Writing out all the invitations by hand was more time-consuing than we             .

will except

are  excepting

except

had excepted

考查时态。句意：手工写下所有的邀请函要比我们预料的花去更多的时间。根据句意可知我们预料是在实际上写之前发生的，而本句中实际写花去的时间使用了过去时was，所以expect用过去完成时。故D项正确。

It was along the Mississippi River _________ Mark Twain spent much of his childhood.

how

which

that

where

此处构成It was...that...强调句式，句中强调了介词短语along the Mississippi River。故选C。

never I have read

never have I read

ever I have read

ever have I read

What some people regard as a         is seen as a plus by many others.

duty

drawback

failure

faith

考查名词词义辨析。句意：一些人认为是一个缺点，而其他许多人则认为这是一个优点。A.duty责任；B.drawback缺点； C. failure 失败；D. faith信念。根据空后plus“优点”可知，空处需用drawback“缺点”与之对应。故选B项。

Small sailboats can easily turn over in the water ________.

if not managed carefully

if are not managed carefully

unless not managed carefully

unless are not managed carefully

Great amounts of water            poured into the river from the factories two years ago.

was

were

has been

have been

考查时态和主谓一致。句意：两年前，工厂将大量废水排入河中。根据two years ago 可知，句子使用一般过去时。....amounts of修饰不可数名词作主语时，谓语动词用复数形式，即谓语动词与amounts保持数的一致。故选B项。

All we need          a piece of advice on how we can improve our time management.

are

is

were

was

考查be动词和时态。句意：我们需要的只是一条关于如何改进时间管理的建议。分析句子可知，说明一般情况应该用一般现在时，这句话的主语是All we need, 所以为主语从句，当主语从句作主语时，谓语动词用单数，所以用is。故选B项。

Mary and her friend          a plan and gathered forty people from my company to help the homeless people at the Christmas party.

came up with

put up with

caught up with

kept up with

考查动词短语辨析。句意：玛丽和她的朋友想出了一个计划，在圣诞节聚会上，从我的公司聚集了四十几个人来帮助无家可归的人。A. came up with 提出；B. put up with 忍耐；C. caught up with追上，赶上；D.kept up with 跟上。下文“聚集人帮助无家可归的人”是想出的计划。故选A项。

______about wild plants that they decided to make a trip to Madagascar for further research.

So curious the couple was

So curious were the couple

How curious the couple were

The couple was such curious

---What is Miss Gao’s favourite        ?

---She is always in pink. Don’t you know?

colour

book

 song

movie

考查名词词义辨析。句意：---高老师最喜欢的颜色是什么？---她总是穿着粉色的衣服，难道你不知道吗？A.colour颜色；B. book书； C. song歌曲 ；D.movie电影。根据She is always in pink.可知这里是在询问高老师最喜欢的颜色是什么。故选A项。