It was 1961 and I was in the fifth grade. My marks in school were miserable and, the thing was, I didn’t know enough to really care. My older bother and I lived with Mom in an ugly multi-family house in Detroit. We watched TV every night. The background noise of our lives was gunfire and horses’  hoofs(马蹄) from “Wagon Train” or “Cheyenne”, and laughter from “I Love Lucy”, or “Mister Ed”. After supper, we’d lie on Mom’s bed and stare for hours at the TV screen.

But one day Mom changed our world forever. She turned off the TV. Our mother had only been able to get through third grade. But, she was much brighter and smarter than we boys know at the time. She had noticed something in the suburban houses where she cleaned books. So she came home one day, switched off the TV, sat us down and explained that her sons were going to make something of themselves. “You boys are going to read two books every week,” she said. “And you’re going to write a report on what you read.”

We moaned（不满,发牢骚） and complained about how unfair it was. Besides, we didn’t have any books in the house other than Mom’s Bible. But she explained that we would go where the books were: “I’ll drive you to the library.”

So pretty soon there were these two peevish（坏脾气的）boys sitting in her white 1959 Oldsmobile on their way to Detroit Public Library. I wandered reluctantly（不情愿） among the children’s books. I loved animals, so when I saw some books that seemed to be about animals, I started leafing through them.

The first book I read clear through was Chip the Dam Builder. It was about beavers（河狸）. For the first time in my life I was lost in another world. No television program had ever taken me so far away from my surroundings as did this virtue visit to a cold stream in a forest and these animals building a home.

It didn’t dawn on me at the time, but the experience was quite different from watching TV. There were images forming in my mind instead of before my eyes. And I could return to them again and again with the flip（快速翻动）of a page.

Soon I began to look forward to visiting this quiet sanctuary form my other world. I moved from animals to plants, and then to rocks. Between the covers of all those books were whole worlds, and I was free to go anywhere in them. Along the way a funny thing happened: I started to know things. Teachers started to notice it too. I got to the point where I couldn’t wait to get home to my books.

Now my older brother is an engineer and I am chief of pediatric neurosurgery(儿童神经外科)at John Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. Sometimes I still can’t believe my life’s journey, from a failing and indifferent student in a Detroit public school to this position, which takes me all over the world to teach and perform critical surgery.

But I know when the journey began the day Mom switched off the TV set and put us in her Oldsmobile for that drive to the library.

1.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that ___________.

2.Which of the following is not true about the author’s family?

3.How did the two boys feel about going to the library at first?

4.The author began to love books for the following reasons EXCEPT that ___________.

Here in the hills were buffaloes (野牛). I had even, in my very young days — when I could not live till I had killed one of each kind of African animal — shot a bull out there. Later on, when I was not so interested to shoot as to watch the wild animals, I had been out to see them again. But twice I had to go back without success.

But one afternoon as I was having tea with some friends outside the house, Denys came flying from Nairobi and went over our heads westwards; a little while after he turned and came back and landed on the farm. I drove down to the plane to bring him back, but he would not get out of his plane.

“The buffaloes are out feeding in the hills,” he said, “come out and have a look at them.”

“I cannot come,” I said. “I have got a tea-party up at the house.”

“But we will go and see them and be back in a quarter of an hour,” he said.

This sounded to me like the suggestions which people make to you in a dream. So I went up with him. It did not take us long to see the buffaloes from the air; we counted them as they peacefully mixed and separated on the open ground closed in by bushes. There was one very old big black bull, and a number of young ones; if a stranger had come near to them they would have heard or smelt him at once, but they were not prepared for something from the air. They heard the noise of our machine and stopped feeding, but they did not seem to be able to look up. In the end they realized that something very strange was about; the old bull first walked out in front of the others. Suddenly he began to go down the valley side and after a moment he broke into a run. The whole group now followed him, rushing hurriedly down into the buses. In a small wood of low trees they stopped and kept close together. Here they believed themselves to be out of sight. We flew up and away. It was like having been taken there by a secret unknown route.

When I came back to my tea-party the teapot on the stone was still so hot that I burned my fingers on it.

1.The writer drove to the plane ________.

2. Denys said it would only take a quarter of an hour to go and see the buffaloes ________.

3.When the buffaloes heard the noise of the plane, they ________.

第二节 完形填空（共20小题；每小题1．5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（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。
When I began my high school years, I was quite interested in biology. I read lots of books of my father’s about animals, and I was   36   much educated about such matters as a 16-year-old could be.
One Sunday afternoon, I was   37  with friends about animals. I said the whale（鲸鱼）was  __38  a mammal animal. They disagreed. Finally, I called a   39  over to help settle the matter. I knew I was  40 , so I was looking forward to the teacher  41   I was right. My friends were eager for an opposite answer. We asked her   42 the whale was a mammal. “No, the whale is a fish,” she said without a moment’s   43  .
You could have knocked me over with a feather. My   44   was hurt because I lost the argument, but that wasn’t the main reason I was too  45 to speak. I still knew I was right, which   __46  the teacher was wrong. Not only was she wrong,   47  she was completely ignorant（无知的） about something I thought was   48   knowledge. But she was a teacher who had taught a long time. Everyone   49   her and no one else thought she could be wrong.
__50  that, I hadn’t known grown-ups could be wrong. This   51  shaped the way I viewed people as I grew up.   52   I found anyone treated another person with too much respect and admiration, I thought——and still think——“   53  silly.” From that point on, I had no  54__ for authority（权威）. To earn my respect, you have to be smart or  55   . I’ll never respect you just because you happen to be in charge or have a degree.
36. A. as  B. so       C. too          D. very
37. A. meeting       B. working     C. arguing      D. staying
38. A. about    B. like         C. beside      D. above
39. A. professor     B. biologist     C. librarian     D. teacher
40. A. clever   B. fight       C. creative    D. silly
41. A. proving       B. finding       C. promising   D. hoping
42. A. how     B. why        C. if      D. when
43. A. doubt   B. silence       C. regret  D. hesitation
44. A. heart    B. mind   C. pride   D. feeling
45. A. foolish  B. anxious      C. serious       D. astonished
46. A. meant   B. suggested   C. admitted     D. concluded
47. A. and         B. but     C. for           D. or
48. A. special  B. normal       C. regular       D. common
49. A. pleased B. admired     C. believed     D. loved
50. A. Before  B. After   C. Until   D. Since
51. A. fairly    B. properly     C. nearly D. greatly
52. A. Whenever    B. Although    C. While D. Whether
53. A. I’m         B. that’s  C. he’s    D. you’re
54. A. idea      B. respect       C. choice D. question
55. A. energetic      B. patient       C. talented      D. diligent

Hunting

The days of the hunter are almost over in India. This is partly because there is practically nothing left to kill, and partly because some steps have been taken, mainly by banning tiger-shooting, to protect those animals which still survive.

Some people say that Man is naturally a hunter. I disagree with this view. Surely out earliest forefathers, who at first possessed no weapons, spent their time digging for roots, and were no doubt themselves often hunted by meat-eating animals.

I believe the main reason why the modern hunter kills is that he thinks people will admire his courage in overpowering dangerous animals. Of course, there are some who truly believe that the killing is not really the important thing, and that the chief pleasure lies in the joy of the hunt and the beauties of the wild countryside. There are also those for whom hunting in fact offers a chance to prove themselves and risk death by design; these men go out after dangerous animals like tigers, even if they say they only do it to rid the countryside of a threat. I can respect reasons like these, but they are clearly different from the need to strengthen your high opinion of yourself.

The greatest big-game hunters expressed in their writings something of these finer motives(动机).One of them wrote.

“You must properly respect what you are after and shoot it cleanly and on the animal’s own territory(领地)。You must fix forever in your mind all the wonders of that particular day. This is better than letting him grow a few years older to be attacked and wounded by his own son and eventually eaten, half alive, by other animals, Hunting is not a cruel and senseless killing – not if you respect the thing you kill, not if you kill to enrich your memories, not if you kill to feed your people.”

I can understand such beliefs, and can compare these hunters with those who hunted lions with spears(矛) and bravely caught them by the tail. But this is very different from many tiger—shoots I have seen, in which modern weapons were used.The so—called hunters fired from tall trees or from the backs of trained elephants. Such methods made tigers seem no more dangerous than rabbits. 

There is no more hunting in India now partly because___.

A.it is dangerous to hunt there

B.hunting is already out of date

C.hunters want to protect animals

D.there are few animals left to hunt

The author thinks modern hunters kill mainly____.

A.to make the countryside safe

B.to earn people’s admiration

C.to gain power and influence

D.to improve their health

What do we learn about the big-game hunters?

A.They hunt old animals

B.They mistreat animals

C.They hunt for food

D.They hunt for money

What is the author’s view on the tiger-shoots he has seen?

A.Modern hunters lack the courage to hunt face-to-face

B.Modern hunters should use more advanced weapons

C.Modern hunters like to hunt rabbits instead of tigers

D.Modern hunters should put their safety first

（三）
A
I recently spent two years in the Arctic filming the series Blue Planet. I love being in an environment that hasn't changed for 20,000 years. Of course it's freezing, but it must be a healthy place because you never catch colds.
When I'm filming, I like to really feel how lonely the environment is. Filming underwater involves cutting through thick ice and diving in tied to a line. The person at the other end has to be ready to pull you out fast if necessary.
Originally I was a research diver for the British Antarctic Survey project, but for me science lacked excitement. I'd always enjoyed photography, and whenever camera teams passed through, they encouraged me to watch and learn. I was then able to move into filming in 1985 and have concentrated on Arctic and Antarctic wildlife ever since.
I prefer to be faced with the animals I'm filming. I haven't got in the water with killer whales yet, but I plan to. Of course, it's dangerous if you choose the wrong moment. They're big animals and can move fast, so I'd be stupid to film them searching for food!
I've never had problems with polar bears, although once I was frightened when one tried to get into my tent. Polar bears are bold, clever and dangerous. But I made this one see I wasn't about to attack it - I'm sure it realised I wouldn't hurt it.
When I come home back from my trips, I work in the mornings and spend the afternoons swimming to keep fit. Now I'm fifty, filming is harder. The challenge for me is to continue to deliver high-quality work.
56. In this text, the writer is describing __________.
A. the challenges of the environment he works in       B. the beautiful scenery of the Arctic
C. the career opportunities in TV camera work.  　　D. the difficulties of having to work alone
57. What does the writer say about his early career?
A. He was bored by working only in Antarctic.
B. It taught him how to become a skilled diver.
C. He wasted the years he spent as a scientist.
D. It provided him with a chance to learn about filming.
58. When talking about killer whales, the writer says that __________.
A. he has always been careful when diving with them
B. he tries to avoid any danger by facing them
C. he will only film them from a safe distance
D. he believes there are safe opportunities to film them
59. How does the writer describe his experience with a polar bear?
A. The writer realized he was wrong to trust polar bears.
B. The writer felt nervous that the bear might come back.
C. The bear seemed to know the writer wasn’t a danger.
D. The animal was much more afraid than the writer was.