I like this jacket better than that one, but it costs almost three times______

A. as much         B. as many           C. so much           D. so many

She prefers the sofa made of real leather although it costs more than that made of ______ leather.

Please ask the salesgirl ____. 

One of the political issues that is heard a lot about in the States lately is campaign（竞选）finance reform（改革）. The people who are  36  for reform usually want the  37  to pay for campaigns and/or limit the amount of money that candidates（候选人）and their  38  can spend.

One reason that reform is called for is that it costs so much to  39  for political office. Candidates have to spend a great deal of time and effort  40  money. The incumbents (those already in office) have less time to do chief jobs since they must  41  so many money raising events.

Another  42  is the fear that candidates will be owned or  43  by the “special interest groups” that give money to their campaigns. Sometimes this certainly seems to be the  44 .

On the  45  side are those who say that it doesn’t mean it’s really  46  just because you call something “reform”. They argue that the right to freedom of speech is  47  if the government can limit anyone’s ability to get his or her message out to the people.

If one person or a group of people want to tell the  48  what they think about an issue or candidate, they have to buy  49  on TV, radio, and in newspapers and magazines. They might want to put up advertisements along highways and on websites. All this costs a lot of  50 .

Those against laws that control or limit spending say that you don’t really have freedom of  51  or freedom of the press if you can’t get your message out. They say the government should never be able to control  52  discussions. They believe that this is most important when the voters are about to make  53 .

What do you think about this  54 ? Listen to what the candidates for national office have to say. Which candidates  55  the most sense to you?

36．A．waiting                   B．calling                    C．standing                  D．preparing

37．A．government            B．president                 C．candidates               D．citizens

38．A．leaders                   B．bosses                     C．supporters               D．states

39．A．pay                        B．compete                  C．wait                       D．work

40．A．raising                    B．earning                   C．giving                    D．getting

41．A．notice                     B．report                     C．guard                            D．attend

42．A．event                      B．cost                        C．reason                    D．office

43．A．encouraged             B．forced                    C．controlled               D．ordered

44．A．joke                       B．purpose                  C．case                        D．example

45．A．other                      B．same                      C．another                   D．different

46．A．worse                     B．better                            C．easier                     D．harder

47．A．meaningless            B．unimportant            C．unnecessary             D．impossible

48．A．reporters                 B．truth                       C．story                      D．public

49．A．time                       B．copies                     C．rights                            D．advertising

50．A．energy                    B．effort                            C．time                       D．money

51．A．argument                B．opinion                   C．speech                    D．election

52．A．common                 B．political                  C．general                   D．special

53．A．profit                            B．trouble                   C．plans                      D．decisions

54．A．quarrel                   B．problem                  C．issue                       D．affair

55．A．find                       B．make                      C．create                     D．produce

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.