一、完形填空

Years ago I was talking with a classmate in Sydney. At the time his wife had just passed away not too long ago. He told me while going through her things， he found a silk scarf（圍巾） 1 in a designer store when they had traveled to New York City. The scarf was beautiful， with elegant（雅致的） 2 ， and a high price tag still hanging. His wife begrudged（舍不得） wearing it； she was 3 it for a special day.

He 4 at that moment； I didnt say anything either. After a long 5 he said： “Never 6 something beautiful for that special day. Each living day is a（n） 7 day.”

Whenever I remembered what he had said， I would put down the things I was doing to grab a novel， 8 the music and lie down on the couch to 9 some time for myself. I would 10 the glorious（絢麗的） scenery of the Tanshui River through a French window， 11 the dust gathered on the glass. I would take my wife out to 12 ， not thinking what to do with the meal already cooked. Life should be the experience we truly cherish， not days we just have to endure（忍耐）.

One time I 13 the above conversation with a lady. When I saw her again， she told me that she no longer 14 the beautiful china（瓷器） in a cabinet. She had thought to 15 them for a special day， only to discover that it never 16 came. “Future”， “someday” are not contained in her vocabulary any more. If there are things that are 17 or make her satisfied， she wants to hear or see them now.

We often hope to gather with old friends， but always say， “l(fā)ets find a（n） 18 .” We often want to hug our grown children， but always 19 for the appropriate moment. In fact， each morning when we open our eyes， we should tell ourselves that this is a special day. Each day， each minute is so incredibly 20 .

1. A. bought B. left

C. kept D. sought

2. A. quality B. design

C. way D. manner

3. A. wearing B. saving

C. admiring D. paying

4. A. stopped B. continued

C. responded D. repeated

5. A. argument B. communication

C. conversation D. pause

6. A. use B. share

C. save D. waste

7. A. special B. ordinary

C. boring D. busy

8. A. turn on B. turn off

C. turn out D. turn down

9. A. seize B. spend

C. lose D. enjoy

10. A. refuse B. appreciate

C. forget D. miss

11. A. ignoring B. remembering

C. noticing D. watching

12. A. nature B. dinner

C. society D. entertainment

13. A. invented B. opened

C. exchanged D. shared

14. A. kept B. sold

C. needed D. cleaned

15. A. gather B. provide

C. decorate D. save

16. A. actually B. fairly

C. immediately D. slowly

17. A. unfortunate B. uncomfortable

C. expensive D. pleasant

18. A. challenge B. opportunity

C. advantage D. benefit

19. A. wait B. rush

C. plan D. arrange

20. A. valuable B. worthless

C. hard D. easy

二、閱讀理解

Forty-two of the fifty American states offered some kind of public online learning this past school year. One state， Michigan， now requires all students to have an online learning experience before they finish high school.

Even the idea of a school has changed since the rise of the Internet in the 1990s.

A new report from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University says eighteen states have full-time virtual schools. There are no buildings. All classes are online.

Florida started the first statewide public virtual school in the united States in 1997.

Today， the Florida Virtual School offers more than ninety courses. 56，000 students were enrolled as of December. Almost sixty percent were female. The schools website says each student was enrolled in an average of two classes.

Florida Virtual School has now opened the Florida Virtual Global School. Students in other countries pay for classes. Janet Heiking teaches an English class. She lives in Indianapolis， Indiana. Her students live as far away as Africa and Japan.

She says they are taking her Advanced Placement class to prepare for attending an American college. They can earn college credits（學(xué)分） by passing the A.P. test.

So how good are virtual schools？ Studies have shown mixed results， as that new report from Indiana University notes.

For example， students at Florida Virtual School earned higher grades than those taking the same courses the traditional way. And they scored higher on a statewide test.

But virtual school students in Kansas and Colorado had lower test scores or performed at a lower level than traditional learners.

Studies also find that virtual schools may not save much in operating costs.

Education experts say the mixed results suggest the need for more research to find the best ways to teach in virtual schools. Also， they say schools of education need to train more teachers to work in both real and virtual classrooms.

1. “A virtual school” is one that .

A. partly uses computer technology

B. uses textbooks as main teaching resources

C. totally uses computer-based resources instead of textbooks in classrooms

D. has online classes with no real classrooms

2. The first statewide public virtual school was started in .

A. Florida

B. Indiana

C. Michigan

D. Colorado

3. the Florida virtual schools are for .

A. the students across the world

B. the students only around the USA

C. the students in Indiana and some other countries

D. foreign students

4. Foreign students take Advanced Placement classes to .

A. learn advanced college courses

B. prepare for attending an American college

C. learn advanced science and technology

D. learn about American culture and history

5. From the text we can learn that .

A. the majority of the virtual school students in Florida are female

B. all the senior students in Michigan have at least an online learning experience

C. virtual schools are better than traditional schools

D. traditional schools are better than virtual schools