“Indeed,” George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.” But the father of America was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that, Englishmen hade been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lightning-bug(萤火虫). But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity. Although fan became the usual term, sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseball bugs, and the like.

         Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burglar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, “to install (安装) an alarm”. Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others’ conversation. Since the 1840s, to bug has long meant “to cheat”, and since the 1940s it has been annoying.

         We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design. That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as “little problems and difficulties” that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison “had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his invented record player.”

1. We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.

A.Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug

B.George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug

C.the word bug was still popularly used in English in the nineteenth century

D.both Englishman and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century

2. What does the word “flaw” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A. Explanation.           B. Finding.                            C. Origin.                     D. Fault.

3.The passage is mainly concerned with__________________.

A. the misunderstanding of the word bug

B. the development of the word bug

C. the public views of the word bug

D. the special characteristics of the word bug

President Obama declared America was not and never would be ____ war _____ Islam.

1. A.
   on; in
2. B.
   at; in
3. C.
   with; at
4. D.
   at; with

完形填空：（共20小题；每小题1．5分，满分30分）

In history,a real cowboy was a simple farm worker on horseback．He spent a long time a day outdoors working with cows．The work was dirty,tiring and not very well paid．

People in the western states had to __36__ cattle at low cost and send them by railway to the eastern __37__．But someone had to __38__ the cattle and get them to the nearest railroad．This was the job of a cowboy．Sometimes the __39__ was more than a thousand kilometers away and it could take as __40__ as six months to move the cattle．The __41__ was long but the cattle were driven __42__ as not to lose __43__．Then they could be sold at a good price．

Most cowboys were young, __44__ men．A good horse _45__ their job of moving cattle much easier．A good cowboy __46__ cows and knew how to control them．At night,he __47__ to the cows to keep them calm．

In the late 1800s,America was changing from a nation of farm to one of __48__ and cities．The cowboy seemed __49__ compared with other Americans doing ordinary jobs．

Today,the __50__ of cowboys has __51__ greatly．One change is the use of trucks．The job is not so hard __52__ it used to be．And cowboys are better __53__ now．They are _54__ to be married．Some of them are farmers or teachers or truck drivers．Some work for big companies．

__55__ at night and on weekends,they become cowboys．These part-time cowboys increase the total production of meat,keeping the beef price low．

B
After the American Revolution won in 1787, the new government in the U.S.A. had to choose a capital city. The thirteen states quarreled about this. So the government decided to build a completely new capital. The land on the River Potomac was given the name District of Columbia (D.C). The new Capital was built on the north bank of the river. It was named after George Washington, the president of the U.S.A.
Washington D. C., a government city, is an important cultural (文化) center as well as a big tourist (游览) center.
Most capital cities have simply grown from small cities. Washington, however was planned as the capital of a great nation. It was designed by a French artist who first made a study of many capital cities of Europe. In general, his plan followed the plan of the beautiful French city of Versailles (凡尔赛).
61. When the new capital was built , America was made up of ____ states.
A. thirteen                           B. thirty         C. fifty                  D. fifteen
62. Washington D.C. is the name of _______.
A. an American president            B. America’s capital
C. a famous river                  D. a beautiful garden city
63. According to the passage we can conclude that America’s capital_____.
A. lies in the center on the country              B. came from a small city
C. was built by French workers            D. lies on the River Potomac
64. According to the passage we can infer that Washington D.C. is the center of America’s ______.
A. economy (经济), sports and culture B. culture, traveling and sports
C. politics, culture and traveling          D. politics, culture and economy

To son, Cecil,

       Just a quick note before I start in earnest. When I wrote this, you were 8, still a little boy. In 2002, I was called to active duty in the Marine Corps in the war on Terrorism (恐怖主义). On the 11th of September 2001 when America was attacked, I knew that I would eventually have to go and I was filled with a deep sense of sadness. That night as you and Keiko were asleep, I looked at your little faces and couldn’t help but fight the tears. I knew it would be hard for you because I had a similar experience. When I was a little boy aged 6, my dad, your Grandpa Cawley, was sent to Vietnam during the war there. I remember how much I missed him, too. But now unfortunately I have come to realize just how rough it must have been for Grandpa to be away from his children for a year. Thinking about this, I wanted to put my thoughts and feelings down for you and your sister. I am so sorry that I had to leave for such a long time. There is no place I would rather be than with you and Keiko. You two are the lights of my life. I have known no greater joy than in the few years since you two were born. I hope to have many more years with you. If this doesn’t happen, then know that I love you more than words can express. If for some reason I don’t make it home, I will need you to take care of your little sister and your Mom. You will be the man of the Cawley family. Be good my son and God will watch over you as he has me. I will be waiting impatiently for the time when we can all be together again.

The writer of the letter may be ______.k*s5*u

A. an American soldier in the battle field           

B. an American policeman

C. a soldier in the Vietnam War                        

D. a postman working far away from home

Keiko is the ______ of the writer.

     A. wife                        B. son                          C. daughter                          D. sister

One of the experiences the writer and his son had in common is that ______.

A. they both experienced the Vietnam War 

B. their fathers had to leave them and fight abroad.

C. they used to study in the same school

D. they were both eight when the fathers had to leave them

We can infer(推断) that ______.

A. the writer was a devoted son        

B. the writer was a brave soldier

    C. the writer realized he might die in the battle field

D. the writer’s wife was suffering from a terrible illness.