My uncle is a successful businessman. One day, he invited me to have a dinner with one of his clients (客户) to discuss about future cooperation between them, during which he received a call. Then to everyone’s shock, he asked the waiter to check out and put an end to the trade with the client. I felt very confused. After all, it was a deal of one billion. When we got home together, he solved my doubt and told me a story about an expensive “school fee” he had paid for his dishonesty.
It was 15 years ago when he decided to return to his homeland to start a company after having got a PhD degree. Before leaving the country where he had studied for 5 years, he bought himself a Rolex watch with the savings made through years of part-time jobs and the scholarships he had got. At the airport, as was often the case, he had to accept the custom check. Of course, the watch on his wrist was on the list of things to be checked. Remembering that carrying things like this should pay some tax and worried about paying for his watch, he lied to the custom officer, “My watch is only a worthless fake (假货).”
“OK. I see.” said the custom officer and at the same time, in the presence of my uncle, he began to hit the watch heavily. “No!” Before my uncle woke up from his “smart”, the watch which cost nearly ￥100,000 had changed into pieces. “Why?” Shocked and not knowing the reason, my uncle was taken to the office for further examination.
Without finding any suspicious items, the officer let him go but warned, “Never use or carry the fake again, or you will be fined according to the law.”
My uncle continued, “Now, you see, my secretary called me saying the client used the fake to trade with X company one month ago. Such a dishonest man doesn’t have the qualification to cooperate with me.”
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。
Hearing my uncle’s story, I was lost in thought.
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From the story, I know I was wrong.
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2 . Almost everyone who has studied English has been warned about the way Brits love their manners. It is part of our national identity, as much as fish and chips or complaining about the weather. Recently I have been wondering where this comes from and I read online that we say sorry up to eight times a day. Probably the same amount of times that any other person says “hello” or “how are you”. It is almost like greetings to us! It was only when I was explaining how there are five steps of saying thank you when you buy something from a shop to a Mexican friend of mine that I realised how mad it sounded.
After some research online I have not been able to find any specific reasons why we are the way we are. I suppose for centuries manners and how we eat at the table and talk to other people have been the barriers between the lower and upper classes and represent your social status. Britain has traditionally been a quite conservative country. There are many articles suggesting that this seemingly polite attitude of always saying please and thank you is quite false because it is impossible to always feel that you want to thank someone or say please.
Maybe it is for this reason that people are going one of two ways: they are incredibly polite and hold back on their feelings or not polite at all, and express their true feelings. Some Brits are fed up of pretending that they are always content and having to please people. Sometimes because we feel we have to be polite, we are prevented from saying what we truly think. Do you think it is better to not hurt people’s feelings and be polite or to let people know the truth? In your country what is the custom? I know in some countries if someone is considered to be doing their job, the clients think that they do not need to be thanked.
1. What does the author think of the British way of saying “Thank you”?| A．Normal. | B．Surprising. | C．Exciting. | D．Pleasing. |
| A．Why the British like to complain about the weather. |
| B．Why the British love their way of showing manners. |
| C．Why the British are fond of fish and chips so much. |
| D．Why the British have five steps of saying thank you. |
| A．Wealth and health. | B．Social status. | C．Politeness. | D．Attitudes. |
| A．They want to express their true feelings. |
| B．They want to let people know the truth. |
| C．They are kept from saying what they think. |
| D．They want to represent their social status. |
Every comer of the small bedroom was filled with summer heat. Hot air snaked across my chest and made my already labored breathing more difficult. At nearly ten years old, I thought I was too old to have the croup(哮吼). The bad cough told a different story.
Earlier that morning, fever and congestion (鼻塞) had been my greatest enemies. I became angry because of the mix. As the excited voices of my sister and two cousins came upstairs, I squeezed deeper into the soft bed. The closing of the front door, followed by the noise of my uncle’s old car threw me further into disappointment. They went off on an afternoon adventure, while I was stuck in bed. Again.
I complained, which only served to fuel my anger. Worn out by the bad cough and the heat, I fell asleep. When I awoke, my grandmother was sitting in a chair next to my bed, shelling peas into a big pot.
She looked at me and smiled. “Good. Harriet, you’re awake.” She reached over and pressed her hand against my forehead. “Better. In a few days, you’ll be up and running around.”
“Not soon enough,” I said unhappily.
Her hands stilled for a moment, several peas held in her fingers. “Ah, the trip.”
I hit the bed hard with my fist (拳头). “They could have waited. I’m stuck here and they’re off having a good time. It’s not fair.” Tears welled up in my eyes as I spoke.
My grandmother remained silent. Her hands again moved smoothly, continuing to shell peas as if they had a life of their own. When she finally spoke, her voice had an edge to it. “So, who told you life was fair?”
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
I straightened up, surprised at her words, and asked, “What do you mean?”
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Then my sister and cousins raced into the house and said, “We got these strawberries for you.”
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| A．discussion/dɪˈskʌʃən / victory/ˈvɪktəri/ ability/əˈbɪlɪti/ magical/ˈmædʒɪkl/ |
| B．difficulty/ˈdɪfɪkəlti/ recently/ˈriːsntli/ divide/dɪˈvaɪd/ policy/ˈpɒlɪsi/ |
| C．injury/ˈɪndʒərɪ/ correct/kəˈrekt/ enjoyable/ɪnˈdʒɔɪəbl/ accident/ˈæksɪdənt/ |
| D．describe/dɪˈskraɪb/ gather/ˈɡæðə/ attention/əˈtenʃən/ remind/rɪˈmaɪnd/ |
1.调查现状描述；2.简单评论；3.你的观点
| Rich resources | 75% |
| Learning time is not limited | 43% |
| Other benefits | 27% |
The benefits of online learning
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As Good As You
When Jenna’s taekwondo (跆拳道) instructor, Ms. Baroni, introduced Marti, Jenna’s best friend, to everyone, Jenna, was so excited that Marti would be taking lessons with her.
Class started with warm-up exercises, and then Ms. Baroni divided everyone into color-belt groups. Seeing Marti become red in face and play with the edge of her shirt, Ms. Baroni told the friends to work together, even though Jenna was a yellow belt and a level above Marti, making Marti less nervous on her first day. It suited Jenna fine. She couldn’t wait to demonstrate some basic kicks to Marti. Marti copied her kick as high as Jenna’s shoulder. “Great job, Marti!” said Ms. Baroni, who had walked up behind them. She then spent the next five minutes working with Marti, teaching her how to straighten her leg and snap her foot out to make the legs form a square. Jenna collapsed against the wall and watched Marti copy everything Ms. Baroni did.
The more Marti did, the more praise she earned from Ms. Baroni, and so the more half heartedly Jenna practiced. What if Marti became better than her? What if Marti became Ms. Baroni’s favorite student? “Watch your form!” Who is Ms. Baroni scolding? Jenna wondered. She turned and saw Ms. Baroni looking directly at her. Nothing could have been worse. “Jenna, your side kick could be better than that”, said Ms. Baroni with a slight frown, “You’ve memorized your form perfectly, but your moves are sloppy (马虎的). Make the legs fully extended, point the toes downward, and try again.”
At the end of the class, Jenna grabbed her bag and hurried outside to find her mom. She had planned to wait and say good-bye to Marti, but now she wanted to be alone. For the next several weeks, Marti continued to impress their teacher with her skills. And as Marti turned into a star student, Jenna became less and less excited about taekwondo.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右
One day, Marti excitedly told Jenna that Ms. Baroni wanted her to be tested for a new belt. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
When Marti finished her form, Jenna thought it looked perfect. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How to Fix a Mistake
After many continuous days of steady downpour, the sun finally came out on a Sunday morning. My friend Allan and I decided to play catch in my yard. We were having fun throwing the ball back and forth.
“Run! Nice catch!” It had been days since we enjoyed ourselves. Then, I threw the ball too hard and Allan missed his catch. The ball flew like lightning, crossed the yard and hit my neighbor’s window. We heard the big sound. Crash! Smash! The window broke into many pieces.
Allan turned pale, and a look of panic crossed his face. He froze, too scared to move an inch. Without a second thought, I grabbed his hand, whispering, “Come with me!” We ran into my backyard and hid behind a stack of hay. It seemed to be a place of safety. However, my heart was still pounding hard, as if it were about to pop.
Mr. Jones, the neighbour, who was a seventy-year-old man, lived alone. Though he was poor, he was well loved in the neighborhood for he always helped those in need.
Obviously, he heard the big sound, too. He came out of his house, with a ball in his hands. It was exactly our ball! Did he recognize who the ball belonged to? With butterflies in my stomach, I breathed deeply. In the meantime, Mr. Jones looked around, trying to see who threw the ball. Of course, no one was outside. He gazed the window for a while, and then the ball. Finally, he went back into his house.
A few days later, I saw that Mr. Jones had repaired the broken glass. He was sitting outside. When he saw me, he waved at me. I felt ashamed as I waved back at him. I knew what I should do, but I was afraid to do it.
Later, my mom and I were talking and she told me about the broken window.
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Mr. Jones looked at me after I explained what had happened.
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| A．where | B．which |
| C．as | D．who |
9 . All schoolchildren should have “happiness” lessons up to the age of 18 to fight growing levels of depression, according to a senior government adviser.
“Pupils should study subjects such as how to manage feelings, attitudes to work and money, channeling negative emotions and even how to take a critical view of the media,” said Lord Richard Layard, a Labor peer and professor of economics at the London School of Economics.
The proposal comes only days after the Government said that lessons in manners ---including respect for the elderly and how to say “please” and “thank you” --- should be taught in secondary schools to combat bad behaviors.
Lord Layard, the director of the wellbeing program at the LSE’s Center for Economic Performance, said: “Learning hard things takes a large amount of practice. To play the violin well takes 10,000 hours of practice. How can we expect people to learn to be happy without large amounts of practice and repetition?”
It is believed that at least two percent of British children under 12 now struggle with significant depression. Among teenagers, the figure rises to five percent. A UNICEF study involving 21 developed countries showed that British children were the least satisfied with their lives, while the World Health Organization predicts that childhood psychiatric(精神的)disorders will rise by 50 percent by 2020.
In a speech at Cambridge University, Lord Layard said that the Government’s lessons in manners did not go far enough. “We need a devotion to producing a major specialism in this area, with a serious teacher training program,” he said.
However, happiness lessons have been criticized by academics. Frank Furedi, a sociology professor at Kent University and author of Therapy Culture, said: “In pushing emotional literacy(素养), what some teachers are really doing is abandoning teaching. They are giving up and talking about emotions instead, so that children value all this activity more than maths, English or science. What is amazing about this is that time and time again, research says that it does not work.”
1. What does Lord Layard think of the Government’s lessons in manners?| A．They can hardly meet the special demands of education. |
| B．They are quite enough to the special the present problem. |
| C．They only focused on a major specialism. |
| D．They will probably end in failure. |
| A．They suffer depression at an earlier age. |
| B．They are the least happy among the 21 developed countries. |
| C．They are the easiest to suffer childhood psychiatric disorders. |
| D．Their standard of living is the lowest among the 21 developed countries. |
| A．the British Government hasn’t fully realized the problems with British students |
| B．Lord Layard thinks little of the Government’s lessons in manners |
| C．British students are not well---behaved enough. |
| D．lessons in manners have brought about positive changes in British students |
| A．Analysis. | B．Description. | C．Argument. | D．Comparison. |
| A．happiness lessons should be taught to children |
| B．happiness lessons are just a waste of time |
| C．formal teaching can go side by side with happiness lessons |
| D．formal teaching should not give away to happiness lessons |
Brrrring! The bell rang as Sam tapped out a quick beat on his desk. “I’ve figured it out, finally!” He thought. He couldn’t wait to play it for Mia.
Sam and his neighbor Mia had been working for weeks on a song for Saturday’s band competition. Their song had a beautiful tune, but Sam and Mia had been struck on the ending. Just now, Sam worked it out! When Sam rushed out of the classroom, he noticed a familiar face jogging towards him down the hall. It was Mike, his best friend.
”Hey, buddy!” Mike greeted Sam with a bright smile as he always did. “Ready for some training after school? I’ve been working on my jumper.” He turned around swiftly and shot an imaginary ball into the air. Panic suddenly stroke Sam. Uh-Oh! He had forgotten all about the basketball. He was supposed to practice basketball in the court (球场) after school with Mike, which had been agreed the week before. He didn’t want to fail Mike, but he was dying to try out the new ending. Maybe if he had a reason to skip.
“Hey, Mike,” Sam said, “I don’t feel so great.” He covered his mouth with his hands and gave a small cough for effect. ”Perhaps, another time?” “Sure!” Mike said, with obvious disappointment. “Take care of yourself, OK?” Sam nodded and watched his friend dribble (运球) an invisible ball down the hallway.
“Lying was easier than I imagined,” Sam thought. “I can finish the song and Mikes feelings aren’t hurt.” The moment Sam returned home, he ran straight, towards the basement. Crash! The drum shook as Sam hit it a final time. “What do you think?” He looked at Mia hopefully. “Perfect!” She said excitedly.
“That sounded great, guys.” Mike stood on Sam’s basement steps with his eyebrows raised. “Are you feeling better now? I worried about you so much, so I brought your favorite movie to you.” Mike took out a small case.
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。
”Thanks,” Sam said awkwardly, hoping he could come up with a new lie.
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After Mike left, Sam realized his lies turned into a mess and decided to do something.
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