Farming was once the chief way of life in nearly every country. People cannot live without food, and nearly all their food comes from crops and animals raised on farms. Not many people farm for a living any more, but farming remains the most important work in the world.
Before the nineteenth century, the typical American family lived on a small farm. They raised pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, and planted corn, fruits, garden vegetables, and wheat. Everyone worked long and hard, but the results were often poor. Families barely harvested enough food for themselves. This situation began to change during the last half of the 1800's and it changed remarkably(明顯地) in the next century.
Scientific methods and labor-saving machinery have made farming increasingly productive. The development of improved plant varieties and fertilizers has helped double and even triple the production of some major crops. More scientific animal care and animal raising have helped increase the amount of meat and products that animals produce. At the same time, the use of tractors and other modern farm equipment has sharply reduced the need for farm labor.
As farming has become less important as a way of life in the United States, it has become more important as a source which offers materials to industry. Today's successful farmers are experts not just in agriculture but also in accounting, marketing, and finance. Farms that are not run in a similar way have great difficulty surviving.
1. We are told in the first paragraph about ____.
A. the history of farming                       B. the importance of farming  
C. the development of farming                  D. the changes of farming
2. Which of the following describes American farming before the 19th century?
A. Farmers didn’t work hard on their farms.  
B. Farmers used tractors to help them.
C. Farming was the main way of living for most people.
D. Farmers could supply materials to industry.
3. Crop production has increased greatly now thanks to all the following EXCEPT __.
A. scientific methods                 B. labor- saving machinery    
C. farmers’ hard work                 D. chemical fertilizers
4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A. Traditional American farming.            B. The increase in the number of crops in the US.
C. Modern farming methods.                D. American farmers’ hard work.
5. The passage mainly talks about_____.
A. the advantages of American farming      B. the changes in American farming 
C. the situation of American farms          D. how rapidly farming has developed

There were smiling children all the way. Charily they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Maiaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight, Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (擁抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
1. The author expected the train trip to be
A. adventurous  B. pleasant   C. exciting   D. dull
2. What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
A. The friendly country people.        B. The mountains along the way.
C. The crowds of people in the streets.    D. The simple lunch served on the train.
3. Which of the following words can best take the place of the word "relish" in the second
paragraph?    A. choose   B. enjoy    C. prepare for   D. carry on
4, Where was the writer going?
A. Johore Baru,   B. The Causeway.   C. Butterworth,   D. Singapore.
5. What can we learn from the story?
A, Comfort in traveling by train.   B. Pleasure of living in the country.
C. Reading gives people delight.    D. Smiles brighten people up.

There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, were to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penage. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia.I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train.I did not particularlf relish the long train joumey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar I sighed and sat down to read my Economics
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive, I decided to wave back.
From then on my joumey became imeresting.I threw my magazine into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life.Then everything came alive.The mountains seemed to speak to me.Even the trees were smiling.I stared t everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my wat ch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm.Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth I looked at the people all around me.They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrive with, I threw my around him to give him a warm hug.I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
1.The author expected the train trip to be__________.
A. adventurous        B. pleasnt              C. exciting             D. dull
2.What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
A. The friendly country people.
B. The mountains along the way.
C. The crowds of people in the streets.
D. The simple lunch served on the train.
3.Which of the following words can best take the place of the word“relish”in the second paragraph?
A. choose                       B. enjoy                       C. prepare for               D. carry on
4.Where was the writer going?
A. Johore Baru.              B. The Causeway.     C. Bunerworth.            D. Singapore.
5.What can we learn from the story?
A. Comfort in traveling by train.
B. Pleasure of living in the country.
C. Reading gives people delight.
D. Smiles brighten people up.

The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world’s supply of water. With 97% of the world’s water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage（短缺）seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfull country, many of the world’s agricultural industries experience constant water shortages.
Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seaons, the costs of water redistribution(重新分配)are very high. Notonly is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys(山谷)are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water many flow easily through pipes to fields,but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements.
This is particularly troubling ro countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation（灌溉）. In Texas, farmers’ overuse of irrigation water be resulted in a 25% redcution of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of south eastern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry vallege, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.
Saudi Arabia’s attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have been the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.
1. From the first two paragraphs we learnt that _______.
A.much of the world’s water is available for use
B.people in high rainfll countries feel lucky
C.the costs of water redistribution should be considered
D.water can be easily carried through pipes across the world
2.Which of the following is true?
A.The water  in Texas have been reduced by 75%.
B.Most industries in the world suffer from water shortagers.
C.The underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years.
D.Good management of water use resulted from the project in the Central Valley.
3.What is most likely to be discussed in the paragreh that follows?
A.Steps to improving water use managet.
B.Ways tor redjuce the costs of builing dams.
C.Measured to dmal with worldwide water shortages.
D.Appmihes to handling the pressure on water supply.
4.The text is mainly about____________.
A.water supply and increasing population
B.water use management and agriculture
C.water redistribution and wildlife protection
D.water shornages and environmental protection.

To err is human. To blame the other guy is even more human.
Common sense is not all that common.
Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?
These three popular misquotes(戲謔的引語)are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature .To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do .The original quote about human nature went like this:” To err is human, to forgive, divine(神圣的).”This saying mirrors an deal people should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite –find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a making of great maturity.
Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Commonsense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine．Common sense does not seem to be common for large organizations, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company,”the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”
And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people. get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary(直接推論)to that: if good excuse is “good”even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?
1. According to tile passage, which of following seems the most human?
A. To search for truth．                    B. To achieve one’s ideal
C. To make fun of others’mistakes．          D. To criticize others for one’s own error.
2．According to the author, what is a sign of a man’s maturity?
A．Doing things his own way.
B．Bearing responsibility for his mistakes.
C．Making as few mistakes as possible．
D．Thinking seriously about his wrongdoing.
3．Which of the following is N0T based on common sense?
A．A man tries to take charge of everything in a large company.
B．A student goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather.
C．A company’s next move follows a good plan．
D．A lawyer acts on fine judgments．
4. What is the author’s opinion about a good excuse?
A. Making a good excuse is sometimes a better policy.
B. Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas.
C. A good excuse is as rewarding as honesty.
D. Bitter truth is better than a good excuse.
5. What would be the best title for his passage?
A. A Mirror of Human Nature            B. To Blame or to Forgive
C. A Mark of Maturity                  D. Truth or Excuse

Signs in Chinese will be set up in public areas such as airports, to benefit Chinese travelers, the Italian Government announced in late February. Now many European countries are expected to follow this example.
Despite the different languages, travel across Europe has never been so simple. Just five years ago, if you wanted to visit Germany in the north and Spain in the south in one trip, you had to wait for weeks to apply for different visas from the two countries. You also needed a calculator because both countries had different money.
Today, with a Schengen Visa issued by any member country, you can travel across 15 European countries without stopping. Since 2002, within most of the EU, there is now just one type of money called the Euro. The Euro was designed to be the only money in the EU, and already makes it easier to shop around. If you drive, your driving license and car insurance policy are valid（有效的）in the other European countries. And you can use your mobile phone everywhere.
All the countries in the continent are melting into a united Europe under the EU. For Europeans and visitors, the result is that is more convenient to travel back and forth between the different countries. 
1.  What is the purpose of the passage?
A. To encourage us to travel across Europe.
B. To suggest that the whole world is melting into one like the EU.
C. To praise the tourism policy of the EU.
D. To introduce tourism conditions in the EU.
2. By saying the underlined sentence “Now many European countries are expected to follow this example”, the writer means that ________.
A. more signs will be set up in Chinese in European countries
B. more and more Europeans have a desire to know more about China
C. more and more Chinese people will go to travel across Europe
D. Chinese is now an important language in Europe
3. Compared to five years ago, traveling in Europe has become easier because ______.
A. you needn’t drive a car
B. you can use a calculator to exchange money
C. applying for different visas is much simpler
D. one visa is good enough for traveling in a number of countries
4. It can be inferred from the passage that _________
A. an increasing number of Chinese tend to travel to Europe
B. Chinese has become an important language in Europe
C. the Euro is the only money used in the EU now
D. it is always necessary to unite many countries into one

第二節(jié)  完形填空（共10小題；每小題1分，滿分10分）
閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從第30至第40小題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項(xiàng)中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。
Dear Sarah,
You have every right to feel betrayed by your friend if she did tell your secrets to others, but it seems  31  that she did. You say that you are best  32 ; well, best friends talk about their  33  and try to  34  them. If she is a good friend, you should apologize for blaming her.
 35  you still have doubts, you should think about why you don’t believe her. Was it because you were ashamed of your mark  36  your behavior? Did you feel jealous of your friend’s  37 ? If so, the problem  38  with you, not her. Try not to sound too proud of  39  when discussing your marks in front of others.
However, if you feel that she is very  40  at keeping secrets and likes to embarrass you in public, you had better find a new friend.
31. A. important       B. unlikely               C. necessary             D. unfair
32. A. students           B. players                 C. friends                        D. learners
33. A. problems                B. teachers                C. questions              D. studies
34. A. love               B. solve                    C. find                    D. help
35. A. As                  B. While                  C. Because                D. If
36. A. or                   B. and                      C. with                     D. along with
37. A. clothes            B. family                  C. parents                 D. marks
38. A. goes                B. fights                   C. deals                    D. lies
39. A. you                B. yourself                       C. them                    D. themselves
40. A. good               B. clever                  C. bad                      D. expert

B
YOU CAN HELP!
Everyone was born with his own built-in burglar(竊賊) alarm. It’s called the sense of sight and sound．Unfortunately, many of us go around with the alarm switched off.
We don’t see the stranger wandering outside the house next door.
We don’t notice the sounds from the flat upstairs.
(Weren’t they supposed to be on holiday?)
The police can only do so much to prevent crime. There never can be enough of them to guard every home in every town. So they need your help in fighting with the burglars，the vandals（恣意破壞者）, and the car thieves.
Not, of course, by setting out to have a go every time you see something suspicious. It’ll always be the job of the police to arrest criminals.
But by acting as a line of communication between them and your community, for instance, you probably know far more about your immediate neighborhoods than the police ever could.
A stranger in someone’s garden would probably be far more obvious to you than it would to even the local police, if, of course, you were on the look-out.
That’s the whole idea behind the Neighborhood Watch schemes, springing up around the country to create a spirit of watchfulness within a community, anything suspicious being reported to the police.
It’s early days yet, but results so far are very encouraging. The crime figures are already dropping in many of the areas running the scheme. And all due to people like you.
61. The underlined word “them” refers to “______”.
A. criminals          B. the police   C. neighbors   D. strangers
62. The advertisement points out that many people______.
A. are not ready to help the police   
B. are not as watchful as they could be
C. don’t look after their gardens well      
D. don’t tell their neighbors about their holidays
63. One of the ways we could help prevent crime is to______.
A. turn on the alarm system in our home 
B. try to stop criminals from escaping
C. look out for people behaving suspiciously 
D. inform the police if we hear noises upstairs
64. The purpose of the advertisement is to __________in their neighborhood.
A. ask people to join the police force
B. advise people how to protect their homes
C. warn people about the increasing risk of crime
D. encourage people to be on watch for possible crime

C
Have you noticed that the majority of human beings seem to focus on the negative? Bad news is often seen in the newspapers, television shows and magazines, but good news are often overlooked.
I saw a woman I was not very familiar with. She is a beautiful woman; every time I see her, I am struck by the smile on her face that can light up a whole room. So at one time I walked up to her and said, “You know, you are like liquid sunshine! Every time I see you, you give me so much joy.” I was not quite prepared for her reaction. She was blown away. Her eyes seemed about to shed tears, and she said, “That is so sweet! That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!” It was as if nobody had ever told her how beautiful her appearance was. I was extremely moved by the moment I had shared with this woman.
Why not take notice of the positive and spread a little sunshine? When you are looking for beauty, you will begin to see it more and more. When you discover it, don’t be afraid to appreciate it. Not only will it make them feel good, it will make you feel good as well. I truly believe the saying, “What goes around, comes around.” When you show kindness and sincerity, you will receive it back. You may even discover — much to your surprise — that you become the friend of someone you would never have expected to get along with.
65. The woman had tears in her eyes because __________.
A. the man’s behavior was so rude
B. she was nervous about the man’s words
C. the man told her the fact she didn’t know
D. she was so excited at the man’s praise
66. Which of the following can take the place of the underlined sentence in the third paragraph?
A. The wise appreciate one another. 
B. Respect yourself, or no one else will respect you.
C. There is kindness to be found everywhere.
D. Everybody should learn to praise others.
67. The best title for the passage probably is _____.
A. Pay attention to the positive   B. Everyone likes to be praised
C. Spread a little sunshine       D. Each of us has good points

第二節(jié)完形填空（共20小題；每小題1.5分，滿分30分） 
閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個選項(xiàng)（A、B、C、D）中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。
My wife and I moved into our home nine years ago. We16 a lot of time and 17  in the yard to get it looking the way it does today. We live on a corner, and the entire side of the yard is surrounded by a professionally built rock wall.
We did the best to cultivate(耕種) it and called this area our rock garden. 18   We had found flowers and plants, Denise or I will plant them, just to bring some 19 to the area.
Last summer I found a tiny little  plant that I could not immediately
20. I was sure that we didn’t plant it. We decided to let it 21 to grow until we could  22  what it was.
Weeks passed, and as I made my way back to the 23  plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I 24 to nurture(培育) it and weed around it. As I picked up rocks from the area to get to the 25, I noticed something 26 . The sunflower had not started to grow from where I first saw the stalks(莖）appear. 27  it had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to 28 the sun.
That's when I realized that if a tiny little sunflower wouldn't let a big rock stand in its way when growing up, then we have the29 to do the same.  30 we believe in ourselves, like that little sunflower, we can
31 the type of nourishment(營養(yǎng)）and growth. We need to believe in
32,  knowing that we have the ability to 33 our desires. If you stand all like the sunflower and are 34 of who and what you are, then the environment will begin to 35 you. You will find a way to go under or around your obstacles( 障礙）in order to reach your goals.
16. A. took         B. spent        C. cost         D. pay
17. A. strength     B. energy       C. power        D. force
18. A. However      B. When       C. Whenever     D. Whatever
19. A. weed         B. color        C. water        D. soil
20. A. classify      B. accept       C. clarify      D. identify
21. A. remain       B. prevent      C. continue     D. leave
22. A. figure out    B. hold out      C. stand out    D. try out
23. A. endangered   B. convenient    C. mysterious   D. enormous
24. A. refused      B. decided      C. adapted      D. proposed
25. A. seeds        B. stalks        C. rocks        D. weeds
26. A. unusual      B. common       C. fantastic    D. unnatural
27. A. Casually     B. Basically      C. Actually     D. Strangely
28. A. enlarge      B. expand       C. reach        D. spread
29. A. chance       B. choice       C. power        D. ability
30. A. What if      B. As far as      C. Only if      D. As long as
31. A. inspire      B. attain         C. lose         D. refuse
32. A. ourselves    B. yourselves     C. themselves   D. myself
33. A. preserve     B. comfort        C. achieve      D. suggest
34. A. ashamed      B. pride         C. proud        D. ambitious
35. A. ensure       B. support       C. satisfy      D. protect