第三部分 阅读理解(共两节，满分40分)

第一节(共15小题：每小题2分，满分30分)

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

Without any hesitation, he said, “I’d be better off dead.” Hearing those words come out of my best friend’s mouth tore my heart apart. He has repeated that phrase more than once, and my mind continually plays it over like a voice recording.

I met him about three years ago. After knowing me for six months, he told me about his struggles with depression. Sadness was not the only emotion that came over me; I was shocked. He seemed so outgoing and happy all the time. I soon learned that he was physically and emotionally abused as a young child, causing him to have suicidal thoughts.

He refuses to talk to others about his depression because he now distrusts adults, especially those in his family. Nevertheless, he feels as if I understand him and that I know the right words to speak. Therefore, when it comes to helping him, convenience is not in my vocabulary. It does not matter where I am or what I am doing, for he always comes first.

Many students at his school laugh at him when they notice scars on his arms from cutting. As he sees it, other kids have every right to make fun of him. But no one holds such a right, so I encourage him to ignore the heartless kids who treat him badly. When he feels the weight of judging eyes or hateful voices, I always remind him that I care about him unconditionally. Just hearing me say I will always be his best friend seems to give him the security he needs to keep on going.

My best friend once told me that if he had not had me, he would not be alive. He said that my encouraging words convinced him not to take his life. Our friendship has taught me that a single kind word can influence someone’s life. With the fragility of life as it is, I believe in the necessity of encouragement.

56. According to the first paragraph, what the author’s friend said made the author feel ______.

A. puzzled B. heart broken. C. frightened D. hopeless

57. By saying “convenience is not in my vocabulary”, the author means ______.

A. he is always ready to help his friend.

B. he hardly spares time to help his friend.

C. he has no good excuse for refusing his friend.

D. he is not good at communicating with his friend.

58. From the passage we learn that the author’s friend ________.

A. had a happy childhood but everything changed later

B. wanted to share his story but no one listened.

C. took it for granted that he was made fun of

D. was always of sad appearance

59. What does the author learn from his experiences?

A. How to make a big difference to others.

B. The importance of encouragement.

C. How to get rid of depression

D. The necessity of security

B

Disease, poverty, hate, love—Charles Dickens’ stories opened his readers eyes to the most important themes of his age. Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens’ legacy(遗产) was far greater than just “great literature”

February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birthday. To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world. Let’s take a look at two of them.

A white Christmas

Dickens is described as “the man who invented Christmas”—not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive season today. In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt. The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day – unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off.

Many people believe that Dickens’ popular descriptions of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come. In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas, but also painted a picture of glowing warmth –“ home enjoyments, affections and hopes”.

In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote: “ Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas.”

“Dickensian” poverty

Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian (the period during British Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901) London.

He helped popularize the term “red tape” to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy(官僚作风) in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society.