8.It's true that the old road is less direct and a bit longer.， they don't like to take the new one.

解析：考查副词辨析。句意：事实上，原来的老路不太直，并且有些远，但是不知道怎么地，他们不喜欢走这条新路。somehow不知怎么地；somewhat有点，稍微，有几分。

9.After the flood, the villagers began to look and tried their best to rebuild their homeland.

解析：考查动词短语辨析。句意：在洪水之后，村民们开始为将来做打算，尽他们最大的努力重建他们的家园。look ahead 往前看；为将来打算； look back 回顾。

10.Little did I know what troubles were in wait for me when I got home.

解析：考查动词短语。句意：我几乎不知道当我到家时，麻烦的事在等着我。lie in wait for静候某人，lie现在分词形式是lying;laying是动词lay的现在分词形式。

Ⅲ.阅读理解

　　（2016·天津卷）Failure is probably the most exhausting experience a person ever has.There is nothing more tiring than not succeeding.

　　We experience this tiredness in two ways: as start-up fatigue(疲惫) and performance fatigue.In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it is either too boring or too difficult.And the longer we delay it, the more tired we feel.

　　 Such start-up fatigue is very real, even if not actually physical, not something in our muscles and bones.The solution is obvious though perhaps not easy to apply: always handle the most difficult job first.

　　Years ago, I was asked to write 102 essays on the great ideas of some famous authors.Applying my own rule, I determined to write them in alphabetical(按字母顺序)order, never letting myself leave out a tough idea.And I always started the day's work with the difficult task of essay-writing.Experience proved that the rule works.

　　Performance fatigue is more difficult to handle.Though willing to get started, we cannot seem to do the job right.Its difficulties appear so great that, however hard we work, we fail again and again.In such a situation, I work as hard as I can-then let the unconscious take over.

When planning Encyclopaedia Britannica(《大英百科全书》), I had to create a table of