It was one of the happiest times of my life. I was 29 and had just received my bachelor’s degree, graduating with honors despite working two jobs and being a wife and mother. My parents and five-year-old son were in the audience when I walked onto the stage at Ashland University to get my diploma. I was so excited and proud to be starting a teaching career and contributing more to my family’s well-being.
But when I got home that evening, there was a note from my husband written on the back of an envelope. It basically said he had come to get his clothes and wouldn’t be back. We’d been having trouble, but the finality of that note still came as a shock. He had emptied our bank account. We were horribly in debt. I had quit my previous jobs in expectation of interviewing for a teaching position. Plus, I was eight months pregnant.
I had my son, and I was about to bring a new life into the world, so despite my deep sadness, I had to go on. The next morning, I woke up, put my feet on the floor, took a deep breath, fixed breakfast, and basically did everything I always did. I used my routine to keep me moving. After being in the military for six years, I guess you can say I relied on my training, like all good soldiers do in tough situations. One small step after one small step was the way I bounced back(恢复原状).
And in the seven years since, I’ve continued moving forward. I got a job as a kindergarten teacher, earned a master’s degree in education, and watched my babies grow to twelve and seven. I certainly would never have chosen to put them through this, but looking back, I’m glad it happened to me when it did. It helped me find my voice and myself a lot sooner. It helped me grow independent, confident, and strong—things I’m hopefully instilling(灌输) now in my children.

1. 1.

   After getting her bachelor’s degree, the author expected to ________.

   1. A.
      become a teacher
   2. B.
      be a wife and mother
   3. C.
      work two jobs
   4. D.
      get divorced
2. 2.

   What do we know about the author from Paragraph 2?

   1. A.
      Her husband wrote a note to congratulate her on her graduation.
   2. B.
      She had just been to a job interview when her husband left her.
   3. C.
      Her husband paid off all the debts from the bank.
   4. D.
      She was going to have another baby soon.
3. 3.

   The author’s hardships in life made her ________.

   1. A.
      become confident and independent
   2. B.
      work harder in the kindergarten
   3. C.
      use her routine to move forward
   4. D.
      feel pleased with what happened to her
4. 4.

   It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

   1. A.
      The author’s parents helped her a lot
   2. B.
      The author received further education later
   3. C.
      The author earned a master’s degree when she was 29
   4. D.
      The author didn’t know how to deal with marriage
5. 5.

   What helped the author to pull through her hard time?

   1. A.
      The divorce with her husband.
   2. B.
      Her fellow soldiers in the army.
   3. C.
      Her decision to find a new job.
   4. D.
      A strong mind and love for her kids.

    This year some twenty-three hundred teenagers(young people aged from13~19)from all over the world will spend about ten months in U.S. homes. They will attend U.S. schools, meet U.S. teenagers, and form impressions of the real America. At the same time, about thirteen hundred American teenagers will go to other countries to learn new languages and gain a new understanding of the rest of the world.

Here is a two-way student exchange in action. Fred, nineteen, spent last year in Germany with George’s family. In turn, George’s son Mike spent a year in Fred’s home in America.

Fred, a lively young man, knew little German when he arrived, but after two months’study the language began to come to him. School was completely different from what he had expected—much harder. Students rose respectfully when the teacher entered the room. They took fourteen subjects instead of the six that are usual in the United States. There were almost no outside activities.

Family life, too, was different. The father’s word was law, and all activities were around the family rather than the individual. Fred found the food too simple at first. Also, he missed having a car.

“Back home, you pick up some friends in a car and go out and have a good time. In Germany, you walk, but you soon learn to like it.”

At the same time, in America, Mike, a friendly German boy, was also forming his idea. “I suppose I should criticize(批评)American schools,” he said. “It is far too easy by our level. But I have to say that I like it very much. In Germany we do nothing but study. Here we take part in many outside activities. I think that maybe your schools are better in training for citizens. There ought to be some middle ground between the two.”

This year ________teenagers will take part in the exchange programme between America and other countries.

A. twenty-three hundred          B. thirteen hundred

C. over three thousand           D. less than two thousand

The whole exchange programme is mainly to__________.

A. help teenagers in other countries know the real America

B. send students in America to travel in Germany

C. let students learn something about other countries

D. have teenagers learn new languages

Fred and Mike agree that__________.

A. America food tasted better than German food

B. German schools were harder than American schools

C. Americans and Germans were both friendly

D. There were more cars on the streets in America

What is particular in American schools is that________.

A. there is some middle ground between the two teaching buildings

B. there are a lot of after-school activities

C. students usually take fourteen subjects in all

D. students go outside to enjoy themselves in a car

It is impossible not to make a mistake at some points in your life. We may as well accept that some thing will go wrong and we will be to blame. It is therefore sensible to work out some strategies for apologizing, and the best way to apologize is by letter. This way you can take care over every work you write— which you can’t do if you say sorry to someone in person.

We all say or do something that we wish we hadn’t said or done. You may say something that accidentally hurts someone, or you may provide a service which doesn’t come up to the standards that a client or customer expected.

You may feel that it was a genuine mistake which couldn’t be avoided. Rather than dwell on the mistake, you should quickly try to remedy（修补）the problem. An effective letter of apology is an important part of that process.

For the contents of the letter, just remember TABS—Timing, Action, Brevity, Sincerity.

The timing of a letter of apology is essential—it must be sent as soon as possible. Any delay in our sending the letter will only compound(add to) the problem. In this case “Better late than never” is not the best motto! The longer you wait before you wait before writing a letter of apology, the more it will seem that you have been coerced（被迫）into writing it.

Although it is important to recognize what has gone before, it is also essential to detail the action you plan to take to rectify whatever it was you did wrong. Research has shown that some indication that you have thought about what future action you plan to take is always well received.

A letter of apology should be brief and the word “sorry” should appear no more than twice. Indicate that you are aware using it a second time—“once again, I am so sorry for…” or “as I said earlier, I am really sorry about…”. Finally, the tone of the letter has to be sincere. In fact, the combination of all the above factors will help in this respect.

And don’t think that letters are out of date in the email—oriented 21st century. An apology email can be worse than no apology at all!

72．What kind of advice does the text suggest about apologizing?

A．It’s a good idea to write a letter of apology as soon as something has gone wrong.    

B．It’s a good idea to send several emails to apologize.

C．Write a long letter apologizing several times to make your point.

D．Wait to see how they react to your letter before planning to do anything.

73．What kind of things do you NOT apologize for?

A．A service that is not as good as it should be.

B．Genuine mistakes.

C．Car accidents.

D．Causing offence or hurt.

74．The underlined expression “Rather than dwell on the mistake” in the third paragraph means you _____.

A．should not waste time worrying about what happened.

B．should consider the problem

C．should forget about what happened.

D．should analyse who was at fault.

75．How can timing compound problems?

A．If you write immediately, they will be suspicious.

B．If you leave it for a few days, they will know it is your idea to write.

C．Waiting for a few days before you write will show your sincerity.

D．Waiting too long will make it worse because they won’t believe you mean it.

“A lot of learning comes through play,” says Mardy McGarry, 52, who has been a special education teacher for 28 years. But her students were too often left out. She had seen the wood chips and sand of traditional playgrounds stop wheelchairs dead in their tracks. When she wanted to build a playground for children with special needs，she knew it wouldn’t take long to develop interest in it around the small fishing village. But she never expected that 2,800 people — a third of the town—would all be willing to make a great effort to bring her vision to life.

McGarry started doing some research into play equipment and contacting design companies and she also found a piece of land available. When the city council(市议会) agreed to set aside an area for a playground, she also asked physical and professional therapists(治疗专家) for their investment. And she turned to her friend, Sue, for help. “Neither of us is good at maths, which is why $450,000 didn’t sound like a lot of money,” McGarry says of the initial estimate.

Her Kiwanis Club came through with $7,000，and that’s when the grassroots movement really got started. One woman gave $25,000 and had her company match it. Soon, smaller businesses were joining in. There was a silent effort to collect money. The local Pieper Family Foundation offered to donate half of the remaining $170,000. All McGarry needed was 500 volunteers to work six 12-hour days.

On September 16, 2008, the first day of construction, they came. Two women heard about the project on the way to work and took the day off to help. A couple in their 80s operated their tractors. Ten-year-olds cleared up the mess. “None of them was paid. It was truly an amazing week,” says McGarry. Only three building managers were paid. Volunteers with “building experience” became coordinators(协调人); those who could operate power tools formed a separate group. One team served meals donated from local restaurants and churches, and another organized activities for the children of volunteers.

Today, Possibility Playground is one of the most popular destinations in Ozaukee County. All children, including the ones with special needs, play shoulder to shoulder. “Some playgrounds have special equipment in a different section. Here, you see all the kids in the same playground, all having fun.”

It’s exactly what McGarry imagined. “People used to ask, ‘Why do you want to build a playground just for children with disabilities?” She says, “It’s only when you build a playground for children with disabilities that you build one for all children.”

It didn’t occur to Mardy McGarry that __________.

A. her plan would soon draw the interest of people in the small village

B. so many people would volunteer to help her realize her dream

C. she would meet with so many difficulties in raising funds

D. the playground would be the most popular destination in Ozaukee County

We can learn from the fourth paragraph that __________.

A. the playground was finished in September 2008

B. everything was well prepared, apart from the volunteers

C. everyone worked unpaid, except for three building managers

D. the playground is so popular that it is overcrowded all the time

It can be inferred from the text that __________.

A. Mardy McGarry is a famous architect in the small town

B. Sue was forced to join in the project because of her son

C. people always ignore the real needs of disabled children

D. Mardy McGarry’s vision has been successfully accomplished at last

What would be the best title for this text?

A. Mardy McGarry: A Woman with Great Determination.

B. Cooperation: The Greatest Power in Overcoming Any Difficulty.

C. Show Real Concern for Poor Disabled Children.

D. Make it Matter to Build a Playground for Disabled Children.

It was once thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and/or heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels(coal and oil) creating a greenhouse effect-holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.

Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature-a result that would be equally disastrous（灾难的）. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do riot know for sure that either of these conditions will happen(though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.

As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ______.

       A．caused widespread damage in the countryside

       B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States

       C．almost brought worldwide effect

       D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas

As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author _____________.

       A．shares the same view with the scientists

       B．is uncertain of its occurrence

       C．rejects it as being ungrounded（无根据的）

       D．thinks that it will increasingly destroy the world soon

It can be inferred from the passage that                    .

       A．raising the world’s temperature a little would not do much harm to life on the earth

       B．lowering the world’s temperature a little would lead to agricultural disasters

       C．almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade

       D．the world’s temperature will remain stable forever

This passage is primarily concerned with              .

       A．the greenhouse effect in the world

       B．the measures to adjust the climate

       C．the potential effect of air pollution

       D．the measures to protect the environment