Things of Value

Our area was just a few miles from the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history. We were on “evacuation alert (疏散警报)”. If we got the   1  to evacuate, we would have to leave immediately.

We   2  suitcases with some clothes and set them by the door. We didn’t  3 these things were valuable, but time was. We moved the computers, with which I wrote for newspapers and made a   4 . We took family pictures off the   5  and packed them in boxes. These were truly valuable and could not be replaced.

Then we took a hard look at all that   6 . There was a lamp that belonged to my great grandmother. It was a   7  to my family. And there was the piano my wife   8  to play when she was a little girl. Not of great   9  in itself, but another family connection. It was impractical to move everything from our home and store them for an indefinite (无限的) time. Some important items would have to stay behind.

The thought of   10  something passed down from our families saddened me deeply,   11  I’d never been much attached to things. It’s about what they   12  —family and love. They each had a(n)   13  to tell, and some of them spoke in the   14  of our parents and grandparents.

The fire   15  reached our home. We were lucky. And though I felt grateful that all was   16 , I also realized just how fortunate I had been   17 . I saw just how rich my life had been.

Someone  18 said, “There are people so poor that the only thing they have is money.” And now I  19  I was indeed rich. I was rich in family, rich in memories, rich in everything that really  20 to me. I am wealthier than I ever believed possible.

It took a fire to teach me, I wonder if there is any other kind of wealth worth seeking.

1.                A．answer         B．task            C．chance   D．call

2.                A．packed         B．bought         C．searched D．sold

3.                A．worry          B．think           C．care D．doubt

4.                A．mark           B．sign            C．living D．plan

5.                A．albums         B．ceilings         C．windows  D．walls

6.                A．left            B．remained       C．burnt D．unmoved

7.                A．connection      B．present         C．symbol   D．treasure

8.                A．forgot          B．agreed         C．learned   D．refused

9.                A．quality         B．taste           C．sense    D．value

10.               A．knocking out     B．leaving behind   C．giving away D．picking out

11.               A．even though     B．unless          C．but   D．or

12.               A．contained       B．included        C．represented    D．gathered

13.               A．idea           B．lie             C．right  D．story

14.               A．sounds         B．speeds         C．voices D．feelings

15.               A．once          B．never          C．seldom    D．finally

16.               A．spared         B．returned       C．stopped   D．found

17.               A．at last          B．in return        C．in another way  D．at most

18.               A．curiously       B．accidentally     C．coldly D．wisely

19.               A．knew          B．promised       C．announced D．thanked

20.               A．affects         B．matters         C．helps D．desires

The firemen told us the difficulty they had ___ the fire ___.

A.to get; under control  B.getting; controlled  C.got; controlled  D.getting; to control

第一节: 单词拼写（共10小题，每小题0.5分，满分5分）

根据下列句子，写出空缺处各单词的正确形式，每空一词。

I hate people speaking ill of me during my a ___________.

Having lost h____________ in one ear,he can’t tell the direction in which a voice comes.

The students were so b___________ that some of them fell asleep.

Her friend’s e___________ gave her the confidence to enter the competition.

He has been living abroad since he r_________ from his job. 

Without your a_______________, I couldn’t have succeeded. 

He had to pay more at the airport because his case was too o_____________.

The fire a________rang and everyone ran out of the building.

The thief was d________out of his hiding place and taken to the police station.

A v________is someone who does work without being paid for it, because they want to do it.

For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, where the people gather together to socialize and exchange news.

As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved. Many of them have become historic sites. The most famous example is the pub in the city of Nottingham called “The Old Trip to Jerusalem”, which dates back to the year 1189 AD and is probably the oldest pub in England.

However, British pubs are not just for kings and queens; they welcome people from all classes and parts of society. On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.

That’s how things used to be. Things are beginning to change. It is said that the credit crunch(信贷紧缩) is causing 39 British pubs a week to go out of business. People do not have enough spare money to spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking in all pubs, and that may also have affected the number of customers going to pubs.

This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK government started to allow pubs to stay open after 1l pm. Previously, with 1l pm as closing time, customers would have to drink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking a lot very quickly is known as “binge drinking”, and it causes long-term health problems for people and problems with violent crime for communities.

In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with the market. British pubs now offer something for everyone. A lot of pubs used to be “Working Men's Clubs”, meaning that women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can freely enter 99% of pubs without experiencing any problems. Perhaps things are changing for the better after all.

1.The passage mainly tells us something about ______.

A．the past and present of British pubs

B．the decline of British pubs

C．the long history of British pubs

D．the importance of British pubs

2.Which may not be the cause of the decline of British pubs?

A．The credit crunch.

B．The present closing time.

C．The ban of smoking.

D．Having no spare money.

3.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．British people used to like drinking slowly

B．closing the pubs early will reduce social problems

C．binge drinking means drinking less beer

D．British government aims to discourage people from binge drinking

4.We can see from the last paragraph that the author _______.

A．is against the admission of too many women to the pubs

B．holds an optimistic attitude towards the British pubs

C．thinks that women in the pubs will cause less social problems

D．thinks that British pubs should offer everything you need

单词拼写（共10小题；每小题1分,满分10分）

       根据下列句子及所给汉语注释，写出空缺处各单词的正确形式。（每空只写一词）

Sometimes ,some college students and even foreign friends are _____（出席）at the English corner．

Ladies and gentlemen, I have an _______（通知） to make．

A large number of  _______（音乐家）passed up the opportunity to perform．

The arrangement seems to have _________（使满意）everyone．

Travelling in the mountion, they ran into a pack of _______（狼）

The table _________（测量） 1．5 meters weighs 10 kilos．

The knife you lent me is ________（锋利） than expected．．

The experiment they devoted themselves to __________（成功） eventually．

They will do what they can to make __________（准备） to ensure a smooth sports meeting．

Immediate action must be taken to stop the fire __________（蔓延）．