1 . A year back I received a full scholarship to attend the University of San Francisco. All of my hard work had paid off. My mom had spent a lot in my attending a private high school, so I made sure to push myself: I volunteered, joined different clubs, and graduated with honors.
I was so excited to start a new life. I had totally packed two weeks and wanted to go to college at once before it was time to leave.
Soon enough, the big day came, but it wasn’t like what I had thought. The first two weeks were the most difficult days of my entire life. Every night I would cry myself to sleep.
I was so homesick (想家) and I didn’t know how to deal with my broken heart. To distract myself, I threw myself into my studies and I applied for a lot of jobs. In any remaining free time, I started forcing myself to the gym. I wanted to keep every part of my day busy so I wouldn’t think how lonely I felt.
Soon after, I began to limit food, and then I became worse. Finally, I went to see a doctor. When the doctor weighed me, I was crazy about the number of my weight. So I continued to lower my goal, and convinced that controlling this number was the solution to my homesickness. But when I was told that I had no choice but to spend time on my studies. I quickly started recovery in my mind.
How could I do? I told myself that school was what I was best at. I decided to get rid of my homesickness and took exercise actively. My first term of college had passed by at last and I had gotten straight A’s. That’s why I want to share my story—to help other students feel less lonely.
1. How was the author during the two weeks before she left for the college?| A．She was as normal as before. |
| B．She couldn’t wait to leave for the college. |
| C．She was afraid to leave her home. |
| D．She didn’t enjoy her mother’s company. |
| A．Her weight. | B．Her diet. |
| C．Her homesickness. | D．Her bad study habit. |
| A．achieve my dream | B．earn money by myself |
| C．improve my studies | D．take my attention away |
| A．To look back at her past middle school life. |
| B．To help girls to lose weight. |
| C．To help lonely college students. |
| D．To increase her own confidence. |
Ali and his younger sister, Zahra, lived with their parents in a poor neighborhood. Their mother was very sick and their father was struggling to find a job, and they had only a little money with which to buy food. As they had not paid the rent for several months, the landlord was breathing down their necks.
One day, Ali took Zahra's shoes to a shoe repairman to be fixed, but he lost them on the way home. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized he had lost the shoes. He was afraid that his parents would be angry and disappointed, so he begged his sister to keep it a secret. Zahra agreed and the two decided to share Ali’s running shoes. Zahra's school hours were in the morning, so she would wear them first. After school, she would rush back and give them to Ali. He could then run to his school, which began in the afternoon. Although he ran as fast as he could, Ali often arrived late and was warned by the school.
Ali heard about a long distance race that was held for the boys in the city.When he learned that the third prize was a new pair of shoes, he decided to take part. He ran home excitedly and promised his sister that he would win her the new shoes.
The day of race arrived. Ali had a strong start, but halfway through the race he began to get tired and his legs began to ache. Getting more and more exhausted he thought only of Zahra and his promise to her. Dreaming of the new shoes he would win for his sister gave him strength, and he stayed right behind the two fastest runners, determined to finish third. Suddenly, as the finish line drew near, another runner collided(碰撞) with Ali from behind and he crashed to the ground.
Ali looked up and saw the other boys rushing ahead.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Filled with delight, Ali walked home quickly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . Some students get so nervous before a test. They do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock, a professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois, has studied these highly anxious test-takers. The students start worrying about the results. And when they worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources (资源).
Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.
The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short maths tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.
Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of 12% worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of 5%. Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test. Professor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B- for those who did not.
“What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who’d done our writing intervention (干预), all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and performance. They were performing just as well as their classmates who don’t normally get nervous in these tests.”
But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.
1. What may the students start worrying about before an exam?| A．Whether they can pass the exams. |
| B．What other students do during the test. |
| C．Whether they have remembered the materials. |
| D．What kind of problems they will meet on the test paper. |
| A．Asking the students to think nothing of the test. |
| B．Asking the students to focus on the test. |
| C．Asking the students to sit quietly before the test. |
| D．Asking the students to write about their worries before the test. |
| A．became less nervous before the test. |
| B．were better at controlling their feelings. |
| C．did worse than those who wrote about their feelings. |
| D．did better than those who took two tests. |
| A．Writing about worries before an exam can work a bit. |
| B．Studying in the library can improve students’ performance. |
| C．Students can only write about worries right before an exam. |
| D．It doesn’t matter where to write about worries before an exam. |
6 . Five Steps to Better Handwriting
Some kids love handwriting, but others hate when it’s time to put their pen to paper. Maybe they are worried about their handwriting. Are you one of them?
Get a great grasp
Try this — hold your pencil at the top and try to write your name. Pretty hard? But when you hold your pencil the correct way, writing is much easier.
Let the lines be your guide
Lined paper is your friend! Those lines can help you create letters that are the right size and proportion (均衡).
Slow down
If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. If you rush, it’s hard to control where you stop and start your letters.
Lower the pressure
Lots of games require you to write or draw pictures. So even though it’s not schoolwork, you’re still using the skills you need to control your pen better.
| A．Play games |
| B．Ask for more advice |
| C．So “a” should be half the height of a capital “A”． |
| D．You’ve been writing since you were a little kid. |
| E．Some kids press down really hard when they write. |
| F．The good news is that just about everyone can improve their handwriting. |
| G．The best way to hold a pen or pencil is to let it rest next to the base of your thumb. |
7 . Developing and maintaining healthy friendships involves give-and-take. Sometimes you’re the one giving support,
Be a good listener.
Show that you can be trusted. Being responsible, reliable and dependable is key to forming strong friendships.
Manage your nerves with mindfulness. You may find yourself imagining the worst of social situations, and you may feel tempted to stay home. Use mindfulness exercises to reshape your thinking. Each time you imagine the worst, pay attention to how often the embarrassing situations you’re afraid of actually take place.
Investing time in making friends and strengthening your friendships can pay off in better health and a brighter outlook for years to come.
| A．Value the time spent with friends |
| B．and more often you should receive |
| C．Create more opportunities with friends |
| D．Ask what’s going on in your friends’ lives |
| E．and other times you’re on the receiving end |
| F．Keep your appointments and arrive on time |
| G．You may notice what you fear usually doesn’t happen |
1. 多跟同学交流沟通；
2. 积极参加学校活动；
3. 向老师寻求帮助。
注意：1. 词数不少于90；
2. 可适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯；
3. 开头和结尾已给出, 不计入总词数。
10 . Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling (赌博) and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn’t listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was hardly sent away. After he came out of lockup (拘留所), he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him.
It was New Year’s Day. Mr. Lang didn’t go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn’t think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly opened the door and in came a few policemen.
“I saw there weren’t any policemen outside, daddy,” said the boy, “so I went to the crossing and asked some to come.”
1. Mr. Lang was paid much because _______.| A．he was a driver | B．he worked in a factory |
| C．he had a lot of work to do | D．he had worked there for a long time |
| A．she couldn’t find any work |
| B．she thought her husband was tired |
| C．her husband spent all time in gambling |
| D．she wouldn’t stop her husband gambling |
| A．he was hardly sent away by the factory | B．he wouldn’t stop gambling |
| C．he had been put into lockup | D．he didn’t love her any longer |
| A．The boy expected his father to be put into lockup again. |
| B．The boy thought his father needed some policemen. |
| C．The boy expected his father to stop gambling soon. |
| D．The boy expected his mother to come back. |
