1 . Sometimes people come into your life and you know at once that they were sure to be there.They serve some kind of purpose, teach you a lesson or help find out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be: your classmate, neighbor, teacher, long-lost friend or even a real stranger. But you know that every moment they will affect (影响)your life in some serious way.

Sometimes things happen to you. At the time they may seem terrible, painful and unfair. But later you realize that without getting over those difficulties you would have never realized your further ability and strength (力量). Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance or with good or bad luck.

The people who you meet can affect your life. And the successes and failure (失败) you experience can create who you are. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones.

Enjoy every day even every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people who you have never talked to before, and really listen. You should set your sights high, hold your head up, tell yourself you are a great one and believe in yourself.

You can make your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.

1. The people who we meet ________.

A．all know where to find us

B．serve us on no purpose

C．will change us in some way

2. What does the underlined word “poignant” mean in Chinese?

A．平淡的

B．明显的

C．深刻的

3. Which of the following would the writer probably agree with?

A．Never talk to strange people.

B．Learn as much as we can each day.

C．Get over difficulties painfully.

4. Which is the best title (标题) for the passage?

A．Create Your Own Life

B．Things Happen to You

C．People You Meet in Life

2 . One day a man asked his son Ned to cut the grass. The boy did not want to do such work, so after his father had gone away, he pushed the mower (割草机) angrily. It ran over his shoes and knocked at the wall. Ned tried to push it, but it would not work.

“I did not break the mower,” said the boy to himself, “it made my feet hurt and broke itself.” He tried to deceive (欺骗) himself with words, but he knew in his heart that they were lies, and he was afraid to meet his father. After school, he walked slowly along the way home because he tried to avoid his father.

At the end of that day, Ned went home. He was relieved (宽慰的) to find that his father was not there. Ned’s mother said to him, “It is six o’clock, and your school closes at four. Where have you been, my boy?”

“Oh, mom,” said Ned, “when we play at the park, we often forget everything else. We seldom think of the time, and of coming home. Is tea ready?”

The boy’s mother was deceived. Ned’s answer led her to think that he had been playing with his friends. But he had not been playing at all.

Ned sat down to his tea but he didn’t drink at all. “What a shame it is!” said something in Ned’s heart.

“I don’t care,” said the boy to himself, “I don’t care. I did not tell a lie—I did not say that I was playing.”

“But”, said the voice, “you used words which made your mother think that you had been playing, and that was the same as if you had said so. Also you haven’t told her about the broken mower.”

“I did not tell a lie,” said Ned. What do you think, my little reader? Did Ned tell a lie, or did he not? I am sure you will say, “Of course he did.”

If we use words which are intended (意向) to deceive, we tell a lie. And Ned’s lie was an especially bad one, for it looked so like the truth. A lie that looks like the truth is the worst kind of lie.

1. Who broke the mower?

A．Ned.

B．Ned’s father.

C．The mower itself.

2. In Paragraph 4, Ned asked “Is tea ready?” because ________.

A．he was really thirsty and needed to drink

B．he hoped to stop his mother asking more

C．he thought his father would like some tea

3. What can we know from the passage?

A．Ned walked slowly because his feet hurt.

B．Ned had fun playing in the park after school.

C．Ned’s heart was not quiet when he told a lie.

4. What might the writer expect Ned to do?

A．Ned would find a better lie to deceive his parents.

B．Ned would keep his lie as a secret.

C．Ned would regret and tell his parents the truth.

3 .

Once upon a time, there was a boy with a very bad temper (脾气). He often lost his temper over unimportant matters. One day, his father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he would hammer a nail into the backyard fence (篱笆).

On the first day, the boy had hammered 37 nails into the fence. And in the following days, there were more and more nails hammered each day.

But after a few weeks, the boy found that it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails. And the day the nails were spread all over the fence, the boy no longer lost patience and lost his temper as easily as before. He ran to his father happily and told him about it. The father nodded and told him that from then on, whenever he wanted to lose his temper but successfully controlled it, he would pull out a nail.

Time passed day by day, and finally the boy told his father that he had finally pulled out all the nails. The father took his hand and led him to the backyard, pointing to the hole-ridden fence and said, “You did a good job, my son. But look at those holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same again. When you lose your temper with others, it’s like hammering a nail into their hearts, leaving a scar (伤疤) forever. If you hurt someone with a knife, no matter how many times you say sorry, even if the wound can be healed (治愈), the scar will always be there. Sometimes, the pain of words is just as irreparable as the pain of real injury (伤害).”

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. What does the writer mainly want to tell us in Paragraph 2?

A．How the boy began to hammer nails.	B．How bad the boy’s temper was.
C．How many nails the boy hammered.	D．How long the boy hammered nails.

2. Why did the boy run to his father happily?

A．Because he knew how to hammer nails.

B．Because he had hammered all the nails.

C．Because he no longer lost his temper as easily as before.

D．Because he really realized his father’s good intention (意图).

3. What does the underlined word “irreparable” in the last paragraph mean?

A．不可弥补的

B．不能忽视的

C．无法重现的

D．无可奈何的

4. Which of the following can best describe the father?

A．Caring and brave.	B．Honest and warm-hearted.
C．Active and hard-working.	D．Wise and patient.

5. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Unimportant Matters	B．A Boy with a Bad Temper
C．The Nails and the Fence	D．The Pain of Words

4 . A rich man asked an old scholar (学者) to tell his son away from his bad habits. The scholar took the young man for a walk through a garden. Stopping suddenly, he told the boy to pull out (拔出) a small plant growing there.

The young man made it easily.

The old scholar then asked him to pull out a little bigger plant.

The young man pulled hard and the plant came out with its roots (根) .

“Now pull out that one,” said the old man, pointing to a little tree. The boy had to use all his strength to pull it out.

“Now take this one out,” said the old man, pointing at a big orange tree. The young man held the trunk (树干) and tried to pull it out. But it would not move.

“It’s impossible,” said the boy angrily, panting (喘息) with the effort.

“So it is with bad habits,” said the old man. “When they are young, it is easy to pull them out. But when they go deeply, they cannot be uprooted.”

The conversation with the old man changed the boy’s life.

1. The scholar asked the young man to pull out plants for ________ times.

A．four

B．two

C．three

D．five

2. The underlined word “uprooted” in Paragraph 8 probably has the same meaning as the Chinese character “________”.

A．树根

B．向上

C．种植

D．根除

3. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The old man helped the youth give up his bad habits.

B．The youth didn’t understand what the old man said at last.

C．The rich man was pleased with the old man.

D．The conversation with the old man changed the boy’s life.

4. This passage mainly wants to tell us ________.

A．we need exercise more to pull trees out

B．how to get away from bad habits

C．talking with a scholar is very important

D．the earlier getting away from bad habits, the better

5 . Jeremy’s school is a foreign language school. Every year, his school holds Language Week and several activities take place,     1     (包括) storytelling, speeches, performances and competitions.

This year, one competition caught Jeremy’s attention. It was a Haiku writing competition. Haikus are a type of Japanese short poems with 17 syllables (音节). Students who took part had to hand in a few haikus written on a     2     (页).

Jeremy told his father about the writing competition as soon as he got home. Hearing that, Jeremy’s father said, “Son, you should have a try. You’ve always scored well in your Japanese tests. And the competition sounds interesting!” Jeremy,     3     (然而), was not so sure. He said, “I don’t think I’m creative. What if I can’t even win a     4     (奖项)? I don’t want to waste my time or effort.”

Faced with Jeremy’s negative (消极的) way of thinking, his father planned to educate him     5     (明智地). He said, “The result is indeed important. But the journey that one takes to get to the end makes more     6     (意义，道理). If you can’t make the     7     (决定) which direction to go, consider if you are interested in it and learn something from it.” Jeremy listened to his father carefully and was     8     (鼓励) by his words. Then he made up his mind to write some haikus and take part in the competition.

When the result came out, Jeremy was     9     (惊讶的) at it. The first place was     10     (的确，实在) beyond his expectation. He said he would continue to write more haikus in the future.

6 . After a biology class, my 10-year-old daughter brought three twigs (嫩枝) back home. These twigs were supposed to be planted by students. Hence, I helped my daughter plant them in our backyard. Through the years, owing to a lack of good care and poor soil, two of them died. Only one survived.

It grew very slowly and became curved. It never got very tall. In the end, it looked more like a fat bush than a tree. A few years ago, I noticed that it was starting to die. The lower branches were becoming bare. Most of the leaves fell off. Only the top third of the tree was still green. Last summer I did my best to save it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer, but it didn't work.

Later one morning, I went out and looked at it again. I was wondering whether it would be better to just cut it down. As I walked over to take a closer look at it. however. I noticed something moving within the leaves. It was a robin (知更鸟) patiently building a nest in the topmost branches. I smiled when I looked at it. and I thought it smiled back at me. Actually, maybe this old tree was still useful. It might not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a home.

This tree reminded me that all of our lives have purposes. It doesn’t matter if we are young or old, healthy or sick. Till our last breath, we have things to do, love to give, and joy to share. We can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.

1. According to the writer, why did the two trees die?

A．They grew out of small twigs.

B．They were not taken care of correctly.

C．The soil around them was not rich.

D．Both B and C.

2. What did the only living tree look like?

A．It was straight and tall.

B．There were not many leaves on it.

C．It looked like a bird’s nest.

D．It was all green.

3. What does the underlined “it” in paragraph 3 refer to _________.

A．The robin.

B．The nest.

C．The tree

D．The leaves.

4. What might the writer do with the tree later?

A．He might cut it down.

B．He might leave it as it is.

C．He might take away some of its leaves.

D．He might give it to his friends.

5. What does the writer want to tell us with the story?

A．We should take care of animals and plants.

B．We should work hard till our last breath like trees.

C．Every living thing has its own purpose.

D．It is hard for twigs to survive.

7 . 阅读短文，按要求完成所给任务。

This Thursday, across the US, kids are going to work with their parents instead (A)_______ going to school. They can help their parents do some cleaning, send e-mails and deal with other daily things. Because April 28 is Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day all over the US. This holiday shows kids what it means to be a grown-up in the working world.

I still remember when this day started, I was very happy. Not (B)_______ did I have the chance to leave the school, but I also could sit in my dad’s taxi all day long and we would go to a restaurant for lunch.

▲ I couldn’t read my book in the car as I would get carsick (晕车) and my dad didn’t like to turn on the radio. I got hot and uncomfortable. People wouldn’t get into his taxi because they thought he already had a passenger: me—so nothing happened. It seemed years before we went out for lunch. In fact, I started to miss the school.

Although the purpose of the day is to give kids a chance to experience possible jobs in their futures, I got something completely different from the day. I learned to value school life. Where else can you play with your friends, do science experiments, read great books and write stories all in one day?

Just like you’ll have to learn to love your job later in life, learn to love school now. If you don’t, try spending the day at work with your dad.

1. 根据短文内容在（A）、（B）处填入恰当的词。
(A)_____________            (B)______________
2. What can the kids help their parents do this Thursday?
___________________________________
3. 请选出能填入文中 ▲ 处的最佳选项。（填写字母代号）

A．Of course, I enjoyed myself and felt free like a bird.

B．But after only 40 minutes of driving around the city, I was very bored.

C．But soon I got used to this taxi ride around the city with my father.

4. 将划线句子翻译成中文。
___________________________________
5. What does the passage mainly talk about?
___________________________________

8 . During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Emperor Taizong asked the prime minister Feng Deyi to recommend talented people.

________, several months passed, Feng didn’t recommend anyone. “I tried my best, but there are not unusual and ________ people at all,” Feng said.

“People are like utensils (器具). What we need to do is to make good use of their ________. You cannot excuse yourself for not noticing talented people. How could you say that there are no talented people in our ________?” said the emperor.

Indeed, each utensil or tool has its use. A knife is made to cut things while chopsticks are made to ________ food. We can’t use a knife as a ________. Like a utensil, each person has special strength. Nobody is perfect. We can’t expect a person to be good at ________.

With this idea in ________, Emperor Taizong discovered many talented people of different backgrounds. He ________ them important positions, which helped them make the best ________ of their talents. His talented people helped the society ________ and created a “golden age”.

Some people say if a person is talented ________, we should give them a chance. The same idea can be found in The Analects of Confucius (《论语》). Treating people as utensils shows that we can ________ lead people well, but also allow different kinds of people to work well.

Today, the idea still makes ________. If we become leaders someday, we should help others give full play to their strengths. ________, Liu Bang let Zhang Liang and Xiao He work as advisors for their wisdom while inviting Han Xin to lead the army for his war strategies. Known as the “three heroes of the early Han Dynasty”, they helped Liu build strong dynasty.

1.

A．However

B．Anyway

C．Moreover

2.

A．serious

B．perfect

C．patient

3.

A．Weaknesses

B．Disadvantages

C．strengths

4.

A．city

B．village

C．country

5.

A．pick up

B．get up

C．look up

6.

A．tool

B．bowl

C．chopstick

7.

A．Everything

B．Nothing

C．anything

8.

A．hand

B．mind

C．body

9.

A．provided

B．accepted

C．offered

10.

A．effort

B．use

C．time

11.

A．require

B．promise

C．develop

12.

A．in some ways

B．in the way

C．on the way

13.

A．so far

B．as if

C．not only

14.

A．sense

B．mistakes

C．decisions

15.

A．All in all

B．What’s more

C．For example

9 . Doris was a young girl. She had a problem in her life. She was easy to be ________ or impatient with everything around her. She always felt bad and ________ a negative (消极的) thinking.

One day she felt so bad that she asked her dad for ________. Her father comforted her and took her to the ________. He asked Doris to take a potato, an egg and two spoons of tea leaves. Doris was confused and asked her father, “Do you want me to ________?”

“No,” her father answered.

He then took three pots (锅) and ________ some water into each pot. The pots were ________ on the fire. Once the water started to boil (煮沸), he ________ the potato in a pot, the egg in the second one and the tea leaves in the third one.

“Why are you doing all these things?” Doris asked, really got angry with her father.

“Just wait fifteen minutes, please,” said her father.

Finally, the impatient daughter managed to ________ around fifteen minutes.

Now, he placed the two plates, one with the potato and the other with the egg, and the cup of tea in front of Doris.

Doris asked, “What does it ________ , Dad? I do not understand!”

“Each object faced similar challenges, but reacted ________. The potato, when we put it in boiling water, became very weak. The soft egg became very ________ when we put it in boiling water. And the tea leaves changed the water itself, it ________ a nice smell! It gave us something ________.” Doris now understands that we can create something wonderful even when we ________ some challenges. So, what are you? A potato, an egg, or tea leaves?

1.

A．angry

B．sad

C．nervous

D．excited

2.

A．hated

B．carried

C．provided

D．copied

3.

A．hand

B．help

C．rest

D．pressure

4.

A．bedroom

B．living room

C．kitchen

D．bathroom

5.

A．cook

B．rest

C．sleep

D．guess

6.

A．mixed

B．poured

C．drank

D．changed

7.

A．thrown

B．caught

C．carried

D．placed

8.

A．dropped

B．beat

C．rose

D．cut

9.

A．pick up

B．take down

C．wait for

D．cut out

10.

A．hide

B．take

C．argue

D．mean

11.

A．differently

B．simply

C．similarly

D．quietly

12.

A．proper

B．icy

C．hard

D．typical

13.

A．went off

B．gave off

C．gave away

D．tried out

14.

A．strange

B．strong

C．wrong

D．new

15.

A．experience

B．realize

C．beat

D．push

10 . I used to feel hopeless and frustrated (沮丧的). Last year my mother was seriously ill and had an operation(手术) on her brain. I felt my whole world turn upside down and I had no idea ______ to help her feel less painful. My eyes were filled with tears whenever I was alone.

Last month, I lost a watch, which was a ______ for my 18th birthday from my father. I could not fall asleep for a couple of nights and I felt very upset.

There have been many ______ things like these in my life. I could never know how to deal with such hard things ______ I read If You Have a Lemon, Make Lemonade (柠檬汁).

“When the wise man is handed a lemon,” he says, “What ______ can I get from this? How can I improve my situation? How can I turn this lemon into lemonade?” the author wrote.

I suddenly ______ that life is full of ups and downs, so we need to stay positive (积极的) all the time. Now when I think of my past, I wish I could do with things ______. When my mother was fighting against her illness, I should hold her hands in mine, telling her things would get better ______ hiding and crying.

Several weeks ago, I took part in a school singing competition. I didn’t ______ a prize. If I had not read this article, I would certainly have felt disappointed again. But instead, I smiled after the competition. I was happy that ______ I had got some stage (舞台) experience.

Life is not just a bed of roses. There are thorns (刺) too, but these thorns help us become brave and strong. When life gives us a lemon, let’s try to make lemonade.

1.

A．how to do

B．what to do

C．how I could

D．what I could

2.

A．letter

B．wish

C．card

D．gift

3.

A．better

B．good

C．worse

D．bad

4.

A．when

B．until

C．after

D．since

5.

A．lesson

B．chance

C．decision

D．knowledge

6.

A．wondered

B．realized

C．dreamed

D．remembered

7.

A．silently

B．differently

C．easily

D．suddenly

8.

A．because of

B．ahead of

C．instead of

D．out of

9.

A．expect

B．miss

C．win

D．lose

10.

A．at once

B．at least

C．at first

D．at most