III. Reading Comprehension

Section A

Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D.  Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.

The first attempt of even the most talented artists, musicians, and writers is seldom a masterpiece, If you consider your drafts as dress rehearsals (彩排), or tryouts, revising will seem a natural part of the writing ___50___.

What is the purpose of the dress rehearsals and the out-of-town previews that many Broadway shows go through? The answer is adding, deleting, replacing, reordering, ___51___ revising. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Phantom of the Opera underwent such a process.

When Lloyd Webber began writing in 1984, he had in mind a funny, exciting production. However, when Phantom opened in London in 1986, the audience saw a moving psychological love story set to music. The musical had. ___52___ several revisions due, in part, to problems with costuming and makeup (戏服和化妆). For instance, Lloyd Webber ___53___ some of the music because the Phantom's makeup prevented the actor from singing certain sounds.

When you revise, you change aspects of your work in ___54___ to your evolving purpose, or to include ___55___ ideas or newly discovered information.

Revision is not just an afterthought that gets only as much time as you have at the end of an assignment. ___56___, it is a major stage of the writing process, and writers revise every step of the way. Even your decision to ___57___. topics while prewriting is a type of revising. However. don't make the mistake of skipping the revision stage that follows ___58___. Always make time to become your own ___59___and view your dress rehearsal, so to speak. Reviewing your work in this way can give you ___60___ new ideas.

Revising involves ___61___ the effectiveness and appropriateness of all aspects of your writing, making your purpose more clearly, and refocusing or developing the facts and ideas you present. When you revise, ask yourself the following questions, keeping in mind the audience for whom you are writing: Is my main idea or purpose ___62___ throughout my draft? Do I ever lose sight of my purpose? Have I given my readers all of the ___63___ that is, facts, opinions, inferences --- that they need in order to understand my main idea? Finally, have I included too many ___64___ details that may confuse readers?

50. A. technique       B. style           C. process         D. career

51. A. in particular     B. as a result       C. for example     D. in other words

52. A. undergone       B. skipped        C. rejected         D. replaced

53. A. rewrote         B. released        C. recorded         D. reserved

54. A. addition         B. response       C. opposition        D. contrast

55. A. fixed           B. ambitious      C. familiar           D. fresh

56. A. However        B. Moreover      C. Instead           D. Therefore

57. A. discuss          B. switch         C. exhaust          D. cover

58. A. drafting         B. rearranging      C. performing      D. training

59. A. director         B. master          C. audience        D. visitor

60. A. personal         B. valuable        C. basic           D. delicate

61. A. mixing          B. weakening       C. maintaining     D. assessing

62. A. amazing         B. bright           C. unique         D. clear

63. A. angles          B. evidence         C. information     D. hints

64. A. unnecessary     B. uninteresting      C. concrete        D. final

In choosing a friend, one should be very careful. A good friend can help you study. You can have fun together and make each other happy. Sometimes you will meet fair-weather friends, who will be with you as long as you have money or luck, but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend? I look for certain qualities (品质) of character, especially understanding, honesty and reliability (可靠).

Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend. A good friend tries to understand how another person is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person’s place, and he tries to think of ways to be helpful. He is also a good listener.

At the same time, however, a good friend is honest. He does not look for faults (过错) in others. He notices their good points. In short, a friend will try to understand me and accept me.

Another quality of a friend is reliability. I can always depend on a good friend. If he tells me he will meet me somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that he will be there. If I need a favor, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.

There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. That is why I especially like friends who are fun to be with. A good friend likes the same things I like. We share experience (经验) and learn from each other. A good friend has a good sense of humor, too. He likes to laugh with me. That is how we share in the joy of being friends. And I know that he is looking for the same quality in me.

When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I’ve found a friend!

1. If you have fair-weather friends, _____.

2.Good friends need to ______.

3. This passage mainly discusses ________.

Step to Discovering Your Passion

By Julie Jordan Scott

    Even before the first tip, you simply must get out a notebook, journal, piece of paper, napkin … SOMETHING to write on to save your discoveries! These tips will only help if you pursue them, so please either take a moment to find writing tools NOW or print this out and promise yourself to complete this exercise later. It may take you some thinking time to get it done . . . and now . . . here are your tips . . . . .

1. Find Your Joy Factor

    Look at the whole of your life history. When did you experience the most sustained period of Joy? What were you doing then? Where were you? Who were you with? How did it feel?

2. What Are Your 3 Most Favorite things to do?

    If you had a free day with NO commitments, where would you be found? What would you be doing with whom?

3. In what area do you excel? (NO MODESTY ALLOWED HERE!)

    Truly, what are you complimented on a lot? This could be ANYTHING.

4. What do you most want to be remembered for?

    If you were designing your epitaph(墓者铭), what would you want it to say? (NOT what your Mom wants, or your SPOUSE(配偶的一方) wants or your third cousin twice removed, but what do YOU want your headstone to say?)

5. If you had a magic wand(魔杖), what would you change about your life TODAY?

    How would it look compared to how it looks now? which aspects of your life ARE changeable, both short term and long term?

6. How does your Joy factor overlap with your favorite things and the areas in which you excel? Do the areas in which you excel bring YOU joy, or are they really for someone else . . . . . do you see which are obvious matches, and which do not fit? Those that overlap, that bring YOU the most Joy, are most likely the things that would bring you into Passionate Living.

7. What is the first even teeny tiny step you can take to living out your Passion as you have defined in #6?

    Take some time to really think this one through . . . . . . concentrate and focus, and then you will be able to start the the next step . . . BUILDING YOUR ROAD MAP.

1.The purpose of the first paragraph is        .

    A. to arouse the readers’ interest and show them what to do

    B. to find the piece of paper that is useful for the tips   C. to print the tips out and show them to others

    D. to copy the tips and read them

2.The underlined word “commitment” has the closest meaning to          .

    A. time             B. exercise             C. work             D. joy

3. The underlined word “compliment” means        .

    A. scold                B. praise                   C. criticize            D. question

4.Of the following,           would probably give the correct evaluation of you.

    A. You Mom          B. Your spouse          C. Your children        D. You yourself

5.        are most likely to bring into passionate living.

    A. Your favorite things                         B. The areas in which you excel

    C. Your joy factor                              D. The things that overlap

语法填空 (每小题2分，满分20分) （请考生把答案写在答题卷上）

The holiday’s upon us. After months of study, you have some time to yourself. So, why not read a book? Well, some people will say, ‘Why trouble with books? We have the Internet and __26   media that offer a lot more __27   (colour) programs. Books are history!” But don’t be fooled. There’s still a lot to be said for reading and reading as widely as possible.

One clear reason is that a well-chosen book is a wonderful collection  _28   words and expressions, so long as you have a good dictionary, of course. Believe me, it’s far easier to get new English words and expressions from a book or article _ 29   it is from the TV or the Internet.

But an even more important point is _ 30   books give you something that modern media simply can not. The webpage is always full of pictures and the text is often designed to make it as easy to read as possible.

Though “easy” may be welcome, _31   (luck) it’s of little use for any long-time development of reading skills and the general language level. For that, there’s still no substitute (替代品) for a book.

But perhaps the best single reason is that simply __32   (choose) what you read and doing it by yourself _ 33   (mean) that it’s something you do by and for yourself. You can choose what you want to read. It’s hard work, __34   while you are reading, you’ll find that what once __ 35   (seem) like a duty is now a pleasure.

第三部分阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，共30分）
(A)
It is easier to start to learn a new language than to become good at it. I’ve started to learn many new languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Afrikaans (南非荷兰语), and so on. I can’t speak them yet, but I’ve started picking up a few words and phrases that help me when I’m visiting. Most importantly, I’ve had fun doing this.
I’ve started to learn Italian, but I haven’t learned any Italian grammar, and when I visit Italy I’m not able to speak Italian correctly. My aim is just to communicate at a very basic level when I visit a country, to make an effort, and to show appreciation of the language and culture. I’m not trying to talk about politics or explain my views on life. I pick key or useful words and phrases that I want to learn. For example, as a visitor to another country, the key words in a foreign language are the words which will be of the most use to you and which you will use most often. These key words and phrases will vary from visitor to visitor, depending on the purpose of their trip.
It is worth remembering that it is easier to start a task than to finish it, and the same goes for learning a new language. The better you are at it, the slower your rate of progress will be, as you have to learn grammar, words and so on. If you are only trying to learn a few foreign words and phrases, you will make faster progress, have more fun, and won’t have to spend too much time on any given language.
61. From the second paragraph, we can infer that ______.
A. the writer is good at Italian, although it is rather difficult
B. the writer doesn’t like learning Italian because it is no fun
C. discussing politics or explaining one’s view requires an advanced language level
D. it is great fun to communicate with the local people in another country
62. Which of the following does the writer prefer to learn?
A. Sentence structure.        B. Important words and phrases.
C. Complicated sentences.        D. Grammar.
63. You can make faster progress ______.
A. if your language level is advanced  B. if you only try to learn some basic words
C. once you speak the language well 
D. once you have mastered several other languages
64. Which of the following would be the best title of this passage?
A. Starting Learning a New Language Is Easier than Becoming Good at It
B. How to Visit a Foreign Country
C. The Importance of Learning a Foreign Language
D. Why You Should Learn Several Foreign Languages