Diana Jacobs thought her family had a workable plan to pay for college for her 21-year-old twin sons: a combination of savings, income, scholarships, and a modest amount of borrowing. Then her husband lost his job, and the plan fell apart.

"I have two kids in college, and I want to say come home. ' but at the same time I want to provide them with a good education," says Jacobs.

The Jacobs family, did work out a solution: They asked and received more aid from the schools, and each son increased his' borrowing to the maximum amount through the federal loan (貸款) program. They will each graduate with $ 20,000 of debt, but at least they will be able to finish school.

With unemployment rising, financial aid administrators expect to hear from more families like the Jacobses. More students are applying for aid, and more families expect to need student loans. College administrators are concerned that they will not have enough aid money to go around.

At the same time, tuition (學費) continues to rise. A report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007, while average family income rose just 147% . Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade.

"If we go on this way for another 25 years, we won't have an affordable system of higher education," says Patrick M. Calan, president of the center. "The middle class families have been financing it through debt. They will send kids to college whatever it takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt."

Financial aid administrators have been having a hard time as many companies decide that student loans are not profitable enough and have stopped making them. The good news, however, is that federal loans account for about three quarters of student borrowing, and the government says that money will flow uninterrupted.

1.According to Paragraph 1. why did the plan of the Jacobs family fail?

A．The twins wasted too much money.	B．The father was out of work.
C．Their saving ran out.	D．The family fell apart.

2.How did the Jacobses manage to solve their problem?

A．They asked their kids to come home.

B．They borrowed $20, 000 from the schools.

C．They encouraged their twin sons to do part-time jobs.

D．They got help from the schools and the federal government.

3.Financial aid administrators believe that________.

A．more families will face the same problem as the Jacobses

B．the government will receive more letters of complaint

C．college tuition fees will double soon

D．America's unemployment will fall

4.What can we learn about the middle class families from they text?

A．They blamed the government for the tuition increase.

B．Their income increased steady in the last decade.

C．They will try their best to send kids to college.

D．Their debts will be paid off within 25 years.

5.According to the last paragraph the government will________.

A．provide most students with scholarships

B．dismiss some financial aid administrators

C．stop the companies from making student loans

D．go on providing financial support for college students

 

Tim Becker and his neighbors are doing something to make their neighborhood a trouble-free area.

When Tim Becker gets in his car to go shopping, he doesn’t    1  drive to a store and back home. He always looks    2  up and down the streets of his neighborhood. He looks for anything

   3  such as strange cars, loud noises,  4  windows, or people gathering on street comers.

Tim   5  to a neighborhood watch group in Stoneville, Indiana, USA. The neighborhood watch group   6  on the third Wednesday of every month. That’s   7  .Tim gets together with ?about? ten of his neighbors to discuss community ?  8  .?Members of the neighborhood watch group want to help the police   9  their homes, streets, and families safe.

Tina Stedman, president of ?  10  ?neighborhood watch group, agrees with Tim.“People seem to think that crime happens to other people but not   11  them. Well, it’s never happened to me,” she said,“but I don’t think anyone has the   12  to steal from other people or to make them feel   13  sitting in their own homes.”

Alex, a member of the group, said that all the neighbors   14  out for one another,“We 15  each other’s homes. We keep watch on the neighborhood at night and on weekends. Usually a  16    of four or five of us goes out together. If something doesn’t look right, then we call the  17  .?For example, if we notice a group of teenagers who seem to be looking for   18  ,or someone destroying property, we report to the police.”

Alex feels the neighborhood watch groups ?  19  ?a lot in keeping crime down. Her husband Jim agrees,“Police are good people, but they can’t do   20  .”

1.A.yet                         B.still                           C.just                           D.rather

2.A.carefully　             B.clearly                      C.nervously                  D.coldly

3.A.familiar                  B.unusual                     C.expensive                  D.interesting

4.A.curtained                B.open                         C.old                           D.broken

5.A.attends                   B.belongs                     C.goes                          D.turns

6.A.meets                     B.quarrels                     C.sings                         D.searches

7.A.where                    B.why                          C.when                        D.how

8.A.politics                   B.wealth                       C.health                       D.safety

9.A.keep                      B.hold                          C.let                                   D.protect

10.A.its                        B.his                            C.their                         D.your

11.A.round                   B.on                                   C.about                        D.to

12.A.right                    B.chance                      C.courage                     D.mind

13.A.unlucky                B.unsafe                       C.disappointed              D.discouraged

14.A.set                       B.let                                   C.hold                          D.look

15.A.care                            B.enter                         C.watch                        D.manage

16.A.group                   B.set                            C.number                            D.crowd

17.A.judges                  B.police                       C.firemen                     D.doctors

18.A.work                    B.burden                      C.service                      D.trouble

19.A.produce                B.find                          C.get                            D.help

20.A.anything               B.evening                     C.harm                         D.wrong

When my grandfather died, my 83-year-old grandmother, once so full of life, slowly began to fade. No longer able to manage a home of her own, she moved in with my mother, where she was visited often by other members of her large, loving family. Although she still had her good days, it was often hard to arouse her interest.

But one chilly December afternoon three years ago, my daughter Meagan, then eight, and I were visiting her, when she noticed that Meagan was carrying her favorite doll.“I, too, had a special doll when I was a little girl,” she told a wide-eyed Meagan. “I got it one Christmas when I was about your age. I lived in an old farmhouse in Maine, with Mom, Dad and my four sisters, and the very first gift I opened that Christmas was the most beautiful doll you’d ever want to see.”

“She had an exquisite(優(yōu)美的，高雅的), hand-painted face, and her long brown hair was pulled back with a big pink bow. Her eyes were blue, and they opened and closed. I remember she had a body of kidskin, and her arms and legs bent at the joints.”

GG’s voice dropped low, taking on an almost respectful tone. “My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, decorated with fine lace. … Getting such a fine doll was like a miracle for a little farm girl like me — my parents must have had to sacrifice so much to afford it But how happy I was that morning!”

GG’s eyes filled and her voice shook with emotion as she recalled that Christmas of long ago. “I played with my doll all morning long. And then it happened. My mother called us to the dining room for Christmas dinner and I laid my new doll down gently on the hall table. But as I went to join the family at the table, I heard a loud crash.”

“I hardly had to turn around — I knew it was my precious doll. And it was. Her lace skirt had hung down from the table just enough for my baby sister to reach up and pull on it. When I ran in, there lay my beautiful doll on the floor, her face smashed into a dozen pieces. She was gone forever.”

A few years later, GG’s baby sister was also gone, she told Meagan, a victim of pneumonia(肺炎). Now the tears in her eyes spilled over — tears, I knew, not only for a lost doll and a lost sister, but for a lost time.

Subdued(沉默的) for the rest of the visit, Meagan was no sooner in the car going home than she exclaimed, “Mom, I have a great idea! Let’s get GG a new doll for Christmas. Then she won’t cry when she thinks about it.”

My heart filled with pride as I listened to my sympathetic little daughter. But where would we find a doll to match GG’s fond memories?

Where there’s a will, as they say, there’s a way. When I told my best friends, Liz and Chris, about my problem, Liz put me in touch with a local doll-make. From a doll supply house I ordered a long brown hair and a kidskin body to copy the outfit GG had so lovingly described. Liz volunteered to put the doll together, and Chris helped me make the doll’s outfit. Meagan wrote the story of the lost doll by giving examples.

Finally our creation was finished. To our eyes it was perfect. But there was no way it could be exactly like the doll GG had loved so much and lost. Would she think it looked anything like it?

On Christmas Eve, Meagan and I carried our happily packed gift to GG, where she sat surrounded by children, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. “It’s for you,” Meagan said, “but first you have to read the story that goes with it.”

GG no sooner got through the first page than her voice cracked and she was unable to go on, but Meagan took over where she left off. Then it was time to open her present.

I’ll never forget the look on GG’s face as she lifted the doll and held it to her chest. Once again her tears fell, but this time they were tears of joy. Holding the doll in her frail arms, she repeated over and over again, “She’s exactly like my old doll, exactly like her.” 

And perhaps she wasn't saying that just to be kind. Perhaps however impossible it seemed, we had managed to produce a close copy of the doll she remembered. But as I watched my eight-year-old daughter and her great-grandmother examining the doll together, I thought of a likelier explanation. What GG really recognized, perhaps, was the love that inspired the gift. And love, wherever it comes from, always looks the same.

1.GG moved in with her daughter because ______.

A．she wanted to live with a large family

B．she was not able to live on her own due to her weakness

C．her husband passed away

D．she thought it was the children’s obligation to take care of her

2.Why did GG become very emotional on a December afternoon?

A．Because she saw her great granddaughter’s doll.

B．Because she recalled her long deceased parents.

C．Because she was surrounded by her offspring.

D．Because she felt lonely during the Christmas season.

3.What can we infer from the underlined sentence in paragraph 4? 

A．GG’s doll was important and was a symbol of many things.

B．GG showed great respect for his husband’s love.

C．GG missed the great old days she spent with her family

D．GG was grateful for her long life.

4.What happened to GG’s baby sister?

A．She envied her sister all her life.

B．She felt guilty for breaking GG’s doll and decided to go.

C．She left home at a young age.

D．She died of some disease at a young age.

5.Why did Meagan’s mum feel proud of her daughter?

A．Because she was clever.                  B．Because she was loving.

C．Because she was amiable.                 D．Because she was imaginative.

6.This passage implies that ______.

A．treating the elderly well is moral

B．it is impossible to copy the exact doll for the elderly

C．love, the permanent rhythm of life, will always remain in the elderly’s heart

D．physical comfort from children rather than psychological care is important

 

June is always a sad time for Senior Three students. After taking the big test, they leave to  31    their dreams in different ways. It’s hard time when students    32   to say goodbye to carefree high school days and close friends.

     People always say that teenage friendships are the most precious. Kids are too young to understand real friendship while adults    33   to relate it to fame and wealth.

     Things are    34   with high school best friends. We share each other’s secret. We discuss news from all walks of life and begin to    35   our values. We support each other on the journey to the biggest    36    in our lives. We also share success and failure. The seeds of friendship become deeply rooted.

     Many of us don’t realize this ­­­   37    we enter society. One of my friends, Yang Ping,    38   how strong the bond with high school friends could be. “ It was my high school friend who helped me    get    39   the darkest days in my life,” said the 27-year-old girl.

     In 2001 Yang lost her job in Beijing. Yang’s best friend was staying in a college dormitory and took her in. Each night the two girls squeezed into a narrow single bed, chatting and crying. “I’ll never forget her care and encouragement, which supported me out of the darkness,” said Yang.

     I    40    remember my last days in Senior 3. At the time, I    41    a 20-page message with my best friend, both of us hoping to keep the friendship    42    forever.

     But we didn’t realize we were already deep in each other’s    43    . During the past ten years, whenever I’ve needed help or wanted to pour out my    44   , she has always been there at the other end of a telephone line.

    It is true that friends come and go. But never forget the ones who have been there for you. Take a closer look at those now around you, they could be the most precious     45   you discover in your entire life.

1.A. realize            B. create       C. depend       D. finish

2.A.decide              B. volunteer        C. have         D. begin

3.A. attempt            B. tend             C. plan             D. manage

4. A. similar           B. same             C. like             D. different

5.A. weigh          B. make             C. measure      D. shape

6.A. challenge          B. trouble      C. question         D. problem

7.A. unless             B. after            C. until        D. but

8. A. experienced       B. appreciated      C. considered  D. thought

9.A. into               B. out          C. through      D. across

10.A. yet               B. even         C. already          D. still

11.A. changed           B. exchanged    C. turned       D. discussed

12. A. running              B. going        C. advancing    D. marching13.A. head               B. brain          C. spirit           D. heart

14.A. unhappiness       B. happiness        C. disaster         D. joy

15.A. period            B. treasure         C. wonder       D. image

 

"Everything happens for the best, "my mother said whenever I faced disappointment, "If you 36 on, something good will happen some day."

Mother was right, as I discovered after graduating from college. I had   37  myself for a sports announcer. So I went to Chicago to knock on the door of every station and was 38  every time. In one station, a kind lady told me that 39  stations wouldn't employ a person without   40 since I had just graduated. "Go out in the town and find a small station that might give you a chance, "she said.

I returned to Dixon, where I had finished my high school education and had  41  in the school football team. My father said that our town had built a store and wanted a man to manage its sports department. The job sounded just 42   for me but I wasn't hired.

My disappointment had 43  as if by design. "Everything happens for the best," Mum  44  me. Dad lent me his car to look for a job. I tried WOC Radio Davenport. The program director told me they had already hired an announcer.  45 I left his office, I asked aloud,"  46 can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?" Suddenly, I heard the director  47  . "Do you know anything about football? " Then he asked me to 48  an imaginary game. It was easy, and I did it without difficulty. The director was 49  and told me I would be broadcasting a game on the   50  Saturday.

1.                A．put            B．take            C．move D．carry

 

2.                A．devoted        B．designed        C．found    D．enjoyed

 

3.                A．invited         B．promised       C．refused   D．a(chǎn)ccepted

 

4.                A．large           B．a(chǎn)ll             C．no   D．small

 

5.                A．experience      B．examination     C．a(chǎn)greement    D．college

 

6.                A．played         B．joined          C．taken    D．fought

 

7.                A．possible        B．successful       C．right     D．important

 

8.                A．shown         B．disappeared     C．resulted  D．turned

 

9.                A．woke          B．a(chǎn)dvised         C．demanded D．reminded

 

10.               A．While          B．After          C．Before    D．So

 

11.               A．What          B．How           C．Whenever D．Wherever

 

12.               A．calling          B．a(chǎn)nswering       C．broadcasting   D．a(chǎn)nnouncing

 

13.               A．make          B．a(chǎn)ct            C．broadcast D．play

 

14.               A．moved         B．sorry          C．thankful   D．satisfied

 

15.               A．future          B．coming         C．last   D．later