Every night for a year, Neil Simons quietly went out of his house. He wanted to “talk” to an owl (猫头鹰)settling for the night at the end of his garden. He made owl cries like a real wild owl and was happy to hear the bird “hooting (大声叫嚣)” back to him.
Last year Fred Cornes moved in next door. He heard an owl hooting and answered back. For 12 months the neighbors got into the back gardens of their homes, thinking they were talking with nature. Mr. Simmons kept a diary of all his talks with his bird friend. They would both be out again tonight if it wasn’t for a chance talk between their wives.
Mr. Simmons said. “My wife Kim was telling Fred’s wife Wendy about my owl watching and described how I got the birds to boot back. She said, ‘That’s funny — that’s just what Fred has been doing.’ Then the penny dropped, I felt such a fool when I found out. The trouble is that owl calls aren’t exactly the same and it’s easy to make a mistake.” ks5u
Mr. Cornes said, “I’m really flattered (过奖). I didn’t know I sounded so real. I love nature and I couldn’t resist hooting at the owls. I was very excited when they hooted back. I’m sorry that I was fooling my neighbor who was fooling me.” w*w^w.k&s#5@u.c~o*m
(    )64. After the talk between the wives, the two men would probably _________ .
A. stop observing owls                         B. not stay up hooting again
C. not enter the back garden again          D. make no mistakes about wild owl cries
(    )65. “Then the penny dropped.” most probably means “Then __________.”
A. I understood                       B. everybody knew about it
C. I heard the noise                         D. no money was paid
(    )66. Mr. Simmons felt upset about the whole thing because __________.
A. all his efforts seemed to be meaningless   B. his wife let out his secret by chance
C. garden owls hooted so differently       D. Fred had been doing the same
(    )67. The text suggests that __________.
A. Nail seldom heard natural owl calls      B. the owl never hooted back to Neil
C. Fred was always good at pleasing owls   D. owl watching is no longer interesting to Fred

 阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Education for Japanese children is free for the first nine years and all children must go to school for six years of primary schooling and three years of secondary schooling. In the primary and secondary school, about 99.9% of school-age children are present. School usually begins at 8 o’clock in the morning and ends at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays. The school year begins in April and ends in March. There is a summer holiday in August and a winter holiday during the New Year season.
After nine years of schooling, students can enter the three-year high school by passing an examination and by paying a small charge each year. After high school, students can go on to study at different kinds of colleges, usually for four years. There are also two-year junior colleges.
【小题1】 The passage mainly discusses _____________.

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑
Several years ago, while attending a communication course, I experienced a most unusual process．The instructor asked us to list   36  in our past that we felt   37    of, regretted, or incomplete about and read our lists aloud．
This seemed like a very  38  process, but there' s always some   39 soul in the crowd who will volunteer．The instructor then   40  that we find ways to   41  people, or take some action to right any wrong doings．I was seriously wondering how this could ever  42   my communication．
Then the man next to me raised his hand and volunteered this story: “Making my   43  , I remembered an incident from high school．I grew up in a small town．There was a Sheriff   44  of us kids liked．One night, my two buddies(伙伴) and I decided to play a   45   on him．
After drinking a few beers, we climbed the tall water tank in the middle of the town, and wrote on the tank in bright red paint: Sheriff Brown is a s．o．b．（畜生）．The next day, almost the whole town saw our glorious   46 ．Within two hours, Sheriff Brown had us in his office．My friends told the truth but I   47 ．No one ever found out.
Nearly 20 years later．Sheriff Brown's name   48   on my list．I didn't even know if he was still   49 ．Last weekend, I dialed the information in my hometown and found there was a Roger Brown still listed．I tried his number．After a few   50 , 1 heard, "Hello?" I said, "Sheriff Brown?" Paused．"Yes．" "Well, this is Jimmy Calkins．"
“And I want you to know that I did it?” Paused．“I knew it!” he yelled back．We had a good laugh and a   51  discussion．His closing words were: “Jimmy, I always felt bad for you   52  your buddies got it off their chest, but you were carrying it   53  all these years．I want to thank you for calling me for your sake.”
Jimmy inspired me to   54   all the items on my list within two years, and I always remember what I learned from the course: It's never too late to   55  the past wrongdoings．

（D）
As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have．It’s likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen will have a washing machine and a microwave oven．Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need． You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week．
Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for．Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world．They feel that the long-hour work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes．Many are turning to other ways of living and downshifting_is one of them．
Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year．One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz．They used to work in central London．He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank．They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs （郊区）, leaving their two children with a nanny（保姆）．Most evenings Daniel wouldn’t get home until eight or nine o’clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings．They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by．
Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales．“I always wanted to have a farm here,” says Daniel, “and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift．It’s taken some getting used to, but it’s been worth it．We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays．However, I think it’s made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier．”
Liz, however, is not quite sure．“I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours．I’m not really a country girl, but I suppose I’m gradually getting used to looking after the animals．One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children．My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do it at all．”
68．What do the first two paragraphs tell us?
A．People seldom work long hours to make money．      
B．People hardly buy more things than necessary．
C．People are sure everything they own is in the right place．
D．People realize more is involved in life than just making money．
69．Daniel agrees that the move to the farm __________．
A．was easy to organize               B．has improved family life
C．was extremely expensive           D．has been a total success
70．The underlined word "downshifting" in the second paragraph means ________．
A．repairing your car by yourself
B．spending money carefully
C．moving out to the countryside to live a simpler and better life
D．living in a big house in the suburbs and dining out once a week

It was Monday, Mrs. Smith’s dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house. Considering that there was no better way, Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it, “Give my dog half a pound of meat.” Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently, “Take this to the butcher, and he’s going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher’s shop. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady’s handwriting and presently did as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up immediately.
At midday, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at midday. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at the paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers.
But, the dog came again at four o’clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher’s more surprise, it came for the third time at six o’clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!
91. Mrs. Smith treated her little dog quite __________.
A. cruelly              B. kindly         C. badly               D. unfairly
92. It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper its master gave it __________.
A. might do it much harm                         B. could do it much good
C. would give the butcher some meat                 D. was worth many pounds
93. The butcher did not give any meat to the dog __________.
A. when he found the words on the paper were not very clear
B. because he happened to have sold out all the meat in his shop
C. before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs. Smith
D. until he was paid enough by Mrs. Smith
94. From its experience, the dog found that __________.
A. only the paper with Mrs. Smith’s words on it could bring it meat
B. the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it
C. a piece of paper could bring him half a pound of meat
D. Mrs. Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher
95. At the end of the story, you’ll find that __________.
A. the butcher found himself cheated by the smart animal
B. the dog was clever enough to write on the paper
C. the dog dared not go to the butcher’s any more
D. the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog