I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch (大牧場(chǎng)) in San Isidro. He lets me use his house to hold events to raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he greeted me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let you use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of a poor horse trainer who would go from stable (馬廄) to stable, farm to farm, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school was continually interrupted (打斷). One day in the last year of high school, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to do when he grew up.
“He wrote a seven-page paper about his goal of owning a horse ranch in great detail. He put a great deal of his heart into the project and even drew a detailed floor plan for the dream ranch. Then the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. But he got a low mark with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’
“The boy went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive a low mark?’
“The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from a poor family. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. There’s no way you could ever do it, your dream couldn’t come true . ’Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper, I will reconsider your mark.’
“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’
“Finally, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He wrote, ‘You can keep the low mark and I’ll keep my dream.’
“I was that boy twenty years ago.” My friend said, smiling.
【小題1】Which of the following statements is TRUE about Monty Roberts?

One of the most well-known directors of our time is Stephen Spielberg. He was born in Cincinnati on 18 December 1946. His father was an electric engineer and his mother was a performing pianist. His sister, Anne Spielberg, became a screenwriter who wrote the stories for many famous films.

Stephen had always wanted to be a director ever since he was a young boy. When he was just 13 years old, he made a 40-minute film. It won a local competition. Three years later, he produced a film called Firelight, which made one hundred dollars’ profit at the cinema in his hometown. Many of the ideas from this film were later used for one of his most famous films called Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

When he was 18 years old, he wanted to go to film school so that he could improve his skills and become an even better director. Unluckily, he was unsuccessful in getting a place at this school so he went to a university in California to study English. Even though he had failed to get into the school he wanted to go to, he didn’t let this stop him following his dream to become a great director.

Stephen Spielberg has directed many films since his first major film in 1976. He now owns many different businesses, most of which are involved in the film industry.

 
第二部分閱讀理解（共兩節(jié)，滿分50分）
第一節(jié)：閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的A、B、C、D四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并將答案寫在答題卡上。（共20小題，每小題2分，滿分40分）
A
O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank, when some money went missing from the bank O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader’s surprise.
41. In which order did O. Henry do the following things?
a. Lived in New York.   b. Worked in a bank.        c. Travelled to Texas.
d. Was put in prison.    e. Had a newspaper job.      f. Learned to write stories.
A. e. c. f. b. d. a       B. e. b. d. c. a. f.        C. c. e. b. d. f. a    D. c. b. e. d. a f.
42. O. Henry went to prison because ___________.
A. people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper
B. people thought he had taken money that was not his
C. he wanted to write stories about prisoners
D. he broke the law by not using his own name
43. What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?
A. He was very good at learning.                     B. He was not serious about his work.
C. He was devoted to the poor.                  D. He was well-educated.
44. Where did O. Henry get most material for his short stories?
A. His life inside the prison.                  B. The newspaper articles he wrote.
C. His exciting early life as a boy.       D. The city and people of New York.

第二節(jié) 語(yǔ)法填空（共10小題;每小題1.5分，滿分15分）

閱讀下面短文，根據(jù)上下文填入適當(dāng)?shù)脑~語(yǔ)，或使用括號(hào)中的詞語(yǔ)的適當(dāng)

形式填空，并將答案填寫在答題卡上標(biāo)號(hào)為31~40的相應(yīng)位置。

Gandhi, an Indian national hero, was honored  (31)          the father of the Indian nation. He has been respected and beloved  (32)            the Indians.

He was born in India in 1869. Following the local custom, he got married     (33)            the age of 13. In 1888 he sailed to England, where he studied law for three years and became a lawyer. On his return to India, he was sent to South Africa to work on a law case.

In South Africa he  (34)             (surprise) found the problem of racial discrimination was serious. There he formed an organization and started a magazine to fight  (35)          equal rights.

Gandhi returned to India in 1915, when India was  (36)            (control) by the British. He led the Indians to fight for an end to the British rule and        (37)            (depend) for his country. In the political movement many Indians  (38)            (include) Gandhi were put in prison. However, the struggles never stopped. The British government had to give  (39)           and India won its independence in 1947.  (40)           (fortunate)， Gandhi was shot by an Indian who opposed his views and died on January 30th, 1948.

November not only marks the publication of Toni Morrison’s eagerly anticipated(期待) eighth novel, Love, but it is also the tenth anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature. Morrison is the first black woman to receive a Nobel, and so honored before her in literature are only two black men:Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist, in 1986; and Derek Walcott, the Caribbean-born poet, in 1992. But Morrison is also the first and only American-born Nobel prizewinner for literature since 1962, the year novelist John Steinbeck received the award.

Like Song of Solomon, Love is a multigenerational story, revealing the personal and communal Legacy(遺產(chǎn)) of an outstanding black family. As Morrison scholars will tell you, Love is the third volume of a literary master’s trilogy(三部曲)investigating the many complexities of love. This trilogy began with Beloved(1988), which deals with a black mother’s love under slavery and in freedom. Jazzy(1993), the second volume, tells a story of romantic love in 1920s Harlem. This latest novel looks back from the 1970s to the 1940s and 50s.

The emotional center of Love is Bill Cosey, the former owner and host of the shabby Cosey’s Hotel and Resort in Silk, North Carolina, described in the novel as “the best and best-known vacation sport for colored folk on the East Coast.” We get to know Cosey through the memories of five women who survive and love him: his granddaughter, his widow, two former employees, and a homeless young girl.    

The latest novel, Love, had been described in the promotional material from her publisher as “Morrison’s most accessible work since Song of Solomon.” This comparison to her third novel, published in 1977, was an effective selling point.

What would be the best title for the text?

A. Toni Morrison’s latest novels

B. Toni Morrison and her trilogy

C. Toni Morrison and her novel Love

D. Toni Morrison, the Nobel prizewinner

What can we learn about John Steinbeck?

A. He was a black writer.

B. He was born in America.

C. He received the Nobel Prize after Morrison

D. He was the first American novelist to win a Nobel

The similarity between Love and Song of Solomon is that they both _____.

A. belong to the same trilogy together with Beloved

B. concern families of more than one generation

C. deal with life of blacks under slavery

D. investigate life in 1920s Harlem

The novel Love mainly describes ______.

A. the best-known vacation spot for blacks

B. the life of an outstanding black family under slavery

C. the miserable experience of the five women in Harlem

D. the memories of five women about Bill Cosey