16．　　On the last day of last September, my sister sent me a message: "The 1196 weather service will come to an end. So, if you want to listen, today is the last(1)      .
　　For 20 years, a caller could dial (拨号) 1196, choose an area and then hear the weather report read by a computer-spliced (合成的) version of my father's (2)      . Dad has been dead for 19 years, and it would be replaced by the weather app soon.
　　Dad's love for the job was (3)       my imagination (想象). He kept making most of the (4)      thousands of words and phrases—after he had cancer. I remembered (5)      him to the recording room in my spare time. He would sit there for a whole day (6)      thousands of words with headphones on. The familiar headphones and the exact pronunciation all took him back to his previous (先前的) job as a radio journalist. And he was (7)      of his voice. It sounded strong still and held its fine timbre (音色) (8)      he was in poor health.
　　The whole recording was really a large project with many parts. In the end, Dad was too (9)      to go to the recording room. Therefore, the sound engineer came to my parents' house to complete the last parts.
　　Finally, I dialed the number for the last time. A well-spoken robot, (10)       in my father's voice, made me ache. It was another goodbye, so long after the last goodbye.

17．　　Liu Ming is a student, who is 1. 4 metres tall. This summer, he and his mother are going to travel by high﹣speed train. Here is some information they have got.

18．Dear Granny,
　　As I promised, I'm writing you from home. In a way, it's nice to be back. However, I would rather be there with you.
　　I miss seeing your smiling face every morning. You always looked so happy when you were feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs. By the way, those were the freshest eggs I've ever had. I also miss our time together in the kitchen. You really know a lot about cooking, and I'm so glad you were willing to teach me. Mom never is because she's too busy with work. In any case, I'm going to keep practicing so that I can cook something delicious for you next summer.
　　Please take care of yourself, and I'll write again soon.
Lots of love,
Rebecca

19．　　What makes 15,000 men and women take off their jackets on a cold day in April and run for four hours or more through the streets of greater Boston? Put like that, it certainly sounds silly, but I was one of those runners. In fact, like everybody else, I even paid for the experience. The race is called the Boston Marathon (马拉松), and people have been competing in it since 1897.
　　"I could do that," I said.
　　"No, you couldn't," my friend Ed replied.
　　"Want to bet?" I said. That's how it happened.
　　There were times when I regretted the dare. I had never run more than eight miles at a stretch before, and here I was training for over three times that distance. To make matters worse, since the race was in April, I had to run throughout the winter, and in Boston, winters are cold. For most people, just putting on their shirts, sweaters, jackets, and hats is exercise enough. I found myself out on the dark January streets, jumping over snow banks and skidding (滑) along icy patches of sidewalk. Even in gloves, my fingers got so cold that they felt like rolls of pennies;my nose didn't defrost until lunchtime!
　　Finally, the big day arrived. The weather was cold, with ice and rain. Bang! The gun sounded, and we were off. Well, I didn't actually go anywhere at first because I was standing behind so many people I had to wait for them to move. It was like being in a traffic jam, so I jumped up and down to stay warm.
　　At first, the running was easy. The other runners just seemed to pull me along. Somewhere around the 20-mile mark I even caught myself thinking, "This is nothing. Why did I train so hard?"
　　That's when I hit the wall. I didn't actually run into a brick wall, but it felt as if I had. "The wall" is what marathoners call the point at which your body simply runs out of gas. My legs turned to rubber;my arms turned into pieces of wood. I thought I might pass out. I can't remember anything about the last five miles of the race.
　　I kept running though. At least, that's what Ed told me at the finish line.
　　"You looked good," he said. "How did it feel?"
　　"Great," I lied. I wasn't going to let him get the last laugh.

20．　　It just hadn't been a very good week. On Tuesday, Sam's father lost his job. Then on Wednesday, Sam's mother announced that the rent on their apartment was going up. Now it was Friday, and Sam had just opened his e﹣mail to find an invitation from Rosa to her birthday party.
　　An invitation to a party at Rosa's would have been good news. Sam knew Rosa from Adventure Club. Members of the club took trips to places such as the Museum of Natural History.
　　Sam knew that he would enjoy Rosa's party, but he didn't want to go without a gift. What could he possibly buy her with the little bit of money he had left in his pocket? Sam knew he couldn't ask Mom or Dad for any money—not this week! "Well," Sam thought, "I don't have time to worry about this right now. I've got a report to write for school, and I'd better get to the library before it closes."
　　Later that afternoon, as Sam was leaving the library, he noticed a sign that said there was a book sale going on downstairs. Sam headed down for a quick look, and two books caught his eye. The first was a cookbook of Puerto Rican foods, and the second was a book about women explorers. "Rosa would like these, "Sam thought, "but would it be tacky to give her used books for her birthday?"
　　Sam decided that a used gift was better than no gift at all. Besides, Rosa supported recycling in a big way, so probably she would not mind. With his last dollar, Sam bought the books and went home feeling a little better.
　　The party on Saturday was a lot of fun. Everyone told stories about the funny things they had done in Adventure Club—like the time they went hiking in a nearby park and fell into the lake. Rosa's mother and grandmother served them delicious food and creamy coconut milkshakes. Rosa opened all her gifts and thanked everyone for the nice things they had given her. She stopped for a moment when she opened Sam's gift, which made him wonder if she liked the books, but nothing was said. The moment passed, and soon the party was over.
　　When Sam got home, he opened his e-mail to find this note from Rosa:

　　The week turned out to be a good one after all.

31．
　　A Chinese knot is a knot that is woven (编织) from a single rope to be different shapes. Each shape has its own (1)      . Now you can see it as a decoration or a gift for friends. People can use ropes of (2)      to weave a Chinese knot, but they usually choose red because it means good luck.
　　The Chinese knot has a long history. At first, people might have made them to record information and (3)      before they started to use words. It is (4)      that the knots were used for decoration and to express thoughts and feelings in the Tang Dynasty. They were (5)       popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. But it was not until the Qing Dynasty that this art became really accepted by the common people.

32．　　Dreams are stories or a series of events that take place in a person's mind while they are asleep. You dream around four to six times a night, even if you can't remember them in the morning. Scientists don't really know for sure for why we do it. One theory is that sleep is a chance for the brain to deal with thoughts and feelings – keeping things it thinks are important in memories and getting rid of others. Another theory says dreams can help you see things from different points of view and could even help you solve problems.
　　There are two main phases (阶段) of sleep. These are rapid eye movement(REM), when the eyes move quickly in lots of directions behind closed eyelids (眼睑), and non-rapid eye movement. You can dream in either phase, but it's most likely to be during the REM phase, which happens about 90 minutes after you fall asleep. This is when brain activity increases until your mind is almost as busy as it is when you're awake. Many scientists think that animals including cats and dogs can dream because they experience REM sleep.
　　It is a good idea to go to sleep at about the same time each night. It is also important to give yourself time to relax. This could be by reading or listening to relaxing music. Try to stay away from bright lights and screens, such as phones, tablets or TVs. If you find you are worrying about something, have a notepad by the bed. You can write down your worry, close the pad and put the thought out of your mind, then deal with it the next day. You could also write down your dreams when you wake up (if you can remember them).
注意: 每个空格只填1个单词．

33．　　Can we live without computers? For most people of my age, it's hard to imagine life without a computer. It seems like almost everybody has got o(1)      ! Most people use them every day to work and p(2)      . Actually, the first personal computer was invented in 1975. Before then, people survived without computers and the Internet, so it must be p(3)      !
　　I believe that there would be some a(4)      to life without a computer. We would probably do more exercise instead of sitting in front of screens. We would get better at r(5)      things instead of checking facts online all the time. We would also communicate more with each other because computers wouldn't need so much of our a(6)      .
　　However, I think that it would also be very difficult to live without computers. We use them to communicate with our f(7)      and family all around the world. We also use computers to get information about many different s(8)      . Computer technology has helped i(9)      our lives in many different areas. For example, mechanics use computers to check our cars, doctors use computers to help b(10)      understand health tests, and architects use computers to design modern, safe buildings.
　　In conclusion, although we may have had healthier lifestyles in our computer-free past, I believe that, in today's society, we can't live without computers.

34．假如你是李华, 你的美国朋友Peter将要来南京旅游, 请根据Peter来信内容, 进行回复．
Dear Li Hua,
　　I'm planning to visit Nanjing. Could you give me some advice on what places of interest to visit? Why do you recommend these places?What is the best time to visit Nanjing?
　　I'm looking forward to your reply.
Yours,
Peter
要求:
1. 词数80左右;
2. 文中不得提及有关考生个人身份的任何信息, 如校名、人名等．
Dear Peter,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your letter.
Yours,
Li Hua