With a lot of difficult problems ____, the manager felt like a cat on hot bricks.

   A. settled             B. settling         C. being settled   D. to settle

Another man-made wonder of the United States was built long before the nation was established. About 900 years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan people built villages high in the walls of canyons in Colorado, where 600 cliff dwellings are now part of the Mesa Verde National Park.     

Visitors can stand at the top of the mesas and look into the dwellings almost hidden in openings of the rock walls. The Puebloan people cut small steps into the rock, which connected buildings containing hundreds of rooms.

The rock walls have protected the buildings from severe weather in the area; therefore, they remain mostly unchanged in the hundreds of years since they were built.

Our final man-made wonder is in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington. The Space Needle was built as the central structure for the 1962 World's Fair.           

The 184-meter-tall structure was designed by Edward Carlson, which has a wide base on the ground, with its middle narrow and a large ring-like structure on top. The structure was meant to look like a "flying saucer," a vehicle that was popular in science fiction space travel stories.  The saucer includes an observation area and eating place. The restaurant slowly turns to provide visitors with a 360 degree view of Seattle.

The Space Needle, only costing about $4,500,000, was not very costly, and was designed and completed in about a year and opened on the first day of the World's Fair.

Today, the Space Needle is the most popular place for visitors to Seattle. And it remains the internationally known symbol of the city.

What the passage before this one can be about?

A. Some natural wonders in the world.

B. Sightseeing in the US.

C. Some other artificial wonders in the US.

D. American geography.

What does the underlined word “dwelling” mean?

       A. village                     B. house                C. canyon              D. step

Which of the following descriptions about the Space Needle is TRUE?

       A. It is a man-made wonder in Washington, D.C..

       B. Edward Carlson built the structure.

       C. It has a ring-like structure on top.

       D. It remains the internationally known symbol of the US.

What is the passage mainly about?

       A. Visiting the US                B. Man-made wonders in the US

       C. Wonders in the world              D. Famous places in the US

Why play games? Because they are fun, and a 1ot more besides. Following the rules…planning your next move...acting as a team member…these are all “game” ideas that you will come across throughout your life.

Think about some off the games you played as a young child, such as rope-jumping and hide-and-seek. Such games are entertaining and fun. But perhaps more importantly, they translate life into exciting dramas that teach children some of the basic rules they will be expected to follow the rest of their lives, such as taking turns and cooperating (合作) .

Many children’s games have a practical side Children around the world play games that prepare them for work they will do as grown-ups. For instance, some Saudi Arabian children play a game called bones. Which sharpens the hand-eye coordination（协调）needed in hunting.

Many sports encourage national or local pride. The most famous games of all, the Olympic Games, bring athletes from around the world together to take part in friendly competition. People who watch the event wave flags, knowing that a gold medal is a win for an entire country, not just the athlete who earned it. For countries experiencing natural disasters or war, an Olympic win can mean so much.

Sports are  also an event that unites people. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. People on all continents play it — some for fun and some for a living. Nicolette Iribarne, a Californian soccer player, has discovered a way to spread hope through soccer. He created a foundation to provide poor children with not only soccer balls but also a promising future.

Next time you play your favorite game or sport, think about why you enjoy it, what skills are needed, and whether these skills will help you in other aspects of your life.

Through playing hide-and-seek, children are expected to learn to ________.

A. be a team leader                                          B. obey the basic rules

C. act as a grown-up                                         D. predict possible danger

The underlined part in Paragraph 2 most probably means that games can________.

A. describe life in an exciting way      

B. turn real-life experiences into a play

C. make learning life skills more interesting

D. change people’s views of sporting event s

According to the passage, why is winning Olympic medals so encouraging?

A. It inspires people’s deep love for the country. 

B. It proves the exceptional skills of the winners.

C. It helps the country out of natural disasters.   

D. It earns the winners fame and fortune.

Iribarne’s goal of forming the foundation is to _______.

A. bring fun to poor kids                           B. provide soccer balls for children

C. give poor kids a chance for a better life         

D. appeal to soccer players to help poor kids

What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Games benefit people all their lives.

B. Sports can get all athletes together.

C. People are advised to play games for fun.             

D. Sports increase a country’s competitiveness.

John said he would pay ______ second visit to China ______ next year.

A. the; /          B. the; the       C. a; the        D. a; /

I hated practicing, but I stuck_______ _it and now I can play pretty well.

   A. to  do     B. to doing     C. do       D. doing

One of the big challenges that students face in applying to universities abroad is writing the application essay．

  The essay topics all have something in common. They attempt to get at what type of person you are, what motivates you，and what you feel passion for. In a single 500-word piece of writing，

admissions officers(招生负责人)attempt to gather all about you. So your task is of your personality on the essay and make yourself special. 

You can try and guess what the admissions officers like. But that won’t work．The essay will sound empty and become another dull piece of writing，which admissions officers get thousands of each year．

  It is true that admissions officers aren’t exactly looking for anything. The answer is just as open-ended as the question itself. If they ask for someone who has inspired you, it could be anyone. It could be a grandmother, a teacher, or even a character from a movie. A lot of people will say their dad. But since you really feel it, you’ll have a lot to write about.

  There are some important things to remember．These admissions officers want good writers. You don't have to be Ernest Hemingway, but you have to be able to form an interesting story．That means revision(校对)and editing，cutting out stupid grammar mistakes，reading it over several times，leaving it for a few days and looking at it again. Whatever you do, make sure the essay is as good as possible.

  Also，you should use exciting language and really make the reader feel the same passion as you do. It also means finding something unique about your point of view, something that other people might not think of．For example，if you want to write about your dad, you can focus on a specific anecdote(趣闻)about him .Admissions officers love personal stories that ring true．

The purpose of the passage is to give advice on how to_________.

A. choose an essay topic                                     B. read the officers’ minds

C. be a good writer                                           D write an effective application

The underlined part of paragraph 2 suggests that you__________.

A. stick enough stamps before posting your application essay

B. write something unique in an essay to impress the readers   

C. take the task of showing off yourself seriously  

D. pay attention to your personal essay

When admissions officers ask who has inspired you，they mean to________.

A. know about your family members               B. understand you better

C. find out what your father does                             D. discover your personal affairs

According to the writer, it is wise to produce an essay with__________.

A.500 beautiful words   B. many funny things   C. truthful specific stories   D. indirect answers

单词拼写（共 10 小题；每小题 1分．满分 10 分）

He is as s___________ as a donkey. No one can persuade him to change his mind.

By the Internet, we can c_____________ with people all over the world.

Nowadays, many tall buildings have e___________ for people to go up and down.

After the war, a new g____________ was set up for that country.

Though I haven’t met him for many years, I could r___________ him immediately when I saw him in the crowd.

If you spend more time reading your English, you can improve it r___________.

I am d__________ to change my job. No one else can change my mind.

Because of global warming, there are more and more natural d___________.

Whether you will succeed or not depends on your a__________ to it.

The workers made great efforts to r_________ the people who were trapped underground.

________ the houses were destroyed in the earthquake.

A. A great many of     B. A great deal     C. A great many      D. A great deal of

The medical reform in that country turns out to be ______ failure, but as we know, success often comes after ______ failure.

   A. a; the                    B. a; 不填                C. a; a                     D. 不填; 不填

A harmonious society is like a symphony — each person contributes a small sound, but when                 __with other sounds, it becomes beautiful music.

     A. combining                       B. combined                

C. being combined            D. to be combined