2 . Standing on the shore of a lake. I can’t help but marvel at the tens or hundreds of thousands of small rocks that surround my boots. They were all created from hard surfaces, their edges softening over time.

And I wonder, can we learn from a pile of rocks?

Even the tallest mountains have worn down; none are as tall as they were 1.000 years ago. And much like a rock, I’ve found my attitude has softened and my desire to better understand others has expanded with each trip around the sun.

Once I too was a sharp rock covered in pointy edges. Today, after decades of the waters of life coursing over me, my edges are softer and more understanding. I’m less likely to judge and more interested in learning how we can exist together.

But I’m not a rock. I’m a human being filled with all the drama built into my DNA.

Two years ago, while traveling in the Pacific Northwest, I watched a restaurant owner ask several people to leave for not wearing masks. Not forceful and not rude. On the door read a sign: “Please wear a mask before entering our restaurant. We don’t like it either, but let’s all do what we can to get through this together.”

The group of young men wished to argue about the note.

I sat watching, understanding both sides. I’ve been those guys before, using my youthful edges to chip away at the world. What I lost, however, was the ability to grow from experiences by looking through the eyes of others. In learning to be more open, I’ve also found more happiness and success.

You can fit more rounded rocks in a jar than those with sharp edges. The former look for ways to adjust and make room for others; the latter never give an inch to accommodate others.

Time, like the waters rolling against once sharp stones, changes us by washing away our resistance to seeing the world from another’s point of view.

I placed a rounded stone into my jacket pocket. Mother Nature is holding class again.

1. What does the author compare the rocks to?

A．People’s abilities.	B．People’s personalities.
C．What nature offers us.	D．Challenges we come across.

2. Why did the group of guys argue in the restaurant?

A．They were dissatisfied with the owner’s attitude to them.

B．They were unwilling to do what the owner wished them to.

C．They intended to skip out on the bill due to the poor service.

D．They were not allowed to leave the restaurant for their rudeness.

3. What does the author want to tell us with this text?

A．We should adjust to new conditions.

B．Be brave when in the face of difficulties in life.

C．It’s necessary to consider the feelings of others.

D．Being open and understanding brings you more happiness.

4. What might be the best title of the text?

A．Changing with Time	B．Learning from Nature
C．Growing from Experiences	D．Seeing from a Different Angle

3 . Kristin Schell is the founder of The Turquoise Table, a movement of ordinary people who want to create community right in their own front yards. Ten years ago, she and her family moved to a new home in Austin, Texas.

One day, Kristin tried to connect with her new neighbors by hosting a party. She bought a few picnic tables but the delivery driver set one table down in her front yard by mistake. “After the party, I painted the table turquoise—my favorite color—and put it in the front yard, just a few feet from the sidewalk,” she says.

That turquoise table became the place where Kristin and her kids hung out. They played games, did crafts and ate snacks. “We got intentional about where we spent our time,” Kristin says. “We became ‘front yard people’.”

Neighbors began to stop by to introduce themselves and sit down for a chat. Kristin invited people to join her at the table for coffee or iced tea. Then neighbors asked Kristin if their family could put a picnic table in their front yard too. A movement was born. “It was a simple way to slow down and connect with others,” she says. The turquoise table was inviting and had a shared feel.

People often hesitate to invite others into their homes. They think their house is too messy, it’s not big enough or they don’t have enough time. “Our perfectionism can cause us to miss out on the joy of connecting with others,” Kristin says. Her picnic table takes away the excuses—and the pressure.

She likes how it enables her to take a small step toward easing loneliness and building relationships in her community. “People’s greatest need is to know that they are loved and that they belong,” she says.

A decade after their Texas beginnings, thousands of Turquoise Tables exist in all 50 states and in 13 countries around the world. Not all of them are actually turquoise. “No matter what color it is, it’s a friendship table,” Kristin says.

1. Why did Kristin Schell start the movement?

A．To host more parties in her front yard.	B．To entertain her friends and neighbors.
C．To engage with people in the neighbourhood.	D．To create harmonious communities worldwide.

2. Which of the following words best describe Kristin Schell according to the text?

A．Creative and sociable.	B．Friendly and humorous.
C．Generous and ambitious.	D．Cautious and responsible.

3. What can be inferred from the text?

A．People don’t like others to step into their houses.

B．The campaign has a big impact at home and abroad.

C．Kristin Schell bought the turquoise table to host a party.

D．People feel unwilling to join in the front ya rd chat at first.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Love Your Neighbors	B．An Amazing Woman
C．Happy Front Yard Time	D．Tables Where All Are Welcome

6 . With an abundance of sun and wind, Spain is positioning itself as Europe’s future leader in green hydrogen production to clean up heavy industries. But some energy experts express caution because this process relies on massive availability of zero-carbon electricity.

Green hydrogen is created when renewable energy sources power an electrical current that runs through water, separating its hydrogen and oxygen molecules (分子). The process doesn’t produce planet-warming carbon dioxide, but less than 0.1% of global hydrogen production is currently created in this way.

The separated hydrogen can be used in the production of steel, ammonia (氨) and chemical products, all of which require industrial processes that are harder to stop fossil fuels. Hydrogen also can be used as a transportation fuel, which could one day transform the highly polluting shipping and aviation sectors.

Spain’s large, windswept and thinly populated territory receives more than 2,500 hours of sunshine on average per year, providing ideal conditions for wind and solar energy, and therefore green hydrogen production.

“If you look at where hydrogen is going to be produced in Europe in the next million years, it’s in two countries, Spain and Portugal,” said Thierry Lepercq, the founder and president of HyDeal Ambition, an industry platform bringing together 30 companies. “Hydrogen is the new oil.”

Lepercq is working with companies like Spanish gas pipeline corporation Enagas and global steel giant ArcelorMittal to design an end-to-end model for hydrogen production, distribution and supply at a competitive price. Criticism has centered on green hydrogen’s higher cost compared with highly-polluting “gray hydrogen” drawn from natural gas. Lepercq argues that solar energy produced in Spain is priced low enough to compete.

Globally, Lepercq said, “Electricity is 20% of energy consumption. What about the 80% that is not electrified? ... You need to replace those fossil fuels. Not in 50 years’ time. You need to replace them now.”

1. Why are some experts cautious about green hydrogen production in Spain?

A．It needs large amounts of sun and wind.	B．It has an effect on heavy industries.
C．It causes conflicts among countries.	D．It uses lots of zero-carbon electricity.

2. What is the advantage of green hydrogen production in Spain?

A．Ideal geographical conditions.	B．The support from government.
C．Hydrogen production technology.	D．Well-developed public transports.

3. What can be inferred about green hydrogen in Spain according to Lepercq?

A．It is highly priced.	B．It is easy to store.
C．It is competitive.	D．It is highly-polluting.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Spain manages to use zero-carbon electricity.	B．Spain struggles to lead EU in heavy industry.
C．Spain takes the lead in preventing air pollution.	D．Spain replaces fossil fuel with green hydrogen.

8 . I was waiting in a checkout line. A woman and two boys were ahead of me. At the cash desk, a white-haired man had begun to _______ his goods. Then came the _______. Sometimes it’s a customer with multiple coupons (优惠券), or someone who forgot to _______ a piece of fruit. Fair enough. One waited.

But today, it was something else. The man didn’t have _______ money. So he began the process of choosing which _______ to keep and which to hand back. He _______ over each one before keeping or abandoning it. We waited. The line became longer.

Eventually, his _______ came to an end. The man turned back to us as he left, _______ and apologetic. We _______ off his chagrin (懊恼). It could happen to anyone.

But I had no idea just how ________ the family of three ahead of me were until their turn came. The woman asked the cashier to add all the ________ goods to her bill as quickly as possible. Then the two boys ________ through the exit with the small bag of groceries. When they returned, it was clear that their mission had been ________.

Then I realized all it took to witness this flash of ________ was waiting a little longer in a checkout line. I could have caught the bus. But I felt so ________ on my feet that I walked home instead.

1.

A．bag

B．list

C．check

D．receive

2.

A．attempt

B．barrier

C．intention

D．mission

3.

A．fetch

B．slice

C．weigh

D．taste

4.

A．enough

B．pocket

C．extra

D．bonus

5.

A．tools

B．items

C．drinks

D．snacks

6.

A．doubted

B．glanced

C．shifted

D．paused

7.

A．delay

B．evaluation

C．checkup

D．selection

8.

A．thrilled

B．anxious

C．embarrassed

D．satisfied

9.

A．blew

B．waved

C．cut

D．kicked

10.

A．helpless

B．sympathetic

C．patient

D．annoyed

11.

A．expensive

B．thrown-away

C．left-behind

D．major

12.

A．rushed

B．slipped

C．walked

D．moved

13.

A．accomplished

B．failed

C．postponed

D．started

14.

A．tenderness

B．courage

C．kindness

D．tolerance

15.

A．careful

B．heavy

C．clumsy

D．light

9 . If anyone had told me three years ago that I would be spending most of my weekends camping, I would have laughed heartily. Campers, in my eyes, were people who enjoyed insect bites, ill-cooked meals, and uncomfortable sleeping bags. They had nothing in common with me.     1    

The friends who introduced me to camping thought that it meant to be a pioneer.     2     We slept in a tent, cooked over an open fire, and walked a long distance to take the shower and use the bathroom. This brief visit with Mother Nature cost me two days off from work, recovering from a bad case of sunburn and the doctor’s bill for my son’s food poisoning.

I was, nevertheless, talked into going on another fun-filled holiday in the wilderness.     3     Instead, we had a pop-up camper with comfortable beds and an air conditioner. My nature-loving friends had remembered to bring all the necessities of life.

    4     We have done a lot of it since. Recently, we bought a twenty-eight-foot travel trailer complete with a bathroom and a built-in TV set. There is a separate bedroom, a modern kitchen with a refrigerator. The trailer even has matching carpet and curtains.

    5     It must be true that sooner or later, everyone finds his or her way back to nature. I recommend that you find your way in style.

A．This time there was no tent.

B．Things are going to be improved.

C．The trip they took me on was a rough one.

D．I was to learn a lot about camping since then, however.

E．I must say that I have certainly come to enjoy camping.

F．After the trip, my family became quite interested in camping.

G．There was no shade as the trees were no more than 3 feet tall.

10 . In May 1987 the Golden Gate Bridge had a 50th birthday party. The bridge was closed to motor traffic so people could enjoy a walk across it. Organizers expected perhaps 50,000 people to show up. Instead, as many as 800, 000 crowded the roads to the bridge. By the time 250,000 were on the bridge, engineers noticed something terrible：the roadway was flattening under what turned out to be the heaviest load it had ever been asked to carry. Worse, it was beginning to sway（晃动）. The authorities closed access to the bridge and tens of thousands of people made their way back to land. A disaster was avoided.

The story is one of scores in To Forgive Design：Understanding Failure, a book that is at once a love letter to engineering and a paean（赞歌）to its breakdowns. Its author, Dr. Henry Petroski, has long been writing about disasters. In this book, he includes the loss of the space shuttles（航天飞机）Challenger and Columbia, and the sinking of the Titanic.

Though he acknowledges that engineering works can fail because the person who thought them up or engineered them simply got things wrong, in this book Dr. Petroski widens his view to consider the larger context in which such failures occur. Sometimes devices fail because a good design is constructed with low quality materials incompetently applied. Or perhaps a design works so well it is adopted elsewhere again and again, with seemingly harmless improvements, until, suddenly, it does not work at all anymore.

Readers will encounter not only stories they have heard before, but some new stories and a moving discussion of the responsibility of the engineer to the public and the ways young engineers can be helped to grasp them.

"Success is success but that is all that it is," Dr. Petroski writes. It is failure that brings improvement.

1. What happened to the Golden Gate Bridge on its 50th birthday?

A．It carried more weight than it could.

B．It swayed violently in a strong wind

C．Its roadway was damaged by vehicles

D．Its access was blocked by many people.

2. Which of the following is Dr. Petroski's idea according to paragraph 3?

A．No design is well received everywhere

B．Construction is more important than design.

C．Not all disasters are caused by engineering design

D．Improvements on engineering works are necessary.

3. What does the last paragraph suggest?

A．Failure can lead to progress.	B．Success results in overconfidence
C．Failure should be avoided.	D．Success comes from joint efforts.

4. What is the text?

A．A news report	B．A short story.
C．A book review	D．A research article.