一、完形填空

One evening last fall， 15-year-old Marcos and his father Eduardo heard yelling outside. They 1 .and heard noise outside the home of one of their neighbors， the Ma family. “I didnt think anything was wrong，” Eduardo 2 up. “I told Marcos we should give them some 3 .” But Marcoss eye was 4 by a glow（紅光） from the Ma house.

“Dad， the house is on fire！” Marcos cried. Dressed 5 in shorts， the barefoot teen dashed toward the Mas home with his dad. The grandmother Yim， mother Suzanne and son Nathan were 6 . on the front lawn yelling for help. When they got there， they saw 7 the open front door that father Alex was 8 down the stairs， coughing.

“My son is still in the house，” Alex 9 to say， pointing to the second floor.

Eduardo started up the stairs， but thick， black smoke and great heat forced him to his 10 . He crawled upstairs and down the hall 11 Alex said hed find Cody， eight， who had 12 himself in a bedroom.

As the fire 13 across the hall， Eduardo pushed the bedroom door， and made his way back downstairs. At the same time， Marcos saw Yim and Suzanne pulling an aluminum ladder out of the garage. Cody was standing at the window， 14 for help.

Marcos grabbed the ladder， 15 it near the window， and climbed toward the boy. When Marcos reached the window， he pushed the screen into the room and coaxed（哄） Cody out. 16 Cody with one arm， Marcos climbed down the ladder. Halfway down， he 17 the boy to a neighbor.

When firefighters arrived a few minutes later， .18 was pouring from the back of the house as .19 swallowed the second floor. Cody was taken to a nearby hospital， where he was treated and .20 . No one else was injured. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

1. A. stepped out B. calmed down

C. carried out D. climbed down

2. A. holds B. clears

C. builds D. calls

3. A. harmony B. privacy

C. motivation D. understanding

4. A. devoted B. caught

C. ignored D. hit

5. A. again B. also

C. only D. though

6. A. expected B. raised

C. gathered D. caught

7. A. behind B. at

C. beyond D. through

8. A. struggling B. continuing

C. climbing D.swinging

9. A. failed B. managed

C. arranged D. prepared

10. A. head B. hands

C. feet D. knees

11. A. when B. where

C. whether D. which

12. A. seized B. caught

C. locked D. held

13. A. raced B. inched

C. climbed D. choked

14. A. screaming B. swearing

C. watching D. glaring

15. A. built B. hung

C. shelter D. positioned

16. A. Delivering B. Picking

C. Holding D. Nursing

17. A. handled B. handed

C. shouldered D. treated

18. A. light B. help

C. smoke D. water

19. A. ladders B. flashes

C. electricity D. flames

20. A. released B. admitted

C. responded D. revealed

二、閱讀理解

My oldest daughter attends a fine elementary school in Clear Lake. The walls are decorated with space murals（壁畫）. A large model of the International Space Station hangs from the ceiling. Many parents of the kids there work at NASA. Astronauts regularly visit.

So I was surprised recently when I looked through a booklet my kid and all her classmates were given as a gift upon completing the second grade school year. It included student names， pictures and a response to the question， “What do you want to be when you grow up？”

Now before getting to the results of the survey， let me say that this is a great school that has done a fine job of raising an interest in science in these kids. I have no complaints about that. But the results were nonetheless surprising.

Here are the 10 most popular answers： “teacher”（15votes）， “doctor”（14）， “artist”（13）， “athlete” （10）， “vet”（8）， “police officer”（6）， “engineer”（5）， “game creator” （4）， “soldier” （3）， and “scientist” （3）. There were a lot of other answers that only got two or fewer votes. Among them were “astronaut” （2） and “work at NASA” （2）. Sadly， “journalist” ended up with a big， fat zero.

I have to admit I was pretty surprised by the lack of interest among the kids in a career as an astronaut. In a conversation with Robert Pearlman， founder of CollectSpace， he said he might expect fewer kids to want to be astronauts in Clear Lake， because being an astronaut is not as special here because kids are so familiar with space.

I disagree with that point of view. I view the results above as a sign for what kids are really excited about. And I feel that if children in the heart of Space City dont consider being an astronaut as a highly desired profession， then thats an issue. Is space not exciting？ Or is what were presently doing in space not exciting？ And what can be done to get kids more excited about， and interested in space？

1. We can learn from the first paragraph that the elementary school .

A. belongs to NASA

B. has an atmosphere related to space

C. aims to train students to become astronauts

D. employs retired astronauts to work as teachers

2. What does the writer think of the schools education？

A. The writer is quite content with it.

B. It is a little disappointing.

C. The teaching method is revolutionary.

D. It involves lots of parental participation.

3. Which of the following is true about the survey？

A. Teacher is the least popular profession for the kids.

B. Most kids want to be astronauts when they grow up.

C. Game creator is a profession unknown to the kids.

D. Journalist came out at the bottom of the job list， with no one wanting to take the job.

4. The writer is surprised because he .

A. thought his daughter would want to be a doctor

B. didnt expect so many children wanted to be a teacher

C. expected many children would want to be an astronaut

D. thought the childrens choices would be similar to the earlier generations