FOR many young people, having to attend school with a parent would be their worst nightmare. However, Senior 1 student Li Qinmei is happy taking her father with her as long as she can go to classes. He is disabled and unable to take care of himself.

The 16-year-old country girl in Zhucheng, Shandong Province has experienced one disaster after another in her short life. Li lost her mother at three. Four years later, her father became paralyzed after a tractor accident. At 12, her misfortune returned with the death of her grandma. Since then she has been forced to shoulder all the responsibility for her broken family.

Li learnt to cook and managed to live a life with an allowance of only 24 yuan per month. The most difficult thing she had to deal with was helping her father bathe, dress and use the toilet as he could hardly move.

"I felt embarrassed, and so did my dad. It was really hard at the beginning," she recalled.

During most of her junior school years, Li went to classes only once a month as her father was seriously ill at the time.

"I taught myself at home and asked teachers for help on my school days," she explained.

Li's hard work paid off this fall. She was admitted by Zhucheng No 1 High School, a local key school, based on her good performance in the entrance exams.

The school offered Li and her father a room on campus to live in so she could look after him during breaks.

Once in a while, Li felt sad when she saw her classmates going shopping or hanging out with friends.

"I envy them sometimes because they have both mum and dad to look after them. However, I soon feel relieved as I still have my dad with me," she said.

Li admitted that the difficulties in life had taught her to be strong.

"I believe I will go on and continue my studies at a good university," she said, in a confident tone.

Her teacher Mr. Wang has the same belief. Li made great progress in the recent monthly exams. "She works hard and is always eager to excel (好强的). It's not easy for her never to be late for school, but she has managed to make it work," Wang said.

1.Li Qinmei has to shoulder the family because ________.

2.From the passage we can infer that _________.

3.What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase “hanging out” in the passage?_________.

4.According to the passage, which statement is Not True? __________.

5.What’s the best title of the story?________.

完形填空 (共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分)

Travel in most of Europe is easy. An agreement between the 15 European Union countries in 1995 means that citizens from most European countries can travel across borders without needing a visa.

Each of the 12 countries that has   36   its own currency (货币) to accept the euro has its own   37  . So how have these countries been able to   38  ? And how has each country prepared for the birth of this new currency? Firstly, many people in Europe,  39  in west Europe, speak English. The European Convention on Human Rights says that all people have a  40  to learn and use their traditional language.

But at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, the official language for all business is   41  . And every European country requires students to study English for many years at   42  . Other languages may be offered, too. But English is a   43   .

"If I meet someone, I try Spanish. Then I try   44  . And if it's not   45   , I say "Hello". That' s the signal, and we communicate no matter what country we come from." Said Maria Ortega, a ski instructor in the Pyrenees,   46   French and Spanish are mainly used.

Each country has its own   47   culture. Though the French may be famous for their 1,000 types of cheese and the Greeks are known to  48   olive oil on everything, most people in Europe like  49  strong coffee on their breakfast table. Another drink is held  50  throughout the continent. Europe's vineyards(葡萄园) may be famous, but the real drink of Europe is   51  . Europeans consume tons of it.

Football, of course, also helps to    52    all of Europe. Many fans are obsessed (着迷) with   53   and with international stars. David Beckham, of England' s Manchester United, is a hero to Europeans in the same   54   that Michael Jordan is to   55   .

36. A. given up                    B. ended up          C. agreed with                   D. started with

37. A. money                B. right                             C. border                          D. culture

38. A. meet                          B. unite                            C. travel                            D. accept

39. A. specially         B. generally             C. particularly                  D. normally

40. A. chance                 B. right                             C. wish                              D. place

41. A. French                  B. German                 C. English                     D. Spanish

42. A. school                  B. work                             C. home                            D. table

43. A. subject                 B. tool                         C. need                          D. must

44. A. English                 B. French                    C. German                  D. Greek

45. A. listening                    B. spoken                   C. working                   D. heard

46. A. as                          B. where                     C. since                             D. whose

47. A. food                           B. art                          C. drink                              D. life

48. A. add                             B. spread                    C. spend                            D. put

49. A. a kind of          B. a lot of                  C. a cup of                D. a taste of

50. A. in common       B. in general                C. in need                     D. in special

51. A. beer                           B. wine                             C. coffee                           D. soup

52. A. attract            B. tie                                C. play                          D. watch

53. A. opera                         B. bread                           C. music                            D. football

54. A. direction                   B. level                             C. way                          D. game

55. A. basketballers           B. British              C. athletes   D. Americans

We don’t know how different our life will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it.

At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will make new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won’t be as important as they are today-we will feel a little lonely.

Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.

Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will use solar-powered cars, which will be much more environmentally friendly.

We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.

Although we can’t predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather sanguine about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen.

1.Why will people probably feel a little lonely in 2050?

A. Because the number of people will become much smaller.

B. Because there will be less face-to-face communication.

C. Because people won’t like making friends with each other.

D. Because people won’t communicate with each other much often.

2.The third paragraph mainly tells us ________.

A. computers will do all the things for human beings

B. how people will use computers to communicate with each other

C. machines like computers and robots will help people a lot

D. how people will use robots to do the housework

3.According to the passage, which of the following will happen in 2050?

A. The relationship between people will be more important than that of today.

B. The way of spending holidays will be the same as that of today.

C. It won’t be difficult for people to travel to other planets.

D. Our environment will be much more polluted with a growing number of cars.

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. How people will communicate in the year 2050.

B. What our life will be like in the year 2050.

C. How people will travel and spend their holidays in the year 2050.

D. What high technology will appear in the year 2050.

The fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan was the subject of popular books and movies for many decades. In recent years, however, the character has been criticized as an ill image of Asian-Americans.

Yunte Huang, an English professor at the University of California, says that’s not the case. He has been exploring the character and real-life policeman who inspired him.

Charlie Chan has been a familiar character to readers and film-goers, beginning in the 1920s. The detective solved crimes around the world in more than 40 films through the 1940s, and with the invention of television, found a new audience in the 1950s and 1960s.

Huang discovered Charlie Chan through books by American author Earl Derr Biggers, who created the character.

“One day, I happened to find two Charlie Chan novels. At that point I thought I knew that he was a negative character against Asians, but when I read the book,” he says, “I was immediately attracted. Ever since then, I’ve been a fan of Charlie Chan.”

As a fan of the books and films, Huang was surprised to learn that Charlie Chan was based on a real detective named Chang Apana, who was born to Chinese parents in Hawaii around 1871. Apana worked as a cowboy, and joined the Honolulu police force in 1898.

“He almost immediately became a local legend because as a former cowboy,” says Huang, “he would walk the most dangerous areas in Chinatown carrying a bullwhip（皮鞭）instead of a gun. He didn’t need that.”

Although some say the image of Charlie Chan, with his broken English, is embarrassing for Asian-Americans, Huang believes Chan’s broken English and unusual ancient sayings were part of his charm（魅力）.

“Let me just quote（引用）a few – ‘Actions speak louder than French,’ or ‘Mind like parachute (降落伞). Only function when open.’ Charlie Chan always owes these instructive sayings to Confucius’ eastern wisdom.

For Huang, the fictional Charlie Chan is highly entertaining, while the real-life policeman, Chang Apana, is a Chinese-American success, whose story is worth telling.

1.The passage mainly talks about ______________.

2.According to the passage, we know that Charlie Chan __________.

3.Chang Apana didn’t need a gun as a weapon because__________.

4.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

 For many years we have been keeping in ____by sending each other e-mails or phone calls.