58. Obama delivered this speech in order to __________.

A. do away with violent crimes taking place in schools

B. encourage people to love their families and friends

C. state the government’s determination to ensure safety in schools

D. call on people to unite and help those who are suffering from the tragedy

59. Which best describes Obama’s tone (腔调) in the speech?

A. Anxious.                  B. Sorrowful.           C. Sharp.                      D. Faithful.

B

Beatles’ music lives on

The news that albums by the pop and rock band The Beatles(披头士乐队)are soon to be re-released worldwide is sure to delight their fans, or rather their new fans. The teenagers, now adults, who listened to them back in the 1960s likely already own most of their albums.

The re-release of The Beatles’ music catalogue(目录)is clearly aimed at today’s teenagers who want to discover for themselves the pop band their parents loved. It’s proof of the genius(天才)of the fantastic four’s music that today’s teenage generation want to listen to them.

A four-member band from Liverpool, England, that formed in 1960 and broke up in 1970, The Beatles were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed(称赞)bands in the history of popular music. The two most famous band members were Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

The band’s innovative(创新的)music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still clear today. When the US music magazine Rolling Stone made a list in 2004 of the 100 greatest artists of all time, it surprised no one that they gave The Beatles the top spot of number one.

So why nearly 40 years after the band’s split are they still so popular? According to Barry Miles, Sir Paul McCartney’s biographer(传记作者), the answer is that they were the first of their kind. “They were essentially(本质上)the first rock band. The Beatles were the first of the British singer-songwriting bands and they just happened to be the best. They were the first band to play stadiums, to have their own products, they were ground-breaking in every way,” he says.

They were also unbelievably talented, as Miles also points out, “They had great performing and songwriting talent, not only John and Paul, but George wrote some fantastic songs and the chance of having three gifted songwriters in the same band is very remote.”

60. The re-release of The Beatles’ albums is intended for __________.

A. all The Beatles’ fans            B. today’s teenagers’ parents

C. today’s teenage generation       D. those who were teenagers in the 1960s

61. What’s the purpose of the fourth paragraph?

A. To highlight The Beatles’ uniqueness.      B. To show The Beatles’ great influence.

C. To introduce The Beatles’ achievements.    D. To explain why The Beatles remain popular.

62. The Beatles broke through in the following ways EXCEPT that __________.

A. they were the first rock band

B. they were the first band to perform in stadiums

C. they were the first band to perform all around the world

D. they were among the first British bands to have several songwriters

63. What can we conclude after reading the passage?

A. The Beatles had a successful start but an unhappy ending.

B. It’s not rare for a band to have several talented songwriters.

C. The band’s fans in the 1960s have lost interest in The Beatles today.

D. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote many of the songs for the band.

C

About 15 years ago, readers of The Independent, a daily national newspaper, were asked by its travel journalists what they missed when they were away from home, and what they looked forward to when they returned. Apart from “family”, “friends” and “favorite foods”, many people mentioned “the Sunday newspapers” and “the crossword puzzle”.

It’s certainly true that among their many hobbies, the English enjoy words, above all reading them and playing with them. Reading books is one of the most popular relaxation activities, with approximately 100,000 books a year published. Over 80 per cent of the population regularly read a daily newspaper, and there are more newspapers per person than any other country except Japan. The weekend newspapers generally contain hundreds of pages, and even the most popular hobbies — fishing, stamp collecting, train-spotting, bird-watching, walking, sports, pets, flower-arranging, knitting and pigeon-fancying — have at least one, if not several specialist magazines, devoted to them. In fact, many people probably spend more time reading about their hobbies than actually doing them.

It’s also undoubtedly true that word games, puzzles and competitions are hugely popular in newspapers, on the radio and even on television. One of the most popular television games in the 1980s and 1990s was “Call My Bluff” where two teams of players had to guess which of three meanings of an unfamiliar word was correct. In many cases newspapers have a word games section, such as a “Words within Words” competition where the aim is to make as many words as possible with the letters of a single word. Above all, crossword puzzles are the most familiar word game, with clues ranging from words which have the same meaning as other words, to the “Cryptic” where the meaning of the word is expressed in a very indirect way, and in a variety of linguistic(语言学的) and cultural references. Apparently, some people choose their newspaper not because of the quality of the news coverage but because of the crossword puzzle.

You may think that you would need an excellent command of the English language to enjoy playing with words as much as the English do. But many of the word games are very simple and good fun, and in fact, the only skill you must have is to speak and listen or read and write a little.

64. What does the underlined word “one” in Paragraph Two refer to?

A. a magazine       B. a person        C. a page         D. a hobby

65. How many types of word games are mentioned in the passage?

A. 2               B. 3              C. 4              D. 5

66. The best title for the passage may be __________.

A. A love of words                    B. A description of hobbies

C. An account of word games            D. An introduction of newspapers

67. What is the author’s purpose of writing the article?

A. To encourage readers to read newspapers.

B. To tell readers the functions of the newspaper.

C. To report the result of a survey by The Dependent.

D. To entertain readers with what is written in the article.

D

Five-year-old Joe Brown isn’t backward at coming forward about what he thinks of his big sisters, Rosie and Matilda.

“They’re horrible and ugly,” he said, with a grin(冷笑). “Horrible and ugly.”

Then again, his sisters aren’t always over-fond of their young brother, either.

“When Joe was born, Matilda said she was going to kill him before he was three because she really envied him,” said the eldest, 13-year-old Rosie. “She used to get all the special attention and now she doesn’t any more.”

As for Matilda, 11, she too can be quite cruel. “Joe’s the one that’s most annoying,” she said.

It’s somehow certain to know that kids act the same no matter who their parents are — in this case actors Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward.

And the couple agreed to let their children have freedom when it came to them participating in a Telling-the-Truth ABC TV program about brothers and sisters. The TV program invites an American expert on the subject, Frank J. Sulloway, who tells how our personalities are often shaped by our order of birth, position in the family and relationships between brothers and sisters.

First-borns tend to be conservative(保守的), ambitious and close to their parents. Those coming later have to make a conscious effort to be different in order to successfully compete for their parents’ attention. As a result, the youngest children tend to end up history’s great risk-takers, rebels(叛逆者)or movers and shakers.

“This kind of relationships is really the key personality-forming relationships of all our lives,” said Ms Sauers, a secondary school teacher. “The relationships are generally the longest relationships we have; they go from childhood to old age.”

“A lot of people feel those relationships really ground them because, with brothers and sisters, you can’t get away with anything bad.”

“As for Joe, Rosie and Matilda, their daily battles over clothes, musical instruments, who performs best in sport and parental love are as regular as any other kids.”

“And considering who their mum and dad are, they’re very normal and unaffected.”

68. What do the underlined words “ground them” mean?

A. monitor them       B. surround them      C. keep them       D. worry them

69. Which of the following is wrong according to the passage?

A. Children envy each other and can’t get along well enough.

B. Joe, Matilda and Rosie’s parents are mentioned in the passage.

C. Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward are the three children’s parents.

D. Actors Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward are asked to act Joe, Matilda and Rosie’s parents.

70. What’s the readers’ impression about Joe Brown after reading the passage?

A. Joe Brown doesn’t like to go back when he comes to see his big sisters Rosie and Matilda.

B. The little brother Joe Brown is a little backward compared with his big sisters.

C. Joe Brown is ready to say something ill about his big sisters.

D. Young as Joe Brown is, he isn’t forward and actually is as backward as his big sisters.

第Ⅱ卷(两部分，共 35 分)

第四部分 任务型阅读(共10小题;每小题1分，满分10分)

请认真阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中第71至第80小题的空格里填入最恰当的单词。注意：每个空格填1个单词。

Called the “embodiment(化身)of pure intellect(智力)”, Albert Einstein has long been considered one of the most brilliant men who ever lived. During his life, and ever since his death, people everywhere have wondered how one man could have possessed such genius.

Now, over 50 years since he died, a new study by Falk of Florida State University, US, has uncovered more about the physicist’s brain, thanks to some newly presented photos.

When Einstein died in 1955 at the age of 76, a scientist named Thomas Harvey removed Einstein’s brain and preserved it. Harvey sliced(切片)the brain into hundreds of pieces and took 14 photos from several angles. Harvey showed these brain slices to the public, but kept the photos private.

The displayed brain slices allowed scientists a glance into the source of Einstein’s genius, but the findings were very limited. In 1999, for example, researchers at McMaster University, US, compared Einstein’s brain with those of about 90 normal people and found that “one area of his brain was significantly different from most people’s”.

Three years after Harvey died, his family finally donated the 14 photos to the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington DC in 2010. Falk and her team began analyzing the photos in 2011 and have made out several previously unrecognized unusual things.

In the new study, published Nov 16 in the magazine Brain, Falk found that the size and shape of Einstein’s brain are both normal, but the brilliant physicist had extra folding in his brain’s gray matter, which is responsible for conscious thinking. Scientists believe that more folding creates more connections between distant brain cells, allowing one to make mental leaps(跳跃)more easily.

In addition, a part called the frontal lobes(脑前叶), which plays a key role in abstract(抽象)thought, also had unusual folding. This may have helped Einstein develop the theory of relativity.

“He did thought experiments where he’d imagine himself riding alongside a beam of light, and this is exactly the part of the brain one would expect to be very active in such thought experiments,” Falk told Live Science.

However, scientists are still puzzled: Was Einstein’s brain extraordinary from birth or did years of pondering(思索)physics make it that way? Falk believes both played a role. “He was born with a very good brain, and he had the kinds of experiences that allowed him to develop the potential he had,” she said.

Look into Einstein’s mind

71  for the study ◆Albert Einstein is considered one of the most brilliant men worldwide.

◆People everywhere always wonder   72   could make a man with such genius.

Harvey’s contributions ◆Harvey took out and   73   Einstein’s brain when he died.

◆Harvey cut the brain into pieces and showed them to the public, but he kept private the   74   he had taken.

Researchers’ findings from the brain slices ◆There are significant   75    between Einstein’s brain and most other people’s in some area.

Donation of Harvey’s family  ◆After Harvey died, his family donated the 14 photos, which helped   76  more about Einstein’s brain.

Falk’s findings ◆Einstein had far more folding in his brain’s gray matter, which is in   77    of conscious thinking.

◆  78  , Einstein had unusual folding in the frontal lobes, which plays a key role in abstract thought.

A new   79   of the scientists Was Einstein born with the extraordinary brain or did he   80   it through his scientific work?

第五部分 写(共三节，满分25分)

第一节 单词拼写(共10小题;每小题 0.5分，满分5分)

根据首字母或中文提示完成句子，每空一词。

81. It is amazing that the little girl could swim across the river m_________ 150 meters wide.

82. You have every reason to feel b_________ by your friends if they did let out your secrets to others.

83. No one knows what e_________ the GM material might have on the food chain.

84. You can’t take photos here without p_________.

85. Our school football team’s _________ (表现) in the match greatly encouraged us.

86. The New Year Concert is usually broadcast _________(现场直播).

87. They set up some _________ (临时的) shelters to house the victims of the floods.

88. Considering the injuries he’s had in the accident, there is little _________(期待)of him showing up at our party.

89. It is still not clear who will fill the _________ (空缺的) position when the manager retires.

90. China has a _________ (稳定的) government, which is very important for its economic growth.

(以下两项由各学校自主命题，共20分)

第二节 汉译英，完成句子(共5小题;每小题1分，满分5 分)

根据所给的汉语提示完成句子。

91. The couple were very poor, so they _______________________________ spending money(谨慎花钱).

92.When people think of factories, they think of clouds of dirty smoke or of pipes _______________________________ rivers(向河流倾泻化学废物的管道).

93.When my chance came, I really ________________________________________ (在……之间感到为难)further education and beginning to work.

94.The Plains Indians believe that the Great Spirit has no trouble _____________________________(控制) all things including animals, trees, stones and clouds.(用短语完成该句)

95.In that remote mountainous area , there is often one teacher to teach all the children even though they____________________________________.(年龄不同)

第三节 书面表达(满分15分))

据报道，为了应对网络有害信息，北京展开了一项活动，选出60个母亲为“Mom Jury”，让她们参与到整顿不良网站的活动中。请你根据下表提供的有关信息，用英语写一篇短文。

背景 网民日益年轻化;网上不良信息很多

任务 举报不良网站;提出建议;督促政府部门采取措施等

效果 一个月后，许多不良网站被关闭

你的看法 1.

2.

…

注意：

1.逐一陈述以上所给要点，可适当发挥，不要简单翻译;

2.词数：150左右;

3.参考词汇：网民netizen.

注意：词数150。开头已为你写好，不计入总词数。

As is known to all,  the internet is becoming more and more popular in our daily life. _____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________