阅读填空

Alice always wanted to be a singer. Music was the 1.         important thing in her life but, to tell you the  2.           (true), she took lesson for years, practised every day,  3.          in spite of all this, her voice didn't improve. Honestly, it didn’t get better, it just got  4.(loud).

    Her teacher finally gave 5.         and stopped the lessons, but Alice refused to quit, and one day she decided to give a concert and invited her former teacher to attend.

The teacher was very worried about 6.              to say after the performance. She knew it 7.           be terrible and it was. She didn't want to tell a lie, but she didn’t want to hurt Alice’s feelings8.               . Finally, she got an idea and went backstage to greet her former pupil.

    “Well”, said Alice, “what did you think of 9.             performance?”

    “My dear,” said the teacher, “you’ll 10.        be better than you were tonight.”

第二节 完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分， 满分20分）

阅读下面的短文，从短文所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳答案。

It was in my high school science class. I was doing a task in front of the classroom with my favorite shirt on.

    A ___21___ came, “Nice shirt,” I smiled from ear to ear. Then another voice said, “That shirt belonged to my dad. Greg’s mother works for my family. We were going to ___22___ that shirt away, but gave it to her ___23___.” I was speechless. I wanted to hide.

    I ___24___ the shirt in the back of the closet and told my mum what had happened. She then dialed her ___25___, “I will no longer work for your family,” she told him. That night, Mom told my dad that she couldn’t clean anymore; she knew her life’s ___26___ was something greater.

    The next morning she ___27___ with the personnel manager at the Board of Education. He told her that without a proper education she could not teach. So Mom decided to ___28___ a university.

     After the first year in college, she went back to the personnel manager. He said, “You are ___29___, aren’t you? I think I have a ___30___ for you as a teacher’s assistant. This opportunity deals with children who are mentally challenged with little or no chance of___31___.” Mom accepted the opportunity very ___32___.

    For almost five years, as a teacher’s assistant, she saw teacher after teacher give up on the children and quit, feeling ___33___. Then one day, the personnel manager and the principal ___34___ in her classroom. The principal said, “We have watched how you ___35___ the children and how they communicate with you and admire your hard-working ___36___ over the last five years. We are all in agreement that you ___37___ be the teacher of this class.”

    My mom spent more than 20 years there. ___38___ her career, she was voted Teacher of the Year. All of this came about because of the ___39___ comment made in the classroom that day when I was in my high school. Mom showed me how to handle ___40___ situations and never give up.

21. A. noise      B. voice    C. sound  D. tune

22. A. get          B. take     C. carry    D. throw

23. A. otherwise      B. anyhow        C. instead         D. actually

24. A. settled   B. pushed         C. picked  D. put

25. A. teacher B. employer     C. director        D. adviser

26. A. purpose B. encouragement              C. process        D. victory

27. A. went      B. met      C. worked         D. stayed

28. A. visit        B. continue       C. attend D. prepare

29. A. serious  B. fortunate     C. careful D. responsible

30. A. career    B. duty     C. position        D. part

31. A. learning B. judging        C. obeying        D. imagining

32. A. patiently         B. eagerly         C. successfully D. skillfully

33. A. upset     B. frightened   C. guilty   D. ashamed

34. A. looked up       B went up         C. took up         D. showed up

35. A. believe   B. protect         C. treat    D. receive

36. A. spirit      B. intention      C. idea      D. attempt

37. A. must      B. would  C. might   D. should

38. A. At  B. During C. On        D. With

39. A. worthless       B. thoughtless C. hopeless      D. helpless

40. A. challenging    B. different       C. dangerous   D. strange

This is a part from US President Barack Obama’s speech on May 14 at Bamard College in New York.
… My last piece of advice – this is simple, but perhaps most important: 36. Nothing worthwhile is easy. No one of achievement has avoided failure – sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from mistakes. They don’t 37.
When I first arrived on this 38, I was with little money, fewer options. But it was here that I tried to find my place in this world. I knew I wanted to make a difference, but it was 39 how in fact I’d go about it. But I wanted to do my part to 40 a better world.
So even as I worked after graduation in a few 41 jobs here in New York, even as I went from motley (鱼龙混杂的)apartment to motley apartment, I 42.
… And I wish I could say that this perseverance came from some innate (天生的)toughness in me. But the truth is, it was 43. I got it from 44 the people who raised me. I grew up as the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through 45 and make ends meet. She had a marriage that fell apart; 46 went on food stamps at one point to help us 47. But she didn’t quit. And she earned her degree, and made sure that 48 scholarships and hard work, my sister and I earned 49.
And 50, I met a woman who was assigned to advise me on my first summer job at a law firm. And she gave me such good advice that I married her. And Michelle and I gave everything we had to balance our careers and a 51 family. We made that marriage work.
… So 52 it’s starting a business, or running for office, or 53 an amazing family, remember that making your 54  on the world is hard. It takes patience. It takes commitment. It comes with plenty of 55 and it comes with plenty of failures.

Florence Chadwick was a great swimmer. However, not all of her efforts worked out. In addition to working hard, she had a secret for success. At the age of 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast. However, in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense that she could hardly see her support boats. Her body was numb(麻木) and she had been swimming for nearly 16 hours. Against the cold grip of the sea, she struggled on—hour after hour—while millions watched on national television. Alongside Florence, in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had… until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out. Still warming her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.” It was not tiredness or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal. Two months later, she tried again. Despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact（未受影响的）and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it!

【写作内容】

你准备参加学校最近组织的一次英文演讲比赛，主题是“The Value of Goals”。在准备演讲时，你读到上面的文章，给你很大的启发。请准备一份演讲稿。开头部分已给出，但不计入总词数。

Section B （18分）
Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are 4 words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with a word or phrase that best fits the context.
It was one of the happiest times of my life. I was 29 and had just received my bachelor’s degree, graduating with   36   despite working two jobs and being a wife and mother. My parents and five-year-old son were among the   37   when I walked onto the stage at Ashland University to get my diploma. I was so excited and proud to be starting a teaching career and contributing more to my family’s happiness.
But when I got home that evening, there was a note from my husband,   38  , “I have come to get my clothes and won’t be back.” We’d been having trouble,   39   that note still came as a shock. He had emptied our bank account. We were horribly in debt. I had quit my previous jobs in the hope of finding a teaching position.   40 , I was eight months pregnant.
The reality was so merciless that I was embarrassed,   41  , and angry and felt I had failed. But I had my son, and I was about to   42   a new life into the world. So   43  my deep sadness, I had to go on. The next morning, I woke up, put my feet on the floor, took a deep breath, prepared breakfast, and basically did everything I always did. I used my routine to keep myself moving.
And in the seven years since, I’ve continued moving forward. I got a job as a kindergarten teacher, earned a master’s degree in education, and watched my babies grow to 12 and   44  . I certainly have never   45   to put them through this, but in retrospect (回首往事), I’m glad   it happened to me when it did. It helped me grow   46 , confident, and strong — things I’m now hopefully instilling in (灌输) my children. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball, hands you a lemon, or knocks you for a loop (gives you a shock). But knowing how to   47   failure can be the first step to success. This is my latest belief and strategy on how to win in the end.  
36. A. worries B. anxieties     C. troubles      D. honors
37. A. professors    B. students      C. audience     D. neighbours
38. A. saying  B. meaning     C. expressing  D. writing
39. A. but       B. and     C. thus    D. so
40. A. Therefore     B. Yet     C. Besides      D. Even
41. A. excited B. disturbed    C. interested   D. scared
42. A. take      B. bring  C. give    D. get
43. A. regardless of       B. except for   C. in spite of   D. instead of
44. A. seven    B. eight   C. nine    D. ten
45. A. stopped B. chosen       C. turned D. waited
46. A. indifferent   B. careful       C. helpful       D. independent
47. A. put up with  B. keep up with      C. deal with    D. do with