It was in the afternoon before the end of the Second World War that Antonio Black, who was twelve, caught sight of a beautiful brooch (胸针) in a shop window. The brooch is so beautiful that he was unwilling to leave the store until he had purchased it. But it was too expensive — $5. His family was very poor and his parents struggled to make ends meet. Five dollars would buy almost a week’s food for his family.
Antonio couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Susan. Slim and beautiful, his mother was the center of the home and the glue that held it together. The housework was never-ending, and she struggled to feed and clothe their five children, but she was happy as her family and their well-being were all she cared about.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s door and went inside. Standing proudly and straight in his flour-sack (面粉袋改做的) shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “But I don’t have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?”
“I’ll try,” the shopkeeper smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while.”
Antonio respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He would raise the money and not tell anybody, for he thought Mum would be surprised when she saw that brooch. On hearing the sound of hammering (锤打) from a side street, Antonio suddenly had an idea that he could raise money by selling the used nail bags. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails bought in bags from a local factory. Sometimes the used bags were thrown away at the construction site, and Antonio knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. That day he sold two nail bags and hid the money in a rusty soda tin.
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。
Every day after school, Antonio started his plan.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day finally came!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . A Florida teen is gaining national attention with her graduation speech and a basket of strawberries. “Care for some strawberries?” Brenda said at her graduation from Mulberry High School. After jokingly acknowledging there might not be enough, she went on, “These are no ordinary strawberries.” She held up a series of strawberries, revealing what each represents: sweat, dirt, aches, and pains.
Brenda described herself as the daughter of two tireless farmers who immigrated from Mexico and spent most of their days working in fields of strawberries, blueberries, and cucumbers. “My motivation has been rooted in my immigrant culture.” Because of this, she chose to focus on that in her address. “Many students used to be ashamed of their upbringing but today, we’re proud of what makes us.”
She explained how she grew up under poor conditions. “I’m motivated by my parents’ hands that lose feeling from laborious work. Despite the hot sun and body pains, they back me up heart and soul in my education, which weighs more strongly with me than anything else. I must work hard and succeed.” Brenda’s heading to Stanford University this fall. She also credited some of her outstanding achievements to her teacher Higgins, who helps immigrant students and the poor.
Her speech has been viewed by thousands online. “Hearing it touched other people’s hearts who said they understood my message, I’m struck the same,” Brenda said later. The principal of Mulberry High School, Michael Young, was one member of the audience getting emotional. “The speech was very powerful—her fruit did help paint a good picture of things she wanted to convey,” Young said.
As for her message to young people struggling, Brenda said, “Past circumstances aren’t in charge of your future. If you’re from a poor family, use every resource and try to better yourself. You’re the author of your story.”
1. Why did Brenda bring strawberries to her graduation?| A．To share her home-grown fruit. | B．To show hardship her parents faced. |
| C．To better illustrate her speech’s topic. | D．To explain the importance of motivators. |
| A．Help from her teacher. | B．Her life experience. |
| C．Her native culture. | D．Support from her parents. |
| A．Proud. | B．Sympathetic. | C．Awkward. | D．Moved. |
| A．Life is what you make it. | B．Every cloud has a silver lining. |
| C．Everyone deserves a good life story. | D．Resources in hand decide your future. |
3 . While many of us may have been away somewhere nice last summer, few would say that we’ve “summered.” “Summer” is clearly a noun, more precisely, a verbed noun.
Way back in our childhood, we all learned the difference between a noun and a verb. With such a tidy definition, it was easy to spot the difference. Not so in adulthood, where we are expected to “foot” bills, “chair” committees, and “dialogue” with political opponents. Chances are that you didn’t feel uncomfortable about the sight of those verbed nouns.
“The verbing of nouns is as old as the English language,” says Patricia O’Conner, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review. Experts estimate that 20 percent of all English verbs were originally nouns. And the phenomenon seems to be snowballing. Since 1900, about 40 percent of all new verbs have come from nouns.
Even though conversion (转化) is quite universal, plenty of grammarians object to the practice. Some most leading experts, William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, in The Elements of Style—the Bible for the use of American English—have this to say: “Many nouns lately have been pressed into service as verbs. Not all are bad, but all are questionable.” The Chicago Manual of Style takes a similar standpoint, advising writers to use verbs with great care.
“Sometimes people object to a new verb because they resist what is unfamiliar to them,” says O’Conner. That’s why we’re comfortable “hosting” a party, but we might feel upset by the thought of “medaling” in sports. So are there any rules for verbing? Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, doesn’t offer a rule, but suggests that people think twice about “verbifying” a noun if it’s easily replaceable by an already existing popular verb. Make sure it’s descriptive but not silly-sounding, he says.
In the end, however, style is subjective. Easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English “English”. Not every coined word passes into general use, but as for trying to end verbing altogether, forget it.
1. What can we learn about the verbing of nouns?| A．It hasn’t recently been opposed by many grammarians. |
| B．It is more commonly accepted by children than adults. |
| C．It hasn’t been a rare phenomenon in the past century. |
| D．It can be easily replaced by existing verbs in practice. |
| A．Cautious | B．Objective. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Predictable. | B．Practicable. |
| C．Approaching. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Are 40 Percent of all new verbs from nouns? |
| B．Are Summering and Medaling Annoying? |
| C．Are You Comfortable about a New Verb? |
| D．Are There Any Rules for Verbing? |
Niesha could not forget the way she froze in front of the class today. Mr. Roberts had divided the class into groups to do presentations. Today was Niesha’s turn. However, her hands shook so violently that she couldn’t read her notes. Her voice became softer even to silence. Mr. Roberts kindly ended Niesha’s part of the presentation even though she did clearly not finish. He also asked Niesha to stay after class for a moment.
“Niesha, I know you’re shy, but you worked hard on this project. I’d hate to see you give up on yourself.” Then Mr. Roberts hesitated, “If I give you another chance until tomorrow, do you think you can find your courage?” Niesha nodded, grateful for the chance. She went as quickly as she could to her next class. She kept her head down and hoped the school day would end soon.
When she reached her back steps that afternoon, she could see an inviting light coming from the kitchen windows. Momma was baking. Momma studied Niesha’s face as she came into the kitchen. “What’s wrong, Niesha?”
Tears shone in Niesha’s brown eyes. She told her the whole story. Momma was silent for a moment, her hands still busy with the cake. “Why is it that you can talk to me about anything and everything, but you can’t talk to your class?” Momma asked. She set the timer (计时器) and then said, “Let me show you something.”
Niesha followed Momma to her bedroom. There Momma showed her a book filled with newspaper clippings (剪报) and pictures. In it there was a blue ribbon (丝带) that said “First Place” and a picture of herself when she was very young, standing with her parents.
“I won it for public speaking. I started the school year as the shyest girl on the speech team, but I ended the year as the blue ribbon winner. It wasn’t easy at first-- I was not sure of myself at all. I worked hard, and mostly I faced my fears. You just need to find your courage.”
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。
Paragraph 1:
Hearing Momma’s words, Niesha stared at the precious blue ribbon, lost in thought.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
The next day Niesha again walked to the front of the classroom to give her presentation.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . After one night of partying in college, drinking and taking pills prescribed for my arthritis (关节炎) and migraines (偏头痛), I woke up the next morning and remembered nothing. I started hiccupping (打嗝), and it wouldn’t
When I first spoke to my family, they thought I was
I got kicked out of class because I was
Then I stopped taking pills and drinking. My life got back on track, but the hiccups didn’t
| A．work | B．help | C．stop | D．wait |
| A．everything | B．something | C．anything | D．nothing |
| A．developed | B．varied | C．remained | D．increased |
| A．hiding | B．faking | C．forcing | D．treating |
| A．important | B．correct | C．real | D．difficult |
| A．sense | B．change | C．exception | D．difference |
| A．discouraging | B．embarrassing | C．amusing | D．distracting |
| A．impress | B．disturb | C．disappoint | D．surprise |
| A．exciting | B．attractive | C．exhausting | D．confusing |
| A．go through | B．go away | C．get on | D．get together |
| A．choices | B．services | C．medications | D．chances |
| A．frequent | B．accessible | C．strange | D．noisy |
| A．interested | B．worried | C．unfair | D．stronger |
| A．used | B．close | C．annoyed | D．open |
| A．and | B．so | C．because | D．although |
6 . Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website Book Crossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.
Members go on the site and register (登记) the books they own and would like to share. Book Crossing provides an identification number (识别码) to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.
Bruce Pederson, the managing director of Book Crossing, says, “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. Book Crossing combines both.”
Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.
People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E— mails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.
Book Crossing is part of a trend (趋势) among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual (虚拟).The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty—five countries.
1. Why does the author mention book groups in the first paragraph?| A．To explain what they are. | B．To introduce Book Crossing. |
| C．To stress the importance of reading. | D．To encourage readers to share their ideas. |
| A．An adventure. | B．A public place. |
| C．The book. | D．The identification number. |
| A．Keep it safe in his bookcase. | B．Mail it back to its owner. |
| C．Meet other readers to discuss it. | D．Pass it on to another reader. |
| A．Online Reading: A Virtual Tour | B．Electronic Books: A New Trend |
| C．A Book Group Brings Tradition Back | D．A Website Links People through Books |
A Panting Trout
Julia always enjoyed running through The Dark Walk towards the light at the end of it, which was a dark, damp tunnel of smooth branches. This year she had the extra joy of showing it to her small brother, Stephen, and of terrifying him as well as herself.
One day they found a hole on one side of the walk. Inside there was water, where they perceived (察觉、发现) a breathless trout (鳟鱼). They were both so thrilled that they were no longer afraid of the darkness as they bent down and peered at the fish panting (喘气) in his tiny prison, his silver stomach going up and down like an engine, otherwise he was motionless. Julia wondered what he ate and thought of his hunger. She found him a worm. But he ignored the food, and just went on panting. She bent over him, wondering how he had been here. All the winter, in the dark tunnel, all day, all night, floating around alone.
Nobody knew how the fish got here. Her mother suggested that a bird had carried it here. Her father thought that in the winter a small stream might have carried it down there as a baby, and it had been safe until summer came and the water began to dry up.
Before going to bed, Stephen asked his mummy to tell him a story as usual, while Julia lay in her bed, not interested in it. That night mom told a story about a trapped little fish. “And so, in the end, the naughty fish got bigger and bigger, and the water got less and less…Then a Fairy Godmother appeared…”
Passionately, she turned around and cried, “Mummy, don’t make it a horrible old story.” Staring at the moon she knew there was no such thing as a fairy and that actually the trout, down in the tunnel, was panting for his life:
She sat up in the silent night and Stephen was sound asleep.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Julia poured the trout out of the pot into the river.
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8 . There is something to be said for being a generalist, even if you are a specialist. Knowing a little about a lot of things that interest you can add to the richness of a whole, well-lived life.
Society pushes us to specialize, to became experts. This requires commitment to a particular occupation, branch of study or research. The drawback to being specialists is we often come to know more and more about less and less. There is a great deal of pressure to master one’s field. You may pursue training, degrees, or increasing levels of responsibility at work. Then you discover the pressure of having to keep up.
Some people seem willing to work around the clock in their narrow specialty. But such commitment can also weaken a sense of freedom. These specialists could work at the office until ten each night, then look back and realize they would have loved to have gone home and enjoyed the sweetness of their family and friends, or traveled to exciting places, meeting interesting people. Mastering one thing to the exclusion (排除) of others can hold back your true spirit.
‘Generalists, on the other hand, know a lot about a wide range of subjects and view the whole with all its connections. They are people of ability, talent, and enthusiasm who can bring their broad perspective into specific fields of expertise (专长). The doctor who is also a poet and philosopher is a superior doctor, one who can give so much more to his patients than just good medical skills.
Things are connected. Let your expertise in one field fuel your passions in all related areas. Some of your interests may not appear to be connected but, once you explore their depths, you discover that they are. My editor Toni, who is also a writer, has edited several history books. She has decided to study Chinese history. Fascinated by the structural beauty of the Forbidden City as a painter, she is equally interested to learn more about Chinese philosophy. “I don’t know where it will lead, but I’m excited I’m on this pursuit.”
These expansions into `new worlds help us by giving us new perspectives. We begin to see the interconnectedness of one thing to another in all aspects of our life, of ourselves and the universe. Develop broad, general knowledge and experience. The universe is all yours to explore and enjoy.
1. What is good about being a generalist?| A．You can enjoy your life to the fullest. |
| B．You know more about your occupation. |
| C．You don’t need to be pushed by society. |
| D．You will need to know a little about many things. |
| A．choices | B．regrets | C．perspectives | D．expectations |
| A．should love poetry and philosophy |
| B．is fully aware of his talent and ability |
| C．is a committed specialist in medicine |
| D．brings knowledge of other fields to work |
| A．Seemingly unrelated interests are in a way connected. |
| B．In-depth exploration will make our discoveries possible. |
| C．Everyone has a chance to succeed as long as they pursue. |
| D．Passion alone does not actually ensure a person’s success. |
