1 . It was the district sports meet. My foot still hadn't healed(痊愈)from a(n) _______ injury. I had _______ whether or not I should attend the meet. But there I was,_______ for the 3,000-meter run.
"Ready... set..." The gun popped and we were off. The other girls rushed _______ me. I felt _______ as I fell farther and farther behind.
"Hooray! "shouted the crowd. It was the loudest _______ I had ever heard at a meet. The first-place runner was two laps(圈)ahead of me when she crossed the finish line.
"Maybe I should _______, "I thought as I moved on. _______,I decided to keep going. During the last two laps, I ran _______ and decided not to ________ in track next year. It wouldn't be worth it, ________ my foot did heal.
When I finished, I heard a cheer-- ________ than the one I'd heard earlier. I turned around and ________,the boys were preparing for their race. "They must be cheering for the boys."
I was leaving ________ several girls came up to me. "Wow, you've got courage! "one of them told me.
"Courage? I just ________ a race! "I thought.
"I would have given up on the first lap, "said another girl.
"We were cheering for you. Did you hear us?"
Suddenly I regained ________ . I decided to ________ track next year. I realized strength and courage aren't always ________ in medals and victories, but in the ________ we overcome(战胜). The strongest people are not always the people who win, ________ the people who don't give up when
they lose.1.

A．slighter

B．worse

C．earlier

D．heavier

2.

A．expected

B．supposed        C, imagined

C．doubted

3.

A．late

B．eager

C．ready

D．thirsty

4.

A．from behind

B．ahead of

C．next to

D．close to

5.

A．ashamed

B．astonished

C．excited

D．frightened

6.

A．cheer

B．shout

C．cry

D．noise

7.

A．slow down

B．drop out

C．go on

D．speed up

8.

A．Therefore

B．Otherwise

C．Besides

D．However

9.

A．with delight

B．with fear

C．in pain

D．in advance

10.

A．play

B．arrive

C．race

D．attend

11.

A．even if

B．only if

C．unless

D．until

12.

A．weaker

B．longer

C．lower

D．louder

13.

A．well enough

B．sure enough

C．surprisingly enough

D．strangely enough

14.

A．while

B．when

C．as

D．since

15.

A．finished

B．won

C．passed

D．lost

16.

A．cheer

B．hope

C．interest

D．experience

17.

A．hold on

B．turn to

C．begin with

D．stick with

18.

A．measured

B．praised

C．tested

D．increased

19.

A．sadness

B．struggles

C．diseases.

D．tiredness

20.

A．or

B．nor

C．and

D．but

2 . I decided to go back to school in the fall of 2008 after not being happy with my current job and financial status. I obtained my Associate’s Degree in May 2002 in Commercial Arts. After graduation, I had trouble obtaining a job in that field. For years, I was going from one job to another feeling unfilled, and I was not satisfied with the instability. I decided to go back to school for either International Business or Psychology. I weighed the pros and cons of both professions and Psychology won. I like helping my friends and family, when they go through hard situations in their life by giving them sound advice and being honest with them. Also, I was interested in “the mind”. I was searching for online schools because my work schedule at my current job would not allow me t o attend a regular class. I was nervous about starting online classes because I heard mixed stories from other friends who were taking online classes. I decided to do it anyway to experience something different. I wanted to find an online school that was affordable and reputable. Through my search, I discovered Walden University, which is specially for working adults who want to obtain a bachelor’s degree or higher. The process of getting accepted was easy, which included writing an essay on why I wanted to attend their school, transferring my previous credits, etc. I am currently enrolled in the Bachelors program for psychology, and I am paying for college via financial-aid loans and grants. This experience has been interesting yet trying as sometimes it was difficult to balance work, school and home life. I learned a lot about psychology and myself. For example, I like writing about current events, relationships and traveling. I thought my English composition was ordinary, but after taking a few classes at Walden University, I improved my English composition and it made me feel confident enough to start writing professionally so I became a freelance (自由撰稿) writer. Currently, I am only three classes away from obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology! It was one of the best decisions I made in my life.
1. What did the author study originally when he was in college?

A．Psychology	B．Commercial Arts
C．International Business	D．English Composition

2. What do we know about the author from Paragraph 2?

A．He decided to study International Business at first.

B．He wanted to study two majors.

C．He liked Psychology better.

D．He chose his major with the help of his friends.

3. Why was the author nervous about starting online classes?

A．Because he heard some negative remarks about it.

B．Because h e was worried that he didn’t have enough time to study.

C．Because he feared he would fail the entrance exam.

D．Because he was afraid that he didn’t have enough money.

4. Which of the following best describes the author’s learning experience?

A．Dull and challenging.	B．Interesting and easy.
C．Interesting and challenging.	D．Dull and easy

5. According to the passage, the author _________.

A．was not able to find a full-time job

B．is most interested in writing

C．pays for hi s schooling with the help of his family

D．is satisfied with his achievements.

3 . I love helping others. One day one year ago, I was on a tour promoting(促进) acts of _______in Denver. I met a man called James Moss. James Moss was a(n) _______ father living in the city with his 2­year­old son. When I first met Moss, I did not _______ the father's situation. After speaking with him I _______ that Moss had moved from New York to Denver only a few days before. I was _______ told he hadn't found a house to live in.

Though he had no home with a young child, Moss had a _______ attitude.He explained that he was happy and _______ inside.He also said he'd change his _______ soon. At the end of our _______, I gave Moss $1,000 and a weeklong stay in a ________ with his son.

________ we were talking, I recorded our talk. Later I posted the video on YouTube. But I ________ to do more to help the father. I ________ a GoFundMe campaign. “James is a ________ father and man,”   I wrote on the campaign site. “Let's make kindness ________ to him and his son and show him some love and that there are still good ________ in this world.”

In just five days，more than $35，000 was donated to the campaign.I ________ all the money to Moss.With that money，Moss ________ his life in Denver. Now he has a ________ and can afford an apartment to live in and his son is now in day care.

I'm so glad that I ________ this man and his son.

1.

A．encouragement

B．development

C．happiness

D．kindness

2.

A．honest

B．old

C．homeless

D．terrible

3.

A．make up

B．hope for

C．refer to

D．know of

4.

A．wished

B．guessed

C．learned

D．suggested

5.

A．hardly

B．also

C．still

D．never

6.

A．positive

B．strange

C．disappointing

D．friendly

7.

A．brave

B．peaceful

C．surprised

D．worried

8.

A．attitude

B．name

C．address

D．situation

9.

A．story

B．plan

C．chat

D．tour

10.

A．street

B．hotel

C．factory

D．school

11.

A．Before

B．Though

C．Unless

D．While

12.

A．decided

B．feared

C．refused

D．pretended

13.

A．knew

B．started

C．improved

D．found

14.

A．selfish

B．boring

C．great

D．calm

15.

A．repeat

B．move

C．spread

D．happen

16.

A．places

B．people

C．ideas

D．harvests

17.

A．gave

B．lent

C．pushed

D．showed

18.

A．risked

B．missed

C．changed

D．ended

19.

A．son

B．journey

C．wife

D．job

20.

A．praised

B．helped

C．taught

D．recognized

4 . Where was I? The room was dark and quiet. My head hurt really badly. I shouted, “Help! Help! Can anybody help me?”

After a while somebody came in. The room was so dark that I could’t see hs face clearly. The man turned on the light and said with a sharp voice, “Ah! Sweetie, do you still remember who I am?” I was shocked. Oh , my God! I cried, “You are Michael Zey, the man I charged with murder! Why are you here? You should be in prison!”

“You never thought about the result of charging a gang(犯罪团伙) leader, did you? Because of you, I was in prison for 15 years. You ruined my life!” His voice was very cold. My face was pale with fear. He was here to take revenge(报复)!

“Please, let me go! Don’t hurt me! Please!” I sked him. “Dr Calment, you are smart enough to know it is impossible. Now, I give you two choices. One is shooting your head. It is the quickest way. The other is cremation(火葬). Your husband and you will be together forever. It’s quite romantic. Don’t you think?” He spoke angrily. “What? My husband? He is innocent!” I shouted at him.

Suddenly, he took hold of my head and said, “you will pay for what you have done to me.” He took out a gun from his bag.

“Help! Help! Can anybody help me?”

1. What might have happened to the writer before the man came in?

A．She had taken his place and become a gang leader.

B．She had come to this place to see her husband.

C．She wanted to pay for what she had done to Michael Zey.

D．She had been beaten terribly.

2. Which of the following words can best describe how the writer felt when the story happened?

A．Surprised	B．Terrified
C．Amazed	D．Puzzled

3. What does the underlined word “it”in the fourth paragrapt refer to ?

A．To let her go.	B．To hurt her
C．To take revenge.	D．To stay in prison.

4. Michael Zey mentioned the writer’s husband because ________________ .

A．he thought her husband was guilty

B．he thought it was romantic

C．he thought her husband was innocent

D．he wanted to frighten the writter

5 . A chip inserted in a young quadriplegic’s (四肢麻痹患者) brain is already improving his quality of life. Soon the benefits may be more widespread.

A 25-year-old man unable to move from the neck down recently did what many assumed impossible. After a knife attack that had left him paralyzed, all he could move was his head, which he used to push a switch and call for a nurse. And he could turn his wheelchair by blowing into a straw near his face. That was it.

Then last June, a Foxborough (Mass.) company called Cyber Kinetics opened the man’s skull and inserted a special chip no larger than a baby aspirin. That insert has given him a few additional and precious abilities. When connected to a special computer via a cable, the chip translates the young man’s thoughts into commands that let him move a cursor across a PC screen and open e-mail. He can draw a circle with a computer painting program. And he can use a robotic hook (钩) to perform simple tasks like picking up a candy and sliding it across a table.

All he has to do is to think.

Several new studies have begun or been completed in the past year. In fact, more than half of the scientific papers in this field, called brain-to-computer interaction (BCI), have been published in the past two years, notes Jonathan Wolpaw, a research physician at Wadsworth Center, the New York State Health Dept.’s research laboratory.

Brain surgeries (手术) are no longer rare: Thousands of Parkinson’s disease patients have had special devices inserted in their brains to ease uncontrollable shaking and other symptoms. The inserts themselves have improved, so the body doesn’t reject them as furiously (猛烈地). And significant development has been achieved in software used to interpret the brain’s signals and change them into commands understood by computers.

But increased demand for thought technology remains the biggest reason for the field’s progress. Today, 4 million Americans live with paralysis according to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation.

Scientists hope that thought technology will reduce the impact of such disabilities. People with spinal-cord injuries, for example, often lose their ability to walk because the communications network between their brain and their legs has been interrupted. The brain still commands the leg muscles to move, but they don’t hear its orders.

Thought technology, scientists hope, will bridge this communications gap. “Our goal is for you to see paralyzed people eating at a restaurant and for you not to know that they are paralyzed,” says John Donoghue, founder and chief scientific officer at Cyber Kinetics.

1. What was the young man’s trouble after a knife attack?

A．It was impossible for him to do anything.

B．By no means could he call for a nurse.

C．He could not use his organs under the neck.

D．He was unable to move his head.

2. What plays the most important role in improving the young man’s quality of life?

A．A chip	B．A computer
C．A robotic hook	D．A company

3. What can we learn from Paragraph Six?

A．There used to be a lot of brain surgeries.

B．There has been some progress in the field of thought technology.

C．People with Parkinson’s disease reject the use of the chip in their brains.

D．No software has been developed to interpret the brain’s signals.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Communications gap	B．Thought technology
C．American quadriplegics	D．Human brains

6 . Regrowth Poetry Competition is open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK based male and female writers over 16 years of age. This competition is open to poetry submissions. Poems must be based around the theme of “regrowth, birth, survival, and new life” and in any genre. The poem should be between 5 and 30 lines in length (including title).

Entry details, rules and regulations to the competition are listed below:

1. All entries must be sent using the form online.

2. Entry will cost £4.00. You can pay online via PayPal or credit card. You can also pay by cheque, making it payable to Susan Cawte. The postal address is 412 Thorold Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4HF. Multiple entries are allowed.

3. Entries will not be returned.

4. All entries submitted must be work which has not been published elsewhere or submitted to another competition which is currently still open.

5. All entries must be your own work. Any entry found to be plagiarized or printed elsewhere will be disqualified.

6. All entries submitted must clearly state the author's name, address, email address and contact telephone number on the submission.

7. The winner will be notified within one month of the closing date.

8. The closing date for entries is midnight (BST) 30th April 2016.

Prizes:

1st: £50, published story in the magazine, and a feature article about the winning author.

2nd: £25, story published in the magazine.

The 20 shortlisted authors will be listed online in May. Winners will be announced on 1st June 2016.

1. What should be the theme of the poems in the competition?

A．Peace.	B．Friendship.
C．Regrowth.	D．Health.

2. If you want to take part in the competition, ____.

A．you can only submit one entry

B．you must be a British boy of 16

C．you have to pay the entry fee by cheque

D．you must send the entries before 30th April 2016

3. What is the probably meaning of the underlined word “plagiarized”?

A．Written.

B．Copied.

C．Typed.

D．Read.

7 . A
        Fat and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket--- anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the one always made fun of in school gym classes in Devonshire, England.
        It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first he went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to ride the bike along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set up his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed and strength. At the age of 18, he ran his first marathon.
        The following year he met John Ridgway and was hired as an instructor at Ridgways school of adventure in Scotland, where he learnt about Ridgway’s cold-water exploits. Greatly interested, Saunders read all he could about North Pole explorers and adventures, the decided that this would be his future.
        In 2001, after becoming a skillful skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition towards the North Pole. It took unbelievable energy. He suffered frostbite, ran into a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, pulling his supply-loaded sled up and over rocky rice.
        Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the North Pole by himself than any other British man. His old playmates would not believe the change.
        Next October, Saunders, 27, heads south from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, a 2900-kilometer journey that has never been completed on skis.
1. What change happened to Saunders after he was 15 years old?

A．He became good at most sports.

B．He began to build up his body.

C．He joined a sports team

D．He made friends with a runner.

2. The underlined word “exploits” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to ______.

A．journeys	B．researches
C．adventures	D．operations. W

3. What does the story mainly tell us abut Saunders?

A．He is a success in sports.

B．He is the best British skier.

C．He is Ridgway’s best student.

D．He is a good instructor at school.

8 . On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell Tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle. The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager, for they had never seen a bicycle in             the hotel hall before though they lived in “the kingdom of bicycles.”
Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India.
When he was 11, he read the book Marco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true.
Robert Friedlander’s next destinations were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.
1. The best headline for this newspaper article would be ______ .

A．The Kingdom of Bicycles	B．A Beautiful Hotel in Xi’an
C．Marco Polo and the Silk Road.	D．An American Achieving His Aims

2. The hotel workers told the manager about Friedlander coming to the hotel because______ .

A．he asked to see the manager

B．he entered the hall with a bike

C．the manager had to know about all foreign guests

D．the manager knew about his trip and was expecting him

3. Friedlander is visiting the three countries in the following order. ______ .

A．China, India, and Pakistan	B．India, China, and Pakistan
C．Pakistan, China, and India	D．China, Pakistan, and India

4. What made Friedlander want to come to China? ______.

A．The stories about Marco Polo .	B．The famous sights in Xi’an .
C．His interest in Chinese silk.	D．His childhood dreams about bicycles .

5. Friedlander can be said to be _______ .

A．clever

B．friendly

C．hardworking

D．strong—minded

9 . On Sunday a few of us decided to take advantage of the first sunny day we’d have for ages to take a trip down to the coast to visit the penguins again. Last time I went down there was a couple of months ago and it was a dull cold day. Sunday couldn’t have been more different — clear skies and sunshine made it feel like summer, although it was still -25°C.
Six of us drove to the coast. It was the first time we’d been off the base on our own without our field assistant, so it had a slightly different feeling — more like a few friends going to the seaside than an Antarctic field trip! When we reached Windy Creek, we luckily caught sight of quite a few small flying seabirds, which are seldom seen there.
Once on the sea ice we found that some of the more curious penguins had wandered over from the main group to come and check us out. We’d been told that then they were nursing their chicks (刚孵出的幼雏) and they would be more careful and nervous than last time, but that didn’t seem to be the case. We walked across to the main group which were stretched for a couple of miles along the coast. We sat down for some sandwiches and soon found ourselves surrounded by many curious observers. Without any attackers on land, they were very brave and came within a meter of us to pose (摆姿势) for photos.
Before heading back, we spent a few hours on the sea ice watching the penguins and their chicks, which had grown dramatically (明显地) since our last visit.
It was such a nice day.
1. When did the trip most probably happen?

A．On a dull Sunday.	B．On a warm Sunday.
C．On a summer Sunday.	D．On a winter Sunday.

2. It can be inferred from the second paragraph that the six people _____.

A．felt a little nervous

B．felt a little excited

C．were left all by themselves on their Antarctic base

D．got bored with staying with their field assistant

3. What does the writer mean by saying “but that didn’t seem to be the case”?

A．They were told a lie.

B．A wrong decision was made.

C．The truth was the opposite.

D．They didn’t believe what they were told.

4. The six people did the following during the trip EXCEPT _____.

A．feed the penguins

B．take pictures of the penguins

C．enjoy watching flying seabirds

D．watch the young penguins

10 . One of the founding fathers of the Internet has predicted the end of traditional television.Vint Cerf, who helped to build the Internet while working as a researcher in America, said that the television was approaching its “iPod moment”.
In the same way that people now download their favorite music onto their iPod, he said that viewers would soon be downloading most favorite programs onto their computers. “85% of all videos we watch are prerecorded, so you can set your system to download them all the time,” said Mr Cerf, who is now the vice president of Google, the world’s largest search engine. “You’re still going to need live television for certain things—like news, sporting events and emergencies—but increasingly it is going to be almost like the iPod.”
Although television on demand has not yet become a mainstream activity in the UK, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have all spent vast sums of money on technology which enables viewers to watch their favorite shows on their computers.
But some critics (批评人士), including some Internet service providers, have warned that the Internet will collapse with millions of people downloading programs at the same time. Over the next four years, it is thought that the number of videos watched over the Internet will be four times as big as that. Broadband companies claim that the service will cause “traffic jams”, which will cost millions of pounds to get it to normal.
But Mr Cerf dismissed the warnings as “scare thoughts”, saying that critics had predicted 20 years ago that the Net would collapse when people all around the world started to use it all together. “In the past 30 years it’s increased a million times...We’re far from reaching the capacity,” he said, “It’s an understandable worry when they see huge amounts of information being moved around online.”
1. What would happen to television according to Vint Cerf?

A．Television would come to an end.

B．Television would be replaced by the computer.

C．Viewers would prefer watching TV programs downloaded on their computers.

D．Most people would prefer the Internet to television.

2. “iPod moment” refers to the time when ________.

A．people can enjoy the live broadcast of television

B．people can download content to look at later

C．all programs are recorded with careful plan

D．the computer and television are closely combined

3. According to the last paragraph, Mr Cerf held the idea that ________.

A．the Internet will collapse with many people downloading programs at the same time

B．the Net will collapse when people all around the world start to use it all together

C．the Internet service will break down with many videos watched over the Internet

D．people’s downloading TV programs on their computers won’t cause the collapse of the Internet