With parents who taught at school, Sophia received a fairly good education. She would have achieved   36   in a career, but she   37   to spend most of her marriage in the  38   role of wife and mother,   39   herself to her husband and her three children.
At the beginning of their family life, Sophia took on the   40  for running the house in order for her husband to   41   his personal interest: writing novels. However, things weren’t going as   42   as expected. Nate’s writing failed to     43  the whole housekeeping. He had to take a position in the government to    44   for his family. Sophia tried to persuade Nate to give up his    45   for full-time writing, but he didn’t listen to her. He took his job   46    because it promised the family would be prevented from being   47 . That accounted for the shocking   48  he suffered when he lost his job. That day, he said to Sophia in a    49  , “I got fired. I am a    50   failure.”“Now you can focus your mind   51 your writing.” she responded. To make Nate believe money was no longer the major   52  ， Sophia took out a box that was full of   53  . She explained that she got the money for their hand-painted lampshades.
The unemployed husband did   54   a book that was a(n)   55  hit and is a long-lasting literary masterpiece. The story of Sophia’s turning her husband into a world famous writer has been widely talked about ever since then.

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had  41 _ a beautiful sports car in a showroom, and knowing his father could well  42   it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day came near, the young man awaited 43 that his father had bought the car. 44  , on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his  45  study room. His father told him how  46  he was to have such a fine son, and told him how  47  he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped (包裝)  48  box.                                                        
Curious, and somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and  49  a lovely, leather-bound (皮紙封面) Bible,  50  the young man’s name pressed in gold.  51 , he raised his voice to his father, and said “With  52  your money, you give me a Bible?” and stormed out of the house.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in  53 . He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very  54 , and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him  55  that graduation day.
Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram  56  his father had passed away, and willed all his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and  57 things.
When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden  58   and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still gift-wrapped Bible  59  as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages.
Suddenly, a car key dropped from the back of the  60  . It had a tag (標(biāo)簽) with the date of his graduation on it, and the words PAID IN FULL.

A Love Note To My Mom
When I was a little girl, would often accompany you as you modeled for fashion photographers. It was years later that finally understood what role modeling  16 in your life. Little did I known you were  17 every penny you earned to go to  18  school.
I cannot thank you enough for  19 you told me one autumn afternoon when I was nine. After finishing my homework. I wanted into the dining where you were buried  20   piles of law books. I was  21  .Why were you doing what I do—memorizing textbooks and studying for  22  ?When you said you were in law school, I was more puzzled. I didn’t known. Moms 23  be lawyers too. You smiled and said,“In life, you can do anything you want to do.”
As young as I was ,that statement kept   24  in my ears. I watched as you faced the   25  of completing your studies, staring companies with Dad, while still being a   26  and a Mom if five kids. I was exhausted  just watching you   27  .With your words of wisdom in my   28  mind, I suddenly felt unlimited freedom to dream. My whole world   29  .I set out to live my life filled with   30  ,seeing endless possibilities for personal and professional achievements.
Your words became my motto. I   31  found myself in the unique position of being either the first (woman doctor in Maryland Rotary)  32   one of the few women (chief medical reporters) in my field. I gained strength every time I said , “Yes, I’ll try that.”
Encouraged by your   33  , I have forged ahead (毅然前行) with my life’s journey, less afraid to make mistakes, and   34  meeting each challenge. You did it, and now I’m   35  it. Sorry, got to run. So much to do, so many dreams to live.

Everyone in business has been told that success is all about attracting and retaining (留住) customers. It sounds simple and achievable. But,   50 , words of wisdom are soon forgotten. Once companies have attracted customers they often   51  the second half of the story. In the excitement of beating off the competition, negotiating prices, securing orders, and delivering the product, managers tend to become carried away. They forget what they regard as the boring side of business—  52  that the customer remains a customer.
  53  to concentrate on retaining as well as attracting customers costs business huge amounts of money annually. It has been estimated that the average company loses between 10 and 30 per cent of its customers every years. In constantly changing   54 , this is not surprising. What is surprising is the fact that few companies have any idea how many customers they have lost.
Only now are organizations beginning to wake up to those lost opportunities and calculate the   55 
implications. Cutting down the number of customers a company loses can make a big   56  in its performance. Research in the US found that a five per cent decrease in the number of defecting (流失的) customers led to   57  increases of between 25 and 85 per cent.
In the US, Domino’s Pizza estimates that a regular customer is worth more than $5,000 over ten years. A customer who receives a poor quality product or service on their first visit and   58  never returns, is losing the company thousands of dollars in   59  profits (more if you consider how many people they are likely to tell about their bad experience).
The logic behind cultivating customer   60  is impossible to deny. “In practice most companies’ marketing effort is focused on getting customers, with little attention paid to   61  them”, says Adrian Payne of Cornfield University’ School of Management. “Research suggests that there is a close relationship between retaining customers and making profits.   62  customers tend to buy more, are predictable and usually cost less to service than new customers. Furthermore, they tend to be less price   63 , and may provide free word-of-mouth advertising. Retaining customers also makes it   64  for competitors to enter a market or increase their share of a market.

My father brought home a sailboat when I was ten, and almost each Sunday in summers we would go sailing. Dad was quite skilled in sailing, but not good at 36 . As for me, I 37 both before twelve because of living close to Lake Ontario.
The last time Dad and I set sail together is really 38 . It was a perfect weekend after I graduated from university. I came home and 39 Dad to go sailing. Out we set soon on the__40__ lake. Dad hadn’t sailed for years, but everything   41 
well with the tiller (舵柄) in his hands.
When we were in the middle of the lake, a 42 wind came all of a sudden. The boat was hit __43 . Dad was always at his best in any 44 , but at this moment he   45 .
“John!   46 !” he shouted in a trembling voice, with the tiller still in his hands.
In my memory he could fix any 47 . He was the one I always 48 for strength and security. Before I could respond, a 49 of water got into the boat. I rushed to the tiller 50 it was too late. Another huge wall of water 51 the boat in a minute. We were thrown into the water, and Dad was struggling aimlessly. At that moment, I felt fiercely 52 of him.
I swam to Dad 53 and assisted him in climbing onto the hull (船殼) of the boat. Upon sitting on the hull, Dad was a little awkward about his flash of 54 . “It’s all right, Dad. We are safe now,” I comforted him.
That was the first time Dad had counted on me in a moment of emergency. More importantly, I found it was my turn to start 55 for my father.

From the time each of my children started school, I packed their lunches. And in each lunch ,I___26_____ a note. Often written on a napkin (餐巾)， it might be thank you for a ____27____ moment ,a reminder of something we were happily expecting,or a bit of __28_______ for the coming test orsporting event.
In the early grade school they __29____ their notes. But as children grow older they become self-conacious(有自我意識的),and _30_______ he reached high
School,my older son ,Marc, informed me he no longer_31________ my daily notes.Telling him that he no longer needed to _32______them but I still needed write them, I___33_____ untill the day he gratuated
Six years after high school graduation, Marc called asked if he could move__34_____for a couple of months.I had spent those years well,graduating from college,__35______two internships()in Washington,DC,and __36_____,becoming a technical assistant in Sacramento.____37______ short vacation visits,hower,he had lived away from home .With his younger sister leaving for college, I was ___38____ happy to have Marc back.Since Iwas __39____ making lunch for his younger brother, I _40______ one for Marc,too.Imagine my __41______ when Igot a call from my 24-year-old son,__42___ his lunch.
Did I do something __43_____? Don’t you love me _44_____,Mom ? werejust a few of the questions he threw at me as I _45_____asked him what was wrong.
My note,Mom, he answered,Where is my note?

Do you still remember your dreams from childhood? They’re like flowers that never fade, “23-year-old Liu Wei told a happy audience during a broadcast of the nationwide talent competition China’s Got Talent. Liu, an ___16____ pianist from Beijing, was named one of the show’s finalists.
Liu once had arms. At the age of 10 he accidentally grabbed a high-voltage wire and lost his arms. “My family and I were so ___17____ then,” Liu recalled. He credits a disable boy he met at the hospital who gives him the __18_____ to cheer him up.
He was forced to __19_____ playing soccer (his favorite sport) but bounced back and ___20____himself to learn swimming. After two years, Liu had won two gold medals and one silver at the National Swimming Championship for the disabled in 2002.
By the age of 19, Liu had taught himself __21_____ to play the piano with his feet, fulfilling a childhood ___22____ of composing and producing music, he said ___23____ a big smile. “__24_____ enough time, I could be just as same as anyone.”
“I can read music and have __25_____ the ‘toeing’ by myself,” he told. According to Liu, the big toe is the most __26_____ digit when “toeing,” but that he can only reach five keys at the same time. “It means I have to train my toes to move more ___27____,” he said.
One of the show’s hosts, Cao Kefan, told press. “He was __28_____ so hard his feet were constantly cramping,” Cao said.
“ We’ve all __29_____ our dreams when we were young, but no one has fought as hard as you,” commented Gao Xiaosong. Gao is one of the show’s judges and one of most ___30____ music producers in China.
“You tell us that to __31_____ our dream, we need to spare no pains,” said Yi Nengjing, a show judge and Taiwanese pop star.
“I’ve received a lot of letters of support, all ___32____ me to focus on my music,” Liu said. When asked what he would do when the show was ___33____, he revealed several music companies had asked to __34_____ him. But whatever happened, he added he is sure he would keep __35_____ his dream.
“Music is like water and air to me,” he said. “I can’t live with out it.”

One day, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I discovered that I had about 500 pounds of bircks left over!   36 carry the bricks down by hand I decided to lower them by a pulley（滑車）, which fortunately was  _37 to the side of the building on the sixth floor.
Fastening the rope at the ground level, I went up to the roof and  _38 the bricks into a barrel (桶). Then I went back to the  _39 and untied the rope,   40 it tightly to insure a __41__  fall of the 500 punds of bricks. You know, I only weighed 135 pounds. Due to my __42 _ at being pulled off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and  _43  to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I went on at a rather  _44 _ rate up the building.
Near the third floor, I met the barrel __45 , which made my collarbone（鎖骨）broken, __46 _ only slightly, I didn’t stop. At approximately（大約）the same time, the barrel  _47__ the ground, and the bottom fell out of the barrel.   48 the bricks, the barrel now weighed about 50 pounds. I refer you again to my weight of 135 pounds.  _49   you might imagine, I began a rapid down.
Also near the  _50 _ floor, I met the barrel coming up, which made my legs broken. The encounter（相遇）with the _ 51 _ slowed me enough to reduce my  _52 when I fell onto the pile of bricks, and  53 , only three vertebrae（椎骨）were broken. However, as I __54__there on the bricks in pain, unable to move, and  _55  the barrel six stories above, I again lost my presence of mind. I let go of the rope!

A U.S man found 300 letters to God floating in the Atlantic Ocean last week. He said on Friday he would   1   them to a church instead of selling them on eBay following protests from religious people.
The letters , sent to a late Baptist clergyman (牧師), were   2  put in a sealed plastic shopping bag near a    3   in Atlantic, New Jersey.
Bill Lacovara, an insurance adjuster from Ventnor, New Jersey, said he got the bag while on a fishing trip last week.
The letters were     4     to the clergyman, who died in 2004. Someone cleaning his house may have   5   the bag, which Lacovara found about 100 miles (160km) from Cooper’s house.
They include one from a teenage girl asking God to    6  her for her wrongdoing, one from a prisoner who said he was    7    and someone had set a trap for him, and    8   from a man who wanted God’s help winning the lottery, according to media reports.
Lavovara said he could have    9   them on eBay for up to $15,000(7,889 pounds) according to his prediction of the compete price and would have given the money to charity. But he has changed his mind because he said the move caused     10    to some religious people.
“They said they were    11    in me, and I didn’t want to do something that’s going to create    12     results.” he told Reuters.
Some    13    him to burn the letters, throw them back in the ocean or give them to a church, Lacovara said.
Lacovara said about a dozen clergymen have offered to take the letters, and he is evaluating the    14   to make sure the letters don’t fall into the     15    hands.
1.    A. donate                     B. show          C. sell                 D. owe
2.    A. hurriedly                  B. privately       C. mysteriously   D. occasionally
3.    A. river                      B. lake                   C. hill                 D. beach
4.    A. taken              B. offered       C. addressed      D. given
5.    A. collected           B. thrown        C. opened        D. destroyed
6.    A. forgive            B. punish        C. adjust         D. charge
7.    A. friendly            B. correct              C. innocent      D. energetic
8.    A. others                     B. another       C. the other      D. one
9.    A. auctioned         B. bought             C. donated               D. discounted
10.   A. damage            B. offence       C. injury               D. worry
11.   A. absorbed           B. involved            C. interested      D. disappointed
12.   A. final              B. direct               C. same         D. bad
13.   A. forced             B. urged               C. questioned           D. pleased
14.   A. requests                   B. orders              C. commands           D. invitations
15.   A. wrong                     B. poor                C. tight                D. firm

完形填空（共20小題，每小題1.5分，滿分30分）
閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從36-55各題所給的四個選項(xiàng)中選出最佳選項(xiàng)。
Fire can 36 many things. It is dangerous to everyone, but it is 37 useful. We cannot live without 38.In other words, fire is both the 39  and enemy of us. This  40  on whether we use it wisely or not.
To the people 41 live in the forest area, fire is particularly dangerous. It is the location 42 most of their houses are made of wood, which 43  catches fire. Especially in winter the air is 44  and the wind is often 45  .If one of these houses is on fire, the wind will 46  the fire to the neighboring houses quickly, and the fire will soon 47  all over the area. If this happens 48 , it may not be too bad. 49 if it happens at night, the situation will be very bad, for most people are 50   ,and many of them cannot run away in time. If they can, they will just 51  all the things behind. Some people even do not know  52  is going on, and they  53  in their dreams.
We should do our best to 54 the breakout of fire, which is mostly caused by people’s carelessness. Therefore, not only the people of the 55 areas but everyone else should be very careful in using fire.