1 . An extreme sport like BMX (Bicycle Motocross) may not be the first thing that comes to mind to help overcome a mental health condition. However, that is
As a child, Ducarroz spent every
The tale began when a BMX video on YouTube inspired her to try the extreme sport. She saved up for a bike. Then she began practicing
“The bike made me get out of the house, go to the skate park, and
The 26-year-old is now one of the world’s best female BMX freestylers. Ducarroz now has her
Though she still suffers occasional
“MindTricks started because of my own
| A．precisely | B．automatically | C．roughly | D．temporarily |
| A．expectant | B．boring | C．spare | D．urgent |
| A．slight | B．mild | C．occasional | D．severe |
| A．end | B．fulfill | C．measure | D．resist |
| A．put off | B．ate away | C．took over | D．slowed down |
| A．concepts | B．tricks | C．facilities | D．models |
| A．confidence | B．muscle | C．patience | D．fortune |
| A．likely | B．hesitant | C．ready | D．effortless |
| A．slowly | B．abruptly | C．swiftly | D．eventually |
| A．blocked | B．pushed | C．left | D．hooked |
| A．luck | B．sight | C．standard | D．training |
| A．panic | B．heart | C．delight | D．annoyance |
| A．carefully | B．privately | C．safely | D．humbly |
| A．appearance | B．medals | C．posts | D．choices |
| A．ashamed | B．reserved | C．collapsed | D．enlightened |
Nature, while beautiful, could also be unpredictable and merciless. But most importantly we bear in mind that in the darkest times, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, just like Mrs. Evans‘ cabin light.
One bright summer day, my friend Peter and I decided to venture into the unexplored trails of the Great Smoky Mountains. Blessed with rich biodiversity and fascinating landscapes, the national park seemed a perfect getaway. Little did we know that our casual hike would soon turn into an unexpected personal incident, forever engraved in our memories.
We set off early in the morning, equipped with our backpacks and a map that was supposed to guide us through the winding trails. The sun was up, casting long shadows on the forest floor as we set off on our journey. We trekked (艰难行走), laughed, and marveled at the beauty of nature around us.
As we trekked through the dense forests, taking in the natural wonders around us, we couldn’t help but feel a sense of adventure coursing through our veins. The trail was rugged and uneven, but we persevered through the challenging landscape.
Midway through our expedition, we stumbled upon a breathtaking waterfall, its glistening waters cascading down the rocks in a quiet and peaceful melody. We sat down by the water’s edge, taking a moment to get lost in the beauty of nature. The cool mist from the waterfall enveloped us, and we felt refreshed and energetic.
As the day wore on, we ventured deeper into the wilderness, eager to explore every corner of this natural paradise. We were so absorbed in the beauty of nature that just didn't notice our way and it seemed that we could not find the way back to the familiar part of the forest. Panicking, we scrambled to find our way back but the dense vegetation and winding trails only served to confuse us further. We tried to remember any possible signs that might lead us back, No sooner had we celebrated our return to the clear trails than something worse happened.
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。
Para.1:Suddenly, the weather took an abrupt turn.
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Para.2:Just when we were about to give up, a faint light flickered in the distance
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Living in the shadow of my two elder sisters at college who already had their lives planned out since they were little, I was always undecided about everything. As a teenager, I was fickle (反复无常的). I would like one thing for a week and then hate it the next. But I was constantly searching for the beginning of the rainbow. Changing my dream from a vet to an astronaut, I thought there were various options available to me. However, my parents would shake their heads and repeatedly asked me such questions as, “Why can’t you be more like your sisters? What are you going to do with your life? Aren’t you interested in anything at all?” After a couple of shrugs (耸肩), my parents usually stopped talking. I was not sure if they gave up or anticipated my dull reactions. I often responded, “I couldn’t answer all of your questions now.”
Actually, my parents just had high expectations that never seemed to be fulfilled. Plus, like other parents, they just wanted to give the best to me and expected me to achieve success. The arguments with my parents seemed childish. One day, my mother made her thoughts clear, “Your grades aren’t high enough. No schools are going to want you, dear. We didn’t pay so much money for nothing.” Hesitating for a while, I said, “No matter what you say, I believe I will enter a good college.” Still, I let my emotions control myself.
Certainly, I had never planned not to go to college. After another debate with my mom, I decided to make a change. No longer would I sit back and let my parents mistake me for a bad boy. It was time to take action.
I knew it was a crucial year at high school. Releasing my feelings, I began to collect all the knowledge I had learned and review it with all my heart. I didn’t argue with my parents any more, but instead turned to my sisters for help and tried my best to study. Finally, I took the national college entrance examination with ease and confidence.
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。
A few days later, I received a call from my school, saying my college acceptance letter had arrived.
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My parents excitedly said behind me, “Well, open the envelop!”
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要求：
1.100词左右(开头已给出，不计入总词数)；
2.文中不得出现真实人名和校名。
My First Try
When it comes to the topic of “My First Try”,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . Football star Jason Brown retired abruptly from the NFL(美国国家橄榄球大联盟) in 2012 in order to deal with something bigger than anything he’d faced on a football field：sweet potatoes.
Brown，then 29，moved with his wife，Tay，and their children from Missouri，where he’d played with the St.Louis Rams，back home to North Carolina，where he bought 1,000 acres in Louisburg.Overnight，he went from a football star to a family farmer.“For most people，it doesn’t make sense—why would you leave an awesome NFL career?” he says.
But Brown wasn’t going to become just any farmer.He would give away nearly everything he grew.“I didn’t feel I was just supposed to use my millions to buy food and donate it.I had to be out there doing the work and leading the way，” he says.
This radical step came to him one day when he was struck by a feeling that he had a purpose beyond sports.“Farming chose me;it was my calling in life，” he says.
Only one problem：Jason didn’t know the first thing about farming.So he did what all beginners do today—watched videos on the Internet.Then he partnered with another local farmer that helped him plant fields of sweet potatoes.He named his land First Fruits Farm.
In the early fall of 2014，the first harvest was ready.Fifty pickup trucks arrived at the farm and loaded up 120,000 pounds to distribute locally.In 2015，First Fruits Farm expanded its sweet potato donations to food banks across eastern North Carolina.
Jason uses his unusual story to show local youth what it takes to grow food from start to finish.“They get food that doesn’t just magically appear in the grocery store or restaurants，” he says.
1. What did most people think of Brown’s decision to retire from the NFL?| A．They weren’t satisfied with it. |
| B．They couldn’t understand it. |
| C．They were worried about it. |
| D．They disapproved of it. |
| A．Easy. | B．Slow. | C．Great. | D．Careful. |
| A．From books. |
| B．From the Internet. |
| C．By practicing on a local farm. |
| D．By attending beginner training classes. |
| A．Brave and generous. |
| B．Proud and determined. |
| C．Ambitious and sensitive. |
| D．Considerate and optimistic. |
6 . Nearly five years ago, I booked a retreat (僻静处) to work on my book, Tracking Wonder. I knew I worked best with limited distraction, but when I finally was able to carve time away from the world to do this creative work, I found it very difficult to focus.
Ⅰ. Reboot(重启) your mental health.
Just as our muscles need rest days between workouts to grow stronger, our minds need periods of idleness to process the world around us.
Innovators in times of crisis and adversity actually grant themselves space to be bored and daydream deliberately. This kind of daydreaming can lead to positive mental feelings of hope, renewal, and forward motion, but it requires boredom and space.
Ⅱ.
The capacity to be bored and the capacity to be creative go hand in hand. Want to increase your creativity?
Ⅲ. Reconnect with what matters to you.
These days, current events—and the resulting analysis, opinions, and Twitter hot takes—come at us so quickly that it’s difficult to process one issue before the next takes its place.
| A．Become more creative. |
| B．I completely lacked creativity. |
| C．Here are three ways to release your creativity. |
| D．The answer may not be more stimulation, but less. |
| E．Reach for our phones to check a fact during a conversation. |
| F．Learning to let yourself be bored can have three surprising benefits. |
| G．But to truly be an informed citizen, you need to allow time for idleness. |
7 . When I was in my early teens, I was a huge fan of a local band. I saw them play many times, bought plenty of their posters and records, and was excited when I met them after shows. But as they grew and received more attention from the industry, they started making changes to their music. The rough edges(小缺点)that made them stand out were smoothed over. There wasn’t much left that I connected with. I watched as a band I loved turned into something I could hardly recognize.
I didn’t know much about the music industry at the time, but it was clear to me that they were taking a huge risk. Many artists, understandably, think they will find more commercial success by eliminating any aspect of their music or image that someone might find objectionable(令人反感的). However, what is unobjectionable is also unremarkable.
My experience made me think about what makes someone fall in love with a song or a band. It’s different for everyone, I’m sure, but I think one of the key factors that make an artist connect with a fan is realness. When artists write what they think people want to hear instead of what they want to express, they are missing out on points of connection that can turn a casual(偶然的)listener into a super fan.
This experience also made me think about what role I wanted to play in the music industry. I knew by then that I didn’t have the talent to be an artist myself. But I loved learning about the music industry. I loved doing research on what makes an artist successful and why. When I listened to a new artist or saw a band play, I wanted to find out what made them special, protect it, and share it with the world. I eventually figured out that managers are the ones who are in the best position to achieve that.
1. How did the author feel when the band he loved changed its style?| A．He was upset. | B．He was carefree. |
| C．He was hopeful of their success. | D．He was confused about the reason. |
| A．Making up for. | B．Getting rid of. | C．Making use of. | D．Getting used to. |
| A．Having great talent. | B．Being true to themselves. |
| C．Writing songs people like. | D．Communicating with listeners. |
| A．A pop singer. | B．A band director. | C．An artist manager. | D．An educational researcher. |
My efforts to learn, read, write and speak English have been a significant challenge in my life. When I first came to the United States from Hong Kong about 12 years ago, I could barely communicate in English. Today, although I still have much to learn, I realize I have made a good amount of progress in my years abroad.
I grew up in a small village in China, where no one I knew spoke English. I wasn’t exposed to English or any other language through books, magazines or TV. Only when I later went to study in Hong Kong, was I exposed to American and Western culture through movies, music and other media. Although English is common in Hong Kong due to its history, I still couldn’t speak, read or write much after graduating from high school.
In my early 20s, I decided to move to New York City and I was determined to make a new life for myself there. However, I didn’t want to end up speaking my native language because I knew that learning English was very important if I wanted to be successful in this new country. New York seemed like another world and without speaking much English it was even more difficult to make friends.
I didn’t have a teacher at first, so I tried every way I could to learn the language. One way that was very useful was listening to the radio and watching TV, mostly news. I tried to speak like the people I heard on TV. They spoke more clearly and it was easier to understand than the English I heard people speaking in my neighborhood. I picked up one word at a time, and looked them up in the dictionary. I would also try to write down the words and remember them. I made a goal of learning at least 20 new words every day.
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。
After a while I made friends.
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Thinking back on the ways I have learned English over the years, I have something to say.
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