When I was in the sixth grade, I became a big Korean pop fan. Almost half the students at my middle school were Korean and almost all of them listened to Korean music, especially K-pop. I had never been interested in it. It sounded too strange to me, but all changed in the sixth grade when the huge hit Gee came out. All my friends were singing the chorus and imitating the dance. Gee fever sucked(使卷入) me into K-pop. It became my life. I listened to K-pop non-stop and filled my iPod with it. In a month, I had memorized the names of countless members of boy and girl bands and stuck pictures of my singer “boyfriends” on my walls. I would ditch my weekend art and maths classes and go to concerts with my friends. This would always result in my mom shouting that I was wasting my life. My mom thought K-pop was trash(垃圾) and wanted me to like classical music as she did. But classical music made me sleepy.

Every day during middle school I went to a K-pop gossip and news site called allkpop.com. On this site I learned that I could audition(试音)to become a singer in a K-pop band. The shining clothes, thousands of screaming fans and hearing them call my name seemed much more exciting than being a middle school student. Becoming a K-pop star was all I wanted.  

I started watching the audition videos of current stars and reading blog posts from people who had auditioned. They explained much about the audition. This made me want to audition even more. After watching those videos, I saw that most of the current stars weren’t that amazing in their auditions and didn't think of myself as a good singer. “ But if they could do it, I could do that too.” I thought.

21. What caused the author to fall in love with K-pop?   

    A. Her Korean                                     B. A new style of dance   

    C. Her classmates’ influence             D. The popularity of Gee 

22. The underlined word “ditch” in Paragraph 1 probably means______.

A. forget             B. attend                C. skip             D. hate 

23. What do we know about the author’s mother?    

A. She has no interest in music.       B. She has a low opinion of K-pop. 

C. She doesn’t care about her daughter D. She prefers K-pop to classical music.

24. After visiting allkpop.com, the author_______.    

A. dreamed of becoming a pop singer     

B. called the manager of the news site 

C. contacted people who had auditioned

D. knew she would never become a singer

25. The author thought she could become a good singer because _______.

A. she had a special talent for music.

B. she had been given singing lessons.

C. she firmly believed she could improve singing through training.

D. her performance at the studio was satisfying.

In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh(法老) treated the message runner like a prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news. However, if the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy news, his head was cut off.

    Shades of that spirit spread over today’s conversations. Once a friend and I packed up some peanut butter and sandwiches for an outing. As we walked light-heartedly out of the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor looked up at the sky and said, “Oh boy, bad day for a picnic. The weatherman says it’s going to rain.” I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches. Not for his stupid weather report, but for his smile.

    Several months ago I was racing to catch a bus. As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Greyhound counter, the sales agent said with a broad smile, “Oh, that bus left five minutes ago.” Dreams of head cutting!

    It’s not the news that makes someone angry. It’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s delivered(传送). Everyone must give bad news from time to time, and winning professionals do it with the proper attitude. A doctor advising a patient that she needs an operation does it in a caring way. A boss informing an employee he didn’t get the job takes on a sympathetic tone. Big winners know，when delivering any bad news, they should share the feeling of the receiver.

    Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this. When you’re tired from a long flight, has a hotel clerk cheerfully said that your room isn’t ready yet？When you had your heart set on the toast beef, has your waiter merrily told you that he just served the last piece? It makes you as a traveler or diner want to land your fist right on their unsympathetic faces.

Had my neighbor told me of the upcoming rainstorm with sympathy, I would have appreciated his warning. Had the Greyhound salesclerk sympathetically informed me that my bus had already left, I probably would have said, “Oh, that’s all right. I’ll catch the next one.” Big winners, when they bear bad news, deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded(被轰炸的)person is sure to have.

26. In Paragraph 1, the writer tells the story of the pharaoh to________.

A. make a comparison                                   B. describe a scene

C. introduce a topic                         D. offer an argument

27. In the writer’s opinion, his neighbor was________.

A. not helpful      B. not considerate    C. friendly     D. warm-hearted

28. From “Dreams of head-cutting!” (Paragraph 3), we learn that the writer________.

A. was reminded of the cruel pharaoh

B. was mad at the sales agent

C. wished that the sales agent would have bad dreams

D. dreamed of cutting the sales agent’s head that night

29. Which of the following is true?

A. The author really appreciated the neighbor’s warning.

B. From the passage we know that it is the bad news that makes someone angry.

C. If the runner brought to the pharaoh unhappy news, he would be treated like a prince.

D. When we want to deliver any bad news, we should share the feeling of the receiver.

30. What is the main idea of the text?

A. Receiving bad news requires great courage.

B. Helping others sincerely is the key to business success.

C. Delivering bad news with sympathy is important in communication.

D. Learning ancient traditions can be useful.

Among rich countries, people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour worked is the same in the United States as it is in France, Spain and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.

    In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less. In other words, they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But not in the United States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.

Longer hours do of course increase the GDP (国内生产总值). So the United States has produced more per worker than, say, France. The United States also has more of its people at work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result is that American GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour worked is the same.

It is not clear which of the two situations is better. As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in interest. It is too early to explain the different trends(趋势) in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance?

31.Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?

A. Spain           B. France       C. Germany         D. America.

32.In the last paragraph, the underlined word “which” refers to_______.

A. family life       B. situations     C. other values       D. trends

33.What message can we get from the text?

A. The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.

B. Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.

C. People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.

D. Americans are happier than Europeans.

34.From the text we know that the author        .

A. believes that longer working hours is better

B. prefers shorter working hours to longer ones

C. says nothing certain about which pattern is better

D. thinks neither of the patterns is good

35.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. Americans and Europeans        B. Staying at Home

C. Work and Productivity           D. Work and Happiness

There are many ways to fame. Whatever your own recipe(秘诀) is, if you want to make it really big, don’t follow in anyone else’s footprints.   36 

1.      Do something unusual

       Celebrity(成名，名人) is all about standing out from the crowd.   37   Charles Blondin started it all off 150 years ago. He walked a tightrope(钢丝) across the Niagara Falls to the American side, in front of over 10,000 breathless viewers. After his success, Blondin crossed the Falls many more times in a variety of ways: in chains, on a bicycle, and once, blindfolded.

2.      Discover something

       The bad news is that there are no countries left to discover. The good news is that in the rainforests of Brazil, there are about three million unnamed types of beetles(甲壳虫). One of them could be yours.   38   Though no one will enjoy hearing your name, you will be famous at least until someone comes along and discovers a cure.

3.      Appear on reality TV

         39    The growth of “reality TV” shows like Big Brother which star ordinary people, means that anyone can possibly become a star.   40   While the show is being broadcasted, you’re the biggest star on earth, but once it is over, your glamour disappears, and the life of being a nobody is waiting round the corner.

A. Make someone remember you.

B. What really counts is to explore a unique path.

C. Or discover a deadly disease and give it your name.

D. They bring you fame at the speed of light, but it fades just as fast.

E. Do something out of the ordinary and you’ll get your piece of fame.

F. Try attending an event that gives a speech on something you don’t know much about.

G. There have never been more chances for ordinary people to become famous.

It’s useful and necessary to discuss learning habits. There is a famous saying “Good habits lead to good endings.”, 56.       shows the importance of habits. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away ”also shows how a healthy everyday habit helps to build up our body. Good learning habits can help us gain great learning results, 57.______(include) high scores and abundant knowledge. Learning habits form our ways of thinking and attitudes 58.        our learning. 59._______(obvious), a good habit can help us to speed up to reach our destinations. As we can see, cultivating a good habit is so important 60.______ I would like to develop some good habits, like keeping a learning diary every day. I believe that through my efforts, I can gain good learning results by having good habits.

第四部分写作（共两节，满分20分）