I looked at my beautiful Christmas tree and sighed. It was time. The New Year was a week old and my tree still stood in the corner of our room with its collection of memories proudly displayed in a shower of colorful lights. I’d procrastinated（拖延，耽搁）long enough.
I got up, went to the garage and dragged all the boxes into the room. The garland(花环)was the first to come down. The tree looked naked(光秃秃的)already. I took the large ornament（装饰物）off next. They made a large pile on our bed. An hour later, our bed was covered with Christmas memories. Each pile contained an ornament along with its matching brothers and sisters from sets purchased many years ago.
I prepared the boxes and carefully placed ornaments in their protective packaging, pausing every few minutes to admire a favorite. “Hey, little Santa!” I held the Santa from my childhood. “Thanks for being my friend for almost fifty years.” He was a little ragged but still gives me a flood of wonderful memories. “Until next year, my dear friend.”
There was a collection of handmade ones. My children made in the their first years of school, more than twenty years ago. Made by tiny hands, they are far from perfect in design, but every year they go on my memory tree－memories of young giggles(咯咯地笑)on Christmas morning and a smiling face when they handed them to me when I came home from work. “Look what we made, Daddy!”
“Oh! It is beautiful. Let’s find a special spot on the tree for it.” Every year since, they are displayed.
A few hours after I started, the filled boxes were back in the garage, the room was vacuumed(用吸尘器清扫)and I sat staring at a barren(空荡荡的)corner. The room seemed so empty. It took me two days of work to assemble(收集)and decorate my tree, but only a few hours to take it apart.
My tree is like a good marriage or a great friendship. Like the tree, they take a long time to assemble and decorate with memories, but can be torn down quickly.
Every year I have to put my tree away, but not my marriage or friendships. I take great care of those. They get to glow in the corner of my life for as long as I live. I get to analyze my tree and find memories for a few weeks every year. I can do the same with the loves in my life every day. Take great care of your friendships and your marriage. Once they come down, they aren’t as easy to put back together as a Christmas tree. Stand them in that special spot in the corner of your heart and admire their glow.
1.In the author’s eyes, the Christmas tree .
A．is a collection of childhood memories
B．is a symbol of long-lasting relations
C．takes too much time to decorate
D．is full of out-of-date ornaments
2.To the author, a Christmas tree is similar to a good marriage in that .
A．both take time to build but fall apart easily
B．both remind him of bittersweet memories
C．both need to be admired for some time
D．both get less attractive over the years
3.What is the main theme of the article?
A．We’d better put away Christmas decorations and recycle them each year.
B．Friendships and marriages should be valued and managed carefully.
C．Memories with friends and family should be cherished and relived.
D．We should decorate Christmas trees with personal stuff and recycle.
As soon as I saw the cat in our yard, I knew he was a stray (流浪儿). He looked 36 —a wounded warrior with a badly scarred body.
I started putting out food for him each day, but he wouldn’t come near me if other people were 37 . Winter came, and he still wouldn’t 38 us. Then, one day, a car hit him so we took him to the vet’s.
After a week, we were eager to bring him home to 39 our family. But when we went to take the cat home, the vet told us we should put him to 40 immediately because the cat was so fierce and mean that he would 41 become tame , let alone a pet.
But I have always had 42 in love’s power to 43 even the wildest beasts. I told the vet, “I want to take him home.” We 44 him Paws.
Three days went by, and we only knew Paws was 45 the bed because when we walked past it we heard deep growling.
I wanted to somehow let him know he was 46 and loved. So I put on a hard hat and a pair of welding gloves. I 47 under the bed toward Paws, with my face to the 48 and only the top of my head facing him. I 49 out to stroke (抚摩) him gently over and over again.
He growled and tried to 50 and bite me. It was scary—but I knew he couldn’t 51 me, so I just kept going. Slowly, he began to 52 . Then I slid out from under the bed and left the room.
Several hours later, I noticed a cat on the bed. It was Paws—all 53 on the pillows! I couldn’t believe it.
That dear cat became the 54 of our household. Although Paws finally died of cancer, his legacy(遗赠)—my 55 and firm belief in the power of love — lives on.
1. A．cute B．strong C．fierce D．smart
2. A．around B．in C．out D．away
3. A．love B．attack C．refuse D．trust
4. A．please B．join C．see D．satisfy
5. A．death B．sight C．observation D．sleep
6. A．simply B．hardly C．easily D．gradually
7. A．sense B．interest C．faith D．feeling
8. A．comfort B．convince C．protect D．tame
9. A．named B．appointed C．accepted D．made
10. A．on B．beside C．under D．inside
11. A．hopeful B．pitiful C．careful D．safe
12. A．hid B．slid C．sheltered D．slept
13. A．bed B．sky C．floor D．feet
14. A．turned B．reached C．pulled D．picked
15. A．play B．scratch C．lick D．push
16. A．hurt B．bother C．avoid D．betray
17. A．get angry B．give up C．run away D．calm down
18. A．stepped out B．stood out C．stretched out D．stuck out
19. A．hope B．love C．support D．comfort
20. A．normal B．noble C．strange D．continued
An agreement was made in June when both sides met for the first time in 21 years, ______ by another meeting for further cooperation.
A．following B．to follow C．having followed D．followed
假设你是一名新闻记者，请根据以下表格信息给英语报社写一篇新闻报道。
【写作内容】
|
情况 |
今年4月，中国发现了H7N9禽流感，全国h7n9感染区域为：江西、湖南、福建、浙江、山东、江苏、河南、上海、北京、安徽、台湾。 |
|
症状 |
38度以上高温，并伴有咳嗽等 |
|
预防 |
勤洗手、多喝水、室内通风，充足睡眠，保证体质，避免直接接触病死禽畜，肉蛋加工至熟再食用 |
|
信念 |
在政府的帮助下，我们一定能够打赢这场战争。 |
写作要求：
1．内容充实，结构完整，语意连贯。
2．书写清楚、工整。
3．字数不少于80词。
阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。
Many people spend a lot of time making money because they believe the money itself will make them happy, or will guard them against things that will make them unhappy. They make great efforts to achieve that perfect relationship, the perfect house, the beautiful body, the approval of others, all in an attempt to be happy.
Sometimes these things make people happy; other times, people stress over not having reached the goals, or reach them and find they’re still unhappy. Other times, people focus on just one goal and don’t have time for other things that will make them truly happy.
Some experts studying human happiness and the factors that contribute to it have identified several key areas of life that seem to be more related to personal happiness. Some of them are the things like money, friends, health and living conditions; others are things you may not think of in your daily life, such as your neighborhood and sense of meaning in life.
So while setting your goals, remember all of the areas of life that are important to you and find a balanced lifestyle including social support, personal development, physical health and meaningful pursuits(追求) besides career success and financial security. _____________, your attitude about life and the things that happen to you each day can also have a great effect on your level of happiness and life satisfaction. In addition to being optimistic, happy people tend to believe they are the masters of their fate, rather than the victims of circumstance.
Explore the state of your life, assess how truly happy you are, and find a direction to work toward that will likely bring more happiness. Reach your goals, set new ones and live a life that truly makes you happy.
1.What does the first paragraph mainly talk about? (Please answer within 15 words.)
______________________________________________________________________
2.Which sentence in the text is closest in meaning to the following one?
It’s impossible for those that stick to one thing only to experience happiness from other things.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
3. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words. (Please answer within 5 words.)
______________________________________________________________________
4. Do you think money could bring true happiness? Why? (Please answer within 30 words.)
______________________________________________________________________
5.Translate the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 into Chinese.
______________________________________________________________________
Which is sillier: denying we ever went to the moon or trying to convince the true nonbelievers?
Once upon a time – July 20, 1969, to be specific – two men got out of their little spaceship and wandered around on the moon for a while. Ten more men walked on the moon over the next three and a half years. The end.
Unfortunately, not quite. A fair number of Americans think that this whole business of moon landings really is a fairy tale. They believe that the landings were a big hoax (骗局) staged in the Mojave Desert, to convince everyone that U.S. technology was the “bestest” in the whole wide world.
Which is the harder thing to do: Send men to the moon or make believe we did? The fact is the physics behind sending people to the moon is simple. You can do it with computers whose entire memory capacities can now fit on chips the size of postage stamps and that cost about as much as, well, a postage stamp. I know you can because we did.
However, last fall NASA considered spending $15,000 on a public-relations campaign to convince the unimpressed that Americans had in fact gone to the moon. That idea was mostly a reaction to a Fox television program, first aired in February 2001, that claimed to expose the hoax. The show’s creator is a publicity hound (猎狗) who has lived up to the name in more ways than one by hounding Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Mr. X (as I will call him, thereby denying him the joyous sight of his name in print) recently followed Buzz Aldrin around and called him “a thief, liar and coward” until the 72-year-old astronaut finally lost it and hit the 37-year-old Mr. X in the face.
Anyway, NASA’s publicity campaign began to slow down. The nonbelievers took the campaign as NASA’s effort to hide something while the believers said that $15,000 to convince people that the world was round — I mean, that we had gone to the moon — was simply a waste of money. (Actually, the $15,000 was supposed to pay for an article by James E. Oberg, an astronomy writer who, with Aldrin, has contributed to Scientific American.)
If NASA’s not paying Oberg, perhaps it could put the money to good use by hiring two big guys to drag Neil Armstrong out of the house. Armstrong is an extremely private man, but he is also the first man on the moon, so maybe he has a duty to be a bit more outspoken about the experience. Or NASA could just buy Aldrin a commemorate plaque (纪念匾) for his recent touch on the face of Mr. X.
1.We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that some Americans believe _______.
A．moon landings were invented
B．U.S. technology was the best
C．moon landing ended successfully
D．the Mojave Desert was the launching base
2.According to the writer, which of the following is to blame for the story about the hoax?
A．NASA’s publicity campaign. B．The Fox television program.
C．Buzz Aldrin. D．James E. Oberg.
3.According to the writer, Mr. X _______.
A．told a faithful story B．was not treated properly
C．was a talented creator D．had a bad reputation
4.The believers think that NASA’s publicity campaign is ________.
A．proof to hide the truth
B．stupid and unnecessary
C．needed to convince the non-believers
D．important to develop space technology
5.The tone of the article is _______.
A．angry B．conversational C．humorous D．matter-of-fact
