1 . The middle child, I think, is now an “endangered species”. According to a study, in 1976,65 percent of mothers between aged 40 and 44 had three or more children. Today, nearly two-thirds of women with children have only one or two. Middle children will soon be the tiniest.
As a middle child, I am disappointed at the potential disappearance of middle children. I’m the middle of three—two boys, one girl—so I’m what’s sometimes regarded as a “classic middle child”.
Being a middle child is not something you are eager for. As one middle child said to me, “There is a thing called middle-child syndrome (综合征). I certainly was always aware that the middle was not a position to be admired, even as I came to see typical middle-child features in myself. Middle children are natural mediators (和事佬); I avoid disagreements and habitually act as the family peace-maker. Middle children tend to be private but also long for love; I keep to myself but do not exactly hate attention.”
According to studies, middles traditionally receive less economic and emotional support from their parents. They also typically have less close relationships with their mothers and fathers compared with other brothers or sisters, so they tend to have more friends to fill the feeling gap.
In a study conducted by the City College of New York in which participants were asked to choose words they associate with the first, last, and middle kids, positive words such as caring and ambitious were cited concerning all three birth orders. Only middles, however, were described with such negative terms as overlooked and confused. More importantly, middles may be many things and they were the only birth order with which no one connected the term “overindulged”. It is true: their parents couldn’t allow them to do or have whatever they want, especially when they are enough old, and they don’t ask for everything either even if they are eager to own it occasionally.
1. Why does the author mention the study in paragraph 1?| A．To inform a definition. |
| B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To make a comparison. |
| D．To support his opinion. |
| A．It is dangerous for middles to suffer from it. |
| B．It clearly shows the typical features of middles. |
| C．It is what non-middle kids admire and wish for. |
| D．It is the result of the unsuccessful parenting style. |
| A．John, 3, asking his mother for dressing him. |
| B．Mary, 8, busy in focusing on her preference. |
| C．Paul, 12, unwilling to have breakfast by himself. |
| D．Nancy, 17, afraid to challenge the math problems. |
| A．They are always in low spirits. |
| B．They stress the protection of privacy. |
| C．They are ignored but independent. |
| D．They support the family economically. |
2 . It was the third time that Lucy and her 30-year-old son Bob had participated in Run for Inclusion. It’s a mass run event organized by local non-profit group Runninghour to raise
When Lucy first heard about the event, she
This year, Bob participated in the 20km tandem (双人自行车) cycle. Lucy took part as well but was
It’s something she has been
Lucy
Getting
“Never give up on your journey,” she
| A．popularity | B．awareness | C．effort | D．service |
| A．got by | B．came back | C．signed up | D．caught on |
| A．close | B．sensitive | C．available | D．clear |
| A．armed | B．connected | C．mixed | D．paired |
| A．barely | B．occasionally | C．constantly | D．instantly |
| A．doing | B．admiring | C．benefiting | D．struggling |
| A．defended | B．supported | C．instructed | D．observed |
| A．magic | B．appeal | C．preference | D．highlight |
| A．predicts | B．expects | C．believes | D．imagines |
| A．attached | B．exposed | C．compared | D．introduced |
| A．trapped | B．skilled | C．interested | D．involved |
| A．integrate | B．break | C．fall | D．slide |
| A．part | B．favour | C．honour | D．wonder |
| A．warns | B．reminds | C．informs | D．encourages |
| A．avoid | B．regret | C．miss | D．mind |
3 . Growing up, Kelsie Dolin’s grandmother always encouraged her to try new things.
The two of them were especially
One way that her grandmother tried to
For Kelsie, just getting to the audition would mean experiencing a lot of
Kelsie
| A．close | B．attractive | C．different | D．warm |
| A．how | B．why | C．when | D．where |
| A．set off | B．turned up | C．passed away | D．fell down |
| A．request | B．push | C．advise | D．carry |
| A．dance | B．talk | C．create | D．sing |
| A．try | B．test | C．sense | D．look |
| A．pain | B．anger | C．fear | D．sadness |
| A．describe | B．notice | C．realize | D．imagine |
| A．Secretly | B．Frequently | C．Obviously | D．Finally |
| A．as | B．on | C．over | D．away |
| A．problems | B．firsts | C．styles | D．regrets |
| A．supported | B．provided | C．impressed | D．thanked |
| A．nervous | B．tired | C．amazed | D．curious |
| A．examination | B．explanation | C．achievement | D．encouragement |
| A．played | B．written | C．prepared | D．heard |
1. What is Julia doing?
| A．Making an appointment. | B．Offering suggestions. | C．Expressing her thanks. |
| A．This Thursday. | B．Next Monday. | C．Next Tuesday. |
| A．Colleagues. | B．Mother and son. | C．Doctor and patient. |
6 . Some of us regret that we no longer have parents to serve after their passing away (去世). Then why not pay more attention to them when they were
A few days ago, when I went to a park for my evening walk, I came across an old couple sitting on a bench and talking to each other. Feeling a bit tired after a long way, I’m
Every sentence they said to each other conveyed to me their desire, their loneliness and their selfless
To achieve our goals and purposes we tend to care
What has the life of these parents become now? Most of them are staying in old houses and leading a
Finally, I would like to use a few words written by a wise man which say, “When you were
| A．asleep | B．alone | C．awake | D．alive |
| A．scared | B．curious | C．excited | D．afraid |
| A．place | B．time | C．goal | D．topic |
| A．remember | B．feel | C．learn | D．explain |
| A．gained | B．left | C．reminded | D．limited |
| A．hope | B．praise | C．friendship | D．love |
| A．independent | B．responsible | C．selfish | D．obvious |
| A．little | B．much | C．greatly | D．more |
| A．missed | B．denied | C．promised | D．protected |
| A．practical | B．modern | C．peaceful | D．lonely |
| A．suggest | B．believe | C．forget | D．hear |
| A．world | B．organization | C．team | D．class |
| A．honest | B．old | C．small | D．brave |
| A．filled | B．covered | C．supported | D．compared |
| A．work | B．date | C．order | D．reach |
One Saturday morning, Jeremy woke up to a quiet house. Usually, Mom was awake making breakfast and cleaning the kitchen, but not today. At the sound of his mom coughing, Jeremy knocked on her bedroom door and asked with great concern if she was okay. “Honey,” Mom said weakly. “I have a terrible cold. You can have cereal (燕麦) for breakfast and watch cartoons. I’m going to stay in bed.”
Jeremy poured some cereal into a bowl and ate the pieces dry. Mom must feel very bad if she was staying in bed all day. How could Jeremy help? First, he wiped up the crumbs of cereal he left on the kitchen counter. He also put away the cereal box neatly, so the kitchen looked just as it did when he woke up. But what else could he do? Jeremy thought. Saturday was the day when mom did some washing. Jeremy loved to watch the clothes spinning in the machine. That should be fun! He ran to his room to get the clothes basket, inside which there was his mother’s favorite white dress, among other clothes and a pair of red socks.
Jeremy opened the door to the washer and put the clothes inside. He had watched Mom do the washing lots of times, so he knew where to find the washing powder and how to pour it into the machine. Finally, he closed the door and pressed the big button that said “START.” Jeremy looked through the round glass window. Water was pouring in, and the machine was starting to spin, making his clothing tumble around. That was easy!
Jeremy watched cartoons until he heard the washing machine beep. That meant the washing was done. Jeremy opened the door to take out the damp clothes. He took out a few at a time and moved them into the dryer. Everything seemed clean, and Jeremy felt proud. Then he pulled out a pink dress.
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。
But he remembered there was no pink dress in the clothes basket.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Holding the pink dress, Jeremy dragged himself towards his mom’s bedroom.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
Catherine was the coolest kid in her class. Whenever she went, she was in the spotlight, with a bunch of kids following her and doing everything she did.
Her deskmate, Landy, however, was not in the cool kids’ group. Being the tallest kid in her class, she was teased by her classmates, who were always chanting “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti (意大利面 )”. Every time Landy heard those silly chants, she could feel her face burst into flames. God knew how she wished the ground to crack and swallow her!
Catherine didn’t really like it when the kids chanted “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti”. But she never told them to stop either, and nor did she ever talk to her. She liked being popular.
One weekend, Catherine went over to her grandfather for Thanksgiving. Her grandfather lives on a farm at the opposite end of town, where he keeps chickens. While helping to feed the chickens, Catherine noticed a peculiar one. Curling in the corner, it looked smaller than the others and was almost half-bare!
“What’s the matter with it?” She asked her grandfather, with a puzzled frown on her face. Her grandfather told her how chickens could act. “They have a pecking (啄) order,” he explained, wrinkles of concern spreading around his forehead. “If one chicken is different, the others will push it away and keep pecking it. Sometimes they peck it so much that it dies.”
“Oh, what a poor little thing!” Catherine let out a sigh as she scooped the frightened chicken up in her arms, whose heart was beating fast in the bony little body. Suddenly, she thought of Landy, the girl being “pecked” by her classmates. “I’m going to take it home and take good care of it,” she said with a determined look.
Back in school, Catherine told the cool kids about the chicken. “It’s looking healthy,” she said proudly. “It’s fatter and its feathers are growing. Even the cat likes it. She carries it around the garden, and...” Everyone was entertained by Catherine’s story of her lovely chicken, laughter lingering around the classroom.
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。
Paragraph 1. Then Catherine spotted Landy sitting by herself in a corner.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2. But Catherine walked directly toward Landy, regardless of what they said.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
My sister Tina and I are very different. I'm a just simple-minded girl, at least in her eyes, while she is literally the symbol of perfection. When I was young I wanted to be like her. If she wore her hair in a new style one day, I would do the same with mine the following day. I always tried to follow her and her friends around and begged to be included, but her life didn't really have much space for a bothersome two-year-younger sister. Over time, my admiration for her had turned into indifference. Living in the same apartment as strangers, we barely spoke to each other.
I even felt relieved in secret when she informed me this year that she would be spending eight months studying abroad. I assumed I'd use her video player and wear the dresses she left behind. That was the only way l thought her leaving would affect me.
I sat in my room that first evening after she departed and tried to concentrate on my homework. However, I couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was wrong, or something was missing. I looked around the apartment and everything was the same. But it was so silent that I could hear my own breathing. I went to Tina's room. Both her video player and her talk on the phone with her friends were absent. When I sat down on her bed, I became sharply aware of how different my life was without her. Even though we didn't always talk, just having her there made me feel secure.
Sitting there, I looked back at the wasted years and regretted trying to live my own life and overlooking hers. I felt particularly bad because I had not even given her a hug before she boarded her plane, and that made my heart ache.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
As the night went on, I decided to do something to make it up.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
For a long time there was nothing but silence on the other end of the line.
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10 . Another person’s enthusiasm — the strong wish and interest to do everything, was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved. That person was my stepmother.
I was nine years old when she entered our home in the countryside of Virginia. My father introduced me to her with these words: “I would like you to meet the fellow who is well known for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no later than tomorrow morning.”
My stepmother walked over to me, raised my head slightly upward, and looked at me right into my eyes. Then she looked at my father and replied, “You are wrong. This is not the worst boy at all, but the smartest one who hasn’t yet found a way to give out his enthusiasm.”
That statement began a friendship between us. No one had ever called me smart, my family and neighbors had built me up in my mind as a bad boy. My stepmother changed all that.
She changed many things. She persuaded my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors. She moved our family into the county centre, where my father’s career could be more successful and my brother and I could be better educated.
When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand typewriter and told me that she believed that I could become a writer. I knew her enthusiasm, and I saw how it had already improved our lives. I accepted her belief and began to write for local newspapers and finally reached the goal she set for me. I wasn’t the only beneficiary. My father became the wealthiest man in town. My brother and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president.
1. What’s the following is right before the author’s stepmother came into his life?| A．People had noticed his cleverness. |
| B．His father had been away from home for a long time. |
| C．He knew how to show his enthusiasm properly. |
| D．He was considered a rude boy with wild behaviors. |
| A．She praised him from the bottom of her heart. |
| B．She gave some writing lessons to him at home. |
| C．She moved the family into the centre of the county. |
| D．She planned the future for each family member. |
| A．There were other boys who behaved as badly as he did. |
| B．His stepmother bought typewriters for other family members, too. |
| C．Not only he but also his family gained from his stepmother’s enthusiasm. |
| D．Other family members’ enthusiasm has great effects on his stepmother. |
| A．Enthusiasm, a Power for Success | B．Enthusiasm, a Challenge for All |
| C．Enthusiasm, a Gift from my Father | D．Enthusiasm, a Tradition in Families |
