C

When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who has wings of their own and who will fly with me.

When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say, “Let’s start with a train whistle(鸣笛)today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changing into social persons and the stories and poems stopped.

When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend. He was in despair(失望)and I was in despair, too. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not travel over this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.

For almost four years I have had a great friend whose imagination brightens mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind.

It is such comforting companions(陪伴)I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist, who will only fill up the healing silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be with my own best friend.

53. We can infer from Paragraph 2 that the writer ______ finally.

A. wasn’t serious about her studies

B. didn’t like writing poems or stories

C. became popular with her classmates

D. developed her proper social behaviors

54. The underlined sentence “We gave London to each other” probably means ______.

A. our tour in London was a memorable gift to both of us

B. our unpleasant feeling about London disappeared

C. we were unwilling to stay away from London

D. we waved goodbye to each other in London

55. What is the best title for the passage?

A. Unforgettable Experiences.

B. Unbelievable Imagination.

C. Touching Companions.

D. Lifelong Friendship.

D

Carmen Arace Middle School is situated in the pastoral town of Bloomfield, Conn., but four years ago it faced many of the same problems as inner-city schools in nearby Hartford: low scores on standardized tests and dropping enrollment(入学注册). Then the school’s hard-driving headmaster, Delores Bolton, persuaded her board to shake up the place by buying a laptop computer for each student and teacher to use, in school and at home. What’s more, the board provided wireless Internet access at school. Total cost: $2.5 million.

Now, an hour before classes start, every seat in the library is taken by students who cannot wait for getting online. Fifth-grade teacher Jen Friday talks about different kinds of birds as students view them at a colorful website. After school, students on buses pull laptops from backpacks to get started on homework. Since the computer arrived, enrollment is up 20%. Scores on state tests are up 35%.

Indeed, school systems in rural Maine and New York City also hope to follow Arace Middle School’s example. Governor Angus King had planned using $50 million to buy a laptop for all of Maine’s 17,000 seventh-graders – and for new seventh-graders each fall.

In the same spirit, the New York City board of education voted on April 12 to create a school Internet portal(入口), which would make money by selling ads and licensing public school students. Profits(盈利)will also provide e-mail service for the city’s 1.1 million public school students. Profits will be used to buy laptops for each of the school system’s 87,000 fourth-graders. Within nine years, all students in grades 4 and higher will have their own computers.

Back in Bloomfield, in the meantime, most of the kinks have been worked out. Some students were using their computers to visit unauthorized(非法的)websites. But teachers have the ability to keep an eye on where students have been on the Web and to stop them. “That is the worst when they disable you,” says eighth-grade honors student Jamie Bassell. The habit is rubbing off on parents. “I taught my mom to use e-mail,” says another eighth-grader, Katherine Hypolite. “And now she’s taking computer classes. I’m so proud of her!”

56. The example of Carmen Arace Middle School in the passage is used to ______.

A. show the problems schools are faced with today

B. prove that a school without high enrollment can do well

C. express the importance of computers in modern education

D. tell that laptops can help improve students’ school performance

57. According to the writer, students in New York City’s public schools will ______.

A. enjoy e-mail service in the near future

B. make money by selling ads on websites

C. all have their own laptops within nine years

D. become more interested in their studies with laptops

58. The underlined word “kinks” in the last paragraph most probably means ______.

A. plans         B. projects       C. problems      D. products

59. From the passage we learn that ______.

A. a school Internet portal is the key to a laptop program

B. the laptop program also has a good influence on parents

C. students slowly accept the fact their online activities controlled

D. the laptop program in public school is mainly for the eighth-graders

七、阅读还原句子(共8分，每小题2分)

阅读下面短文，从短文后方框中所给的五个句子中选出四个，分别填入文中相应的序号后，使短文语义连贯，结构完整。

Have you ever received a gift that was so clearly not your taste? Worse, have you ever given a present and watched your friend look as though she had opened the wrong box? 60. __________? And what do your choices tell about your personal qualities(品质)?

61. __________. It calls for empathy—the ability to put yourself into someone else’s head and heart. We’re all able to do this; in fact, we’re born with a kind of natural empathy. 62. __________. When it isn’t, we’re not able to understand other people’s feelings sharply.

Think back to the presents you’ve given over the past year, the time and effort you put into your selection, how much you spent, your thoughts while you were shopping, and your feelings when the receiver opened the package. Keep in mind that what you choose shows your inner world.

We live in a society where exchanging presents is an important part of communication. Passing over the tradition won’t make it go away. 63. __________, tell your friends ahead of time.

A. When do you send a right gift

B. However, it needs to be developed

C. If you really dislike such a tradition

D. Why do presents sometimes go wrong

E. Choosing the right gift is an art, I believe

八、阅读与表达(共10分，每小题2分)

阅读短文，根据其内容回答问题。

When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be very difficult to let your anger go off. But forgiveness(原谅)is possible – and it can be surprisingly helpful to your physical and mental health. Indeed, research has shown that people who forgive can have more energy, better appetite and better sleep. “People who forgive show less anger and more hopefulness,” says Dr. Frederic Luskin, who wrote the book Forgive for Good. “So it can help save on the damage to our system and allow people to feel more energetic.”

So when someone has hurt you, cool down first. Take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, someone you love. Don’t wait for an apology(道歉). “Many times the person who hurt you may never think of apologizing,” says Dr. Luskin. “They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don’t see things the same way. So if you wait for people to say sorry, you could be waiting a very long time.”

Next keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean accepting the action of the person who worries you. Mentally going over your hurt gives power to the person who brought you pain. Instead, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you.

Finally, try to see things from the other person’s perspective(看法). You may realize that he or she was acting out of knowledge, fear – even love. To get perspective, you may want to write a letter to yourself from that person’s point of view.

64. What’s the name of Dr. Frederic Luskin’s book?

65. According to the writer, what should you do first after being hurt?

66. Why does Dr. Luskin advise us not to wait for an apology after being hurt?

67. What’s the writer’s idea to get perspective?

68. What does the writer mainly want to tell us in the passage?

书面表达(共25分)

九、完成句子(共10分，每小题2分)

根据中文意思完成句子。

69. 你今晚愿意和我一块去参加晚会吗?

?     ______ go to the party with me tonight?

70. 姐姐语文和英语学得一样好。

My sister studies Chinese ______ English.

71. 我们正盼望着寒假呢。

We ______ the winter holiday.

72. 当球迷们听到这个好消息时，都兴奋得无法入睡。

?     The football fans were ______ fall asleep when they heard the good news.

73. 他仅用了3天时间就写完了这篇小说。

?     It ______ the novel.

十、文段表达(15分)

根据中文大意和英文提示词语，写出意思连贯、符合逻辑、不少于60词的短文。所给英文提示词语供选用。请不要写出你的真实姓名和校名。

74. 在你成长的过程中，难免会遇到父母外出，你独自在家的情况。某国际学校的英语论坛正在举办关于这个话题的讨论，请你发一个帖子参与交流，谈谈父母外出时，你自己度过的一次经历，并就此事谈谈你的感想和体会。

提示词语：out, alone, cook, come back, happy, take care of, depend on