On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere.

　　It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and said , "I have failed again." On the train back to Washington, he said sadly, "That speech was a flat failure, and the people are disappointed."

　　Some newspapers at first criticized（批评）the speech. But little by little as people read the speech they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.

　　Today, every American school child learns Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.

1..

 In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was_________.

　　A. very critical

　　B. unpopular

　　C. very popular

　　D. very courteous （礼貌）

2..

. Lincoln was invited to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery because he was_________.

　　A. a famous speaker

　　B. a very handsome man

　　C. President of the country

　　D. a popular statesman

3..

 It can be inferred from the text that_________.

　　A. Lincoln prepared his speech very carefully before he went to Gettysburg

　　B. Lincoln was very busy at the time and didn't have much time to prepare his speech

　　C. Lincoln's speech was full of rich words

　　D. Lincoln's speech was very long

4..

It was a fact that Lincoln's speech was _________.

　　A. an immediate success

　　B. warmly applauded

　　C. a total failure

　　D. not well-received at first

5..

 Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

　　A. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has deep meaning.

　　B. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is simple in style.

　　C. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is memorized by every American school child.

　　D. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is the greatest speech ever delivered in the United        States.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the great nineteenth century English novelist, was born near Portsmouth. His father ran heavily into debt and when he was twelve, he had to go and work in a factory for making boot polish. The only formal education he received was a two-year schooling at a school for poor children. In fact, he had to teach himself all he knew. He worked for a time as junior clerk in a lawyer's office. After that, he worked as a reporter in the law courts, and later in parliament, for London newspapers. His career as a writer of fiction began in 1833 with short stories and essays in periodicals, and in 1837 his comic novel The Pickwick Papers made him the most popular author at his time in England.
　　He was a great observer of people and their places because he was attracted by life and conditions in mid-nineteenth century London. He wrote 19 novels all his life and in many of them, Dickens gave a realistic picture of all classes of England society, showing deep sympathy for the poor and unfortunate, exposing the injustice and inhumanity（不人道） of the bourgeoisie（布尔乔亚阶级）.
　　Many of his novels like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and so on drew attention to the unsatisfactory social conditions that existed in England over a hundred years ago.
　　Dickens criticized capitalist society from the point of view of bourgeois humanism. He wished to see improvement in the living conditions of the poor, but failed to find any effective means to achieve that end.
【小题1】Dickens only received a little formal education because______.

Dear Benter,
　　You have been away exactly two weeks today but it seems more like two years to me!
　　I’m glad to hear you’ll be back soon. Are you coming directly home, dear? Or do you plan to make some stops   36  the way? I hope you’ll be home in  37 for Patsy’s birthday next Sunday. She is  38 you to show films to her  39 friends.
Patsy keeps asking every day  40 you’ll be back. She says you never  41  that story you were telling her about  42 train that lost its “ toot”(喇叭嘟嘟声). You’d better   43  and think up a good ending  44 it. You know how Patsy is? She  45 be happy until she knows exactly what ­__46  to the “toot” and  47 the little train got it back  48 !
　　Everything at home is fine except that we  49 you so much! I’ve been  50 with the spring cleaning. Yesterday I had Cora  51 in to wash the kitchen walls and she did a very good __52 of it. The kitchen looks as though it’s been repainted. I made some new yellow curtains, and they  53 very beautiful.
　 I went to see your mother yesterday. Her  54 is all gone and she looks very  55 . Your sister Jean looks wonderful! She has taken off about fifteen pounds since she began dieting. But now she’s complaining that none of her clothes fit!
Hope to see you before next Sunday.
　 Love and kisses to you!
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　     Yours
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　           Lynn
【小题1】A in           B. on          C. at          D. along

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

Nancy had just got a secretary's job in a big company to work in the sales department. Monday was the first day that she went to work, so she was very 　31 .She got up very early and arrived at the 　32　 at twenty to eight. She 　33　 the door open and found nobody there. “I am the 　34　 to arrive.” She thought and came to her desk. She was surprised to 　35　 a large bunch of flowers on it. They were fresh. She 　36　 the flowers from the desk and smelled them. “Oh, how lovely!” Nancy 　37　 joyfully. She then looked round for a 　38　 to put them in. “Somebody has sent me flowers the 　39　 first day!” She thought happily. “But who could it be?” She began to wonder.

    The day passed very 　40　 and Nancy did everything with great interest and 　41　 .For the following days of the week, the first thing Nancy did was to change water for the flowers. And then she 　42　 herself in her work.

    Then came another Monday. When she came near her desk she was overjoyed to see a(an) 　43　 bunch of flowers there. She quickly put them in the vase, replacing the old ones.

    The same thing happened again the next Monday, Nancy felt it 　44　 and this time she began to think of ways to find out the 　45　 .

    On Tuesday afternoon, she was sent to 　46　 a plan to the general manager's office. She had to stay for a while at his secretary's desk 　47　  his directives .She happened to see on the desk a big note book 　48　 “Records of managers' meetings”, and glanced at the 　49　 pages. Suddenly her eyes fell on these words: “In order to keep the secretaries 　50　 ,the company has decided that every Monday morning a bunch of fresh flowers should be sent to each secretary's desk.”

    Later, she was told that their general manager was a business management psychologist.

1.A. depressed                 B. encouraged                  C. excited                   D. surprised

2.A. office                          B. workshop                      C. Classroom           D. bookshop

3.A. forced                         B. pushed                           C. Turned                  D. knocked

4.A. last                    B. second                           C. Third                     D. first

5. A. uncover                     B. smell                              C. Find                       D. pick

6.A. picked up                   B. threw away                  C. stared at              D. took up

7.A. cried                           B. Laughed                        C. wept                     D. replied

8. A. jar                     B. Box                                 C. bottle                             D. vase

9. A. happy                        B. very                                C. funny           D. quite

10.A. slowly                       B. normally                        C. quickly                  D. hardly

11.A. wisdom                    B. bravery                          C. passion                 D. enthusiasm

12. A. buried                     B. dressed                         C. Devoted               D. seated

13.A. old                             B. Red                                 C. blue                       D. new

14. A. special                    B. angry                              C. strange               D. difficult

15.A. sender                     B. receiver                         C. manager              D. waiter

16. A. send for                  B. hand out                        C. try out                  D. hand in

17.A. asking for            B. waiting for           C. looking for         D. searching for

18.A. marked                    B. written                          C. printed                 D. signed

19.A. closed                      B. damaged                       C. pinned                  D. half-opened

20.A. at home                   B. on time                          C. in high spirits      D. in low spirits

Last year, a report by a committee of education experts said that a lot of American students cannot write well. The report noted the concerns of business leaders and teachers. The experts said that more students should have to pass a writing test before they can finish high school. They pointed out that major college entrance tests are changing now to include a writing part.

　　Educators know that teaching students to write well is not easy. One problem is the amount of time needed to read through large amounts of work. So some companies have developed computer programs. These can grade student writing much more quickly than a person can. Writing tests can also cost less to carry out by computer than paper-and-pencil. These computer systems are known as e-readers. They use artificial (人工的) intelligence to think in a way like teachers. In the state of Indiana, computer grading of a statewide writing test began with a test of the system itself. For two years, both a computer and humans graded the student writing. Officials say there was almost no difference between the computer grades and those given by the human readers.

　　The entrance test commonly used by business schools, the GMAT, already uses e-readers. The GRE and TOEFL tests might start; officials are deciding. The GRE is the Graduate Record Examination. TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language.

　　Systems are also being used to grade writing in college classes. The computers read a few hundred examples of student writing already graded by humans. Then the systems compare new writings against those already examined.

　　How do teachers feel all about this? Many say machines can never do the job as well as people can. A computer can find spelling and grammar mistakes. But these teachers say it can never really understand what a writer is trying to say. Critics say a program cannot follow a thought or judge humor or understand a beautifully expressed idea.

　　But inventors of the programs say computer grading guarantees that each piece of writing is graded in the same way. They also say the systems are meant to judge knowledge more than creativity.

What do the teachers think of the computer system?

       A. They think highly of the computer systems.

       B. They think that computers cannot grade writing as well as people.

       C. They believe that computers can understand a writer’s idea well

       D. They are glad computers will spare their effort to correct students’ school work.

From the first paragraph we can conclude that _________.

       A. American students’ writing ability is being improved

       B. American students’ writing ability is not satisfactory

       C. business leaders and teachers are not worried about students’ writing

       D. all college entrance tests will include a writing part

Which of the following is NOT the advantage of e-readers?

       A. Saving much of teachers’ time.　    B. Saving a lot of money.

　    C. Being fair and objective.   D. Appreciating humor and beauty

The best title of this passage might be _________.

       A. Computer-graded Writing B. Human-graded Writing

       C. How to Improve Students’ Writing   D. Advantages of E-readers