II. 阅读 (共两节，满分50分)
第一节 阅读理解 (共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
     I can still remember the day my parents gave me the ultimatum(最后通牒). After repeated efforts to help me turn my life around, they realized I had no intention of changing. They offered to take me to a youth program to get help, but I rejected their offer. It was such a painful time for them for I hurt them deeply and saddened them a lot.
When I was fifteen years old, I left home and took to the streets of Philadelphia. I was what people called a rebellious(叛逆的) teenager. Although not proud of it, I was fully absorbed in the fast life of the big city. My parents loved and disciplined me, but I rebelled against their efforts to help me. My negative influence on my younger brothers was not something they were willing to see.
It wasn’t long after leaving home that everything began going downward. I was in trouble again and again, and finally sent away from school. I was a confused, selfish and angry teenager without any friends. I am certain that my teachers would have voted me least likely to succeed. Yet within a year, my life was turned around. My parents didn’t abandon me but prayed for me until I finally woke up.          
 Today, more than thirty years later, I still believe that troubled teenagers need to know about families’ love and salvation. My family saved me from a destructive lifestyle during my teen years. When I hear about teens doing foolish things that hurt themselves and others, it grieves me deeply. Yet it also reminds me of reaching out to teens. In fact, teenagers can be greatly encouraged by knowing that we care about them. We need to spend enough time with them to win their respect and positively influence their lives. We also need to encourage the parents of teens. I know that parenting teens is not easy, which motivated me to help the parents of teens.
26. The author’s parents gave him the ultimatum because ________.
A. they were unwilling to offer him help   B. he was rebellious and refused to change
C. they didn’t want to live with him any more D. he was busy taking part in a youth program
27. According to the first two paragraphs, the parents had the following feelings EXCEPT ________.
A. sadness   B. anxiety   C. anger   D. pain
28. What made the author wake up and changed his life finally?
A. The friends’ selfishness.     B. His parents’ not giving up.  
C. His teachers’ persuasion.     D. Being sent away from school. 
29. The underlined word “salvation” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to __________.
A. rescue    B. blame    C. reaction  D. hate
30. From the passage, we can learn that ________.
A. teens should live a destructive lifestyle 
B. school should send the troubled teens away 
C. parents should grieve deeply with the troubled teens
D. both troubled teens and their parents need encouragement

B
American writer Toni Morrison was born in 1931 in Ohio. She was raised in an African American family filled with songs and stories of Southern myths, which later shaped her writing style. Her happy family life led to her excellent performance in school, despite the atmosphere of racial discrimination in the society.
After graduating from college, Morrison started to work as a teacher and got married in 1958. Several years later, her marriage began to fail. For a temporary escape, she joined a small writers’ group, in which each member was required to bring a story or poem for discussion. She wrote a story based on the life of a girl she knew in childhood who had prayed to God for blue eyes. The story was well received by the group, but then she put it away, thinking she was done with it. 
In 1964, Morrison got divorced and devoted herself to writing. One day, she dusted off the story she had written for the writers’ group and decided to make it into a novel. She drew on her memories from childhood and expanded upon them using her imagination so that the characters developed a life of their own. The Bluest Eye was eventually published in 1970. From 1970 to 1992, Morrison published five more novels.
In her novels, Morrison brings in different elements of the African American past, their struggles, problems and cultural memory. In Song of Solomon, for example, Morrison tells the story of an African American man and his search for identity in his culture. The novels and other works won her several prizes. In 1993, Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is the eighth woman and the first African American woman to win the honour.
31. What is the passage mainly about?
   A. The life of black people in the U.S.           B. The life of an African American writer.
C. The history of African American culture.         D. The history of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
32. According to the passage, what had an effect on her writing style?
   A. Racial discrimination in the society.     B. Her excellent performance in school.
   C. Songs and stories she learnt from her family.   D. The good and peaceful atmosphere in Ohio.
33. Why did Morrison join the writers’ group?
A. She wanted to publish The Bluest Eye. 
B. She wanted to be a professional writer. 
C. She wanted to fight against racial discrimination.
D. She wanted to get away from her unhappy marriage.
34. According to the passage, what is one of the themes in Morrison’s works?
A. A search for African American values.    B. Divorced women in American society.
C. History of African Americans during the 1990s.  D. Myths of African Americans in Ohio. 
35. Which of the following statements is true about Toni Morrison?
A. She has been writing a lot since her adolescent years.
B. She suffered from severe racial discrimination in her family.
C. What she wrote in her novels are true stories of African Americans.
D. No African American woman ever received a Nobel Prize in Literature before her.
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