阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C、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。

A man who knows how to write a personal letter has a very powerful tool.A letter can be enjoyed,read and  1.  It can set up a warm conversation between two people far apart(远离的)；it can keep a 2with very little effort.

I will give  3.  A few years ago my older brother and I were not getting 4We had been close as 5but had grown apart. Our meetings were not 6; our conversation was filled with arguments and quarrels; and every effort to clear the air seemed to only 7our misunderstanding. Then he 8a small island in the Caribbean and we 9touch .One day he wrote me a letter. He describeb his island and its people, told me what he was doing,said how he felt,and encouraged me to 10. Rereading the letter, I was 11by its humor(幽默)and clever expressions,These were all qualities for which I had 12respected my order brother but 13he no longer had them.I had never known he could write so 14.And with that one letter we became friends15.

It might never have occurred to 16to write me if he had not been in a place where there were no 17,For him, writing was a necessity, It also turned out to be the best way for us to get back in touch.Because we live in an age of 18communication(通讯),people often 19that they don’t always have to phone or email. They have a 20. And that is to write.

1.A.received    B.rewritten  C.returned      D.reread

2.A.record      B.promise   C.friendship     D.secret

3.A.an example  B.a lesson   C.an experience  D.a talk

4.A. through     B.together  C.along         D.away

5.A.brothers     B.children   C.fellows       D.classmates

6.A.normal     B.necessary   C.pleasant     D.possible

7.A.deepen     B.start        C.express     D.settle

8.A.toured      B.stopped over  C.reached    D.moved to

9.A.lost        B.kept in       C.needed     D.got in

10.A.think       B.write        C.enjoy       D.read

11.A.driven      B.beaten      C.surprised     D.honored

12.A.never      B.seldom      C.sometimes    D.once

13.A.realized     B.judged      C.thought      D.expected

14.A.well       B.often        C.much        D.soon

15.A.later      B.anyhow      C.too          D.again 

16.A.us        B.anyone else   C.someone     D.my  brother

17.A.mail services  B.transport   C.phones      D.relatives

18.A.poor      B.easy         C.popular      D.busy

19.A.believe    B.decide        C.argue       D. forget

20.A.habit     B.choice       C.method      D. plan

Our love of music and appreciation of musical harmony is learnt and not based on natural ability, a new study by University of Melbourne researchers has found. The researchers said previous theories about how we appreciate music were based on the physical functions of sound, the ear itself and a born ability to hear harmony.

The study shows that musical harmony can be learnt, and it is a matter of training the brain to hear the sounds. So if you thought that the music of some foreign culture (or Jazz) sounded like the crying of cats, it’s simply because you haven’t learnt to listen by their rules.

The researchers used 66 volunteers with a range of musical training and tested their ability to hear combinations of notes(音符) to determine if they found the combinations familiar or pleasing. They found that people needed to be familiar with combinations of notes. If they found the notes unfamiliar they also found the sound unpleasant. This finding put an end to centuries of theories claiming that physical functions of the ear determine what we find attractive.

The study found that trained musicians were much more sensitive to unpleasant notes than non-musicians. When they couldn’t find the note, the musicians reported that the sounds were unpleasant, while non-musicians were much less sensitive. This shows the importance of training or nurturing(培养) the brain to like particular sound of combinations of notes, like those found in jazz or rock.

Depending on their training, a strange chord(和弦) sound was pleasant to some musicians, but very unpleasant to others. This showed us that even the ability to hear a musical note is learnt.

To confirm this finding, they trained 19 non-musicians to find the notes of a random selection of western chords. Not only did the participants’ ability to hear notes improve rapidly, afterward they reported that the chords they had learnt sounded more pleasant -- regardless of how the chords were played.

The question of why some combinations of musical notes are heard as pleasant or unpleasant has long been debated. “We have shown in this study that for music, beauty is in the brain of the beholder(观看者)”, a researcher said.

1.According to the study, people find foreign music quite unpleasant because_____.

A. they hear the music much too often

B. they don’t like the person playing it

C. they have no idea about how to listen

D. they have no born musical ability at all??

2.Although non-musicians were less sensitive to music, they can still_____.

A. be trained to like particular music

B. make friends with real musicians

C. find the beauty of chords without training

D. enjoy the beauty of music when played by musicians

3.The 19 non-musicians were trained in order to show_____.

A. the brain likes particular combinations of notes

B. not a strange note was pleasant to all musicians

C. how the chords were played was very important

D. people’s ability to hear a musical note can be learnt

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Love of musical harmony can’t be taught.

B. Love of music is not natural but nurtured.

C. Listening to music can improve your brain.

D. You can be a musician without being trained.

A sunflower is a sunflower . A mobile phone is a mobile phone . But can you combine the two to do something for your local environment?

As early as next year it may well be possible. When you have finished with your mobile phone you will be able to bury it in the garden or a plant pot and wait for it to flower. A biodegradable (能进行生物递降分解的) mobile phone was, this month, introduced by scientists.

Scientists have come up with a new material over the last five years. It looks like any other plastic and can be hard or soft, and able to change shape. Overtime it can also break down into the soil without giving out any toxic chemicals. British researchers used the new material to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed. When this new type of cover turns into waste, it forms nitrates (硝酸钾). These feed the seed and help the flower grow. Engineers have designed a small transparent window to hold the seed. They have made sure it only grows when the phone is thrown away. "We've only put sunflower seeds into the covers so far. But we are working with plant experts to find out which flowers would perform best. Maybe we could put roses in next time," said one scientist.

As phone technology is developing so quickly people are constantly  throwing their mobiles away. This means manufacturers are under pressure to find ways of recycling them. Some 650 million mobile phones have been sold this year. Most of them will be thrown away within two years, adding plastic, heavy metal and chemical waste to the environment. A biodegradable cover can offer some relief for nature, according to the scientists. "The seed is released and the flower grows in the pot so you don't have to concern yourself with the phone when you have finished using it," said Kerry Kirwan. She leads the research team, which is based at the University of Warwick in Britain.

1. The main idea of the passage is ________ .

2. The purpose of introducing a biodegradable mobile phone is ______ .

3. What is the possible meaning of the underlined word ?

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true ?

Jennie sat at her window as usual, looking out upon the street, with a look of sadness on her face, “What a long day this is going to be!”

Then she saw a little boy running down the street, swinging his schoolbag. Looking up to the window, he took off ____11____ hat and bowed with a bright, pleasant smile.

“What a nice ____12____,” said Jennie to herself, as the boy ran out of sight. “It seems like having the sunshine. I wish everybody who goes by would look up ____13____ smile.

George, the little boy, told his mother about that ____14____ girl when he got back home, “She looks so helpless. I wish I could do something for her.”

“Why not give her some ____15____?” said his mother. George agreed.

The next morning, as Jennie ____16___ at the window again, she saw George with a handful of beautiful flowers carefully picking his way across the street. He stopped in front of her window, smiling pleasantly, and said, “Can I come in?” Jennie told him _____17____ to get into the house.

A beautiful woman took a plane on business. She found her seat and sat down next to a young man. The man was just thinking of making a few dollars on the plane. When he saw the woman, he got an idea.

“Hey! Would you like to play a game?” he asked the woman. “No, thank you. I just want to take a nap (打盹),” the woman answered.

“It’s really easy. All you have to do is to answer the questions that I ask you. If you don’t know the answer, you give me five dollars. If I don’t know the answer to your question, then I’ll give you five dollars.”

“No,” the woman still refused.

“OK. If I don’t know the answer to your question, I’ll give you five hundred dollars. How about that?” the man said. Then the woman became interested and decided to join in the game.

“OK. How many moons does Jupiter (木星) have?” asked the young man. The woman reached into her purse and took out a five-dollar bill.

“What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes back with four?” the woman asked. Then the young man took out his computer and searched the Internet for an answer. Minutes later, the young man handed five hundred dollars to the woman.

After a few hours, the young man really wanted to know the answer to the question. So he asked the woman, “What is the answer to your question?” The woman reached into her purse and handed the young man a five-dollar bill.

1.Why did the man ask the woman to play a game?

A. He wanted to show his kindness.

B. He wanted to have a pleasant journey.

C. He wanted to earn some money from it.

D. He wanted to make friends with the woman.

2.How much did the woman get at the end of the story?

A. $ 500.        B. $ 5.       C. $ 10.          D. $ 490.

3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. The woman told the man the answer to her question.

B. The woman gave the man’s money back to him.

C. The woman asked the man another question.

D. The woman didn’t know the answer, either.

4.We can learn from the story that the woman is ______.

A. clever            B. friendly           C. polite           D. honest