Mail carriers will be delivering some good news and some bad news this week.

The bad news: Stamp prices are expected to rise 2 cents in May to 41 cents, the Postal Regulatory Commission announced yesterday. The good news: With the introduction of a “forever stamp,” it may be the last time Americans have to use annoying 2-or-3-cent stamps to make up postage differences.

Beginning in May, people would be able to purchase the stamps in booklets of 20 at the regular rate of a first-class stamp. As the name implies, “forever stamps” will keep their first-class mailing value forever, even when the postage rate goes up.

The new “forever stamp” is the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) answer to the complaints about frequent rate increases. The May increases will be the fifth in a decade. Postal rates have risen because of inflation (通貨膨脹), competition from online bill paying, and the rising costs of employee benefits, including healthcare, says Mark Saunders, a spokesman for USPS.

The USPS expects some financial gain from sales of the “forever stamp” and the savings from not printing as many 2-or-3-cent stamps. “It’s not your grandfather’s stamp,” says Mr. Saunders. “It could be your great-grandchildren’s stamp.”

Other countries, including Canada, England, and Finland use similar stamps.

Don Schilling, who has collected stamps for 50 years, says he’s interested in the public’s reaction. “This is an entirely new class of stamps.” Mr. Schilling says. He adds that he’ll buy the stamps because he will be able to use them for a long period of time, not because they could make him rich — the volume printed will be too large for collectors. “We won’t be able to send our kids to college on these,” he says, laughing.

The USPS board of governors has yet to accept the Postal Regulatory Commission’s decision, but tends to follow its recommendations. No plans have been announced yet for the design of the stamps.

The main purpose of introducing a “forever stamp” is ______.

   A. to reduce the cost of printing 2-or-3-cent stamps

   B. to help save the consumers’ cost on first-class mailing

   C. to respond to the complaints about rising postal rates

   D. to compete with online bill paying

By saying “It could be your great-grandchildren’s stamp”, Mr. Saunders means that forever stamps ________.

   A. could be collected by one’s great-grandchildren

   B. might be very precious in great-grandchildren’s hands

   C. might have been inherited from one’s great-grandfathers

   D. could be used by one’s great-grandchildren even decades later

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

   A. The investment in forever stamps will bring adequate reward.

   B. America will be the first country to issue forever stamps.

   C. The design of the “forever stamp” remains to be revealed.

   D. 2-or-3-cent stamps will no longer be printed in the future.

What can be concluded from the passage?

   A. With forever stamps, there will be no need to worry about rate changes.

   B. Postal workers will benefit most from the sales of forever stamps.

   C. The inflation has become a threat to the sales of first-class stamps.

   D. New interest will be aroused in collecting forever stamps.

—My cat’s really fat.

—You _______ have given her so much food.

A.wouldn’t                   B.couldn’t                    C.shouldn’t                   D.mustn’t

Jim suffered heart problems.In conversation he expressed little joy and it seemed that his life was drawing to a close.

When his heart problems led to operation,Jim went through it successfully,and a full recovery was expected.Within days,however,his heart was not beating properly.Jim was rushed back to operation,but nothing was found to explain the cause of his illness.He died on the operating table on the day before his 48th birthday.

Dr.Bruce Smoller,a psychologist(心理學(xué)家),had had many conversations with him,and the more he learned,the stranger he realized Jim’s case was.When Jim was a child,his father,a teacher,suffered a heart attack and stayed home to recover.One morning Jim asked his father to look over his homework,promising to come home from school at noon to pick it up.His father agreed,but when Jim returned his father had died.Jim’s father was 48.

“I think all his life Jim believed he killed his father,”Dr. Smoller says.“He felt that if he had not asked him to look at his homework,his father would have lived.Jim had been troubled by the idea.The operation was the trial(判決) he had expected for forty years.”Smoller believes that Jim willed himself not to live to the age of 48.

Jim’s case shows the powerful role that attitude(態(tài)度) plays in physical health,and that childhood experiences produce far-reaching effect on the health of grown-ups.Although most cases are less direct than Jim’s,studies show that childhood events,besides genes,may well cause such midlife diseases as cancer,heart disease and mental illness.

Jim was sent back to operation because ______.

A.his heart didn’t work well

B.he expected a full recovery

C.his life was drawing to a close

D.the first one wasn’t well performed

What made Dr. Smoller feel strange about Jim’s case?

A.Jim died at a young age.

B.Jim died on the operating table.

C.Both Jim and his father died of the same disease.

D.Jim’s death is closely connected with his father’s.

From Smoller’s words,we can infer that ______.

A.Jim’s father cared little about his study

B.Smoller agreed that Jim did kill his father

C.Jim thought he would be punished some day

D.Smoller believed Jim wouldn’t live to the age of 48

Which of the following could have strong effect on one’s physical health according to the text?

A.a,b,d                                                            B.a,b,e

C.a,c,e                                                            D.b,c,d

I entered high school having read hundreds of books.But I was not a good reader.Merely bookish,I lacked a point of view when I read.Rather,I read in order to get a point of view.I searched books for good expressions and sayings,pieces of information,ideas,themes—anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated.When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a “complicated(復(fù)雜的) idea” until he had read at least two thousand books,I heard the words without recognizing either its irony(嘲諷) or its very complicated truth.I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read.Strict with myself,I included only once a title I might have read several times.(How,after all,could one read a book more than once?)And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length.(Could anything shorter be a book?)

There was yet another high school list I made.One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college.The article had a list of the “hundred most important books of Western Civilization.”“More than anything else in my life,”the professor told the reporter with finality,“these books have made me all that I am.”That was the kind of words I couldn’t ignore(忽視).I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles.Most books,of course,I hardly understood.While reading Plato’s The Republic,for example,I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about.However,with the special patience and superstition(迷信) of a schoolboy,I looked at every word of the text.And by me time I reached the last word,pleased,I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic,and seriously crossed Plato off my list.

On heating the teacher’s suggestion of reading,the writer thought ______.

A.one must read as many books as possible

B.a student should not have a complicated idea

C.it was impossible for one to read two thousand books

D.students ought to make a list of the books they had read

While at high school,the writer ______.

A.had plans for reading

B.learned to educate himself

C.only read books over 100 pages

D.read only one book several times

The underlined phrase “with finality” probably means ______.

A.firmly                                                                 B.clearly

C.proudly                                                               D.pleasantly

The writer’s purpose in mentioning The Republic is to ______.

A.explain why it was included in the list

B.describe why he seriously crossed it off the list

C.show that he read the books blindly though they were hard to understand

D.prove that he understood most of it because he had looked at every word

The writer provides two book lists to ______.

A.show how he developed his point of view

B.tell his reading experience at high school

C.introduce the two persons’ reading methods

D.explain that he read many books at high school

—Thank you for joining in our conversation tonight.

—_______.

A.It’s my duty                                                        B.It’s all right

C.It’s my pleasure                                            D.It’s nice to say so

—What does the sign over there read？

—“No person ___ smoke or carry a lighted cigarette,cigar or pipe in this area.”

A.will                                                             B.may

C.shall                                                            D.must

It is reported that two schools,____ are being built in my hometown,will open next year.

A.they both                                                     B.which both

C.both of them                                                 D.both of which

—Did you see a man in black pass by just now?

—No,sir.I ___ a newspaper.

A.read                                                             B.was reading

C.would read                                                   D.am reading

The drink is _____sugar and water .

A almost      B most      C mostly    D nearly

完形填空(共20小題；每小題1.5分，滿分30分)

閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題的A、B、C、D四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中，選出適合填入對(duì)應(yīng)空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。

I was having my dinner at McDonald’s one evening when an old couple slowly walked in.They   21   their meal,took a table near the window and started   22   food out of the plate.There was one hamburger,one order of French fries(炸薯?xiàng)l) and one drink.The man   23   the food into two halves and carefully placed   24   before his wife.

He took a sip(一小口) of the drink.His wife also took one and then   25   the cup down between them.“That   26   old couple!All they can   27   is one meal for the two of them,”thought I.   28   the man began to eat his French fries,I   29   to my feet,went over and said that I was   30   to buy another meal for them.But he   31   refused me and said that they made it a   32   to share everything.

_____33_____,the lady didn’t take a bite.She sat there   34   her husband eat,and taking turns(輪流) sipping the drink.Again I   35   to buy them something but was refused.When the man finished eating and was   36   his face with a napkin(紙巾),I   37    no longer stand it.I made an offer to them a third time.   38   being politely refused,I asked the lady   39   ,“Madam,why aren’t you eating?You said that you share everything.     40      is it that you are waiting for?”“The teeth,”she answered.

21.A.served                  B.requested            C.collected                   D.ordered

22.A.carrying               B.taking                C.fetching                    D.bringing

23.A.divided                 B.cut                     C.changed                    D.formed

24.A.it                         B.this                    C.that                           D.one

25.A.got                       B.settled                C.set                            D.turned

26.A.funny                   B.crazy                 C.strange                      D.poor

27.A.afford                  B.pay                    C.demand                     D.choose

28.A.While                   B.Since                 C.As                            D.Until

29.A.came                    B.struggled            C.rushed                       D.rose

30.A.anxious                B.willing               C.satisfied                    D.quick

31.A.warmly                B.proudly              C.kindly                       D.seriously

32.A.way                            B.habit                  C.case                          D.model

33.A.Surprisingly          B.Sadly                 C.Shockingly                D.Bitterly

34.A.seeing                  B.noticing             C.watching                   D.finding

35.A.wanted                 B.asked                 C.planned                     D.attempted

36.A.wiping                 B.touching             C.bathing                            D.washing

37.A.should                  B.could                 C.might                        D.would

38.A.In                        B.Upon                 C.After                        D.With

39.A.curiously                     B.carefully            C.naturally                   D.plainly

40.A.How                    B.Who                  C.Why                         D.What