一、单项填空（共15小题，每题1分，满分15分）

1. — Jim managed to get into his house without the key. ______?

— I don’t know. He might have asked someone for help.

A. What for B. Who knows C. So What D. Guess how

2. Alice Munro, the 82-year-old female writer, is the 13th woman ______the Nobel Prize for Literature since its start in 1901.

A. won B. winning C. to winning D. to win

5. As is often the case in nature, some plants are so ____ to temperature that they can only survive in cool places.

A. addicted B. cautious C. sensitive D. available

6. You may depend on ______ that they will look after your daughter when you are away.

A. them B. it C. this D. that

7. Our school appeals to the students to ______ at least an hour every day to take exercise to raise learning efficiency.

A. pick out B. take up C. keep back D. set aside

8. High school girls in the country ______ to wear long hair at that time, which you may think quite strange.

A. were forbidden B. have been forbidden C. forbade D. had forbidden

9. Whatever background you come from, you can be _______ successful with your hard work like many others.

A. mostly B. merely C. equally D. hardly

10. For us Senior Three students, 2014 is a special year, one _______ we are trying to be admitted to a desired university．

A．what B．which C．where D．when

11. Owing to her balanced diet and regular exercise, she is very slim and athletic _____.

A. in height B. in detail C. in shape D. in sight

12. He admitted not until he lost most of his old friends ______that inner beauty was more important than physical beauty.

A. that he realized B. did he realized C. he had realized D. did he realize

13. After leaving office in 1999, Nelson Mandela didn’t stop doing______ he thought was right.

A. that B. which C. what D. where

14. The visit to the memorial of Jiao Yulu, a late model official who worked in Lankao in the 1960s was a _____ of Secretary Xi’s trip.

A. highlight B. preparation C. destination D. preference

15. ______ English not to be tested in the future, it would be more of a disaster than a fortune.

A. Were B. Should C. Would D. Might

二、 完形填空（共20小题，每题0.5分，满分10分）

When Edward Jones was 10, he used to go to the public library in Washington, but not for the books. “ We 16 go into the boy’s room,” he remembers. “ We would 17 our shoes and lay on the floor and put our feet 18 on the radiators to get warm.” Jones is again sitting in the lobby of that building. 19 __ the library is now the City Museum of Washington, and Jones is 53 and the 20 of the Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, The Known World. Time does have a way of changing 21.

Everything---and nothing. “ I always thought 22 day I would write a story,” says Jones. The first line is, “ You never 23 having been a child.” He laughs, but there’s still hurt there. Jones had a tough childhood: his 24 wasn’t around, and his mother washed dishes and scrubbed floors to 25 him and his sister and brother, who is disabled. 26 , his poor mother with them moved 18 times in 18 years. Once an landlord threw all their possession out of the windows when his mother didn’t 27 the rent.

Jones went to college---Holy Cross, a Jesuit school in Massachusetts—but 28 was always around him, and he was briefly 29 after he graduated. When he was offered a 30 job at a financial magazine called Tax Notes, he took it, and stayed there for 19 years. “ 31 you grow up like that, having a job is important,” he says. “ It was always the job first. 32 would come second.” But Jones concentrated upon his literary dreams, 33 his co-workers laughed at him about writing the great American novel.

It’s strange and wonderful that a book of 34 deep human understanding could be written by a man who lives alone, who until last year had never even 35 the country.

16.A. would B. should C. could D. might

17.A. put on B. take off C. have on D. go off

18.A.off B. away C. up D. back

19.A.or B. then C. and D. but

20.A.loser B. owner C. winner D. competitor

21.A.anything B. something C. nothing D. everything

22.A.one B. each C. either D. neither

23.A.get over B. grow up C. go down D. gaze at

24.A.father B. mother C. teacher D. classmate

25.A.supply B. suggest C. surround D. support

26.A.Luckily B. Unfortunately C. Cheerfully D. Strongly

27.A.cost B. take C. spend D. pay

28.A.wealth B. poverty C. strength D. power

29.A.homeless B. hopeless C. useless D. careless

30.A.plenty B. sudden C. steady D. strange

31.A.Before B. After C. Although D. When

32.A.Speaking B. Writing C. Reading D. Retelling

33.A.even though B. if C. what's more D. however

34.A.so B. that C. as D. such

35.A.stayed B. left C. visited D. wrote

三、阅读理解（共20小题，每题1分，满分20分）

A

Each time I see a balloon, my mind flies back to a memory of when I was a six-year-old girl. It was a rainy Sunday and my father had recently died. I asked my mom if Dad had gone to heaven. "Yes, honey. Of course." she said.

"Can we write him a letter?"

She paused, the longest pause of my short life, and answered, "Yes."

My heart jumped. "How? Does the mailman go there?" I asked.

"No, but I have an idea." Mom drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon. I asked her what it was for.

"Just wait, honey. You'll see." Mom told me to write my letter. Eagerly, I got my favorite pen, and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink. I wrote about my day, what I learned at school, how Mom was doing, and even about what happened in a story I had read. For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive. I gave the letter to Mom. She read it over, and a smile crossed her face.

She made a hole in the corner of the letter where she looped the balloon string. We went outside and she gave me the balloon. It was still raining.

"Okay, on the count of three, let go. One, two, three."

The balloon, carrying my letter, darted upward against the rain. We watched until it was swallowed by the mass of clouds.

Later I realized, like the balloon, that Dad had never let his sickness get him down. He was strong. No matter what he suffered, he'd persevere, dart up, and finally transcend this cold world and his sick body. He rose into sky and became something beautiful. I watched until the balloon disappeared into the gray and white and I prayed that his strength was hereditary. I prayed to be a balloon.

B



About PISA

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. To date, students representing more than 70 countries have participated in the assessment.

What makes PISA different

PISA is unique because it develops tests which are not directly linked to the school curriculum. The tests are designed to assess to what extent students at the end of compulsory education, can apply their knowledge to real-life situations and be equipped for full participation in society. The information collected through background questionnaires also provides context which can help analysts interpret the results.



What the assessment involves

Since the year 2000, every three years, fifteen-year

-old students from randomly selected schools worldwide take tests in the key subjects: reading, mathematics and science, with a focus on one subject in each year of assessment. The students take a test that lasts 2 hours. The tests are a mixture of open-ended and multiple-choice questions that are organized in groups based on a passage setting out a real-life situation. A total of about 390 minutes of test items are covered. Students take different combinations of different tests.

Additional PISA initiatives

PISA-based Test for Schools(PTS)

As interest in PISA has grown, school and local educators have been wanting to know how their individual schools compare with students and schools in education systems worldwide. To address this need, the OECD(The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) has developed the PISA-based test for schools. It is currently available in the United States and the OECD is in discussions with governments to make the test available in other countries such as England and Spain.



40. PISA is different from other programmes because __________.

A. its test is closely related to the school curriculum.

B. its test aims to assess whether students can solve real-life problems.

C. its test can equip students for full participation in school.

D. test scores directly determine the analysis of the test.

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

A. Test-takers are carefully selected.

B. Test-takers answer the same questions.

C. Test-takers are tested on three key subjects.

D. Test-takers spend about 390 minutes on the test.

42. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. Students of all ages will be able to take PTS in the future.

B. More countries are likely to have PTS in the future.

C. School and local educators show little interest in PISA at present.

D. PISA provides evaluation of education system within a certain country.

43. Where can we most probably find the passage?

A. On the Internet B. In a newspaper

C. In a magazine D. In an advertisement

C

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