52．After the computer was brought home, the author’s father　　　　　　 .

　　　 A．lost interest in cooking

　　　 B．took more phone calls

　　　 C．played　 more games

　　　 D．began to use it

答案　 49.B　 50.D　 51.C　 52.B

Passage 43

(06·北京B篇)

I was 9 years old when I found out my father was ill. It was 1994, but I can remember my mother’s words as if it were yesterday: “Kerrel, I don’t want you to take food from your father, because he has AIDS. Be very careful when you are around him.”

AIDS wasn’t something we talked about in my country when I was growing up. From then on, I knew that this would be a family secret. My parents were not together anymore, and my dad lived alone. For a while, he could take care of himself. But when I was 12, his condition worsened. My father’s other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.

We couldn’t afford all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for school supplies and often couldn’t even buy food for dinner. I would sit in class feeling completely lost, the teacher’s words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.

I did not share my burden (负担) with anyone. I had seen how people reacted to AIDS. Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease. And even adults could be cruel. When my father was moved to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.

I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of keeping his condition a secret. I was completely unprepared when he reached his final days. Sad and hopeless, I called a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support. That day, she kept me on the phone for hours. I was so lucky to find someone who cared. She saved my life.

I was 15 when my father died. He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to anyone, even me. He didn’t want to call attention to AIDS. I do.

51．The author asked her mother to write her a letter　　　　　　　　 .

　　　 A．because her mother had stopped using the telephone

　　　 B．because she wanted to keep in touch with her mother

　　　 C．so that her mother could practice what she had learned

　　　 D．so that her mother could be free from housework

50．The author decided to give her mother a computer　　　　　　　　　　 .

　　　 A．to let her have more chances to write letters

　　　 B．to support her in doing her homework

　　　 C．to help her through the bad times

　　　 D．to make her life more enjoyable

49．What does the author do?

　　　 A．She is a cook.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．She is a teacher.

　　　 C．She is a housewife.　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．She is a computer engineer.

44．Who was supposed to be the first owner of the book?

　　　 A．An official of the UN.

　　　 B．A coffee shop owner.

　　　 C．A friend of the author’s.

　　　 D．Alex’s friend from California.

答案　 41.A　 42.D　 43.A　 44.D

Passage 42

(06·全国ⅡC篇)

When I learned that my 71-year-old mother was playing Scrabble　 - a word game - against herself, I knew I had to do something. My husband suggested we give her a computer to play against.

I wasn’t sure my mother was ready for it After all, it had taken 15 years to persuade her to buy an electric cooker. Even so, we packed up our old computer and delivered it to my parents’ home . And so began my mother’s adventure in the world of computers.

It also marked the beginning of an unusual teaching task for me. I’ve taught people of all ages, but I never thought I would be teaching my mother how to do anything. She has been the one teach-

ing　 me all my life: to cook and sew: to enjoy the good times and put up with the bad. Now it was my turn to give something back.

It wasn’t easy at the beginning. There was so much to explain and to introduce. Slowly but surely, my mother caught on, making notes in a little notebook. After a few months of Scrabble and other games, I decided it was time to introduce her to word processing(文字处理)This proved to be a bigger challenge(挑战)to her, so I gave her some homework I asked her to write me a letter, using different letter types, colors and spaces.

“Are you this demanding with your kindergarten pupils?” she asked.

“No, of course not, ” I said. “They already know how to use a computer.”

My mother isn’t the only one experiencing a fast personal growth period. Thanks to the computer, my father has finally got over his phone allergy(过敏反应). For as long as I can remember, any time I called, my mother would answer. Dad and I have had more phone conversations in the last two months than we’ve had in the past 20 years.

43．We can learn from the text that the Californian　　　　　　　 .

　　　 A．met Emma at a concert

　　　 B．invited Emma to a concert

　　　 C．introduced Emma to his friend

　　　 D．left Emma his backpack

42．How did Emma feel the moment she opened the book?

　　　 A．Pleased.　　　　　　　　　 B．Satisfied.　　　　 C．Worried.　　　　　　　　 D．Surprised.

41．Alex lent Emma the book, Markings,　　　　　　　　　 .

　　　 A．to show his friendliness to her

　　　 B．to show his interest in reading

　　　 C．to tell her about the importance of the UN

　　　 D．to let her write her name and address inside

64．By telling his own experiences, the author tries to show _______.

A．how to write a thank-you letter

B．how to deal with car problems

C．the kind-heartedness of older people

D．the importance of expressing thanks

答案　 60.A　 61.B　 62.C　 63.C　 64.D

Passage 41

(06·全国ⅡA篇)

My friend, Emma Daniels, spent the summer of 1974 traveling in Israel. During her month-long stay in Jerusalem she often went to a café called Chocolate Soup. It was run by two men, one of whom-Alex-used to live in Montreal. One morning when Emma went in for coffee, while chatting with her new friend Alex, she mentioned that she had just finished the book she was reading and had nothing else to read. Alex said he had a wonderful book she might like, and that he’d be happy to lend it to her. As he lived just above the café, he quickly ran up to get it. The book he handed to Emma just minutes later was Markings, a book by a former Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN).

Emma had never read it, nor had she ever bought a copy. But , when she opened it up, she was floored to see her own name and address inside the cover in her own handwriting(笔迹). It turned out that the summer before, at a concert back in Montreal, Emma had met a Californian who was in town visiting friends. They decided to exchange(交换)addresses, but neither of them had any paper. The man opened up a book he was carrying in his backpack(背包) and asked Emma to write her name and address inside. When he returned to California, he left the book behind in Montreal, and his friend Alex kept it. When Alex later moved to Jerusalem, he took the book along.

63．The battery of the author’s car was dead because _______.

A．something went wrong with the lights

B．the meeting lasted a whole day

C．he forgot to turn off the lights

D．he drove too long a distance