解析：选B　细节理解题。从第三段的介绍中可知，参赛者经过在班里、在学校，然后在市里和州里的比赛后，才来到华盛顿进行比赛。故B项正确。

　　3．According to the passage, hearing a poem recited by different people can .

　　A．bring a new life to listeners

　　B．help listeners find their interest

　　C．make listeners learn the words

　　D．offer something new to listeners

　　解析：选D　细节理解题。从倒数第二段中的叙述中可知，朗诵诗歌可以给听者带来新的感受。故选D。

　　4．One benefit the participants get from poem recitation competitions is that they can .

　　A．become skilled in speaking in public

　　B．write good poems themselves

　　C．change their attitudes towards life

　　D．make friends with many great poets

　　解析：选A　细节理解题。从文章最后一句话"Another benefit of a competition such as Poetry Out Loud is that ... them for life."可知A项正确。

　　Ⅱ.语法填空

　　Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. She studied at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before 1 (return) to her family's house in Amherst where she lived 2 peaceful life. She kept in touch with her friends by writing letters and was 3 (willing) to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room.

　　Dickinson's poems are unique for the time she lived in; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use half rhyme. Many of her poems deal 4 themes of death and immortality (永生). Dickinson wrote about 1,800 poems during her lifetime, but fewer than a dozen of 5 were published. Although most of her friends probably knew about Dickinson's writing, they didn't know that she 6 (produce) so many poems until after her death in 1886, when her younger sister Lavinia discovered the place where the poems were hidden. 7 her sister not discovered them, the broadness of Dickinson's work wouldn't have become known.

　　Dickinson's first collection of poetry was published in 1890, the content of 8 was heavily edited by the publishers 9 (fit) the conventional poetic rules of the time. A complete and mostly unedited collection of her poetry became available for the first time in 1955. Now Dickinson 10 (consider) to be one of the most important American poets.

1．returning　设空处作介词before的宾语，故填returning。