Over the years, thanks to my life’s obstacles(障碍), I understood the meaning of faith and the strong will to survive. It was Hurricane Ike that made me fully____ the beauty of our strength and a human’s motivation to ____.
Mom had a two-week ____ in summer. While we enjoyed our holiday in Southeast Texas, we didn’t realize the fact that Ike ____ cause months and likely years of “labor”. By September 7th, the “eyes of Texas” were watching Hurricane Ike more ____, making the typical mad rush for last-minute hurricane ____. Two days later, both oil and ice were in ____ demand.
In the early hours of September 11th, some neighbors were planning to ____the storm in their homes, ____ others were making final preparations to get away. At first, we decided to stay. But that afternoon, the Houston-Galveston area would be on the more ____ side of the storm. Mom and I packed some of our most ____ belongings in the car and ____ the East Texas town of Lufkin.
As Ike pushed farther inland, we ____power in Lufkin. On Sunday, our next-door neighbor told us via cell phone that our ____ had remained well. Our hopes could not have been ____. But a few hours later, the neighbors reported that our brick chimney had ____, and it was sitting on our living room, ____ a hole in the roof between two skylights (天窗).
We wouldn’t be allowed to return home ____ September 17th. I climbed upstairs, and looked toward the hole in the roof which showed a beautiful blue sky.
Without hesitation, I shouted, “Wow! A third skylight!”
My neighbors could not believe I was making jokes ____ crying, but ____ is always good medicine. It was with that joke that I knew, given time, everything would be okay.
1.A observeB. appreciateC. exploreD. improve
2.A. workB. apologizeC. recoverD. change
3.A. vacationB. journeyC. meetingD. schedule
4.A. mustB. mightC. should D. would
5.A. closelyB. constantlyC. warninglyD. differently
6.A. adventureB. equipmentC. suppliesD. reports
7.A. basicB. highC. pureD. neat
8.A. get throughB. put awayC. test outD. suffer from
9.A. sinceB. whenC. untilD. while
10.A. dangerousB. abundantC. peacefulD. awesome
11.A. availableB. concreteC. prized D. potential
12.A. set outB. headed forC. settled downD. watched out
13.A. providedB. reducedC. producedD. lost
14.A. gardenB. houseC. poolD. yard
15.A. clearerB. wilderC. lowerD. higher
16.A. passedB. stoodC. goneD. followed
17.A. leavingB. diggingC. fillingD. kicking
18.A. by B. before C. until D. after
19.A. in spite ofB. instead ofC. apart fromD. in terms of
20.A. faithB. willC. strengthD. laughter
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
I had an experience once which taught me something about the ways people made a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I officiated(主持) at two funerals for two elderly women. 1. . At the first home, the son of the deceased(已故) woman said, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son said, “If only I had not insisted her going to Florida, she would be alive today. 2. . It is my fault.”
When things don’t turn out as we would like them to, we tend to assume that had we done things differently, the story would have had a happier ending. Any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course, for example, keeping mother at home, would have turned out better. 3.
There seem to be elements involved in our readiness to feel guilty. The first lies in our belief that the world makes sense---there is a reason for everything that happens.
The second is the thought that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. 4. . A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and calls the rest of the world to its tasks. 5. . When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely abandon that childish thought that our wishes cause things to happen.
A.That long airplane ride was more than she could take
B.After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
C. Life and dead is an unsolved mystery.
D.The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood
E.He cries, and someone comes to attend to him
F.Both died a natural death
G. They believe that they are responsible for what has happened.
Space is where our future is — trips to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Most people would think that aside from comets(彗星) and stars, there is little else out there. But, since our space journey started we have left so much trash（垃圾） there that scientists are now concerned that if we don't clean it up, we may all be in mortal （致命的）danger.
The first piece of space junk was created in 1964, when the American satellite Vanguard I stopped operating and lost its connection with the ground center. However, since it kept orbiting around the Earth without any consequences, scientists became increasingly comfortable abandoning things that no longer served any useful purpose in space.
It is estimated that there are now over 500,000 pieces of man-made trash orbiting the Earth at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour. The junk varies from tiny pieces of paint chipped off rockets to cameras, huge fuel tanks, and even odd items like the million-dollar tool kit that astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn Piper lost during a spacewalk.
The major problem with the space trash is that it may hit working satellites and damage traveling spacecraft(飞船). Moreover, pieces of junk may collide（碰撞） with each other and break into pieces which fall back to the Earth. To avoid this, scientists have invented several ways for clearing the sky. Ground stations have been built to monitor larger pieces of space trash to prevent them from crashing into working satellites or space shuttles. Future plans include a cooperative effort among many nations to stop littering in space and to clean up the trash already there.
1.What was the first piece of man-made space trash?
A. A camera.B. A tool kit.
C. A fuel tank. D. A broken satellite.
2.Why were scientists NOT concerned about space trash in the beginning?
A. It no longer served any useful purpose.
B. It was millions of miles away from the Earth.
C. It did not cause any problems.
D. It was regarded as similar to comets and stars.
3.Which of the following statements is true about space junk?
A. It is huge, heavy machines.
B. It never changes position.
C. It floats slowly around the Earth.
D. It may cause problems for space shuttles.
4.What has been done about the space trash problem?
A. Scientists have cleaned up most of the trash.
B. Large pieces of space trash are being closely watched.
C. Many nations have worked together to stop polluting space.
D. Ground stations are built to help store the trash properly in space.
It seems hard to watch someone yawn（打哈欠） and not to yawn ourselves. Even reading about yawning can make you do it. Now, a new study has found why yawning has such a powerful force.
Yawning when others yawn, the study suggests, is a sign of pity and a form of social connection. Kids don’t develop this deeply rooted behavior until around age four, the study found. Kids with autism (自闭症) are less likely to catch yawns. In the most serious cases, they never do. Yawning might help doctors to see whether the children are developing rightly. The work could also lead to a better understanding of the ways that people communicate and connect.
"Emotional infection seems to be a born thing that connects us together," said Molly Helt, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Connecticut. "Yawning may be part of that." Inspiration for her study came when she tried to get her own autistic son to clear his ears on an airplane. She repeatedly yawned at him, hoping he would yawn back. He never did.
"The fact that autistic kids don’t do it might mean they’re really missing out on that emotional connection with people around them," she said. "The biggest thing people try to figure out after birth is how we become humans and understand that humans have minds that are different from others’," she added. "Autistic people never seem to understand that."
Like infectious （有感染力的）laughter and crying, scientists have found that yawning is a shared experience that promotes social connection. Helt said it could fight stress after a period of being nervous and spread a feeling of calm through a group.
1.What does the new study suggest, according to the first two paragraphs?
A. Yawning is a form of communication.
B. It is easy to stop yawning when you see others yawn.
C. Children follow others in yawning just after they are born.
D. Yawning has some mysterious force which is related to God.
2.According to Molly Helt, _________.
A. humans differ from animals because they communicate with others
B. yawning is a kind of emotional connection among humans
C. emotions are infectious, but yawning is not
D. yawning helps clear ears on planes
3.Which of the following is NOT true about yawning?
A. It is natural to yawn back if people around you yawn.
B. Some kids are too young to yawn after others.
C. Yawning can be used to test children’s development.
D. Kids with autism yawn easily when others yawn.
4.The author implies in the last paragraph that ________.
A. yawning is different from infectious laughter and crying in theory
B. it is bad manners to yawn on some social occasions
C. the more you yawn, the happier you will be
D. yawning can make people feel relaxed
The Swiss army knife is a popular device that is recognized all over the world. In Switzerland, there is a saying that every good Swiss citizen has one in his or her pocket. But the knife had poor beginnings.
In the late nineteenth century, the Swiss army issued（发给） its soldiers a gun that required a special screwdriver（螺丝刀） to take it apart and clean it. At the same time, canned food was becoming common in the army. Swiss generals decided to issue each soldier a standard knife to serve both as a screwdriver and a can opener.
It was a lifesaver for Swiss knife makers, who were struggling to compete with cheaper German imports. In 1884, Carl Elsener, head of the Swiss knife manufacturer（maker） Victorinox, seized that opportunity with both hands, and designed a soldier's knife that the army loved. It was a simple knife with one big blade(刀片), a can opener, and a screwdriver.
A few years after the soldier's knife was issued, the "Schweizer Offizier Messer," or Swiss Officer's Knife, came on the market. Interestingly, the Officer's Knife was never given to those serving in the army. The Swiss army purchasers considered the new model with a corkscrew（瓶塞钻） for opening wine not "essential for survival," so officers had to buy this new model by themselves. But its special multi-functional design later launched(发行) the knife as a global brand. After the Second World War, a great number of American soldiers were stationed in Europe. And as they could buy the Swiss army knife at shops on army bases, they bought huge quantities of them. However, it seems that "Schweizer Offizier Messer" was too difficult for them to say, so they just called it the Swiss army knife, and that is the name it is now known by all over the world.
1.What is the main purpose of the passage?
A. To explain the origin of the Swiss army knife.
B. To introduce the functions of the Swiss army knife.
C. To emphasize the importance of the Swiss army knife.
D. To tell a story about the designer of the Swiss army knife.
2.What does "It" in the third paragraph refer to?
A. The Swiss army needed a knife for every soldier.
B. Every good Swiss citizen had a knife in his pocket.
C. Swiss knives were competing with imported knives.
D. Canned food was becoming popular in the Swiss army.
3.Why didn't the Swiss army purchase the Swiss Officer's Knife?
A. The design of the knife was too simple.
B. The knife was sold out to American soldiers.
C. The army had no budget to make the purchase.
D. The new design was not considered necessary for officers to own.
4.Who gave the name "the Swiss army knife" to the knife discussed in the passage?
A. Carl Elsener.B. Swiss generals.
C. American soldiers. D. German businessmen.
The day of my holiday arrived, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. I had little money and had only been able to afford to stay with my Aunt Rosa in Spain. So, I wasn’t really excited as I knew exactly what it was going to be like: lots of noisy cousins , and Aunt Rosa begging me to take her for a ride.
After I had checked in, I made my way slowly to the departure gate. As I was waiting to board the plane, I kept thinking about my ideal holiday destination: Jamaica, with its long, sandy beaches and crystal clear water.
As soon as the plane took off, I fell fast asleep and only woke to the sound of the announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten you seat belts, as we will shortly be landing in Kingston.” I froze in my seat. Was I dreaming? Kingston? Jamaica? I had boarded the wrong plane!
Immediately after the plane landed, I explained the situation to the authorities. It seems there were also three other passengers heading for Spain. Apparently it had been the airline’s fault, since the flight numbers for Spain and Jamaica were exactly the same! Therefore, with no flight back to London for a week, the airline had no choice but to pay for our stay.
So there I was, lying on the beach, enjoying the music and the marvelous food of Jamaica! As for Aunt Rosa, I suppose she just had to live without me!
1.Why did the writer choose to spend her holiday with her aunt in Spain?
A. She missed her cousins very much.
B. Her aunt begged her to go there.
C. She could hardly afford any better trip.
D. Spain was her ideal destination.
2.In the story, the writer ended up _________.
A. flying to London immediately
B. heading for Spain from Jamaica
C. complaining to the authorities
D. enjoying a free beach holiday
3.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A. A Lucky MistakeB. A Terrible Adventure
C. A Nice DreamD. A Well-Planned Trip
