D. His honesty with the counselors.

16. C

Have you ever got the chance to visit a new country and stay with a family? Or maybe it's something you've thought about? If so, hopefully this blog post will help you to put aside your worries, pack（ 打 包 ）your travel bags, and go!

Although the idea of taking part in a language exchange （ 交 换 ） to a different country can make you nervous at first, a language exchange offers a good chance to improve your foreign language and to experience life in a new and exciting place.

Living with a family is often the best way to really see and understand a different culture. Staying in a hotel means you are surrounded（ 围 绕 ）by other tourists, but if you live with a family, you will get a real taste for the local customs, lifestyle and food. While living with a family, you will also be able to practice your English （ or whichever language that you're learning）all the time, so you'll improve much more than you would on a normal holiday.

What's more, the family will most likely be really friendly and will show you around their hometown and make you feel at home. They know all the best places to go in a town or a city - famous restaurants, museums, parks and shopping centers.

The last advantage of staying with a family is that you'll probably make some life-long friends. This is also the best and most important reason to take part in a language exchange. Having a family to stay with in another part of the world is great, and being able to talk to them over Skype or email is a great way to keep up your foreign language. So, why not go for it?

（1） How many advantages of staying with a family does the writer talk about?

A. Two. B. Three. C. Four. D. Five.

（2） What's the most important reason to take part in a language exchange?

A. You can make life-long friends. B. You can visit some interesting places. C. You can improve your foreign language. D. You can experience life in a new country.

（3） What was the writer's purpose for writing this passage?

A. To tell people how to learn foreign languages. B. To tell people how to get along with a foreign family. C. To encourage people to go to other countries to travel. D. To encourage people to take part in a language exchange.

17. D

Years ago, someone had an idea out of this world. What if countries from around the world could get together and build a huge spacecraft （ 航 天 器 ）? The craft would be a very moving lab around the Earth. Teams of astronauts from different countries could live on that craft and work together to do important scientific experiments （实验）. Imagine what the world could learn about space!

Some people said it was impossible. But now the fantastic idea has come true. The International Space Station （ ISS ） is moving around the Earth now, 220 miles above the ground. It is, in fact, the third brightest object （ 物 体 ） in the night sky, after the moon and Venus. How did people make it?

The ISS is built like a huge Lego （ 乐 高 ） airship. Large pieces, called modules, are sent into space by rocket （ 火 箭 ）. Astronauts connect the pieces on risky space walks while the craft is moving at speeds of up to 17,500 miles every hour. That's like trying to build a car while it's moving very fast!

The living module is about as long as a classroom. But astronauts will have everything they need to live in space. The thick walls will protect astronauts from space temperatures, which is between 250°F and -250°F. Breathable air is piped （用

管道输送） through the station from special tanks （罐子）. Water is brought up in tanks and then recycled.

Certainly, life in space has its dangers. Many astronauts worry the most about space rubbish from old spacecraft and satellites, and rocks from deep space. Even if a very small object hits the station, it could cause a catastrophe.

For the men and women who train for years to become astronauts, nothing compares with the excitement

of going into space, \wanted to be an astronaut since the fourth grade,\said Jerry Ross, an American astronaut when he waited to go into space another time. \into space. And I believe that what we will discover there will be very important for humans.\ （1） What is this passage mainly about?

A. The building of the ISS. B. Astronauts' life in the ISS. C. Different objects in space. D. Human's discoveries in space.

（2） What can we learn from the passage?

A. The ISS is 17,500 miles away from the Earth. B. The ISS is the brightest object in the night sky. C. Building the ISS is as easy as making a Lego airship.

D. Astronauts from different countries work together in the ISS.

（3） What does the word \catastrophe\

A. A great difficulty.

B. A terrible accident. C. A serious mistake. D. A surprising change.

（4） What can we learn from what Jerry Ross said?

A. He thought going into space cost too much money. B. He thought going into space was dangerous but valuable. C. He believed his journey to space would be very successful. D. He worried about the dangers of going into space very much.

任务型阅读（每题2分，满分10分）

18.

E. B．White —The Writer of Charlotte's Web

One day, on a small farm in Maine, a man was watching a large gray spider spin a web in a barn （ 谷 仓 ）. The man was E. B. White. E. B. — or Andy, as he was called — thought spiders were fantastic animals. He thought that one day he might like to write a children's book about a spider.

But writing was hard work for Andy. He had written many articles and poems. He had also written one children's book, Stuart Little. But Andy could never just hurry to turn an idea into an article or book. He decided to let his ideas \

So for years, Andy continued to think about writing a children's book about a spider. He did some of his best thinking while he was walking around his farm.

Once while he was cleaning his barn, he found a spider's egg sac （ 囊 ）. Andy wanted to see the eggs hatch. But he would leave for a trip to New York City. So he found a small box and carefully placed the egg sac inside. When he got to his hotel, he put the box on the dresser. When he woke up one morning, there were hundreds of baby spiders on the dresser!

Years later, Andy finally began writing Charlotte's Web, the story of a spider named Charlotte and a pig named Wilbur. Andy created most of the book in the very small boathouse of his farm.

Sometimes he stopped writing and drew pictures of spiders. Andy always said Charlotte's Web was more than just a children's story about animals. It was a timeless story about true friendship. （1） What did Andy think of spiders?

（2） Did Andy hurry to write a book when he had an idea? （3） Why did Andy take the spider's egg sac to New York City? （4） Where did Andy create most of the book Charlotte's Web? （5） What can you learn from Andy's story?

书面表达（满分10分）

19. 友情是一种财富。有了朋友的陪伴、理解和帮助，我们的生活会更加美好。

你校的英文期刊正在开展以 \友情\为主题的征文活动。请你用英文写一篇短文投稿，谈谈你和朋友的故事，主要包括：这位朋友是谁，他（她）是什么性格的人，你们之间发生过什么难忘的事，这件事让你对朋友或者友情有什么样的感受或认 识。 提示词语：kind, homework, help, progress

提示问题：Who is your friend and what is he/she like?

What happened between you?

What did you learn about friends or friendship from it?