I work as a postal letter carrier in Charlotte. One day several years ago, I drove up to a   1 . Christy, the young divorcee (離了婚的人) who lived there, was waiting by the roadside. She said that she had a   2  to tell me.
About six months  3  it seemed that I had   4  a letter to her which had her street   5  on it but was addressed to another house with the   6  number on a different street in the neighborhood. She decided to   7  the letter at the correct house.
It turned out that the letter had been   8  for Johnson, who happened to be   9 . They talked for a little while, and later on he   10 . Then they started dating and had been going   11  together ever since.
I felt sorry for delivering the letter wrong, but I was   12  that I had brought these nice people together.
A few months later a(n)   13  sign went up in Christy’s yard, and then wedding   14  were sent out. Soon the house was sold, the wedding happened,   15  Christy, with her kids, moved into Johnson’s house.
A few months later, I saw a For Sale sign in   16  yard. I feared the   17  might be in trouble, so I made up a(n)   18  to go to their door and   19  on them.
Christy opened the door, smiled broadly, and pointed to her huge stomach “We’re having twins!” she said, “This house won’t be big enough, so we have to   20 .”

Since my family were not going to be helpful, I decided I would look for one all by myself and not tell them about it till I’d got one.
I had seen an agency (中介機(jī)構(gòu)) advertised in a local newspaper. I rushed out of the  61 in search of it. I was wildly excited, and as  62  as if I were going on the stage. Finding the  63  quite easily, I ran breathlessly through a door which said “Enter without knocking, if you please.”
The simple atmosphere of the office   64  me. The woman looked carefully at me  65  through her glasses, and then  66  me in a low voice. I answered softly. All of a sudden I started to feel rather   67  . She wondered why I was looking for this sort of   68  . I felt even more helpless when she told me that it would be   69  to get a job without   70  . I wondered whether I ought to leave,   71 the telephone on her desk rang. I heard her say: “  72 , I’ve got someone in the  73  at this very moment who might  74 .” She wrote down a  75 , and held it out to me, saying: “ Ring up this lady. She wants a   76  immediately. In fact, you would have to start tomorrow by cooking a dinner for ten people.”
“ Oh yes,” said I —  77  having cooked for more than four in my life. I  78  her again and again, and rushed out to the   79  telephone box. I collected my thoughts, took a deep breath, and rang the number. I said confidently that I was just what she was looking for. I spent the next few hours   80  cook books.
【小題1】A. bed  B house   C. agency       D. office

Checks have largely taken the place of money as a means of    36  , for they are widely accepted everywhere.   37   this is very   38   for both buyer and seller, it should not be forgotten that checks are not real money: they are quite   39  in themselves. A shop-keeper runs a certain 40 when he accepts a check and he is quite   41  his rights if, on occasion, he   42  to do so. People do not always know this and are   43   if their good faith is called in question. A wealthy friend of mine told me he had an extremely   44  experience.
One day he decided to buy a particularly fine pearl necklace at a famous jewelry shop which keeps a large__45 of precious stones and asked if he could pay   46  check, the assistant said that this was quite  47 . But the moment my friend signed his name, he was invited into the manager’s office. The manager was very polite, but he explained that someone   48  exactly the same name had presented them with a worthless check not long ago. My friend got very angry at it and said he would buy a necklace   49 . When he got up to go, the manager told him that the police would arrive at any moment and he had better stay   50  he wanted to get into serious trouble. Sure enough the police arrived, __51 to my friend for the   52 ,  but explained that a person who had used the same name as his  53  for a number of recent robberies. Then the police asked my friend to    54   out a note which had been used by the thief in a number of shops. The note read, “I have a gun in my pocket, ask no questions and give all the money in the safe.” Fortunately, my friend’s handwriting was quite__55__ the thief’s. He was not only allowed to go without further delay, but to take the pearl necklace with him.

閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)（A、B、C和D）中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。
One winter morning, an old couple around the age of 70, walked into a lawyer’s office to sign
a   36  after quarreling all their 45 years of marriage. The lawyer was very   37 , after having a chat with them, he got their   38 . They hung on because of their children, afraid that it might   39  their growth. Now, all they wanted was to lead their own life free from all these years of  __40  from their marriage, so both agreed on a divorce.
The lawyer was having a hard time getting the papers done, but he still couldn’t understand why the old couple would want a divorce, suggesting a   41  together, just three of them. At the table, there was a silence of   42  . The first dish was roasted chicken.   43  , the old man took the drumstick for the old lady, “Take this, it’s your favorite. ” Looking at this, the lawyer thought maybe there was still a   44 , but the wife answered frowning. “This is where the problem   45  . You always think so highly of yourself, never thought about how I feel, don’t you know that I hate   46  ?”
Little did she know that, over the years, her husband was trying all ways to   47  her; little did she know that drumsticks were her husband’s favorite. Little did he know that she never thought he understood her at all; little did he know that she hated drumsticks even though all he wanted was the best for her.
That night, both of them were difficult to fall asleep. After hours, the old man couldn’t   48_ it any more, wanting to tell her himself, “I love you and I can’t live without you.” He picked up the phone to dial her number. Ringing never stopped. On the other side, she was upset,   49  to answer any phones. The next day, she received news that he had   50 , learning that he had a heart attack when he was still trying to get through her phone line.
  51  enough, she had to clear his   52  in his apartment , only to find an insurance policy（保險(xiǎn)單）dating from the day when they got married, and the beneficiary （受益人）was her. Together in that file there was this note: “To my dearest wife, I bought this policy for you,   53__  the amount is only $100, I hope it will be able to help me continue my promise that I made when we got married, and I want you to know I will always be around by your side. I love you.” Tears   __54  freely down her cheeks when the lady read it.
When you love someone, do let them know, for you   55  know what will happen the next minute.

One of my. next-door neighbor is a sweet 92-year-old Polish lady. A few days ago, I came back from a trip. As I was  16 . my clothes in my room, I heard a(n)  17  , frantic(發(fā)瘋的) knock on the door. It was 10:30 pm, and I wasn’t sure who it could be. I went downstairs and  18  the peephole, and saw that it was our sweet next-door neighbor.
I quickly  19  the door, and she seemed really distressed and kept  20 , Please help me. I need your help. The fire alarm won’t go off. Please help me.” I  21  told her that everything would be okay, and  22  her to her house to see what was going on  23  the fire alarm.
She  24  that the alarm had been going on and off inconsistently(反復(fù)無(wú)常的) for the past two hours, and that her  25  to call her daughter to come and fix it was fruitless. So I took a chair from her dining room table,  26  it, and looked at the tire alarm.
After twisting the fire alarm off, I blew into it, because sometimes  27  causes it to make strange noises. She seemed  28  but was literally shaking out of fear. I asked her  29  she was okay, and she said she was  30  , so I gave her a hug. I felt her shaking in my embrace, and held her  31  for a few minutes until she stopped shaking and sighed a breath of relief.
We then  32  and talked for ten minutes, until I felt that she was okay. and safe to sleep. She was so generous with  33  for being with her, but I thanked her for  34  me that hugs are indeed good tools! So, sometimes, a(n)  35  hug is a good and powerful way to hold someone going through a difficult period.

閱讀下面短文, 掌握其大意, 然后從36-55各題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中選出最佳選項(xiàng), 并在答題卡上涂黑。
RESOURCES BELONG TO THE SOCIETY
When I arrived in Hamburg Germany, my colleague who worked there arranged a welcome party for me in a  36 . We noticed a few customers including several old ladies, were having their meal. When a dish is  37 , the waiter would distribute the food for them, and they would  38 every bit of the food on their plates.
As I was hungry, my local colleague  39 much food for me. Since there were other things to do, we did not  40 much time dining. When we planned to leave, there was still about one third of  41 food left. When we were leaving the restaurant, we  42 someone calling us. When the old ladies spoke to us in English, we understood that they were  43 about us wasting so much food.
“We  44 for our food; it is none of your  45 how much food we left behind”, my colleague told the old ladies. They got angry, and one of them  46 made a call to someone. After a while, an officer in  47 arrived. Upon knowing what had happened, he issued us a 50-euro  48 . The officer told us in a stern（嚴(yán)厲的）voice: “order  49 you can consume. Money is yours,   50 the resources belong to the society. You have no  51 for wasting them.” Our face turned red. We all agreed with him in our  52 . My colleague took out a 50-euro note and repeatedly  53 to the officer.
My colleague copied the fine ticket and gave a copy to each of us as a souvenir. We all  54 it to remind us that we should never be  55 .

完型填空（共20小題，每題1分，滿分20分）
Good Work Ethics （規(guī)范）
When I was younger, about 14, I was already ready to work．My father was a dairy man and he had been working his entire life．For him, getting up at 5 a．m．a(chǎn)nd working a couple of hours before I went to school, and then   36  more after school until there was not enough37   to see, were normal．
My father considered putting good work ethics in me to be very   38 ．He began to show me these, not through   39  , but through his actions．He would not  40  a job until it was done．He   41  put his all into everything he did．   42  , he showed me this not just in working, but in everything．Like when I was in soccer, I wanted to  43  a game once．a(chǎn)nd he explained to me-that I had made a  44  and that even if I just skipped one game, then I did not 45   to play the rest of the games．
So the day I started my first job at the age of 14, I was  46  to show my father that I could do it well, and that I was not going to  47 . My entire  48  was to make my father proud of me. I knew that     ___49  I did, he would not say it in words, but he would show it．My first job was doing   50   for a company．As most of you know, construction is not an easy job, especially being so   51 _. When someone as young as I was started working, they would either __52  or get stronger．I got stronger．I worked the   53  I had been taught and I gave that day everything I had．In the end, my boss was impressed．He even called to tell my parents what a good worker I was, and my parents' eyes   __54  ．From that day on I have worked every job to my full   55  , because that day defined （explain the truth of）my life．It defined how I was going to work, and I will always stick to it．

Last January I was given a chance to work in another country. At first, I lived a  36 life, but soon I met a group of new friends and they were really nice.
Then something  37  happened. One of our friends suffered from kidney stones (腎結(jié)石), which had to be   38  surgically as soon as possible. But it was not as   39  as that! Our friend could not  40 the operation, which put him into deep  41 . I didn’t know how to help him because I didn’t have any money either.  42 , I never lost hope. Instead I tried to think of other  43  and told him not to worry because everything would be all right.
Before I left the hospital, I talked to the surgeon and asked him to do the surgery, saying I would pay the expenses the next day  44  I had that kind of money. Well, I must have been 45  because the surgeon agreed to do it! But how was I going to get that much money?
All I knew was that I needed to help my friend! Although it could be  46  to deal with this kind of situation, I decided to make some efforts. I tried to borrow money but failed. I tried  47  my things but no one wanted them. Then I had the idea of talking to my  48 . I asked him if I could have my next two months’ salary in advance—without even thinking on how I would  49 for two months with no money. He was surprised and asked me the reason. I told him that I had a friend who was really in need.  50  I convinced him too and then he gave my two months’ salary without any  51 !
Upon getting the money, I ran to the hospital and paid all the bills. My friend didn’t know how to thank me. I just said, “Come on! Give me a  52 !”
Friendship may not only be found at the happy moment but sometimes you can find it on the  53  time in your life! I’ve done a good thing by being a (an)  54 friend and I think it is well worth the  55 .

I met Billy the last summer before college. He was handsome and his irreverence（玩世不恭）was  36 to me. We liked each other the first instant we met．37 ，I was a straight Astudent and my parents had high hopes for me to  38  an Ivy League（常春藤聯(lián)盟）school.Billy did not 39 into the equality. We were in love nevertheless-that 40 teenage love．I still remember we had a plan for prom（舞會(huì)）．It was understood that we had  41 about where we would dance and drink and party together.
This meant one thing to my parents-panic．And it grew as the  42 letters began to roll in. Of the eleven schools I applied to，nine accepted me. And one of them was Brown University-the Ivy League college   43 in historic Providence，Rhode Island．
There was no  44 that I was drawn to Brown，but Billy (who had joined the army）was  45 down south and I had offers   46 for me there，too. I was torn between my love for him and my family  47 ．
One week   48  the start of school，my mother had a talk with me．She said I was eighteen years old and I had a  49 to make---one that went  50 beyond the choice of  51 to attend university.
In August，I  52 and drove north to Providence．It took several months to  53 that my life was moving on in a way that was completely different from Billy's，Brown changed my life，opening doors and giving me the  54 I now use to think，to learn and to write. Life is always about  55 it seems，and the older I get，the more I understand this. Still，there are times when I think of Billy because he taught me about love．

When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me—about how I’d make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things I want.  36 then the two of you came into my world with all your curiosity and mischief and those smiles that never  37 to fill my heart and light up my day. And suddenly, all my big plans for myself didn’t seem so 38 any more. I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours. And I 39 that my own life wouldn’t count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfillment in yours.
In the end, girls, that’s why I 40 President because of what I want for you and for every child in this nation. I want all our children to go to schools worthy of their 41 schools that challenge them, inspire them, and instill in them a 42 of wonder about the world around them. I want them to have the chance to go to college — 43 their parents aren’t rich. And I want them to get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give them benefits like health care, jobs that let them spend time with their own kid and 44 with dignity.
Sometimes we have to send our young men and women into war and other dangerous 45 to protect our country — but when we do, I want to make sure that it is only for a very good reason, that we try our best to settle our differences with others peacefully, and that we do everything possible to keep our servicemen and women 46 . And I want every child to understand that the blessings these brave Americans fight for are not free — that with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation 47 great responsibility.