1 . “Tell me the story of me, Momma,” my daughter Sophie always asks when we sit on my grandmother’s rocking chair at the end of the day. “The first time I saw your beautiful face, it was nearly covered by a blue-and-white hat. You were surrounded by a soft blue blanket (毛毯). All I could see was a rosy face.” “And I looked like a tiny fairy baby?” she asks. “You did, and you weren’t older than a minute,” I always answer. “The nurse handed a tiny little girl to me, and I was so surprised because you felt so light. I thought if I threw off the blanket, I’d find no baby there at all, only air.”

From that moment, I became a mother. But that moment was just special and magical as if she’d come from my body directly into my arms. From that day on, she was my daughter in every way that mattered.

It’s easy sometimes to forget there was another mother out there with whom I share my title. Sophie’s birth mother, who was also my friend, lost her life to cancer not long after giving birth to Sophie. And I’ll never forget that it was her difficult decision — her tears and her pain — that made me a mom.

As my daughter grows, she will understand that sometimes life is a relay race (接力赛), and you never know who in this world will hand you your baton (接力棒). It could be someone you know for years, or it could be someone who you even never meet, someone you will never be able to repay for giving you the life you always wanted.

1. How does the author start the text?

A．By remembering her grandmother.	B．By asking her daughter questions.
C．By describing her past life.	D．By showing a conversation.

2. How does the author feel towards Sophie’s birth mother?

A．Disappointed.

B．Worried.

C．Thankful.

D．Surprised.

3. Which of the following could be the best title for the text?

A．Taking up the baton	B．Being thankful for life
C．Two mothers’ love	D．The mystery of Sophie’s birth

2 . Last Sunday, an earthquake struck the Napa Valley area of northern California. It happened in the middle of the night, becoming the strongest earthquake to strike the Napa Valley in 15 years. No one was killed, but many people were treated in hospitals.

I said to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and three-year-old Meghan, “We have so much, and these poor people in trouble now have nothing. We’ll share what we have with them.”

I filled a box with foods and clothes. While I was doing this, I advised the boys to choose their toys and donate some of their less favourite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out their old toys and put them together. Then she walked away. A few minutes later she came back with Lucy, her much-loved doll. She put the doll on top of the other toys.

“Oh, dear,” I said. “You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.” Meghan said, “Lucy makes me happy, Mummy. Maybe she’ll make another little girl happy, too.”

I looked at Meghan for a long moment. She taught me a lesson. It’s easy to give something that we don’t want any more, but hard to give what we cherish (珍爱), isn’t it?

1. How many children does the writer have?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

2. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The earthquake caused many deaths.

B．The earthquake is the biggest in history.

C．The earthquake happened at night.

D．The earthquake hit the city of California.

3. What did Meghan take out for the people in trouble?

A．An old toy.

B．Clothes.

C．A doll.

D．Food.

4. What’s the best title of this passage?

A．A Family Story

B．The Spirit of Giving

C．A White Night

D．A Sad Experience

3 . A man was driving when he found a lady needed help. So he stopped. When he was coming up to her, she was worried______nobody had stopped for hours. Besides, he didn’t look safe as his appearance was so ugly and ______. He could see how scared she was, so he tried to ______ her, “I am here to help you. Don’t worry. My name is Bryan Anderson.”

The car______, so he had to crawl(爬)under the car to repair it. When the job was done, she asked how much she should ______him for his help. Bryan smiled, “If you______want to pay me back, the next time you see someone who needs help, ______the person help. And think of me.”

Several days later in a small ______, the lady saw a waitress nearly eight months pregnant(怀孕的). The waitress gave her a friendly smile although she was______after spending the whole day on her feet. Then the lady______Bryan. The lady paid for her meal with a﹩100 bill. When the waitress got______and came back, the lady had gone. She______a note on the napkin(餐巾纸), “You don’t owe me______. Somebody once helped me, ______like now I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, don’t let this chain of______end.” The waitress found four more﹩100 bills under the napkin.

That night the waitress came home earlier, ______ how the lady could know how much she and her husband needed money when the ______would soon arrive. She knew her husband worried about that, so she was very ______to tell him the news. Then she kissed him and______, “Now everything will be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.”

The help you give to others shall always get back to you, so please don’t______to offer a helping hand whenever someone needs help.

1.

A．so

B．if

C．as

D．though

2.

A．frightening

B．shocking

C．surprising

D．interesting

3.

A．encourage

B．save

C．catch

D．calm

4.

A．put down

B．broke down

C．got down

D．turned down

5.

A．spend

B．cost

C．take

D．pay

6.

A．really

B．hardly

C．gradually

D．usually

7.

A．offer

B．supply

C．support

D．provide

8.

A．hospital

B．supermarket

C．church

D．restaurant

9.

A．excited

B．tired

C．upset

D．satisfied

10.

A．met

B．called

C．remembered

D．found

11.

A．order

B．tip

C．change

D．service

12.

A．left

B．wrote

C．took

D．threw

13.

A．nothing

B．anything

C．something

D．everything

14.

A．never

B．still

C．even

D．just

15.

A．love

B．determination

C．interest

D．doubt

16.

A．imagining

B．keeping

C．discovering

D．wondering

17.

A．trouble

B．baby

C．customer

D．bill

18.

A．proud

B．unwilling

C．glad

D．angry

19.

A．replied

B．said

C．shouted

D．sighed

20.

A．forget

B．pretend

C．try

D．mind

4 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some ________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either.

We decided to let it ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________.The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the ________.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

1.

A．flower

B．insects

C．vegetables

D．rocks

2.

A．water

B．fertilizer

C．color

D．shape

3.

A．stop

B．continue

C．improve

D．escape

4.

A．weak

B．strange

C．lonely

D．pretty

5.

A．collect

B．tend

C．remove

D．watch

6.

A．unusual

B．wonderful

C．terrible

D．valuable

7.

A．passed

B．started

C．left

D．died

8.

A．air

B．top

C．sun

D．house

9.

A．hoped

B．realized

C．doubted

D．regretted

10.

A．fill in

B．put in

C．worry about

D．believe in

11.

A．forget

B．hate

C．aim

D．wait

12.

A．wish

B．plan

C．ability

D．idea

13.

A．faith

B．energy

C．virtue

D．courage

14.

A．aware

B．afraid

C．proud

D．tired

15.

A．forgive

B．support

C．upset

D．affect

6 . A good teacher is many things to many people. In my own experience, the people I respect the most and think about the most are the teachers who demanded the most discipline from their students.

I miss one teacher in particular that I had in high school. I think she was a good teacher because she was a very strict person. I remember very clearly a sign over her classroom door. It was a simple sign that said, “Laboratory — in this room the first of the word was emphasized, not the last seven.” In other words, I guess, labor for her was more important than oratory, which means making speeches.

She prepared her work very carefully and asked us to do the same. We got lots of homework from her. Once she had broken her arm, and everybody in the class thought that maybe the homework load would be reduced, but it continued just the same. She checked our work by stamping her name at the bottom of the papers to show that she had read them.

I think sometimes teachers who demand the most are liked the least. But as time goes by, this discipline really seems to be good for the students.

1. What does the underlined word “demanded” in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Required.

B．Handed.

C．Praised.

D．Revised.

2. The teacher put up the sign over her classroom door        .

A．to remind the students that this room was a laboratory

B．to advise the students to follow the disciplines

C．to warn the students not to be careless

D．to ask the students to work hard in the classroom

3. When the teacher’s arm was broken, she          .

A．asked her students to check the homework themselves

B．gave her students less homework

C．gave her students the usual amount of homework

D．gave her students more homework

4. What’s the writer’s opinion of discipline?

A．It makes the students dislike their teachers.	B．It does good to the students in the long run.
C．It’s too much for young children.	D．It does more harm than good to the students.

7 . In 1982 Steven Callahan was crossing the Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. He was out of the shipping lanes and floating in a life raft,________. His supplies were few. His________were small. Yet when three fishermen found him seventy-six days later, he was much skinnier than he was when he_______ , but alive.

The thing that________my eye was how he managed to keep himself going when all hope seemed lost, when there seemed no________in continuing the struggle, when he was suffering greatly, when his lifeboat was broken with a hole and after more than a week struggling with his weak body to_______ it, it was still leaking water. He was________and thoroughly exhausted.________would have seemed the only wise choice.

When people survive these kinds of circumstances, they do something with their________that gives them the courage to keep going. Many people in _______desperate circumstances give in or go mad. Something the survivors do with their thoughts helps them find the________to carry on.

“I tell myself I can________it,” wrote Callahan in his account. “Compared to what others have gone________, I’m fortunate. I tell myself these things over and over,________my determination to keep going.”

I wrote that down after I read it. It________me as something important. And I’ve told myself the same thing when my own goals seemed________off. And every time I say it, I always come back to my________.

So here, coming to us from the extreme edge of________are wards that can give us strength.________you’re going through, tell yourself you can handle it. Tell this to yourself over and over, and it will help you get through the________spots with a little more determination.

1.

A．aloud

B．alone

C．aside

D．aboard

2.

A．fish

B．holes

C．crew

D．chances

3.

A．started

B．arrived

C．rose

D．disappeared

4.

A．covered

B．hurt

C．caught

D．entered

5.

A．sailor

B．companion

C．point

D．opportunity

6.

A．board

B．abandon

C．observe

D．fix

7.

A．starved

B．embarrassed

C．confused

D．satisfied

8.

A．Giving out

B．Giving up

C．Giving away

D．Giving off

9.

A．tools

B．dreams

C．minds

D．hearts

10.

A．similarly

B．physically

C．mentally

D．differently

11.

A．luck

B．direction

C．courage

D．privilege

12.

A．handle

B．delay

C．realize

D．imagine

13.

A．into

B．for

C．against

D．through

14.

A．putting up

B．building up

C．bringing up

D．taking up

15.

A．frightened

B．struck

C．disappointed

D．preserved

16.

A．far

B．low

C．heavy

D．bright

17.

A．status

B．crossroads

C．homes

D．senses

18.

A．experiment

B．hurricane

C．flood

D．survival

19.

A．However

B．Whoever

C．Whatever

D．Whichever

20.

A．smooth

B．rough

C．easy

D．comfortable

8 . Two of the saddest words in the English language are “if only”. I live my life with the goal of never having to say those words, because they express regret, lost opportunities, mistakes, and disappointment.

My father is famous in our family for saying, “Take the extra minute to do it right.” I always try to live by the “extra minute” rule. When my children were young and likely to cause accidents, I always thought about what I could do to avoid an “if only” moment, whether it was something minor like moving a cup full of hot coffee away from the edge of a counter, or something that required a little more work such as taping padding (衬垫) onto the sharp comers of a glass coffee table.

I don’t only avoid (避免) those “if only” moments when it comes to safety. it’s equally important to avoid “if only” in our personal relationships. We all know people who lost a loved one and regretted that they had foregone an opportunity to say, “I love you” or “I forgive you.” When my father announced he was going to the eye doctor across from my office on Good Friday, I told him that it was a holiday for my company and I wouldn’t be here. But then I thought about the fact that he’s 84 years old and I realized that I shouldn’t give up an opportunity to see him. I called him and told him I had decided to go to work on my day off after all.

I know there will still be occasions when I have to say “if only” about something, but my life is definitely better because of my policy of doing everything possible to avoid that eventuality (可能发生的事). And even though it takes an extra minute to do something right, or it occasionally takes an hour or two in my busy schedule to make a personal connection, I know that I’m doing the right thing. I’m buying myself peace of mind and that’s the best kind of insurance (保障) for my emotional well-being.

1. Which of the following is an example of the “extra minute” rule?

A．Start the car the moment everyone is seated.

B．Leave the room for a minute with the iron working.

C．Wait for an extra minute so that the steak tastes better.

D．Move an object out of the way before it trips (绊倒) someone.

2. Why did the author decide to go to her office on Good Friday?

A．To keep her appointment with the eye doctor.

B．To meet her father who was already an old man.

C．To join in the holiday celebration of the company.

D．To finish her work before the deadline approached.

3. Which word(s) can best replace the underlined word “foregone” in Paragraph 3?

A．given up.

B．Lacked.

C．Avoided.

D．Wasted.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．The Emotional Well-being	B．The Two Saddest Words
C．The Most Useful Rule	D．The Peace of Mind

9 . As I head down the narrow hallway of my high school, my ears are filled with the sounds of complaints. The _________ around me are constantly complaining about school. These complaints fill the _________ and make it hard to breathe. I try to mention the _________ side of our current situation in high school but meet with criticism. The feeling of _________ school has become widespread among students worldwide. This can create a _________ educational environment. In my opinion, school is and should be fun.

I don’t want to enter such a negative environment. We should enjoy school! As students, we are so _________ to have the opportunity to attend school while millions of children around the world still do not have that opportunity. We should feel grateful that we are given the _________ to learn. School allows us to _________ some of the most interesting topics from science to foreign languages. High school allows students to find their whether they are physics or European history. _______, school has allowed me to find my love for debate, history, English and computers. High school has shaped me into a person of __________ interests and ambitions, even though I must __________ at 6 o’ clock in the morning.

As students, we should __________ all the wonderful opportunities we are given in school social events, meeting new friends, and learning. I have met so many __________ people in school. There is so much to be __________ in school.

Lighten up and find the positive aspects of school. __________ school and everything it has offered.

1.

A．teachers

B．students

C．parents

D．friends

2.

A．classroom

B．house

C．air

D．ear

3.

A．special

B．Successful

C．bright

D．dark

4.

A．hating

B．Improving

C．replacing

D．ignoring

5.

A．good

B．frightening

C．strange

D．harmful

6.

A．Lucky

B．brave

C．dangerous

D．silly

7.

A．time

B．reason

C．money

D．chance

8.

A．learn

B．remember

C．predict

D．consider

9.

A．Instantly

B．Personally

C．Formally

D．Basically

10.

A．conventional

B．perfect

C．lifelong

D．various

11.

A．wake up

B．give up

C．slow down

D．calm down

12.

A．create

B．classify

C．recognize

D．allow

13.

A．honest

B．careful

C．kind

D．outstanding

14.

A．careful about

B．curious about

C．grateful for

D．ready for

15.

A．Protect

B．Enjoy

C．Respect

D．Examine

10 . My father never wanted his children to know what he did for a living. Dad worked in Plant C. Lying beside Lake Erie, it saw him in at sunrise and out at nightfall. Sometimes my mother would take my siblings (兄弟姐妹) and me to the public beach in our hometown of Ashtabula. She’d gather us round and point to the smokestacks, coughing clouds into the sky.

“Wave to daddy!” she’d shout. Four little hands would shoot into the air. I never knew what Dad did in Plant C, but during 34 years of hard work, he had surgery (手术) on his shoulder and hand. At 48, he had his first heart attack. He retired in 1993, right after the last kid graduated from college. But the damage was done. A few years later, the next heart attack killed him.

I saw my dad in plant C only once, when I took dinner to him. That night, I looked at my father, covered in sweat and coal, and for the first time I knew why he was so often angry for no reason.

Recently my father’s friend, Toby Workman, walked me there. I knew my father never wanted me to see it. At every station, he described the job and the danger. It was like listening to a foreign language. I walked past many DANGER signs. Toby put his hand on my shoulder. “Look”, he said, “you need to understand something. Your dad was a maintenance mechanic. He worked the most dangerous job. If something broke, he fixed it.”

A few days later, my daughter graduated from college. I gave her the hard hat Toby handed to me as I left, and this note: “Whenever you feel something difficult, put this on, look in the mirror, and remember your roots.”

1. How many siblings does the author most probably have?

A．Three siblings	B．Two siblings
C．Five siblings	D．Four siblings

2. Which of the following is true about the author’s father?

A．He didn’t suffer a heart attack until he retired.

B．He worked in Plant C for 48 years in all.

C．He was hardly angry in his daily life.

D．He did physical work in Plant C.

3. When Toby Workman described the author’s father’s job, the author ______.

A．felt familiar with the job	B．didn’t quite understand
C．wanted to learn a foreign language	D．decided to do the same work

4. The author gave her daughter the hat to hope that her daughter could ______.

A．remember her grandfather	B．overcome all difficulties
C．get encouraged by her grandfather	D．follow her grandfather’s work