1 . Open Hearts to Life

We often close ourselves off when unlucky events happen in our lives. We try to reduce the hurt and pain by pretending it doesn’t exist.     1     We need to learn to open our hearts to the potentials of life. The items listed below are the ways you can open your heart more fully and completely.

Breathe into pain.

Whenever a painful situation arises in your life, try to embrace it instead of running away.     2     If we run away from sadness, it will get stronger and more real. By making use of our breath, we soften our experiences and allow more newness and greater experiences to blossom.

    3    

I know we’ve all felt decisions or actions that we had to take simply due to our “gut” impulses(冲动): when asked, we can’t explain the reasons behind doing so — just a deep knowing that it had to get done. To start this process, take few deep breaths and then ask, “Heart, what decision should I make here? What action feels the most right?” See what comes up, then take action and evaluate the outcome.

Spend time alone.

For most of our lives we’re surrounded by people: our friends, colleagues, family members, and strangers. How often do we really spend time alone? When you spend time in solitude, you’re free from the influences of other people, and can truly open yourself and explore whatever you’d like. See where your thoughts take you.     4    

Get outside of yourself.

    5     After you’ve explored the depths of yourself, you come away with a new understanding. Now, it’s time to share that — not through telling others, but through being with others. When you’re in a group of people, try to give them your full energy and attention so you can understand them just as you did yourself. Appreciate their uniqueness, as if they are an extension of you. Lose yourself in the beauty of others; see what they can teach you about yourself.

A．Embrace the uncomfortable.

B．Ask your heart what it wants.

C．In the end, though, we can’t hide from ourselves.

D．We should take a step back and re-evaluate our behavior.

E．When the sadness strikes, take a deep breath and lean into it.

F．The golden ticket here is to not let yourself become distracted; just see what it’s like to be alone.

G．This may seem a little contradictory to the last tip, but in reality, they actually work hand-in-hand.

2 . With spring officially here, we can look forward to fresh flowers and cherry blossoms. While you could stay home and admire the change in season, why not celebrate the end of winter with a fun spring time holiday. We've found a handful of terrific packages at home and abroad, good for departures through mid-May.

London’s Chelsea Flower Show for $ 849

Every May, London hosts the world famous Chelsea Flower Show, showcasing astonishing gardens and lively horticultural(园艺)displays that set the latest in garden design trends. This year, Virgin Vacations offers a six-night air-land packages priced at a sweet $ 849. Good for departures May 21—23, this deal covers the following costs: accommodations; airfare from New York; daily continental breakfast; and one full-day entrance to the Flower Show (May 24, 25 or 26).

Cherry Blossoms in D.C. from $ 319/night

You don’t need to travel far for an impressive flower show! From March 31 through April 15, Washington D.C. is hosting its yearly Cherry Blossoms Festival, marking the 95th celebration of the original gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to the people of D.C. Several hotels are honoring the occasion with special deals: for example, Hay-Adams offers a Cheery Blossom Package from $ 319/night with lodging (two-night minimum stay), free breakfast and free parking.

Spring Flowers of Amsterdam for $ 739

Want to catch the spring flowers blooming in the lowlands of Holland? Amsterdam is a treat to visit at this time of year, as its numerous gardens explode with color. At just $ 739 for a four-night stay with airfare, this spring escape is priced to go! Good for travel between April 1 and May 17. The deal includes air from New York; accommodation at a budget hotel; daily breakfast, and a local map and guide.

Tokyo spring Fun for $ 949

To spot the cherry blossoms right at the source, we recommend a spring venture to Tokyo. Now you can visit on the cheap with the Asian Affair Holidays special we found; a Tokyo spring special starts at just $949!This deal covers airport transfers; five nights’ lodging at Tokyo Hilton International; and a half-day city tour. This particular price is valid for departures between April 1 and April 30, perfectly timed for the best of cherry-blossom season.

1. If you are not free until late May, you may travel to ______.

A．London	B．Amsterdam
C．Washington	D．Tokyo

2. The minimum cost for the closest show is ______ .

A．﹩849	B．﹩739
C．﹩319	D．﹩638

3. From the passage we can learn that cherry blossoms originally grew in ______.

A．England	B．Holland
C．The U．S	D．Japan

3 . Sometimes even though you're paying attention in class，studying for tests，and doing your homework，certain classes seem too hard．Although you may hope that things will get easier，most of the time this doesn't happen．

What does happen for many people is that they work hard as they fall further behind．    1    If you need extra help，the most important thing to know is that there's noghint embarrassing about it．No one is expected to understand everything，and people have very different learning styles．

    2    He or she may be able to work with you before or after school and explain things more clearly．But what if you don't feel comfortable with your teacher？If so，you can speak to other teachers directly．    3    

You might also be able to get some help from other students． If there's a good student， think about asking that person if you can study together．    4    However，keep in mind that this might not get you the results you need．

Another option for extra help is a tutor， either on weekends，or in the evenings．You'll need to tell your parents about this because it costs money to hire a tutor．Tutors sometimes come to your home， but there are also tutoring centers across the country．    5    Tutors help review and further explain things taught in the classroom．The advantage of having a tutor is that it gives you the opportunity to ask questions directly and work at your own pace．

A．Naturally，this makes them hate a class and everything to do with it．

B．Working hard means you can succeed．

C．The first place to turn for help is your teacher．

D．This might help because you'll hear the information from your peers．

E．However，you may be refused in most cases as no one wants to help you．

F．Sometimes it just helps to have someone new explain something in a different way．

G．A tutor may have broad knowledge of many things or may be trained in just one subject．

4 . Three important changes that will affect people’s everyday life in the future.

The cashless society

Cash and bank notes will disappear almost completely. They will be replaced by smart cards with microchip(微芯片) “loaded” with some money. When we pay for goods, we will put our smart cards into a payment terminal(终端) and money will be transferred(转) from our cards to the retailer’s (零售商的) card. When all the money is used up, we will be able to “reload” it by inserting it into a telephone, dialing our bank account and putting money to the card from the account. If we want to transfer money from our cards to a bank account, we will use the same method. Smart cards will be able to hold several different currencies at the same time. So if we go abroad, we will be able to use our smart cards in the same way.

Interactive telephones

Human telephones will be replaced by talking computers. These computers will recognize speech, ask us what information we need, find the information and change it to speech. If we want to book a flight or pay a bill by phone, we will ask a talking computer to do it. Of course, this won’t happen until all the technology is in place, but when it is we will soon get used to using computers in this way.

____________________

Traffic congestion(拥挤) in cities will be reduced because drivers will use electronic maps to find the quickest way to their destinations and avoid traffic jams. Because people have to pay to drive in cities, they will stop using their cars and use public transport instead. Speed control systems will be built into cars. These systems will control the speed of the car according to the traffic and weather conditions and prevent accidents.

1. The underlined word “currencies” can be best replaced by ________.

A．cards

B．kinds of money

C．banks

D．telephones

2. The best title for the last paragraph can be “__________”.

A．Intelligent cars

B．Fewer traffic jams

C．Fewer traffic accidents

D．Cleverer drivers

3. Which of the following CANNOT be inferred from the passage?

A．Smart cards will be very important in the future.

B．Goods will be cheaper in the future.

C．Talking computers will do many daily things in the future.

D．Driving will be safer in the future.

5 . Welcome to Arundel Castle which is situated in West Sussex, England. The castle has a history of nearly 1000 years and has welcomed visitors traveling from all over the world. Arundel Castle also plays a starring role in many films.

The Gardens

The White Garden is planted with soft white Iceberg Roses, and Snow White Lilies.

The Rose Garden is newly planted with lovely old-fashioned English roses that are at their very best in June and July.

The Organic Kitchen Garden produces a wide range of seasonal fruit and vegetables, pears, cherries and apples.

The Castle Shop

In the Castle Shop, you will discover a wide and interesting range of gift ideas for everyone. It offers gifts and souvenirs designed to appeal to all tastes and pockets. Foods, china, books, and stationery (文具)are all available. Many are sold in this Castle Shop only.

At Arundel Castle we pride ourselves on supporting local suppliers and actively encourage environmentally friendly products.

The Arundel Festival 2014

Saturday 16th to Monday 25th August

The annual Arundel Festival gets bigger and better every year. It is one of the most amazing, diverse and easily accessible arts festivals in the UK, offering a mix of visual arts, music, theatre and street entertainment.

Parking

Coaches and mini-buses can drop off at the main Castle entrance in Mill Road and park in the main town car park that is opposite the Castle entrance. Please inform us when making your booking of how many parking permits are required.

1. When visiting the castle, you can___.

A．get old-fashioned English roses as gifts	B．see how the local gifts are being made
C．get seasonal fruit and vegetables for free	D．buy eco-friendly products in the Castle Shop

2. Where can you park the coach?

A．In Mill Road	B．Inside the Castle
C．In the main town car park	D．At the main Castle entrance

3. How long does the Arundel Festival last this year?

A．10 days

B．One week

C．16 days

D．One month

6 . The Indian movie Dangal(摔跤吧！爸爸) has become a huge hit in China. It has earned almost $170 million in China since its release there on May 5.

Much has been written about why Dangal has enjoyed such big success in China. Some people say one reason is the film’s star and producer, Aamir Khan. He is famous in India’s Bollywood film industry. Two of his earlier films were also big hits in China. But he is not the only reason. Media has pointed out how it shows similarities between parental systems in China and India.

Dangal is based on the true story of a man who enjoyed the sport of wrestling(摔跤). He competedas a wrestler, but never could realize his lifelong dream: winning a gold medal. As a father, he wanted his son to win the medal. But his wife only gave birth to daughters. So he finally decided to train them to be world-class wrestlers.

The movie is more serious than most Bollywood productions, which tell happy love stories and include colorful music and dance performances.

Edward Chan, a professor, says the strict way of parenting in the film is something people in China can easily relate to. “I think the father’s role described by the movie in India is quite similar to the culture, especially the traditional culture in China.”

The Chinese government-supported Global Times newspaper pointed that movie critics(评论家) in China did not like Dangal. Most of them agreed with the fact that the father in the film was forcing his daughters to become wrestlers. But the film Dangal is really aimed to educate children to work for their dreams.

1. What can we learn from the text?

A．Most films from Bollywood are serious.

B．Daughters perform worse in the sport than sons.

C．Indian parents’ roles are similar to those in China in some way.

D．The films produced by Aamir Khan are not popular with Chinese.

2. What’s the main reason for the father teaching his daughters to wrestle?

A．He loved them very much.	B．He wanted to punish them.
C．Few women took this sport.	D．He wanted them to realize his goal.

3. What do most Chinese movie critics agree?

A．The truth of the whole story is doubtful.

B．The father’s behavior in the film Dangal is cruel.

C．Indian films often have a bad influence on Chinese parents.

D．The film Dangal is against the Indian traditional culture.

4. What does the author think of Dangal?

A．It’s unknown.

B．It’s educational.

C．It’s unsuccessful.

D．It’s relaxing.

7 . Several recent studies examined how machine automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will change the future of work.

Some people predict these technologies could replace up to 30 percent of workers worldwide by 2030. The possibility of being replaced will greatly increase for workers with less education, said Price Waterhouse Coopers, an international company providing financial and tax services. It estimated(估计) that in Britain, up to 46 percent of workers without a college degree could be in danger because of automation. This would drop to about 12 percent for workers with undergraduate degrees or higher.

“New smart machines have the hidden power to replace our minds and to move around freely in the world,” the study said. It added that the greatest job replacement is expected to come in the areas of transportation, storage, manufacturing (制造业)and retail（零售）.

The Rand Corporation recently published its own report on the future effects of automation and AI on jobs and the workplace. Osonde Osoba was a co-author of the report. He noticed that fears over machines taking jobs from humans goes back centuries. He agrees there will be major job disruptions(混乱) because of AI and automation, especially for lower skilled workers. But he believes the future problems have been overestimated(高估) without historical evidence to support the predictions. “It’s not so much that the jobs are getting replaced, but it’s more like tasks are getting replaced and jobs are reconfiguring(重新装备) over time to account for that automation.” He added that it will be very difficult for companies to completely automate most jobs, because they request a worker to perform many different duties and to respond to unexpected situations.

“If you are thinking about detailed things an individual(个人) might do to prepare themselves, I guess being more adaptable and being able to reeducate yourself to fit into a different job.” Osonde Osoba suggests.

1. According to the whole passage, _________are most likely to lose their job?

A．scientists in laboratories	B．teachers in colleges and universities
C．milkmen in milk companies	D．officers in governments

2. Which of the following is RIGHT according to the passage?

A．Companies have completely automated most jobs for saving cost.

B．Humans have feared to be replaced by AI and automation.

C．The job replacement has come in transportation and retail.

D．People with high degrees get higher danger of losing jobs than those with no college degree.

3. What do you think is the best title of the passage?

A．Future workers: what to do to keep the job.

B．Job replacement: who is to blame.

C．Automation and AI: how to replace the future job.

D．New studies: why the future job is replaced.

8 . You know that overnight success usually takes at least 10 years? One man said, “My overnight success was the longest night of my life, I spent many days and nights just getting there.”    1       Many people are waiting for their ship to come in---when they’ve not even sent it out of the harbor(海港). You see, winners simply do what losers don’t want to do.     2     Success is mostly just hanging on after others have let go! So the most important trip you’ll make is when you go the extra mile.

Many people who have failed do not know how close they are to success when they give up.         3    One guy said, “The secret to success is to start from doing and to keep on doing.” So don’t give up because your trying times are hard.

    4     If we keep doing, we can gain almost anything we want. The American President Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing can bring success like persistence(坚持). Talent can’t, for there are many talented people who are not successful.     5       Only persistence and determination can give you the power to succeed.” You see, you can succeed just like anyone else, just keep wanting it enough and to keep working for it enough. So why not decide it today to start going the extra mile on the road to your success?

A．They don’t actually fail; they just give up too easily.

B．They made all the efforts without any results.

C．Remember, “Rome was not built in a day.”

D．Education can’t, for the world is full of educated losers.

E．And they keep doing it till they get the success they want.

F．Never forget, it is persistence that matters.

G．Give it all you’ve got and you can never fail.

9 . The Nobel Prize is considered one of the most recognizable and admirable awards possible, honoring people of the world for their outstanding achievements in different fields.

Alfred Nobel was born in 1833 to a family of engineers in Stockholm, Sweden. Nobel as a young man studied with Nikolai Zinin, a well-known chemist. In 1850, he met Ascanio Sobrero, the inventor of nitroglycerin (炸药) in Paris. Interested in its unpredictable nature of exploding under pressure or heat, Nobel started to find a way to control it and make a usable explosive(炸药). In 1857 he applied for his first patent (专利), an English patent for a gas meter. After years of efforts, in 1867, at the age of 34, Nobel invented dynamite(炸药), which is much easier and safer to control than nitroglycerin. Dynamite was an immediate business success and it was patented in the US and the UK and was widely used in mining.

During his lifetime, Nobel invented and patented various explosives. He built up his wealth from his 355 inventions, from which dynamite was the most important.

When Alfred’s brother Ludwig died in 1888, a French newspaper mistakenly published Alfred’s obituary (讣告). Reading his own obituary, Nobel was disappointed to find out his public image(形象). The newspaper strongly blamed(责备) Nobel for inventing dynamite, giving him the nickname of “the merchant of death” and saying “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”

To Alfred, this obituary was a warning. He spent his lifetime alone inventing things and was deeply concerned with how he would be remembered. This unfortunate event inspired him to make changes in his will(遗嘱), so as to improve his public image, and to be remembered for a good cause.

In 1895, one year before his death, Nobel made the last will, saying clearly that his wealth would be used to create a series of prizes for those who have made great contributions to mankind in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. To widespread astonishment, Dr. Alfred Nobel gave away 94% of his total wealth to found the five Nobel Prizes.

1. According to paragraph 2, what led to Nobel’s outstanding achievements?

A．The valuable help from his family.

B．The strong desire to make money.

C．His lifetime dream of achieving success.

D．His great curiosity and devotion to science.

2. What was Alfred Nobel’s attitude towards the newspaper’s obituary?

A．Upset.	B．Supportive
C．Optimistic	D．Satisfied

3. Why did Nobel give away most of his wealth to set up the Nobel Foundation?

A．To publish his findings of scientific research.

B．To improve his public image.

C．To be remembered as the “Merchant of Death”.

D．To prove the importance of his inventions.

10 . A good relationship between students and teachers makes the classroom a very inviting place.

When you like your teachers, it’s easier to pay attention to their explanations and improve your marks.     1    When your teachers consider you to be a friend, they’ll feel more open in class and that will probably influence the classroom in a positive way. Now here are some tips to develop a friendly relationship with your teachers:

Ask questions.    2    Show them that you’re interested in their subjects. That will make them notice you. But never ask questions that you already know the answers to. If your teachers realize that you are not asking real questions, they might think that you’re not actually trying to learn, but only trying to make an impression.

    3    When you see one of your teachers in the hall, greet him/her and ask if he/she is going to that concert or if he/she has seen that movie.    4    Some teachers don’t like to have friendly relationships with students, but most of them are happy to chat with their students. After a while, they may start to talk with you about non-school subjects in the classroom.

The rest is totally up to you; it is very easy to develop a friendly relationship with any of your teachers. If you want to be friends with your teachers, just treat them as friends, but don’t forget that no matter how good friends you are,     5    .

A．Talk about non-school subjects.

B．Choose the right subjects.

C．That way you’ll show that you consider him/her as a friend.

D．If you have any questions about that subject, ask them.

E．they will still be your teachers and deserve your respect.

F．we should obey whatever they ask and finish our homework on time.

G．When you consider your teachers as friends, you’ll certainly have more respect for them.