1 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写一段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Last weekend, I went to Mark’s new house near a forest for a little get-together. After lunch when I was chatting with him and his wife Cody, he asked me, “Hey, Thora, have you ever been to a secret spot?” Before I could even finish saying no, Cody and Mark were already at the door with their jackets on. And the next moment we were heading out into the forest with a camera, a fishing net and a plastic bucket (桶).

We walked through the forest along a path by a small river. Breathing the fresh air, we three talked and laughed all the way.

“Hey! What are you guys doing ?” someone suddenly shouted from behind. Mark and Cody’s eyes immediately widened, and without a word they started running. I had no choice but to follow them, getting my shoes wet and dirty with mud. We probably ran for about 10 minutes before Mark and Cody slowed down. I stopped to catch my breath and asked, “Who was that?”

Mark replied, “The most annoying neighbor ever. There’s no telling what could happen if he caught up with us. He is always making fun of us. I dislike him.” We kept walking on for a few more minutes. Then a beautiful lake appeared before our eyes. “Wow! Amazing!” I shouted and could hardly hold back my excitement. The lake was large and the water was deep and blue, looking so peaceful with tall trees around it.

注意：（1）所续写短文的词数应为l50左右；
（2）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
Paragraph1:

Looking around, we saw a boat floating by the shore.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:

“Help! Help! Help!” I was so frightened and cried for help.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2 . Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer (征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.

In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.

For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.

The Irish are famous for being warm－hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.

1. What does the author tell us in Paragraph 1?

A．How the Irish fought against the English.

B．How Ireland gained independence.

C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland.

D．How two “Irelands” came into being.

2. We learn from the text that in Ireland ________.

A．food shortages and a lack of work in the 1840s led to a decline in population

B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside

C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker

D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments

3. The last paragraph is mainly about ________.

A．the Irish character	B．the Irish culture
C．Irish musical instruments	D．a famous Irish writer

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Life in Ireland	B．A Very Difficult History
C．Ireland, Past and Present	D．The Independence of Ireland

3 . Some people think working overtime means you’re a hard worker. You have to sacrifice your personal time to stay at work, produce something, help the company, and be a more devoted employee. But is that right?     1     This means it takes you longer to produce something than someone else.

A good manager knows how to encourage his employees to work to their full potential instead of expecting them to work late even if they don’t have something to do. People who stay in their office until late hate their jobs.     2    

Overworking may negatively influence the level of productivity and efficiency. Any company that makes their employees work those hours is not being managed well.     3     And the boss would prefer you work efficiently 7 hours and then go back home than 10 hours with poor efficiency.

    4     The fact is the competition is so fierce that if you don’t work hard someone will easily and willingly replace you, especially in the IT industry. Employees are told they need to work longer hours or they don’t belong or are denied promotions. It is time to abandon the culture of overworking, to work smarter, more efficiently and have a balance with personal life.

Nowadays, it’s hard for a young person to build a good future, for pressures are on his (or her) shoulders: housing, children, parents, themselves, etc. But everyone must keep working hard to have ourselves on the way to the good future, which is not certain.     5    

A．No one wants to work overtime.

B．The boss thinks highly of overworking.

C．Working too many hours only means you are inefficient.

D．For it affects their performance, as well as other aspects of their life.

E．What’s sure is that if you’re lazy and don’t work hard, no good future will come.

F．Managers believe that overworking is an evidence of devotion from their employees’ side.

G．In many countries, overworking would be criticized because it reflects poor work efficiency.

5 . One night, as I was driving down the road, I found something was sitting in the middle of the road. A few seconds later, I realized I was looking at a large turtle (海龟). Afraid of it being crashed by cars, so I pulled over, ran across the road and dragged the turtle to safety. But I’d made one big mistake.

I had heard that the best way to pick up a turtle without hurting it was picking it by the tail in order not to get bitten. So I’d made that big mistake. While the turtle turned out OK generally, I was determined to figure out how to move a turtle properly. I needed to find someone who dealt with turtles. I found the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. I talked to Dr. Sue, its Executive and Medical Director.

Dr. Sue told me that the organization dealt with a number of aspects of turtle conservation, including rescue, settlement, birth programs, research, and education. Sue explained that southern Ontario is home to a vast majority of turtles in Canada, but is also one of the vastest road networks of the country.

“Ninety percent of injured turtles brought in are caused by cars. These turtles spend a lot of time on land. And they do travel many kilometers on land for a variety of reasons, to find a nesting spot, or to hang out for the summer or winter. Turtles know where they want to go. So, just keep them going in the direction they want to go and you may have saved a turtle’s life,” Dr. Sue said.

Once an injured turtle arrives at the center, there are medical facilities (设备) ready to go, including an X-ray machine. That’s when the team gets to work with healing injuries, and help their patient.

1. Why did the author stop the car?

A．To help the turtle.	B．To see the thing clearly.
C．To prevent a car accident.	D．To find something good.

2. What happened to the turtle?

A．It got hurt by people before.	B．It was injured a little bit.
C．It was run over by a car.	D．It lost its direction.

3. What did Dr. Sue suggest at last?

A．Leaving the turtles alone.

B．Making Ontario home to turtles.

C．Changing the road conditions.

D．Helping turtles find nesting spots.

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

A．The director.	B．The driver.
C．The author.	D．The turtle.

6 . Two weeks ago, a 5-year-old girl named Sunshine Oelfke emptied out her piggy bank (存钱罐) onto the living room floor and immediately started counting. Her grandmother, Jackie Oelfke, thought she was playing as she carefully lined up the coins, but then she saw the girl put the coins into a plastic bag and place it in her backpack.

“What are you doing with that money?” Jackie asked her granddaughter.

“I’m taking it to school,” Sunshine replied. “I’m going to take it for milk money. My friend Layla doesn’t get milk— her mom doesn’t have milk money and I do.”

Jackie’s heart melted at Sunshine’s words. Choked with strong feelings, Jackie held her sweet granddaughter tightly in her arms.

Last week, Jackie and Sunshine met with her teacher, Rita Hausher, and handed her the $30 the kindergartner had saved. There are 20 kids in Sunshine’s class and about half don’t get milk. It costs $ 0.45 a carton (纸盒). The total adds up to about $180 a month for every child in the class to have milk every day.

After dropping Sunshine off at school, Jackie posted a tearful video on Facebook to explain her granddaughter’s plan. To her surprise, many people offered to donate toward the cause. Within a week, Jackie raised more than $1,000. Now every student in Sunshine’s class can get free milk for the rest of the year.

Jackie said Sunshine doesn’t see her kind act as a big deal. She was just trying to look out for her friends. “She doesn’t understand the effect she’s brought about,” Jackie said. “But now she knows she can do whatever she puts her mind to.”

1. Why did Sunshine empty her piggy bank?

A．She hoped to show off her savings in class.	B．She needed to train her counting skills.
C．She wanted to play with the coins.	D．She intended to pay for her friend’s milk.

2. How did Jackie feel upon hearing Sunshine’s words?

A．Relieved.

B．Touched.

C．Curious.

D．Proud.

3. In Jackie’s eyes, what did Sunshine learn from the experience?

A．Two heads are better than one.	B．A friend in need is a friend indeed.
C．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.	D．There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

4. What is the best title for this passage?

A．Small Coins, Big Changes.	B．Jackie’s Piggy Bank.
C．Piggy Bank and Carton Milk.	D．A Moved Grandmother.

8 . As globalization continues to make the world a smaller place, and goods become more accessible across borders, concerns about food safety in the Asia­Pacific region have steadily risen over the years. An APEC forum is being held in Beijing, to find ways to better address the problem.

156 participants from 19 APEC economies and 4 non­APEC members attended the APEC Food Safety Cooperation Forum, which has been actively looking for ways to strengthen food safety standard in the region, without affecting trade.

“As consumers are faced with more varieties of food, the potential food safety risk also becomes bigger.This forum has helped APEC economies to cooperate in supervision(监督), exchange information, and improve the overall food safety standard in the Asia­Pacific region,” said director of China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision Wu Qinghai.

For the first time the forum has brought together high­level regulators, academics, and industry stakeholders to talk about their respective roles in safety supervision.They say governments alone cannot shoulder this heavy duty.

In China, the continuous food safety problems have greatly hurt consumers’ confidence in domestic products; therefore more turned to imports. However, problems related to quality of those imported goods also began to show. In July this year, more than 400 batches (批) of food imported from 35 countries and regions were found substandard by the country’s top quality supervisor.

Governments and industries have been brought closer by this forum.As food moves more freely beyond borders, this forum is hoped to promote safety control cooperation, so APEC members can better benefit from the economic integration(经济一体化).

1. The last but one paragraph tells us that ________.

A．the Chinese customers are more satisfied with their food safety

B．food imported from other countries is indeed high in quality

C．many Chinese customers would rather buy some foreign food

D．there are only 35 countries and regions exporting food to China

2. The underlined word “address” in the first paragraph can be replaced by “________”.

A．send a letter about

B．deal with

C．deliver a speech on

D．call off

3. According to the article, which of the following statements is WRONG?

A．People can buy foreign food more easily than ever.

B．The more varieties of food, the bigger the potential food safety risk.

C．Food safety problems have appeared many times before this forum.

D．Governments have started their cooperation with academies and industries before this forum.

4. What kind of function can the forum play?

A．It has greatly influenced the economy in the area.

B．It has long been able to put every side’s efforts together.

C．It helps to bring government regulators and industries together.

D．It has found ways to deal with safety problems.

9 . When you set a foot outside of your door to drop trash, go to a social event or go for a walk, thoughts like “I hope I don’t see anyone I know” or “please don’t talk to me” may run through your mind. I’ve also said such things to myself. Sometimes the last thing you want to do is to talk with someone, especially someone new.

Why do we go out of our ways to avoid people? Do we think meeting new people is a waste of time? Or are we just lazy, thinking that meeting someone new really is a trouble?

Communication is the key to life. We have been told that many times. Take the past generations, like our parents, for example. They seem to take full advantage of that whole “communication” idea because they grew up talking face to face while Generation-Y grew up staring at screens. We spend hours of our days sitting on Facebook. We send messages to our friends and think about all of the things we want to say to certain people that we don’t have the courage to do in reality.

Nowadays, we are so caught up in our little circle of friends—our comfort zone. We love it that they laugh at our jokes, understand our feelings and can read our minds. Most importantly, they know when we want to be alone. They just get us.

Holding a conversation with someone new means agreeing with things that you don’t really believe and being someone you think they want you to be—it is, as I said before, a trouble. It takes up so much energy, and at some point or another, it is too tiring.

But meeting new people is important. Life is too short, so meet all the people you can meet, make the effort to go out and laugh. Remember, every “hello” leads to a smile—and a smile is worth a lot.

1. What do we learn about the author?

A．He likes to meet someone new.	B．He feels stressed out lately.
C．He’s active in attending social events.	D．He used to be afraid of talking to others.

2. What’s the problem of Generation-Y in the author’s eyes?

A．They rely on the Internet to socialize.	B．They are less confident in themselves.
C．They have difficulty in communicating.	D．They are unwilling to make new friends.

3. Why do many young people avoid meeting new people?

A．They think it troublesome.	B．They are busy with their study.
C．They fear to disappoint their friends.	D．They want to do meaningful work.

4. Why does the author write the text?

A．To stress the importance of friends.

B．To give tips on how to meet new people.

C．To encourage people to meet new people.

D．To display the disadvantages of Generation-Y.

10 . I am sitting at the table in my favorite Boston bookstore-café, laptop open, writing. Ten minutes ago I ordered coffee. The server—a young, dark-haired woman with a broad smile and glasses—stopped and quietly said, “I just want to tell you how much your TED talk meant to me, you helped me find out what I really wanted to do with my life—go to medical school—and then you helped me do what I needed to do to get there. Thank you.”

Tears in my eyes, I asked, “What’s your name?”

“Fetaine,” she said. Then we talked for the next ten minutes about Fetaine’s challenges in the past and new-found excitement about her future.

Everyone who communicates with me is special and memorable, but this kind of communication happens far more often than I’d ever have expected: a stranger warmly greets me, shares a personal story about how they successfully dealt with difficulties, and then simply thanks me for my part in it. They are women and men, old and young, poor and wealthy. But something connects them: all have felt powerless in the face of great pressure and anxiety(焦虑), and all discovered a quite simple way to free themselves from that feeling of powerlessness.

For most writers, the book comes first, then the responses. For me, it was the other way around. First, I performed experiments that led to a talk I gave at the TEDGlobal conference in 2012. In that talk, I discussed some interesting findings about how we can quickly increase our confidence and decrease(减轻) our anxiety in challenging situations. I also shared my own troubles and how I learned to become more confident. Soon after the twenty-one-minute video of the talk was posted on the Internet, I began hearing from people who had seen it.

Of course, watching my talk didn’t magically give Fetaine the knowledge she needed to do well on Medical College Admission Test. But it may have helped her get out of the fear that could have prevented her from expressing the things she knew.

1. What happened in the Boston bookstore-café?

A．The writer waited ten minutes for her coffee.

B．The writer came across a friend of hers.

C．A waitress expressed her thanks to the writer.

D．A waitress encouraged the writer to give a TED talk.

2. What do those people who communicate with the writer have in common?

A．They once faced problems and felt helpless.

B．They shared personal stories about strangers.

C．They were famous but under great pressure.

D．They were afraid to communicate with others.

3. What may be the theme of the writer’s talk in 2012?

A．How to increase confidence.	B．How to perform meaningful experiments.
C．How to overcome anxiety in a talk.	D．How to find interesting things in life.

4. How did the writer influence Fetaine in the writer’s eyes?

A．She gave Fetaine power to look to the future.

B．She helped Fetaine with her knowledge.

C．She advised Fetaine to go to medical school.

D．She helped Fetaine to get a good job.