Nate suffered a hard blow when he lost his job．His boss had spoken rudely, “Your services are no longer needed．” Nate left the building filled with despair．By the time he reached home, he was in a deep depression．When he entered his house, he blurted out to his wife Sophia, “I lost my job．I am a complete, absolutely failure．” A tense silence followed．Then a smile crept across Sophia's face． “What great news!” she responded, “Now you can write the book you have always wanted to write．”

       “But I have no job and no prospect of a job,” he objected, completely without hope．“If I struggle to be an author, then what will we live on? Where will the money come from?” Sophia took her husband by the hand and led him to the kitchen．Opening a drawer, she took out a box that was full of cash．“Where on earth did you get this?” Nate gasped．“To whom does it belong?”

       “It's ours!” Sophia replied．"I always know that one day you would become a great writer only if you were given the chance．From the money you gave me for housekeeping every week, I have saved as much as I could so you would have your chance．Now there is enough to last us a whole year．”

       What a surprise! What encouragement! What a wife! The unemployed husband did concentrate on writing that year, and the novel he wrote became a literary masterpiece（杰作）．The book is The Scarlet Letter．Sophia had an even greater achievement, and she turned Nathaniel Hawthorne from a poor clerk into a world famous master．

1．Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph?

       A．Sophia was very disappointed to hear the news．

       B．Nate was too sad to speak any more．

       C．Sophia was thinking of how to encourage Nate．

       D．Neither husband nor wife had any idea of what to do．

2．Sophia saved money because ____________．

       A．she knew her husband would lose his job one day

       B．she knew their life would be in difficulty

       C．she was very careful with money

       D．she was trying to help her husband in every possible way

3．From the passage we can know that Sophia was ___________．

       A．kind and brave

       B．careful and encouraging

       C．friendly and warm-hearted

       D．honest and determined

4．What would be the best title for the passage?

       A．Sophia's Achievement

       B．A Great Writer's Struggle to Success

       C．Great Encouragement in Hard Times

       D．Failure is the Mother of Success

A husband-and-wife team from California reached the Pacific Ocean after a 4,900- mile-cross-country walk, becoming the first to backpack the American Discovery Trail in one continuous walk．

       Marcia and Ken powers, of Pleasanton, started the travel across 13 states, through 14 national parks and 16 national forests on Feb．27 from Cape Henlopen in Delaware．Nearly eight months later, the excited couple walked through water into the Pacific Ocean at Point Reyes, a day ahead of time．

       “We are a little sad that a great adventure is over．It was a fantastic adventure．And now we go home and just do housework．It's really sad．” Marcia, who said she's in her 50s, and her 60-year-old husband traversed cities, desert, mountains and farmland before reaching the Pacifics alone with arms around each other' s backpacks．

       They overcame deep snow in the East, a quicksand in Utah, close lightning strikes in the Mid- west and strong desert sandstorms in the West while averaging 22 miles a day and taking only four days off．But they enjoyed the French history of St．Louis' the beauty of the Colorado Rockies and the kindness of strangers they met along the way．They particularly remember two brothers ---- a

       doctor and dentist-------who put them up in their homes, after terrible days, and a motorcyclist who gave them water after they failed to find any on Utah's lonely Wah Wah Desert．

       “Americans are truly warm-hearted and wonderful people．” Marcia Powers said．“We got to meet people that we would never meet in our daily living at home．We got to touch it with our feet and hands and smell all its scents and hear its wildlife．It' s an amazing country,” she added．

1．Which of the following about couple's walk is TRUE?

      A．The walk covered more than 13 states．

      B．The walk lasted about half a year．

      C．The walk didn't meet any desert．

      D．The walk might end before October 27．

2．The underlined word “traversed” in the third paragraph means “____________．”

      A．enjoy                                 B．move across, through or over

      C．overcome                            D．look at

3．According to the text, we can infer that during the walk the couple __________．

      A．were treated warm-heartedly by the local people

      B．never stopped to have a rest

      C．were ever caught in a heavy rain and became ill

      D．felt the quicksand in Utah was very interesting

4．The couple went through many places except ____________．

      A．big rivers        B．desert            C．hills               D．fields

Will there ever be another Einstein? This is the undercurrent（潜流） of conversation at Einstein memorial meetings throughout the year．A new Einstein will appear, scientists say．But it may take a long time．After all, more than 200 years separated Einstein from Isaac Newton．

       Many physicists say the next Einstein hasn't been born yet, or is a baby now．That's because the search for a unified theory that would explain all the forces of nature has pushed current mathematics to its limits．New math must be created after the problem can be solved．

       But researchers say there are many other factors working against another Einstein appearing anytime soon．For one thing, physics is a much different field today．In Einstein's day, there were a few thousand physicists worldwide, and the theorists who could argue with Einstein probably would fit into a streetcar with seats to spare．Education is different, too．One key aspect of Einstein's training that-is little noticed is the years of philosophy he read as a teenager --- Kant, Schopenhauer and Spinoza, among others．It taught him how to think independently about space and time and it wasn't long before he became a philosopher himself．

       And Einstein was a clever musician．The interplay between music and math is well-known．Einstein would play his violin hard as a way to think through a knotty physics problem．

       Today, universities have produced millions of physicists．There aren't many jobs in science for them, so they go to Wall Street and Silicon Valley to apply their analytical skills．Those who stay in science don’t work alone and they sometimes do experiment together which takes years．

       It's hard to imagine a renegade（背叛者） like Einstein standing it．“Maybe there is an Einstein out there today,” said Columbia University physicist Brian Greene, “but it would be a lot harder for him to be heard．”

1．According to the second paragraph, the next Einstein will ___________．

       A．have to create new math                                            B．create a unified theory

       C．have to be born now                                                D．push math to its limits

2．The underlined words “knotty” in the fourth paragraph means ____________．

       A．easy                   B．interesting           C．strange               D．difficult

3．Which of the following will be useful for the next Einstein to be born?

       A．There will be music around．

       B．There will be no problems to solve．

       C．There will be suitable philosophy to study．

       D．There are only a few physicists．

4．The bold words “unified theory” in Paragraph 2 refers to ___________．

       A．agreement                             B．mathematical rule

       C．unique idea                            D．physical saying

改错: 请找出下列短文中的错误，并改正。

       注意, 没有错误的不用改。

I was used to complain about my English teacher                     1．__________

for his bad English．I was also tired with his teaching methods,            2．___________

it were always slow and boring．However, my attitude towards            3．___________

him began to change after one afternoon．It was raining                  4．___________

heavy and I didn’t attend school．Around 5:30 pm I received              5．___________

a phone call．“Are you all right?” asked my English teacher in quiet        6．___________

voice．On hearing her words, I was shocked and my mind was             7．___________

flooded with mixed feeling．He was showing his concern                 8．___________

for me, though I have not been happy with him! Was he just                9．___________

acting and should I smooth away my past misunderstanding of him?         10．___________

学校要举办英语晚会，现请你以学生会的名义发一份英语书面通知，欢迎全校师生参加。内容提要：

       晚会时间：下周五晚7：30～10：00

       晚会地点：学生食堂

       晚会内容：英语故事、歌曲、诗歌和短剧等。届时还邀请在本校工作的加拿大教师布朗夫妇及子女参加晚会，他们将要表演精彩的节目。

       希望大家按时到。

       注意：1．词数：100左右。

2．要包括所有要点，但不要逐条翻译；注意使用连词等，以使上下文连贯；还要注意格式。

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

--- Do you think we should accept that offer?

--- Yes, we should, for we       such bad luck up till now, and time      out.

A．have had; is running                                    B．had; is running

C．have; has been run                                      D．have had; has been run

By the time he realizes he       into a trap, it’ll be too late for him to do anything about it.

A．walks           B．walked           C．has walked           D．had walked

This is the first time we       a film in the cinema together as a family.

A．see         B．had seen         C．saw         D．have seen

I         along the street looking for a place to park when the accident         .

A．went; was occurring                                   B．went; occurred

C．was going; occurred                                          D．was going; has occurred

--- It was really very kind of you to give me a lift home.

--- Oh, don’t mention it. I      past your house anyway.

A．was coming          B．will come            C．had come           D．have come