A woman named Emily renewing her driver’s license at the County Clerk’s office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

“What I mean is,” explained the recorder, “do you have a job, or are you just a …”

“Of course I have a job,” said Emily. “I’m a mother.”

“We don’t list ‘mother’ as an occupation… ‘housewife’ covers it,” said the recorder.

One day I found myself in the same situation. The clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title. “What is your occupation?” she asked.

The words simply popped out. “I’m a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.”

The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in midair.

I repeated the title slowly, then I stared with wonder as my statement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

“Might I ask,” said the clerk with new interest, “Just what you do in this field?”

Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, “I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn’t), in the lab and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most careers and rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.”

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk’s voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.

As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up (受鼓舞) by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants---ages 13, 7, and 3.

Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6 month old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.

I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable (不可缺少的) to mankind than “just another mother.”

Motherhood…What a glorious career! Especially when there’s a title on the door.

56. What can we infer from the conversation between the woman and the recorder at the beginning of the passage?

A. The recorder was impatient and rude.

B. The woman felt ashamed to admit what her job was.

C. The author was upset about the situation that mothers faced.

D. Motherhood was not recognized and respected as a job by society.

57. How did the female clerk feel at first when the author told her occupation?

A. curious        B. indifferent                  C. puzzled               D. interested

58. Why did the woman clerk show more respect for the author?

A. Because the author cared little about rewards.

B. Because she thought the author did admirable work.

C. Because she admired the author’s research work in the lab.

D. Because the writer did something she had little knowledge of.

59. What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A. To show how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it.

B. To argue that motherhood is a worthy career and deserves respect.

C. To show that the author had a grander job than Emily.

D. To show that being a mother is hard and boring work. 

Last Christmas while staying with my parents, I   36   across some old love letters that my parents wrote to each other. These letters were all piled up in a basket, dirty and   37   with dust. Deciding to read and sort them, I asked them if I could take the letters back to my Illinois home. They   38  .

As I carefully opened each letter,   39  of them fragile with age, I discovered a new page 40   unknown to me in this private chapter of my parents' lives.

My father used to   41   in the army. So his letters were full of frontline   42   of the things about the war. Each of my mother's letters was marked with her 1944 dark red lipstick kiss. I was   43   to these letters like a magnet（磁铁）.

Just six weeks after our Christmas visit, Daddy became very   44   and was hospitalized. This time, he was fighting a   45   kind of war. As I sat by his bedside, we discussed the   46  . He told me how much receiving those lipstick-kissed letters had   47  to him when he had been so far from home.

It so happened that the next day would be February 14. From the   48   letters I chose the card my father had sent Mother in 1944 and brought it to my father’s bedside.

At his bedside, I joked with him, saying   49  , "Today is Valentine's Day, don’t you want to send Mother a present?" He became more   50   when I handed him the old   51  . He carefully opened it and took out the card, and when he   52   it, his eyes were filled with tears.

My father, in a   53   tight with emotion (情感) read the loving message he'd sent to my mother fifty-six years   54  . And this time, he could read it to her in   55  .

36. A. came                  B. hit                               C. drew                        D. fell

37. A. hidden                B. covered                       C. buried                      D. filled

38. A. refused            B. smiled                         C. shocked                   D. agreed

39. A. all                    B. none                             C. both                         D. neither

40. A. recently                     B. usually                        C. previously                D. occasionally

41. A. work                  B. study                            C. serve                       D. report

42. A. accounts             B. documents                     C. introductions            D. occupations

43. A. devoted               B. addicted                        C. thrown                     D. drawn

44. A. sad                     B. dead                              C. dangerous                D. ill      

45. A. typical                B. traditional                      C. different                   D. familiar

46. A. wars                   B. illnesses                         C. letters                      D. hospitals

47. A. meant                 B. intended                        C. planned                    D. said

48. A. divided                B. sorted                           C. separated                  D. updated

49. A. sadly                  B. angrily                           C. softly                       D. loudly

50. A. curious               B. enthusiastic                    C. fantastic                   D. positive

51. A. card                   B. envelope                        C. basket                      D. lipstick

52. A. found                 B. wrote                            C. recognized                D. missed

53. A. sound              B. noise                             C. whisper                    D. voice

54. A. later                    B. earlier                          C. ago                       D. ahead

55. A. person             B. private                         C. danger                            D. peace

 The government has taken some measures to solve the shortage of electricity, but it may be some time _________ the situation improves.

       A. since                    B. when                C. unless                            D. before

. At the foot of the Alps where there is a lake named Schwansee __________.

A. the New Swan Stone Castle stands                B. stands the New Swan Stone Castle

C. does the New Swan Stone Castle stand          D. there the New Swan Stone Castle stands

 The 3G cell-phone must be of great use to ______ wants to get the information through the Internet quickly.

A. who                         B. whoever                   C. no matter who                D. whom

 After graduation I’d like to find a job _________ I can use what I have learnt at school.

A. whose                      B. which                      C. where                             D. that

 It is ___________ the customers’ needs that has made chain stores so popular in big cities in China.

A. meeting                    B. met                          C. to have met                            D. being met

 — The terrible accident is under investigation.

   — Actually, quicker action _________ those workers trapped in the mine.

A. might have saved       B. must have saved        C. should have saved            D. could have saved

 The baseball team has been doing well this season, so they        win the championship.

A. should                   B. might                    C. would                            D. could

 We have faith that the project, if __________ according to plan, will definitely work out well. 

A. carrying out              B.being carried out        C. carried out                       D. to be carried out