A jobless man wanted very much to have the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. “You have passed the test,”he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the form to fill in and the date when you may start.”The man replied, “But I don’t have a computer , neither an e-mail.” “I’m sorry,”said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, that means you are not living. And anyone who isn’t living cannot have the job.”

 The man left with no hope at all. He didn’t know what to do with only $10 in his pocket. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He repeated the operation three times, and started to go early every day, and returned home late. Shortly, he bought a cart , then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles (运货车队). Five years later, the man was the one of the largest food retailers (零售商)in the US.

 One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said,“I haven’t got one.”

His friend couldn’t believe his ears. “Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied,“Yes, I’d be an office boy at Microsoft.”

1.The man didn’t get the job because he _______________________.

A disliked the job           B didn’t pass the test

C didn’t have an e-mail       D knew nothing about computers

2.Why could the man become one of the largest food retailers in the US?

A Because he had many friends to help him.

B Because he was smart and worked very hard.

C Because he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles.

D Because he wanted to show Microsoft he was living.

3.What does the story want to tell us?

A Computers are very important in our daily life.

B Everyone can make a lot of money with only $10.

C The HR manager didn’t find the ability of the man.

D Nothing in the world is impossible if we work hard,

III. Reading Comprehension (35分)

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.

Billions of people across the world use cell phones. Though cell phones can be wonderful, liberating tools of   50  , freeing us from the confines (界限) of an office and providing more leisure time, they often do the exact   51  . Cell phone use has   52   the line between work and non-work time, increasing stress and tension within families and between friends. As Eric Slate, author of Technoslave commented in his essay: "It seems the more '  53  ' we are, the more detached (不相连的) we become."

There is a risk of being too connected. While I was hiking in Spain, I got   54   a few times. I saw new sights and was surprised by   55   landscapes and towns I wouldn't have otherwise come across. Back in the US, whenever I got lost, I would always call a friend for   56   on my cell phone. With a cell phone, you're less   57   to go down the wrong street and see new things or unexpectedly meet new people.

So, when I recently returned home to Burlington, Vermont, I   58   my cell phone and traded in an old, rusty bike for a regular landline telephone that was connected to the wall and everything. Now, I go outside and don't make a phone call or check my phone.   59  , I've seen things in my neighbourhood I   60  noticed before, like a big flower garden around the block and artwork and sculptures down the road. Now that I'm not __61___ my cell phone, I've met new people on the street and at the supermarket, started   62   with neighbours I haven't spoken with before and talk with my friends face-to-face instead of over the phone. .

Instead of   63   me from the world, getting rid of my cell phone has helped me become more in touch with my community. I am no longer a   64   of my cell phone.

50. A. information                B. communication         C. learning                   D. exchange

51. A. opposite                     B. same                        C. wrong                      D. right

52. A. misused                            B. limited                     C. troubled                  D. confused

53. A. affected                            B. separated                  C. connected                 D. satisfied

54. A. exhausted                  B. disappointed             C. lost                          D. attracted

55. A. inaccessible             B. unexpected               C. familiar                    D. similar

56. A. attention                   B. destination                C. direction                  D. action

57. A. eager                         B. likely                       C. willing                     D. interested

58. A. made use of               B. hung up                   C. got rid of                 D. got hold of

59. A. Therefore                   B. However                  C. Besides                    D. Instead

60. A. once                          B. often                        C. never                       D. ever

61. A. happy with          B. crazy about        C. glue to            D. aware of

62. A . interviews             B. arguments         C. visits                     D. conversations

63. A. isolating                    B. saving                      C. protecting                 D. removing

64. A. fan                                   B. master                      C. friend                      D. slave

Tess was eight years old. Her little brother Andrew was very sick and their parents were completely out of money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother, “Only a miracle can save him now.”

Tess took her money and made her way six blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store.

“And what do you want?” the chemist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen for ages.”

“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really sick. He has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”

“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the chemist said, softening a little.

“Listen, I can help you.” The chemist’s brother was a well-dressed man. He asked Tess, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”

“I don’t know,” Tess replied. “Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.”

“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago. “One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more, if I need to.”

“Well，what a coincidence (巧合),” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents － the exact price of a miracle for your little brother. Take me to where you live. Let’s see if 1 have the kind of miracle you need.”

That man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon in neurosurgery (神经外科). The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Andrew was home again and doing well．

Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost… one dollar and eleven  cents… plus the faith of a little child.

1.What can we learn from the first paragraph?

2.Why did the chemist get annoyed first？

3.What can we learn about Dr. Carlton Armstrong?

4.What can be the best title？

The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony（交响乐） that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”

Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5，I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.

Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞） Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.

Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”

1.The first paragraph tells us that _____.

A. Brightman is very popular around the world except in America

B. Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz

C. the British people don’t like her for her style of music

D. Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber

2.Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.

A. she could adopt one 

B. her life and career were unbelievably rich without children

C. she felt it normal not to have children       

D. she was too busy

3.The following statements are true except ______.

   A. Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5

   B. Brightman disliked life on the campus

   C. Brightman was very gifted when she was young

D.The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous

4. The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.

A. located     B. admired     C. followed     D. found

5. What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?

   A. Brightman has to accept the fact that she is not liked in Britain

   B. Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country

   C. The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland

D. Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain