Section A: Banked Cloze
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Passage
The Sun Is Also a Star is a truly lovely story of love, romance, fate, and destiny.
Natasha is a Jamaican-born immigrant living (26) ______ in America, not by choice exactly. Her parents brought her over and created the situation she (27) ______ to be out of.
Daniel is an American born of Korean immigrants. He believes in true love, fate, and all that other nonsense that Natasha (28) ______ through scientific reasoning.
Daniel and Natasha meet by (29) ______ on the streets of New York on the day that she is to be (30) ______ . She doesn't tell him that but does allow him to keep her company while he tries to get her to fall in love with him over the course of the day.
Natasha is me. I found her so similar to myself. She's scientifically-minded, practical, somewhat cynical, and always (31) ______. Her obsession with the universe through a scientific lens is infectious and I (32) ______ Daniel seeing that too.
Daniel is charming and passionate and has a way with words that even (33) ______ Natasha's tough outer shell. By the end of the book I fell in love with both of them.
I used to find romance stories to always be cheap or laughable. I think now I can see the value in escaping into a story of pure optimism. I got (34) ______ in The Sun Is Also a Star and finished it cover to cover in a weekend. I couldn't wait to get to what I hoped would be a happy ending.
It's nice every once in a while to give in to magic. It doesn't have to be a hard fantasy novel with actual spells, it can be the magic found between two people who just have that special something. That (35) ______ that causes them to react and spark when they're near each other.
Answers & Explanations
26. I (illegally)。解析：空格位于现在分词 living 之后，需要填入副词作状语。结合下文 Natasha 的父母造成的处境，以及她即将在这一天被驱逐出境（deported）的情节，说明她是非法居住在美国的，因此选 illegally。
27. O (strives)。解析：空格位于主语 she 之后，动词不定式 to be 之前，需要填入谓语动词。strive to do 意为“努力做某事”。她努力想要摆脱父母造成的处境，主语为第三人称单数，因此选 strives。
28. H (dismisses)。解析：空格位于定语从句中，主语是 Natasha，宾语是前面的 nonsense（胡言乱语），需要填入谓语动词。Natasha 是一个具有科学思维的人，她通过科学推理“排除/不予理会”那些关于命运和真爱的胡言乱语，因此选 dismisses。
29. E (coincidence)。解析：空格位于介词 by 之后，需要填入名词。固定搭配 by coincidence 意为“碰巧，巧合”。Daniel 和 Natasha 是在纽约街头碰巧相遇的，因此选 coincidence。
30. G (deported)。解析：空格位于 be 动词之后，需要填入过去分词构成被动语态。结合 Natasha 的身份和故事背景，这一天正是她将被“驱逐出境”的日子，因此选 deported。
31. N (skeptical)。解析：空格与 scientifically-minded, practical, cynical 并列，作系动词 is 的表语，需要填入形容词。描述她“持怀疑态度的”性格，因此选 skeptical。
32. A (adore)。解析：空格位于主语 I 之后，宾语 Daniel 之前，需要填入谓语动词。作者“喜爱/崇拜”Daniel 也看到了她具有感染力的一面，因此选 adore。
33. F (cracks)。解析：空格位于定语从句中，先行词是 a way with words（善于言辞），在从句中作主语，需要填入动词单三形式。Daniel 迷人的言辞甚至能“使...破裂/裂开”Natasha 坚硬的外壳，因此选 cracks。
34. J (lost)。解析：空格位于 got 之后，需要填入形容词或过去分词。固定搭配 get lost in 意为“沉浸于，迷失在”。作者沉浸在《太阳也是一颗星星》这本书中，因此选 lost。
35. D (chemistry)。解析：空格位于指示代词 that 之后，定语从句 that causes them to react 之前，需要填入单数名词。指代两人之间产生特殊反应和火花的“化学反应”，因此选 chemistry。
核心搭配与高分句型
【核心搭配与高频短语】
strive to do sth.：努力做某事（she strives to be out of）
by coincidence：巧合地，碰巧（meet by coincidence）
have a way with words：善于言辞（has a way with words）
get lost in：沉迷于，沉浸在（got lost in The Sun Is Also a Star）
give in to：屈服于，让步于（give in to magic）
【亮点句型解析】
同位语从句与定语从句的嵌套：
"He believes in true love, fate, and all that other nonsense that Natasha dismisses through scientific reasoning."
（他相信真爱、命运以及所有那些娜塔莎通过科学推理视为胡言乱语的东西。）
"He believes in true love, fate, and all that other nonsense that Natasha dismisses through scientific reasoning."
（他相信真爱、命运以及所有那些娜塔莎通过科学推理视为胡言乱语的东西。）
nonsense 带有强烈的评价色彩，其后紧跟一个由 that 引导的定语从句，句式紧凑，逻辑层次分明，体现了男女主性格的巨大差异。 It 作形式主语/强调句型：
"It doesn't have to be a hard fantasy novel with actual spells, it can be the magic found between two people who just have that special something."
（它不一定是一部有着真正咒语的硬核奇幻小说，它可以是存在于两个拥有那种特殊感觉的人之间的魔法。）这句话运用了
"It doesn't have to be a hard fantasy novel with actual spells, it can be the magic found between two people who just have that special something."
（它不一定是一部有着真正咒语的硬核奇幻小说，它可以是存在于两个拥有那种特殊感觉的人之间的魔法。）这句话运用了
not... but... 的转折对比逻辑，巧妙地将抽象的 magic 具象化为两人之间的吸引力，非常具有文学张力。