“To see what happens,” said Liz, “We simply enjoy life with open communication.”

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, they decided to walk from New York City to Washington, a 270-mile trip. They found they loved talking to people along the way and wanted to continue talking with strangers after their return.

“It started as a crazy idea,” Liz said. “We were so curious about all the strangers walking by with their life stories. People will talk to us about anything: their jobs, their clothes, their childhood experiences, anything.”

Denise wanted to talk about an exam she was about to take. She had stopped by for the second time in two days, to let the two listeners know how it went.

Marcia had lost her husband in a serious disease, “That was very heavy on my mind,” Marcia said. “To be able to talk about it to total strangers was very good,” she explained.

To celebrate a year of talking, the two held a get-together in a city park for all the people they had met over the past year. A few hundred people showed up, as well as some television cameramen and reporters.

They may plan more parties or try to attract more people to join their informal talks. Some publishers have expressed interest in a book, something they say they’ll consider.

48What did Liz and Bill start doing after September 2001?

A. Chatting with people. B. Setting up street signs.

C. Telling stories to strangers. D. Organizing a speaker’s corner.

49.What they have been doing can be described as __________.

A. pointless B. normal C. crazy D. successful

50.Why are Denise and Marcia mentioned in the text?

A. They knew Liz and Bill very well.

B. They happened to meet the writer of the text.

C. They organized the get-together in the city park.

D. They are examples of those who talked to Liz and Bill.

51.What will Liz and Bill do in the future?

A. Go in for publishing. B. Do more television programs.

C. Continue what they are doing. D. Spend more time reading book三.语法填空

Do you know anything about Diane Birch? She is a young singer 48 whose music takes listeners back to the soul and pop music of the 1970s. She spent her childhood 49 in moving from one place to another, she had settled in several countries 50 before her parents finally moved back to the USA.

Diane Birch started learning to play 51 the piano when she was about seven years old. When she moved back to the United States, she did not know much about popular culture. What she did know was classical music and religious songs. She learned all kinds of music, 52like/including jazz, rock and folk and she taught herself how to play 53 them .

Diane Birch moved to Los Angeles when she was 54 old enough to live independently. She later decided to take a singing class, 55 where she could perform the music she had been writing since an early age. The songs she posted on her MySpace page caught attention of the music industry and led to a record deal.

四.

C

“You know, these cups bring to mind a tea quote(说法) I heard.” Mary’s aunt said.

She poured tea. There were four of them and there were four totally different cups on the table.

They took their tea cups.

“What quote?” Mary asked.

“Well, maybe I should rather say it is a story,” aunt said, “I heard that there was a wise teacher who took all his students for tea. They were surprised that all the cups on the table were different. Each of them took a cup and started drinking their tea, each looking at the cups of others. The teacher let them do that for a while and then said,‘Do you notice your behavior? You are all looking at each other’s tea cup and I can see some of you with the broken ones are even envious(羡慕的) of the finer cups of others. Is this not so?’ ”

The students agreed, amused by their own behavior.

“You may have wondered why you all had different cups, but I put them here on purpose. You see they represent (代表) life itself. Life is like that tea and the cups are like the physical circumstances(状况) of your life. You all got the same thing in your cups — tea. And yet you can not truly enjoy it in your envy of another’s cup. It’s just the same with life. You forget to enjoy your own life when you concentrate on envying the circumstances of someone else’s life.

So now, close your eyes, and taste your own tea. Really taste it. And tell me — did it matter from which cup it came from?”

Aunt finished telling her short tea story and they all sat in silence for a while, tasting their tea. A sleepy fly buzzed(嗡嗡作响) past, a bird sang in the tree. And it really did not matter one bit from which tea cup they drank.

71. When the students found they had different tea cups, they_____________.

A. were satisfied with their own cup

B. were angry about the broken cups they had been given

C. asked the teacher to get new cups for them

D. were curious about the difference between the cups

[答案] D。A, B和C都是原文中没有提到的。

72. From the text, we know that _____________.

A. the teacher prepared different tea cups for each student

B. the teacher should have given the students the same cups

C. the teacher made the tea cups different by mistake.

D. each student took their time to choose a cup they liked

[答案] A。B, C和D都是原文中没有提到的。

73. According to the passage, by comparing the cups to the physical circumstances of people’s life, the teacher meant that people_______.

A. should try different ways of life

B. shouldn’t focus on envy others’ physical circumstances

C. can never change their physical circumstances

D. should work hard for a better life

[答案] B。在文章的倒数第三段可以找到答案。