peace was broken when close by he heard something．His eyes opened wide, and he saw a big seagull（海鸥）flying around his head．“Aawk，”it cried，swooping down again and again．

    Covering his head with his arms，Jeff dashed back to Grandpa’s collage and told him about the seagull．“It surely had a reason to act that way．”Grandpa said．“l wonder what it is．”

    The next morning，the sun shone brightly as Jeff bravely returned to the beach in search of interesting stones，shells，or pieces of driftwood．Once again，though，he soon found himself under attack．“Go away!” Jeff shouted and ran to the nearby bushes．

    There he heard a softer bird sound，“Eeep!” Gently pushing branches aside，he saw a young seagull．Its feet were tangled in（缠绕）plastic rings．“No wonder your mom’s upset，”Jeff said，Carefully he untwisted the rings．Finally free，the bird fluttered onto the sand crying，“Eeep!”

    “Aawk，”its mother replied，swooping down．Together they flew up into the blue sky．

    Jeff ran to fell Grandpa the news．”Now you can collect your rocks in peace．”Grandpa said． Grabbing a large bag．Jeff said．“I think I’ll collect some trash first．”Grandpa looked at Jeff with new eyes and  he said，” Would you mind if I join you?”

1．The author attempts lo entertain，inform，and persuade the reader by telling ______．

A．a sad story about visiting the beach and spending time with family members

    B．a thoughtful story while showing how being careless with trash can he harmful

    C．a boy's exciting story about the beach as well as facts about studying the ocean

   D．a funny story and asking important questions that require research to answer

2．If the author added a sentence at the end of paragraph 3，which of these would fit best?

    A．The seagull's threatening behavior was unusual and strange．

    B．Another time Jeff WON chased down by a little dog．

    C．There was nothing more lovely than seagulls at the beach，flying over the water．

    D．Sunset was Jeff's favorite time of day at the beach．

3．Why does the seagull swoop down to attack Jeff?

A．She has a nest of eggs to guard．   

B．She thinks he will take her food．

C．She has been hurt by people before．   

D．She wants to protect her young．

4．Grandpa discovers that the best way to spend time with Jeff is to _________．

A．clean the beach                                          B．play games   

C．watch the sunset                                       D．collect rocks

It’s hard not to feel cheated and over-charged when you receive unexpected roaming (漫游) charges while traveling abroad—whether they come from making phone calls or checking e-mails.

Jeff Gardner received an $ 11,000 bill from Verizon after spending four days in Jamaica. Before the trip, Mr. Gardner, who runs a fly-fishing business in Grayling, Michigan, said he called Verizon to find out what it would cost to use his cellphone for calls and his wireless card to check e-mails while in Jamaica. He said he was told that calls would be about $ 2 a minute and that there would be no extra charges for data as he was on an unlimited plan. The latter part turned out to be wrong.

“I don’t mind paying a fair amount for fair service, but $11,000 for four days is ridiculous,” said Mr. Gardner, who used his phone carefully and economically on the trip. He also tried to check and send e-mails using his wireless card, but quickly gave up after the e-mails didn’t go through. Still, his Verizon bill said more than 500,000 kilobytes (千字节) of data was delivered while he was in Jamaica, an amount Mr. Gardner said is 100 times what he normally uses in a month.

As travelers increasingly use smart phones abroad in the same way they do at home—to check e-mails, update Facebook and Twitter and pull up online maps—many are facing costly roaming fees, which providers charge when customers use their phones outside their service area. In fact, roaming charges have gotten so out of hand that the Federal Communications Commission has proposed a plan that would require wireless companies to send their customers a voice or text message when they are approaching their plan’s limit, when they have reached that limit and when they are starting to result in roaming fees.

1.Why did Jeff Gardner call Verizon before his trip to Jamaica?

A. To hand over his business.    

B. To check his cellphone bill

C. To find out information about Jamaica.

D．To find out information about roaming charges.

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?

A. Extra charges were made for Jeff Gardner’s data delivery.

B. Jeff Gardner’s calls were charged over $2 per minute.

C. Jeff Gardner’s plan turned out to be limited.

D. Jeff Gardner had difficulty delivering data abroad.

3.During the trip, Jeff Gardner______.

A. was careless with phone use

B. delivered no more data than at home

C. received quite poor e-mail services

D. frequently used his wireless card to send e-mails

4.What should wireless companies do according to the Federal Communications Commission?

A. Make customers know when they’re outside their service area.

B. Get customers informed when they’re near the limit of their plan.

C. Stop serving customers when they’ve reached their plan’s limit.

D. Limit some services to reduce the amount of roaming charges abroad.

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents in Texas. And every few summers, we’d __16__ the caravan (旅游团队), a group of Airstream trailer owners who __17__ together around the U.S. and Canada．

I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked __18__ to these travels. On one particular __ 19__ ，I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the backseat. My grandfather was __20__ . And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the __21__.

    At that age, I’d take any excuse to make estimates(估计) and do minor __22__．At any rate, I decided to do the math for my __23__. I estimated the number of  cigarettes per days, estimated the number of __24__ per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I’d come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head  into the __25__ of the car, tapped my grandmother __26__ the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, “At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your __27__!” Because the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some  number of minutes __28__ smoker’s life．

I expected to be applauded for my __29__ and arithmetic skills. That’s not what happened．__30__, my grandmother burst into __31__. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. My grandfather was a highly intelligent, __32__ man. He had never said a harsh word to me. He pulled __33__ onto the shoulder of the highway. He stopped and got out of the car, __34__ me, and after a bit of silence，he gently and __35__ said, “Jeff, one day you’ll understand that it’s harder to be kind than clever.”   

1.A. take  B. join   C. attend    D. visit

2.A. work  B. study  C. travel     D. explore

3.A. forward    B. backward   C. toward    D. upward

4.A. holiday    B. research     C. trip      D. return

5.A. talking     B. reading     C. training   D. driving

6.A. scene      B. smell       C. band      D. type

7.A. arithmetic(算数)  B. question  C. game    D. problem

8.A. grandfather  B. grandmother  C. visitor    D. car

9.A. cases     B. smokes   C. kinds   D. puffs(烟头)

10.A. window   B. seat      C. back        D. front  

11.A. at        B. in        C. on           D. under

12.A. tour      B. life      C. distance       D. date

13.A. away     B. from      C. with         D. off

14.A. cleverness   B. coolness   C. happiness    D. ability

15.A. Eventually   B. Instead   C. Unfortunately  D. Though

16.A. words     B. laughters    C. tears       D. screams

17.A. stubborn   B. determined  C. lonely      D. quiet

18.A. over        B. in         C. away       D. up

19.A. noticed      B. looked     C. glared      D. glanced

20.A. angrily      B. excitedly    C. calmly    D. coldly

The findings of a new survey have American professors talking about the good old days—when A's were a lot tougher to earn．

       Sites like Rate My Professors．com make it easy for students to find a class taught by a professor who is known as an "easy grader"．A recent survey by Kaplan Test Prep found that 46 percent of the more than 1,200 students polled admitted to using the site for just such a purpose．

       "Our research shows that many of today's college students are looking at multiple factors when picking out courses: overall teacher quality that will result in a good learning experience, but also instructors who don't like to award a lot of C's and D's," said Jeff Olson, vice president of research at Kaplan Test Prep．

       "While it makes sense that students would choose kinder graders, it also helps explain the recent popularity of grade inflation（膨胀）．"

       Grade inflation is seen by many professors as poisoning the learning environment．Some, like former Duke University professor Stuart Rojstaczer, are righting it head-on．

       On his website, Gradelnflation．com, he releases an annual list of schools where grade inflation is the worst．

       This year, he decided to name the schools where grades were inflated the least．He praised, for example, Princeton University, as well as Purdue University, where the average GPA has remained around 2．8 for over 30 years．

       "Purdue doesn't even seem to know that grade inflation exists in the US," Rojstaczer says．"Ignorance is bliss（极大的幸福）．"

Grade inflation is spreading because _____．

       A．it's poisoning the learning environment

       B．instructors intend to improve their overall teaching quality

       C．many instructors adapt to the students' expectations

       D．students get easy access to sites like RateMyProfessors．com

The passage suggests that _____．

       A．universities will employ hard graders

       B．if we want to be happy, we should be ignorant

       C．A's are becoming easy to earn at most US universities

       D．professors and instructors should give students higher grades

The writer tends to _____．

       A．favor easy graders                 B．see grade inflation as unavoidable

       C．oppose Kaplan Test Prep           D．miss the days when A's were hard to earn

With a determined(坚定的) look on his face, Chicago’s Michael McCarthy held on to the banister(扶手) and climbed to the top of the Willis Tower not long ago. The Tower stands 1,451 feet(442 meters) tall, the 21 building in the US.

As he got to the last step, McCarthy 22 fell down, but that didn’t stop him. The 14-year-old boy finally finished climbing the 2,109 steps and arrived at the top, where he 23 cheers from many people.

“I just want to show people that  24 a kid with no legs can do it, anyone can do it,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy, who was born without legs, has to wear prosthetic legs(假肢) and use a stick to walk. But McCarthy has a strong 25 . He believes having a disability(残疾) shouldn’t stop anyone  26  achieving his or her success.

He has been in a special school  27  he was four. When he decided to climb the Willis Tower, his teacher, Jeff Kohn, was   28  by his determination(决心) and offered to help train him. They   29  more than ten hours practicing climbing stairs and keeping balance with the prosthetics and sticks on the steps every day. “  30  seems that he never knows how difficult it is.  31  I was so tired that I asked him to rest for a day,”said Kohn. “But he said he was still full of energy and wanted more  32 .”

Kohn always walked with McCarthy for the climb. “I   33   the last 10 floors, he went faster,” said Kohn. “He’s the most craven sportsman I’ve ever trained.”

McCarthy said he was   34  of himself and that the tower now holds special meaning. “When I’m older, I’ll   35  to the building and say ‘Look at this building I climbed’,” he said.

1.A. largest  B. highest            C. earliest    

2.A. seldom     B. hardly           C. almost

3.A. enjoyed   B. needed            C. made      

4.A. while      B. though                C. if        

5.A. heart     B. hope              C. body      

6.A. by                 B. for                 C. from

7.A. as                 B. since               C. until       

8.A. pleased    B. beaten           C. moved      

9.A. used               B. spent               C. took        

10.A. Here                  B. There               C. It

11.A. However B. Sometimes          C. Then

12.A. friends       B. helpers              C. exercise

13.A. tried     B. saw              C. did        

14.A. thinking   B. talking             C. proud

15.A. point   B. go                     C. turn