It was at least two months (21) _____ Christmas when nine-year-old Almie Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bicycle. As Christmas drew (22) ____ (near), her dream for a bicycle seemed to fade(逐渐消失), for she didn’t mention it again. We bought some beautiful story books for her and thought she would be happy to see them. However, on December 24, she said that she wanted a bike more than anything else.
  It was just too late. We were busy with all the details of preparing Christmas dinner and buying last-minute gifts, (23) ______ (take) the time to select the “right bike” for our little girl. So, here we were Christmas Eve around 9:00 p.m, with Almie and her six- year-old brother, Dylan, in their beds. Now we (24) ____ only think of the bicycle and the disappointment of our child.
  “ What if I make a little bicycle out of clay(泥) and write a note (25) _____ she could trade the clay bike in for a real bike?” her dad asked.So he spent the next four hours patiently working with clay (26) _____ (make) a tiny clay bike. (27) _____ Christmas morning, we were excited for Almie to open the little box with the beautiful red and white clay bike and the note. Finally, she opened it and (28) ______ (read) the note aloud. “Does this mean that I can trade in this bike that Daddy made me for a real one?” (29) ______ (smile), I said, “Yes.” Almie had tears in her eyes when she replied, “I could never trade in this beautiful bicycle that Daddy made for me. I’d rather keep this than get (30) ______  real bike.” At that moment, we would have moved heaven and earth to buy her very bicycle in the world!

A. accounted     B. average    C. continuous    D. rank    E. Link   F. comparison  

 G additional   H. associated    I. risk     J. confirmed  K. effects

   Television watching is an activity which is known to be harmful to health and is distinct from getting too little exercise. But a new study suggests its damaging effects may even ____31___ alongside those from smoking and obesity. Researchers who studied television viewing habits in Australia calculated that people who watch for a(n)   ____32 ___  of six hours a day shorten their life expectancy by almost five years.

   They based their calculations on data on the ___33___ between television viewing and death from the Australian obesity and lifestyle study which involved l 1,000 adults aged 25 and over. Applying these findings to the whole population over 25, who are estimated to have watched 9.8 billion hours of TV in 2008, they concluded that it __34___ for 286,000 years of life lost --equivalent to 22 minutes for each, hour watched. By__35___ , smoking one cigarette is estimated to shorten life expectancy by 11 minutes -- equivalent to half an hour of TV watching.

   Writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the authors from the University of Queensland, say the figures suggest "huge loss of life may be ___36___ with too much TV viewing." The UK and other industrialized countries are likely to be similarly affected "given the typically large amounts of time spent watching TV and the similarities in disease patterns." The researchers add: "If these figures are __37___ and shown to reflect a cause and effect relationship, TV viewing is a public health problem comparable in size to established behavioral risk factors."

   Researchers from Taiwan University found even those who did as little as 92 minutes' exercise a week,- equivalent to 15 minutes a day for six days a week -- reduced their __38___ of death by 14 per cent. Even this small amount of exercise could postpone one in six of all deaths -- similar to the ___39__ of a stop-smoking programme. Each __40__ 15 minutes a day reduced the death rate by a further 4 per cent.

    Most drinks stating that they are fruit-flavored （水果味道的） contain no fruit at all, while most of the rest contain only a small quantity of fruit, according to a study carried by the British Food Commission．

    "Shoppers need to check the labels（标签）before buying drinks, though sometimes the actual content can be non-existent," said Food Commission spokesperson Lan Tokelove．"Food production is highly competitive．(67)_______ It will increase profits, and consumers won't always realize they are being tricked."

    Flavorings are focused on the flavors of natural food products such as fruits, meats and vegetables, or creating flavor for food products that do not have the desired flavors．Researchers analyzed the contents of 28 strawberry-flavored products sold in stores. (68)          Of the 11 products that did contain strawberries, five of them contained less than one percent real fruit．In addition, each juice box contained nearly eight teaspoons of sugar．

     (69)________Let's take jam as an example. Some strawberry-flavored jam was labeled as containing no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners, but it contained absolutely no strawberries at all.

     The Food Commission suggested all flavors used in a product should be listed on the packaging. Consumers have the rights to know clearly about what they have bought

1. It must have rained, for the ground is wet.

2. Anyone who breaks/violates the traffic rules/regulations deserves punishing/ punishment/ to be punished.

3. It was in this second-hand bookstore that I met the author of the book for the first time.

4. Although meeting with great difficulties in study, he was still obsessed with online games, which troubled his parents.

Meanness (being not generous and unkind) is one of human nature’s less attractive personality. But few people are completely, __41__ mean. Keith Waterhouse, a journalist, explains why he’s thrifty (economical).

I am thrifty, you are careful, he is mean. I am generous, you are extravagant (奢侈的), he seems to have money to burn. More probably we are each a bit of all these types. I know I am. I am a very generous present-giver. I love buying presents – __42__ I hate buying wrapping paper. Whenever my own __43__ come in, I collect and save the wrappings and __44__ them from one year to the next.

The same __45__ to stationery. I have never written on both sides of a sheet of paper in my life. I waste writing paper as if it __46__ on trees, and I cannot go into a stationer’s without buying up most of their envelopes in five different sizes. __47__, I will not buy paperclips, rubber bands or ballpoint pens. I assume that __48__ numbers of these will appear all by themselves.

Some of my best friends are mean about string. They carefully save every piece that comes into their __49__. I don’t know why, since hardly anyone uses string these days and certainly no one has a need for 150 meters of it, which is what one lady I know has saved up.

There are also people who are much too __50__ with their money. They are those who get off the bus a stop early to avoid paying a higher fare, or wander supermarkets looking for special __51__ and discounts. This is fine, as long as these economies are not __52__ on others.

It is when thrift(节俭) __53__ one’s social life that it becomes meanness. The famous American multimillionaire J. Paul Getty __54__ billions but is remembered for the pay phone he __55__ for the use of his guests. A psychiatrist friend of mine maintains that mean people are insecure. But then he says that about overgenerous people too. Mean people fear that their money will run out on them; overgenerous ones that their friends will.

41. A. totally              B. deeply                 C. hardly             D. fairly111]

42. A. anyhow          B. so                     C. for                D. but

43. A. presents          B. parcels                C. baggage           D. wrappings

44. A. unfold            B. recycle                C. repeat              D. replace

45. A. applies           B. adapts                C. acknowledges   D. adopts

46. A. appeared          B. bore                  C. grew               D. stroke

47. A. In that case       B. As a result            C. What’s more     D. On the other hand

48. A. sufficient         B. efficient               C. scarce              D. strange

49. A. position          B. possession            C. potential            D. proposal

50.   A. crazy             B. careful                C. free                 D. anxious

51.   A. offer              B. gift                     C. bargain             D. goods

52.   A. recorded         B. imposed                C. entitled              D. supposed

53.   A. affects                B. benefits                C. enhances           D. enlarges   

54.   A. gave away        B. gave in               C. gave up           D. gave off1111]

55.   A. borrowed        B. planted               C. installed            D. ensured