“Dad! He took a book without paying!” I yelled (大叫). My father looked surprised. Before the boy could say anything, his mother grabbed his arm and shook it. “Is it true? You stole? Tell me!” Everyone was quiet. The boy began to cry, and he nodded (点头) his head. He pulled out the comic book (漫画书) from under his shirt. “Oh, Mr Kim. I am sorry! My Ted made a big mistake!” Mrs Diaz told my father. She tried to take the comic book, but Ted wouldn’t let go. “It’s OK. He can keep it,” my father said with a smile. “Oh, no,” Mrs Diaz said. “Let me pay right now…” She dug in her purse. “How much?” “Three seventy-five.”

Mrs Diaz’s eyes widened, and she dug deeper. I saw her mouth make a small line. “Three seventy-five?” she asked.

“It’s OK. You can pay later,” my father said. “No,” Mrs Diaz said. She kept looking in her purse. “I have money here.” I felt bad for yelling, for I realized that Ted had tried to steal the comic book because he didn’t have the money. Maybe the boy could have a job, I thought. I had an idea. “What if he worked with me?” I asked. They turned to me. I said, “He can work with me to pay for the comic book.” “Good,” my father said smiling at me. Mrs Diaz nodded. She turned to her son, “You hear? You will work and buy the comic book!” “ Yes, Mama,” Ted said, hanging his head.

As they left, Ted looked back, and though he still seemed sad, he stuck out (伸出) tongue at me.

Ted has been working here for two weeks. He has paid for the comic book, but my father says he is such a good worker that he can work with me as long as he wants. We are friends now.

1.Where did the story most probably take place?

2.By saying “but Ted wouldn’t let go”(the underlined part), the author means __________.

3.From the second paragraph, we may infer (推断) that Mrs Diaz __________.

4.In the last paragraph, what does the author mainly tell?

Goals are the guides all through our life. We all have goals that we are moving towards and making a great effort to achieve. This is a good thing. Or can it be bad? How many of us never reach our goals and yet we have tried so hard and really thought about nothing else? I believe the mistake most of us make is that we do not focus on our present situation.
Let me explain. Most of us see our present situation as a stepping stone that we use simply as a means of reaching our final destination. We don’t take time to truly appreciate where we are today and all the great things we already have in our lives. We should focus our attention on the journey and not on the destination, or we will miss the beautiful scenery along the way.
Let’s use our job as an example. Now most of us want a promotion. We have plans to become the manager or general manager in our companies. Unfortunately, most of us will never reach the goal, but will watch others achieve our goal instead.
What we should be doing is focusing on the job we are currently in now. Forget where we want to get to and just focus on the present. You see, what we can control is our performance in our current job. We can decide to be the best we possibly can in our current job. Now this may mean further education to have the skills we currently do not have. It may mean working harder to produce better results than our colleagues. It could simply be a change of attitude, such as stopping complaining and becoming a more devoted and supportive employee. By doing our current job to the best of our abilities, we in fact give ourselves the best chance of promotion.
So the best thing for all of us to do to achieve our goals is to just focus on what we have and where we are now. Do the best and be the best we possibly can in our current situations, and we will give ourselves the very best chance of reaching our goals in the future. We have heard the old sayings and they are true: “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”, “Patience is a virtue”, and so on.
Have patience, have appreciation of what we already have, and take time to help ourselves be the very best we can. Do these things and we will all reach our goals, but more importantly, we will enjoy our life every day.

This old building is said _____ two years ago and a new high building now stands where the old one used to lie.

III. 阅读(共两节，满分40分)
第一节阅读理解(共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
阅读下列短文，从媒体所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
In Stockholm, the Swedish Academy has chosen the British author Doris Lessing for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The selection of Doris Lessing for a Nobel was popular among the hundreds of journalists gathered for the announcement in Stockholm.
Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl said with skepticism, fire and visionary power Lessing has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.
Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia - modern-day Iran - to British parents, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.
A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer's wife and her black servant.
A member of the British Communist Party during the 1950s and a campaigner against nuclear arms and South African apartheid, Lessing was for years banned from that country and from Rhodesia.
Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism. A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics and communism, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.
Lessing's themes shifted to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was fascinated with the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism. Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditionalist critics, but she has continued to win new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.
Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing's selection.
"She is one of the truly great writers - of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction," Engdahl said. "She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature."
At 87, Doris lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature laureate since the first prizes were awarded in 1901. Each Nobel Prize is this year accompanied by a check for approximately $1.4 million.
41. How old was Doris Lessing when she published her first novel?
A. 14            B. 26           C. 31                D. 50
42. Which of the following about The Grass is Singing is true?
A. It is mainly about racial conflict between the whites and the blacks in the US.
B. The main characters are a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.
C. It was published in Africa.
D. It was Doris Lessing’s most famous novel.
43. We can infer from the passage that __________.
A. Journalists are very interested in the election of Doris Lessing’s for Nobel Prize.
B. Doris Lessing regard The Golden Notes as a pioneering work of feminism.
C. Doris Lessing has written about many different subjects.
D. Many writers have the courage to stick to the equality between the male and female experience.
44. The underlined word school in the last paragraph but one means________.
A. institution for educating children
B. college or university
C. department of a university 
D. group of writers, thinkers
45. Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?
A. Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize for literature
B. The greatest British female writer
C. The oldest Nobel Prize winner
D. 2007 Nobel Prize announced in Stockholm

It is that time of the year when the warm, late Summer days meet the cold, early Autumn nights. The skies on days like these are bright and clear. The air is cool, fresh, and full of the smell of wild flowers. The leaves on the trees are dark green but with splashes of red appearing here and there. It is a really beautiful time of the year. Every where and in everything you can see change.
Birds are starting to migrate. Children are getting ready for another school year. People are looking back on the fun days of Summer and forward to the busy days of Fall.
It is days like these that remind me that while seasons, weather, and nature's colors may change it is all beautiful and it is all joyful. And I am changing too.
My thick wavy hair is now pretty thin on top. Its dark brown color is now getting some gray sprinkled(散落)in it. The smile lines around my eyes and mouth are deeper now and stay with me even when I stop smiling. My glasses continue to get thicker with each new pair and the music I love is now referred to as "oldies". Still, I feel so happy and joyful in my life. I am grateful for my younger years because they taught me so much.
What I have learned and experienced has gotten me to where I am today. I am grateful for my present because now is where I live and now is where I love. I feel happiness in every moment that God has given me, and I take great delight in all the changes life brings. Life is a never ending journey of change and growth. Life's changes never stop but neither does life's joy.
【小题1】The author describes the sceneryin the first paragraph in order to ______ .