Businesses are expected to cut spending dramatically through much of 2009. A number of economists, including those National City and Wachovia, don’t expect business investment, which make up about one – tenth of US economic activity, to decline through 2009. According to a survey of 679 chief financial officers by Duke University and CFO Magazine this month, US businesses expect to cut capital spending by more than 10% in the next 12 months, a sharp decrease from September, when the CFOs expected business investment to increase slightly.
John Graham, finance professor at Duke and director of the survey, says businesses are finding ways to repair existing machinery and buildings rather than replace equipment or move. They likely won’t increase their spending until they see concrete evidence that the economy is improving.
Those planning meeting for late winter and early spring are either buying fewer or less – expensive items, or they’re not buying at all. One client who usually spends about $ 80,000 on a conference each year is spending half that. Robert Coen, director of forecasting at media – analysis firm Magna, predicts a 4.5% drop in ad spending to $ 259 billion in 2009 on the heels of a 3.2% drop in 2008. “A recovery in US ad budgets will probably not get underway until 2010,” he says. Another negative for 2009: There aren’t any big ad – spending events such as the Olympics or national elections.
Declining business spending will hurt a number of industries but will be especially tough for the manufacturing sector. Nearly two – thirds of manufacturers expect revenue(稅收) to be unchanged or lower in 2009 than 2008, a survey from the Institute for Supply Management found.
1.According to John Graham, how did businesses to deal with the economy crisis?
A. They are spending less.
B. By increasing their business spending sharply.
C. By replacing old equipment with the new equipment.
D. By moving into the cheaper offices.
2.Why are the managers buying less – expensive items for their meetings?
A. To save money themselves.
B. To cut down on expenses and save for the companies.
C. To see the concrete evidence that the economy is on the mend.
D. To save money so they spend more on advertisements.
3.It can be inferred that in a year Olympics are held, many companies _________.
A. contribute more money to the poor      B. give the participants money
C. spend more money on advertising     D. cut down on advertising budgets
4.The best title for the passage is ____________.
A. Predictions about Buying New Equipment in 2009
B. Predictions about Conference Planning in 2009
C. Predictions about Advertising Spending in 2009
D. Predictions for Business Spending in 2009

Finally, this week’s comedy “Tomorrow’s Another Day” at the Cambridge MGM cinema, is another one in the long line of successes from director Peter Hamin.
This one has an unusual story line. Just imagine this; one day Mickey Style , a TV reporter, goes off to make a program about an exciting film festival in Canada. On his first morning there he wakes up, the sun is shining, the birds are singing , and life just couldn’t be better. He works through the day , goes to bed; wakes up the next morning… to find it’s the same day! The same sun, the same birds singing in the same tree, the same people saying and doing exactly the same things, day after day, He is caught in a place where time has simply stood still, where there will be no tomorrow.
This could be very serious, but it’s not. It’s an extremely funny film, which made everyone, including your reviewer (評論家) , laugh out loud. It has the silliest ending , and the audience loved it! Sabetha Tayior is great as the generous bank manager, yes, really, although Hollywood probably won’t give her any prizes. So if you want to forget your troubles, this is the film for you.
1.What is the writer trying to do in the text? _________
A. To give his or her opinions about an actor.
B. To give his or her opinions about a film.
C. To describe a Canadian film festival.
D. To describe his or her strange experience.
2. Why would somebody read the text? ___________
A. To enjoy the extremely funny jokes.
B. To find the answer to a problem.
C. To find out more about a cinema.
D. To choose their evening’s entertainment.
3. What is the writer’s opinions of “Tomorrow’s Another Day”? ___________
A. It’s serious     B. It’s exciting    C. It’s successful     D. It’s terrible
4. Where was Mickey Style when something strange happened to him? _________
A. On a working trip               B. At the office
C. On holidays                    D. At the movies

NOT all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relive these experiences in nightmares.
Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce ,or possibly erase(抹去),the effect of painful memories.
In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.
The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, While others support it.
Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers' troubling memories after war. They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.
"Some memories can ruin people's lives . They come back to you when you don't want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions," said Roger Pitman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "This could relieve a lot of that suffering."
But those who are against the research say that changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity (特質(zhì)). They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past.
"All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were horrible at the time but make us who we are. I'm not sure we want to wipe those memories out, "said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist.
1. The passage is mainly about_____________.
A. a new medical invention          B. a new research on the pill
C. a way of erasing painful memories  D. an argument about the research on the pill
2. The drug tested on people can_____________.
A. cause the brain to fix memories
B. stop people remembering bad experiences
C. prevent body producing certain chemicals
D. Wipe out the emotional effects of memories
3. We can infer from the passage that_____________.
A. people doubt the effects of the pills
B. the pill will stop people's bad experiences
C. taking the pill will do harm to people's health
D. the pill has probably been produced in America
4. Which of the following does Rebecca Dresser agree with?
A. Some memories can ruin people's lives.
B. People want to get rid of bad memories.
C. Experiencing bad events makes us different from others.
D. The pill will reduce people's sufferings from bad memories.

The purpose of a letter of application(求職信) is to help you to “sell” yourself. It should state__16___ the job you want, and should tell what your abilities are and what you have ___17___. It should be simple, human, personal and brief without ___18___ out any necessary facts.
In writing a letter of application, keep in ___19___ that the things a possible employer is most ___20___ to want to know about are your qualifications(條件), your achievements and your aims. The opening paragraph is perhaps the most important part. ___21___ the first few sentences fail to ___22___ the reader’s attention, the rest of the letter may not be __23___ at all. Try to key your opening remarks to the needs or interests of the employer not ___24___ your own need or desires. For example, instead of beginning with “I saw your ___25___ in today’s newspaper,” you might say “I have made a careful ___26___ of your advertising during the past six months” or “I have made a survey in my neighborhood to find out how many housewives ___27___ your product and why they like it. ”
Try to ___28___ generalities. Be clear about the kind of job for which you are now ___29___. College graduates looking for their first positions often ask “What can I ___30___ in a letter? Employers want experience—which, naturally, no ___31___ has.” The answer is that everything you have ever done is ___32___.
It is important to write a good strong closing for your letter. ___33___ a specific request for an interview or give the possible employer something definite to do or expect. An excellent ___34___ is to enclose(內(nèi)附) a stamped, self-addressed envelope with your letter. That makes it ___35___ for a possible employer to get in touch with you.
16. A. clearly                   B. carefully               C. obviously              D. easily
17. A. found                    B. done                     C. known                  D. heard
18. A. sending                  B. taking                   C. leaving                 D. picking
19. A. brain                     B. sight                     C. order                    D. mind
20. A. probable                B. possible                C. likely                   D. able
21. A. While                    B. Although              C. As                        D. If
22. A. pay                        B. win                      C. show                    D. fix
23. A. kept                       B. continued              C. written                 D. read
24. A. to                          B. for                       C. into                      D. from
25. A. advertisement       B. report                  C. article                   D. introduction
26. A. watch                    B. search                   C. study                    D. discussion
27. A. change                   B. make                    C. sell                       D. use
28. A. avoid                     B. remember             C. protect                  D. gain
29. A. losing                    B. applying               C. preparing              D. fitting
30. A. do                         B. write                    C. mean                    D. provide
31. A. worker                   B. beginner               C. owner                   D. manager
32. A. success                   B. development              C. practice          D. experience
33. A. Make                     B. Ask                      C. State                    D. Get
34. A. result                     B. decision                C. promise                D. idea
35. A. happier                  B. easier                   C. cheaper                 D. safer

The   16  picked up the thermos and poured some hot water into the tea-cup and placed it on the small table in front of his  17  , who were a father and daughter, and put the lid on the cup with a clink．Apparently  18 of something, he hurried into the inner room, leaving the  19 on the table．His two guests heard a chest of drawers opening and a rustling （颯颯響聲）．
They  20 sitting in the living-room, the 10-year-old daughter, looking at the flowers outside the window．The father was just about to take his cup when the  21 came, right there in the living-room．Something was hopelessly broken．
It was the thermos, which had fallen to the floor．The girl looked  22 her shoulder at once, startled （嚇一跳）,  23 ．It was  24  neither of them had touched it, not even a little bit．
The sound caused the host to rush back from the inner room．He looked at the  25 floor and blurted out, “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter!”
The father started to say something．Then he muttered, “Sorry, I  26  it and it fell．”
“ It doesn’t matter,” the host said．
Later, when they left the house, the daughter said, “ Daddy, I saw your  27  in the windowpane （窗玻璃）．You were sitting perfectly  28  ．Why did you say…．”
The father  29 , “What then would you  30 as the cause of its fall?”
“ It fell by itself．The floor is uneven （不平）．It wasn’t steady when Mr．Li put it there．”
“It won’t  31 , girl．It sounds more  32  when I say I knocked it down．There are things people accept less the more you  33  them．The truer your story is, the less true it sounds．”
The daughter was  34 in silence for a while．Then she said, “ Can you  35  it only this way?”
“Only this way,” the father said．
16．A．owner               B．host             C．guest            D．master
17．A．friends               B．neighbours        C．children          D．guests
18．A．knowing             B．remembering                                        C．hearing           D．thinking
19．A．thermos             B．cup              C．lid              D．tea
20．A．enjoyed             B．remained         C．imagined         D．hated
21．A．stranger              B．host             C．crash            D．noise
22．A．a(chǎn)round               B．a(chǎn)t               C．behind           D．over
23．A．staring              B．watching         C．shouting          D．crying
24．A．helpless             B．exciting          C．strange           D．terrible
25．A．broken              B．steaming         C．dirty             D．flooded
26．A．touched             B．used             C．hit              D．moved
27．A．face                 B．shadow          C．reflection                                           D．a(chǎn)ction
28．A．calm                B．still             C．silent            D．straight
29．A．shouted              B．whispered        C．laughed          D．repeated
30．A．tell                B．make            C．a(chǎn)ccept           D．give
31．A．do                   B．suit              C．go              D．fit
32．A．comfortable          B．friendly          C．a(chǎn)cceptable        D．a(chǎn)greeable
33．A．defend              B．support          C．discuss           D．a(chǎn)rgue
34．A．kept                B．shut             C．worried           D．lost
35．A．do                   B．explain           C．make             D．manage

Many people believe the glare from snow causes snowblindness. Yet, dark glasses or not, they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snowblindness, when exposed to several hours of “snow light”. The United States Army has now determined that glare from snow does not cause snowblindness in troops in a snow-covered country. A man's eyes frequently find nothing to focus on in a broad expanse of barren snow-covered terrain(地域). So his long look continually moves and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding nothing, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and eyeballs become sore and the eye muscles ache. Nature offers this discomfort by producing more and more liquid which covers the eyeball. The liquid covers the eyeball in increasing quantity until vision became not clear, and then is not easily seen and the result is total, even though not very long, snowblindness.
Experiments led the Army to a simple method of solving this problem. Scouts, ahead of a main body of troops, are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark colored objects ahead on which they too can focus. The men following can then see something. Their eyes focus on a bush and have something to see. By focusing their attention on one object at a time, the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snowblind or lost. In this way the problem of crossing a solid white terrain is solved.
1. The first paragraph is mainly concerned with ________.
A. need for dark glasses      
B the whiteness from snow
C. headaches, watering eyes and snowblindness 
D. snow glare and snowblindness
2. According to the author, recent work on snowblindness shows that it is caused by ________.
A. exposure to bright light
B. failure to focus on an object
C. a loss of vision which doesn't last long
D. focusing on dark colored objects for a very long time
3. Suppose you walk across a completely snow-covered area, what should you do to solve the problem of snowblindness?
A. By wearing dark sun glasses.
B. By throwing an extra pair of black shoes ahead.
C. By asking the Army for help.
D. By walking backwards.
4. A suitable title for this passage would be ________.
A. Snowblindness and How to avoid it     B. Soldiers in Snow　　
C. Nature's Cure for Snowblindness       D. Snow Vision

May : Happenings from the past  
May 5,1884
Isaac Murphy , son of a slave and perhaps the greatest horse rider in American history , rides Buchanan to win his first Kentucky Derby . He becomes the first rider ever to win the race three times .
May 9 , 1754
Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette produces perhaps the first American political cartoon （漫畫）, showing a snake cut in pieces, with the words “ Join or Die” printed under the picture.
May 11,1934
The first great dust storm of the Great Plains Dust Bowl , the result of years of drought（干旱），blows topsoil all the way to New York City and Washington , D.C. .
May 19, 1994
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis , former first lady and one of the most famous people of the 1960s , died of cancer in New York City at the age of 64 .
May 24, 1844
Samuel F.B. Morsr taps out the first message , “ What Hath God Wrought ,” over the experimental long-distance telegraph line which runs from Washington, D.C. , to Baltimeore , Md .
1. We know from the text that Buchanan is_____________.
A Isaac”s father                 B a winnning horse
C.a slave taking care if horses      D.the first racing horse in Kentucky
2. What is the title of the first American political cartoon ?
A.Join or Die                   B.Pennsylvania Gazette
C.What Hath God Wrought        D.Kentucky Derby
3. In which year did the former first lady Jacqueline die ?
A. 1934        B. 1960       C . 1964       D. 1994
4.Which of the following places has to do with the first telegram in history ?
A. Washington , D. C.             B. New York City
C. Kentucky.                    D.  Pennsylvania

第一節(jié) 完形填空
You’ve just finish you’re a-levels and you’ve got a place at university, but you’d really like a break from the academic world. Why not think about taking a year out? While most students go     1         from school to university, more and more people today are choosing to spend a year at “the university of life”  2      . There are lots of things to choose from. You could work in a bank or do community work. You might even do something challenging, such as  3      an exploration（探險）to the Amazon rainforest. The experience will  4      your horizons and teach you new skills. It may also give you the chance to earn some money, which will be very helpful when you  5      start your studies. If you are interested in taking a year out, you must make sure that the university will  6       your place for you till next year. Most are quite happy to do this,  7        they find that year-out students are  8        experienced, confident, and independent. But don’t forget: it’s a year out not a year  9        . Your university will want to know what you’re going to do. They won’t be very pleased if you just want to do _10        for a year. So what would do with a year out?
(   ) 1. A. easily            B. simply             C. fast           D. straight
(   ) 2. A. last              B. first               C. at last         D. at first
(   ) 3. A. participating       B. joining            C. attending      D. expecting
(   ) 4. A. broaden           B. spread            C. improve       D. raise
(   ) 5. A. hopefully          B. willingly          C. eventually     D. happily
(   ) 6. A. hold             B. leave             C. occupy        D. remain
(   ) 7. A. however           B. though           C. as             D. when
(   )  8. A. less             B. much             C. even           D. more
(   )  9. A. in              B. off               C. away          D. through
(   ) 10. A. nothing          B. something          C. anything       D. everything

Most of the flowers in nature are red, orange and yellow. If we have seen a black flower, it’s a chance in a million.
People have made a census (普查) to colors of mor e than four thousand kinds of flowers and discovered that only eight of them are black.
As we know, sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights.The wave length of each light is different, so the quantity of heat in each light is also different. Flowers, especially their petals, are easy to be harmed by light temperature.
Black flowers can take in all the light waves which cause the flowers to dry up in the high temperature. So black flowers can rarely survive sunlight. But red flowers, yellow flowers and orange flowers can protect themselves from sunlight by reflecting the red light, yellow light and orange light, each of which has a large quantity of heat.
1. It is _____ to see a black flower.
A. impossible     B. seldom          C. common       D. no chance
2. From the passage we know that _______.
A. black flowers are so weak that it is difficult for them to grow up.
B. there are only eight black flowers in nature
C. sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights, so the wave length of each light is different
D. black flowers can take in the light of all the wave length which makes them dry up because of high temperature
3. Which of the following ideas is WRONG?
A. People have found that only a few kinds of flowers are black.
B. Flowers are easy to be harmed by very high temperature.
C. Red, orange and yellow flowers can also take in the light of all wave lengths.
D. The black flowers can’t protect themselves from sunlight.

This weekly four-day physical activity schedule will get your kids excited about being active.
Tuesday
When the kids get home from school, don’t let them go straight to the TV and get settled in. Encourage them to get moving and get off the couch(長椅) by giving them a pedometer(計(jì)步器). Pedometers are the most fun when parents also use one because that turns stepping, walking and running into a game to see who can get the most steps.
Thursday
The kids have done a great job so far this week, but now they are aching for （渴望） a little more TV time. Instead of turning on cartoons, let them watch fitness movies made just for kids. These movies encourage watchers to get up and dance along to kid-friendly music.
Saturday
Get the whole family out of the house together and over to a park. Bring lots of sports equipment, pack a healthy picnic and have a family competitive sports day. Kids and adults get into groups and play against each other in tennis, basketball or soccer. After everyone has played hard for a couple of hours, stop for a picnic and then if your family isn’t too tired, go back and play some more.
Sunday
Every child loves to play video games and there is no better time to allow kids to play them than on Sunday when no homework is due（應(yīng)交的）.But don’t let them play a game that forces them to sit down for hours. Dance games with a floor mat(墊子) to help kids follow the dance moves are popular to kids.
56.What can be the best title for this text?
A.How to make children like activities.
B.A weekly four-day physical activity plan for kids.
C.Physical activities are important to kids.        
D.A plan that will do much good to kids.
57.Parents are advised to use a pedometer together with their kids because _______.
A.they can give their kids some advice about walking
B.it can prevent them from watching TV too much
C.this will allow them and their kids to have a fun competition
D.their kids will not use it if they don’t
58.On Thursday when a kid wants to watch TV, his parents should ______.
A.let him watch it for a short time
B.watch cartoons with him
C.take him out for a walk instead
D.show fitness movies to him
59.The author advises a family to have a meal on Saturday ______.
A. in a park  B. in a mountain C. in a restaurant  D. at home