2008年全国统一高考英语试卷（北京卷）

A
Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man.” She said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice(临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter(计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said,” I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing.” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto e tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to ______.

The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he ______.

What can we learn from the story?

B
Domestic (驯养的) horses now pull ploughs, race in the Kentucky Derby, and carry police. But early horses weren’t tame (驯服的) enough to perform these kinds of tasks. Scientists think the first interactions humans had with horses were far different from those today.
Thousands of years ago, people killed the wild horses that lived around them for food. Over time, people began to catch the animals and raise them. This was the first step in domestication.
As people began to tame and ride horses, they chose to keep those animals that had more desirable characteristics. For example, people may have chosen to keep horses that had a gentle personality so they could be ridden more easily. People who used horses to pull heavy loads would have chosen to keep stronger animals. Characteristics like strength are partly controlled by the animals’ genes. So as the domesticated horses reproduced, they passed the characteristics on to their young. Each new generation of houses would show more of these chosen characteristics.
Modern day horse breeds come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This variety didn’t exist in the horse population before domestication. The Shetland horse is one of the smallest breeds—typically reaching only one meter tall. With short, strong legs, the animals were bred to pull coal out of mine shafts (矿井) with low ceilings. Huge horses like the Clydesdale came on the scene around 1700. People bred these heavy, tall horses to pull large vehicles used for carrying heavy loads.
The domestication of horses has had great effects on societies. For example, horse were important tools in the advancement of modern agriculture. Using them to pull ploughs and carry heavy loads allowed people to farm more efficiently. Before they were able to ride horses, humans had to cross land on foot. Riding horses allowed people to travel far greater distance in much less time. That encouraged populations living in different areas to interact with one another. The new from of rapid transportation helped cultures spread around the world.
Before domestication horses were ______.

The author uses the Shetland horse as an example to show ______.

Horses contributed to the spread of culture by ______.

The passage is mainly about _______.

Dear Hamilton,
We are fortunate that in such a large, high-pressure office we all get along so well. You are one of the people who keep the social temperature at such a comfortable setting. I don’t know anyone in the office who is better liked than you.
You can perhaps help with this. The collection of contributions towards gifts for employees’ personal-life events is becoming a little troubling. Certainly, the group sending of a gift is reasonable now and then. In the past month, however, there have been collections for two baby shower gifts, one wedding shower gift, two wedding gifts, one funeral（葬礼）remembrance, four birthday gifts, and three graduation gifts.
It’s not only the collected-from who are growing uncomfortable (and poor), but the collected-for feel uneasy receiving gifts from people who don’t know them outside the office, who wouldn’t even recognize their graduating children, their marrying daughters and sons, or their dead relatives.
This is basically a kind gesture (and one that people think well of you for), but the practice seems to have become too wide-ranging and feels improper in today’s office setting.
Thank you for understanding.
The underlined word “contributions” probably means ________.

Hamilton is expected to _______.

This is basically a letter of ________.

The Diet Zone: A Dangerous Place
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically（身体上）.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brain to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale（秤）instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients(营养成分). Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemical that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological harm that comes from using them.
From Paragraph 1, we learn that ________.

One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to _____.

In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means ______.

Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products ______.

Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

假设你是红星中学高三一班的学生李华，为校刊英语园地写一篇题为"Our Spring Outing" 的英文稿件。请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序，叙述上周你们班从准备春游到春游结束的完整过程。

注意：词数不少于60.

提示词：游乐园   amusement park        垃圾箱   bin

 开放作文(15分)
请根据下面提示，写一篇短文。词数不少于50。
In your English class,you are asked to describe the following picture and explain to your classmates how you understand it.

John promised his doctor henot smoke, and he has smoked ever since.

——Have you read book called Waiting for Anya?
—Who _______ it?

-Did you return Fred's call?
-I didn't need toI'll see him tomorrow.

that she was going off to sleep, I asked if she'd like that little doll on her bed.

It was hard for him to learn English in a family, in whichof the parents spoke the language.

After the long journey, the three of them went back home, ______.

The hotel wasn’t particularly good. But I ____ in many worse hotels.
A .was staying   B, stayed   C. would stay   D. had stayed

I’ll give you y friend’s home address ______ I can be reached most evenings.

No decision ______about any future appointment until all the candidates have been interviewed.

The companies are working together to createthey hope will be the best means of transport in the 21st century.

–Did the book give the information you needed?
–Yes. But _____ it, I had to read the entire book.

I feel greatly honoredinto their society.

If you really have to leave during the meeting, you'd better leavethe back door.

I’m sorry you’ve been waiting so long, but it’ll still be some time ____ Brian get back.

It is worth considering what makes “convenience” foods so popular, and ____ better ones of your own.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
When I entered Berkeley, I hoped to earn a scholarship. Having been a Straight-A student, I believed I could __36__ tough subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he 37 in class.
When I took the first exam, I was 38 to find a 77, C-plus, on my test paper,   39  English was my best subject. I went to Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained_ 40  .
I decided to try harder, although I didn’t know what that  41 because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I   42 with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn’t change his 43    .
One more test before the final exam. One more  44 to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts and, for the first time.   45  The meaning of the word “thorough”. But my  46__    did no good and everything  47  as before.
The last hurdle(障碍) was the final. No matter what   48  I got, it wouldn’t cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the   49  goodbye.
I stopped working head. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even  50 myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I’d have  51__with a test.
A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into professor Jayne’s office. He  52__ to be expecting me. “If I gave you the As you  53 , you wouldn’t continue to work as hard.”
I stared at him.  54 That his analysis and strategy(策略) were correct. I had worked my head   55 , as I had never done before.
I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. It was the only A-plus given. The next year I received my scholarship. I’ve always remembered Professor Jayne’s lesson: you alone must set your own standard of excellence.
36.  A. take        B. discuss      C. cover         D. get
37.  A. sought      B. presented    C. exchanged     D. obtained
38.  A. shocked     B. worried      C. scared        D. anxious
39.  A. but         B. so          C. for           D. or
40.  A. unchanged   B. unpleasant   C. unfriendly     D. unmoved
41.  A. reflected     B. meant       C. improved     D. affected
42.  A. quarreled    B. reasoned     C. bargained     D. chatted
43.  A. attitude      B. mind        C. plan         D. view
44.  A. choice       B. step         C. chance       D. measure
45.  A. memorized    B. considered   C. accepted      D. learned
46.  A. ambition      B. confidence   C. effort         D. method
47.  A. stayed        B. went        C. worked       D. changed
48.  A. grade         B. answer      C. lesson        D. comment
49.  A. scholarship     B. course      C. degree       D. subject
50.  A. helped         B. favored     C. treated       D. relaxed
51.  A. fun            B. luck      C. problems      D. tricks.
52.  A. happened       B. proved     C. pretended     D. seemed
53.  A. valued         B. imagined    C. expected     D. welcomed
54.  A. remembering    B. guessing    C. supposing    D. realizing
55.  A. out            B. over       C. on           D. off

When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate（照亮）me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.
When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say:“Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changing into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.
When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend, He was in despair(失望)and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.
For almost four years I have had remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think: “Yes, I must tell….”We have never met.
It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist（心理学家），who will only fill up the healing（愈合的）silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.
In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was to ______.

In Paragraph 3, “We gave London to each other” probably means ______.

According to Paragraph 4, the author and her friend _______.

In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to ______.

What is the best title for the passage?