Yao Ming, a NBA superstar, became the boss of Shanghai basketball team, and is ready to _______ in new world of basketball.

There would be not a good harvest of wheat in North China this year _______ the big snow.

Chinese exports have been hit hard by falling world demand, with millions of workers _______ to their villages after the factories that employed them closed down.

Because of the Russian gas limit to Europe, attempts _______ to use botanical fuel as a source of power.

At no time, of course, ______ anyone to separate Taiwan from the motherland in any name or by any means.

As well as costing the Middle East dearly in terms of human life, conflict! (冲突) _______ the region around $ 12 trillion since 1991, according to a report by the Strategic Foresight Group.

--What made your father throw up last night?

-- I think the large quantities of wine _________.

. Now everyone is concerned about how to conquer the economic crisis _______ is very important for us to be able to preserve our standard of living.

President Obama is letting Congress write the details of his plan for ________ he calls health insurance reform.

第二节：完形填空(共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分)

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

It was almost Christmas. We wrote to my father, asking him to  36  an artificial tree for us and   _37  it to us in several smaller boxes. Two days before Christmas we were in a  38  . All of the boxes that my father had sent us arrived except for the one with the tree  39 . We decided to wait one more day.

Meanwhile, in Bremerhaven, a young mail clerk  40  a box under a counter. He  41  that someone would be without a tree for Christmas. Although he was closing up and there was no  42_   on Christmas, he processed the mail and got it to Mannheim.

After putting the  43  on the proper shelf, he headed to the snack bar. The place was  44   and he ended up sharing a table. Two men were speaking and the clerk discovered that one of his  45  at the table was working in Mannheim. He said to the man, "You could  46  play Santa for someone in Mannheim tonight if you'd like to." The man  47  to deliver it and the two walked to the mail room to  48  the package.

At home in Mannheim, we were busily  49  to think up some way to put our tree together, but couldn't  50  a workable solution. We were ready to give up  51  the door bell rang. There stood a stranger holding a long  52  carton, our tree trunk. We invited him in,  53  it was Christmas Eve and he was  54  to get home to his own family.

The next day as we watched our little boy's eyes light up at the  55  of our beautiful tree, I whispered a little prayer: "Bless the stranger who brightened up our Christmas with his kindness."

36. A. sell              B. buy              C. deliver                 D. bring

37. A. send            B. pass                 C. carry                 D. take

38. A. surprise          B. hunger             C. pleasure                     D. panic

39. A. leaf            B. trunk                C. stand                 D. branch

40. A. watched        B. caught               C. spotted                D. broke

41. A. directed         B. whispered           C. realized                 D. confirmed

42. A. delivery         B. customer             C. money                 D. letter

43. A. present         B. tree              C. mail                           D. package

44. A. crowded         B. small             C. noisy                  D. normal

45. A. friends          B. colleagues           C. relatives               D. companions

46. A. really           B. confidently        C. kindly                 D. patiently

47. A. overcame       B. agreed              C. astonished             D. struggled

48. A. fetch              B. transform           C. post                       D. consult

49. A. solving          B. explaining          C. trying                 D. worrying

50. A. come across      B. come back to        C. come upon             D. come up with

51. A. while             B. when              C. as                        D. since

52. A. slim            B. beautiful           C. thick                 D. heavy

53. A. but               B. so                  C. because                D. or

54. A. in surprise       B. it, the, way         C. in a hurt7                    D. in lime

55. A. sight            B. back            C. corner                  D. scene