It was the men's skating finals of the Winter Olympics when l was 16.  Someday I'd be in the Olympics. In fact, it was my dream.

    That night I lay on our living room floor excitedly watching the battle between the Brians: American Brian Boitano facing Brian Orser in Canada. Both of them had been world champions. Both of them deserved to win. Naturally l was for Brian Boitano,a northern Californian like me. We had skated on the same ice.  I held my breath in amazement. Boitano performed successfully. The gold medal! I jumped in the air when his score went up.

    But what happened next is what I'll never forget. Brian Boitano sat in front of the camera with his coach, surrounded by a group of journalists.  He was talking about his career and his medal, talking to the whole world. A terrible sinking feeling went through me.  I could never be in the Olympics, I thought.  I could not talk in public like that. Just the idea of a press conference terrified me.

    I loved skating partly because I didn't have to talk. I could express myself with my jumps and dances better.  I didn't have to stand up and give a speech like some teachers expected.  I could feel the blood rush to my face if I thought a teacher was going to call me. I stared at my shoes.  1 was sure I'd make a fool of myself.

    The next day l was at the rink（溜冰场）as usual.1 was practising a combination of jumps that had once seemed impossible.  1 worked very hard the next few years - on the ice and especially off.  After journalists talked to me and although my heart pounded every time I spoke to them, I got to know them. They became familiar faces. And they got to know me. So when my big moment came four years after Brian's, I was ready.

    Sometimes I think my biggest accomplishment was not winning the gold but talking to the press afterwards. When you do the thing you fear most, you put an end to fear.

    Fear can stop you dead in your tracks. Fear can kill a dream. What are you afraid of? What scares you more than anything else? This year, walk right up to it and conquer it, step by step.

21. What information can we get from the second paragraph?

A. The author lived a hard life.          

B. The author comes from Canada.

    C. The author once skated with Orser.

    D. The author wished Boitano to win the match.

22. What is one of the reasons why the author liked skating according to the passage?

    A. She could build up her body to be healthier.

    B. It could help her to get closer to her idol.

    C. She could better express herself with body language.

    D. The possibility of her being a world champion was great.

23. What the author felt the most satisfied with is that     ．

    A. she lived up to her coach's expectations

    B. she became a world champion as planned

    C. she managed to overcome her inner fear eventually

    D. she handled the balance between her career and life

24. What does the author mainly want to tell us?

    A. Face a fear bravely.            B.Practice makes perfect.

    C. Bad times make a good man.    D.Failure is the mother of success.

     Top five best dressed at the Oscars

      No. 5, Keisha Whitaker.  I'm still loving yellow.

      No. 4, Witherspoon seems to be making Best Dressed lists for every event she attends this season.

      No. 3, Nicole Kidman looked amazing. And honestly, she would have been higher on my list if her dress hadn't had that bow(蝴蝶结 )  thing off to the side that depending on the angle she was standing at, looked like a pirate parrot sitting on her shoulder.

      No. 2, Cate Blanchett, Armani, simple, yet not boring.  And I love the gun metal grey color.

    And this year's No. 1 Best dressed goes to Penelope Cruz. She gets the No. 1 spot for actually taking a chance, and pulling it off. On a different person, her dusty rose colored Versace could have easily been on the Worst Dressed List. But she looks perfect.

     Top five worst dressed at the Oscars

     The No. 5 Worst Dressed person was Kirsten Dunst. The dress itself was nice, or at least I'm sure it was fashionable. Maybe it would be on anyone but Kirsten, but she ended up looking like a deflated corpse(尸体).

       No.  4 goes to Gwyneth Paltrow.  Her face looked great, but every time the camera cut to a full body shot, it was like "Huh.  The dress looks bad. "

   No. 3, Anne Hthaway. Giant bows are very rarely a good idea, yet everyone keeps wearing them. Anne's bow looked OK at times, but from other angles looked like a large, dead, fuzzy black moth(蛾) on her chest.

      No.  2, Kelly Preston wearing Dolce &. Gabbana leopard print.  I'm sorry, it's the leopard print. I can't handle it. And nice hair.

       And the No. 1 Worst Dressed star at this year's Academy Awards was Jessica Biel.  At the Oscars, hot pink and a belt can make anyone look tacky. And then you just end up looking like an 80's pop star in a room otherwise full of princesses and one tiny layer cake.

25. How many best dresses are relevant to color according to the comment?

      A. 2             B.  3              C.4               D. 5

26. Nicole Kidman would have looked better if            .

     A. her dress had had that bow thing off to the side

     B. her dress hadn't had that bow thing off to the side

     C. she had moved that bow thing off to the side

     D. she hadn't moved that bow thing off to the side.

27. Kirsten Dunst became one of the worst dressed because            .

      A. she wore a wrong dress                      B. the dress was ugly

      C. the color didn't fit her                       D. the decoration was bad

28. What does the underlined word "tacky"in the last paragraph mean?

   A. Immature.       B. Original.         C. Fashionable.       D. Tasteless.

     Students from Florida International University in Miami walked on water Thursday for a class assignment. To do it, they wore aquatic (水上的) shoes they designed and created.

Alex Quinones was the first to make it to the other side of a 175­foot lake on campus in record time—just over a minute. Quinones, who wore oversized boat­like shoes, also won last year and will receive $500. Students had to wear the aquatic shoes and make it across the lake in order to earn an “A” on the assignment for Architecture Professor Jaime Canaves, Materials and Methods Construction Class. “It's traditional in a school of architecture to do boats out of cardboard for a boat race. I thought our students were a little bit more special than that，” Canaves said. “We decided to do the walk on water event to take it to the next level.”

A total of 79 students competed in the race this year in 41 teams. Only 10 teams failed to cross the lake. Others who fell got back up and made it to the end. The race is open to all students and anyone in the community. The youngest person to ever participate was a 9­year­old girl who competed in place of her mother, while the oldest was a 67­year­old female.

A large crowd on campus joined Canaves as he cheered on the racers. He shouted encouraging words, but also laughed as some unsteadily made their way to the end.

“A part of this is for them to have more understanding of designing and make it work better，” he said. It is also a lesson in life for the students.

“Anything, including walking on water, is possible, if you do the research, test it and go through the design process seriously.”

29．For what purpose did the students take part in the race?

A．To go across the lake to school.       B．To pass Professor Canaves' class.

C．To test their balance on the water.     D．To win the prize money of $500.

30．Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．Most students finished the class assignment successfully.

B．The students who fell into the water were criticized seriously by the Professor.

C．The students wore shoes distributed by Professor Canaves to walk across the lake.

D．The students took part in the race to challenge their physical abilities.

31．What can we infer from the passage?

A．Alex Quinones is a top student in the university.

B．It's a custom for the people in the community to get involved in student activities.

C．The student who made it to the end in the race would succeed in their professional career.

D．Professor Canaves attaches importance to hands­on learning experience.

32．The purpose of the passage is to ________.

A．show his approval of the unique teaching style  B．inspire teachers to be more creative

C．report an interesting assignment     D．encourage more people to take part in the race

   Grandpa's hobby was making birdhouses. He always said, “A man has to keep busy to stay out of trouble.” Leigh wasn't sure how much trouble Grandpa could get into anyway, since he was such a nice guy, but she tried to listen to his advice. Besides, she liked to help him on his birdhouses.

  Grandpa's shop was full of well­oiled and carefully­kept tools. Whenever he used something, he put it back in exactly the right place. He had rules about how he treated his tools, because he hated buying something new if the old one still worked.  He also made sure to clean up each time he worked on something.

  It wasn't too fun cleaning up, but it was nice to watch him cut boards to exact lengths. It was nice to see the drill put in holes for screws (螺丝) to go in cleanly. It was like being a doctor, but with wood. The best part of building was seeing all the pieces come together in the final form.

   The last steps always included lacquer or paint, to help protect Grandpa's hard work from the weather. His birdhouses lasted for years. If he didn't coat them properly, the sun and rain would turn the wood grey and weak in a short period of time. No, he always made sure to do things right. Even if he put rocks or other cute decorations (装饰) on them, it was done right and made to last.

   Grandpa was a hard worker, but he was also smart and generous. He let Leigh keep the birdhouses sometimes, but only if he got to help hang it up or set the post for it. It had to be done just right, after all.

   The birdhouses were a great way to learn about woodworking, hard work, taking care of what you have, and about birds. The best thing about building birdhouses was that Leigh spent some time with Grandpa.

33．What's the best title for the text?

    A. Long­lasting Birdhouses           B．Birdhouses Making

    C．Birdhouses, Home for Birds              D．Grandpa's Birdhouses

34．What did Leigh value most?

   A．Listening to Grandpa's advice.          B．Helping Grandpa on his birdhouses.

   C．Spending some time with Grandpa.      D．Learning about woodworking and birds.

35．We can learn from the text that Grandpa ________.

   A．was a very good carpenter          B．lived a very hard life

   C．didn't care about cleaning up        D.kept thousands of birds

   There are many reasons for people to study abroad. One is that you can have the chance to make yourself know about the culture of the place. Although we humans belong only to the same one species, we are divided into several races. 36  .And when countries are divided by oceans, naturally the way of life in that country is different from ours.

Once you are studying in a foreign country, you will slowly learn to speak the language of the place.__37__If you want to ask for directions or if you are lost, it can be of great help.

 38____If you study in such places as Spain and the Philippines, there are lots of foreign sights to see.

Studying abroad will also give you the chance to experience a totally different curriculum(课程).39  .

Studying abroad is also a memory that can be valued for a lifetime.   40___Once you have made friends with your classmates, I’m pretty sure you will enjoy being with them in your hang-outs, in your parties, and even in helping out with each other’s homework.

A. This is an opportunity to make friends from other races.

B. Studying abroad also offers an opportunity to travel.

C. Different countries have different cultures.

D. A college course in the UK, for example, is not similar to the one we have here.

E. Learning the native language of the place can also greatly help you to go around.

F. English is spoken as a third language in many countries.

G. There are Africans, Europeans, Asians and etc.