Compassion is a desire within us to help others. With effort, we can translate compassion into actions. An experience last weekend showed me this is true. I work part-time in a supermarket across from a building for the elderly. These old people are out main customers, and it’s not hard to lose patience over their slowness. But last Sunday, one aged gentleman appeared to teach me a valuable lesson. This untidy man walked up to my register（收款机）with a box of biscuits. He said he was out of cash (现金), had just moved into his room, and had nothing in his cupboards. He asked if we could let him have the food on trust. He promised to repay me the next day.

I couldn’t help staring at him. I wondered what kind of person he had been ten or twenty years before, and what he would be like if luck had gone his way. I had a hurt in my heart for this kind of human soul, all alone in the world. I told him that I was sorry, but store rules didn’t allow me to do so. I felt stupid and unkind saying this, but I valued my job.

Just then, another man, standing behind the first, spoke up. If anything, he looked more pitiable. “Change it to me,” was all he said.

What I had been feeling was pity. Pity is soft and safe and easy. Compassion, on the other hand, is caring in action. I thanked the second man but told him that was not allowed either. Then I reached into my pocket and paid for the biscuits myself. I reached into my pocket because these two men had reached into my heart and taught me compassion.

41. The aged gentleman who wanted to buy the biscuits_________.

A．promised to obey the store rules    

B．forgot to take any money with him

C．hoped to have the food first and pay later   

D．could not afford anything more expensive

42. Which of the following best describes the old gentleman?

A．kind and lucky        B．poor and lonely

C．friendly and helpful D．hurt and disappointed

43. The writer acted upon the store rules because_________.

A．he wanted to keep his present job  

B．he felt no pity for the old gentleman

C．he considered the old man dishonest     

D．he expected someone else to pay for the old man

44. What does the writer learn from his experience?

A．Wealth is more important than anything else    

B．Helping others is easier said than done

C．Experience is better gained through practice

D．Obeying the rules means more than compassion.

The Wal-Mart in Cleburne, Texas, was crowded. People were waiting in long lines at checkout counters to pay for small things that would be next-morning treasures under someone’s Christmas tree.

       The woman standing in cashier Jeffrey Kandt’s line seemed to be living on the edge of subsistence（生计）. Her clothes were worn and her hands were those of a person who’d worked hard for what she had. She held a single item in her arms as she patiently waited to move to the front of the line — a Sony CD player. She had saved all year for this. With tax, the total would be close to $ 220.

       As the woman got close to the cashier, she suddenly shouted, “Where’s my money? All of my money fro my son’s gift! Oh no!”

       “Why my line?” Kandt thought as he watched the poor woman searching through her clothes. He was going to have to call his manager to avoid the sale but it would mean a long wait for the customers behind her. “I am going to go home late tonight,” Kandt thought.

       Then an amazing thing happened. At the back of the line, a man took out his wallet, pulled out $100 and passed it forward. As the cash moved up the line, a twen5ty-dollar bill was added here, and a ten-dollar bill was added there. When the collection finally reached the registewr, Kandt counted $ 220.

       Strangers had fulfilled a poor woman’s Christmas wish.

       The poor in his line at the Wal-Mart in Cleburne, Texas, had come together on Christmas Eve, 2002.

According to the passage, the woman’s Christmas wish was to ______.

       A．collect $ 220 for her family    B．buy her son a CD player as a gift

       C．buy enough food for her family     D．organize a big party for her son

Which of the following statements is TRUE about Jeffrey Kandt when the woman couldn’t find her money?

       A．He was impatient and wanted to go home.

       B．He wanted to see whether the woman had money or not.

       C．He wanted the woman to stand in another line.

       D．He didn’t think about the customers waiting behind the woman.

What does paragraph 5 mainly talk about?

       A．a description of a man standing in the line           

       B．the cashier, Jeffery Kandt

       C．the collection of $ 220

       D．a reason why the strangers collected he money

What can we learn from the passage?

       A．The woman collected money by herself.

       B．The woman seemed to be poor, but in fact had lots of money.

       C．Strangers in the line volunteered to help the woman.

       D．The woman had never ay money.

Once upon a time, there were two men. One was hard-working and had a lot of  36  and perseverance (毅力), while the other was  37_ and never did any work. One night, they decided to have a competition between them. The contest was simple: the   38 _person to see daylight would be the winner, and the winner would__ 39_a prize. Both men agree to do it, and the competition started.

The hard-working man immediately_ 40   and ran towards the west after the sun, while the lazy man just sat there and_ 41__ . The hard-working man, looking at the competitor, _42__ at his foolishness and kept going at his quick pace. Running through the jungles, swimming   43 _the rivers and seas, and he kept running and running,  __44__ that he would reach his goal sooner or later. Meanwhile, the lazy man was still sleeping.

The hard-working man had been   45_ for 6 hours already, and he was surprised that he still had not   46__  daylight. Thinking it would be just around the corner, he  47_ on running until he finally came back to where he started, 24 hours  48 _. Upon arriving, he saw the lazy man seated there, smiling and waiting for him, holding the  49  he earned.

The hard-working man was   50  how this lazy man could earn it—he hadn't done anything at all! Then the lazy man said," You are  51  a persevering and patient man, but you were running towards the  52  , running after the sun that kept moving away from your_ 53__ whereas I just waited for the sun to come to me. You were lucky. If I had decided to  54  you and not to tell you, you would be continuing this pursuit (追赶_{高@考☆资&源*网}) till your death." The hard-working man knew in his heart that the lazy man was right.

Sometimes, perseverance can__ 55_ you from the truth that what you are doing is wrong.

A. hobbies              B. ideas                C. patience                D. money

A. lazy                  B. patient              C. kind-hearted             D. hard-working

A. last                   B. first                  C. second                D. only

A. accept                  B. keep                 C. win                  D. defeat

A. set in                  B. set aside            C. set up                  D. set out

A. worked                B. drank                C. slept                   D. played

A. laughed                 B. glared               C. stared                  D. looked

A. across                  B. through             C. over                   D. past

A. representing             B. believing           C. emphasizing           D. complaining

A. swimming            B. jumping            C. resting                 D. running

A. admired              B. invented            C. found                  D. realized

A. commented           B. carried                     C. figured               D. depended

A. before              B. later                  C. next                  D. further

A. money             B. medal               C. prize                 D. gold

A. believing             B. recognizing              C. discussing               D. wondering

A. true                 B. indeed               C. certain                 D. hardly

A. west                  B. east                   C. north                 D. south

A. ears                   B. hands          C. sight                        D. mind     

A. hide from             B. learn from      C. keep from             D. come from   

A. make                  B. let             C. blind                      D. protect  

Barack Obama made his victory speech in Chicago after a hard-fought campaign.

Democratic Senator Barack Obama has won the US presidential election, and will become the 44th President of the United States-the first African-American in the country's history to do so.

President-elect Obama marked his victory with a speech to a crowd of tens of thousands of people in his hometown of Chicago.

Obama described his election as a "defining moment' in the history of the United States, saying that "change has come to America".

The BBC's spokesman in Washington says that in electing Barack Obama, the American people have expressed their unhappiness with the present state and rejected their country's historical racial divisions.

The Australian Prime Minister summed up how many people felt when he congratulated President-elect Obama.

“Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character. Today what America has done is turn that dream into a reality," said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

President-elect Obama will not take office until 20th January next year. However, when he does become president, he will face many serious challenges, including two foreign wars, climate change and what he has described as " the worst financial crisis （经济危机）in a century."

But the mood of the country is optimistic, according to most commentators, and Obama himself appears to enjoy the challenge.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be difficult. We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America--I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," said the next President of the United States.

41. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. It was not a difficult process for Obama to win the US presidential election.

B. The American people welcome the historical racial divisions.

C. What Martin Luther King dreamed about America has come true.

D. After the election Obama didn't say anything about his victory.

42. According to the passage, it seems that in the United States, _____________.

A. people may still be treated unequally because of their color of skin.

B. people are experiencing two civil wars.

C. Americans are enjoying the economy developing.

D. People are not satisfied with President-elect.

43. From the last two paragraphs, we can learn that________________.

A. the attitude of American people to their country's future is not clear.

B. Obama has confidence in American future and ready to face it.

C. the road to America will be long.

D. the change of America is not hard to achieve.

44. What is probably the best title to the passage?

A. Historical presidential election                          B. The first African-American President

C. Change has come                                             D. Comments about America

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Many years ago, Dad worked as a farmhand (农场工人). At that time, he had a horse. Every Saturday he __31    to the town after dinner and spent a few hours on social   32   with other farmhands, such as drinking, chatting, and playing cards in the café. On Saturday evenings, the café was   33   because many farmhands were there. Before midnight Dad returned home on his horse, quite satisfied with his   34  . In his words, he   35   thought of changing his job.

At the age of 31, Dad married my mother who was a schoolteacher. In the following spring I came   36   into the world. Life became hard, so my mother felt   37  . She told Dad that they must make a   38  .

My mother had   39   of how some famous persons, especially Thomas Edison who was born in a poor family, fought against fate and achieved greatness and   40  . And she   41   that I would some day become a great leader   42   men or cities and Dad should be a successful businessman. So she   43   Dad to give up his job as a farmhand, sell his horse and   44   a small business of his own. And I went to high school and college. She even sent me abroad for   45   education when I graduated from college. Under the drive of my mother’s hope, Dad and I   46   what we have today. Dad runs a big international   47   and I am a successful lawyer   48   great fame in my country,   49   not a leader as my mother expected.

Dad said, without my mother, we wouldn’t be what we are today; at least, he would remain a farmhand.   50   he got a lesson of life —sometimes we really need drive from outside.

A．rode                 B．walked            C．ran                       D．drove

A．conversations    B．games              C．relationships      D．activities

A．cold              B．crowded       C．quiet                   D．dirty

A．horse               B．entertainment  C．life                        D．beer

A．often             B．ever             C．never                     D．sometimes

A．laughing        B．singing            C．sleeping                  D．crying

A．unimportant     B．busy                C．unsatisfied            D．tired

A．living            B．change             C．decision                  D．house

A．dreamed            B．heard               C．thought                   D．spoken

A．honesty              B．money             C．fame                      D．energy

A．cared                  B．knew               C．forgot                     D．hoped

A．training              B．ruling             C．helping                  D．protecting

A．warned            B．wanted            C．allowed                  D．persuaded

A．start                  B．find                 C．design                    D．sell

A．farther               B．higher             C．easier                         D．closer

A．showed              B．kept                C．lost                       D．achieved

A．company           B．school             C．farm                    D．café

A．suffering            B．sharing            C．enjoying                D．following

A．though              B．if                    C．and                     D．since

A．So                     B．However          C．Or                      D．Because