1 . In America, when the eighth graders leave the middle school, they are often worried about moving to the high school. It is a hard time for them, but it can be an exciting one as well. To make it easier, students need to get familiar with their school.

Even though they’ve done this already in the middle school, it’s still important to find where their classrooms are. Most schools take students to the high school for a visit at the end of their eighth grade year. And, most schools also have a freshman (新生) speech for parents and students before the first year begins. Sometimes the main office will give away a map of the school. This can help students and parents to find different places in the school.

One way to know your high school more and make new friends is to join a club or play a sport. Schools often offer chances to join different clubs and sports. Fall activities begin in August before the first day of school. If you are not interested in sports, there are clubs for any interest, such as drama, dance, chess, photography, community service, etc. These clubs allow students from different grades. By joining an activity, students can find new friendships, not to mention improving their chances in future college applications (申请). The school office will have a list of activities offered at the school and information on how to join them.

What’s more, to have a great start to a high school year, students can write down some of their worries, and ask for help from teachers and school workers.

1. According to the text, most students feel ________ when entering the high school.

A．excited

B．nervous

C．lonely

D．disappointed

2. Which of the following is TRUE about the school clubs?

A．There are fewer students from higher grades in the school clubs.

B．The school clubs in high school only welcome sports fans.

C．Summer activities begin before school starts.

D．The school office can help new students join school clubs.

3. When do many schools take students to visit their new high school?

A．Before the eighth grade year starts.

B．Right after the high school year starts.

C．At the end of their eighth grade year.

D．At the beginning of the new term in the high school.

4. What is the purpose of this text?

A．To tell the new students how to learn in high school.

B．To introduce new schools.

C．To give the teachers some advice.

D．To give advice to new high school students.

2 . My teenager son Karl became withdrawn after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes. In this way he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.

One night I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as a head teacher, “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences (缺席).” Before he could say another word I choked up (硬咽), and said sadly, “I love my son. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands.” For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The head teacher seriously said, “Thank you for your time.”

Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. He was even on the list of the best students at school. In his fourth year, I took part in a parent-teacher meeting. I noticed that his teachers were surprised at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, “Mum, remember that call from the head teacher last year?” I nodded. “That was me. I thought I’d play a joke but I heard you said. It really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”

1. Which of the following has the similar meaning to the underlined word “withdrawn”?

A．Quiet and lonely.	B．Relaxed and excited.
C．Active and lively.	D．Happy and easygoing.

2. According to the first report card, Karl ________.

A．often went to school late	B．did well at school
C．did a good job at school	D．failed in the exams

3. When the mother “it’s out of my hands” to the head teacher, she meant that she ________.

A．didn’t know what to do about her son

B．would drive her son away from the house

C．had no money to support the family

D．would have to keep up

4. Who telephoned Karl’s mother that day?

A．The head teacher.	B．The school adviser.
C．Karl himself.	D．The passage doesn’t tell us.

5. From the passage we can learn that ________.

A．children in single-parent families always have mental problems

B．mother’s love is important to teenager’s life

C．parents should give their children everything that they need

D．school education still works well without the support from parents

3 . I still remember my kindergarten teacher Mrs White, although I don’t remember much about what we learned in her class. My mother once told me that we used to____a lot. And I would bring back what I wrote and she could see there were so many____. But no red corrections. And always a star. Sometimes____a “Good”，which would make my heart soar (高涨）with____, But it worried my mother, so one day when she met Mrs White, she asked her why she never____the wrong spellings of words.

Mrs White replied,“The children are just beginning to get____about using words, about forming sentences. I don’t want to____that enthusiasm with red ink. Spelling and grammar can wait. The wonder of words won’t…”Maybe she didn’t say it____like that. It was long ago. But I did grow up learning to use words with loving____like that.

I____now and think Mrs Whites was a rather____teacher. She encouraged the joy,____and excitement of expression-however faultily-like that. I used to____“beautiful” a lot. Never could I quite remember that the “e”went ___the “a”.____my teacher in high school very much.____eventually the e’s and a’s settled into their____places. I am glad I didn’t ___on them though. “Pretty” is ___to spell but it doesn’t hold as much as you mean sometimes. And thanks to Mrs White, I had no____about writing what I meant even if I couldn’t quite spell it out. Because life isn’t Pretty. It’s Beautiful.

1.

A．listen

B．speak

C．write

D．read

2.

A．marks

B．stars

C．words

D．mistakes

3.

A．even

B．naturally

C．especially

D．particularly

4.

A．happiness

B．sadness

C．discouragement

D．disappointment

5.

A．found

B．corrected

C．ignored

D．remembered

6.

A．worried

B．excited

C．anxious

D．nervous

7.

A．keep

B．create

C．stop

D．make

8.

A．really

B．carefully

C．totally

D．exactly

9.

A．fear

B．confidence

C．pride

D．content

10.

A．look forward

B．look after

C．look back

D．look for

11.

A．extraordinary

B．strict

C．hardworking

D．careless

12.

A．delight

B．wonder

C．relief

D．satisfaction

13.

A．mistake

B．misuse

C．misunderstand

D．misspell

14.

A．behind

B．after

C．before

D．below

15.

A．annoyed

B．pleased

C．frightened

D．confused

16.

A．So

B．But

C．And

D．Or

17.

A．right

B．wrong

C．good

D．bad

18.

A．stand

B．keep

C．wait

D．rely

19.

A．funnier

B．harder

C．nicer

D．easier

20.

A．interests

B．hope

C．worries

D．sadness

4 . Another person’s enthusiasm (热情) was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved. That person was my stepmother.

I was nine years old when she entered our home in rural Virginia. My father _______ me to her with these words: “I would like you to meet the fellow who is _______ for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no _______ than tomorrow morning.”

My stepmother walked over to me, _______ my head slightly upward, and looked me right in the eye. Then she looked at my father and replied, “You are _______. This is not the worst boy at all, _______ the smartest one who hasn’t yet found an outlet (释放的途径) for his enthusiasm.”

That statement began a(n) _______ between us. No one had ever called me smart. My family and neighbors had built me up in my _______ as a bad boy. My stepmother changed all that．

She changed many things. She _______ my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors. She moved our family into the county seat, where my father’s career could be more __________ and my brother and I could be better __________ .

When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand __________ and told me that she believed that I could become a writer. I knew her enthusiasm, I __________ it and I saw it had already improved our lives. I accepted her __________ and began to write for local newspapers. I was doing the same kind of __________ that great day I went to interview Andrew Carnegie and received the task which became my life’s work later. I wasn’t the __________ beneficiary (受益者). My father became the __________ man in town. My brother and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president.

What power __________ has! When that power is released to support the certainty of one’s purpose and is __________ strengthened by faith, it becomes an irresistible (不可抗拒的) force which poverty and temporary defeat can never __________.

You can communicate that power to anyone who needs it. This is probably the greatest work you can do with your enthusiasm.

1.

A．rushed

B．sent

C．introduced

D．carried

2.

A．encouraged

B．well-known

C．mistaken

D．rewarded

3.

A．later

B．sooner

C．longer

D．earlier

4.

A．dragged

B．shook

C．bent

D．raised

5.

A．right

B．wrong

C．perfect

D．impolite

6.

A．so

B．but

C．and

D．or

7.

A．gap

B．agreement

C．friendship

D．relationship

8.

A．expectation

B．opinion

C．image

D．mind

9.

A．begged

B．ordered

C．persuaded

D．invited

10.

A．meaningful

B．successful

C．helpful

D．useful

11.

A．treated

B．entertained

C．respected

D．educated

12.

A．typewriter

B．radio

C．bicycle

D．camera

13.

A．considered

B．appreciated

C．ignored

D．doubted

14.

A．request

B．belief

C．optimism

D．description

15.

A．teaching

B．studying

C．writing

D．reading

16.

A．next

B．same

C．real

D．only

17.

A．cleverest

B．strongest

C．wealthiest

D．healthiest

18.

A．confidence

B．enthusiasm

C．sympathy

D．fortune

19.

A．constantly

B．definitely

C．happily

D．traditionally

20.

A．win

B．reach

C．match

D．count

5 . Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the most popular of modern artists. The Pompidou Centre in Paris is showing its respect and admiration for the artist and his powerful personality with an exhibition bringing together over 200 paintings, sculptures, drawings and more. Among the works and masterworks on exhibition the visitor will find the best pieces, most importantly The Persistence of Memory. There is also L’Enigme sans Fin from 1938, works on paper, objects, and projects for stage and screen and selected parts from television programmes reflecting the artist’s showman qualities.

The visitor will enter the World of Dali through an egg and is met with the beginning, the world of birth. The exhibition follows a path of time and subject with the visitor exiting through the brain.

The exhibition shows how Dali draws the viewer between two infinities   (无限). “From the infinity small to the infinity large, contraction and expansion coming in and out of focus: amazing Flemish accuracy and the showy Baroque of old painting that he used in his museum-theatre in Figueras,” explains the Pompidou Centre.

The fine selection of the major works was done in close collaboration (合作) with the Museo Nacional Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain, and with contributions from other institutions like the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.

1. Which of the following best describe Dali according to Paragraph 1?

A．Optimistic.	B．Productive.
C．Generous.	D．Traditional.

2. What is Dali’s The Persistence of Memory considered to be?

A．One of his masterworks.	B．A successful screen adaptation.
C．An artistic creation for the stage.	D．One of the beat TV programmes.

3. How are the exhibits arranged at the World of Dali?

A．By popularity.	B．By importance.
C．By size and shape.	D．By time and subject.

4. What does the word “contributions” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Artworks.	B．Projects.
C．Donations.	D．Documents.

6 . Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid, stayed in a hotel for a short time while looking for a house for me and our children.

During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to discover that his suitcase was gone. He was extremely worried as the suitcase had all his important papers, including his passport.

He reported the case to the police and then sat there, lost and lonely in a strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork organized again from a distant country while trying to settle down in a new one.

Late in the evening, the phone rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to pronounce my husband’s name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile of papers in their trash can(垃圾桶) that had been left out on the footpath.

My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out, although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.

That family not only restored the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and trust in people. We still remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way.

1. What did Rashid plan to do after his arrival in Sydney?

A．Go shopping	B．Find a house
C．Join his family	D．Take a vacation

2. The girl’s parents got Rashid’s phone number from_________.

A．a friend of his family	B．a Sydney policeman
C．a letter in his papers	D．a stranger in Sydney

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

A．Showed	B．Sent out
C．Delivered	D．Gave back

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．From India to Australia.	B．Living in a New Country
C．Turning Trash to Treasure.	D．In Search of New Friends.