One hometown owner in Detroit is intending to exchange his villa for the latest iPhone 6.

The owner has dropped the asking price from $ 5,000 to a new iPhone 6 as the owner is desperate to sell before the tax auction (拍卖) season where “thousands” of homes near foreclosure (房屋止赎权) will flood into the market, a real estate broker (房地产经纪人) called Larry Else told ABC News.

“This house is really not worth much at all,” Else said. The windows are broken and there is no front door. The broker himself has not been inside the home because his company has a policy of not going in unsecured houses alone. Detroit’s declining fortunes have left its population about a third of what it used to be in its peak, according to the U.S. Census Bureau（人口普查办公室）.

Now, the property has accrued (拖欠) more than $6,000 in back taxes (退税款) and will enter foreclosure next year if that debt is not settled. So while the owner is asking for an iPhone 6, the true cost of the sale comes from the buyer including the cost of the back taxes.

That attracted great interest in the property, as Else said that he received four offers today alone. One woman said she was interested in the house for the wood. Another said that they would be willing to hand over an iPhone 5, and another offered $ 850. But Else hinted that the most likely buyer is someone who already lives on the block and put in a $ 700 bid（出价）, and their familiarity with the area appeared to put them at the head of the pack. He said he expects one of the four offers to work out, and may even confirm the sale tonight.

This is not the end of his bartering (物物交换) business, however, as Else said that he’s already gotten another call from a homeowner who has had trouble selling their property.

21.Why did the owner drop his price for the house?

A.Because the house was too old.

B.Because there is a boom in economy.

C.Because he wanted to sell the house quickly.

D.Because the population in Detroit is small.

22.Larry Else hasn’t come into the house because _______.

A.it is dangerous to enter it

B.the owner doesn’t permit it

C.he is not familiar with the area

D.it will break the company’s rule

23.The house will most possibly be sold at the price of _______.

A. $ 5,000        B. $ 850                     C. $ 700      D. an iPhone 6

24.The passage is most probably taken from ________.

A. a story book                                          B. a news report    

C. an economy report                                      D. a tourist brochure

Regardless of the fact that getting dressed in baseball caps and T-shirts are classic American style choices; the preppy(学院风格) look is what sophisticated(高雅时髦的) British youths wear. But when it comes to the best-dressed nation, neither the US nor the UK tops CNN’s list. So which country has the best fashion sense? Take a look.

Italy 

Italy is a country which lays a strong emphasis on outward appearance. Elegance is in Italian blood and most Italians would give up comfort in order to look graceful. They dress well even for simple trips to the grocery store.

    Both males and females have a good understanding of style, dressing themselves up with well-groomed(讲究的) hair and a smart pair of shoes. It is no wonder that so many of the best fashion designers are Italian!

Sweden 

Retail(零售) giant H & M continues to spread affordable Swedish style around the world. What has been called the “Swedish fashion miracle” actually comes from the “less is more” philosophy. The Swedes tend to adopt a practical approach to what they wear, but they don’t lack creativity.

France 

The French have a chic(别致的) air about them. They appear casual and elegant without being over-dressed or under-dressed, and always seem to give off confidence in their style choices. “The laissez-faire(自由放任的) approach to fashion is something many people love — and the looks they wear are something we all want to emulate on a daily basis,” said The Huffington Post.

25. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A. Getting dressed sophisticatedly is American style.   

B. Wearing T-shirts is British style.

C. British young people like the preppy style. 

D. The UK is the best-dressed country in the world.

26. What can we learn from Swedish dressing style?

A. It is practical and creative.                                                  B. It is unaffordable.

C. It lacks confidence.                                               D. It lacks creativity.

27. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “emulate” in the last paragraph?

A. Imitate.             B. Thrill.                        C. Like.        D. Hate.

Babies don’t learn to talk just from hearing sounds. They are lip-readers too. It happens during the stage when a baby’s babbling (咿呀声) gradually changes from unclear voices into that first “mama” or “dada” . The baby in order to do like you has to figure out how to shape their lips to make that particular sound they are hearing, according to developmental psychologist David Lewkowicz of Florida Atlantic University, who led the study.

Apparently it doesn’t take them too long to absorb the movements that match basic sounds. By their first birthdays, babies start changing back to look you in the eye again. It offers more evidence that quality face-time with babies is very important for speech development more than, say, turning on the latest baby DVD.

But Lewkowicz went a step further. He and his student Amy Hansen-Tift tested nearly 180 babies, groups of them at ages 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 months. How? They showed videos of a woman speaking in English or Spanish to babies of English speakers. They found that when the speaker used English, the 4-month-olds gazed mostly into her eyes. The 6-months-olds spent equal amounts of time looking at the eyes and the mouth. The 8-and 10-month-olds studied mostly the mouth. At 12 months, attention started changing back toward the speaker’s eyes.

But what happened when these babies accustomed to English heard Spanish? The 12-month-olds studied the mouth longer, just like younger babies. They needed the extra information to recognize the unfamiliar sounds. That fits with research into bilingualism (双语)that shows babies’ brains adjust themselves to distinguishing the sounds of their native language over other languages in the first year of life.

The continued lip-reading shows the 1-year-olds clearly still are fit for learning. Babies are so hard to study that this is “a fairly heroic data set”, says Duke University cognitive neuroscientist Greg Appelbaum, who found the research so fascinating that he wants to know more.

28. According to the first paragraph, babies______. 

A. might get its voice “mama” by lip-reading 

B. learn to talk just from hearing the sounds 

C. like to figure out how to shape their lips 

D. communicate with parents through gestures 

29. What is necessary in developing babies’ speech according to Lewkowicz?

A. Playing baby DVD nearby.

B. Teaching babies to read English. 

C. Speaking with babies face to face. 

D. Speaking different languages in front of babies.

30. Which of the following shows the right change of babies’ eye gaze according to the text?

A                    B

C                        D

31. What would be the best title of the text?

A. Babies Have Different Methods to Talk

B. Babies Try Lip-reading in Learning to Talk

C. Babies Are Suitable to Learn Two Languages

D. Babies Can Easily Accept Foreign Language

It’s a popular belief that a fish’s memory lasts for only seven seconds. It may seem sad to think that they don’t remember what they’ve eaten or where they’ve been, and they don’t recognize you or any of their friends --- every moment in their life would be like seeing the world for the first time.

But don’t be so quick to feel sorry for them. A new study has found that fish have a much better memory than we used to think. In fact, certain species of fish can even remember events from as long as 12 days ago.

In the study, researchers from MacEwan University in Canada trained a kind of fish called African cichlids to go to a certain area of their tank to get food. They then waited for 12 days before putting them back in the tank again.

Researchers used computer software to monitor the fish’s movements. They found that after such a long break the fish still went to the same place where they first got food. This suggested that they could remember their past experiences.

In fact, scientists had been thinking for a long time that African cichlids might have a good memory. An earlier study showed that they behaved aggressively in front of certain fish, perhaps because they remembered their past “fights”. But until the latest findings, there was no clear evidence.

Just as a good memory can make our lives easier, it also plays an important part when a fish is trying to survive in the wild.

“If fish are able to remember that a certain area contains safe food, they will be able to go back to that area without putting their lives at risks,” lead researcher Trevor Hamilton told Live Science.

For a long time, fish were placed far below chimpanzees, dolphins and mice on the list of smart animals. But this study has given scientists a new understanding of their intelligence.

32.What is the article mainly about?

A.Fish having very bad memories.

B.Fish being smarter than we thought.

C.How fish improve their memory.

D.What we can learn from fish.

33.According to the article, people used to believe that _______.

A.fish could only remember part of their past experiences

B.fish could remember things that happened 12 days ago

C.a fish’s memory lasted for only seven minutes

D.fish didn’t recognize any of their friends

34.How can fish benefit most from a good memory? They can remember _______.

A.where to get food and survive

B.their enemies and fight

C.where to escape to when in danger

D.their friends and help each other

35.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A.Fish behave aggressively in a fight.

B.Fish can remember more.

C.Fish don’t belong to the list of smart animals.

D.Only African cichlids have a good memory.

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

On Punctuality

A punctual man is in the habit of doing everything at the proper time and is never late in keeping an appointment.

The unpunctual man, on the other hand, never does what he has to do at the proper time. ___36___ There is a proverb that says, “time flies never to be recalled”. This is very true. ___37___ Time is more valuable than material things. In fact, time is life itself, and the unpunctual man is forever wasting and mismanaging his own valuable assets as well as others’. The unpunctual man is always complaining that he finds no time to answer letters, or to return calls, or to keep appointments promptly. ___38___ He knows that he can’t get through his immense amount of work unless he faithfully keeps every appointment promptly and deal with every piece of work when it has to be attended to.

___39___ If a person is invited to a dinner and arrives later than expected, he keeps all the other guests and the host waiting him alone. This is great disrespect.

___40___ Imagine how it would be if who are entrusted with important tasks failed to be at their proper place at the appointed time. A man who is known to be habitually unpunctual is never trusted by his friends or his fellow men. And the unpunctual man is a source of annoyance both to others and to himself.

A.Failure to be punctual is a sign of disrespect towards others.

B.A lost thing may be found again, but lost time can never be regained.

C.He is always in a hurry and in the end loses both his time and his good name.

D.Unpunctuality is very harmful when it comes to doing one’s duty.

E.Of these the former are the majority.

F.But the man who really has a great deal to do is very careful of his time and seldom complains of want of it.

G.Broadly speaking, humans can be divided into two classes.

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、 B 、C 、D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

University Can Wait

I was on my way to the library to do some studying for history class. That’s when I saw my friend and her family __41__ on doors.

As I was standing __42__ one house, my friend’s brother walked past me and went to the door of the house. When the resident __43__ I heard him say, “Excuse me, I am __44__ money for my mom. She needs to have __45__ but we don’t have enough money. Could you please __46__ with a donation?”

The lady gave him some __47__ and he said, “Thank you so much! God bless you.” Then he walked on to the next house.

I could see he didn’t have much and I also saw he had been __48__.

__49__ going to the library, I went to the bank. I told him I wanted to __50__ all my savings. The lady in the bank said to me, “But, sweetie, I thought you were going to use that money to go to __51__.” I told her something else __52__ so she gave me the money. Then I walked to my friend’s house.

They had only raised nine hundred and sixty-two dollars, which wasn’t __53__ a quarter of what they needed. I told my friend to __54__ my money. When she saw it she __55__ straight away it was my university money.

The idea of going to university had been a very __56__ one for me — __57__ I got accepted—but she needed the money more than I did. It was this __58__ of money that could save her mother’s life.

I hope all goes well for her and her family. My love and __59__ go out to them. Leo Tolstoy once said “Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than permanent__60__.”

41. A. meeting                            B. waiting                            C. knocking                            D. quarreling

42. A. inside                             B. above                    C. behind                                D. outside

43. A. replied                            B. understand                            C. opened                            D. answered

44. A. raising                            B. accumulating              C. increasing                            D. making

45. A. health                                B. surgery                            C. examination    D. break

46. A. provide                            B. help                      C. deal                                          D. compete

47. A. advice                            B. medicine                            C. coins                                          D. food

48. A. laughing                            B. begging                            C. thinking                            D. crying

49. A. Instead of                  B. Regardless of   C. Other than                            D. Except for

50. A. deposit                            B. donate                                C. withdraw                            D. collect

51. A. university                  B. company                            C. theatre                                D. work

52. A. held up                            B. came up                            C. put up                                D. took up

53. A. even                                B. already                            C. still                                          D. ever

54. A. return                                B. consider                            C. take                                          D. pay

55. A. received                            B. refused                            C. realized                            D. admitted

56. A. disappointing              B. depressing                            C. appealing                            D. realistic

57. A. assessing                B. advocating     C. appointing                            D. assuming

58. A. kind                                B. item                                          C. share                                          D. sum

59. A. imagination              B. prayers                            C. ideas                                          D. stories

60. A. honesty                            B. kindness                            C. responsibility              D. courage

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

     Aesop(伊索) was a slave living around 550 BC. We call the stories he wrote fables, as every story has a moral. Almost all the fables he wrote are ___61___ (humor) and entertaining, appealing to people ___62____ all ages. To date, Aesop’s fables ____63____ (translate) into many languages and are known all over the world. Not only ___64___ the fables themselves lived for nearly 1500 years, but ___65___ (express) from them have entered various languages.

One fable, for instance, is about a farmer who was driving his cart along a country road. The cart got ___66___ (stick) in the mud, but the farmer made ___67___ effort to get it out. Instead, he began to pray to the gods for help. The god Hercules finally appeared and told ___68___ man to get busy and push ___69___. “Push your shoulder to the wheel.” Hercules advised.

The moral of the story is clear. We mustn’t rely on others for help. Another saying which has come from the fable is “God helps those ___70___ help themselves.”

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1. 每处错误及其修改仅限一词。

      2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

As I was leaving the grocery store this afternoon, I saw a poor family — a mother and her four kid sitting in the cold, it brought back memories from when I was a child. The little girl, about 13, told me he liked my Under Armour sweater. I said, “thank you.” When I am walking to my car, I started to feel sadly. Put the groceries in my car, I suddenly thought the little girl might need a sweater at the school. So I went back to find the little girl, take my sweater off but gave it to her. I knew she would get much use out of it than me.

假如你是李华，将到英国参加一个英语学习俱乐部活动，你要在会上交流自己的英语学习体会。请根据提示写一篇发言稿。内容包括：学习方法、学习收获、学习困难。

注意：

1.词数 100个左右；

2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

Dear friends,

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua