Many people who work in London prefer to live outside it, and to go in to their offices or schools every day by train, car or bus, even though this means they have to get up early in the morning and reach home late in the evening. 

One advantage of living outside London is that houses are cheaper. Even a small flat in London without a garden costs quite a lot to rent. With the same money, one can get a little house in the country with a garden of one’s own. 

Then, in the country one can rest from the noise and hurry of the town. Even though one has to get up earlier and spend more time in trains or buses, one can sleep better at night and during weekends and on summer evenings, one can enjoy the fresh, clean air of the country. If one likes gardens, one can spend one’s free time digging, planting, watering and doing the hundred and one other jobs which are needed in a garden. Then, when the flowers and vegetables come up, one has the reward of one who has shared the secret of Nature. 

Some people, however, take no interest in country things: for them, happiness lies in the town, with its cinemas and theatres, beautiful shops and busy streets, dance-halls and restaurants. Such people would feel that their life was not worth living if they had to live it outside London. An occasional(偶尔) walk in one of the parks and a fortnight’s (two weeks) visit to the sea every summer is all the country they want: the rest they are quite prepared to leave to those who are glad to get away from London every night. 

1. Which of the following statements is true? 

A. People who like country things prefer to live outside the city. 

B. Few people who work in London prefer to live in the country. 

C. One disadvantage of living outside London is that houses are cheaper.

D. The people living outside London must like gardens.  

2. One can use the same money for ________ in London to buy a little house with a garden in the country.

A. getting a small flat with a garden       B. having a small flat with a garden

C. renting a small flat without a garden     D. buying a small flat without a garden

3.When the flowers and vegetables in the garden come up, those _______can share the secret of Nature. 

A. who live in the country      B. who have spent time working in the garden

C. who work inside the city     D. who sometimes walk in the parks

4. People who like the city life would feel that _______ if they had to live outside London. 

A. their life was meaningless       B. their life was invaluable

C. they didn’t deserve a happy life D. they were not worthy of their happy life

With the rapid progress of technology, the English language is changing fast. All the people have to face a choice: either ignore the development of the language and spend the rest of our lives wishing Shakespeare were alive, or keep pace with the Internet age, welcoming the new English which someone has once called Weblish. “you can’t avoid it for the simple reason that wherever a new language comes along, it surely impacts (影响) the language as a whole,” says Dr David Crystal, a famous language professor at the University of Wales.

However, there is great trouble with keeping up with the new English because there are so many new words and the old ones no longer mean what we thought they did. In the past if someone said they didn’t have “Windows”, you would have to suppose they lived in a cave without windows. But now, it is probably because they use a Mac, which is a computer. Spam, which once meant a not-so-good-kind of canned meat, now stands for unwanted “junk (垃圾)” email.

Spelling is changing too. Weblish loves to see nouns happily become verbs ( for example, “Please bookmark this site”), and verbs become nouns (“Send me the download”).Verbs and prepositions are regularly thrown together to become new nouns or adjectives(for example, dial-up, logon, print-out, pull-down, upload), while others are created from a simple pairing of nouns: cyberspace, ethernet, Internet, hyperlink, metatag and netspeak.

1. We can infer from the first paragraph that _____ .

A．English has completely become Weblish

B．some people wish Shakespeare were still alive

C．people may have different attitudes towards Weblish

D．people who know English have to learn a new language

2. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?

A．Now English has many new words.

B．English words have changed a lot.

C．Old English words are no longer used at all.

D．People have difficulty in understanding some new words related to computers and the Internet.

3. The best title for this passage would be “_____”.

A．Technology and English

B．Keep Up with the Latest Weblish

C．Don’t Forget English

D．The Advantage and Disadvantages of Weblish

If you look for a book as a present for a child. You will be spoiled for choice even in a year when there is no new Harry Patten J.K Rowling’s wizard is not alone: the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books ,which has set off a large quantity of films and in turn led to increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings.

Yet despite that ,reading is increasingly unpopular among children .According to statistics, in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading at all . In 2003, 35% did . And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.

Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computer games. Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile . Either way , Chancellor Cordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class .In his pre-budget report , he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.

Reading Recovery is aimed at six-year-olds ,who receive four months of individual daily half-hour classes with a specially trained teacher . An evaluation earlier this year reported that children on the scheme made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress ,and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.

International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school they read well ,but read less often for fun than those elsewhere .Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on reading can expect lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success . According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage.

46.Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?

A.Many children’s books have been adapted from films.

B.Many high-quality children’s books have been published .

C.The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films.

D.The sales of presents for children have increased.

47.Statistics suggested that _______.

A.the number of top students increased with the use of computers

B.a decreasing number of  children showed interest in reading

C.a minority of primacy school children read properly

D.a large percentage of children read regularly

48.What do we know about Reading Recovery?

A.An evaluation of it will be made sometime this year.

B.Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking.

C.It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading.

D.Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading.

49.Reading for fun is important because book-loving children _________.

A.take greater advantage of the project        B.show the potential to enjoy a long life

C.are likely to succeed in their education.     D.would make excellent future researchers

50.The aim of this text would probably be _________.

A.to overcome primary school pupils reading difficulty.

B.to encourage the publication of more children’s books

C.to remind children of the importance of reading for fun

D.to introduce a way to improve early childhood reading

完形填空（共20小题，满分30分）

阅读下面段文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

A man and his wife arrived in Boston by train. After getting off the train, they walked without an __36__ into the outer office of Harvard’s president. So they were stopped by his secretary and kept __37__. For hours, the secretary took no notice of them, __38__ that the couple would finally become disappointed and __39__. But they didn’t. The secretary finally decided to disturb the president, though __40__.

A few minutes later, the president walked towards the couple with a __41__ face. The lady told him, “We had a son that __42__ at Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was __43__ here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to __44__ a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”

The president wasn’t moved. Instead, he was __45__. “Madam,” he said, “ we can’t put up a statue for every person who studied at Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a __46__.” “Oh, no,” the lady __47__ quickly. We don’t want to put up a statue. We would like to give a __48__ to Harvard.” The president rolled his eyes and __49__ at the couple and then exclaimed, “ A building! Do you have any __50__ how much a building costs?  We have spent

over $ 7,500,000 on the campus building at Harvard.” For a moment the lady was silent. The president was __51__ , because he could get rid of them now. Then the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a __52__? Why don’t we just start our own?” Her husband nodded. __53__ their offer was turned down, Mr. and Mrs. Stanford traveled to California where they founded Stanford University __54__ after them, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer __55__ about.

People who are married or in committed relationships are healthier, wealthier, and happier. So why do more than 60 percent of marriages end in divorce? Why has the national divorce rate climbed more than 200 percent in the last thirty years? And why are fewer people getting married today than ever before?

The answers to these questions are plentiful, but the main reason is simple. It's easy to “fall” in love but very few people know how to stay in love. Even though staying in love is our “smartest” choice all the way around! Recent studies on marriage prove it's one of the major ingredients in life-frog success for men and women. Marriage has also been found to boost happiness, reduce the degree of depression, and provide protection from sexually transmitted diseases.

So let's wake up, make up, and turn this trend around! One of the most amazing pieces of evidence that shows people are not in touch with what's really going on in their partnerships is the fact that the majority of people who put in for divorce say they didn't think there was a relationship-threatening problem just six months prior to breaking up. Another shocker is that most couples wait six years or more to seek professional help when their relationship is in danger. By the time they do wake up and smell the coffee, it's often too late.

Truly there is no reason to resign yourself to a bad relationship? Whether you're dating or married. Rather than changing partners and ending up this same predicament(困境) again, you can learn to have a fabulous (难以置信的) relationship with the partner you already have! I strongly encourage you to make the relationship you have work, because there is a higher rate of divorce in second marriages.

　　  1. According to the author, which of the following is NOT true?

　　　　 A. A happy marriage can be beneficial for both partners' mentality.

　　　　 B. More and more people face marriage crisis.

　　　　 C. Large portions of people are not quite sure of the meaning of true love.

　　　　  D. More and more people tend to be single.

　　  2. The fundamental reason for marriage crisis is——.

　　　　   A. that people are too easy to fall in love without a comprehensive understanding

　　　　   B. that people do not know how to get along well with partners after marriage

　　　　   C. some kinds of economic pressure and stress

　　　　   D. to maintain a life-long love is too difficult for common people

　　  3. What does the author mean by saying “...smell the coffee, it's often too late” in Para. 3？

　　　　   A. Partners who like drinking coffee are more likely to experience divorce.

　　　　   B. People are always not aware of enough about marriage crisis.

　　　　   C. Partners should have a happy ending of marriage when facing crisis.

　　　　   D. People should value their marriage.

　　  4. It can be inferred from the passage that the author may be a (an)

　　　　   A. journalist　　　　　　   B. professor

　　　　   C. advisor　　　　　　　　 D. official