Growing up, I always dreamed of being a professional figure skater. After years of hard work, I am living proof that dreams can come true.

When I was born, my parents immediately noticed something  36  and the doctor said I couldn't skate. I, however,  37  trying skating in an ice rink (溜冰场), where local skaters   38  perform ice shows. I started taking group skating lessons, and performing on ice came naturally, but I have always been  39  to speak in group settings. One thing I've never been afraid of is  40  , though. I get nervous, but never  41  . For me, skating has been about being my personal best  42  beating others on the ice. 1 progressed through various  43 rapidly and gave my first ice performance at seven. Soon I started winning local and regional competitions. That's  44  being on the ice has always been the one place where I can  45   express my own emotions. The ice is like home.

When I was nine years old I began training  46 . I would wake up at four o'clock in the morning six days a week and skate for five hours. Then I'd go to school. Since  47  has always been important in my family, I had no  48  but to find creative ways to fit in school studies throughout my  49  career.

After graduating from high school, I moved to Canada and set out to train full-time to give my dreams a chance at reality. In 1992 I went to compete in the Olympic Games.  50 , not my coach or even my family, ever talked to me about winning a gold medal. In fact, I wouldn't even  51  myself to think about it. I thought that would disturb me.  52 , I went with the attitude that I wanted to enjoy the Olympic spirit.  53  the expectation of all the people, I won the gold medal and words couldn't describe the overwhelming mixture of emotions I felt. Then I truly understood what  54  most in achieving a dream is nor to  55  it when you 1ace difficulties, but strive to make it come true.

1.A. unique         B. wrong            C. unbelievable         D. attractive

2.A. directed to        B. led to          C. insisted on          D. fixed on

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

4.A. doubtful           B. brave           C. shy             D. disabled

5.A. competition        B. expression           C. exchange        D. display

6. A. annoyed           B. disappointed         C. sad                  D. fearful

7. A. rather than       B. other than           C. except for           D. as for

8. A. positions         B. levels               C. points               D. ways

9.A. where          B. why                  C. when             D. because

10.A, easily            B. immediately     C. truly                D. slowly

11.A. freely            B. comfortably     C. seriously            D. quickly

12.A. education         B. wealth          C. reputation           D. health

13.A. chance        B. choice               C. goal                 D. freedom

14.A. boring       B. aimless         C. amateur              D. normal

15. A. Somebody    B. Everybody       C. Anybody         D. Nobody

16.A. allow         B. promise         C. force                D. discourage

17. A. However          B. Therefore            C. Besides         D. Naturally

18. A. Beyond           B. Within          C. Despite              D. Without

19.A. stresses          B. applies              C. matters              D. acts

20.A. ruin            B. ignore             C. change          D. abandon

It’s common to hear the honking of horns in New York. Whoever tries every day to get more than a few minutes of sleep in the city will tell you that he could do nothing about it! Honking of horns is just one of their most widely enjoyed pastimes.

But Aaron, a Japanese website developer has had enough of it. Once, the 31-year-old man approached the open window to wait for the driver to finish honking, delivered a polite "excuse me" and then yelled " Ho-o-o-o-onk!", which suggests fierce anger in Japan. Then he threw three eggs from the window of his apartment on to a passing car honking loudly below when his patience was worn out. Instead of apologizing to him, the driver threatened to kill him angrily. So, nobly, Aaron turned to non-violence. He started writing anti-honking haiku verses, a form of Japanese poetry, and submitted them to local newspapers:

Oh .forget Enron;

The problem around here is;

All the damn honking

(Enron_: a major American company that recently caused a scandal by going bankrupt be­cause of corrupt(腐败) mismanagement)

"Then this kind of chain reaction started happening," Aaron says. "All these other haiku star­ted appearing that I haven't written." Aaron’ s community is now covered in anti - hon­king poetry, written by all walks of life, ranging from scary environmental activist types to violent revolutionaries:

Patience slowly fades;

Residents store up their eggs;

That day is coming soon.

It’s no surprise that Aaron has started a website — www. honku. org — and now people from across the country send him news of their own anti - honking activities. It seems that poetry can change the world after all. Then, just recently, anti-anti- honking haiku started to appear, taped up by locals who thought Aaron should stop worrying about honking and start wor­rying about starving children, say, or war in the  Middle East instead. Aaron has an answer for that. "Stop me if this is too tenuous(不靠谱的) ," he says," but they talk about the violence in the Middle East like it' s a force of nature, like it' s beyond our control. But actually it's kind of like the honking - the violence is man -made. If we can figure out how to stop honking on the streets, I think we could learn some things that we could use on a large scale. "

1.The first paragraph of the passage is intended to tell us that_______.

A. New Yorkers have formed a habit of honking while driving

B. most New Yorkers enjoy sleeping late in the morning

C. honking noise has influenced people's life in New York

D. New Yorkers enjoy listening to the honking of horns

2.What is Aaron’s final response to the frequent honking of horns?

A. Pretended to ignore it.

B. Screamed at the driver.

C. Acted in a peaceful way.

D. Complained to the government.

3.According to the passage, most New Yorkers think Aaron's response is ___.

A. pointless

B. abnormal

C. sensitive

D. acceptable

4.Faced with the criticism of his anti-honking campaign, Aaron notes that___.

A. fierce violence in the Middle East is more of an issue worthy of concern

B. finding the solution to anti - honking is as meaningful as that to starvation

C. big issues are beyond our control while small ones are under our control

D. if not handled properly, honking may cause serious problems like starvation

From poor beginnings to most expensive player

      ZINEDINE Zidane，who dreams of leading France to its second World Cup title in a row next month，has always preferred to express himself with a football rather than with words．

      Last Wednesday Zidane scored the decisive goal when Real Madrid of Spain won the Champions League final against Germany's Leverkusen 2一1．

      He became one of the world’s most expensive players when he joined Real Madrid from Italy's Juventus for US $ 66 million．And he has been a national hero since he scored twice in the 3-O defeat of Brazil in the 1998 World Cup Final．

      But despite his success，Zidane has always kept his feet on the ground．He leads a quite family life，there is hardly any gossip about him and he avoids putting his wife and two children in the spotlight．

      “Just because I'm a public figure it doesn't mean I have to express myself on everything．I don't like to discuss some personal matters publicly．”he said．

      Even as a child playing football in the slum area of Marseille，France，where he was raised by his Algerian parents，Zidane was shy．

      He loved football even as a little kid．“I realized football is a wonderful mixture of a sharp mind and hard training rather than just talking，”he said．

      Even when the match awards were just chocolate and bread，Zidane found that football made his poor childhood rich．

      Before he was 10 years old，it was obvious that he could become a great footballer．He was offered his first professional contract(合同)when he was just 20．Now，at the age of 29，he has already picked up two World Player  of the year awards．

      This quiet striker has not yet spoken of his hopes for the coming World Cup．But his fans across the world will be eagerly watching him to see what he'll do this time．

What did Zidane learn from his childhood football experience? He learned that_____________.

A．he could become a great footballer

B．he could become rich if he became a footballer

C．football is a mixture of a sharp mind and hard training but not just talking

D．football is a favorite sport in the future

According to the article，what are Zidane’s main characteristics?

A．He is a shy but successful man．

B．H e loves his wife and children．

C．He doesn't like to speak in public．

D．He is a quiet，down—to earth person of few words．

When the writer says“Zidane has always kept his feet on the ground”,he means_________.

A．Zidane spends more time standing than sitting most days

B．Zidane is a down-to earth person

C．Zidane has spent most of his time training on the pitch

D．Zidane likes standing when he succeeds

The sentence“Zidane found that football made his poor childhood rich”means___________．

A．football made Zidane's poor family wealthy when he was a child

B．Zidane knew that football could bring him fame and wealth even when he was a child

C．football brought happiness to Zidane when he was a child in a poor family

D．Zidane knew that if he wanted to be  rich he must play football from childhood

It was not yet eleven o’clock when a boat crossed the river with a single passenger who had obtained his transportation at that unusual hour by promising an extra fare.

While the youth stood on the landing-place searching in his pockets for money, the ferryman lifted a lantern, by the aid of which, together with the newly risen moon, he took a very accurate survey of the stranger’s figure. He was a young man of barely eighteen years, evidently country bred（长大的）, and now, as it seemed, on his first visit to town. He was wearing a rough gray coat, which was in good shape, but which had seen many winters before this one. The garments under his coat were well constructed of leather, and fitted tightly to a pair of muscular legs; his stockings of blue yarn must have been the work of a mother or sister, and on his head was a three-cornered hat, which in its better days had sheltered the grayer head of the lad’s father. In his left hand was a walking stick, and his equipment was completed by a leather bag not so abundantly stocked as to inconvenience the strong shoulders on which it hung. Brown, curly hair, well-shaped-features, bright, cheerful eyes were nature’s gifts, and worth all that art could have done for his adornment(装饰).

The youth, whose name was Robin, paid the boatman, and then walked forward into the town with a light step, as if he had not already traveled more than thirty miles that day. As he walked, he surveyed his surroundings as eagerly as if he were entering London or Madrid, instead of the little metropolis（都市）of a New England colony.

1.What time of the year was it in this story?

A. Winter.           B. Fall.       C. Summer.    D. Spring.

2.The boatman was willing to take Robin across the river because ________.

A. he was going to row across the river anyway

B. he saw that Robin was young and rich

C. he would give extra money

D. he felt sorry for him because Robin looked poor

3.The stockings that Robin wore were obviously _________.

A. well worn         B. very expensive       C. handmade         D. much too big

4.From the text we can learn that Robin had traveled __________.

A. from London              B. from Madrid

C. from a nearby city                D. over thirty miles

5.At what time of day did Robin cross the river?

A. Night.      B. Late afternoon    C. Midday.          D. Morning.    

One cold night，I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco． There I was walking home around one o’clock in the morning after a    26   practice at the theatre． With the opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines by heart．I was having    27   handling my part-time job at the bank in the daytime and my acting at night at the same time． As I walked I thought seriously about    28    both acting and San Francisco．I had    29  too much of city life．   
As 1 walked down the    30    streets under the tall buildings，I felt very small and cold, so I began    31   both to keep warm and to keep away from any possible robbers．Very few people were still out    32   a few homeless people under blankets．
About a block from my    33  , I heard a sound behind me． I    34 quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun． The street was empty．All I saw was a shining streetlight． Still，the noise had made me    35   , so I started to run faster． Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I    36    what the noise had been．It  had been my wallet    37  to the sidewalk．
Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired any more．I ran out of the door and back to where I'd heard the noise．Although I searched the sidewalk    38   for 15 minutes，my wallet was   39 to be found．
Just as 1 was about to quit the    40  , I heard the garbage truck stop to the sidewalk next to   41 ．When a voice came from the inside, “Alisa Camacho?”I thought I was   42 ．How could this man know my name? The door opened and out jumped a small blonde man with an amused look in his eyes, “Is this   43  you’re looking for?” He asked, holding up something like a wallet．
It was already 3 am． by the time I got into bed． I couldn’t get much sleep，but I had got my wallet back． I also had got back some    44  of city life． I realized the city couldn’t be a bad place    45   people were willing to help each other．