1 . The title of “Aaron’s younger brother” was given to me at the age of six. It was a label stuck to me and all people had to do was to refer to the imaginary label and they would know how to address me. I wanted to defeat Aaron, whose fame had reduced me to a nameless tennis player. Then the day eventually approached.
As I shook Aaron's hand at the start of the match, I stared at him with determination. “I’m going to beat you today.” I gathered the confidence to claim over the outcome of the match. Aaron laughed carelessly as he turned his back towards me. For a brief moment, I regretted that display of over-confidence.
I nervously shifted my weight from one foot to the other. The tennis court seemed to stretch out further than usual. My sweaty hands tightened around my racket (球拍) — the fifth one passed down to me from Aaron.We entered into a heated fight. I was persevering as expected, and I was not sure how long it would take before I withdrew. We were down to the last round, neck and neck in points. I made a mistake, then Aaron leaped up, stretching his arm out. The sun cast his image over me, reminding me that I would always be walking in his shadow if I couldn’t prove myself.
I readied myself for the finishing blow, images of Aaron’s past matches flooding through my mind. I recalled the habit of his hit in the World Tennis Tournament, extending my arm to the left in anticipation of where the ball was going to land. The ball made contact with my racket and was lobbed(吊高球) over Aaron’s head. He could do nothing but witness his undefeated status being erased by his younger brother.
While I was still enjoying the unfamiliar feeling of victory, a man whom I recognised from a professional club approached me.“What is your name, son?” he asked. A smile spread across my face.
1. What used to trouble the writer?| A．The longing for recognition. | B．The eagerness to bear labels. |
| C．The desire to be a tennis player. | D．The hardship of physical training. |
| A．Defeated. | B．Anxious. | C．Optimistic. | D．Honored. |
| A．He adopted his usual trick in the match. |
| B．He purchased a tennis racket for the writer. |
| C．He had an obvious advantage in the last round. |
| D．He withdrew from the World Tennis Tournament. |
| A．The Price for One Mistake | B．From Nobody to Somebody |
| C．Why Brotherhood Matters | D．Aaron's Last-minute Victory |
It was a week before Christmas. Despite all the encouraging words I had given myself, I was having a really hard time staying positive. In a few days I would be facing the wedding anniversary (纪念日) on December 23rd. I had always looked forward to this time of year.
I was wandering about in the street, looking for a gift for my husband. The clock read 4: 00p. m. I still didn't find anything satisfying. I decided to head to a neighboring town to find the perfect gift for my dear Joey. I made it into town and stopped by a few local shops, festive with holiday music and bright Christmas light. Shoppers hurried from one place to another, eagerly picking out the perfect gift for their loved ones. I left empty-handed but not completely discouraged. I still had two more stops and I was determined to find something before I headed home.
I wondered that the local trading post would have a few good “gifts.” I headed that way and arrived at 6: 04 p. m. The sign on the locked gate showed I had missed it by four minutes. I took a deep breath. The thought of having to go out another day and do this all over again was unbearable. I shook my head. It wouldn't come to that because my next stop was a huge, multi-level store where I knew I would find the perfect gift for my husband.
I arrived at the huge store and was surprised that the parking lot wasn't all that crowded. Great! I started walking toward the front door when I saw a lady coming out of the building. She was wearing the blue uniform, looking at me with that “look”.You know, the “I know something you don't know look.” I recognized it and stopped. “Are they closed?” I asked her. “Yes ma’am. We close at 6: 00,” she pleasantly answered. My head fell forward and my feet were painful. I felt upset. This was a huge store. It was the holidays. How could they be closed? I couldn't help crying in the parking lot.
注意：1.续写词数应为 150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The lady walked toward me and asked: “Are you ohey?”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Hearing what I said, the lady thought of a good idea.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jenny was the only child in her family. She had a quarrel (吵架) with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. She couldn’t help weeping sorrowfully when she thought of the scolding from her mother. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat. She stood beside a stand (货摊) for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she gave a sigh and had to leave.
The seller behind the stand noticed the young girl and asked, “Hey, girl, you want to have the noodles?”
“Oh, yes, but I don’t have money on me.” she replied.
“That’s nothing. I’ll treat you today,” said the man, “Come in.”
The seller brought her a bowl of noodles, whose smell was so attractive. As she was eating, Jenny cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the man kindly.
“Nothing. Actually, I was just touched by your kindness!” said Jenny as she wiped her tears. “Even a stranger on the street will give me a bowl of noodles, while my mother drove me out of the house. She showed no care for me. She is so merciless compared to a stranger!”
Hearing the words, the seller smiled, “Girl, do you really think so? I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you thanked me a lot. But it is your mother who has raised you since you were a baby. Can you remember the times she cooked for you? Have you expressed your gratitude to her?”
Jenny sat there, speechless and numb with shock: she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why didn’t I think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful. Why haven’t I thanked my mum for what she has done for me?”
On the way home. Jenny made up her mind to make an apology to her mother for her rudeness as soon as she arrived home.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Nearing the doorway, Jenny took a deep breath.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________At that time, her mother came back and touched her hair gently, which called her mind back.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________She was six years old when I met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sandcastle and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. “Hello,” she said. I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. I was depressed: my life seemed completely out of balance.
“What’s your name?” She wouldn't give up. “Ruth,” I answered. “Mine’s Wendy....I’m six.” She giggled, “Nice to meet you, Miss Ruth. Do you want to play? Maybe we can build something together. You’ll be happy!” She looked at me eagerly, waiting for my answer.
I just couldn’t refuse this lovely creature. I asked her: “Why don’t you go to school?” “I don’t go to school. Mommy says we’re on vacation.” She chattered little girl talk as we built the sandcastle. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed. She pointed toward a row of summer cottages and told me she lives there.
Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy when Wendy caught up with me, “I’d rather be alone today.” She seems unusually pale and out of breath. “Why?” she asked. I turned to her and shouted, “Because my mother died!” “Oh,” she said quietly, “then this is a bad day.” “Yes, go away!” “Did it hurt when she died?” “Of course!” I shouted. She didn’t say anything more, tears rolling down her face.
A month or so after that, when I went to the beach, she wasn’t there. Feeling guilty, ashamed and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage and knocked at the door.
注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
A drawn-looking(憔悴的) young woman with red and swollen eyes opened the door.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“She left something for you,” her mum’s voice trembled and handed me an envelop.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Finally, I had done it. I had really done it. I played the drama successfully in the school hall. But a few months earlier, I would never have imagined acting in a play in front of hundreds of people. But when the time came, I got up on stage and faced one of my greatest fears and discovered I could do more than I ever thought. I found a new person inside me, a much more daring, outgoing person who had been hidden all along, just waiting for the opportunity to appear.
Without my teacher, Mrs. Green, I might never have found that opportunity. In the first grade, I was extremely shy. I had friends, but it just wasn’t in my personality to be very outgoing, even when I knew someone well. I was afraid I would do or say something wrong, so usually I just smiled and listened to other people’s conversations. I did well in school and I loved to write. However, I would escape into my writing, where I could be myself and never had to worry about what other people thought of me. In fact I was never shy in my stories.
My teacher, Mrs. Green, always encouraged me to write more. She told our class to go after our dreams and dig in with both hands. I think she was the first person to see my inner strength. One day, she announced that our class was going to perform a play she had written. “I’ll begin to invite everyone tomorrow,” she said. “I need someone who is not afraid to be on stage in front of a lot of people to play the lead part of Dorothy. Anybody wants to try?” Many excited hands shot up, and mine, of course, was not one of them. Mrs. Green smiled. “We’ll talk more about it tomorrow,” she said. Then the bell rang and my classmates slowly left the classroom.
注意:
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
When I was loading up my backpack, Mrs. Green invited me to her office.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hearing Mrs. Green’s words, I realized that it was time to made a change.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6 . Two earth scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpu are calling for flood prevention and warning systems in areas around the Himalayan mountains to protect people from floods or to warn them of the potential disasters. In their Perspectives piece published in the journal Science, Tanuj Shukla and Indra Sen point out that rising temperatures due to global warming are leading to an increase in flood danger for people who live in the area.
As Shukla and Sen note, the Himalayas hold the most ice anywhere on the planet outside of the polar regions — snow-covered mountains and glaciers hold on to massive amounts of water. In the past, as snow and ice have melted in the warmer months, mountain lakes have formed with natural dams holding them in place. But previous research has shown that increases in the amount of water buildup in such lakes and melting of the ice in the rocky material that makes up natural dams can lead to massive floods. Just eight years ago, they note, melting ice in northern India led to an avalanche (雪崩) that pushed the natural dams past its breaking point. The water rushing down the mountain, carrying with it large rocks, trees and other debris, wound up killing over 5,000 people. Such events are common enough to have been given a name-glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). They can also be caused by extreme rain events during Monsoon season, which, due to global warming, are happening more often.
Shukla and Sen point out that as the planet grows warmer, more GLOFs are certain to occur. But they also note that the same outcomes are not unavoidable. They suggest that the construction of reservoirs to hold extra rain, structures to change the course of water, detention basins (滞洪区) along with embankments (堤岸) could prevent such flooding. They also suggest improvements in technology could help — upgrading cell service in the region, for example, would allow people upstream to call and warn those living downstream. They also suggest building a satellite network that could be used to monitor troublesome areas. Taken together, such technology could form the basis of an early warning system. Without such action, they warn millions of people could lose their lives in the coming years.
1. What are Shukla and Sen concerned about according to Paragraph 1?| A．The Himalayas holds more and more ice because of flood happened. |
| B．How to establish warning systems around the Himalayan mountains. |
| C．How to prevent flood in areas around the Himalayan mountains. |
| D．More flood caused by global warming may occur around Himalayas. |
| A．The result of an avalanche. |
| B．The meaning of GLOFs. |
| C．The cause of GLOFs. |
| D．The cause of an avalanche. |
| A．GLOFs can be avoided in Shukla and Sen’s opinion. |
| B．GLOFs can be prevented by reducing detention basins. |
| C．Constructing reservoirs is the best way to prevent GLOFs. |
| D．GLOFs are unpredictable in the future due to global warming. |
| A．To improve the embankments. |
| B．To make more satellites. |
| C．To upgrade satellite network. |
| D．To set up warning systems. |
7 . Although traditional pet stores are somewhere you buy a(n)
I visited one of these stores in the Sanlitun area in Beijing. I was targeting call ducks, which are
There were a
Call ducks are not easy to get along with, so playing with them would include a lot of running from our side and quacking (呱呱叫) from theirs. Also, don’t expect them to be house-trained, one of the ducks actually pooped (排便) while
That’s the
| A．animal | B．apple | C．instrument | D．book |
| A．that | B．where | C．how | D．which |
| A．nothing | B．everything | C．anything | D．something |
| A．matters | B．moves | C．separates | D．keeps |
| A．endless | B．worthless | C．important | D．famous |
| A．mistakes | B．words | C．prices | D．feelings |
| A．slightly | B．easily | C．immediately | D．carefully |
| A．talking | B．eating | C．visiting | D．painting |
| A．complicated | B．perfect | C．interesting | D．peaceful |
| A．extent | B．prevention | C．meaning | D．total |
| A．bought | B．spent | C．brought | D．cost |
| A．sitting | B．remembering | C．thinking | D．saying |
| A．gratitude | B．forgiveness | C．faith | D．pleasure |
| A．comforting | B．annoying | C．tough | D．anxious |
| A．envy | B．pity | C．duty | D．magic |
1. 写信的目的；
2. 具体建议及理由；
3. 表达个人期待。
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9 . My granddad often helped me make a tool to catch fish when I was young and we would spend hours along a river. It was lovely for both of us then. Many more of today’s grandparents have a growing sense of adventure. And a trend is catching on: skip-gen travel — grandparents taking fun-filled vacations with grand kids without their parents along.
A survey found that 83% of grandparents put travel with their grand kids as the number one thing when they retire. Skip-gen travel gets popular for good reason. Kids have their lives enriched and learn outside classrooms. This is also a time of talking and sharing ideas.
“How grandparents talk to children is different from how parents talk to them. Actually, I feel on a more equal footing with my grandchildren than I do with my own children,” Annie Collins, a travel architect and also part of the trend, says. “Kids away from their parents are more open to ideas and willing to express themselves. It’s not just kids gaining from traveling. Who gets the most out of this? You might think it’s them but it’s us.” According to a study by the Cleveland Clinic, grandparents who help watch and spend time with grand kids may actually live longer than their peers（同龄人）.
It’s also important to recognize that grandparents often have more time to travel. Unlike their children, who may still be in the pursuit of a personal career that offers limited time off, grandparents are often retired and likely have a different viewpoint on life, prioritizing experiences and family. So knowing the kids are in great hands, moms and dads will have a bit of time to themselves — some much-needed leisure time alone to rest and recharge their batteries.
However, skip-gen travel is not for every grandparent. After all, grandparents are worn out with years and not so energetic. They surely treasure the chance to form close ties with their grandchildren, but it’s wiser to say no when only the youth could enjoy themselves, for the travel should be a win for everyone involved.
1. Why does the author mention fishing experiences with his granddad?| A．To lead in the trend of skip-gen travel. | B．To share the pleasure in going fishing. |
| C．To stress the importance of family ties. | D．To show the growing interest in adventure. |
| A．Many parents are too strict with children. |
| B．Grandparents benefit more from skip-gen travel. |
| C．Spending time with grandparents is better for kids. |
| D．Children become mature when away from parents. |
| A．They enjoy the moment to relax. | B．They feel less anxious and stressed. |
| C．They miss their kids very much. | D．They look forward to their own trip. |
| A．Get kids involved in travel planning. | B．Strengthen the bond with grandchildren. |
| C．Reduce skip-gen travel appropriately. | D．Make decisions in both sides’ interests. |
10 . If you are a person who remains busy in work and pays no attention to your health and well-being, you may experience stress, depression, and anxiety. Take a break from the robotic routine and pick healthy habits. According to a psychologist, true wellbeing comes with balance, constant growth and acceptance.
Deal with stress
Although it is difficult to avoid stress nowadays, it is definitely possible to deal with it.
Be social as much as you can
A man cannot stay healthy without interacting with other people.
Find and practice new hobbies
Hobby helps us keep busy and engaged. When you have an interest in some activities and enjoy doing them, you take healthy steps to improve your emotional well-being.
The biggest reason for experiencing depression and anxiety is when a person remains stuck in past events. Negative self-talking such as “why people did this to me” steals not only the happiness but makes the person miss opportunities that the present moment tries to offer. We should learn to enjoy the present life and try not to think too much about the future.
| A．Learn to live in the present. |
| B．Keep a positive attitude about future. |
| C．Communicating with others lowers the stress level. |
| D．Here are a few tested ways to improve your quality of life. |
| E．It also keeps the work and daily life’s pressure off your brain. |
| F．Staying happy and laughing more is essential for a quality life. |
| G．It is very important to learn to deal with stress in a smart way. |
