完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从36-55各题所给的四个选项（A，B，C和D）中，选出最佳选项。

My father and I were standing at the top of a church tower. He 36 me to this place in a small Italian town not far from our home in Rome. I 37 why he did so.

“Look down, Elsa,” Father said to me. I looked down and 38 the square in the centre of the village and I saw many turning streets 39 to the square.

“ See, my dear. There is more than one 40 to the square. Life is like that. If you can’t get to the place 41 you want to go by one road, 42 another,” he said to me.

Now I 43 why I was there. My father wanted to tell me how to 44 and deal with the difficulties.

In the years that 45 I often remembered the lesson Fathere taught me. I knew where I wanted to go in 46 . I wanted to be a fashion 47 . And on the way to my first small success I found the road 48 . What could I do ? Accept the failure? Or use my imagination and wisdom to find another road to my 49 ?

I had come to Paris, the 50 of the world of fashion , with some clothes I 51 . But none of the famous fashion designers seemed 52 in them. Then one day I met a friend who was wearig a very beautiful sweater. It had a lovely and 53 stitch (针法).

“Did you knit that sweater ?” I asked her.

“No,”she answered. “ It was done by a woman here in Paris.”

“ What an interesting stitch !” I continued.

My friend had an 54 . “The woman’s name is Mrs Vidian    she learned the stitch in Armenia, her motherland.”

Suddenly a good idea 55 me. why not open my own house of fashion? Why not design, make and sell clothes? I would do it, and I would begin with a sweater.

Every week I would walk into this specific Chevrolet dealer's used car lot to see what the used cars needed in the way of repairs. The general manager's wife Cindy was always very __1__，  treating me like I was below her or that she was __2__ than me. I was always positive and kind, but that never seemed to __3__ with her.

One day she accused me of __4__ her to dye the carpet in a mini－bus that had a stain in the __5__. She had driven the bus for the weekend and said the __6__ was not there. Just trying to __7__ be aggressive(粗俗的), without cause, she __8__ me in front of all her peers that day.

However, instead of being __9__ at being looked upon as someone that was not honest, I went to a florist(种花人) and __10__ almost $100.00 in red roses and had them put in this nice basket. I __11__ a card, and stated that I was sorry for the __12__ and that I did not ever have the __13__ of making her angry.

The following week, I walked into her office like I did every __14__ with my list of used cars that needed some __15__ before they were sold and said, “Hi Cindy，” with my usual __16__ attitude. She gave me a big smile and said, “You bought me __17__.”  Every week thereafter she would __18__ make a point to say, “Hey Mike, Nice to see you, how are you？”

This woman began to change, perhaps because of this small act of __19__. It was actually so nice to see Cindy's whole way of being－__20__ with me. She was always very kind, and would always have a big smile when I walked into her office.

I guess people can change with a little bit of kindness!

1. A. active      B. kind       C. rude                D. polite

2. A. better      B. taller     C. richer              D. happier

3. A. agree       B. work       C. appear             D. stay

4. A. forcing     B. asking     C. charging            D. inviting

5. A. carpet      B. middle     C. bottom              D. bus

6. A. key          B. money       C. tool                D. stain

7. A. naturally    B. quickly     C. continually         D. anxiously

8. A. challenged   B. accused     C. punished            D. criticized

9. A. surprised    B. excited     C. angry               D. sad

10. A. bought      B. planted     C. sold                D. borrowed

11. A. made out          B. picked out 

C. looked through     D. took off

12. A. mistake           B. words      

C. misunderstanding   D. action

13. A. intention   B. mind        C. idea                D. courage

14. A. day         B. hour        C. week                D. month

15. A. change      B. repairs     C. papers              D. attention

16. A. cold        B. happy       C. serious             D. changeable

17. A. flowers     B. cards       C. food                D. carpet

18. A. seldom      B. hardly      C. always              D. sometimes

19. A. kindness          B. present

C. thoughtfulness      D. consideration

20. A. smiles      B. change      C. use                 D. act

四、阅读理解(每小题2分，共30分)

A

   You might think that “global warming” means nothing more than a rise in the world’s temperature. But, rising sea levels caused by it have resulted in the first evacuation(撤离) of an island nation—the citizens of Tuvalu will have to have their homeland.

During the 20th century, sea level rose 8-12 inches. As a result, Tuvalu has experienced lowland flooding of salt water which has polluted the country’s drinking water.

Paani Laupepa, a Tuvaluan government official, reported to the Earth Policy Institute that the nation suffered an unusually high number of fierce storms in the past ten years. Many scientists connect higher surface water temperatures resulting from global warming to greater and more damaging storms.

Laupepa expressed dissatisfaction with the United States for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement calling for industrialized nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions(导致温室效应的气体排放), which are a main cause of global warming. “By refusing to sign the agreement, the US has effectively taken away the freedom of future generations of Tuvaluans to live where their forefathers have lived for thousands of years,” Laupepa told the BBC.

Tuvalu has asked Australia and New Zealand to allow the gradual move of its people to both countries.

Tuvalu is not the only country that is vulnerable(易受影响的) to rising sea levels. Maumoon Gayoon, president of the Maldives, told the United Nations that global warming has made his country of 311,000 an “endangered nation”.

56. The text is mainly abou_________ .

       A. rapid changes in earth’s temperature

B. bad effects of global warming

C. moving of a country to a new place

D. reasons for lowland flooding

57. According to scientists, the DIRECT cause of more and fiercer storms is________.

       A. greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized nations

B. higher surface water temperatures of the sea

C. continuous global warming

D. rising sea levels

58. Laupepa was not satisfied with the United States because it did not_______.

A. agree to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions

B. sign an agreement with Tuvalu

C. allow Tuvaluans to move to the US

D. believe the problems facing Tuvalu were real

Reading poems is not exactly an everyday activity for most people. In fact, many people never read a poem once they get out of high school.

    It is worth reminding ourselves that this has not always been the case in America. In the nineteenth century, a usual American activity was to sit around the fireplace in the evening and read poems aloud. It is true that there was no television at the time, nor movie theatres, nor World Wide Web, to provide diversion. However, poems were a source of pleasure, of self-education, of connection to other people or to the world beyond one’s own community. Reading them was a social act as well as an individual one, and perhaps even more social than individual. Writing poems to share with friends and relations was, like reading poems by the fireside, another way in which poetry had a place in everyday life.

    How did things change? Why are most Americans no longer comfortable with poetry, and why do most people today think that a poem has nothing to tell them and they can do well without poems?

    There are, I believe, three culprits (肇事者): poets, teachers and we ourselves. Of these, the least important is the third: the world surrounding the poem has betrayed (背叛) us more than we have betrayed the poem. Early in the twentieth century, poetry in English headed into directions hostile (不利的) to the reading of poetry. Readers decided that poems were not for the fireside or the easy chair at night, that they belonged where other difficult-to-read things belonged.

    Poets failed the readers, so did the teachers. They want their students to know something about the craft (技巧) of a poem, and they want their students to see that poems mean something. Yet what usually occurs when teachers push these concerns on their high school students is that young people decide poems are unpleasant crossword puzzles.

Reading poems is thought to be a social act in the nineteenth century because _______.

A. it built a link among people             B. it helped unite a community

C. it was a source of self-education            D. it was a source of pleasure

The underlined word “diversion” in Paragraph 2 most probably means _______.

A. diversity        B. change           C. amusements       D. happiness

In the last paragraph, the writer questions _______.

A. the difficulty in studying poems                 

B. the way poems are taught in school

C. students’ wrong ideas about poetry                  

D. the techniques used in writing poems

According to the passage, what is the main cause of the great gap between readers and poetry?

A. Poems have become difficult to understand.                      

B. Students are poorly educated in high school.

C. TV and the Internet are more attractive than poetry.

D. Students are becoming less interested in poetry.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

       What is a yawn（哈欠） and why do people yawn? A yawn is often associated with a person being tired．     People yawn for many reasons including stress, boredom, emotion and overwork．

      Have you noticed that yawning seems to be contagious （会传染的）? If one person yawns, this appears to cause another person to yawn．Researchers have found that 40-60% of people who see a picture of someone yawning will yawn themselves． 

      Some people think that yawning is rude and suggests that you are bored or uninterested．Maybe a yawn is a signal to a group that it’s time to go to sleep, or if someone yawns when they're bored, it may be a sign to change the topic of conversation．   Animals of all types yawn．If you have a dog or cat, you've probably seen your pet yawn several times．Even some birds yawn such as cockatiel parrots, Adelie penguins and Emperor penguins．

      Some of the scientific explanations of why we yawn claim it is caused by physical needs．One likely explana??tion is that the yawning reflex happens when our blood needs more oxygen．The deep breath helps supply the levels of oxygen in our blood．  It is also thought that the same chemicals in our brain that affect our moods and emotions cause us to yawn．

       Superstitions about yawning have been around for hundreds of years and can date back to the ancient Greeks．A common superstition says that a person must cover his or her mouth when yawning so that the soul does not escape through the mouth．   Today most people do not believe these superstitions and know that a yawn is a physical reflex．

       A．Did you yawn while reading this article?

       B．Yawning is not limited to humans．

       C．It will make you lose interest in your work．

       D．But this is not always the cause for a yawn．

       E．Even reading the word YAWN can make people yawn．

       F．However, it doesn't mean that you need rest or relax??ation．

       G．Other people believe that yawning is a sign that danger is near．

       H．Another common theory is that a yawn helps regulate our body temperature．