The year 2009 is the Year of Ox. The ox is a representative of the fanning culture of China. In the farming economy (經濟), oxen are the major animals pulling plows (犁).

Of course, the good of oxen is not limited to plowing. In fact, they are seen as “boats on land” for their ability to carry loads. Besides, the whole body of an ox is full of treasures. Their meat and milk are food full of nutrition, and their skin can be used to make clothes and shoes. With all these qualities, oxen are regarded as generous creatures.

    In the past, oxen played an important role in the spiritual life of the Chinese. Even today, oxen still play a special part in some folk activities. For example, some people who1ive in southwest China will cook cattle bone soup and share it among family members when holding the ceremony for children who reach 13. They believe that the cattle bone soup represents the blood relationship among family members. In order to express their love for oxen, people in some other areas will run to shake off diseases on the 16th day of the first month by the lunar calendar (農歷), and during their run they will take their oxen along, which indicates they regard the creature as human.

    Because of the contribution of oxen in their lives, the Chinese people are very grateful to the animal. In addition, the use of oxen in ceremonies and the thanks people owe to oxen help to develop various traditional customs, which becomes an important part of the folk culture of the Chinese nation.

（1）The words “boats an land” underlined in Paragraph 2 refer to ____

A. animals for taking goods                 B. creatures for pulling plows

C. treasures of the folk culture               D. tools in the farming economy

（2）From the third paragraph, we know that ____

A. oxen are no more important today than in the past

B. ceremonies are held when people cook cattle bone soup

C. oxen are treated as human in some areas of China

D. people run with oxen to shake off diseases every month

（3）Which of the following helps to develop traditional customs? ____

A. The special role of oxen in farming.

B. People’s respect and love for oxen.

C. The practical value of an ox’s body.

D. The contribution of oxen to the economy.

（4）Why does the author write the text? ____

A. To stress the importance of oxen in farming.

B. To introduce the Chinese folk culture.

C. To describe how to celebrate the Year of Ox.

D. To explain how to develop agriculture with oxen.

They wouldn’t agree to sell the house to us at the same price_______ they had promised,________ was rather disappointing.

  A. which; as    B. as; that     C. that; that    D. as; which

      is reported in the newspaper is that seven people have been killed in the traffic accident.

A.It                 B. As                  C. What                 D. That

------- I am thinking of the test of tomorrow. I’m afraid I can’t pass this time.

--------- ________________! I am sure you’ll make it.

A. Go ahead    B. Good luck       C. No problem       D. Cheer up

PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION

Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A.B.C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.

NEW YORK(Reuters)----The Internet and advances in technology are transforming fashion, making it easier for designers to create collections and less expensive for them to show and sell their work, experts say.

Instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars on a runway(T形臺)show at New York Fashion Week, some designers presented collections for spring and summer 2010 online, while others are expanding the reach of their brand by making it easier for shoppers to buy their clothes online.

Designer Norma Kamali and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp both have applications for Apple Inc’s iPhone that allows shoppers to buy clothes from their phone.

“This is the technology that’s changing our lives,” said Kamali, who displayed her spring and summer 2010 collection as well as exclusive lines (專賣品) for eBay Inc and Walmart.com at the Apple store in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood.

Kamali’s iPhone application has a “Try Before You Buy” option, which allows clothes to be sent overnight to a customer, who provides her credit card information, so she can try them on at home before deciding to buy.

Menswear designer Miguel Antoinne and womenswear designer Marc Bouwer both put on virtual fashion shows, while models at fashion designer Vivienne Tam’s show carried a laptop computer adorned(裝飾) with a Tam design.

Mazdack Rassi, co-founder and creative director of Milk Studios, a downtown space that showed about 70 collections during New York Fashion Week, and was considering projecting shows on the side of a building so people at nearby park could watch.

With cable TV and the Internet, designers know that their shows can be seen by many more people than just the editors and media who attend.

Designers are finding that technology can also help the actual design work by allowing artists to explore new ideas and processes.

But Simon Collins, the dean of fashion at Parsons----the new school for design, said even though technology is helpful, there is still no substitute for talent and hard work. “Absolutely, there’ll be people out there that have successful businesses that don’t know the first thing about draping(剪裁) and construction, just think it up, put it on the computer, fire it off the factory and it works,” Collins said. “But they’re the exception, not the rule.”

56. According to the passage, one advantage of the Internet is that it allows the designers to____________.

A. share their collections with other designers

B. display their work at a lower cost

C. receive information about the popular fashion trend

D. inform the editors and media of their collections

57. Which of the following is TRUE about Kamali?

A. She’s aware of the importance of the Internet.

B. She’s against buying clothes online.

C. She thinks New York Fashion Week will attract fewer and fewer people.

D. She’s considering holding a show on the side of a building.

58. We can infer from the passage that ____________.

A. it’s difficult to become a well-known designer

B. it’s dangerous to do online shopping

C. few people pay attention to virtual fashion shows

D. designers are finding various ways to make their shows known to the public

59. According to the last paragraph, we know that Collins ____________.

A. is a successful businessman

B. does not agree that technology is helpful in designing works

C. pays more attention to people’s natural gift and hard work

D. does not understand the fashion of actual design work

60. The purpose of the writing is to ____________.

A. celebrate the success of New York Fashion Week

B. stress the role of technology in fashion

C. introduce the activities in New York Fashion Week

D. advertise New York Fashion Week

When families gather for Christmas dinner, some will stick to formal traditions dating back to grandma’s generation. Their tables will be set with the good dishes and silver, and the dress code will be Sunday best.

    But in many other homes, this china-and-silver elegance has given way to a stoneware (粗陶) and stainless informality, with dresses assuming an equally casual-Friday look. For hosts and guests, the change means greater simplicity and comfort. For makers of fine china in Britain, it spells economic hard times.

    Last week Royal Doulton, the largest employer in Stoke-on-Trent, announced that it is eliminating 1,000 jobs－one-fifth of its total workforce. That brings to more than 4,000 the number of positions lost in 18 months in the pottery (陶瓷) region. Wedgwood and other pottery factories made cuts earlier.

    Although a strong pound and weak markets in Asia play a role in the downsizing, the layoffs in Stoke have their roots in earthshaking social shifts. A spokesman for Royal Doulton admitted that the company “has been somewhat slow in catching up with the trend” toward casual dining. Families eat together less often, he explained, and more people eat alone, either because they are single or they eat in front of television.

    Even dinner parties, if they happen at all, have gone casual. In a time of long work hours and demanding family schedules, busy hosts insist, rightly, that it’s better to share a takeout pizza on paper plates in the family room than to wait for the perfect moment or a “real” dinner party. Too often, the perfect moment never comes. Iron a fine-patterned tablecloth? Forget it. Polish the silver? Who has time?

    Yet the loss of formality has its down side. The fine points of etiquette (禮節(jié)) that children might once have learned at the table by observation or instruction from parents and grandparents (“Chew with your mouth closed.” “Keep your elbows off the table.”) must be picked up elsewhere. Some companies now offer etiquette seminars for employees who may be able professionally but inexperienced socially.

67．Why do people tend to follow the trend to casual dining?

    A. Family members need more time to relax.

    B. Busy schedules leave people no time for formality.

    C. People prefer to live a comfortable life.

    D. Young people won’t follow the etiquette of the older generation

68．It can be learned from the passage that Royal Doulton is ________.

    A. a seller of stainless steel tableware                      B. a dealer in stoneware

    C. a pottery chain store                                                 D. a producer of fine china

69．The main cause of the layoffs in the pottery industry is ________.

A. the increased value of the pound                          

B. the worsening economy in Asia

C. the change in people’s way of life

D. the fierce competition at home and abroad

70．Formal table manners, though less popular than before in current social life, ________.

    A. are still a must on certain occasions                     B. are certain to return sooner or later

    C. are still being taught by parents at home                    D. can help improve personal relationships

Two thieves came to a house to steal something. They dug a hole in the wall of the house.

There lived many mice in the house. The woman in the moonlight saw a mouse crawl(爬行) into the house. “Look! In comes one,” she said to the man in the house. He was so frightened that he hurriedly crawled out of the house and said to the one waiting outside, “She found me when I was just in.” But the thief outside didn’t believe him, so he said; “Let us two try to crawl into the house together.” At that time two mice happened to crawl into the house, too. The woman saw the mice and shouted, “In come two, catch them!” The two thieves were terribly frightened. The man in the house said, “You saw them come in but where are they? I will catch them tonight.” The two thieves started running away at once. 

The two thieves wanted to make it clear whether they had been found or not the night before. The next day they acted as men selling sweet potatoes and came before the house. The man and the woman were ploughing in their fields. The rein(韁繩)broke and the woman came home for a rope. She saw two men selling sweet potatoes and wanted to buy some. She picked out two which looked like mice. At the time the man couldn’t wait for her any longer in the fields and he ran back from the fields to hurry her up. The woman showed the sweet potatoes to the man and said, “How they look like the two of last night.” The man said, “I asked you to fetch a rope, why don’t you hurry for it?” The two thieves ran away very quickly without their sweet potatoes.

65. The two thieves failed to steal anything from the house because_______.

A. they were found out                             

B. they were frightened by what they had heard in the house

C. they didn’t work together well with each other                    

D. mice stopped them from doing so

66. From the last paragraph, we know that_______.

A. the two thieves were famous selling sweet potatoes

B. the woman recognized the two thieves

C. the woman pretended to know nothing about the two thieves and made fun of them

D. the two thieves didn’t know that they were not found at all

67. The woman said, “How they look like the two of last night.” Here “the two” refers to_______.

A. the two thieves                B. nothing                   C. the mice                  D. the ropes

附加題（共計20分）

第一節(jié) 單詞拼寫 （共10小題; 每小題1分, 滿分10分）

77. As they had no children of their own, they a_____________ an orphan.

78. My first a___________ at a chocolate cake tasted horrible.

79. There will be an e________ of paintings in the museum next week.

80. This store has an excellent r____________ for fair dealing.

81. Something that is p___________ lasts for ever.

82. We must cut out the diseased b___________ of the tree.

83. It was a long journey, but we e_____________ arrived.

84. A student e___________ program is a program in which a student chooses to live in a foreign country to learn.

85. He did badly in the exam because he was a_________ to computer games last year.

86. With this performance, she has won her third c________________  title in the Olympics.

 I appreciated ____ the opportunity to study abroad two years ago.

A. having been given   B. having given  C. to have been given  D. to have given

I promise that you________receive all the money that is owed to you.

A. should         B.must           C.shall         D.can