It came upon us suddenly--- my husband and I were facing his heart operation. He had never told me about the shortness of breath he had experienced a few months earlier. When he was alarmed by the state of his   1  , he finally asked me to make an appointment with the   2  .

   When he was having the   3   , I was praying every prayer I had learned. My best friend and my son were by my side. In the darkest moment, I felt deep inside that he would not   4 the operation. Just when I had given up all the hope of a good outcome, I felt hugged and surrounded by   5   as many people were praying for us.

   Soon the doctor   6   out, bringing the good news that the operation was   7  . He shook my hand, and when I    8    his warm and firm hand, I became    9    of what I was doing. I was holding a hand which, just a short while ago, had held my husband's   10    heart.

   As part of recovery, my husband was given a red   11   to grasp tightly to his chest. It could prevent any    12    to the cut when he was moving, coughing or sneezing. Five days after the operation, we returned home. The red pillow kept us company as my husband gained strength and   13   .

   That was four years ago.   14   , when I see the red pillow in our closet, I will always hold it close to my chest and remember the day when I realized the   15    of grace and goodness.

1. A. health                   B. breath                      C. shape                       D. appearance

2. A. nurse                   B. doctor                      C. officer                            D. milker

3. A. rest                   B. operation                  C. organization              D. management

4. A. experience            B. bear                         C. pass                         D. survive

5. A. pity                   B. love                         C. mercy                      D. comfort

6. A. came                    B. took                         C. turned                      D. set

7. A. lonely                   B. cruel                        C. fortunate                  D. successful

8. A. sounded               B. touched                    C. felt                          D. applied

9. A. afraid                  B. shocked                C. aware                  D. fond

10. A. sinking              B. beating                  C. running                  D. warming

11. A. pillow                 B. box                          C. wallet                       D. gift

12. A. wound                B. damage                    C. opening                    D. growth

13. A. confidence        B. beauty                  C. friend                 D. breath

14. A. Eventually      B. Suddenly      C. Unexpectedly         D. Occasionally 

15. A. fact                    B. dream                      C. power                      D. truth

阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填人一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卷标号为16-25的相应位置上。

We may be very    16   (please) with the rapid progress we have made in every field of study, but we have almost done nothing to improve our present   17   (exam) systems which focus   18    testing the students’ memory instead of their    19     (able). As soon as a child begins school, he enters a world of examination    20   will decide his future of job. In fact a good examination system should encourage students to think for themselves. But the examination now does anything but that. It forces the students to remember    21       is taught to get high marks. Thus the students who come out first in the examination often may be the   22    (good) in their studies. In addition, such    23   examination system often drives teachers to cram all the time and forces them to train students what to do with the   24   (come) examination.

  There must be a better way to test a student’s true ability as   25    as their knowledge.

It was a late Wednesday night when the dreading phone call reached our home. I sat up, so I could hear the phone call better. To my surprise, I heard my mom burst into tears. “Get the car Dean! Andrea has been in a car accident.”

We ran every stop sign on the way to the hospital and our tires screeched around every corner. We got to the hospital, but were not allowed to see Andrea. The next morning, after wearing masks, we were allowed to go to the ICU to see Andrea. Well, the least I could say was that everything was injured in her body and she lost all of her memories. It was a fatal accident.

Over the next two months, I lived more at the hospital than I did at my house. I watched as Andrea worked so hard to gain back everyday motor skills. She never once complained or pitied herself, her determined spirit was shining through. After two weeks in the ICU and two months of the regular hospital treatment, Andrea was able to come home. She missed several months of school, so it was hard for her to catch up. Andrea had tasks to accomplish, and no matter how hard it was, she stuck with them until the job was done. Though busy with dealing with pain and therapy, she always found time to love and play with me.

I’ll never forget the impact that this incident made on my life. I admire her strong-willed personality and her determined spirit. Today she is perfectly normal, despite the scars and the pins holding her leg in place. I couldn’t ask for a better sister, hero, or best friend.

26．The writer sat up because he _______

A．could hear the phone call better            

B．might be very concerned about who phoned so late.

C．wanted to scold the people who phoned so late.   

D．was not sure whether the telephone concerned him.

27．From the underlined sentence in the second paragraph, we can infer that _______

A．the family did not obey the traffic rules.               B．the writer’s father was not good at driving.

C．the whole family were too anxious to see Andrea. D．their house was very far from the hospital.

28．__________ mainly made the writer’s sister recover from the car accident.

A．The family’s encouragement                    B．Andrea’s strong will

C．The treatment                                        D．The eagerness for study

29．During the treatment, Andrea _______

A．had to give up all her studies      B．stopped playing with the writer.

C．refused to be accompanied.        D．showed unbelievable strength.

30．What would be the best title for the passage?__________

A．A Miracle Happening to my sister                 B．My Sister---- the Hero in My Life

C．An Accident Which Changed My Sister         D．An Incident Which Influenced Me Much.

What makes a gift special? Is it the price you see on the gift receipt？Or is it the look on the recipient's face when they receive it that determines the true value? What gift is worth the most?

This Christmas I was debating what to give my father. My dad is a hard person to buy for because he never wants anything. I pulled out my phone to read a text message from my mom saying that we were leaving for Christmas shopping for him when I came across a message on my phone that I had locked. The message was from my father. My eyes fell on a photo of a flower taken in Wyoming, and underneath a poem by William Blake. The flower, a lone dandelion (蒲公英) standing against the bright blue sky, inspired me. My dad had been reciting those words to me since I was a kid. That may even be the reason why I love writing. I decided that those words would be my gift to my father.

I called back. I told my mom to go without me and that I already created my gift. I sent the photo of the cream-colored flower to my computer and typed the poem on top of it. As I was arranging the details another poem came to mind. The poem was written by Edgar Allan Poe；my dad recited it as much as he did the other. I typed that out as well and searched online for a background to the words of it. The poem was focused around dreaming, and after searching I found the perfect picture. The image was painted with blues and greens and purples, twisting together to create the theme and wonder of a dream. As I watched both poems passing through the printer, the white paper coloring with words that shaped my childhood, I felt that this was a gift that my father would truly appreciate. Christmas soon arrived. The minute I saw the look on my dad’s face as he unwrapped those black letters carefully placed in a cheap frame, I knew I had given the perfect gift.

31. The idea for a special gift began to form when the author was _________.

A. doing shopping                                  B. having a debate   

C. reading a message                                     D. leaving for Wyoming

32. The author's inspiration for the gift came from _________.

A. a photo of a flower                                       B. a story about a kid

C. a call from the mother                                  D. a text about Christmas

33. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refers to a poem by _________.

A. the father        B．the author      C. William Blake     D. Edgar Allan Poe

34. The author made the gift by ________.

A. searching for the poems online             B. drawing the background by hand

C. painting the letters in three colors                 D. matching the words with pictures

35. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A. To show how to design images for gifts         B. To suggest making gifts from one’s heart

C. To explain how computers help create gifts    D. To describe the gifts the author has received

How could we possibly think that keeping animals in cages in unnatural environments---mostly for entertainment purposes --- is fair and respectful?

Zoo officials say they are concerned about animals. However, most zoos remain “collections” of interesting “things” rather than protective habitats. Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals bored, lonely and far from their natural homes.

Zoo claims to educate people and save endangered species, but visitors leaves zoos without having learned anything meaningful about the animals’ natural behaviour, intelligence, or beauty. Zoo keeps animals in small spaces or cages, and most signs only mention the species’ name, diet, and natural range. The animals’ normal behavior is seldom noticed because zoos don’t usually take care of the animals’ natural needs.

The animals are kept together in small spaces, with no privacy and little opportunity for mental and physical exercise. This results in unusual and self-destructive behavior called zoochosis. A worldwide study of zoos found that zoochosis common among animals kept in small spaces or cages. Another study showed that elephants spend 22 percent of their time making repeated head movements or biting cage bars and bears spend 30 percent of their time walking back and forth, a sign of unhappiness and pain.

Furthermore, most animals in zoos are not endangered. Captive breeding (圈养繁殖) of endangered big cats, Asian elephants, and another species has not resulted in their being sent back to the wild. Zoos talk a lot about their captive breeding programs because they do not want people to worry about a species dying out. In fact, baby animals also attract a lot of paying customers. Haven’t we seen enough competitions to name baby animals?

Actually, we still save endangered species only if we save their habitats and put an end to the reasons people kill them. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups that work to protect animals’ natural habitats.

36．How would the author describe the animals’ life in Zoos?

A．Dangerous     B．Unhappy      C．Natural     D．Easy

37．In the state of zoochosis, animals _______________.

A．remain in cages        B．behave strangely

C．attack other animals    D．enjoy moving around

38．According to the passage what point of view does the author hold?

A．Zoos are not worth the public support.          B．Zoos fail in their attempt to save animals.

C．Zoos should treat animals as human beings.   D．Zoos use animals as a means of entertainment.

39．The author tries to persuade readers to accept his argument mainly by________.

A．pointing out the faults in what zoos do          B．using evidence he has collected at zoos

C．exploring the way animals are protected        D．discussing the advantages of natural habitats

40．Although he argues against zoos, the author would still agree that___________.

A．zoos have to keep animals in small spaces    

B．most animals in zoos are endangered species

C．some endangered animals are reproduced in zoos

D．it’s acceptable to keep animals away from their habitats