1 . I'd been asked to go to an editor's office with the old program “We have a story we think you'd be perfect for”. Here was the topic: We want you to write about how middle-aged men have no friends. Seeing that,I couldn't help thinking, “Excuse me? I have plenty of friends.” Then the editor told me there were all sorts of evidence out there to show how men, as they age, let their close friendships go, and that the fact can cause all sorts of problems and have a terrible impact on their health.
As I walked back to my desk in the newsroom-a distance of maybe 100 yards-I quickly took stock of my friend list. First of all, there was my friend Mark. Wait, how often do we actually hang out? Maybe four or five times a year? And then there was another best friend from high school, Rory, and…I actually could not remember the last time I'd seen him.
There were all those other good friends who seemed as if they're still in my life because we follow one another via social media, but as I ran down the list of those I considered real, true, lifelong friends, I realized that it had been years since I saw many of them, even decades for a few.
By the time I got back to my desk, I realized that I was indeed perfect for this story, not because I was unusual in any way, but because my story was very, very typical. And as I looked into what that means, I realized that in the long term, I was heading down a path that was very, very dangerous. And I knew I needed a change.
1. What did the author think of the topic at first?| A．He showed an interest in it. |
| B．He felt surprised and doubtful. |
| C．He knew the editor was joking. |
| D．He thought it was perfect for him. |
| A．He had lost some best friends. |
| B．He wasn't popular with others. |
| C．He had close friends in his life. |
| D．He hadn't made any true friends. |
| A．By letters. | B．Through the Internet. |
| C．By phoning each other. | D．By getting together regularly. |
| A．The author was a good writer. |
| B．The author liked making new friends. |
| C．Others had more friends than the author. |
| D．The author would attach importance to friendship. |
2 . Grandma celebrated her fifty-third birthday just weeks before grandpa died of cancer in 1965. Although his passing was very difficult for her, I think their shared struggle to make his life longer taught grandma that good health was not to be taken for granted, and she made up her mind to live the rest of her own life as fully and as long as she could. One day, when she announced to attend lessons at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Portland, Oregon, where she lived, we rolled our eyes in embarrassment and helplessly wished she would just stay home and bake cookies as normal grandmothers did. Many years filled with countless dance lessons passed before we learned to appreciate the wonder of having a dancing grandma.
I suppose grandma's primary motivation for wanting to learn to dance was social. She had been a shy girl, always very tall and heavy, and had married into grandpa's quiet lifestyle before developing any elegance or confidence in her personal appearance. Dancing, on the other hand, filled her life with flash lights, wonderful parties, beautiful dresses, handsome young dance instructors, and the challenge of learning. Although the weekly dance lessons did not change her ample, two-hundred-pound figure, grandma surprised everyone with energetic performances on the dance floor, which soon gave her as much elegance and confidence as any Miss American competitor.
Having taken weekly dance lessons for years, my grandma learned various dances easily and was soon participating in dancing matches all over the Northwest. When I was fourteen, grandma proudly invited me to watch her compete in one of these matches to be held in the grand ballroom of the Red Lion Inn. My attitude was still unenthusiastic at that point, but to make her happy, my mother and I attended the match. As if to prove me wrong, grandma made a wonderful showing in every event she entered. I thought she was truly the queen of the ball during the dance, and my thoughts were shared by the judges a short time later when she was awarded a gold cup for her outstanding performance.
1. What did grandma learn from grandpa's death?| A．Good health was not there for everyone. | B．She should take dance lessons. |
| C．She had to struggle to live a better life. | D．She should wear beautiful dresses. |
| A．Hopeless. | B．Helpless. | C．Embarrassed. | D．Proud. |
| A．happy | B．proud | C．excited | D．uninterested |
| A．my grandma's confidence | B．my dancing grandma |
| C．my grandma's dancing | D．my grandma's gold cup |
3 . Friends play a very important part in everyone’s life. Friendship usually develops during childhood. New friends are made when you progress through school. Those friends that you make as a student can usually last long. Friends influence your development, maturity( 成熟) and sense of responsibility (责任). A familiar opinion is “You can tell a lot about a person by knowing who his friends are.” Friendship is based on common interests. If you like sports, most of your friends are likely to be active. If you enjoy reading and shopping, most of your friends do the same.
Some people call you their friends for the wrong reasons. These people are not really friends. They are superficial (表面的) only “ friends” on the outside, not the inside where it counts. Superficial friends only want to be your friends if it is to their advantage. True friends are there whether you are rich or poor. It is easy to have many so-called “friends” if you are rich. By this time you should be able to recognize your friends as the real or the “phoney”.
True friends are most special. Sometimes they might not easy to find, so you can consider yourself very lucky if you have one true friend. This friend is eager to help you whenever necessary. He or she knows you would do the same for them. A true friend is someone you can talk to about any subject or problem. You and your true friend have good understanding of each other. True friends support you, take your side, and build up your confidence.
1. What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．How to make true friends. |
| B．What is friendship based on. |
| C．We should make friends in our childhood. |
| D．Friends play a very important role in our life. |
| A．It is easy to have many true friends if you are rich. |
| B．If you have no music in you, none of your friends will be a music lover. |
| C．The friendship developing during your school days will be with you for a long time. |
| D．What you value above anything is the friendship developing during childhood. |
| A．Friends in need. |
| B．Fair- weather friends. |
| C．Those who can help you. |
| D．Those who often gives you money. |
| A．True friends are too difficult to find. |
| B．You can only share sadness with a true friend. |
| C．You can only share happiness with a true friend. |
| D．True friends will stand by you whatever happens. |
4 . I arrived at my mother’s home for our Saturday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt after quilt from the boxes proudly showing me their beauties. I knew they were all made herself. She was preparing for a quilt show on TV. When we began to fold and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the bottom of one box. I pulled it out. “What’s this？”I asked. “Oh？”Mom said，“That’s Mama’s quilt. ” I spread the quilt. It looked as if a group of school children had made the pieces together. “Grandmother made this？”I asked in surprise. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This certainly didn’t look like any of the quilts she had made. “Yes, right before she died. I brought it home with me last year and made some changes，” Mom said，“I’m still working on it. See，this is what I’ve done so far. ”I looked at it more closely. She had made a line straight（直的）At the center of the quilt, she had stitched a piece of cloth with these words:“ My mother made many quilts. She didn’t get all lines straight. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it finished. Her last quilt. ” “Oh，this is so nice，Mom. ”I said. I was sure now that by completing my grandmother’s quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized that I held in my hands a family treasure. It started with the loving hands of one woman，and continued with the loving hands of another.
1. When the writer got home，his mother________.| A．was cooking dinner |
| B．was preparing for a quilt show |
| C．was watching TV |
| D．was changing her mama’s quilt |
| A．She took it to a TV show. |
| B．She brought it home and made some changes. |
| C．She gave it to her daughter as a family treasure. |
| D．She made some changes with a group of children. |
| A．was highly thought of by her daughter |
| B．wasn’t good at making quilts |
| C．was dead many years ago |
| D．lived with the writer before she died |
| A．The writer wanted to know what their family treasure was. |
| B．The writer’s mother wanted to learn how to make a beautiful quilt. |
| C．The writer’s mother wanted to honor her own mama by finishing the quilt. |
| D．The writer’s mother wanted to take her mama’s quilts to the show. |
5 . We all know friendship is a good thing. But do you know that friends have a huge influence on your happiness and quality of life? Good friends add special meaning to life. They help you share the good times and get over the difficult ones. Among other things, good friends can:
Improve your mood. Happiness can be infectious(传染的). Spending time with happy and positive friends can raise your emotion as well as your attitude toward life.
Help you reach your goals. Whether you are trying to get fit, give up smoking, or otherwise improve your life, encouragement from a friend can really increase your chances of success.
Reduce your stress and depression. Having an active social life can improve your immune system(免疫系统) and help reduce loneliness.
Support you through hard times. Even if it’s just having someone to share your problems with, friends can help you deal with serious illness, the loss of a job or loved one, the breakup of a relationship, or any other challenges in life.
1. According to the text, good friends can help you ________.| A．keep young | B．contribute more to society |
| C．realize your goals | D．win a fight against another classmates |
| A．Friendship makes people work longer. |
| B．If you want to succeed, you should make more friends. |
| C．With friendship people will be no sadness. |
| D．With friendship people can deal with challenges better. |
| A．Challenges in our life | B．The best way to make friends |
| C．The advantages of friendship | D．The meaning of life |
6 . ''I'd like to play a game. That is so much fun. It's not so very hard to do.''
As soon as I hear ''Simple Simon says put your hands on your head'', I am back in my grandfather's living room on New Year's Day in the early 1970s. It was our family's favorite song to get the party started.
Grandfather's house was the gathering place for my mum, dad, aunties, uncles and cousins to meet up. My mum comes from a big family, so there was always lots of chatter and laughter. Whenever someone told a story they would get up and do all the actions to illustrate it, which was great fun.
Grandfather had a coal fire, so it was always warm, even if it was freezing outside. He sat in his armchair and happily watched everyone dancing while he smoked a pipe.
Once Simon Says had got the party going, other records would follow, such as Sugar, Sugar by the Archies.
Later there would be a sing-along, with everyone taking turns to sing old folk songs such as A Warship Had Landed. I would put my hands over my ears at this one as it was so sad.
Grandfather drove us home as he didn't drink. The road we travelled on was dark. There was one big bump(隆起物) that made us feel as if we were on a roller coaster(过山车). As we approached it, we would shout, ''Go faster, Grandfather! ''
I've been to many New Year parties, but none can match those family get-togethers at Grandfather's. You can keep your Gangnam Style moves—it's much more fun to dance along to Simon Says!
1. According to the text, the song Simon Says _______.| A．was written by the author's grandfather |
| B．was the only song the author could sing |
| C．was the first song the author learnt |
| D．was often played at the author's family's New Year parties |
| A．Explain. | B．Retell |
| C．Represent | D．Comment. |
| A．They never sang sad songs at their parties. |
| B．They were kept warm by a coal fire. |
| C．The author's grandfather liked drinking alcohol. |
| D．Smoking was forbidden at the author's grandfather's house. |
| A．A Beautiful Song |
| B．My Kind Grandfather |
| C．Unforgettable Family Parties |
| D．My Happy Childhood |
7 . “I have cancer.”Mom said and held me in a tight hug.I could feel her chest shaking as she tried not to cry but failed.
For all of my twenty-four years,my mom had been supportive.Strength and protection had always flowed from her to me.Now I knew it would have to flow the other way.
Mom didn’t stay down for long.After the shock of breast-cancer,she armed herself with a notebook and a pen and a thousand questions for the doctors.She took notes on white blood cell counts and medications(药物)with long names as though she were studying for entrance exams into medical school.”The not-knowing is the worst.”she said.
The operation was successful.The chemo(化疗)was the harder part.I went with Mom to every chemo treatment.She rarely complained,though her hair was gone and her toenails and fingernails fell out one by one.She joked that she could save money on nail polish and put it toward the doctor bills,even though she never wore nail polish.”Cancer can take my hair,my nails,my health,my very life. But it can’t take my smile.”Mom said.
Mom learned to share her fears with me,and it formed an even deeper bond between us.Yet I am certain there were fears she didn’t share because she was still protecting me-worries she only shared with Dad.Even in the darkest hours,she would just joke about the cancer. Mom always said,”When you look your greatest fear in the eye and laugh at it,you take away some of its power.”
Mom was one of the lucky ones.She did beat her cancer,though not without scars.From her,I’ve learned I may not get to choose what I face,but I do get to choose how I face it.
1. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．There were other ways to treat cancer. |
| B．Knowledge of cancer would be helpful. |
| C．Mom had to stay stronger to beat cancer. |
| D．I should be the one being there for Mom. |
| A．Humorous and generous. |
| B．Considerate and ambitious. |
| C．Optimistic and determined. |
| D．Caring and knowledgeable. |
| A．The fear Mom shared with me. |
| B．The ways Mom faced fear. |
| C．The jokes Mom told me. |
| D．The bond Mom and I formed. |
| A．Luck counts in beating diseases. |
| B．Complaint does no good to one’s health. |
| C．Positive attitudes get one through hardship for |
| D．Sharing feelings helps reduce sufferings a lot. |
8 . Both of my parents worked fulltime when I was a little girl，so my grandmother would stay at our house during the day. We would watch game shows in the living room. Our favorite was The Price Is Right. We would call out our answers along with the contestants.
When I got older and started going to school，we couldn’t watch our game shows regularly. That was okay with me，though，because the one thing I liked better than watching game shows with my grandmother was helping her bake cakes. Watching her in the kitchen was amazing：she never seemed to need the recipes（食谱）but everything she made tasted delicious.
At first I would just sit in the kitchen and watch，even though I didn’t understand what she was doing. As I got older，she let me help with the easy parts，such as measuring the sugar. The day she let me separate the eggs，I felt like I had found complete pleasure.
At last，my parents decided that I could take care of myself，and my grandmother stopped coming over every day. The love of baking，however，stayed with me. I started baking by myself，and even if the cookies ended up burnt sometimes，more often they turned out pretty well. I tried out new recipes，and whenever I got to a thorny part，I would call my grandmother for advice. Sometimes I would call her just to talk too. I felt like I could talk to her about anything.
My grandmother passed away ten years ago，but I still think of her every day. Last week，I found a recipe book she made for me. It included her recipes for brownies，cookies，and my favorite，lemon pie. As I looked through the pages，I thought I could hear her voice. She was the one who taught me not just about baking，but about life.
1. The passage is mainly developed by .| A．analyzing causes | B．making comparisons |
| C．following the time order | D．examining differences |
| A．found it interesting | B．turned out to be a troublemaker |
| C．hoped to make a living by baking | D．regretted missing the game shows |
| A．Basic. | B．Common. |
| C．Special. | D．Difficult. |
| A．To describe her childhood memories. | B．To show her good baking skills. |
| C．To remember her grandmother. | D．To talk about her happy family life. |
9 . Friendships can be sources of joy and sources of sorrow. There isn’t exactly a rule book on what to do when things get tense or bad.
Broken promises
Jan Yager, a specialist in this field often hears from people who’ve been hurt by a friend’s broken promise. Dr. Yager likes to point out we don’t have formal contracts with friends where we’ve agreed to never disappoint each other. Therefore if you bring a fantasy about what the ideal friend will do in any situation to a relationship,
When things feel unbalanced
Maybe you feel like you’re always sharing about your life, but your friend doesn’t open up about hers. It’s common for relationships to experience periods where things are unbalanced. Maybe one friend is going through a breakup and needs extra support. It’s also possible another friend simply has more to discuss at any given time.
It doesn’t feel great when you check Facebook Monday morning to find out that your friends went on a weekend getaway without you. Scott Christnelly, another specialist, says, “I encourage clients to express their feelings about it but also not to jump to conclusions.” Then find someone else to talk to — maybe, a family member, or a close friend (not the one who went on the trip) — to explain how you feel. If you do make conversations,
| A．Feeling left out |
| B．Feeling stressed out |
| C．you are expecting too much of your friend |
| D．you are setting yourself up for disappointment |
| E．you can brainstorm what might have happened and how you will respond |
| F．In times like these, it’s important that you practice becoming a better listener |
| G．Here are tips on how to manage the common relationship difficulties from specialists |
10 . One evening, when I asked my 17-year-old son, Ray, for help with dinner, his response took me by surprise. “What’s a colander (漏勺)?” he asked.
I could only blame myself. In the family, nobody’s hands went in the sauce except my own. But as I explained with a touch of panic that a colander is the thing with holes in it, I wondered what else I hadn’t prepared Ray for. Suddenly it hit me: He’d be leaving the house in a year to attend college. No way was I going to send a spoiled prince into the world.
As parents,while we focus on our children’s character,we are also raising someone’s future roommate, husband, or father. I’d raise a boy who would never ask the woman in his life, “What’s for dinner?” So, I came up with a plan to offer Ray a private home economics course. Gladly, he didn’t say no.
For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine. One day, as his tomato sauce reduced on the stove, he washed and seasoned a chicken for roasting. Then he rolled out the piecrust and filled it with apples, all while listening to my explanation on the importance of preheating an oven.
One day we covered Advanced Laundry, in which I taught him never to mix a red sweatshirt with white. I knew that he would rather have been shooting hoops in the driveway than learning to mend socks with his mother - he tried to beg off sewing lessons - but it couldn’t be denied that he was learning, and more than just housekeeping. “I appreciate what you do as a mom,” he told me one day.
Ray now understands the finer points of cooking, and more importantly, he realizes there s nothing masculine (男子气概的) about being helpless. Not only can he make his own dinner, but also he can make a big meal for his family. That’s what I call a man.
1. Hearing her son’s question, the author felt ________.| A．angry | B．disappointed |
| C．shocked | D．calm |
| A．Ray’s lack of basic living skills. | B．Ray’s absence in the kitchen. |
| C．Ray’s leaving to attend college. | D．Ray’s misunderstanding of a colander. |
| A．Ray preferred sewing to cooking. |
| B．Ray made great progress in cooking. |
| C．Ray thought doing housework was helpless. |
| D．Ray was unwilling to take the course originally. |
| A．fell in love with housework | B．did other work in the house |
| C．acknowledged his mother’s efforts | D．began to be more independent |
