I try not to be biased（偏见）but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His social worker assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee. He was short, a little fat, with the smooth facial features and thick-togued speech of Down’s Syndrome（唐氏综合症）. I thought most of my customers would be uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.
I shouldn’t have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my regular trucker customers had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home.
That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a heart surgery. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often had heart problems at an early age and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.
A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, my head waitress, did a little dance when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at her and asked, “Okay, Frannie, what was that all about?”
"We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"
Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed: "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK," she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand.
"What's up?" I asked.
“I cleared off that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting after they left, and I found this. This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup."
She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie".
That was three months ago. Today is New Year’s day , the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he had been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. I took him and his mother by their arms. “To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me.”
I led them toward a large corner booth. I could feel and hear truck customers and the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups and dinner plates, all sitting slightly on dozens of folded paper napkins.
"First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said.
Stevie looked at me, and then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed on it.
I turned to his mother. “There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving!”
While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
【小题1】Why did the author have doubts about hiring Stevie?

This recently-released documentary(纪录片)had some fantastic footage(镜头) in it, and a very personal look at many of the astronauts who went to the moon. Overall, that is a very exclusive(独特的) club; only about a dozen men ever did it in the history of the world and just eight or nine ever stepped foot on it. Most of them are still alive and they discuss their adventures, insights and personal feelings here.

One gets the feeling that the rest of us will never know exactly how beautiful the moon is except to take the astronauts’s words about it, because even the pictures on this DVD can’t convey that.

Since this documentary is about 100 minutes long, you get a lot of information. You also get reminded how close two of the three men who went up on that historic first walk on the moon almost didn’t get home alive.

An absence in this documentary is the most famous astronaut of them all: Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon! Apparently, he did not want to be part of this film. One of the astronauts mentions something briefly about Armstrong being somewhat of a “recluse(隐居者)” now and it “being understandable with what he’s gone through”. From what I’ve read, a lot of people have tried to make money off him in shady ways and so now he’s withdrawn(退出) from the public spotlight.

This film, a legacy to the Apollo program and the brave men who ran it, should be in every schoolroom. It would make history more interesting to students.

1.What can we know from the passage?

A．One of the astronauts talks about how beautiful the moon is.

B．Two of the three men who went to the moon lost their lives.

C．The documentary would make more students interested in history.

D．The astronauts talk about their adventures, insights and excitement.

2.How many astronauts first flew to the moon?

A．1                B．2                C．3.               D．4

3.Why was Armstrong absent from the film?

A．Because he didn’t like to show in public.

B．Because he has been tired of astronaut’s life.

C．Because someone wanted to make money off him.

D．Because he thought what he did was nothing to mention.

4.What made Armstrong famous around the world?

A．That he came back safely to the earth alive.

B．That he became an astronaut.

C．That he first stepped on the moon.

D．That he walked on the moon for 100 minutes.

Ⅱ 语言知识及应用 (共两节。满分35分)
第一节完形填空 (共10小题；每小题2分，满分20分)
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21—30各题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
When I first started to read “Pride and Prejudice”, I thought the novel was going to be the same old   21   “love story”. However, after reading the first few pages I began to be   22   that it wasn’t that sort of story, instead it had an interesting insight (洞察力) on marriage, family and social status. I   23  that the time frame was somewhere back in the late 1800’s. This assumption was just a fact that I took for granted because there was no date   24   in any part of the novel. From what I got in the class   25  , this story is supposed to be a timeless piece that can be framed with any time period. This was one thing I would have never picked up by myself.
The   26   in the story each have their own unique roles, and if you didn’t really take the time to read it   27   the first time, chances are you will   28   a lot of information about them. This was what happened to me when I read the story and came to class the next day. Not until then did I   29   that I had not read it as clear as I had thought. This is also where the discussion helped me catch up on the character roles. Reading again the parts that I thought were important also helped me gain a better   30   of the story.
21. A. exciting              B. interesting          C. inspiring               D. boring
22. A. aware                 B. afraid                 C. curious                 D. puzzled
23. A. recommended     B. assumed             C. calculated              D. recognized
24. A. written         B. published            C. signed                   D. mentioned
25. A. meeting           B. discussion           C. performance          D. activities
26. A. surroundings       B. incidents             C. heroes                   D. characters
27. A. quickly               B. hardly                C. carefully               D. totally
28. A. miss                   B. lose                    C. acquire                 D. receive
29. A. claim                 B. declare               C. realize                  D. assume
30. A. knowledge          B. understanding     C. view                     D. evaluation

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Dear Boris,
1   
After I had spent a week with my English family, I slowly began to understand their English a little better.    2   Students in my group are from different cities of Britain and their dialects are different too!  Some of their accents are quite strong and they also have their own words and expressions.
3    Before I came to England I had thought that fish and chips were eaten every day.  That’s quite wrong!  I get rather annoyed now when I hear all the foolish words about typical English food.
I had expected to see “London fog”.  Do you remember our texts about it? We had no idea that most of this “thick fog” disappeared many years ago when people stopped using coal in their homes.  But the idea to speak about weather was very helpful.   4  On the other hand, habits are different.  People tell me what is typical British here in London is not always typical in Wales or Scotland.   5  
But what is ordinary for all British is that they follow traditions(传统).  Probably Britain has more living signs of its past than many other countries.  And people have always been proud of having ancient (古老的) buildings in capitals, big cities and the countryside.
I will tell you more about Britain in my other letters.
Love from Britain.

【选改类】

改编(十三)

Our family finally managed to get together, but in a few days we scattered again to the ends of the earth, and I will begin my new job in a new city. My family has never been ___1 _  in this way . When I think about the    2    future, my heart felt grayish.

       When I    3    in the morning, it was raining outside and the sky was as    4    as my mood. My daughter    5    the new skirt that her uncle bought and she flew around the departure hall in the    6     and drew a small and beautiful picture in the dim crowd.

       The airplane had a good   7    of newspapers, magazines, television programs, food and drinks. The meal even   8    a serving of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. This small present brightened me up   9    . The gentle smile of the stewardess（空姐）was as beautiful as the   10    after the rain.

       When I    11    the airport, the language that entered my   12    was completely different from what I was   13    three hours ago. Although the street lights were as   14   as Allentown’s, the different clothes and expressions of the people    15     me that I am in a new world. I stood in the busy streets like Alice    16    the world in a fairy tale. My heart was    17    with puzzlement about the uncertain future and longing for the new life. When I   18   being able to do what I like once more, that I will make new    19   and that I can enjoy the fun of exploration. I could not   20   to think about starting my new life.

1.A.separated                B.gather                C.divided                     D.surprised

2.A.bright                    B.exciting              C.uncertain            D.unusual

3.A.stood up                 B.got up                C.stayed up            D.woke up

4.A.clear                      B.high                   C.dark                   D.gray

5.A.dressed                   B.wore                  C.liked                  D.had

6.A.station                    B.airport               C.port                   D.house

7.A.offer                      B.number                     C.supply                D.amount

8.A.included                 B.contained           C.followed            D.matched

9.A.successfully            B.especially           C.eventually          D.fortunately

10.A.rainbow                B.ground               C.sky                    D.flower

11.A.got on                  B.got off               C.left away            D.took off

12.A.mouth                  B.eyes                   C.mind                  D.ears

13.A.finding                 B.learning             C.hearing                     D.listening

14.A.long                     B.well                   C.brilliant              D.mamy

15.A.told                      B.reminded            C.suggested           D.explained

16.A.visiting                 B.traveling            C.wandering          D.exploring

17.A.full                      B.filled                 C.satisfied             D.pleased

18.A.set about               B.set out                C.thought over              D.thought about

19.A.friends                 B.enemies              C.mistakes             D.progress

20.A.wait                            B.help                   C.decide                D.afford