1 . I’m in a coffee shop in Manhattan and I’m about to become the most disliked person in the room. First, I’m going to interrupt the man reading quietly near the window and ask for a drink of his latte. Next, I’m going to ask the line of people waiting to pay if I can cut to the front of the queue. This is how I chose to spend my last vacation. Here’s why.

Growing up, all I ever heard about was “EQ.” It was the mid-1990s, and psychologist Daniel Goleman had just popularized the concept of emotional intelligence. Unlike IQ, which tracked conventional measures of intelligence like reasoning and recall, EQ measured the ability to understand other people — to listen, to empathize (共情), and to appreciate.

My mother, an elementary school principal, prized brains and hard work, but she placed a special emphasis on Goleman’s new idea. To her, EQ was the elixir (万能药) that separated the good students from the great after they left school. She was determined to send me into the adult world with as much of this elixir as possible.

But when I finally began my first job, I noticed a second elixir in the pockets of some of my colleagues. It gave their opinions extra weight and their decisions added impact. Strangest of all, it seemed like the anti-EQ: Instead of knowing how to make others feel good, this elixir gave people the courage to do the opposite — to say things others didn’t want to hear.

This was assertiveness (魄力). It boiled down to the command of a single skill: the ability to have uncomfortable conversations. Assertive people — those with high “AQ”— ask for things they want, decline things they don’t, provide constructive feedback, and engage in direct confrontation (对峙) and debate.

A lifetime improving my EQ helped me empathize with others, but it also left me overly sensitive to situations where I had to say or do things that might make others unhappy. While I didn’t avoid conflict, I was always frustrated by my powerlessness when I had to say or do something that could upset someone. This is my problem and I’m working on it.

1. Why did the author act that way in the coffee shop?

A．To improve a skill.	B．To test a concept.
C．To advocate a new idea.	D．To have a unique vacation.

2. What do we know about the author’s mother?

A．She thought little of IQ.

B．She popularized Goleman’s idea.

C．She was a strict mother and principal.

D．She valued EQ as the key to greatness.

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

A．EQ.

B．AQ.

C．Empathy.

D．Courage.

4. According to the passage, those with high EQ but low AQ are likely to be ______.

A．successful leaders	B．people pleasers
C．terrible complainers	D．pleasure seekers

2 . My wife and I parked by a rough path the same time as a young man covered in tattoos (纹身). I ______ he was unfriendly，so we tried to ______ ourselves from him. But he struggled hard to ______ and wanted to talk some. We slowed down. He said he was recovering from a bad time in his life. We ______ left him in the dust，heading up the river.

Hours later we turned back ______ a flash flood had taken out the bridge. There he was again, following to ______ us. He shared a little more of his ______. He lost his mother and sister in a car accident and he was permanently ______ too. We slowed down to the pace he could ______ for the whole way back.

He continued, “During much surgery and ______ I came to hate life...” Then he pulled up his shirt to show us a ______ life size tattoo from neck to waist. It was two ladies in a ______ light waving to him. “This is my mom and this is my sister,” he pointed, “They told me to stop hating everything. They loved me just as they always had and ______ me to live in love too!” He explained the brightly colored tattoo was the exact dream he had that day.

My ______ went away. It had painted a wrong picture of this wonderful person with a beautiful ______ . I learned more than he hoped to tell.

1.

A．assumed

B．remembered

C．admitted

D．confirmed

2.

A．tell

B．distance

C．save

D．free

3.

A．turn away

B．set out

C．catch up

D．settle down

4.

A．politely

B．secretly

C．carelessly

D．accidentally

5.

A．though

B．unless

C．because

D．before

6.

A．impress

B．interrupt

C．persuade

D．engage

7.

A．target

B．story

C．plan

D．journey

8.

A．confused

B．discouraged

C．ignored

D．injured

9.

A．observe

B．judge

C．manage

D．challenge

10.

A．silence

B．pain

C．failure

D．guilt

11.

A．massive

B．funny

C．random

D．popular

12.

A．brilliant

B．gentle

C．weak

D．sensitive

13.

A．allowed

B．begged

C．forced

D．expected

14.

A．doubt

B．sympathy

C．prejudice

D．resistance

15.

A．reputation

B．message

C．appearance

D．insight

3 . 目前，很多学生苦恼学习效率低，觉得时间不够用。学校组织班会，以“How to Spend Time Properly”为题，让同学们进行讨论。请你从以下方面准备发言稿。
1. 恰当管理时间的意义；
2. 如何恰当管理时间，给出建议。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

How to Spend Time Properly

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 . Luke Coelho recently transferred from Brazil to attend school in the United States. He understands that integrity and _________ are values appreciated in all countries and cultures. And Luke didn’t hesitate to _________ both when he found a pocket full of family _________ left behind in a(n) _________ jacket.

Andy’s Attic is a clothing donation program at Luke’s new school, and Luke recently _________ the jacket through the program. Local resident Dave Kenney was the one who donated the jacket.

When Luke put on the coat,_________, he found much more than a warm coat. Inside the pocket, Luke discovered some personal _________, including two watches, a bracelet and two diamond rings!

Luke _________ shared the news with his aunt Taryn Souza and together they set to work trying to _________ the owner of the items. With some detective work, they were __________ to find Dave. Of course, he was __________ to receive the prized pieces back, but he hadn’t even __________ that they were in the jacket!

Earlier this year, both Dave’s mother and wife passed away, so he was especially __________ to have back the wedding ring he’d bought for his wife and items that had __________ his mother. Dave stated, “This fine young man did the right thing. I totally __________ what they did for me and my family.”

1.

A．courage

B．bravery

C．generosity

D．honesty

2.

A．exercise

B．check

C．promote

D．learn

3.

A．elements

B．treasures

C．traditions

D．memories

4.

A．forgotten

B．outdated

C．donated

D．worn

5.

A．discovered

B．received

C．found

D．changed

6.

A．to his surprise

B．in relief

C．out of curiosity

D．with joy

7.

A．gold

B．art

C．material

D．belongings

8.

A．excitedly

B．hesitantly

C．eventually

D．immediately

9.

A．locate

B．recognize

C．remind

D．inform

10.

A．eager

B．likely

C．able

D．ready

11.

A．supposed

B．excited

C．surprised

D．annoyed

12.

A．mentioned

B．imagined

C．admitted

D．realized

13.

A．grateful

B．determined

C．anxious

D．amazed

14.

A．led to

B．come from

C．belonged to

D．stood for

15.

A．accept

B．appreciate

C．support

D．understand

5 . One of the earliest forms of writing which is still being used today is Chinese characters, or hanzi. The image that many people have of Chinese characters is that they are all pictograms, but this is far from the case because pictograms have very limited use. Simple pictograms might be practical, for example, if one is making a shopping list of items to buy at the store, but they are fairly useless if one is writing something more complex or abstract. So it is a mistake to assume that written Chinese is a “picture language”．

Besides pictograms, there are simple ideograms. These are characters which provide an abstract picture of an idea, but in an often easily recognizable form. For example, “up” is “上” while “down” is “下”. While the meanings of many ideograms are not this easy to work out, they tend to be simple, easy-to-remember characters which are commonly used.

Next we have a common category of hanzi: compound characters. These are where elements of two or more characters are combined in one character for a new meaning. Some of these are easy to understand. In many cases, however, the meanings of compound characters are more difficult to work out.

Phonetic loan characters are the characters which started out as pictograms. However, they were often used to mean other words that had the same pronunciation. A good example of this is “目”. While it can be used in modern Chinese with the meaning “eye”, it is most often used to mean “an item on a list”. The reason was that Chinese had a word for “an item on a list” but lacked a character for it, so the word took the character “目”, a character with the same pronunciation.

A final category of Chinese characters is by far the most common. These are phonetic-semantic characters. With phonetic-semantic characters, one element of each character gives a clue to the pronunciation, while the other gives a clue to the meaning.

Over the centuries, Chinese characters have continually been developed, with a trend towards the simple and more abstract. It was thought that the complexity of some Chinese characters was keeping people from being able to learn them. Thus, during the 1950s and 1960s, the Chinese government rolled out simplified Chinese characters.

1. Why are pictograms sometimes not practical for use in a writing system?

A．They are only available for shopping.

B．They are too complex for people to learn.

C．They cannot convey abstract ideas very well.

D．They are quite complicated and difficult to write.

2. What do we know about compound characters according to the passage?

A．They are drawings of objects used in a writing system.

B．They are characters which use elements of two or more characters.

C．They are characters used in a writing system to convey abstract concepts.

D．They are characters which give clues to both the meaning and pronunciation.

3. Which of the following categories does the character “模” belong to?

A．Pictograms.	B．Phonetic loan characters.
C．Ideograms.	D．Phonetic-semantic characters.

4. What would be the benefit of simplifying Chinese characters according to the passage?

A．Creating a standard character set for China.

B．Visualizing the image of Chinese characters.

C．Popularizing the use of Chinese characters.

D．Reproducing a high-grade character for calligraphy.

6 . My grandfather’s old Ford was greeted not by flashing red, yellow or green—but by guardsmen armed with guns and appearing much out of place in such peaceful surroundings. As our vehicle slowed to a stop, I was scared by a huge machine gun, pointed in our direction. A young guardsman explained apologetically, “Sorry Sir, but we’ll have to search your car. Just routine procedure.”

It was the election day in Benton, a small Tennessee town. Looking forward to a visit to the ice cream shop, I accompanied my grandfather as he drove the ten-mile journey to town. That day an air of uneasiness replaced the usual contentment one felt while passing aged buildings. Having spent the first ten years of my life here, I could detect any change in the town’s mood.

Worried expressions on the faces of the few people were present on the streets. Evenyone was in a hurry. No usual groups gathered to exchange local gossip. Most noticeable was the absence of children.

As the car was being searched, we learned the reason for such severe protective measures.

Explosives would be brought into town to bomb the courthouse. As this unbelievable information was being given, I sat in panic. This was the same town where, only yesterday, old men in dirty overalls hung around the courthouse discussing the forthcoming election, and children ran freely on the sidewalks. Strangely, all this had changed overnight, and our peaceful country and the glorious right to vote were beginning to sound as a sour note. Marching through the streets, guards with guns gave the appearance of towns I had seen in the movies.

We moved on. Surely who could be so stupid as to go into that courthouse now? Thinking how wonderful it would be to get back to the safety of our farmhouse, I was somewhat scared when Grandpa parked near the entrance to the threatened building. The lines in his face carved with determination, he quickly mounted the steps to the building. That right was now even more precious. Grandpa would vote.

1. Why were they stopped on the way?

A．They had to wait for the green light.	B．They were shocked by the sudden change.
C．They were identified as the suspects.	D．They had to go through the routine check.

2. Why did the author’s grandfather drive to Benton?

A．To buy some ice cream.	B．To pass his leisure time.
C．To practice his own right.	D．To detect the change of the town.

3. Which of the following best describes the author’s grandfather?

A．Brave and respectful.	B．Calm and determined.
C．Committed and thoughtful.	D．Honest and hardworking.

4. What is the text?

A．A diary entry.	B．A book review.
C．A news report.	D．A travel brochure.

7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。

1. What is the speaker doing?

A．Introducing a business idea.

B．Explaining a business trend.

C．Sharing his business experience.

2. What is people’s least favorite housework according to the speaker?

A．Making meals.

B．Washing the clothes.

C．Doing the cleaning.

3. What is the most important thing to do in starting the laundry business?

A．Do market research.

B．Buy necessary equipment.

C．Estimate the costs.

4. What does the speaker mainly discuss at the end of the talk?

A．When to start the business.

B．How to measure the costs.

C．Where to get the desirable machines.

8 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1. Why does the woman talk to the man?

A．To seek a solution.

B．To ask for permission.

C．To take a leave of absence.

2. What problem is bothering the staff in the office?

A．Computers don’t work.

B．The heat is unbearable.

C．The workload is heavy.

3. What will the man do in the afternoon?

A．Meet the woman again.

B．Go to the doctor.

C．Have some rest.

9 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1. How long does Lucy probably spend playing the piano each day?

A．One hour.

B．Two hours.

C．Three hours.

2. What does the boy mean in the end?

A．He is very interested in sports.

B．He wants to spend more time reading.

C．He doesn’t have time to play the guitar.

10 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. When did the speaker’s family start their traveling?

A．On May 1st.

B．On May 5th.

C．On May 6th.

2. How did the speaker’s family go to Shillong from Guwahati?

A．By car.

B．By taxi.

C．By train.

3. What do we know about Shillong?

A．The climate wasn’t good.

B．The transport wasn’t convenient.

C．There weren’t many tourist attractions.

4. What did the speaker’s family do at the end of their vacation?

A．They admired the sunrise.

B．They visited tea gardens.

C．They explored thick forests.