Dear XXX,　

As we drove off from Columbia, I wanted to write a letter to you to tell you all that is on my mind.

Do your best in classes, but don’t let pressure get to you. If you graduate and learn something in your four years, we would feel happy. Your Columbia degree will take you far, even if you don’t graduate with honors. So please don't give yourself pressure. The only thing that matters is that you learned. The only measurement you should use is that you tried.

Most importantly, make friends and be happy. College friends are often the best in life, because during college you are closer to them physically than to your family. Also, going through independence and adulthood is a natural bonding (结合的) experience. Pick a few friends and become really close to them — pick the ones who are genuine and sincere to you. Don’t worry about their hobbies, grades, looks, or even personalities. If you think you like someone, tell her. You have very little to lose. People are not perfect, so as long as they are genuine and sincere, trust them and be good to them. They will give back. This is my secret of success — that I am genuine with people and trust them (unless they do something to lose my trust).

College is the four years where you have:

　　•the greatest amount of free time

　　•the first chance to be independent

　　•the most flexibility to change

　　•the lowest risk for making mistakes

So please treasure your college years – make the best of your free time, become an independent thinker in control of your destiny. May Columbia become the happiest four years in your life, and may you blossom into just what you dream to be.

                                                                   Love,

                                                                  XXX

1.What is the most probable relationship between the writer and the receiver of the letter?

A. Friends.                                                                                    B. A parent and his or her daughter.

C. A teacher and a student.                                                  D. Sisters.

2.Which of the following suggestions is not given to the receiver in the letter?

A. How to adapt to the college life quickly.                 

B. To make new friends.

C. To learn to be independent in thinking.                 

D. Not to make herself under much pressure in grades.

3.According to the writer of the letter, college is a time _______.

A. during which one may make mistakes      

B. during which one has little free time

C. during which it is hard for one to change    

D. during which one needs to learn to be independent

Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humour（幽默感）. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.
　　   One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes in the town and told him that he’d better not go there. Mark Twain waved (摇动) his hand and said, “It doesn’t matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don’t think they will come to visit me.”
　　After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few（许多） mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him.
　　Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, “The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn’t come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.
　　But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.
【小题1】.That day Mark Twain went to the town _____.

The Sydney Opera House is a very famous building in the world. It has become Sydney's best-known landmark and international symbol. The Opera House with a " sailing roof" was designed by a famous Danish architect (丹麦建筑大师),Utzon. The base for the building was started in 1959, years before the designs were finished. Utzon spent four years designing the Opera House. In 1962, the designs were finalized (定稿) and the construction began. In 1967, they started the decoration inside. It took 14 years in total to build the Opera House. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened it on October 20th, 1973.

　 The Sydney Opera House cost around $100 million and was paid for by the public 6,225 square meters of glass was used to build it. The Opera House includes 1,000 rooms. It is 185 meters long and 120 meters wide. The building's roof sections weigh about 15 tons. Each year, this fantastic building attracts 200,000 tourists to come for a visit or enjoy events in it.

　  The Opera House reaches out into the harbour (港湾). It is amazing and unforgettable, offering people a strong sense of beauty.

1.The designer of the Sydney Opera House was from _______.

2.Building the Sydney Opera House lasted__________.

3._______ paid for the cost of the building of the Sydney Opera House.

4.Which is the best title for the passage?

Q:

I’d like to know about fluency．What can I do to feel better when I’m talking to other people? Do you have some ways to learn it faster? Please help me!　　　—Roberto in Brazil

A:

Roberto wants to know how to become more fluent in English, and this is something you want to be able to do “fast”．

First, if you get to meet English speakers much, the important rule is to listen not just to native speakers of English, but also to very good users of English．If you don’t, then listen to the radio, TV or films in English．

The next step is to notice what it is that speakers of English do, which makes them sound fluent．The first trick(诀窍) is to probably have confidence．Some people think they might make mistakes．Don’t worry about that．Your listeners will usually try hard to understand you — a few grammar mistakes aren’t going to worry them．

What you do need to worry about is pronunciation, especially stress(重音)．When you learn a new word or expression, learn it with its stress．Notice how a native speaker says it or look it up in a dictionary．

Another good thing that speakers of English do is to have a few tricks up their sleeves(袖子) for when they need to give themselves thinking time．Sometimes they use “filler sounds” like er, um and so on．

It is also useful to know how to bring other speakers into your conversation so that you keep them interested － and this is often done by asking questions like “What do you think?” “How do you feel about this?” and so on．

So, to become a fluent speaker, you’ll need to put into practice all these kinds of things．And there’s the key: practise, practise, practise．　　　　　　　　　　　　　－Susan Fearn

56．Susan first encourages English learners to       ．

A．meet English speakers     B．listen to very good speakers

C．talk to English speakers   D．buy a radio or a TV set

57．When mentioning pronunciation, Susan pays special attention to    ．

A．stress B．expressions      C．dictionaries      D．words

58．What do the underlined words “to have a few tricks up their sleeves” probably mean?

A．To wear a lot of clothes．                   

B．To have a secret plan or idea．

C．To hide some tricks into their sleeves． 

D．To have sleeves covering their whole arms．

59．What do we know from the passage?

A．One can only learn stress from dictionaries．

B．Grammar mistakes worry one’s listeners a lot．

C．Asking questions can make one’s conversation attractive．

D．One can become fluent if one practises one of the suggestions．

When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than most of the adults in our community.

When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.

The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant care and growth. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them so that each successive tree generation would grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out(淘汰) the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.

So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.

Dr. Gibbs passed away a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re extremely tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now. However, the trees in my garden trembled in a cold wind although I had watered them for several years.

It seems that adversity(逆境) and suffering benefit these trees in ways comfort and ease never could. I stood there deep in thought.

Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But I think that it’s time to change my prayer(祷词) because now I know my children are going to encounter hardship.

According to Dr. Gibbs’ theories, trees will become weaker if they _________.

A. are lack of care　　　　　B. are watered      C. are weeded out　　　　　D. are beaten

According to Para.3 and Para.4, we can infer that Dr. Gibbs’ motto(座右铭) may be       .

A. “Seeing is believing”                                    B. “Put everything in proper use”

C. “Practice makes perfect”                               D. “No pain, no gain”

The underlined word robust in Para.5 most probably means _________.

A. strong　　                      B. strange　　       C. deep　　                        D. old

Which of the following may be the author’s best prayer for his two sons now?

A. I wish them strong wings, with which they can fly higher and touch the sky.

B. I wish them nice fortune so that they can meet people like Dr. Gibbs in the future.

C. I wish them deep roots into the earth since the rains fall and the winds blow often.

D. I wish them great shades under the tree since the sunlight is always sharp and bitter.

Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

A Nice Doctor  B. The Deep Roots  C. Adversity and Suffering  D. My Childhood Memory