Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. We desperately need relief.

But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn't we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four allotment? A mother's work is never finished, and neither is that of any manager, student, teacher, minister, or anyone else we know. Nor will the passage of time help us catch up. Children grow in number and age to require more of our time. Greater experience brings more exacting assignments. So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less. We are accuslomed to working without stop.

When we stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically the problem of priorities（優(yōu)先順序）.Actually hard work does not hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task. The resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving (疑慮) produce anxiety as we review a month or year and become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. We sense demands have driven us onto a reef of frustration. We confess, quite apart from our sins, “we have left undone those things, which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” To do the urgent thing or to finisnh the important thing, is a sharp question.

Several years ago an experienced cotton-mill manager said to me, "Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out of the important." He didn't realized how hard his maxim hit. It often returns to haunt and rebuke  me by raising the critical problem of priorities.

We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. The urgent task calls for instant action — endless demands, pressure every hour and day.

A man's home is no longer his castle; it is no longer a place away from urgent tasks because the telephone breaches the walls with imperious（專橫的） demands. The momentary appeal of these tasks seems irresistible and important, and they devour our energy. But in the light of time's perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important tasks pushed aside. We realize we’ve become slaves to the "tyranny（暴政） of the urgent."

51．The reason why we sometimes wish to have a thirty-hour day is that we       .

       A．have too much work to complete          B．need more time to enjoy our lives

       C．need longer hours to ease pressure        D．a(chǎn)re used to working without stop

52．From Paragraph 3, we find anxiety increases when we         .

       A．stop to think about our dilemma            B．go full speed working at our task

       C．a(chǎn)re doing meaningless things                 D．recall lots of unfinished work

53．The motto that hits the writer tells us        .

       A．to finish the urgent and the important thing

       B．to avoid the urgent pushing out the important

       C．the urgent thing shouldn’t be done instantly

       D．the important thing is different from the urgent

54．The writer presents the article to remind us that         .

       A．the urgent is not always to come first

       B．the problem of time shortage is tough

       C．the important is not always depressing

       D．the way to deal with the urgent is hard

What is stroke? Stroke is a typical disease which occurs when a blood clot（凝塊）blocks an artery（動脈） or a blood vessel（血管） breaks, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain. When either of these things happens, brain cells begin to die and brain damage occurs. Abilities controlled by that area of the brain are lost such as speech, movement and memory. Some people recover completely from strokes, but more than 2/3 of survivors will have some type of disability.Anyone can have a stroke regardless of men and women. it is really imperative for us to know something about Stroke Risk Factors. Risk factors are some beyond our control such as over age 55, being male, being Chinese, or having a family history of stroke. Others are controllable. Stroke prevention guidelines were brought forth by Journal of the American Medical Association 1n 1999.These includes:

46．Paragraph 1 is meant to say         .

       A．people can reduce the happening chances of storke

       B．a(chǎn) stroke victim is bound to die or become disabled

       C．middle-aged Chinese meales are sure to have storke

       D．stroke is not as dangerous as most people may think

47．The underlined word “imperative” here means       .

       A．wonderful           B．necessary            C．valuable               D．supportive

48．From Item 5 we can infer that         .

       A．both LDL and HDL are bad cholesterols in human body

       B．human body does not need such a thing as cholesterol

       C．high cholesterol can be controlled with diet and exercise

       D．people without LDL will be healthier than those who have

49．What will contribute to the danger of a stroke?

       A．Drinking some wine daily                     B．Walking 30 minutes a day

       C．Cutting down on salt and fat                 D．Losing temper constantly

50．The best title for this passage is    

       A．What is Stroke?                                   B．Ten Causes of Stroke

       C．Stroke and Health                                D．How to Prevent Stroke

The malls were filled with people seeking gifts for their loved ones. Some of the malls remained open around the clock, partly to satisfy our needs to buy gifts.

Behind the materialistic aspect of shopping for gifts lies the idea of caring, being attentive to the desires of special people in our lives. However, to use a well-worn play on words: it is our presence, not our presents, that truly counts. Many of us, unfortunately, can be so inattentive, even in the presence of our loved ones, that we might as well not be there at all.

Attention is one of the greatest gifts we can give each other. Companies around the globe spend billions every year on advertising to catch our attention for just a short moment at a time. Whole industries – media, entertainment, education – rely on the precious gift of our attention for their continued existence. A baby lacking attention for a long time is likely to he psychologically unhealthy.

In earlier times, both diet and attention could be left unregulated（沒人管的）without major cause for concern. There were natural checks and balances: limited availability of food meant few got fat, for example. Similarly, in bygone times we might have spent a few hours communicating with the village storyteller, today, watching an entire TV series, while speaking to nobody, is common. In traditional societies, with smaller population, everyone would get a fair deal of attention. On many issues we might go to see Grandma or Grandpa; now we have Google and Wikipedia.

“She just wants attention.” people tend to think little of those doing things simply for attention. But the truth is that human beings need attention, and giving attention to each other is, to a large extent, what human civilization is based upon. This perhaps explains the runaway success（一舉成功）of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. While we use such sites for “micro blogging”, “idea voicing” and “status updates” – the reality is that we are often doing no more or less than fulfilling our basic human drive for attention exchange.

I friend you, you friend me, I retweet you, you retweet me. The charming case with which we can now get and give attention is why many people appear overly attached to their smartphones. It is also a vicious（惡性）circle. As ever more people are busy exchanging attention online, there is increasingly less attention to be paid in the real world, which forces more people to seek their attention exchange online, or else risk attentuion-starvation.

The very nature of attention exchange is being rapidly transformed, and there is a danger that some of us will develop unhealthy practices. Just as eating red meat every day is a bad idea, so it is with too much attention exchange. The biological consequences of our technological advancement in food production are highly visible; heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The consequences of our transformed attention exchanges will be psychological and social, and so may take longer to identify, but they will be equally damaging.

Face-to-face attention is becoming rarer, and therefore more valuable. In a sense it is priceless. And it is a gift that can be given all-year-round.

41．In the first two paragraphs the author         .

       A．offers advice to attention givers             B．a(chǎn)nalyses the present problems

       C．states the necessity of presents             D．puts forward his point of view

42．Attention exchange was not a major concern in traditional societies because of       .

       A．limited availability of food                     B．natural checks and balances

       C．a(chǎn) much smaller population                    D．the guidance from old people

43．People use social networking sistes such as Twitter and Facbook to      .

       A．obtain information                                B．give attention to others

       C．voice their opinions                              D．notice and get noticed

44．What can we infer from Paragraph 6-7?

       A．More people will risk attention-starvation in future.

       B．The nature of attention exchange is rarely changed.

       C．Technological advancement contributes to all diseases.

       D．Transformed attention exchanges do harm to society.

45．The writer’s purpose for writing the passage is to       .

       A．a(chǎn)dvocate more focus on real life attention                             

       B．a(chǎn)nalyze the necessity of attention giving

       C．give practical tips on attention exchange

       D．recommend some social networking sites

Have you ever not wanted to do something so badly that you would rather die than go? Well that’s how I   21  about joining Madcaps, a mothers and daughters club assisting philanthropies（慈善事業(yè)）.But now I believe that you  22  open up your mind to things because eventually you might  23  end up enjoying it.

“It’s a waste of time”, I said when my mom told I had to join Madcaps, and then when she said I had to   24  at a homeless shelter I thought this just could not be   25  .

We got there late, of course, and the security guard led us to the kitchen  26  we ran into 48 other fellow Madcaps members. Since I’m  27  so socially awkward I had met only one person at a pool party, earlier this year. I looked around for her but she was not there. Damn, I was  28  ! When the man in charge came out and asked for 3 mothers to work outside the   29  to clean up the plates, my mom just happened to volunteer leaving me to   30  food with others.

Soon the  31  families started to walk in and a little girl walked up and pointed to the food I was  32  I gave her the cold sandwich, she nodded in a form of saying   33  , and then walked to join her family at the large table.

As she walked away I thought of how much I   34   I get to go the top schools. I have a great house  and I have a warm meal every night. It  35  that little girl to make me realize how lucky I am. After that moment I had a change of  36  . Now, I love Madcaps and don’t miss one meeting, I have   37   being socially awkward and now have many friends. And this year I am sure I will do   38  the required 20 hours of philanthropies.

I believe that if you have an  39  mind about things you can accomplish more and become a better rounded person. I believe sometimes you can make a difference just  40  doing one thing you don’t want to do .

21．A．carred                 B．joked                   C．felt                     D．doubted

22．A．should                 B．would                 C．may                    D．can

23．A．a(chǎn)lso                    B．just                     C．not                     D．still

24．A．report                 B．live                     C．donate                 D．volunteer

25．A．better                  B．sooner                 C．easier                  D．worse

26．A．where                 B．when                  C．until                    D．because

27．A．suddenly             B．occasionally         C．hardly                 D．normally

28．A．shy                     B．late                     C．a(chǎn)lone                   D．hopeless

29．A．kitchen                B．house                  C．club                    D．shelter

30．A．pack                   B．purchase             C．serve                  D．bake

31．A．poor                   B．homeless             C．vluntary              D．local

32．A．playing with         B．putting away        C．looking for          D．holding out

33．A．hello                   B．sorry                   C．thanks                 D．okay

34．A．had                     B．earned                 C．a(chǎn)chieved              D．did

35．A．moved                B．took                    C．helped                 D．encouraged

36．A．heart                   B．luck                    C．identity                D．taste

37．A．believed in           B．learnt from          C．got over              D．thought about

38．A．more than            B．nothing but          C．a(chǎn)nything but        D．less than

39．A．intelligent             B．a(chǎn)bstract               C．empty                D．open

40．A．before                 B．by                       C．upon                   D．to

Jessica had intended to go bungee jumping, and on second thoughts, she        the plan.

       A．was canceling      B．cancels                C．canceled              D．has canceled

The family　　　　 on time, but their car had a flat tyre on the halfway.

　　　 A．would arrive B．could arrive C．must have arrived D．would have arrived

So far no one has come up with a          explanation of why dinosaurs died out.

       A．convincing          B．demanding           C．touching              D．puzzling

Campers must not approach animals in the wild,        they seem friendly.

       A．a(chǎn)s if                    B．even though         C．now that             D．in case

Jenny has not beard from her husband for ages, Apparently their relations          increasingly tense.

       A．were growing      B．a(chǎn)re growing         C．grew                   D．will be growing

In Mexico, dining is a social occasion – dinners are        quick and they can last for hours.

       A．rarely                  B．chiefly                 C．mostly                D．occasionally