基础训练篇（18）

There were once a goat and a donkey   1.              lived on a farm. The donkey worked the hardest so the farmer fed it the most   2.             . Sometimes the donkey was given more food   3.             it could eat. This made the goat so jealous   4.             it began plotting against（谋划对付） the donkey. “Hey, donkey,” the goat said one day. ”I think you do too much work on this farm. You carry such heavy things from morning to night. Why don’t you pretend   5.            (get) sick so you can take a day   6.            ?” The donkey thought the goat had a great idea. So the next morning, the donkey lay in the stable（畜栏） on its side with its eyes   7.           (close). Right away, the farmer called in a doctor.  8.            looking at the donkey, the doctor said it needed a special medicine made  9.            the heart of a goat. So the farmer killed   10.             goat and gave the donkey medicine made from its heart.

A man found a cocoon of a moth. He took it home so that he could    31   the moth come out of the cocoon. On that day a small    32   appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to    33   the body through that little hole.

Soon it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had    34  as far as it could and it could go no farther. It just seemed to be stuck. So the man, out of his kindness, decided to help the moth. He took a pair of scissors and cut off the    35   bit of the cocoon. The    36   then came out easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriven（无用的） wings. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and    37   to be able to support the    38  , which would get smaller in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life    39   around with a small, swollen body and shriveled wings. It was    40   able to fly.

What the man in his kindness    41    was that the small cocoon and the    42   of the moth to get through the    43   opening was a way to push fluid(液体)   44   the body of moth  45   its wings so that it would be ready to fly    46   it got out of the cocoon. Freedom and  47   would come only after the struggle. By taking the moth of a struggle away, he also took away the moth’s health.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to    48   our lives without any difficulties, we would be disabled. We would not be as    49   as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for    50  .                

Say sorry to your wife---it may help her live longer, according to scientists.

“Sorry” may be the hardest word, but scientists say it could be one of the healthiest. Researchers have discovered that women who receive an apology for hurtful behavior suffer less stress and possible damage to their heart than those who don’t.

It is said that the heartbeat of a wronged woman returns to normal 20 percent quicker after a well-timed “sorry” than without it. But for men, their heartbeat takes longer to recover, according to the research.

The research was undertaken by American scientists using 29 men and 59  women whose diastolic blood pressure was measured throughout an experiment. Diastolic blood pressure

is a measure of pressure in the blood vessels( 血管 ) between heartbeats---if it is continuously high it can increase the chances of heart attacks.

The men and women were asked to undertake a difficult mathematical task. They were told they had five minutes to complete it but were disturbed after a minute and told rudely to carry out the task more quickly. They were disturbed twice more before five minutes had passed and told to speed up. Finally they were told, “ You’re obviously not good enough.” Two minutes later researchers said sorry to half of the men and women.

The researchers found that, on average, the women’s diastolic blood pressure dropped back to normal 20 percent---quicker if they received an apology from the researchers, while the men’s took 20 percent longer to return to normal. One of the researchers said, “Results indicates that the effects of apology and forgiveness on women are greater.”

1.The term “sorry” is considered as one of the healthiest words because it _________.

2.We can know from Paragraph 3 _________.

3.Which of the following is the RIGHT time order for events in the study?

a. Half of them received apologies.

b. They were disturbed a minute later.

c. They were told that they weren’t good enough.

d. They were asked to finish a math task in five minutes.

e. They were disturbed two more times during the study.

4.The research confirmed (证实) that _________.

Britain and France are separated by the English Channel, a body of water that can be crossed in as few as 20 minutes. But the cultures of the two countries sometimes seem to be miles apart.

　　Last Thursday Britain and France celebrated the 100th anniversary(周年纪念) of the signing of a friendship agreement called the Entente Cordiality. The agreement—signed in London on April 8, 1904—marked a new beginning for the countries following centuries of wars and love-hate partnership.

　　But their relationship has been ups and downs over the past century. Just last year, there were fierce disagreements over the Iraq war—which British Prime Minister Tony Blair supported despite(不管, 尽管) French President Jacques Chirac speaking out against it. This discomfort is expressed in Blair and Chirac's body language at international meetings. While the French leader often greets German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with a hug (拥抱), Blair just receives a handshake.

However, some political experts say the war in Iraq could in fact have helped ties. “The British population was against war, ” said Francois Heisbourg, director of the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research(战略基金研究会). “So it could have actually helped bring the two sides closer. ”

　　The history of divisions(分割, 区分) may well be because of the very different ways in which the two sides see the world. “The French think Britain is not doing its best to become part of Europe by not introducing the single European currency(货币), ” said Geoff Hare, a former lecturer in French politics and language at Newcastle University in Britain. “France has spent the past 15 to 20 years making itself seen as part of the European Union. ”

　 But this doesn't stop 12 million Britons taking holidays in France each year. However,only 3 million French come in the opposite direction. Surveys show that most French people feel closer to the Germans than they do to the British. And the research carried out in Britain has found that only a third of the population believes the French can be trusted.Perhaps this bad feeling comes because the British dislike France's close relationship with Germany. Or because the French are not happy with Britain's close links with the US.

　　Whatever the answer is, as both sides celebrate 100 years of “doubtful friendship”, they are at least able to make jokes about each other. Here's one:What's the best thing about Britain's relationship with France? The English Channel.

1. For centuries, the relationship between England and France is______.

A. friendly

B. impolite

C. brotherly

D. a mixture of love and hate

2. The war in Iraq does ______ to the relationship between France and England.

A. good

B. harm

C. neither good nor harm

D. both good and harm

3. The British are not so friendly to ______ and the French are not so friendly to ______.

A. Germany;America

B. America;Germany

C. Germany;Germany too

D. America;America too

4. What does the last sentence mean?

A. As long as the English Channel exists, no further disagreement will form between France and Britain.

B. The English Channel can prevent anything unfriendly happening in both France and Britain.

C. France and Britain are near neighbors, and this will help balance the relationship between them.

D. The English Channel is the largest enemy between France and Britain.

5. What is the main idea of this passage?

A. The British differ greatly from the French in culture, origin and custom.

B. The British and The French are against each other because of the very different ways in which they see the world.

C. The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the signing of a friendship agreement mark-ed the mixture feeling of love and hatred over the last century between Britain and Franc-e.

D. The British dislike France's close relationship with Germany, while the French are not happy with Britain's close links with the US.     

第二节：完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后从36~55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项。

When I was 14, my family went on our first trip to the United States. My uncle moved there several years ago to work in the    36    industry in California.

Although we flew several times before. this trip seemed really    37   because I had never been to America before. However, to our disappointment, the ride was    38    this time. People smoked and the air quality was very poor.

Moreover, it was    39    to see American money—it was very ugly and boring, all green and white, but what it could ___40   —freedom, Hollywood—was    41    . I didn’t see any movie stars in fur coats    42    their lovely dogs, either. I   43   , “Is this California？Where are the beaches, the sun and the blonde girls? ”   44    a land of dark-haired people, seeing blondes was    45    one of the extremely    46    parts of the trip. However, I was rather disappointed.    47    , the weather was really foggy, the city looked kind of old and the traffic was lerrible.

We droved north to Sonoma where my    48    had his house. The wine industry to a     49    can be both extremely boring and endless exciting. It was great to see my cousins and they    50    that they would take me out when the weather was nicer. We rode for miles and miles and played in the hills where no one could    51    us.

By the time we     52    to see the city of San Francisco all my bad thoughts had been    53   . I was having so much fun with my cousins that I wanted to move there.

I saw neither blonde girls nor   54    on that trip, but I met a lot of nice People and    55   that wherever you live it’s always a nice place if you like the people there. I hope I can travel back to California soon.

36．A．clothing              B．wine                      C．service                    D．travel

37．A．interesting                     B．fearful                    C．boring                    D．common

38．A．lovely                    B．smooth                   C．expensive                D．terrible

39．A．surprising               B．helpful                   C．disappointing          D．meaningful

40．A．impress                  B．change                    C．realize                    D．buy

41．A．frightening             B．moving                   C．exciting               D．depressing

42．A．walking                  B．marching                C．approaching            D．fighting

43．A．explained                B．complained             C．wondered                D．announced

44．A．Rounding up           B．Looking through      C．Resulting from        D．Coming from

45．A．impossibly              B．surely                     C．seriously                 D．fortunately

46．A．beneficial               B．wonderful               C．effective                 D．ordinary

47．A．After all               B．As a result          C．First of all              D．Worse still

48．A．uncle                      B．father                            C．brother                   D．friend

49．A．native                 B．child                      C．cousin                D．worker

50．A．imagined                B．promised                C．believed                  D．appealed

51．A．hate                       B．help                     C．bother                    D．miss

52．A．spread out               B．held back                C．turned up                D．got around

53．A．turned down           B．given away             C．washed away           D．put forward

54．A．beaches                  B．cities                     C．planes                     D．hills

55．A．appreciated             B．identified                C．realized                  D．imagined