When I was young, I went looking for gold in California．I never found enough to make me rich．But I did discover a beautiful part of the country．It was called "the Stanislau"．The Stanislau was like Heaven on Earth．It had bright green hills and deep forests where soft winds touched the trees．

       Other men, also looking for gold, had reached the Stanislau hills of California many years before I did．They had built a town in the valley with sidewalks and stores, banks and schools．They had also built pretty little houses for their families．

       At first, they found a lot of gold in the Stanislau hills．But their good luck did not last．After a few years, the gold disappeared．By the time I reached the Stanislau, all the people were gone, too．

       Grass now grew in the streets．And the little houses were covered by wild rose bushes．Only the sound of insects filled the air as I walked through the empty town that summer day so long ago．Then, 1 realized I was not alone after all．

       A man was smiling at me as he stood in front of one of the little houses．This house was not covered by wild rose bushes．A nice little garden in front of the house was full of blue and yellow flowers．White curtains hung from the windows and floated in the soft summer wind．

       Still smiling, the man opened the door of his house and signed to me．1 went inside and could not believe my eyes．I had been living for weeks in rough mining camps with other gold miners．We slept on the hard ground, ate canned beans from cold metal plates and spent our days in the difficult search for gold．

       Here in this little house, my spirit seemed to come to life again．

I saw a bright rug on the shining wooden floor．Pictures hung all around the room．And on little tables there were seashells, books and china vases full of flowers．A woman had made this house into a home．

       The pleasure I felt in my heart must have shown on my face．The man read my thoughts．"Yes," he smiled, "it is all her work．Everything in this room has felt the touch of her hand．"

       One of the pictures on the wall was not hanging straight．He noticed it and went to fix it．He stepped back several times to make sure the picture was really straight．Then he gave it a gentle touch with his hand．

1．According to the passage, the Stanislau was _____．

       A．an independent country                      B．a beautiful part of California

       C．a rough mining camp                          D．an almost bare mountain

2．The writer writes the passage mainly to _____．

       A．recall his experience in California          B．persuade people to visit the Stanislau

       C．introduce the couple he met                D．offer tips on searching for gold

3．Which of the following can best describe the couple?

       A．Ambitious but selfish．                    B．Hopeful and merciful．

       C．Warm-hearted and contented．             D．Enthusiastic but hopeless．

4．What's the correct order of the events?

       a．I went to California in search of gold．

       b．A town was built in the valley．

       c．I came to the front of a little house．

       d．The man put the picture straight．

       e．I walked through the empty town．

       A．b, a, e, c, d                               B．b, a, c, e, d

     C．a, b, e, c, d                                          D．a, b, e, d, c

The findings of a new survey have American professors talking about the good old days—when A's were a lot tougher to earn．

       Sites like RateMyProfessors．com make it easy for students to find a class taught by a professor who is known as an "easy grader"．A recent survey by Kaplan Test Prep found that 46 percent of the more than 1,200 students polled admitted to using the site for just such a purpose．

       "Our research shows that many of today's college students are looking at multiple factors when picking out courses: overall teacher quality that will result in a good learning experience, but also instructors who don't like to award a lot of C's and D's," said Jeff Olson, vice president of research at Kaplan Test Prep．

       "While it makes sense that students would choose kinder graders, it also helps explain the recent popularity of grade inflation（膨胀）．"

       Grade inflation is seen by many professors as poisoning the learning environment．Some, like former Duke University professor Stuart Rojstaczer, are righting it head-on．

       On his website, Gradelnflation．com, he releases an annual list of schools where grade inflation is the worst．

       This year, he decided to name the schools where grades were inflated the least．He praised, for example, Princeton University, as well as Purdue University, where the average GPA has remained around 2．8 for over 30 years．

       "Purdue doesn't even seem to know that grade inflation exists in the US," Rojstaczer says．"Ignorance is bliss（极大的幸福）．"

1．From the passage we may know that Kaplan Test Prep is most probably _____

       A．an institute                                   B．a professor 

       C．a vice president                              D．a course

2．Grade inflation is spreading because _____．

       A．it's poisoning the learning environment

       B．instructors intend to improve their overall teaching quality

       C．many instructors adapt to the students' expectations

       D．students get easy access to sites like RateMyProfessors．com

3．The passage suggests that _____．

       A．universities will employ hard graders

       B．if we want to be happy, we should be ignorant

       C．A's are becoming easy to earn at most US universities

       D．professors and instructors should give students higher grades

4．The writer tends to _____．

       A．favor easy graders                        B．see grade inflation as unavoidable

       C．oppose Kaplan Test Prep                     D．miss the days when A's were hard to earn

Scientists from the Max Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany, have presented the first experimental evidence that people do end up walking in circles if lost in unfamiliar areas．The study, published in the journal Current Biology, examined the tracks of people who walked for several hours in the Sahara desert in Tunisia and in the Bienwald forest in Germany．Researchers Jan Souman and Marc Ernst said the scientists used the global positioning system （GPS） to record these paths．The results showed that the walkers were only able to keep a straight line when the sun or moon was visible．As soon as the sun disappeared behind some clouds, people started to walk in circles without even noticing it．

       Souman said one explanation offered in the past for people walking in circles was that most people have one leg longer or stronger than the other, which would produce a systematic bias（偏差） in one direction．To test this．the researchers asked people to walk straight while blindfolded which removed the effects of vision．They found that these circles were rarely in a systematic direction, with the same person sometimes switching to the left and sometimes to the right．

       "Most of the participants in the study walked in circles, sometimes in extremely small ones．Walking in circles is therefore not caused by differences in leg length or strength, but more likely the result of increasing uncertainty about where straight ahead is," said Souman, "Small random errors （随机性误差） in the various sensory signals that provide information about walking direction add up over time, making what a person perceives to be straight ahead drift away from the true straight ahead direction．"

1．The underlined word "this" in Paragraph 2 refers to _____．

       A．the effects of vision                     B．a systematic bias

       C．the leg length differences                   D．one explanation offered in the past

2．What is the probable reason for people's walking in circles?

       A．The invisible sun or moon．

       B．The increasing uncertainty about directions．

       C．Differences in leg length or strength．

       D．Wrong signals providing information about areas．

3．Why are the subjects required to be blindfolded?

       A．To encourage them to walk straight．    B．To stop them from seeing each other．

       C．To dismiss the effects of vision．         D．To keep the test a top secret．

4．Which of the following statements is true?

       A．People walk straight in the day．

       B．The farther people walk, the greater the direction bias grows．

       C．People walk only in large circles．

       D．Researchers use the global positioning system to record their tracks．

阅读下面短文，根据以下提示：1）汉语提示，2）首字母提示，3）语境提示，在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，并将该词完整地写在右边相对应的横线上。所填单词要求意义准确，拼写正确

       Helen returned home from Paris after a short visit to her friends,

Laura and Ted．They went to see her ____ at the airport．It was not        1．       

easy for them to get to the airport at such an early hour, ____ Helen         2．       

felt sorry for the trouble she'd brought them．As it was q_____ dull         3．       

to fly over the sea for long, Helen k____ time on the plane by reading      4．       

a _____（卡通） book given to her by Laura and Ted．She had a very       5．       

smooth f______ and the plane arrived in London on schedule．Her           6．       

sister came to meet her at the airport．She p____ to stay with Helen         7．       

for about a week．They enjoyed the _______ （照片） Laura and Ted     8．       

had t____ for Helen on their beautiful farm．Now Helen is looking           9．       

forward ____ the day when Laura and Ted will pay her a visit in the         10．       

near future.

高中学习生涯即将结束，你校高三年级拟举行一次有关“感恩”的英文演讲比赛。请根据以下要点写一篇120词左右的演讲稿。

       要点：

       1．感恩对象；

       2．为何感恩；

       3．如何用实际行动表达自己的感恩之情。

       注意：

       1．只能选择一个感恩的对象，如家人、老师、朋友等；

       2．可对所给要点做适当发挥：

       3．演讲稿中不得提及考生所在学校及本人姓名；

       4．开头和结尾已经写好，不计入总词数。

       Good afternoon, everyone! It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to be with you today. The topic of my speech is “Thank you,                       ”.

       Thank you for listening.

I don’t understand what the engineer means， but I’ve got ______ rough idea of _____ project plan．

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

While working on the farm，the students ________ a good knowledge of plant life

A．held up            B．picked up            C．turned away        D．put down

---“What do you think of the service here?”

---“Oh，_________．We couldn’t have found a better place．”

A．too bad                    B．sorry                  C．wonderful               D．impossible

Equipped with modern facilities，today’s hospitals are quite different from_______ of the past．

A．that           B．those       C．one           D．ones

The time isn’t far away ______ you will have to take the college entrance examination．

A．when          B．as             C．until            D．since