1 . When Schauna Austin was 20 years old, she lost her husband in a car crash. Unable to raise a baby alone, she made a difficult decision during pregnancy — to place her baby for adoption. She gave birth to a child she named Riley, and held him for 72 hours straight. “It was perfect,” Austin said, holding her new baby. “I knew I would have him for a short time, so I made every minute count. I didn’t sleep for three days until the time came to let him go.”
Her Riley became another family’s Steven. Like most closed adoptions, a firewall went up between Austin and Steven’s new parents — no communication whatsoever. But that only lasted about a week. Adoptive mother Jennifer Schoebinger and her husband, Chris Schoebinger, said they had no interest in excluding the birth mother. “You know, you can’t have too many people loving you, right? Why couldn’t he be both of ours?” Chris Schoebinger said.
So, year after year, they sent Austin piles of pictures and bound books detailing Steven’s every major and minor milestones. The Schoebingers said they did this so that when Austin and their son were ready, they could pick up right where they left off. The two reunited when Steven was 7 years old. Austin taught him how to fish, and they have kept in contact ever since. Austin felt blessed beyond words, and Steven felt he got the best of both worlds.
Steven is now 26, married, and with a baby boy of his own. Much to the delight of Austin, he named the child Riley. “I think the lesson we learned is that sometimes we create barriers where barriers don’t need to be. And when we pull down those barriers, we really find love on the other side,” Chris Schorbinger said.
That love on the other side has continued to grow. The families spend Thanksgiving as one, and will of course be getting together again in the days ahead.
1. What does the underlined sentence in the second paragraph mean?| A．The less people love you, the better. |
| B．There are too many people who care about you. |
| C．Being loved by many people is desirable. |
| D．It’s a burden to be cared about by too many people. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Grateful. | C．Uneasy. | D．Angry. |
| A．They did not give birth to any children. |
| B．They contacted Austin as soon as they took Steven in. |
| C．They felt blessed beyond words when Austin taught Steven how to fish. |
| D．They believed it better to get the biological mother involved. |
| A．Biological parents are crucial to a child’s growth. |
| B．People create barriers where barriers don’t need to be. |
| C．Adoptive parents and biological parents should raise children together. |
| D．Love is found when we pull down unnecessary barriers. |
2 . My daughter is out of the ordinary. Three years ago, halfway through college, my 22-year-old daughter dropped out and became a farmer in Vermont. Next stop was California, where she raised goats. Now she is in Costa Rica, where she manages a wellness retreat center. But I’ve learned to let go and accepted that her choices are not mine.
As I saw how my daughter had chosen to live her life, I thought hard about my own, especially the part about jumping off the set path. Over time my job had become less fulfilling. As I looked at what I wanted to accomplish in the last years of my working life, this wasn’t it. So I prepared carefully and left my job.
To celebrate my new freedom, my daughter and I had decided to meet in Arizona the week after my job ended. We went to the Shaman’s Cave. At the top of it, the road became narrow. I stepped on to the path behind my daughter and looked down at the canyon floor. I walked backward, my heart beating fast. Sitting down hard on a rock, I started to cry, the fear becoming more serious.
My daughter sat beside me, soothed me and promised not to leave my side. She sang quietly encouraging me to breathe deeply. Then, after sitting quietly for a while, I took my courage and followed her.
I know that my cry that day was less about the drop of the mountain and more about the drop I’d just made in my life. Leaving my job hit me at some point. Luckily, my daughter was there. From that day on, I saw my daughter in a new way. I began to learn to appreciate her.
1. What do we know about the author’s daughter?| A．She performed badly at school. |
| B．She quitted school in the middle of college. |
| C．Her mother couldn’t understand her. |
| D．She managed a wellness retreat center when in college. |
| A．Protected. | B．Observed. | C．Refreshed. | D．Comforted. |
| A．Her job failed to give her the sense of achievement. |
| B．She followed her daughter’s footsteps. |
| C．The pressure of her job made her depressed. |
| D．She hoped to communicate with her daughter more. |
| A．It made her regret leaving her job |
| B．It gave her courage to face challenges. |
| C．It caused her to see her daughter in a new perspective. |
| D．It made her love her daughter more. |
3 . When I was little, I often helped my mother plant our family’s garden. In April, I would kneel by Mum’s side for hours, carefully digging holes and
When I grew up, I was unwilling to do any planting.
“Would you please help me with the planting today?” she asked, I mumbled (咕哝) something along the
I
As I listened to my mother tearfully tell Sara’s story, I realized the true
I won’t ever
| A．packing | B．driving | C．pushing | D．directing |
| A．Naturally | B．Surprisingly | C．Awkwardly | D．Obviously |
| A．stopped | B．followed | C．grabbed | D．reminded |
| A．roles | B．scenes | C．clues | D．lines |
| A．turned around | B．slowed down | C．burned out | D．looked up |
| A．peace | B．panic | C．puzzle | D．pain |
| A．calm | B．noble | C．guilty | D．crazy |
| A．thought | B．forgot | C．talked | D．inquired |
| A．exposed | B．tied | C．lost | D．left |
| A．perceiving | B．suffering | C．approaching | D．encountering |
| A．seriously | B．proudly | C．bitterly | D．brokenly |
| A．die out | B．run out | C．catch on | D．live on |
| A．cost | B．style | C．power | D．test |
| A．memories | B．wonders | C．prospects | D．services |
| A．spend | B．miss | C．recall | D．waste |
My dad believed in new experiences!
I have to admit the examples from his youth fascinated me. He specialized in his adventures growing up in Omaha in the early 1900s. His brothers threw him into a lake to teach him to swim. His family kept a cow, which he led into the church at Christmas to give Baby Jesus milk at the age of four. On and on! He used those stories to urge me to fresh experiences.
One day he came home from work early and saw me watching a local TV show — Talent Sprouts, a daily con test for kids fourteen and under. It didn’t take Dad long to look me in the eye. “You should go on Talent Sprouts.” He added, “You can play ‘Ave Maria’ — an original by Schubert (舒伯特). Think of it — an unforgettable experience to be on TV as an eleven-year-old!”
I quailed (退缩). I didn’t want to. I was basically shy. But I knew it would be useless to argue, so I mailed my application with the required information. Days later, I received a notice about performance.
Dad was over the moon when I told him I had been assigned a day to perform less than two weeks away. Still, I had very little confidence in my talent. I did practice several times each day. However, I either skipped some beats or unable to grasp the rhythm well when practicing. I could never have played Schubert’s original perfectly, so I was increasingly uneasy about the coming performance.
When my Monday came, I took a bus to the TV station with my Dad. I checked in at the desk. The host of Talent Sprouts, and the musical director welcomed the participants and described the routine for us. Everything was fresh there. The crew in the auditorium pushed big cameras on wheels and adjusted lights. I waited on the seat and soon I was called.
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
I went to the piano and began to play.
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Para. 2
Disappointed, I returned to my seat, where my dad was waiting for me.
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| A．Co-workers. | B．Friends. | C．A couple. |
6 . As a child I was one of the 125 people at our family gathering for New Year. These days we were a much smaller group in Belle Valley, Ohio. I insisted (坚持要求的) on acting as hostess and wanted to bring back the joy I’d felt at my childhood New Year that filled with love.
As family members arrived at the hall, I handed each one of them a numbered card and said, “Time for the alphabet game.” “What kind of game is that?” one of my great-grandchildren asked. “well,” I said, “who’s got number one?” A cousin raised her hand. “Tell us something you never forget,” I said. “Something that begins with the letter A.” My cousin smiled. “Apple pie!” she said. Great-granddaughter Mindy was next. “B,” she said. “I am impressed by Buckeye Country.” “Cookies!” Number 3 shouted.
Until Number 17, “The next one’s a challenge,” I said. “Who’s got 17?” Ryan, my son, slowly raised his hand. “Q,” he said. “Quaker City Carnival (嘉年华).” The room went silent.
“It’s one of the oldest traditions in Ohio,” Ryan said. “Grandma and Grandpa met there. That’s where they fell in love. That’s where this whole thing started. This whole family.” Ryan looked around the room, making eye contact with everyone. “We wouldn’t be here celebrating New Year together if it wasn’t for Quaker City Carnival.”
The room burst into laughter and was full of the love that had kept us connected to our Ohio traditions. “This is the best New Year we’ve ever had,” a great-grandson said to me secretly. Whatever their New Year would look like when they grew up, they’d remember this one. And for me, I had an unforgettable New Year to treasure — a memory where love started with the letter Q.
1. Why did the author organize the alphabet game?| A．To enjoy the family gathering. | B．To bring joy and love to the children. |
| C．To share moving stories with family. | D．To experience long-lost New Year happiness. |
| A．It is related to guessing. | B．It is one of Ohio’s traditional games. |
| C．It is mainly about numbers and letters. | D．It describes the history of some words. |
| A．It reminded them of a tradition. | B．It was related to their family roots. |
| C．They knew their grandparents better. | D．They understood the meaning of love. |
| A．A Letter Full of Love | B．A Celebration of New Year |
| C．A Family Custom at New Year | D．A Love Story About the Carnival |
7 . During the winter break, I found my dad’s old CD player in a drawer that I had never seen before. It reminded me of the three CDs I recently bought from Mostly Books, a second-hand media store on South Street. I knew I could put the player to good use with them.
However, I was a naughty kid who broke closet doors and shelves, so my dad was often unwilling to let me borrow his things. I couldn’t decide whether to ask my dad about using the player. “Can you help me with your old CD player? I want to play some CDs,” I finally asked him after walking into his home office that day. Despite my worries, my dad said yes.
Growing up, I felt that my dad disagreed with nearly everything I did. I was frightened to take his advice because listening to him felt like going against my own ideas.
That day I looked at his office wall and saw a painting and he told me he bought it in the 1990s for a couple thousand dollars. Imagining him buying the artwork challenged my idea of him being too frugal (节俭的) and boring (没有情调的) to spend so much money on art.
This new side of my dad encouraged me to finally take the time to look for our similarities. I discovered how similar we really are while fixing the CD player with my dad, which helped me see him as someone I could relate to, instead of someone to avoid. Watching my dad prepare his old CD player for use was my first step toward understanding him. I observed several of his characters that I recognized in myself, like persistence, patience and calmness. Seeing these characters in my dad showed me how similar we are, which lowered the defenses (防御) I built against him, allowing our relationship to heal (愈合).
1. Why couldn’t the author decide whether to ask his dad about using the player at first?| A．He had no CDs to play then. |
| B．He feared his dad would say no. |
| C．He figured the CD player was broken. |
| D．He was afraid he’d break the CD player. |
| A．They often had different views. |
| B．They hardly talked to each other. |
| C．They had no similar personalities. |
| D．They were shy to speak for themselves. |
| A．He should challenge his father. |
| B．His father was very good at art. |
| C．His father was a really boring man. |
| D．He might not really know about his father. |
| A．They often argued with each other. |
| B．They greatly misunderstood each other. |
| C．They got on with each other much better. |
| D．They built great defenses against each other. |
8 . 你校英文报正举办主题为“Person of the Year”的征文活动。请你选择一位名人或者身边熟悉的人写一篇短文投稿，内容包括：
1. 人物简介及事迹；
2. 推荐他/她的理由。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2. 题目已为你写好。
Person of the Year
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Ella loved her new life in Skagway, Alaska, except for one thing-Grandmother wasn’t happy.
In Kansas, Ella went to Grandmother’s house every day after school, and they baked or gardened or sewed(缝纫). Then Papa announced he’d gotten a job in Alaska. She protested for weeks but finally decided to go too. Ella was overjoyed. She couldn’t imagine living any where without Grandmother.
By autumn, they were in Skagway. Ella had never known so much excitement. Grandmother, however, didn’t share Ella’s enthusiasm. As winter had set in, Grandmother mostly stayed inside and complained about the cold.
“I wish you were happy,” Ella whispered. “I wish I had a garden of sunflowers peeking through my window right now,” Grandmother said.
Ella worried that if Grandmother didn’t cheer up soon, she might return to Kansas. So she went to her friend Sara who had lived in Skagway with her Aunt Grace for three years. Ella asked her if sunflowers could grow here. “Maybe,” Sara said. “Let’s ask my aunt.” Ella liked Aunt Grace. She reminded her of how Grandmother used to be in Kansas.
Ella explained her problem and Aunt Grace told her sunflowers could grow here only in summer. “Maybe there’s another way,” Aunt Grace said. “We can make your grandmother some sunflower quilt blocks(几何拼布)that will be cheery and warm.”
Ella chose the brightest fabrics in Grandmother’s scrap bag and brought them to Sara’s house. Every afternoon Ella, Sara, and Aunt Grace sewed sunflower quilt blocks. It was slow going but enjoyable.The finished blocks reminded her of Grandmother’s garden in Kansas. It was fun to talk with Sara while they sewed, and Aunt Grace told them stories about when she was young. They always took a break for tea and cookies,too.
Lately Ella hadn’t spent much time with Grandmother. She worried that the quilt wouldn’t be finished soon enough. Meanwhile, Grandmother seemed sadder and sadder, always talking about her home and friends in Kansas. Ella wished she could tell Grandmother about the quilt, but she wanted to surprise her.
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。
One day when Ella came home, Grandmother was crying.
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When Aunt Grace opened the door, Ella explained why Grandmother was there.
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10 . The input Dad has on my career is incomparable. My earliest memories are of Dad sitting in the kitchen playing the guitar, listening to his favourite song by his favourite singer, and encouraging his little girl to poke (戳) keys randomly on the piano. Even watching Top of the Pops, he would get so passionate about music in it. We weren’t a religious family, but there was something spiritual about Dad’s connection with music.
Music also became a source of comfort for me. I failed to do well academically at school and had no friends. Being at school consumed so much of my emotional energy. Instead of going to school to learn stuff, I felt as though I was simply trying to get people to like me. Things were better, but the only time I truly felt happy was when I was at home listening to music with Mum and Dad or writing songs on the piano —and the older I got, the more powerful music felt.
Dad was always my biggest supporter. When I started giving live performances at the local bar, he was the one who drove me there and back. Freeing up that time wasn’t easy for an actor. His job might mean three weeks in the Czech Republic or working with George Lucas on The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones in Hollywood.
Dad has been involved with some amazing stuff, but Daddy Pig is the one that’s had the biggest impact all over the world. When I was flying to Australia for my first tour, I was trying to find something to watch on the little screen and I noticed they had Peppa Pig. If I’m missing home and family, I always put it on. Daddy Pig is a fairly real version of my dad —he loves chocolate cake, he’s funny and usually breaks things when he’s trying to mend them. Mum and Dad were friends with one of the producers of the show and I often wonder if he looked at my dad and thought, “That’s him …that’s Daddy Pig.”
1. What can we learn about the author’s father?| A．He was good at writing songs. |
| B．He was attached to music in his soul. |
| C．He encouraged her to play the guitar. |
| D．He was passionate about watching TV series. |
| A．By picking her up in a tight schedule. |
| B．By doing a demanding job as an actor. |
| C．By watching her musical performances. |
| D．By giving live performances at the local bar. |
| A．It’s her favourite childhood cartoon. |
| B．She saw her father through Daddy Pig. |
| C．She took pride in this world famous cartoon. |
| D．It’s a cartoon about her hometown and motherland. |
| A．Funny and honest. | B．Strict and hardworking. |
| C．Famous and patient. | D．Supportive and influential. |
