1 . My first shopping in a general store was in Miss Bee’s when I spent the summer with my grandmother in New York.

“Go get them yourself” Miss Bee said, ignoring the shopping list held up before her nose. “I’m not your servant, so just get yourself a basket from that pile over there and start filing.”

It took me three wall-to-wall searches before I found the first item on my list―a pork can be placed between boxes of cereal and bread. Next up was toilet paper, found under the daily newspaper, and Band-Ads, found next to the face cream. The store was a puzzle, but it held some surprises too. I found a new Superman comic behind the peanut butter.

I visited Miss Bee a couple of times a week that summer. Some times she short-charged me. Other times she overcharged or sold me an old newspaper instead of a current one. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I left my Grandma’s house armed with my list—memorized to the letter—and marched into Miss Bee’s like General Patton (巴顿将军) marching into North Africa.

All summer long she found ways to trip me up. No sooner had I learned how to pronounce bicarbonate of soda (小苏打) and memorized its location on the shelf than Miss Bee rearranged the shelves and made me hunt for it all over again. By summer’s end, however, the shopping trip that had once taken me an hour was done in 15 minutes.

The morning I was to return to Brooklyn, I stopped into tell her that she was mean (刻薄的). To my amazement she laughed and said. “Well, I don’t care! Each of us is put on this earth for a reason. I believe my job is to teach every child I meet ten life lessons to help them. Think what you will, but when you get older you’ll be glad our paths crossed!”

I thought the idea was absurd until one day my daughter came to me with homework troubles.

“It’s too hard,” she said. “Could you finish my math problems for me?”

“If I do it for you, how will you ever learn to do it yourself?” I said.

Suddenly, I was back at that general store where I had learned the hard way totally up (结算) my bill along with the cashier. As my daughter went back to her homework, I wondered: Had Miss Bee really taught me something all those years ago? I took out some scrap paper and started writing.

1. Why did the writer spend a long time doing her first shopping in the general store?

A．She was too young to remember all the items on the list.

B．Miss Bee didn’t treat her kindly.

C．Her grandmother asked her to buy too many things.

D．The store was in disorder and she was not familiar with the shop.

2. What did the writer mean when comparing herself to “General Patton” in Paragraph 4?

A．She was well prepared and full of confidence.

B．Going shopping in the store was a challenge to her.

C．She was very aggressive, taking Miss Bee as the enemy.

D．Going shopping was so fun that it was like playing a war game.

3. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 6 probably suggest?

A．The writer would benefit from the experience of shopping in Miss Bee’s.

B．The writer would find shopping in Miss Bee’s store very interesting.

C．The writer would be happy to meet Miss Bee again later in life.

D．The writer would realize that Miss Bee could become her friend.

4. At the end of the story, the writer might write down the following EXCEPT         .

A．Don’t be so quick to judge other people

B．The best teacher isn’t only in school

C．Stick to your dream whatever happens

D．Things can be learned in daily routines

2 . Danone Portugal introduced a new yogurt named Juntos. For every pack of yogurt that a person bought, he would donate yogurt to a family in need. Danone had done its research. Increasingly, people say they want to buy from brands that give them a sense of purpose. Surely a yogurt that helped the needy would be appealing. But Juntos was a failure. Despite sinking millions into a marketing campaign, Danone pulled Juntos from the market only months after it was launched. Now the same product is simply marketed as a tasty yogurt.

What happened? To find the reason behind Juntos’ failure, Lawrence Williams and his colleagues did an experiment where they showed people some products and asked these people to pick one option. They reminded some to focus on the “purposeful and valuable” aspect while others were told to “enjoy themselves” and focus on “delight and pleasure.” They found that participants who prioritized meaning preferred the less expensive product when compared with people who put pleasure in the first place.

So why were meaning-seekers cheaping out? Lawrence Williams asked participants to explain their decision-making to find out. He learned that meaning-oriented people were not thinking about how the product they might buy could bring meaning to their lives. Instead, they were occupied with what else they could do with their money.

I am all for people making wise and strategic financial choices. But cheap products can create many problems. Inexpensive options often do not last as long as the higher-end ones. As a result, we shop more often, which is ultimately worse for our wallets. Plus, that spending pattern can do a greater damage to the environment. Thanks in part to fast fashion, people buy 60 percent more clothing today than they did 15 years ago. The fashion industry alone emits more greenhouse gases than international flights and maritime (海洋的) shipping combined.

So before you dive into your wallet for some deals, try not to fix only on what you are spending or saving. Think carefully about what you are buying, too.

1. What is the main reason for the failure of Juntos?

A．It ignored marketing strategies.	B．It priced itself relatively high.
C．It lacked a particularly good taste.	D．It focused on delight and pleasure.

2. What can be inferred about meaning seekers?

A．They frequent high-end stores.	B．They think products extend their lives.
C．They hesitate to make decisions.	D．They make more purchases with money.

3. How is Paragraph 4 mainly developed?

A．By giving some examples.	B．By listing numbers and data.
C．By explaining reasons.	D．By making some comparisons.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．Innovation: a Product’s Life	B．To Buy or not to Buy
C．Meaning seekers or Quality-pursuers	D．Fast Fashion: a Hit to Your Wallet

3 . The most important determining factor of success or failure—at work and in life—is self-awareness, the ability to understand who we are, how others see us, and how we fit into the world.

For millions of years, the ancestors of humans evolved painfully slowly. However, about 150,000 years ago there was an explosive development in the human brain where, among other things, we gained the ability to examine our own thoughts, feelings and behaviors, as well as to see things from another’s point of view. Not only did this transformation create the foundation for art, spiritual practices and language, but it came with a survival advantage for our ancestors, who had to work together in order to survive.

Though we may not face the same day-to-day threats to our existence, self-awareness is no less critical. There is strong scientific evidence that people who know themselves and how others see them are happier. They are smarter, superior students. They raise more mature children. They also tend to be more creative, confident and less aggressive.

But for most people it is easier to choose self-delusion (自我欺骗) rather than the cold hard truth. Our increasingly “me” focused society makes it easier to fall into this trap. Recent generations have grown up in a World obsessed with self-esteem (自负), constantly being reminded of their special qualities. Not only are our assessments often flawed (有缺陷), but we are usually terrible judges of our own performance and abilities—from leadership skills to achievements at school and work. What’s scary is that the least competent people are usually the most confident in their abilities.

How can we avoid this fate? We must work on two specific types of insight. Internal self-awareness is an inward understanding of our passions and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses and so on. And external self-awareness, knowing how others see you, means understanding yourself from the outside in.

For those looking to gain true insight, remember that other people often see us more objectively than we see ourselves and that self-examination can have hidden trap that make insight actually impossible.

1. The first three paragraphs mainly talk about _______.

A．the significance of self-awareness in human survival and advancement

B．the sharp contrast between self-awareness of today and the past

C．the necessity of a shift in self-awareness to satisfy the needs today

D．the intelligence gap between modern men and their ancestors

2. What’s the problem with “me” focused society nowadays?

A．People’s performance and abilities are overlooked.

B．Competent people tend to be unconfident of their leadership skills.

C．It’s difficult to obtain an objective assessment of ourselves.

D．Modern people fail to bring their special qualities into full play.

3. Which of the following is an example of external self-awareness?

A．You listen to the comments about you from others.

B．You are fully aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

C．You reflect your behaviors thoroughly every day.

D．You carefully compare your behavior with that of others.

4. In the last paragraph, the author suggests that we should _______.

A．develop true insight to judge people more objectively	B．try to avoid the trap set by others
C．gain more insight by means of self-examination	D．pay more attention to external self-awareness

4 . We all try to spend our days doing engaging things, but the reality is that there’s a lot of boring work which also must be done. Whether it’s washing the dishes, filing papers, entering data, or any of the countless dull yet critical tasks that keep our homes, organizations, and communities running, we all have less-than-exciting tasks we have to do. Of course it’s not always easy to get ourselves to stick to these tasks, even if we know we should. What does it take to persist (坚持) when work is boring?

Researchers have explored this question from many angles and studies have shown that people may persist longer when they monitor their progress, receive rewards, or when a task is made more fun. These findings have direct effects on how we design products and policies. For instance, companies are increasingly offering incentives to encourage employees to get more exercise, and managers are carrying out various game strategies to make employees’ work more fun.

Recent research by Harvard University, however, suggests that for tasks that don’t require a lot of attention, there may be a better approach. Researchers conducted a series of studies with over 2,000 participants and found that in many cases, people stop working on tasks earlier than expected not because they aren’t motivated enough, but because the tasks do not need enough attention.

Often, strategies designed to increase persistence will involve changing something about the work itself — but you can only make washing the dishes so exciting or mentally stimulating (振奋人心的). Rather than endlessly attempting to make boring tasks less boring, it can sometimes be more effective instead to pair these activities with other tasks that require more attention. This concept is called tangential immersion (切入式专注法).

Basically, the mind seeks to be engaged. We experience boredom when doing tasks that require less attention than we have available, and this leads us to quit those tasks too early. But if there is a second activity in which we can involve ourselves at the same time with the low-attention task, it can occupy that extra attention, reducing boredom and thus increasing persistence.

1. In what circumstance may people continue with a boring task?

A．When they feel motivated.	B．When they want to kill time.
C．When they are full of energy.	D．When they lack attention.

2. What does the underlined word “incentives” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Instructions.

B．Rewards.

C．Programmes.

D．Positions.

3. Why did the participants quit their tasks earlier than expected?

A．The tasks were beyond them.	B．The studies took too much time.
C．The tasks demanded less attention.	D．The participants were not devoted.

4. How can we focus on a boring task according to tangential immersion?

A．By making it more challenging.	B．By checking the progress repeatedly.
C．By refreshing the mind regularly.	D．By pairing it with a demanding one.

5 . Zhang Qian, an outstanding diplomat (外交官) and explorer in the Han dynasty, with a pioneering and adventurous________as well as a strong and unyielding character, was ________as the “pioneer of the silk road”,   “the first Chinese to open the eyes to see the world” and “the Columbus of the________”.

As early as 2,000 years ago, Zhang Qian was_________on a mission to seek allies (同盟国) in the west of China to________the enemies in northern tribes. Along the way, no matter how difficult the environment was, his________was firm. But soon Zhang was ________ by the Huns just as he left Han territory and was held prisoner for a dozen years.

After an eleven spring and autumn recycling, the Huns’________ became loose. Hence, Zhang ran away with his personal_________. They continued to travel west without any dry food and drinking water. Due to the excellent skill of shooting arrows, they ________ by eating birds and animals along the way. After several days, they ________ arrived in Amu Darya Area. However, people there enjoyed their life and didn’t want any war. Though Zhang didn’t finish his mission, he brought back precious_________ of the Western Regions.

Due to the________of Zhang Qian, the Silk Road started. Through his diplomatic practice, the bridge of friendly exchanges between the Han and western countries was________, and the cultural and economic exchanges between the cast and the west were promoted. Zhang’s journey to the Western Regions breathed new ________ into the civilization and progress of the whole world.

1.

A．will

B．spirit

C．team

D．tradition

2.

A．played

B．dressed

C．mistaken

D．honored

3.

A．north

B．east

C．south

D．west

4.

A．assigned

B．frozen

C．withdrawn

D．stuck

5.

A．compromise with

B．take over

C．fight against

D．learn from

6.

A．statement

B．position

C．faith

D．reputation

7.

A．captured

B．persuaded

C．threatened

D．challenged

8.

A．watch

B．atmosphere

C．investigation

D．requirement

9.

A．cattle

B．waitresses

C．cooks

D．guards

10.

A．surrounded

B．survived

C．sheltered

D．strengthened

11.

A．constantly

B．violently

C．extensively

D．eventually

12.

A．secrets

B．valuables

C．knowledge

D．slaves

13.

A．greed

B．wealth

C．effort

D．violence

14.

A．constructed

B．reformed

C．preserved

D．assessed

15.

A．smell

B．vitality

C．format

D．discipline

6 . Growing up in coastal Maine, Lynda Doughty spent lots of time out on the sea. There she _________ saw whales, seals, and other marine(海洋的) animals. She developed a love for the wildlife living along the coast.

“I remember being so _________ them and wondering what was happening in their life,” Doughty said.

She also _________ that their livelihood was influenced by pollution and other human-related activity. She wanted to do something to _________ these animals.

She _________ a marine biologist and worked with organizations that provided help for sick and injured sea animals. But as many nonprofits(非营利机构) closed their doors, Doughty decided to _________.

Since 2011, her nonprofit, Marine Mammals of Maine, has provided help and medical care for more than 3,000 sea animals.

When COVID-19 struck, they couldn’t afford to _________—the animals still needed their _________.

“We were so _________ of how we would survive as a nonprofit in uncertain times,” Doughty said. “Luckily, our team stood strong and we were able to __________ to help animals.”

When another New England-based marine animal rescue program stopped its animal care during COVID-19, Doughty’s work became more __________ than ever.

“We couldn’t __________ any animals to them and there was a shortage of rehabilitation(康复) places for animals. So, we were really __________ and there was more pressure for our center to stay __________,” Doughty said.

“I feel this strong __________ to help these animals,” Doughty said. “This is what I was put on this Earth to do.”

1.

A．almost

B．often

C．already

D．never

2.

A．surprised by

B．afraid of

C．sorry for

D．satisfied with

3.

A．proved

B．imagined

C．doubted

D．noticed

4.

A．protect

B．attract

C．train

D．keep

5.

A．met

B．promised

C．accepted

D．became

6.

A．set off

B．travel around

C．step in

D．give up

7.

A．go back

B．slow down

C．move on

D．come along

8.

A．information

B．experience

C．help

D．trust

9.

A．nervous

B．proud

C．tired

D．careful

10.

A．continue

B．learn

C．remember

D．begin

11.

A．dangerous

B．important

C．interesting

D．different

12.

A．introduce

B．return

C．show

D．bring

13.

A．controlled

B．encouraged

C．needed

D．impressed

14.

A．popular

B．open

C．healthy

D．silent

15.

A．responsibility

B．ability

C．reason

D．chance

7 . Food makes us believe that there is something worth fighting for. When we are hungry, food shows us how simple life can be so long as we have something nice to eat.     1    

1. Life is about taking risks. People always like to stick with things they are familiar with—doing the same thing all the time.     2     Step out of your comfort zone(舒适区).

2. Bad things happen so that we learn to appreciate (欣赏) good things.     3     Maybe it is okay to have “bad food” once in a while so that we will learn to appreciate good food. The same goes for life. If it wasn’t for the bad times, you wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate just how wonderful the good times are.

3. It is very important to manage expectations. You went to try a restaurant after reading about it, and it wasn’t as good as it was described. Was the food really bad? Or was the chef having a bad day?     4     Taste is subjective, so you really need to learn how to manage your expectations.

4. If there’s something you’ve always wanted to do, Do IT. There are some restaurants that you’ve always wanted to visit, but put off because you think that they will always be there.     5     But we forget there is only a limited number of tomorrows in this life. If you’ve always wanted to do something, do it now.

A．Don’t be too quick to judge.

B．Make sure you understand the full picture.

C．Food has a lot of things to teach us about life.

D．No, I think opinions on good differ from person to person.

E．Most people are not very adventurous when it comes to food.

F．In life, we wait too much and believe there is always a tomorrow.

G．We sometimes eat in a very bad restaurant that serves bad food.

8 . Spaghetti bolognese (意大利肉酱面) appeared to me during a Year 8 home science lesson. Our home teacher told the class to tie back our hair and start cutting the vegetables into pieces. Spaghetti bolognese made a world of difference to mealtimes.

This meal became a weekly food at our house - especially since the job of making spaghetti Bolognese fell to me or one of my three sisters, giving my mother a break from cooking. But finding that this “Italian” food was mouth-wateringly delicious and could be made in our own kitchen, wasn’t just happening at our house. In many places around the world, people were discovering just how delicious Italian food could be.

So by 2014, a survey done by the Germany-based company Apetito found that spaghetti bolognese was the third most popular dish eaten in their workplace cafeterias (自助餐厅). And in 2018, research in Britain to find out how new diets were changing what families ate at mealtimes, commissioned(委托) by British cooking appliance-maker Belling, discovered that spaghetti bolognese had won the competition and was the all-time favourite meal of Brits. “It has been interesting to see dishes, which we now consider very closely connected with family mealtimes, rising from relative unknown dishes, like everyone’s favourite spag bol, to take the top place,” said a Belling spokesperson at the time. This Italian favourite isn’t just popular in the West. In the 1980s, spaghetti bolognese was getting a workout in Malaysian home kitchens, according to chopinandmysaucepan. com, and is still often found on the menu of many local restaurants there.

However, not all Italians love what we’ve done to their cultural cuisine. Many pasta lovers rail at the idea that spaghetti bolognese is the same dish as ragù alla Bolognese, as it is known in Italy, or that it in fact comes from Bologna. In 2019, the then Bolognese mayor, Virginio Merola, started a debate on Twitter saying that it was not true that spaghetti bolognese originated from his great city. They believe the sauce should not be served with spaghetti.

1. What purpose does the first paragraph serve?

A．To give suggestions on meals.

B．To remember a teacher.

C．To make a comparison.

D．To bring up the topic.

2. How was the spaghetti bolognese in the author’s family?

A．It was hated by his mother.

B．It became a common dish.

C．It was an unaffordable dish.

D．It made him interested in cooking.

3. What did both the survey in 2014 and the research in 2018 find?

A．Spaghetti bolognese was as acceptable in the West as it was in Malaysia.

B．Spaghetti bolognese totally changed people’s eating habits.

C．Spaghetti bolognese was unknown to most families.

D．Spaghetti bolognese had become popular.

4. What can the underlined words “rail at” in the last paragraph be best replaced by?

A．Speak out against.	B．Come up with.
C．Believe in.	D．Toy with.

9 . Middle school students in Valdosta are learning the importance of agriculture.

Lowndes County Extension agent (代理人) Joshua Dawson, helped seventh-grade students attending J. L. Newbern Middle School build raised bed plant boxes to grow crops. Dawson’s work with the school gardens began in 2014 as a part of the Valdosta School Garden and Orchard Project. Through support from local businesses and members of the community, it is used to introduce Valdosta elementary and middle school students to gardening and agriculture.

Some of the crops grown in the gardens include sweet potatoes, collards, carrots and kale. The harvested (收获的) produce is served by the schools’ dining rooms during lunch and students are allowed to take produce home depending on the harvest size.

Helping Dawson with the gardens are members of the local Master Gardener program. With his daily responsibilities as a County Extension agent, Dawson depends heavily on their support. “Without the Master Gardeners, I don’t know if any of this would be possible. They look after the gardens and work with the teachers more closely than I, and provide necessary feet on the ground for a lot of things,” Dawson said.

At the beginning, the students expressed worries about working in the garden, but Dawson said those doubts disappeared quickly. “I like watering the plants and working with the soil” said Anthony Aikens, a seventh-grader Anthony, who said his favorite subject is science, wants to be a zoologist or a full-time gardener when he grows up.

Dr Elena Ponder, principal of J. L. Newbern Middle School, said this project has attracted many students. She said working in the garden provides students with a cross-curriculum (交叉课程) where they apply different skills to solve problems. “Once you plant a garden, you have to attend to that garden. That shows you have the work ethic (职业道德), patience and time to put into something. That will translate into work-related skills they can apply to jobs in the future,” she said.

1. What is the purpose of the Valdosta School Garden and Orchard Project?

A．To serve students healthy lunches with home-grown vegetables.

B．To share the latest agricultural information with local farmers.

C．To let students know more about gardening and farming.

D．To build new school gardens in Valdosta.

2. How do the Master Gardeners support Dawson?

A．By introducing him to Dr. Elena Ponder.

B．By helping him take care of the gardens.

C．By training him in gardening.

D．By raising money for him.

3. What was the students’ attitude to the project at first?

A．Doubtful.

B．Supportive.

C．Uninterested.

D．Hopeful.

4. What did Dr. Elena Ponder say about the project?

A．It has changed public opinion on the agricultural industry.

B．It is beneficial to students’ future development.

C．It took up too much of students’ study time.

D．It needs more public attention

10 . Growing up, Steph Clemence didn’t live in any one place for long because her mother was always on the move. By the time she was a senior in high school, Steph had lived in 25 places. Still, she had good grades and thought she would be going to college. But when her father died in a car accident, leaving her mother to support three daughters, paying for college was out of the question.

Steph found a job and tried to work out what to do with a life that had deviated(偏离) from the plan she’d carefully laid out.

The answer came one afternoon when she was cleaning her drawer (抽屉) and found a handout titled “Mrs. Clark’s Book List.” It was from the English teacher she’d had in her junior year at McKenzie High School in Vida, Oregon. One afternoon, Mrs. Clark walked into the classroom carrying a pile (摞) of handouts. She asked each student to take one. It could be a road map, she said. “Some of you mightn’t go on to higher education,” Mrs. Clark said, “but you can continue to learn.” She’d spent months creating a list of 153 books from the United States and abroad.

Steph studied the list. And so it began. “I was hopeful and decided to improve myself,” Steph says. “I would read every book in the order they appeared.”

Over the years, the reading list was a constant (不变的事物) in her life, traveling with her even on vacations. When the original (原先的) list wore out, she typed up a new copy. And then another.

Now Steph is 70, and she never did get to college. But she has only four books left to read from the list. She expects to finish them sometime in 2023. “Each of the books has added something to who I am and how I see the world,” she says. “They’ve opened so many doors for me about the environment, history, etc. I’m no expert, but I now have the background to see why things happened and what they might mean.”

1. What did Steph dream of doing as a senior in high school?

A．Going to college.

B．Landing a good job.

C．Making a lot of money.

D．Traveling around the world.

2. What did Steph realize after seeing Mrs. Clark’s Book List?

A．She loved reading so much.

B．She had almost forgotten her goal.

C．She had been living a meaningless life.

D．She could continue to learn even without school.

3. What can we learn about 70-year-old Steph?

A．She has made it to college.

B．She hopes to write her own books.

C．She has almost read all the books on the list.

D．She plans to create a new reading list for herself.

4. How does Steph feel about reading books?

A．It has made a difference to her.

B．It allows her to become an expert.

C．It is a habit everyone should develop.

D．It has become the main part of her life.