2 . Americans use many expressions with the word “dog”. People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well.     1     However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog’s life, describes a person who has an unhappy existence.

Some people say we live in a dog eat dog world.     2     They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog.

    3     This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.

    4     People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite.

Dog expressions are also used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard.     5    

A．Furthermore, people say every dog has its day.

B．Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways.

C．In other words, we do not want it to rain cats and dogs.

D．There are many other expressions waiting for you to explore.

E．Dogs are their best friends and they are loyal to people whatever happens.

F．That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs.

G．They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food.

3 . Have you ever wondered about the universal layout (布局) of supermarkets? Smart designers are behind it, subtly tempting you to walk through each aisle and fill your cart without even realizing it.

Grocery store design is a carefully crafted art from both psychological and marketing standpoints, according to Reeves Connelly, who studied architectural design at the Pratt Institute. He explained there is a specific reason why fruit and vegetables are often located at the front of the store, “You’ll grab the fruits and vegetables first and then hopefully feel less guilty about buying junk food later on.” Meanwhile, essential items such as milk and eggs are placed at the back of the store to ensure customers walk through other aisles with many unhealthy options like snacks and sodas, potentially increasing the likelihood of impulse purchases.

There’s also a reason why you often feel lost in local supermarkets. Shockingly, they move things around. Reeves explained, “They are very much aware that these strategies become less effective after you visit the store a few times and get a better sense of where everything is, so they’ll regularly move the products to different aisles to confuse you. The practice is not limited to a specific store but is employed across various retail chains.”

“Their little tricks always work on me,” one regular shopper admits, “I walk in to get three things and end up spending $300; that’s why I hate grocery shopping,” he said. On the other hand, some shoppers are proud to declare they have never fallen into the trap. “That’s why I always keep a shopping list on me,” another shopper shared. “I’ve started having my groceries delivered. If I have to go to the store, I never grab a cart. If I can’t carry it, I’m not buying it,” he added.

1. What is the purpose of the supermarket layout?

A．To encourage healthy lifestyle.	B．To save consumers’ shopping time.
C．To provide multiple goods for choice.	D．To promote non-essential consumption.

2. What does the underlined word “practice” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Distributing junk food in different areas.

B．Putting milk and eggs at the back of aisles.

C．Rearranging products in supermarkets regularly.

D．Placing fruit and vegetables at the front of the store.

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．Shopping baskets are better than heavy carts.

B．Most shoppers are trapped in marketing tricks.

C．Grocery delivery can help improve supermarket sales.

D．Taking a shopping list can be a smart move to avoid impulse buying.

4. Where is this text most likely from?

A．A business magazine.	B．A psychology report.
C．A research paper.	D．A shopping guidebook.

4 . On several occasions, I arrived at the Starbucks drive-through window only to find my bill already paid by a kind stranger. _________, I now keep an eye on my rearview mirror, looking for some one _________ this gesture.

One morning, I spotted a (n) _________ middle-aged woman in a shiny sports car behind me. I smiled to myself, “No way does she need me to buy her coffee!” But somehow a voice _________ inside that I should. And so I did. I knew I had trusted that little voice and that was all that really _________.

When I returned to my car, the lady was there. “Hi,” she said. “Thank you for the coffee. I never _________ that.”

“You're welcome. I was just‘ _________.”

Surprisingly, she _________ to cry, revealing her struggle with _________ bankruptcy (破产) following a business crisis and the recent _________. of her son due to cancer. “I needed a (n) _________ that everything would work out. When you bought my coffee this morning, I knew that was it.” Now I was the one who was choking back tears. I told her that I could _________ her suffering. I, too, had recently lost my son.

I sat in my car for a while, my heart kind of _________. I believe I gave her much more than a cup of coffee. Next time I am in the drive-through and feel the __________ to pay it forward— there will be no _________.

1.

A．Repeatedly

B．Frequently

C．Typically

D．Consequently

2.

A．deserving

B．rewarding

C．starving

D．sharing

3.

A．exhausted

B．proud

C．elegant

D．weepy

4.

A．insisted

B．required

C．begged

D．claimed

5.

A．remained

B．mattered

C．existed

D．succeeded

6.

A．ordered

B．expected

C．proposed

D．demanded

7.

A．stopping by

B．taking care

C．dealing with it

D．paying it forward

8.

A．failed.

B．happened

C．proceeded

D．prepared

9.

A．potential

B．practical

C．optional

D．illegal

10.

A．treatment

B．loss

C．suffering

D．condition

11.

A．excuse

B．response

C．sign

D．decision

12.

A．appreciate

B．ease

C．share

D．handle

13.

A．sinking

B．broken

C．shouting

D．stirred

14.

A．duty

B．determination

C．strength

D．urge

15.

A．regret

B．hesitation

C．concern

D．sorrow

6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。

“Don’t forget to study for the European history test on Friday,” Mrs. Beville announced to her students before the class was over.

Julie shut her book and sighed to herself, “Why couldn’t the test be on poetry?” Julie loved poetry and its rhythmic expression of feelings and ideas. Yes, she could understand poetry, but as to history she was not sure. “What if I fail? I’ve never been good at memorizing anything for a test,” she thought.

That night, Julie sorted out her notes. She flipped open her textbook to the end of the first chapter, where she found a list of practice questions for the test. “Need some help?” asked her older brother, Joey, who poked his head into her bedroom to see what she was doing. Julie handed him her textbook and said, “Quiz me.” Joey took the book and read the first question. “In what year did England defeat the Spanish Armada?” Julie frowned and pursed her lips. “Dates are the worst! Ask another one.”

Joey’s eyes traveled to the bottom of the page. “Who took the throne following the death of Queen Mary I?” “Oh! It’s on the tip of my tongue. It’s - it’s - I don’t know!” Julie shook her head. “It looks like you didn’t study,” Joey said. Julie grabbed her book back and glared at Joey. What did he know about her study habits? She could read a chapter a thousand times, but getting her brain to hold on to information was like getting a rock to absorb sand.

The following day, she decided to use library time to study. She found a table in a quiet corner. With her textbook open in front of her, she tried to make sense of all the facts and dates. But it was useless. She dropped her head to the book and buried her face in the pages. “Impossible!”

“Julie!” Julie heard someone calling her and looked up. Maria from her class was seated at a nearby table.

Maria approached Julie with a sparkle in her eyes and asked, “Want to study together?”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the day of the test, Julie and Maria both felt nervous.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.

What’s the problem? It’s possible that along with the rapid development of society, we all focus on our phone and desktop, and therefore it results in our compromised conversational intelligence. However, it’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for small conversation. “Small talk is the grease (润滑剂) for social communication,” says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. “Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,” he explains. “The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.”

In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. “It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,” says Dunn. “But interactions with peripheral (边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.”

Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. “Small talk is the basis of good manners,” he says.

1. What does the underlined word “compromised” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Weakened.

B．Enhanced.

C．Secret.

D．Natural.

2. What is important for successful small talk according to Carducci?

A．Showing good manners.	B．Relating to other people.
C．Focusing on a topic.	D．Making business deals.

3. What can we learn about small talk from the coffee shop study?

A．It made the coffee taste better.	B．It reduced waiting time in line.
C．It improved people’s mood and experience.	D．It helped them bond with the server deeply.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Elevator manners.	B．The importance of small talk.
C．Smartphones and social media.	D．Developing deep relationships.

9 . The twilight time between full wakefulness and being sound asleep may be packed with creative potential. In a new experiment, people who went into a light sleep were better problem solvers later.

It is said that the famous inventor, Thomas Edison, used to fall asleep in a chair holding two steel balls. As he nodded off, the balls fell into metal pans. The resulting noise woke him. Then, he could write down his inventive ideas before he fell into a deep sleep and forgot them.

Researchers tested Edison’s method of cultivating creativity with 103 healthy people. Volunteers came to the lab to solve a tricky number problem. They were asked to change a string of numbers into a shorter sequence. They were told to follow two simple rules. What the volunteers weren’t told was that there was an easy trick to do this task. The second number in the sequence would always be the correct final number. Once discovered, this trick dramatically cut the solving time.

After doing this task 60 times, the volunteers earned a 20-minute break. This downtime was spent in a quiet, dark room. Volunteers sat in chairs and held a version of the steel balls that Edison used as “alarm clocks” — it was a light drinking bottle in one dangling hand. The researchers told participants to close their eyes and rest or sleep if they desired.

About half of the participants stayed awake. Twenty-four fell asleep and stayed in the shallow, twilight stage of sleep called N1. Fourteen others progressed to N2, a deeper stage of sleep.

After their rest, participants returned to their number problem. The researchers saw a clear difference between the groups. People who had fallen into a shallow sleep were 2.7 times as likely to spot the hidden trick as people who stayed awake. Shallow sleepers were 5.8 times as likely to spot the trick as people who reached the deeper N2 stage.

1. What can be inferred about Thomas Edison?

A．His creative ideas were often forgotten.

B．He once got inspiration from steel balls and metal pans.

C．His sleeping pattern was inspired by researchers.

D．He woke himself up from a light sleep on purpose.

2. What were the volunteers asked to do in the experiment?

A．Find out the rules in a sequence of words.

B．Work out a new number sequence.

C．Work out the correct final number.

D．Find out an easy trick to do the task.

3. Which group of volunteers did best in the experiment?

A．Those who stayed awake.

B．Those who progressed to the stage of N2.

C．Those who slept for the longest hours.

D．Those who woke up from the stage of N1.

4. What can be a suitable title of the text?

A．Light Sleep May Turn Your Creativity on.

B．Shallow Sleepers May Be Better Inventors.

C．Write down Your Ideas Before You Forget.

D．Number Problems Are Solved in a Shallow Sleep.

10 . A few years ago, I walked into Panera and placed my order. After I paid and filled my plastic cup with water, I walked further into the cafe. As I sat down, I ________ an older man eating his soup alone. The chair in his front was ________: he wasn’t saving the seat. He was genuinely eating all alone. As this fact settled in, a feeling of sadness began to ________ me. Why was he eating alone? Was he lonely?

This wasn’t the first time I’d felt ________ when spotting someone eating alone. I ________ assume they’re lonely and need someone to be there for them. For some reason, eating with others is the ________. Modern society has evolved to the point ________ most people do almost every activity together. If we’re getting lunch after class, we’d rather ________ to see if someone will come with us. But is it possible we just don’t want to appear lonely?

Many people are always ________ someone else, and that may make people think we always need someone with us to feel ________ about ourselves. But that’s not true. We can enjoy being alone— not everyone needs to be ________ surrounded by friends to be happy. And we shouldn’t be ________ to eat alone if that’s what we want to do.

I don’t think I’ll ever not get sad if I see someone eating alone, but I’ll ________ in mind that maybe they just want a ________ from the world, or maybe they prefer it that way. It’s important to ________ seeing someone doing something alone doesn’t always mean they’re lonely.

1.

A．recognized

B．noticed

C．examined

D．disturbed

2.

A．delicate

B．unique

C．valuable

D．empty

3.

A．respond to

B．belong to

C．reflect on

D．wash over

4.

A．sad

B．desperate

C．dizzy

D．exited

5.

A．precisely

B．automatically

C．cruelly

D．selfishly

6.

A．liberation

B．misery

C．norm

D．solution

7.

A．which

B．where

C．what

D．when

8.

A．break down

B．leave behind

C．get away

D．ask around

9.

A．against

B．beyond

C．around

D．within

10.

A．better

B．prouder

C．nobler

D．gentler

11.

A．constantly

B．dynamically

C．decently

D．fortunately

12.

A．blank

B．determined

C．delighted

D．afraid

13.

A．refresh

B．keep

C．absorb

D．decide

14.

A．guarantee

B．reputation

C．break

D．reward

15.

A．realize

B．promote

C．recall

D．convey