Do you remember we agreed to circulate our ideas for our school project this year? Well, here is our suggestion and we in our school hope you will join us to develop it.

    The idea came to us in the autumn of 2004. We were sitting in our class when our head teacher made an announcement. “There’ll be a new boy starting school tomorrow. He comes from the circus so he’ll be with us for a while.” Immediately there was whispering around the classroom. I heard remarks like “Those are dirty people”; “They eat raw meat”; and “Watch out for your bags”. The teacher must have heard them because she stopped the talking and said in a very serious voice: “Jake is our guest for as long as he stays here. Make sure you treat him well. I don’t want to hear any complaints about your behaviour to him.”

I was curious because it was the first time I had met anyone from a circus. Fortunately for me, the next morning, after being introduced to the class he sat in the only spare seat next to me. Of course I didn’t want to be nosy（管闲事的） but I couldn’t help looking at him sideways as I began my mathematics task. I noticed Jake was smaller than me and had dirty finger nails. His shirt was clean but had been repaired in many places and his trousers were helped up by a wide, leather belt. As he seemed to have no handkerchief and was sniffing loudly, I passed him one of mine. Immediately the boys began to whisper “What did you do that for? Leave him be!” I concentrated on my work. From my left a slight movement showed that Jake must have heard the remarks too. He seemed to be having great difficulty with his work and was struggling to hold his pen correctly. He looked around as if for help. I looked around too. The teacher was busy so I leaned over and offered to explain the problems to him. As he listened his mouth split into a smile. His eyes lit up as if a light had been turned on and he returned to the exercises with enthusiasm.  He finished them quickly and proudly presented them to the teacher. “Well done, Jake,” she approved. Jake smiled and was soon busy sorting out information and adding more of his own.

I thought about how Jake’s life would be. I remembered seeing the campsite and thinking how poor the facilities （设施）were. So I decided to help. As it was my turn to suggest a project for our grade, I put forward this idea. Our head teacher accepted it and so we began to prepare our plans to improve the campsite. Hope you will join us.

56. Why did the students dislike Jake even before they saw him?

A. They must have heard bad stories about circus people.

    B. They always judged a person by what he looks like.

    C. The teacher hadn’t introduced Jake to them beforehand.

    D. A newcomer was not welcome at that time.

57. What’s the author’s attitude towards Jake?

    A. He copied the other boys’ behavior.

    B. He was distant about what Jake’s life was like.

    C. He couldn’t ignore what other people said about Jake.

    D. He had sympathy for the poor and disadvantaged.

58. The author mentions how Jake did maths to show that _______.

    A. the teacher was helpful and friendly    B. the maths problem was too hard for him

    C. Jake was courageous and determined   D. the author was better at maths

59. What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?

    A. To argue circus people should be treated fairly.

    B. To ask the reader to join in their project.

    C. To call on more people to help Jake.    D. To show what is in need for a circus.

III. Verb filling(38%)

With everything he needed ________, she left the supermarket. ( buy)

If selected, he promised he would do all he could ________ public welfare. (promote)

You are wasting your time __________ him; he’ll never take your advice. ( persuade)

We can do no nothing now but _________him. ( encourage)

I meant _______  you last weekend, but I was too busy and could not afford any time. ( visit )

Don’t let those who are not old enough ________ the video game arcade. ( enter)

Do you feel like ________ a walk along the river? ( have)

________ to eat in the school cafeteria every day made me sick.  (force)

Up to now, I ________ four cups of coffee this morning. ( drink)

All of the students _________ attentively when someone made a loud noise. (listen)

By the time I went to bed last night, Tom ________ asleep. (fall)

It was insisted that the man ________ to prison because he committed a serious crime. ( send)

This is the very motor cycle _________ to my desk-mate that was stolen last week. (belong)

That novel written by the famous writer from Hong Kong is certainly worth _______ twice. (read)

There are a number of students _________ to get examined. ( wait)

The gangsters _______ out in a remote cabin until it was safe to return to the city. ( hide)

He is such an _______ man. No one likes him. ( annoy)

The driver of the car probably holds the key to _______ the crime. ( solve)

I spoke to her kindly ________ her. ( not frighten)

It _____ ten years before we meet again. ( be)

It is hard to find a time that _______ everyone. ( suit)

I first met Tom 10 years ago. He _______________ in a radio factory at that time. (work)

Don’t bother to look for my dictionary, for it ____________ up some day. (turn)

Some of our students do need ____________ highly because they perform well in every task they carry out. (praise)

I know Mr. Brown; we ________________ to each other at an international conference. (introduce)

_________ in 1950, this company has a history of over 50 years. (found)

After _________________, the applicants will be required to take a language test. (interview)

His works are said ______________________ into dozens of languages in the past few years. (translate)

I found it no good ____________ to do it again. (continue)

The flowers __________ so sweet that I decided to buy some. (smell)

He came into the classroom, _____________ by many students. (follow)

The terrible sound from downstairs made children _____________. (frighten)

You’d better _______________ to know how to do it. (not pretend)

Neither his parents nor his wife ______________ him well. (understand)

You can hardly imagine the difficulty the woman had ____________ up her children. (bring)

Though _________ money, his parents managed to send him abroad. (lack)

He told us the story of a practical joke __________ on the man working with us. (play)

38.The matter ___________________ now will be settled at today’s meeting. (discuss)

阅读理解

Dear Irene,

   Many thanks for your letter of 20th December to Waiming and me. Waiming’s mother sent it to us here in England. I thought I had better reply myself since, as you know, your brother is not very good at writing letters.

   You asked whether Waiming’s application (申请) for a scholarship (奖学金) had been successful. Well, as you can see by now, it was. He is doing a one-year postgraduate course in world history here at Lancaster University. The little house we live in is near the university. We have to buy a used car which is necessary because the bus service here is poor.

   We arrived in England at the beginning of September, and stayed in London for three weeks with my cousin Kwok, who owns a large restaurant there. This was the first time he had met my husband. Then we went to Cambridge for a week, where Waiming had to attend a meeting, and after that we came  up to Lancaster and had two weeks to find somewhere to live and generally got organ iced before Waiming’s course began.

   The weather has been quite a change from home. Last week we had some snow, the first we had ever met.

   We get on very well with most of the English people we have met, although we had some difficulty at first understanding the northern accent.

   Well, that’s about all our news. Waiming’s course is going well, and if he passes his exams we will be free to return home in July.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  Love,

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   Sally

1．Which of the following refers to different person from the other three?

A. Waiming　　　　　　　　　　    B. Irene’s brother

C. Sally’s cousin　　　　　　　　    D. The writer’s husband.

2．We can infer (推论) from the first paragraph that Irene　　   .

A. does not like writing letters very much

B. does not live with her mother now

C. was in England when she wrote her letter

D. does not particularly like Sally

3．When Irene wrote the letter she knew that　　   .

A. Waiming and Sally were in England

B. Waiming had applied for a scholarship

C. Waiming’s application for a scholarship had been successful

D. Waiming was doing a one-year postgraduate course in would history

4．When Sally wrote her letter. Waiming had been living in Lancaster for about　　   .

A. three months　　　　　　　　 B. three weeks

C. five months　　　　　　　　    D. five weeks

 

阅读理解

Dear Irene,

   Many thanks for your letter of 20th December to Waiming and me. Waiming’s mother sent it to us here in England. I thought I had better reply myself since, as you know, your brother is not very good at writing letters.

   You asked whether Waiming’s application (申请) for a scholarship (奖学金) had been successful. Well, as you can see by now, it was. He is doing a one-year postgraduate course in world history here at Lancaster University. The little house we live in is near the university. We have to buy a used car which is necessary because the bus service here is poor.

   We arrived in England at the beginning of September, and stayed in London for three weeks with my cousin Kwok, who owns a large restaurant there. This was the first time he had met my husband. Then we went to Cambridge for a week, where Waiming had to attend a meeting, and after that we came  up to Lancaster and had two weeks to find somewhere to live and generally got organ iced before Waiming’s course began.

   The weather has been quite a change from home. Last week we had some snow, the first we had ever met.

   We get on very well with most of the English people we have met, although we had some difficulty at first understanding the northern accent.

   Well, that’s about all our news. Waiming’s course is going well, and if he passes his exams we will be free to return home in July.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  Love,

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   Sally

1．Which of the following refers to different person from the other three?

A. Waiming　　　　　　　　　　    B. Irene’s brother

C. Sally’s cousin　　　　　　　　    D. The writer’s husband.

2．We can infer (推论) from the first paragraph that Irene　　   .

A. does not like writing letters very much

B. does not live with her mother now

C. was in England when she wrote her letter

D. does not particularly like Sally

3．When Irene wrote the letter she knew that　　   .

A. Waiming and Sally were in England

B. Waiming had applied for a scholarship

C. Waiming’s application for a scholarship had been successful

D. Waiming was doing a one-year postgraduate course in would history

4．When Sally wrote her letter. Waiming had been living in Lancaster for about　　   .

A. three months　　　　　　　　 B. three weeks

C. five months　　　　　　　　    D. five weeks

 

Does anyone want to buy a weather forecaster? With Liam Fox overseeing（监管）the Ministry of Defence and promising to make cuts “cruelly and without mercy”, it is becoming ever harder to believe our national forecasting service will survive much beyond this glorious - dare I say it, - summer．

The trouble is, the Met Office（英国气象局） is a soft target．We are more sceptical about scientists’ ability to predict the weather than we are about an octopus’s （章鱼）ability to predict the outcome of a football match．This is largely to do with our own fear of complexity．

Few of us get enough information to judge the quality of the forecast．As I write, one forecast says the overview for the day is “a good scattering of showers mixed in with brighter weather for many of us”．Snow or hail would be a shock; beyond that, the words are fairly meaningless．

But, in fact, we don't want our forecasters to be more specific．The most scientifically accurate statements that a forecaster can make involve probabilities, but probabilities leave us in difficulty．A study in the United States, for example, showed that most people thought “a 50 percent chance of rain” meant that the forecasters hadn't a clue whether it would rain or not．

What it really means is that, in a given set of conditions, it rains half of the time．But who has time to think about when Newsnight is about to start? It's far easier just to let something concrete settle in our minds and, when the next day rolls around and it doesn't happen, complain that the forecast was wrong．But the World Meteorological Organisation thinks we have something worth holding on to: it consistently rates the Met Office as one of the world's top two （Japan is also blessed with accurate forecasters）．

Perhaps that praise alone should make us think twice about selling off the Met Office．To me, however, there is an even more convincing reason．

For most of us, the weather doesn't matter much - generally, we do what we do, come rain or shine．Accurately forecasting and monitoring climate change, on the other hand matters to everybody．The idea of making that function a slave to market forces sends a cold front down my back．

1．The underlined words “a soft target” mean that the Met Office is_________________．

      A．deliberately chosen to survive the summer．

      B．easily chosen to be done away with．

      C．difficultly chosen to continue the forecasts．

      D．roughly chosen to be bought．

2．Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

      A．It is easy to get enough information to judge the quality of the forecast．

      B．The octopus’s prediction of a football match is more accurate than that of the weather．

      C．50 percent chance of climate change leaves people in trouble in their life．

      D．Japan is only the world’s top country in accurate forecasts．

3．The forecasts have received a number of complaints about _______________．

      A．the accuracy of the weather forecasts

      B．the management of the weather bureau（局）

      C．the organization of the weather agencies．

      D．the timing of the weather forecasts．

4．The author thinks that selling off the Met Office is ____________．

      A．unreasonable                          B．acceptable

      C．unavoidable                           D．legal