When I was ten my dad helped me buy my first ten-speed bicycle from Allen. I put up $60 of my grass cutting and snow shoveling (鏟) money and my dad put up the other half I would pay him back over the next six months. Although it was not in the latest style, it was my ticket to the adult world.

I spent that summer and autumn riding happily. My sister Liz, a prisoner(囚犯，俘虜) of her five-speed bicycle, never had a chance to keep up. Just before the Christmas deadline to pay my dad back, we were hit with several snowstorms. This allowed me to shovel enough driveways (車道) to pay off my debt. I was now officially a bike owner; it was a feeling unlike any other.

On that Christmas morning, my dad gave me a used portable (便攜式的) record player. I was excited. However, my joy was short-lived after my dad called my sister to the kitchen. “We have one more gift for you. ” he said as he opened the door that led to the garage. There, on the steps, stood a new ten-speed bicycle.

“It’s not fair,” I complained. “I worked so hard for my bike. and it’s not even new. Then Liz gets a new bike. She didn’t have to do anything for it. ” My dad smiled. “She didn’t have to do anything for it because it’s not really for her,” he said. What did that mean? I didn’t want her bike.

By spring Liz and I were riding all over town together now that she could keep up. As we grew, Liz and I became true friends.

Still I wasn’t smart enough to figure out what my dad meant until years later. That new bike was not a gift for Liz — it was a gift for me. He’d given me the gift of my sister’s company, the ability to stay together rather than drift apart (逐漸疏遠(yuǎn)) in the face of my ability to travel. He gave me my best friend.

1.What do we know about the author’s bike?

A. It was worth $120. B. Allen bought it for him.

C. It was very fashionable. D. He didn’t like it actually.

2.Why did the author think he was officially a bike owner?

A. He had paid off his debt.

B. He had learned to ride a bike.

C. He could also own Liz’s bike.

D. He could sell his bike to Liz.

3.Why was the author’s Christmas joy short-lived?

A. His sister got a new record player.

B. His father didn’t care about him.

C. The record player wasn’t new.

D. His sister got a better gift.

4.Hearing his father say “it’s not really for her (Paragraph 4)”, the author probably felt ________.

A. moved B. satisfied C. puzzled D. disappointed

5.The author finally realized that ________.

A. the new bike actually belonged to him

B. the new bike wasn’t bought by his father

C. his father actually gave him a more valuable gift

D. his father loved his sister more as a matter of fact

Do you love music? I’d like to introduce you to a band today. The Lumineers is a band based in Denver, Colorado. The group released its first album The Lumineers in April, 2012. Recently, the record went gold, meaning 500, 000 copies had been sold. That is really a large number. Critics have mostly praised the album The Lumineers. Some have called the album’s sound “expansive”, and its songs “creative”.

The most popular song from the album is Ho, Hey. It is Number One on three Billboard singles charts: rock, adult Pop and alternative. A lot of people think of Ho, Hey as a love song. And The Lumineers say it is. But lead singer and guitarist (吉它手) Wesley Schultz says it is also about his personal struggles when he was living and working in New York City.

The three members of The Lumineers were excited when asked to perform at the Grammy nominations (提名) concert. But they were also very surprised when they were named as Grammy nominees. The band is up for（被提名) Grammy awards as Best New Artist and Best Americana Album. Drummer Jeremiah Fraites told reporters, “We had no idea. ”

Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz grew up in New Jersey and have been playing music together for about eight years. They found cellist (大提琴手) Neyla Pekarek, a native of Denver, after they moved to that city. Neyla Pekarek told one reporter that the band’s style developed naturally. She said it came from a lot of writing, experimenting and making changes to let the lyrics tell the stories they were meant to tell.

We leave you with one of those stories. This is Stubborn Love from the album The Lumineers. Hope you’ll enjoy their staging.

1.What do we know about the album The Lumineers from Paragraph 1?

A. It includes some old songs.

B. It didn’t sell well at first.

C. It was released recently.

D. It is a great success.

2.By listening to Ho, Hey, we can learn something about ________.

A. Wesley Schultz’s struggles in New York City

B. the happy times of Wesley Schultz as a singer

C. three Billboard singles charts in New York City

D. a touching love story that happened in New York City

3.What is implied about The Lumineers in Paragraph 3?

A. They didn’t expect they would be nominated Grammy awards.

B. They didn’t want to perform at the Grammy nominations concert.

C. They were very calm when told they were nominated Grammy awards.

D. They were surely to win the Grammy award for Best Americana Album.

4.What is this passage mainly about?

A. People’s opinions on the album The Lumineers.

B. The struggles of a band named The Lumineers.

C. A song from a famous band in the United States.

D. A band that has been nominated Grammy awards.

5.Where is this passage probably taken from?

A. A newspaper. B. A radio program.

C. A magazine. D. A textbook.

Promised yourself to quit smoking in the new year, but just can't stop lighting up? You're not alone, with an Australian survey showing that only 3 percent of smokers who made such resolutions stuck with them．

An online poll of just over 1,000 people, conducted ahead of the launch of a video game designed to help smokers quit, showed one in four Australians made New Year's resolutions to quit —— but more than half went back on their word within a week．Some 15 percent lit up within hours of making the pledge, the survey showed,

The research revealed that seven out of ten smokers have tried to kick the habit at some point．

"Our research shows that the majority of smokers in Australia want to quit but are struggling to stick to their resolution．For most people, the desire to stop smoking is not enough, "Edward Fong, general manager of Ubisoft, the videogame manufacturer selling the anti— smoking software, said in a statement．

According to the survey, Australian smokers light up an average of 13．8 cigarettes every day or 5,037 cigarettes a year．There are currently 2．63 million smokers in Australia, which equates to 16 percent of the population over the age of 18, with women on average making more attempts to quit than men．The World Health Organization says smoking kills about 4 million people each year, causing a quarter of deaths related to heart disease．The organization estimates that by 2030, more than 8 million people will die from tobacco - related causes each year, mainly in developing countries．

1.According to the passage, _______ succeeded in giving up smoking．

A．most of the smokers B．None of the smokers

C．a(chǎn) few of the smokers D．a(chǎn) quarter of the smokers

2.The research shows that ______．

A．some 70% of smokers have quitted smoking

B．a(chǎn)bout 15% of smokers give up smoking only a few hours

C．the number of men smokers are more than that of women ones

D．a(chǎn)ll the smokers want to quit smoking

3.What is the population over the age of 18 in Australia?

A．2．63million． B．4 million．

C．16．44 million．D．8 million．

4.The number of smokers dying from tobacco — related causes each year by 2030 is ．

A．a(chǎn)bout one million B．a(chǎn)bout two million

C．more than 4 million D．more than 8 million

5.Where do you suppose this passage is probably taken from?

A．Health magazine． B．Evening paper．

C．Office Report． D．Science-Journal．

At 4：53 pm. on January 12, United Nations aid worker Jens Kristensen was at his desk reading documents on the third floor of the Christopher Hotel, which served as UN headquarters in Port?au?Prince, when he felt a tremor(震顫). Four seconds later, the earthquake hit.

“In a split second, I considered whether to run for the door or hide under my desk，” says Kristensen, 48. “The door was closed, and I thought that maybe it was too far and I would be caught under falling debris（雜物）, so I hid under the table.” A bookshelf topped onto his desk, protecting him from being crushed by rubble and trapping him in a tiny pocket. “I was confined as if in a small coffin，” he says. It was so dark, and it didn’t matter if his eyes were open or closed. He used the light from his mobile phone to see around him. He found, among other items, a jar of instant coffee. “I had no food or water, only the coffee to suck on if I needed it.”

At about 6：30 am. on January 17, an oil leak silenced the building’s generators, and Kristensen was able to hear muffled voices above where he was buried. “I thought, I was too tired to bang and shout. But then I realized, I had to take every chance. This could be one.” So he called out. Six hours later, Kristensen saw his rescuers’ faces. “It was so amazing. I felt I had received a second birthday，” he recalls.

Dehydration（脫水） and pains but with only a bruise and a scratch, Kristensen took three days to recover. The UN lost more than 90 people in Haiti. But Kristensen says that the outpouring of love helps heal the pain: “The genuine happiness of people toward me here has been wonderful. You feel part of a larger family.”

1.When the earthquake struck, Jens Kristensen decided to ________．

A. read documents in the office

B. stay under the desk

C. run out of the room quickly

D. catch the falling debris

2.What protected Jens Kristensen from being injured by falling bricks?

A. The bookshelf. B. The desk.

C. The door. D. The pocket.

3.When Jens Kristensen heard the voices, he came to know that ________．

A. he couldn’t have the chance to survive the earthquake

B. his parents arrived here to save him at once

C. he was able to ask for help from rescuers

D. he was so tired and he couldn’t say anything at all

4.According to the last paragraph we can know that Jens Kristensen felt ________．

A. fortunate B. grateful

C. popular D. courageous

5.Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A. The rescuer’s day

B. An aid worker’s life

C. A dangerous adventure

D. Kristensen’s experience in an earthquake

MOOCs, an acronym(縮寫)for “massive open online courses,” mark an important, possibly revolutionary, development in education. These courses are online, free of charge, and open to anyone in the world who has a laptop and an Internet connection. Moreover, they are mainly offered by elite universities like Standford, Berkeley, Harvard and Columbia.

The courses, like normal college courses, are sequenced(按順序排好)by difficulty, enabling students to progress from beginners to the advanced. The courses cover not only a broad range of technical subjects such as math and computer science, but also courses in the social sciences and the humanities (人文學(xué)科).

Though MOOCs are not offered for credit and degree, many students enroll in the courses for real skills or knowledge which they can put to some practical use. Some students even form online study groups, or in-person groups with students who live nearby.

The format seems superior to the traditional school class. The average quality of the lecturer is much higher, because students do not have to stick with a mediocre(平庸的) lecturer.

Besides, students can scroll back or forward—in short, they can go at their own learning speed, which they cannot do in a live lecture. And, of great importance, they do not have to travel anywhere to attend an online lecture. One can obtain a first-class American college education wherever he or she lives and however little money he or she has.

There is a problem of asking questions of the lecturer in a class of ten thousand students, but some MOOCs have solved it by allowing students to post questions online for a vote, and only the most popular questions are put to the lecturer.

In a knowledge era, lifelong learning is not confined to a traditional classroom. Of course, students enrolling in MOOCs cannot be compared with those who are in traditional universities, but we need to rethink what a “students” is.

Students in MOOCs are very clever, have work experience, and in many cases, have already developed a set of core competences. Moreover, they also offer unique international perspectives that would be the envy of any school classroom.

1.Which of the following statements is NOT true about MOOCs?

A. The word “MOOCs” is an acronym for “Massive open online campuses.”

B. Anyone who has a computer and an Internet connection can take MOOCs.

C. MOOCs are usually offered by first-class universities in the world..

D. MOOCs may be a breakthrough in the development of education.

2.Students enroll in MOOCs mainly for ________.

A. credits B. degrees C. skills D. study groups

3.MOOCs seem to have an advantage over traditional school classes because________.

①the average quality of the lecturer is higher

②students can travel to many places when taking MOOCs

③students can learn at their own study pace

④there is a problem of asking questions in traditional classes

A. ①② B. ②③ C. ①③ D. ②④

4.Which word is the best to describe students enrolling in MOOCs?

A. Mediocre B. Creative

C. Practical D. Competent

5.Which of the following words does not have the same meaning as the underlined word “perspectives”in the last Paragraph?

A. Vision B. View

C. Outlook D. Scenery

閱讀表達(dá)(共5小題；每小題3分，滿分15分)

閱讀下面短文并用英語(yǔ)回答問題(請(qǐng)注意各小題后面的詞數(shù)要求)。

[1]Although known as an extraordinarily successful businessman, Warren Buffet comes off as a pretty ordinary person.

[2]Looking back on his childhood, one can see how serious he was about making money. Buffet used to go door-to-door and sell soda pop. Later, he also worked at his grandfather’s grocery store. At the ripe age of 11, Buffet bought his first stock(股票). When his family moved to Washington D.C., Buffet became a paperboy for The Washington Post. While still in school, he was making $175 a month, a full-time wage for many young men.

[3]From the beginning, Buffet made his fortune from investing. He started with all the money that he had made from selling pop, delivering papers and so on. Between 1950 and l956, he grew his $9, 800 to $14, 000．From there, he organized investment partnerships with his family and friends, and then gradually drew in more people through very attractive terms.

[4]Buffet applied to Harvard Business School but , making it to be one of the worst admission decisions in Harvard history. The outcome ended up affecting Buffet’s life deeply, for he ended up attending Columbia Business School, where he studied under Benjamin Graham, the father of securities analysis who provided the foundation for Buffet’s grand success.

[5]Buffet is a person of habit—same house, same office, same city. He doesn’t collect houses or cars or works of art, and he hates companies that waste money on such goods. Instead, he has established the Buffet Foundation, with a detailed plan on how to invest his money more wisely to society.

1.What kind of person is Buffet according to Paragraph 1? (no more than 10 words)

_____________________________________________________________________

2.What does the writer intend to tell us in Paragraph 2? (no more than 10 words)

_____________________________________________________________________

3.According to Paragraph 3, how did Buffet start his investment? (no more than 10 words)

_____________________________________________________________________

4.Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words. (no more than 3 words)

_____________________________________________________________________

5.Explain the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5.

_____________________________________________________________________

你最好的朋友Jack最近迷上電腦，因此常常熬夜，疏忽課業(yè)，并受到父母的指責(zé)。你打算寫一封信給他,適當(dāng)?shù)亟o予勸告。

注意：⒈ 詞數(shù)120-150之間（開頭語(yǔ)已為你寫好，不計(jì)入總詞數(shù)）；

2. 可以適當(dāng)增加細(xì)節(jié)，以便行文連貫；

Dear Jack,

How have you been recently?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Both of Jessica’s parents were lawyers and expected her to follow suit. So she went to law school, got a job at a great firm in Washington, DC, and worked as a lawyer for a decade. But her heart was never in it. “I had a big salary but no personal satisfaction,” she says.

Jessica found pleasure in the same thing that had brought her joy since joining the church choir at the age of 12. “Singing always felt like communicating something real at a spiritual and emotional level,” says Jessica. Yet she never considered it a career option. “That seemed like something people did in fairy tales, and I would never let my parents down,” she says.

It was her mom’s diagnosis of brain cancer in 2009 that made Jessica realize she had to write her own happy-ever-after. “Work was busy and my mother was ailing. So I was flying back and forth from Washington, DC to Houston to see her,” Jessica says. “I finally said, ‘Enough!’ and quit.” While caring for her mom, Jessica made a plan. She would spend her savings and study music for a year, and then open a part-time law practice so she could pursue her passion. Before her mother passed away two years later, she encouraged Jessica to follow her dream. Her song Live This Life was inspired by her mom, and her dad came to watch her perform at clubs.

In 2012, Jessica moved to Nashville to try singing and songwriting. A decade of presenting cases in court gave her the confidence to sing for a crowd. “At 20, I would have been too shy to perform,” says Jessica.

“Doing music is so free,” Jessica says. “There’s no pressure to be a star. Success, to me, isn’t a dollar amount or a record deal; it’s doing what I love.”

1.Which of the following is TRUE?

A. Jessica didn’t really like working as a lawyer.

B. Jessica didn’t know what she truly loved for ten years.

C. Jessica wasn’t satisfied with the pay she got as a lawyer.

D. Jessica was grateful for her parents’ arrangement for her.

2.What does the underlined word “ailing” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A. Sick. B. Crazy.

C. Worried. D. Unhappy.

3.What was Jessica’s mother’s attitude toward her singing?

A. Unknown. B. Doubtful.

C. Supportive. D. Negative.

4.By telling Jessica’s story, the writer most probably wants to _______.

A. encourage us to pursue our dreams

B. show that singing can be a practical career

C. tell us the importance of choosing a right job

D. show that family members’ support is important

Deborah Cohen is a senior natural scientist at the Rand Corp and the author of the book A Big Fat Crisis: The Hidden Forces Behind the Obesity Epidemic and How We Can End It. According to the book, there are lots of misunderstandings of obesity.

1. If you’re obese, blame your genes.

Obesity rates have increased. Yet, between 1980 and 2000, the number of Americans who are obese has doubled—too quickly for genetic factors to be responsible.

At restaurants, a dollar puts more calories on our plates than ever before, because restaurant meals usually have more calories than what we prepare at home, so people who eat out more frequently have higher rates of obesity than those who eat out less.

2. If you’re obese, you lack self-control.

Research shows that if we are faced with too much information, we have a tendency to make poor dietary choices. Our world has become so rich in temptation that we can be led to consume too much in ways we can’t understand. Even the most vigilant(警覺的) people may not be up to the task of controlling themselves.

3. Lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables is responsible for obesity.

Although the US Department of Agriculture estimates that fewer than 5 percent of Americans live in the “food deserts”, about 65 percent of the nation’s population is overweight or obese. For most of us, obesity is not related to access to more fresh fruits and vegetables, but to the choices we make in supermarkets.

4. The problem is not that we eat too much, but that we don’t exercise.

Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign is based on the idea that if kids exercise more, childhood obesity rates will decrease. But there was no significant decrease in physical activity levels as obesity rates climbed in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, although a drop in work-related physical activity may account for up to 100 fewer calories burned, leisure physical activity appears to have increased. The problem is that we eat too much.

1.The author mentioned Deborah Cohen’s book in Paragraph 1 to _______.

A. introduce the topic

B. draw readers’ attention

C. introduce the author of the book

D. advertise the book

2.What is the relationship between obesity and the place where you eat?

A. The less you eat out, the higher rates of obesity you have.

B. The less you eat at home, the lower rates of obesity you have.

C. The more you eat out, the higher rates of obesity you have.

D. The more you eat at home, the higher rates of obesity you have.

3.What’s the best title of this passage?

A. Four misunderstandings of obesity.

B. Four rules to help you avoid obesity.

C. Obesity leads to a big fat crisis.

D. Lacking self-control leads to obesity.

TIME is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It was created in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, making it the first weekly news magazine in the US. Hadden was considered carefree, liked to tease Luce and saw TIME as important but also fun. That accounted for its heavy coverage of celebrities(including politicians), the entertainment industry, and pop culture—criticized as too light for serious news.

It tells the news through people, and for many decades, the magazine’s cover depicted a single person. On Hadden’s death in 1929, Luce became the most important man at TIME and a major figure in the history of 20th-century media.

TIME is also known for its signature red border, first introduced in 1927. It has only changed four times since then. The issue released shortly after the September 11 attacks on the United States featured a black border to symbolize mourning. However, this edition was a special “extra” edition published quickly for the breaking news of the event; the next regularly scheduled issue contained the red border. Additionally, the April 28, 2008 Earth Day issue, dedicated to environmental issues, contained a green border. The next change in border was in the September 19, 2011 issue, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a metallic silver border. The most recent change(again with a silver border) was in the December 31, 2012 issue, noting Barack Obama’s selection as Man of the Year.

TIME has a division magazine, TIME FOR KIDS(TFK), which is especially published for children and is mainly distributed in classrooms. TFK contains some national news, a “Cartoon of the Week”, and a variety of articles concerning popular culture that the younger U.S. citizens are interested in. All the stories in TFK are written by young reporters.

In some advertising campaigns, the magazine has suggested that the letters TIME stand for “The International Magazine of Events”.

1.TIME has a history of _______.

A. about 50 years B. about 70 years

C. about 90 years D. about 150 years

2.Why did some people dislike TIME in the beginning?

A. It had kept its cover the same since the 1920s.

B. It didn’t have a serious tone for important events.

C. It didn’t report important events quickly enough.

D. Henry Luce was in charge of the magazine for too long.

3.Why did TIME change its red border for the first time?

A. To remember the 10th anniversary of an attack.

B. To remind readers to protect the environment.

C. To show great sadness about the deaths.

D. To call on readers to vote for Obama.

4.What do we know about TFK?

A. It has young reporters writing articles.

B. It has a division magazine called TIME.

C. It is designed for kids and teachers.

D. It mainly contains popular culture.