I must have been about fourteen then, and I put away the incident from my mind with the easy carelessness of youth. But the words, Carl Walter spoke that day, came back to me years later, and ever since have been of great value to me.
Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.
"Do you practice in long stretches（一段时间）, an hour at a time?"
"I try to.”
"Well, don't,” he exclaimed. “When you grow up, time won't come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life."
When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but class periods, theme-reading, and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment, at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript（手稿）ready for revision, later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal（零碎的） method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were idle moments which could be caught and put to use. I even took up piano--playing again, finding that the small intervals of the day provided sufficient time for both writing and piano practice.
There is an important trick in this time--using formula: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing, you can't afford to waste it in chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.
I admit I have never learnt how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a tremendous influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I plunge in without delay.
1. What is the best title of this passage?
A. Concentrate on Your Work B. A Little at a Time
C. How I Became a Writer D. Good Advice
2. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The writer owes great thanks to his teacher for teaching him to work in long stretches.
B. Carl Walter has had a great influence on the writer’s life since he became a student.
C. The writer didn't take the teacher's words to heart at first.
D. Rapid concentration is actually more difficult than most people imagine.
3. The underlined part "counted on" can he replaced by____.
A. enriched B. concentrated C. valued D. expected
4. We can infer that the writer .
A. has new books published each year however busy his teaching is
B. is always tired of interruptions in life because his teaching schedule is always heavy
C. has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels
D. makes mental preparations beforehand, so he’s devoted to work instantly
A gray sweater hung limply on Tommy’s empty desk, a reminder of the depressed boy who had just followed his classmates from our third-grade room. Soon Tommy’s parents, who had recently separated, would arrive for a conference on his failing schoolwork and disruptive behavior. Neither parent knew that I had invited the other.
Tommy, an only child, had always been happy, cooperative and an excellent student. How could I convince his father and mother that his recent failing grades represented a broken-hearted child's reaction to his loved parent’s separation and divorce?
Tommy's mother entered and took one of the chairs I had placed near my desk. Soon the father arrived. Good! At least they were concerned enough to be on time. A look of surprise and anger passed between them, and then they pointedly ignored each other.
As I gave a detailed account of Tommy's behavior and schoolwork, I prayed for the right words to bring these two together, to help them see what they were doing to their son. But somehow the words wouldn't come. Perhaps if they saw one of his spotted, carelessly done papers.
I found a crumpled（压皱的）tear-stained sheet stuffed in the back of his desk, an English paper. Writing covered both sides—not the assignment, but a single sentence scribbled（潦草地写） over and over.
Silently I smoothed it out and gave it to Tommy's mother. She read it and then without a word handed it to her husband. He frowned. Then his face softened. He studied the scribbled words for a long time.
At last he folded the paper carefully, placed it in his pocket, and reached for his wife's outstretched hand. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled up at him. My own eyes were brimming(湿润的), but neither seemed to notice. He helped her with her coat and they left together.
In his own way God had given me the words to reunite that family. He had guided me to the sheet of yellow copy paper covered with the anguished outpouring（流露） of a small boy's troubled heart.
The words, "Dear Mother ... Dear Daddy ... I love you ... I love you ... I love you."
1. Which of the following word has the closest meaning to the word “disruptive”（Line3,Para.1） mean?
A. terrible B. careless C. cheerful D. good
2. What caused Tommy’s failing behavior and schoolwork fundamentally?
A. His parents’ ignorance of his education.
B. His parents’ separation and divorce.
C. His parents’ lacking love to him.
D. His parents’ firm administration to him.
3. What helped Tommy’s parents see their influence on their son?
A．A single sentence on a sheet of paper in his desk.
B．Tear stains on Tommy’s papers.
C．Tommy’s disruptive behavior.
D．A gray sweater.
4. You can infer from the passage that_________.
A. The teacher found suitable words to persuade Tommy’s parents reunite.
B. Tommy’s love to his parents saved their marriage and the whole family.
C. Tommy’s parents scheduled their time to come to school together.
D. A broken family might cause a child’s bad behavior and his shortage of love for others.
Adrian’s “Amazing Race” started early when his parents realized that he, as a baby, couldn’t hear a thing, not even loud noises. In a special school for the hearing-impaired，he learned sign language and got to mix with other disabled children. However, the sight of all the disabled children communicating with one another upset his mother. She wanted him to lead a normal life. So after speaking to an advisor, she sent him to private classes where he learned to read lips and pronounce words.
Later on, Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school. But the headmaster tried to prevent them from doing so, saying regular school couldn’t take care of a special needs student. His parents were determined to take the risk and push him hard to go through his work every day because they wanted to prove that, given the opportunity, he could do anything. Adrian made the grade and got accepted. It was a big challenge. The pace （节奏）was faster so he had to sit at the front of the class and really pay attention to the teacher, which wasn’t always easy. But he stuck to it and did a lot of extra work after school.
The efforts made by Adrian and his parents paid off. Adrian graduated with good grades and got into a top high school. He also achieved a lot in life outside school. He developed a love for the outdoors and went to Nepal to climb mountains. He even entered the World Yacht Race 05/06--- being the first hearing-impaired Asian to do so.
But none of these achievements would have been possible without one of the most important lessons from his mother.” “If you believe in yourself and work hard, you can achieve great results.” She often said.
1. How did Adrian communicate with other children in the special school?
A. By speaking. B. By using sign language
C. By reading lips D. By making loud noises
2. Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school because___________.
A. they wanted him to live a normal life
B. they wanted to prove the headmaster wrong
C. he wouldn’t mix with other disabled children
D. he wasn’t taken good care of in the special school
3. How did Adrian finally succeed in his study?
A. He did a lot of outdoor activities.
B. He was pushed hard to study every day.
C. He attended private classes after school.
D. He worked very hard both in and after class
4. Why is Adrian’s life described as an “Amazing Race”?
A. He did very well in his study
B. He succeeded in entering a regular school
C. He reached his goals in spite of his disability
D. He took part in the World Yacht Race 05/06
Margaret, married with two small children, has been working for the last seven years as a night cleaner, cleaning offices in a big building.
She trained as a nurse, but had to give it up when her elder child became seriously ill. “I would have liked to go back to it, but the shifts（工作班次） are all wrong for me, as I have to be home to get the children up and off to school.”
So she works as a cleaner instead, from 9 p.m. till 6 a.m. five nights a week for just ￡90, before tax and insurance. “It’s better than it was last year, but I still think that people who work ‘unsocial hours’ should get a bit extra.”
The hours she’s chosen to work meant that she sees plenty of the children, but very little of her husband. However, she doesn’t think that puts any pressure on their relationship.
Her work isn’t physically very hard, but it’s not exactly pleasant, either. “I do get angry with people who leave their offices like a place for raising pigs. If they realized people like me have to do it, perhaps they’d be a bit more careful.”
The fact that she’s working all night doesn’t worry Margaret at all. Unlike some dark buildings at night, the building where she works is fully lit, and the women work in groups of three. “Since I’ve got to be here, I try to enjoy myself——and I usually do, because of the other girls. We all have a good laugh, so the time never drags.”
Another challenge Margaret has to face is the reaction of other people when she tells them what she does for a living. “They think you’re a cleaner because you don’t know how to read and write,” said Margaret. “I used to think what my parents would say if they knew what I’d been doing, but I don’t think that way any more. I don’t dislike the work though I can’t say I’m mad about it.”
1. Margaret quit her job as a nurse because _______.
A. she wanted to earn more money to support her family
B. she had suffered a lot of mental pressure
C. she needed the right time to look after her children
D. she felt tired of taking care of patients
2. Margaret gets angry with people who work in the office because _______.
A. they never clean their offices B. they look down upon cleaners
C. they never do their work carefully D. they always make a mess in their offices
3. When at work, Margaret feels _______.
A. light-hearted because of her fellow workers B. happy because the building is fully lit
C. tired because of the heavy workload D. bored because time passed slowly
4. The underlined part in the last paragraph implies that Margaret’s parents would _______．
A. help care for her children B. regret what they had said
C. show sympathy for her D. feel disappointed in her
第四部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
People realize that, although animals may not have the same intelligence(智力)as human beings, they are smart enough to learn certain things.
Dogs are extremely useful as companions for blind people. When a dog has been properly trained, he will always lead his blind master in the right direction and keep him out of danger. For example, seeing-eye dogs learn never to cross a busy road when cars are coming, even if their master ordered them to do so.
Horses are also able to learn many things. Horses that are used for guard or police duty must learn never to be frightened of noises, traffic, and other disturbances. Racing horses are able to run much faster than other horses, but they are also quite high strung(易紧张). Therefore, it is necessary for those pepole who train them to be very patient and understanding.
The moving pictures and television can use trained animals too. Some animals, such as monkeys and foxes, are easy to film. All you have to do is to make a trail in front of the camera by dragging something that smells good to the animals over the ground. Big animals, such as lions and tigers, can be photographed as they bound happily back to their families and dinner. If a movie actior is nearby, the well-trained animal will pay no attention to him. However, the audience may imagine that the actor escaped a terrible death by the skin of his teeth.
1. Dogs who help blind people must learn_______.
A. to obey all orders B. to obey only safe orders
C. never to cross roads D. to cross road when ordered to do so
2. Race horses are hard to train because they are .
A. faster than other horses B. smaller than other horses
C. clever than other horses D. more nervous than other horses
3. What does “ make trail” mean here in the last paragraph?
A. place something to attract the aninmal B. give the animal a certain task
C. order the animal to do things D. follow the animal to hunt
4. Lions can be photographed easily when_______.
A. they are following a trial of something that smells good to them
B. they are returning to their families
C. they have been trained to work with other animals
D. they do not know a movies-actor is nearby
第三节 完形填空。（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
Terry was a middle-aged leather trader whose repeated failure in career made him a depressed man, often 36 that he had been cheated by others．One day he told his wife he was so 37 with the city that he had to leave．
So his family moved to another city．It was the evening of a weekend．When Terry and his wife were busily 38 up their new home, the light suddenly 39 ．Terry was regretful to have forgotten bringing along 40 and had to wait 41 in a low mood．Just then he heard light, hesitant 42 on his door that were clearly audible (听到) in the 43 night．
“Who’s it?” he wondered, since Terry was a 44 to this city．And this was the moment he especially hated to be 45 , so he went to the door and opened it 46 ．At the door was a little girl, shyly asking, “Sir, do you have candles? I’m your neighbor．” “No,” answered Terry in anger and shut the door 47 ．“What a nuisance（讨厌）!” he complained over it with his wife．“No sooner had we settled down than the neighbor came to 48 things．”
After a while, the door was knocked again．He opened it and found the same girl outside． 49 this time she was 50 two candles, saying, “My grandma told me the new neighbor downstairs might need candles．She 51 me here to give you these．” Terry was very 52 by what he saw．
At that moment he suddenly realized what caused his 53 in life．It was his 54 and harshness (刻薄) with other people．The person who had cheated him in life was 55 nobody else but himself, for his eyes had been blurred (蒙蔽) by his unsympathetic mind．
36. A. complaining B. reflecting C. praying D. pretending
37. A. inspired B. disappointed C. thrilled D. encouraged
38. A. looking B. turning C. coming D. tidying
39. A. went on B. went down C. went out D. went through
40. A. candles B. matches C. lights D. flashlights
41. A. happily B. patiently C. hopefully D. helplessly
42. A. steps B. words C. knocks D. screams
43. A. dark B. quiet C. noisy D. crowded
44. A. newcomer B. stranger C. guest D. settler
45. A. called B. disturbed C. watched D. offered
46. A. surprisedly B. delightedly C. impatiently D. willingly
47. A. gently B. kindly C. politely D. violently
48. A. lend B. sell C. purchase D. borrow
49. A. And B. But C. So D. For
50. A. holding B. hiding C. fetching D. seeking
51. A. suggested B. forbade C. sent D. forced
52. A. frightened B. pleased C. puzzled D. surprised
53. A. failure B. success C. complaint D. determination
54. A. warmth B. coldness C. kindness D. sympathy
55. A. doubtfully B. hardly C. really D. probably
