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。

--- So you missed the meeting.

---           .I got there five minutes before it finished.

Not at all

Not exactly

Not especially

Not really

考查情景交际用语。句意：---你错过了开会。---我在会议结束前五分钟到达会场。可以看出答话者认为对方讲话不够确切。A. Not at all一点也不；不客气；B. Not exactly不确切   C.Not especially不是特别 D.Not really不是真的。故选B项。

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。

Mary never does any reading in the evening, ______.

so does John 

John does too

John does not to

neither does John

主句用never，后面的倒装句相应的用nor或者neither，用完全倒装形式表示后者与前者情况相似。

Only when he returned ________ that the war had ended and the army had come back.

we tell

we told

did we tell

were we told

考查倒装句型。Only放在句首时，句子要用倒装语序；根据句意“我们被告知”可知，此处要用were we told。故答案选D。

--What is happening in that new area?

---New houses          over there.

are built

are building

have built

are being built

考查时态和语态。句意：在那个新区域里发生什么事情了？那儿建起来许多新的大楼。根据第一句时态is happening 可知，时态用现在进行时，故第二句也要用现在进行时，主语 houses与build 建立之间是被动关系，故用现在进行时的被动语态（am/is/are being done），此处为are being built，故选D项。

Which of the following does not contain the sound [ae]?

grade

glad

bad

land

考查语音。句意：下面哪个不包含这个发音[ae]? grade的发音是[greId]; glad的发音是[glaed]; bad的发音是[baed]; land的发音是[laend]。故选A项。