There's an old saying that laughter is the best medicine. No matter whether it's caused by a good joke, a cute child or pet, or a pie in the face of a comedian, the simple act of laughing offers medical benefits. Laughter has been shown to reduce stress and help people lose weight. It's a special tonic (滋补品)for older people, who are prone to loneliness and sad thoughts.

In fact, in more than 1,000 American communities, and a couple thousand more around the world, entire clubs have been formed so that people can get together and laugh! U.S. clubs have names like "Laugh-a-holics," "the Ha-Ha Spa," "Granite State Giggles(傻笑)," and "Judy's Joyful Laughter Club."

The idea started in India, where laughing is an oral yoga（瑜珈）exercise using discipline, mind power and a good belly laugh. Laughter is certainly contagious(传染性的). Only a determined grouch（脾气坏的人）could avoid at least smiling when others around him are laughing till it hurts. That's why members of laughing clubs don't just get together to howl with laughter themselves. They meet on street corners, in train stations, and other public places, laugh their fool heads off, and invite everyone around them to join in.

Laughing clubs have become so popular that one can even get training as a "certified laughing leader." And the key qualification? You have to be really good at these, chortling, chuckling, howling, snickering, cackling, tittering, giggling and sniggling.

1．The following are the benefits offered by laughing EXCEPT _____.

　 A．benefiting the older people

　 B．reducing pressure

　 C．helping people keep fit　　

　 D．helping people have a good appetite

2．Why do members of laughing clubs meet in public places instead of in private rooms?

　 A．Because they want to cause others to laugh.

　 B．Because they want to show off their special skills.

　 C．Because they would like people to share their happiness.

　 D．Because they need a large space to laugh.

3．The words in the last sentence “chortling, chuckling, howling, snickering, cackling, tittering, giggling and sniggling” are _____.

　 A．conditions of a laughing leader　　　　　　 B．manners you must follow when laughing

　 C．all forms of laughing　　　 D．tips of laughter

4．Which of the following is the best title?

　 A．Laughter Is More and More Popular in the USA

　 B．Laughter Linked to Health, Happiness

　 C．How We Laugh

　 D．Laughing, an Oral Yoga Exercise

A famous teacher was speaking to the students at our school. He began his lesson by holding up a ￡100 bill. Then he said to the three hundred students, "Who would like to have this ￡100 bill?" The students began to put up their hands at once.
Then he said, "I am going to give this bill to one of you, but first, let me do this." He then made this bill into a ball. Then he said, "Who wants it?" Hands went into the air.
"Well," he said, "What if I do this?" and he dropped it on the floor and stepped on it. He picked up the dirty, crumpled bill and said, "Who still wants it?" Hands went back into the air.
"My friends," he said, "You've learned a valued lesson today. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it didn't go down in value. It was still worth ￡100.
Many times in our lives, we're dropped, crumpled, and stepped on by the chances we take and the things that happen to us. We feel as if we are worth nothing. But remember, no matter what has happened to you, you will never lose your value. You are always valuable to those who love you. Your value doesn't come from what you drop or whom you know，but WHO YOU ARE .
You are special and valuable. Don't ever forget it!
【小题1】The story happened ______.

第三部分 阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
A
The iPad, a new e-tablet gadget will take online activities truly mobile. It will allow you to read the news in bed, play multiplayer game on any surface, check a recipe in a busy kitchen or view a large-scale Google map.
It will declare a new age of online media production, taking newspapers and magazines down the new stage. Online versions can now become truly interactive. The editor of Time magazine Richard Stengel said, “The iPad will transform the way journalism works. It will become a new way of storytelling”.
Perhaps most important to the masses, it is a traditional computer but so convenient to use. There are no cords(电线), and it’s totally mobile. You press a button and it comes on in seconds. To add a program, you just download it from the Internet. There is no file directory, so you won’t be confused with file locations.
Since almost everyone uses a computer in the office or at school, the need for the traditional desktop model at home is disappearing. Slate Magazine’s Farhad Manjoo calls the iPad the perfect alternative to the full home computer system.
However, opinions are summarized as a simple statement: If you are a tech-head you will hate it, if you are everyone else you will love it. It’s “laughably absurd” on one blog and a “magical revolution” on another.
This first version of the iPad lacks many basic features. Tech-heads dislike the device not because of what it offers, but because of what it doesn’t offer. It doesn’t have flash or a camera. It can’t access many of the world’s mobile applications, and it has a very restricted APPLE store. Based on purely technological grounds, the iPad is said to lack more than it gives.
But if you are not part of the technologically well-versed, and you love the iPod and iPhone, “this device is for you,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
But no matter how you feel about the iPad, as a tech-head or an everyman, there’s no arguing with its appeal. Love it or hate it, the iPad sold over 600,000 units on its opening weekend, surpassing(超过) the iPhone’s record sales in 2007.
It’s uncertain how long it will take to hit the tech markets here in China, but when it does, expect the iPad fashion to continue. Apple predicts it will sell over 7.1 million units in the first year. Maybe not magical, and definitely not absurd, but if the iPad follows in the footsteps of the iPhone and iPod, you could be reading this newspaper on it in the near future.
56. Which of the following is NOT the reason why people think the iPad a “magical revolution”?
A. The iPad will make online activities truly mobile.
B. The iPad will predict a new age of online media production.
C. The iPad is sure to take the place of the full home computer system.
D. The iPad can make many world’s mobile applications accessible.
57. Which of the following statements is false according to the passage?
A. Unlike those traditional computers, the iPad can save you much trouble.
B. The iPad set up a new record sale when it first came onto the market.
C. The iPad will probably hold a big share in the tech market in China.
D. The iPad depends on cords to download a program from the Internet quickly.
58. What technological problem do experts think the iPad has?
A. The iPad is lacking in what other computers can offer.
B. People might misunderstand its magical features.
C. Reporters and journalists don’t have to efficiently with the help of the iPad.
D. Compared with the iPhone and iPod, iPad might confuse the users more easily
59. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. Why do People Love the iPad            B. The Popularity of the iPad
C. Loving and Hating the iPad                     D. A Magical Revolution

第三部分阅读理解(共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Each time I see a balloon, my mind flies back to a memory of when I was a six-year-old girl. It was a rainy Sunday and my father died. I asked my mom if Dad had gone to heaven. “Yes, honey. Of course,” she said.
“Can we write him a letter?”
She paused, the longest pause of my short life, and answered, “Yes.”
My heart jumped. “How? Does the mailman go there?” I asked.
“No, but I have an idea.” Mom drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon. I asked her what it was for.
“Just wait, honey. You’ll see” Mom told me to write my letter. Eagerly, I got my favorite pen, and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink. I wrote about my day, what I learned at school, what Mom was doing, and even about what happened in a story I had read. For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive, I gave the letter to Mom. She read it over, and a smile crossed her face.
She made a hole in the corner of the letter where she looped(缠绕) the balloon string. We went outside and she gave me the balloon. It was still raining.
“Okay, on the count of three, darted(猛冲) upward against the rain. We watched until it was swallowed by the clouds.
Later I realized, like the balloon, that Dad had never let his sickness get him down. He was strong. No matter what he suffered, he’d persevere, dart up, and finally transcend(超越) this cold world and his sick body. He rose into sky and became something beautiful. I watched until the balloon disappeared into the gray and white sky and I prayed that his strength was hereditary(遗传的). I prayed to be a balloon.
56. When the girl asked her mother if they could write to her father, her mother ________.
A. felt it hard to answer                          B. thought her a creative girl
C. believed it easy to do so                        D. found it easy to lie
57. When the girl was told that she could send a letter to her father, she _________.
A. jumped with joy                               B. became excited
C. started writing immediately                D. was worried that it couldn’t be delivered
58. In the eyes of the author, what was the rain like?
A. A terrible disease.                              B. An unforgettable memory.
C. The hard time her father had           D. Her father’s smile.
59. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. The strong red balloon                       B. An unforgettable experience.
C. Fly to heaven                                D. A great father.