第二部分阅读理解（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）
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and www.zxxk.comthen they would take the guests' coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.
The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.
Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.
I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big "to do" over the younger one because she' s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions.
But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined(相形见绌). I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying. I said, "What are you doing, my dear?"
She turned to me with a sad expression and said, "Mommy, why don't people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I ' m not "pretty? Is that why they don' t say nice things about me as much?"
I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.
Now., whenever I visit a friend' s home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.
46. The underlined expression make a big "to do" over (Paragraph 4) means________.
A. show much concern about  B. have a special effect on
C. list jobs to be done for     D. do good things for
47. The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her___________.
A. beautiful hair  B. pretty clothes    C. lovely smile  D. young age
48. Kristen felt sad and cried because_______.
A. the guest gave her more coats to carry
B. she didn’t look as pretty as Kelly                          
C. the guests praised her sister more than her
D. her mother didn’t introduce her to the guests
49. We can conclude from the passage that_______.
A. parents should pay more attention to the elder children
B. the younger children are usually more easily hurt
C. people usually like the younger children more
D. adults should treat children equally

I was assigned to take care of this patient a couple of weeks ago and began to grow closer to her. Communicating with her was  1  because everything she wanted to say to me had to be written on a notepad. As a nursing graduate, I was able to  2  her mind by observing even a slight  3  in a patient's facial expression.
One day, when I was checking the patient，she  4  me on the shoulder to show me a note，"Do you think I could be let go  5  the hospital in a month to see my niece get married?，，Taking her hand in mine, I told her that I could not  6  her，because I did not want to leave her a  7  sense of hope.  8，I made her believe that I would be there with her every step of the way on her journey toward  9 . Hearing that, the patient gave me a  10  and a hug.
Day by day, I built her  11  by walking around the floor with her. As I did this, I could see before my own eyes that her health was  12  improving and able to walk more steadily. On her last day in hospital, just before her niece’s  13 ，she wrote me one last note, “I couldn’t have done this  14  you; I love you.” After kissing goodbye, I had a strong sense of achievement. I realized that moments like this were  15  I woke up early for  16  in the hospital and spent long hours with her. I truly felt, and her  17 confirmed, that I was an  18 part of this woman’s recovery. My experience with this patient shows me that this career allows me to touch the  19  of people in ways that people in other  20  will never get to experience.

Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself. But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant meanings.
The expression “to be in hot water" is one of them. It is a very old expression. “Hot water” was used 500 years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle.
That no longer happens. But we still get in “hot water”．When we are in “hot water”, we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble—serious or not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother. if he walks in the house with dirty shoes.
Being in “deep water” is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult position. Imagine a person who cannot swim being thrown in water over his head.
You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you do not have the ability to solve. The problem is too deep. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest in stocks without knowing anything about the stock market.
“To keep your head above water” is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.
“Water over the dam” is another expression about a past event. It is something that is finished. It cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water that has flowed over a dam cannot be brought back again.
【小题1】Which of the following two expressions have almost the same meaning?

Mrs. Green, including her husband and three children, lived in a city,   41_was very near the countryside. She worked  42  a teacher and gave music lessons at a school. Of course she was fond of.  43__. Mrs. Green had a good voice and she  44 her classes exciting. But she had a   45 point. Some of her notes (音调) were so high that they sounded like a door which needed   46 . In order to improve her notes, she took   47  chance that she could find to practise.
As her house was not big, she couldn't practise  48__ in it. So she usually left home, walking and singing  49 the country road. She practised her high notes  50 walking. However, each time she heard a person or a car   51  along the road, she  52 singing. She did not want her high notes to be  53 , for she was shy.
One afternoon a fast open car came up to her so  54   and so fast that she didn't  55 it until the car was only a few meters. She was practising some of her  56 and most difficult notes at that time. As the car passed by, she saw a  57 expression come over the driver's face. He stopped suddenly to  58 all the tires (轮胎) carefully.
Mrs. Green felt it shy to tell the driver what the   59  he had heard really was. The driver found 60  wrong, got back into the car and drove off.

       We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four．Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner．I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang．Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests' coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.

       The guests arrived．I introduced my two daughters to each of them．The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.

       Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her

hair and her smile．They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.

       I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big "to do" over the younger one because

she's the one who seems more easily hurt．We do it with the best of intentions.

       But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child．I was a little worried that Kristen

would feel she was being outshined．I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been

missing for twenty minutes．I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.

       I said, "What are you doing, my dear?"

       She turned to me with a sad expression and said, "Mommy, why don't people like me the way
they like my sister? Is it because I'm not pretty? Is that why they don't say nice things about me as
much?"

       I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.

       Now, whenever I visit a friend's home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.

56．The underlined expression 'make a big "to do" over' (paragraph 4) means _______.

       A．show much concern about                   B．have a special effect on

       C．list jobs to be done for                          D．do good things for

57．The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her     .

       A．beautiful hair                                       B．pretty clothes

       C．lovely smile                                         D．young age

58．Kristen felt sad and cried because        .

       A．the guest gave her more coats to carry

       B．she didn’t look as pretty as Kelly

       C．the guests praised her sister more than her

       D．her mother didn’t introduce her to the guests

59．We can conclude from the passage that _______.

       A．parents should pay more attention to the elder children

       B．the younger children are usually more easily hurt

       C．people usually like the younger children more

       D．adults should treat children equally