第三部分：阅读理解(共20 小题;每小题2分，满分40分)

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.

Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished. For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns(角) had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today—a person who is new in a job.

Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds. A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.

The Green Revolution is the name given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural scientists who had green thumbs.

Green is also the color used to describe the powerful feeling----jealousy(嫉妒). The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play “Othello”. It describes the unpleasant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay rise and she does not.

56. Greenhorn now refers to ____.

A. a person who is new in a job B. a new solider

C. a young horse   D. None of above

57. A person who has a green thumb is a person ____.

A. who is good at growing plants  B. whose thumbs are in green color

C. whose garden is greener than others’ D. who is younger than his neighbors

58. The author is actually talking about ____.

A. colors B. language      C. politics D. agriculture

59. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. In about the 16th century, a greenhorn meant an experienced soldier.

B. The Green Revolution may have some connection with green thumbs.

C. The green-eyed monster was probably created by William Shakespeare.

D. The green-eyed monster can be used to describe a person who is jealous.

B

During the summer holidays there will be a revised schedule of services for the students. Changes for dining-room and library service hours and for bus schedules will be posted on the wall outside of the dining-hall. Weekly film and concert schedules, which are being arranged，will be posted each Wednesday outside of the student club.

In the summer holidays, buses going to the town center will leave the main hall every half hour during the day. The dinning-room will serve three meals a day from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. during the week and two meals from noon to 7:00 p.m. on weekends. The library will continue its usual hours during the week, but have shorter hours on Saturdays and Sundays. The weekend hours are from noon to 5:00 p.m.

All students who want to use the library borrowing services must have a new summer card. This announcement will also appear in the next week’s student newspaper.

60. The main purpose of this announcement is to______.

A. tell students of important schedule changes

B. tell students of new bus and library services

C. show the excellent services for students

D. ask students to renew their library cards

61. At which of the following times will the bus leave the main hall?

A. 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 B. 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 11:30

C. 8:30, 9:00, 9:30; 10:00 D.8:00, 9:30, 11:00, 12:30

62. In the summer holidays, the library will have______.

A. no special hours                      B. special hours on weekdays

C. special hours on weekends              D. special hours both on weekdays and weekends

63. We may infer that during the summer holidays______.

A. the student newspaper will sell more copies  B. there will be a concert or a film once a week

C .many students will stay in the university     D. no breakfast will be served on weekends

C

The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past. The three-day event is not fixed to the same dates each year，but generally takes place in November or December. It is well attended by tourists, but even better attended by locals.

During the opening ceremonies，after the official greetings from the government leaders，people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands(看台),and white camels transport their riders across the sands. Horsemen from different nations display(展示) their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship. One following another，groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture. Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs. On their knees in the sand，a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair：their long，dark，shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.

The local and visiting Italian dogs are anxious to run after hares. The crowd is on its feet for the camel races. Camels and riders run far into the distance，and then return to the finish line in front of the cheering people.

Towards the evening，there comes the grand finale of the opening day，an extremely exciting horserace. All the riders run very fast on horseback. Some riders hang off the side of their saddles(马鞍). Some even ride upside down---then legs and feet straight up in the air--- all at full speed. Others rush down the course together，men arm in arm，on different horses. On and on they went. So fast and so wonderful!

64. The Sahara Festival is a festival which________

A. has a very long history in North Africa

B. is held in the same place on the same day

C. is attended mainly by the people in the Sahara

D. is celebrated mostly by travelers from different countries

65. Before the races begin，_______ take part in the activities during the opening ceremonies.

A. musicians，dancers，dogs and hares

B. camel riders，musicians，dogs and hares

C. horsemen，dancers，camels and dogs

D. musicians，officials，camels and horses

66. The underlined word “finale” in the fourth paragraph most probably means the________ of the     opening day.

A. first part B. middle C. last part D. whole

67. This passage mainly tells readers________.

A. what happens on the opening day of the Sahara Festival

B. how people celebrate during the three-day Sahara Festival

C. what takes place at the closing ceremonies of the Sahara Festival

D. how animals race on the first and the last days of the Sahara Festival

D

I was reading these interesting stories behind a group of great logos in the world. Personally Nike is my favorite one it’s so simple. And I liked the stories behind them，which made me forget all other things. McDonald’s，Apple and Mercedes Benz own great logos as well，and they are among my very favorites.

Nike

In the Greek myth，Nike is the goddess of victory and the source of inspiration for soldiers. This logo represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek goddess. Nike’s logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971 for$35，and was registered as a trademark in 1995.

McDonald’S

The logo was designed in 1962 by Jim Schindler like the arch-shaped signs on the side of the company’s then a walk-up hamburger stand. Later on，the two golden arches were combined together to form the M. The McDonald’s name was added to the logo in 1968.

Apple

There are different stories behind Apple’s logo. The first logo was a reference to the religious story of Adam and Eve，in which the apple represented the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. One year later，the second logo was designed in 1977 by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne，and it described Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. This logo didn’t stay long. One year later it was replaced almost immediately by Rob Janoff’s“rainbow apple”，a rain bow-colored silhouette(轮廓)of an apple with a bite taken out of it. And then the rainbow-colored apple was replaced by the one-colored logo in 1998.It has not been changed so far.

Mercedes Benz

The Mercedes Benz logo，which was originally created by Gottlieb Daimlar in 1909，consists of a simple description of a three-pointed star that represents its rule of the land，the sea and the air. The company was founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. Mercedes is the name of Maybach’s elder daughter，while Benz came as a result of a combination with Benz&Cie. and DMG.

68. What does the author think of the stories of the great logos?

A. They are boring.                 B. They are out of date.

C. They are attractive.              D. They are practical.

69.What does Nike’s logo stand for?

A. The goddess of victory.          B. The source of inspiration for soldiers.

C. The statue of the Greek goddess.  D. The wing of the Greek goddess.

70.We can learn that Apple’s present logo is ______.

A. the religious story of Adam and Eve B. a bitten apple with only one color

C. Newton’s sitting under an apple tree D. the rainbow-colored bitten apple

71.Which of the following time orders describes the births of the great logos?

A. Mercedes Benz—McDonald’s—Nike—Apple

B. Nike一McDonald’s—Apple—Mercedes Benz

C. McDonald’s—Apple—Nike—Mercedes Benz

D. Nike—Mercedes Benz—McDonald’s—Apple

E

You wake up in the morning, the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then, the telephone rings, you say hello, and the drama starts. The person on the other end has a depressing (令人沮丧的) tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to. Are you still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!

Communicating with negative people can wash out your happiness. It may not change what you think，but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.

Life brings ups and downs，but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer.  They only feel glad when they make others feel bad. No wonder they can hardly win others’pity or respect.

When you communicate with positive people，your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted. When the knife of a negative person is put in you，you have the heavy feeling that all in all，brings you down.

Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people. This could be a co-worker，or a relative. In this case，say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to the negative person，but all this does is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that.

Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized. The negative words of another at the start of the day can attach to you throughout the rest of your day，which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness. Life is too short to feel negative. Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible.

72.The purpose of the first paragraph is to_________.

A. make a comparison        B. offer an suggestion

C. introduce a topic               D. describe a daily scene

73.How can negative people have effect on us?

A. By influencing our emotion. B. By telling us the nature of life.

C. By changing our way of thinking. D. By comparing their attitude to life with ours.

74. Some negative people base their happiness on_________.

A. other people’s pity for them    B. making other people unhappy

C. building up a positive attitude       D. other people’s respect for them

75.According to the passage，to reduce negative people’s influence on us，we are advised________

A. to change negative people’s attitude to life

B. to show our dissatisfaction to negative people

C. to make negative people feel ashamed of themselves

D. to communicate with negative people as little as possible

高2012级半期考试英语答题卷

第Ⅱ卷(共35分)

单词拼写：(共5小题;每小题1分，满分5分)根据句意和所给的汉语或首字母填写单词。

76. Seine River and its branches form the chief_________(商业的)waterway of France.

77. Coral is often used for making _________ (珠宝).

78. Getting rich seems to be her only p________ in life.

79. The food is very t_________, and they all eat it happily.

80. Both parents and teenagers must try to bridge the g_________ gap between them.

短文改错：(共10小题;每小题1分，满分10分)

Have you ever heard Angel Falls? It is           81._________

the highest waterfall in the world, deep in          82._________

the jungles of Venezuela. Few has ever seen        83._________

Angel Falls. That is very hard to get there.          84._________

If you went on land, you would have to travel        85._________

for weeks across thick jungles. If you went          86._________

by plane, it would spend about four hours. No       87.¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬_________

one knew about this high waterfall since 1930.       88._________

In that year, James Angel, American pilot,           89._________

flew over the area. Suddenly he saw a waterfall,

that seemed to drop straight from the clouds.         90._________

书面表达：(满分20分)

假设你是某中学学生会主席李华，你校与本地一所国际学校经常举办联谊活动。你计划在重阳节组织学生到养老院去慰问老人，拟邀请国际学校的学生参加。请你根据以下内容要点给国际学校的学生会主席Tony 写一封信。

要点：1. 向老人赠送礼物(鲜花、自制贺卡......);

2. 为老人提供服务(做清洁、陪老人聊天......);

3. 为老人表演节目(唱歌、跳舞......)。

注意：1. 词数为100左右;

2. 信的开头和结尾已为你写好(不计入你所写词数);

3. 已给出的信的开头和结尾不得照抄。

Dear Tony,

Chongyang, the traditional Chinese festival for the elderly, is coming around. We are planning to visit the Nursing Home to celebrate the special day, and we would like to invite students from your school to join us.

_____________________________________________________________

Looking forward to your early reply.

Yours,

Li Hua