"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.
　　Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).
　　Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!"  he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.
　　During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.
　　He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).
　　He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of  the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910.
【小题1】"Mark Twain" was _________.

The world economy has run into a brick wall. Despite countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a potential hunger crisis in poor countries and an energy crisis worldwide, world leaders failed to think ahead. The result is a global food crisis. Wheat, corn and rice prices have more than doubled in the past two years. And oil prices have increased more than three times since the start of 2004. These food-price increases, combined with increasing energy costs, will slow if not stop economic growth in many parts of the world and will even affect political stability. Practical solutions to these problems do exist, but we'll have to start thinking ahead and acting globally.
Here are three steps to ease the current food crisis and avoid the potential for a global crisis. The first is to promote the dramatic success of Malawi, a country in southern Africa, which three years ago established a special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and seeds with high productivity. Malawi’s harvest doubled after just one year. An international fund based on the Malawi model would cost a mere $10 per person annually in the rich world, or $10 billion altogether.
Second, the U.S. and Europe should abandon their policies of paying partly for the change of food into biofuels (生物燃料). The U.S. government gives farmers a taxpayer-financed payment of 51 cents per gallon of ethanol (乙醇) changed from corn. There may be a case for biofuels produced on lands that do not produce foods — tree crops, grasses and wood products — but there’s no case for the government to pay to put the world’s dinner into the gas tank.
Third, we urgently need to weather-proof the world’s crops as soon and as effectively as possible. For a poor farmer, sometimes something as simple as a farm pond — which collects rainwater to be used in dry weather — can make the difference between a good harvest and a bad one. The world has already committed to establishing a Climate Adaptation Fund to help poor regions climate-proof vital economic activities such as food production and health care but has not yet acted upon the promise.
【小题1】 An international fund based on the Malawi model would______.

There is an old Chinese tale about a woman whose only son died. Sadly, she went to the holy man and asked, “What magical things do you have to bring my son back to life?”

Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her, “Fetch me a mustard (芥菜) seed from a home that has never known sadness. We will use it to drive the sadness out of your life.” The woman happily went off at once in search of that magical mustard seed.

She first came to a splendid house, knocked at the door and said, “I am looking for a home that has never known sadness. Is it such a place? It is very important to me.”

They told her “You’ve certainly come to the wrong place” and began to describe all the tragic things that had happened to them recently.

The woman said to herself, “I have had misfortune of my own. Who is able to help these poor, unfortunate people?” She stayed to comfort them, and then went on in search of a home that had never known sadness. But wherever she went, she found one tale after another of sadness and misfortune. She became so involved in other people’s sorrow that finally she forgot about her search for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that it had, in fact, driven the sadness out of her life.

1.Which of the following does the story lead us to believe?

A．Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

B．Time passed cannot be called back again.

C．You can’t feel happy unless compared with others.

D．You can’t expect to know the result until you have tried.

2.Instead of sending the woman away, the holy man       .

A．asked her to help him first

B．tried to comfort her with kind words

C．asked her to look for a thing that didn’t exist at all

D．tried to encourage her by talking with her

3.Leaving the holy man, the woman       .

A．was full of hope                        B．was filled with sadness

C．was determined to try again               D．became discouraged

4.The best title for the text would be “       ”.

A．A woman’s misfortune                  B．A nice surprise     C．The holy man’s faith D．Cure for sadness

Bushwick is a tough place to grow up. This part of Brooklyn, in New York City, has a lot of crime. More than half of its 100,000 residents rely on aid from the government. Only 50% of students at Bushwick High School graduate in four years.
Some people might say, “We should help these poor kids who have so many challenges.” But Malaak Compton-Rock looks at the teens in Bushwick and says, “ Go to help kids who have even bigger challenges than you do.” She believes that once young people see the power they have to make things better, they can handle their own problems more easily. So her service group, the Angel Rock Project, took 30 Bushwick kids to Soweto, in South Africa, to help poor families there. Soweto is a township outside the city of Johannesburg. The effort, called Journey for Change, aims to show that any kid can change the world.
“Kids in Bushwick face pressure to drop out of school or become involved in gangs and drugs.” Says Compton-Rock. “We want them to live a life of purpose and service.”
In Soweto, many parents have died of AIDS, a deadly disease. When that happens, a grandparent or a child must lead the family. The Bushwick volunteers helped such families. They tended vegetable gardens, cared for babies and bought groceries.
“The saddest thing was when we visited an orphanage (孤儿院) and I helped a little boy who had been abandoned because he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,” says Queen Clyde, 12. “It‘s been good to be on this trip. But what’s also important is what we do when it’s finished. That’s what counts.” “ I never appreciated what I had until I saw some people who had nothing,” says Sadara Lewis, 12 “It’s really changed my attitude. I want to make a difference.”
The trip was two weeks long. But the kids, aged 12 to 15, will spend all year speaking about their experience, fund-raising and more.
【小题1】What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?

第二节完形填空（共20题，满分20分）

About three years 30 , something terrible 31 to me. 32 six hours of terror have broken my body and 33. You think I am a very 34 man—but I am not. It 35 less than a single day to change my 36 from black to white. One day, my 37 brothers and I were 38 back from the islands, our boat 39 of fish. 40 , the sky was 41 with dark clouds and in 42 a minute we were in a terrible storm. An 43  wave covered our boat and my younger brother 44 into the sea. Our boat survived, and I was trying to recover 45 my elder brother put his mouth 46 to my ear, and 47 out the 48 word “Whirlpool!” With the wind and waves we were going in the direction of the whirlpool, and 49 could save us!

30. A. before         B. after          C. ago              D. late

31. A. took place      B. happened      C. changed　        D. informed

32. A. that           B. those          C. this              D. these

33. A. soul           B. heart          C. head             D. mind

34. A. rich           B. poor          C. young            D. old

35. A. spent          B took           C. paid              D. cost

36. A. hair           B. face           C. mouth            D. feet

37. A. three          B. one            C. two              D. four

38. A. came          B. going         C. moving           D. coming

39. A. felt           B. full            C. filled            D. fall

40. A. All at once     B. Instead         C. Meanwhile       D. Besides

41. A. covered       B. discovered       C. recovered        D. covering

42. A. no less than    B. less than        C. more than        D. no more

43. A. enormous      B. small           C. mini            D. enough

44. A. fall into        B. felt into         C. fell into         D. fallen into

45. A. while          B. when          C. as             D.  before

46. A. tightly         B. closely          C tight            D. close

47. A. screamed       B. said            C .told            D. whispered

48. A. terrified        B. terrifying        C. satisfied        D. satisfying

49. A. nothing        B. everything        C. something      D. anything