Many young people in the United States never finish high school. Exactly how many drop out is another issue. Recent studies of  __1__ rate have had conflicting results.

For one thing, schools define and measure their dropout rates __2__. Some researchers say about 15 to 20 percent of public school students do not  __3__ their education on time. __4__  many other experts and policymakers believe that for the past 20 years, the dropout rate has been around 30 percent. For Latino and black students, the  __5__  are even larger. Researchers say almost half of them  __6__  school. At the same time, almost half of the states let students leave school  __7__  the age of 18 without informing their parents.

Finding a good job  __8__  a high school education is becoming more and more difficult. A Northeastern University  __9__  in 2002 found that almost half of all dropouts aged 16 to 24 did not have a job. The  __10__  of a high school education can also  __11__ other problems. It is estimated that two－thirds of prisoners in the United States dropped out of high school.

Recent studies have  __12__  that the majority of students who drop out do it because they are failing. Many are  __13__ with their classes or feel disconnected from their school and teachers. Some students feel that educators place low  __14__  on them.

During the past 20 years, there have been efforts to  __15__  graduation rate through education reforms. Some communities are working on dropout  __16__ programs. These include some alternative high schools to meet special  __17__.

Experts think “early warning systems” can help __18__ young schoolchildren at the risk of dropping out of high school. They say schools also need to get  __19__ more involved, especially if their children are  __20__  school often.

1. A. research    B. finishing    C. dropout  D. completing

2. A. personally  B. individually  C. differently  D. similarly

3. A. complete   B. reach       C. practise  D. operate

4. A. And       B. Besides      C. Instead  D. But

5. A. people     B. students  C. dropouts  D. numbers

6. A. approach  B. leave  C. stay  D. enter

7. A. after     B. until  C. before  D. when

8. A. without        B. together with

C. out of         D. off

9. A. project  B. design  C. sketch  D. study

10. A. importance     B. lack

C. need          D. requirement

11. A. lead to  B. result  C. conclude  D. include

12. A. noticed  B. watched  C. shown  D. inspected

13. A. bored  B. interested  C. indifferent  D. unconcerned 

14. A. outlook  B. prediction  C. remark  D. expectations

15. A. decrease  B. reduce  C. increase  D. unite

16. A. prevention      B. conservation

C. permission      D. admittance

17. A. needs  B. ways  C. advantages  D. means

18. A. receive  B. accept  C. get  D. identify

19. A. mates  B. teachers  C. parents  D. neighbours

20. A. missing  B. staying  C. leaving  D. studying

—Hello. Can I speak to Wu Ming please?

—__1__

—Hello, Wu Ming. This is Wang Hong. Sorry to ring you so late in the evening, but I've only just got home.

—__2__ What's the news?

—I'd like to ask you about some stamps. Do you still have the cock year stamp? You had it when I last saw you.

—I'm afraid I don't have it. I sold it last week.

—__3__

—I'm sorry. I didn't know you wanted it. __4__

—Yes, please. Thank you. It's very kind of you.

—__5__

—Thank you very much.

—Bye－bye.

A. Do you like collecting stamps so much?

B. That's all right.

C. Sorry, Wu Ming is out.

D. Do you want me to find one for you?

E. Oh, what a pity!

F. Yes, speaking.

G. OK，I'll ring you if I have any news.

1. ________　2. ________　3. ________　4. ________

5. ________

下面短文中有10处语言错误。请在有错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写上该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。

注意：每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。

Dear Sir/Madame, 

My family are planning a visit of Hong Kong Disneyland this summer vacation. I've got some information about the ticket price and now I'm writing for some detail information.

I wonder that children under three need to pay off a ticket and how is the difference between a Peak Day Ticket and a Special Day Ticket. Is that possible for us to get a discount if we purchase as a group? Can we book tickets through the Internet? In addition to, I'd like to know if we allowed to cancel our ticket booking if we can not make the tour for our personal reasons.

Looking forward to get your reply. 

Yours，

Li Hua

All Eskimos live most of their lives close to sea or fresh water. They may follow game inland for several hundred miles, but they always return to the shores of rivers, lakes, or seas. Eskimo land has a bare look. Large rocks, pebbles, and sand cover much of the surface. Plants called lichen (地衣) grow on the rocks, and where there is enough soil, grass, flowers, and even small bushes manage to live. No trees can grow on Eskimo land, so geographers sometimes call it the Arctic plains. There are some animals in Eskimo land, such as rabbits, which eat the plants. Other animals, like the white fox and the gray wolf, eat the rabbits. The Eskimo is a meat－eater, too, and may even eat a wolf when food is scarce.

The Eskimo year has two main parts：A long, cold winter and a short, cool summer. Spring and fall are almost too short to be noticed. Summer is the best time, as food is usually plentiful. But it is also the time when Eskimos are very busy. Winter is never far away, and the men must bring home extra meat for the women to prepare and store, for seldom can enough animals be killed in winter to feed a family.

The Far North is sometimes called the land of the midnight sun. This is true in the middle of summer, for between April 21st and August 21st the sun never sets in Northern Greenland. But in midwinter the Far North is a land with no sunshine at all. Around October 21st the Eskimos of Northern Greenland see the sun set directly south of them, and they don't see it again until February 22nd. All places on earth get about the same amount of daylight during a year. As a result, if summer is lighter, winter has to be darker.

Winter nights in the Far North are seldom pitch－black. As in the rest of the world, the stars and moon provide a little light. The northern lights also help the Eskimo to see. And with the ground covered with snow, even a little light is reflected back to the Eskimo's eyes.

6. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Eskimos do not usually eat wolves.

B. Eskimos like to chase one another.

C. Eskimos depend heavily on water.

D. Eskimos are meat－eaters.

7.  In the Eskimo year, ________.

A. there is no spring and fall

B. winter is cold and summer is hot

C. summer is a time for growing food

D. winter comes early and goes late

8.  What's the meaning of the underlined word “pitch－black” in Paragraph 4?

A. Dark with a little light.

B. A little dark.

C. Not dark at all.

D. Extremely dark.

9. From the passage, we can infer all of the following EXCEPT that ________.

A. Eskimos are more likely to eat wolves in summer

B. Eskimo women are responsible for housework

C. meat is the main source of food for the Eskimo

D. hunting is an important part of Eskimo life

10. Why is summer lighter in the Far North?

A. Because the Far North is far away from the sun.

B. Because the sun is not seen for five months of the year.

C. Because the sun never sets in midsummer.

D. Because people see the sun set directly south of them.

While IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tells you how smart you are. EQ (Emotional Quotient) tells you how well you use your smartness. Professor Salovery, the psychologist who created the term EQ, says that it is IQ that gets you hired but it is EQ that gets you promoted.

Supported by his research, he suggested that when predicting future successes, a person's brainpower, as measured by IQ tests, might actually matter less than a person's character, or EQ. Professor Salovery may be correct. For example, have you ever wondered why some of the best and smartest students in your class end up failing exams? Perhaps it is because of their EQ. People often make the mistake of thinking that EQ is the opposite of IQ. It is not. Although it is hoped that people have both high EQs and IQs, there is little doubt that those with low EQs have a hard time surviving in life.

For a long time, researchers discussed if a person's IQ could be raised. The geneticists said no, while the social scientists said yes. Furthermore, the social scientists said that it was possible to improve a person's EQ, particularly in terms of “people skills”， such as understanding and communication.

Recently, a professor released the findings of a study on senior high school students. When some normal students were introduced to some disabled students, they found that afterwards they were more willing to help people in difficulties. At the same time, there was a marked change in the disabled students' attitudes. They became more positive about their disabilities and were more eager to try new things. People with high EQs often have positive attitudes towards life and are open to different ideas, so they tend to be more creative in their thinking. Please remember that having a high IQ is helpful but having a high EQ might even be more helpful.

1. According to Professor Salovery，what factor matters the most in predicting whether a person will be successful or not?

A. How a person tests his/her brainpower.

B. A person's character.

C. How smart a person is.

D. A person's IQ.

2. The second paragraph tells us that ________.

A. people who have a high IQ always have a high EQ

B. EQ is the opposite of IQ

C. people who have a low EQ tend to have a hard life

D. people who have a high EQ always have a high IQ

3. What did the professor find from his study of normal students being introduced to some disabled children?

A. Students with disabilities were not open in trying new things.

B. There was no change in the normal students.

C. The disabled students became more positive and more eager to try new things.

D. The disabled students were more willing to help others.

4. Which of the following is the writer's attitude toward EQ and IQ?

A. IQ is more helpful to people than EQ.

B. IQ can be raised by understanding and communication.

C. EQ can get people hired.

D. A high EQ is of great benefit in getting people promoted.

5. Which of the following would be the BEST title of this passage?

A. A person's brainpower.

B. IQ, EQ and success.

C. IQ and a person's character.

D. A person's IQ and EQ.

We should show respect to everybody, especially our elders because they are ahead of us—in age, in wisdom and maturity, in experience and education. Our __1__ have done a lot for us, directly or indirectly and most of us __2__ everything to their kindness and love.

When we __3__ them respect, whether it is by bowing to them, or __4__ them with a smile, or offering them any help they need, it is one way of __5__ our own love and gratitude to them.__6__， elders have also been through all the years you are __7__ and know a little more about the world than you do.

It is __8__ that you do not agree with the belief of your elders, but this is nothing new. All younger generations have always __9__ with their elders and it is these differences that bring changes in human __10__. However much you disagree with them, give them credit for their __11__.

With changing times and __12__ influences, youngsters no longer know what is interpreted as disrespect to elders. Youngsters should __13__ express their views and if there are arguments, they should not __14__ their voices.

If there is no space on sofas or chairs, children will immediately __15__ their places, and sit on the carpet. In buses and trains, youngsters are __16__ to give up their places to older people. This is not a __17__ of who has more rights. It is simply that those who are younger have the strength to bear __18__， or tolerate unpleasantness, so it is natural to show consideration to those who are older and perhaps at a __19__ disadvantage.

When you do simple things as a mark of respect, elders become __20__ that youngsters care for them, and they respond with affection and kindness.

1. A. youngsters  B. elders  C. parents  D. juniors

2. A. devote    B. owe  C. pay  D. contribute

3. A. show    B. explain  C. exhibit  D. point

4. A. greeting  B. receiving  C. declaring  D. showing

5. A. expressing  B. describing  C. sending  D. suggesting

6. A. However   B. Therefore  C. Besides  D. Though

7. A. experiencing with     B. going through

C. suffering from        D. worrying out

8. A. maybe    B. likely  C. possible  D. probably

9. A. quarreled  B. dealt  C. lived  D. disagreed

10. A. community        B. organization

C. society           D. public

11. A. experience       B. reality

C. emotion          D. information

12. A. cultural            B. special

C. environmental       D. position

13. A. quietly  B. slightly  C. silently  D. coldly

14. A. rise       B. raise      C. support  D. force

15. A. give away  B. get rid of  C. give up  D. send out

16. A. expected  B. forced     C. needed  D. reminded

17. A. doubt      B. question  C. wonder  D. challenge

18. A. suffering  B. upset      C. trouble  D. discomfort

19. A. serious    B. light      C. heavy   D. slight

20. A. aware   B. alive       C. knowing  D. sensible

Jerry:  Hi, Mike. Look like you've got some sun.

Mike: I guess so. I spent the weekend on the beach.

Jerry: Really? That sounds exciting. __1__

Mike: At my friend's house.He invited me to stay there for as long as I wanted.

Jerry：__2__

Mike: Oh, I have a paper to work on.

Jerry: __3__ I mean besides lying out in the sun.

Mike: I play volleyball. I never realized how hard it is to run on sand.

Jerry: __4__ Did you go swimming?

Mike: I intended to.__5__ So I just went fishing.

Jerry: All sounds so relaxing.

A. What a pity!

B. It must be cool.

C. Where did you stay?

D. But how did you get there?

E. So what else did you do out there?

F. But the water wasn't warm enough.

G. Then why not stay there for a longer time?

1. ________　2. ________　3. ________　4. ________

5. ________

下面短文中有10处语言错误。请在有错误的地方增加、删除或修改某个单词。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写上该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。

注意：每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。

After shopping, Mother and I went to a restaurant for lunch. I notice Mother looking at a nearby table occupy by an elderly woman and young couple. They are silent and it was clearly that things were not going well. As we left, Mother stopped on their table. “Excuse me，” she said, put her arm around the unhappy old woman. “You remind me so many of my mother. May I hug (拥抱) you？” The woman smiled happily as she accepted to it. After we left, I said, “That was very nice of you, Mother. So I didn't think she looked like Grandma.” “Neither did me.” said Mother cheerfully.

When Mary Moore began her high school in 1951, her mother told her, “Be sure and take a typing course so when this show business thing doesn't work out, you'll have something to rely on.”Mary responded in typical teenage fashion. From that moment on，“the very last thing I ever thought about doing was taking a typing course，”she recalls.

The show business thing worked out, of course. In her career, Mary won many awards. Only recently, when she began to write Growing Up Again, did she regret ignoring her mom.“I don't know how to use a computer，”she admits.

Unlike her 1995 autobiography, After All, her second book is less about life as an award－winning actress and more about living with diabetes (糖尿病). All the money from the book is intended for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), an organization she serves as international chairman. “I felt there was a need for a book like this，” she says.“I didn't want to lecture, but I wanted other diabetics to know that things get better when we're self－controlled and do our part in managing the disease.”

But she hasn't always practiced what she teaches. In her book, she describes that awful day, almost 40 years ago, when she received two pieces of life－changing news. First, she had lost the baby she was carrying and second, tests showed that she had diabetes. In a childlike act, she left the hospital and treated herself to a box of doughnuts (甜甜圈). Years would pass before she realized she had to grow up—again—and take control of her diabetes, not let it control her. Only then did she kick her three－pack－a－day cigarette habit, overcome her addiction to alcohol, and begin to follow a balanced diet.

Although her disease has affected her eyesight and forced her to the sidelines of the dance floor, she refuses to fall into self－pity.“Everybody on earth can ask，‘why me？’ about something or other，”she insists.“It doesn't do any good. No one is immune (免疫的) to heartache pain, and disappointments. Sometimes we can make things better by helping others. I've come to realize the importance of that as I've grown up this second time. I want to speak out and be as helpful as I can be.”

6. Why did Mary feel regretful?

A. She didn't achieve her ambition.

B. She didn't take care of her mother.

C. She didn't complete her high school.

D. She didn't follow her mother's advice.

7. We can know that before 1995 Mary________.

A. had two books published

B. received many career awards

C. knew how to use a computer

D. supported the JDRF by writing

8. Mary's second book Growing Up Again is mainly about her ________.

A. living with diabetes

B. successful show business

C. service for an organization

D. remembrance of her mother

9. When Mary received the life－changing news, she ________.

A. lost control of herself

B. began a balanced diet

C. tried to get a treatment

D. behaved in an adult way

10. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A. Mary feels pity for herself.

B. Mary has recovered from her disease.

C. Mary wants to help others as much as possible.

D. Mary determines to go back to the dance floor.

Bruce Jones thinks there is still a healthy thirst for exploration into underwater worlds on our own planet. After growing up with his grandfather who was in the marine construction business,  Jones quickly got a feel for the water. He started diving at age 9 and, by the 1980s, began offering advice for those interested in the submarine business. By 1993, he was running his own company, U．S. Submarines, which designed and built submarines for resorts and individuals.

Jones plans to spend $40 million in building a hotel where the most expensive rooms will be 50 feet under the sea off Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. Unlike the Jules Undersea Lodge — the only undersea hotel now, just off the coast of Key Largo, Fla. — guests at the Poseidon won't need to put on a wet suit to get to their rooms. They also won't need to worry about changing pressure levels since the rooms will be kept at above－surface pressure. Instead, they can move easily to their $1,500－a－night underwater rooms by escalator.

“I think there are a large number of people who would be interested，” said Jones, “including anyone who is looking for a different experience.”

Each room will feature strong windows that look out onto coral gardens. There will be controls in each room that guests can use to change the lighting of the underwater worlds outside their windows and to provide food for fish swimming by.

“By now I envisioned (展望) we'd have whole underwater cities，” Craig Cooper, the director for the Aquarius research station said. “It's about time some of these visions became reality.”

1. Which of the following is the correct order of the events that happened to Bruce Jones?

a. Jones started running U．S. Submarines.

b. Jones began to learn to dive.

c. Jones planned to build an undersea hotel.

d. Jones began giving others advice on the submarine business.

A. a, b, c, d  B. a, c, b, d

C. b, d, a, c  D. b, a, c, d

2. We can learn from the second paragraph that the Jules Undersea Lodge________.

A. lies off Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas

B. is the first undersea hotel in the world

C. needn't provide wet suits for its guests

D. sends its guests to their rooms by lift

3. What do we know about Bruce Jones' undersea hotel from the passage?

A. It will be much cheaper than the Jules Undersea Lodge.

B. It has taken Jones $40 million to build it.

C. Guests in it will open the windows to give food to the fish.

D. Guests in it will see beautiful coral through the windows.

4. The underlined word “Poseidon” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.

A. Bruce Jones' undersea hotel

B. Jules Undersea Lodge

C. an island off the coast of Key Largo

D. another name of Eleuthera Island

5. Judging by Cooper's words, his attitude towards underwater hotels is ________.

A. disappointed  B. critical

C. objective  D. hopeful