2 . Dear Mr Expert,

I grew up in an unhappy and abusive home. I always promised myself that I’d get out as soon as possible.

Now, at age 20, I have a good job and a nice house, and I’m really proud of the independence I’ve achieved.

Here’s the problem: several of my friends who still live with their parents wish they had places like mine so much so that they make mine theirs.

It started out with a couple of them spending the weekends with me. But now they seem to take it for granted (认为理所当然) that they can show up any time they like. They bring boyfriends over, talk on the phone and stay out forever.

I enjoy having my friends here sometimes it makes the place feel comfortable and warm but this is my home, not a party house. I am old enough to move out on my own, so why can’t I seem to ask my friends to respect my privacy (隐私)?

Joan

Dear Joan,

If your family didn’t pay attention to your needs when you were a child, you probably have trouble letting others know your needs now.

And if you’ve gathered your friends around you to rebuild a happy family atmosphere, you may fear that saying no will bring back the kind of conflict you grew up with or destroy the nice atmosphere you now enjoy. You need to understand that in true friendship it’s okay to put your own needs first from time to time.

Be clear about the message you want to send. For example, “I really love your company but I also need some privacy. So please call before you come over.”

Edward

1. We can infer from the first letter that      .

A．Joan considers her friends more important than her privacy

B．Joan’s friends visit her more often than she can accept

C．Joan doesn’t like the parties at all

D．Joan dislikes the boyfriends her friends bring over

2. According to Mr Expert, why can’t Joan tell her friends her feelings?

A．She is afraid of hurting her friends.	B．She does not understand true friendship.
C．Her family experience stops her from doing so.	D．She does not put her needs first.

3. The underlined word “conflict” in the second letter means      .

A．dependent life

B．fierce fight

C．bad manners

D．painful feeling

3 . For high school leavers starting out in the working world, it is very important to learn particular skills and practise how to behave in an interview or how to find all internships(实习). In some countries, schools have programmes to help students onto the path to work. In the United States, however, such programmes are still few and far between.

Research shows that if high schools provide career-related courses, students are likely to get higher earnings in later years.The students are more likely to stay in school, graduate and go on to higher education.

In Germany, students as young as 13 and 14 are expected to do internships. German companies work with schools to make sure that young people get the education they need for future employment.

But in America, education reform programmes focus on how well students do in exams instead of bringing them into contact with the working world. Harvard Education School professor Robert Schwartz has criticised education reformers for trying to place all graduates directly on the four-year college track. Schwartz argued that this approach leaves the country’s most vulnerable(易受影响的)kids with no jobs and no skills.

Schwartz believed that the best career programmes encourage kids to go for higher education while also teaching them valuable practical skills at high school. James Madison High School in New York, for example, encourages students to choose classes on career-based courses. The school then helps them gain on-the-job experience in those fields while they’re still at high school.

However, even for teens whose schools encourage them to connect with work, the job market is daunting. In the US, unemployment rates for 16 to 19-year-olds are above 20 percent for the third summer in a row.

“The risk is that if teenagers miss out on the summer job experience, they become part of this generation of teens who had trouble in landing a job,” said Michael, a researcher in the US.

1. In the author’s opinion, American high school leavers      .

A．have enough career-related courses	B．need more career advice from their schools
C．perform better in exams than German students	D．can get higher earnings in later years

2. According to Robert Schwartz,      .

A．there is no need for kids to go for higher education in the US

B．students should get contact with the working world at high school

C．education reform should focus on students’ performance in exams

D．teenagers in the US can’t miss out on the summer job experience

3. What can be inferred from the text?

A．Unemployment rates for US teenagers remain high at the moment.

B．Students with career-based courses never have problems finding a job.

C．US companies work with schools to prepare young people for future employment.

D．High school leavers with no practical skills can’t find a job absolutely.

4 . To most of us, school means classes, teachers, schedules, grades and tests. But for the children at Sudbury Valley School, Massachusetts, school is very different.

Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want to. There are no teachers —only “staff members”. The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn, because children want to learn anyway. “You do not need to say to a three-year-old, ‘Go to explore your environment.’ You can’t stop them!” says Daniel Greenberg, a founder of the school. “But if you make children do what you want all day, they will lose all taste for learning.”

At Sudbury Valley School, you will permit children to talk, read, paint, cook, work on computers, study French, play the piano, climb trees, or just run around. Two boys spent three years just fishing!

The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules. Every week, there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote each—even the four-year-olds. They decide the school rules, how to spend the school budget, and even which staff they want and do not want any more.

When the school first opened in 1968, people said it would never work. But today, the school has 200 students, and 80% of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today. One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.

1. What is the main topic of the article?

A．An unusual school.	B．Children’s hobbies.
C．A school without rules.	D．Education in the US.

2. What does the school believe?

A．Teachers cannot teach children well.

B．Children learn best when they do what they want to do.

C．Learning is for adults—children should only play.

D．Children should only learn about one thing at a time.

3. What does Daniel Greenberg say about three-year-olds?

A．They love learning.	B．They are very naughty.
C．They want to be outside all the time.	D．They are too young to learn anything.

4. Who has the most power in the school meetings?

A．The older children have more power than the younger children.

B．A child has more power than an adult.

C．The younger children have more power than the older children.

D．Everybody has equal power.

5 . 假定你是李华，最近收到了你的朋友Bob的来信。他在信中说，进入高中后，他不能适应高中的学习生活，在学习上也遇到了障碍，因而情绪低落，甚至有了放弃的想法。请你给他回信，内容如下：
1. 向Bob表示问候和安慰；
2. 针对他的问题提出建议。要点如下：
(1) 在高中要了解正确的学习方法，并学会把知识转化为能力；
(2) 上课认真听讲，遇到问题及时向老师和同学求助；
(3) 不要丧失信心。
注意: 1. 词数100左右；
2. 信的开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Bob,

I am sorry to hear that

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I hope you will find my ideas helpful.

Yours,

Li Hua

6 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

It was time to go home.“Remember to work on your class speeches for homework,”Miss Walker called, as everyone started talking and packing their school bags. Jenny felt sick. She hated having to read aloud in class. She was sure everyone got really bored listening to her. Once, when Jenny was reading out her holiday diary, Lee was even looking at his watch, a silver and blue one which seemed just magical.

Jenny watched Lee walk ahead of her as they left school. He seemed so clever, and he had a certain sort of shining confidence. He was just one of those people who were good at everything. Jenny sighed. As she turned the corner, she saw Lee’s watch lying right in the middle of the path.

Jenny knew she should just pick it up and return it to him, but she didn’t want to run after him. Jenny bent down quickly, picked up the watch and ran home. On arriving home, Jenny put it on almost without thinking. She was surprised it fitted so well. She walked to the mirror and started practicing her speech. Words just flooded out of her.“I’m going to talk about swimming. I have been lucky. I’ve won lots of competitions. But when I’m in a race, I’m not really thinking about winning. I’m just loving the feeling of being in the water…”Jenny laughed with excitement. She walked across the room. She suddenly seemed to have a certain sort of confidence. Turning back to the mirror, Jenny saw a flash of light from the watch in the glass. The flashes of silver seemed almost magical. So maybe Lee’s watch really DID have something magic about it.

The next day, as the lesson began, Miss Walker asked who was going to be brave and go first. Nobody moved. Jenny slowly raised her arm. Before Miss Walker could say anything, there was a shout from behind.“She’s stolen my watch!”Lee said angrily,“It went missing at school yesterday.”

注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:

Everybody was fixing their eyes on Jenny, waiting for an explanation. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paragraph 2:

At that time, Miss Walker smiled and asked the class to listen to Jenny’s speech first. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . We have all heard how time is more valuable than money, but is it possible to have too much time?

I __ back in high school I spent most of my day at school since I also _____ a team sport. By the time I got home, I only had a few hours to do my homework, and I had to do it __________.

When I got into college, things _______.I suddenly found myself out of class before noon time. Because of all this ____ time, there was no sense of ____ to do my school work immediately. I was performing this action of waiting until it later became a _______. Once that happened, I just kept ______ my studying further and further back in my day. Then I got to the point where I was ______ really late at night to get my work done.

One day I ____ a former classmate of mine who was _____ a lot of money running a sideline(副业).Since his regular job was _____ , I asked him why he just didn't do his sideline full-time. He said _____ the job, he would _____ have too much time and would just do what I did back in ______. He said that if he _____ the job, he

would lose his _____ to work and succeed.

So, try _____ your time with other work. This is why there is a _____ that if you want something done, ask a (n)_______ person to do it.

1.

A．remember

B．admit

C．understand

D．expect

2.

A．watched

B．loved

C．coached

D．played

3.

A．in person

B．right away

C．up close

D．in case

4.

A．occurred

B．existed

C．changed

D．mattered

5.

A．extra

B．difficult

C．valuable

D．limited

6.

A．safety

B．achievement

C．emergency

D．direction

7.

A．burden

B．relief

C．risk

D．habit

8.

A．pushing

B．dismissing

C．setting

D．calling

9.

A．hanging out

B．staying up

C．stepping up

D．showing off

10.

A．met

B．helped

C．viewed

D．hired

11.

A．raising

B．wasting

C．demanding

D．making

12.

A．safe

B．important

C．boring

D．rewarding

13.

A．with

B．without

C．for

D．within

14.

A．luckily

B．hardly

C．hopefully

D．simply

15.

A．childhood

B．college

C．town

D．business

16.

A．quit

B．found

C．accepted

D．kept

17.

A．ability

B．chance

C．drive

D．way

18.

A．coming across

B．filling up

C．giving up

D．belonging to

19.

A．message

B．story

C．saying

D．fact

20.

A．brilliant

B．busy

C．optimistic

D．curious

8 . How to Handle Being the New Kid at School

Being the new kid at school can be a terrible experience! It might seem like everybody else knows exactly how to act. But remember you aren’t alone. Actually, everybody is nervous on their first day and you can fit right in with the help of the following tips.

Plan ahead the night before.     1     Lay out your first day outfit (全套服装), pack a lunch, and make sure you have all your school supplies ready to go. Planning ahead can help you get a good night’s sleep and feel less nervous about your first day.

    2     Make sure your clothes are cleaned and pressed and that you’ve showered, brushed your teeth. If you’re hoping to attract friends with similar interests, try wearing a shirt with your favorite show, musician, or sports team on it.     3    

Do your best to stay calm and positive. It’s normal to feel nervous or anxious when you’re the new kid at school. If you feel nervous, start by taking some deep breaths.     4     You can listen to music that makes you feel calm or happy. Try imagining a good first day in your mind instead of keeping thinking about things that could go wrong.

    5     Don’t come in on the first day with your head hanging down, your shoulders lowered, and your eyes on the floor. Walk with your head held up, your back straight, and a bright expression on your face. Make eye contact with other people, and smile if they look at you or speak to you.

A．Use your body language to show confidence.

B．Introduce yourself to your teachers and classmates.

C．Choose clothes that make you feel great.

D．This can be an easy way to start a talk and break the ice a little.

E．You should keep talking and let people know that you are friendly.

F．Remember that everyone is the new kid at some point and that it’s not a big deal

G．You’ll feel less worried if everything is ready before you wake up for your first day..