1 . “Your mother’s breast cancer has returned, and it’s metastasized (扩散),” said my mother’s doctor. I held the phone, tears in my eyes.

Even as a health-care professional, I had never really been able to do anything for my mother. She’d always been the caretaker, especially when I was in my teens battling my own incurable illness. She’d arranged and accompanied me on trips to the Cleveland Clinic. During those long train rides, she’d always reach into her bag and produce a gift-a Seventeen magazine-to lift my spirits.

Shortly after her diagnosis, I stopped by Mother’s house. She’d wanted to live at home to look after herself while she could, so my sister and I took turns to check in on her.

As her health worsened, Mother eventually decided to stay with me in my house on the weekends and let me care for her. After I helped her into the house, she would stretch out on the sola, my dog Spanky sleeping at her feet. I’d make us cups of Red Zinger tea. She’d look at me and say, "My purse, honey. Inside would be one of her surprises, like a bag of treats for Spanky or a new pen for me.

At the end of her life, Mother was no longer conscious. Her wish was to be in my house. The night before, I moved all the furniture to prepare for the delivery of her medical equipment. The next morning, two guys lifted the sofa to move it, making room for the hospital bed. “What do we do with these, ma’am?” one asked. I looked over. He held up two beautifully-wrapped (包裹) gifts. How had they gotten there? I’d moved that sofa the night before and seen nothing! My hands shook as I unwrapped a toy for Spanky and a box of Red Zinger tea.

At that moment, it was as if my mother spoke directly to my heart, “Our little traditions will get you through this, Roberta, even if I can’t take part anymore.”

1. What can be known about the author as a teenager?

A．She volunteered in hospitals.	B．She loved traveling so much.
C．She was in really poor health	D．She often wrote to magazines.

2. What kind of woman is the author’s mother according to the text?

A．Cautious and organized.	B．Hardworking and honest.
C．Humorous and generous.	D．Caring and independent.

3. What took the author by surprise?

A．The stay with Mother in her final life.	B．Unexpected gifts prepared by Mother.
C．Mother’s wish to move into her house.	D．Mother’s ability to take care of herself.

4. What about Mother does the text focus on?

A．Her family traditions.	B．Her love for her daughter.
C．Her unbearable disease.	D．Her attitude toward life.

2 . How to Meet New People

Sometimes meeting friends can be depressing , especially when you suddenly find yourself in a new city     1     If you encounter some awkward situations , this list of suggestions is sure to inspire you.

    2    

Perhaps the best way to meet new friends is when you’re getting outside your comfort zone and doing something new. Getting involved in a new hobby, taking a class that makes you stretch your mind or just making a point to do something different than the usual are all good ways to connect with someone new.

Join a Book Club

If you’re into books and authors, there are several great ways to connect with new people.    3    Of course, you don't need to be introverted (内向的)to enjoy a conversation about literature. The great part about joining one of these groups is that you'll meet a surprising variety of people.

Go to the Gym

Oh, I know, you want to do your workout and then leave. But if you're looking for new friends, the gym is a good place to find them. One way is to look for run or walks in the your neighborhood, which are often posted in the gym.     4    

Revive (恢复) an Old Friendship

If you are seeking new friends, why not try looking at some of your past friendships?     5     Friendships don't always end on negative terms. Sometimes friends just drift apart or begin to have nothing in common. But that can change as each friend's life has changed.

A．Do New Things.

B．Get out of your comfort zone.

C．One of them is by joining a book group.

D．Another way to do this is by taking a few exercise courses.

E．You can make more new friends by buying some books.

F．You can decide if one or two old friendships might be worth starting up again.

G．Making new friends can come easy to some people, but to others it might take more work.

3 . I keep remembering odd things: the way she loved daffodils, jokes she told at the dinner table, the look in her eyes when she talked about my future. I knew about college before I’d never heard of high school was Mom’s second chance at the degree she never had.

Her parents pushed her too much, too hard, and she always wished she hadn’t let the pressure defeat her. She dropped out of college after one term for marriage and a secretarial job. While she never regretted marrying my father, she always regretted giving up her dream of becoming an accountant. She was determined her eldest daughter would never miss an opportunity.

One of the most extremely special times of my life was Christmas in my second school year, when I played Tiny Tim in a local community theater production of “A Christmas Carol.” Mom delighted in my endless rehearsal stories and spent hours helping me work out ways of disguising my long hair. There’s a line in the show: “And it was always said of him that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” Change the pronouns and that sentence describes Mom perfectly.

She was the one person I could talk to about anything. She was right about so much, so often—much more than I gave her credit for at the time.

I never imagined she wouldn’t be here now. I never thought cancer could strike so quickly, could kill someone so strong and determined in only a year. She’s the one person I couldn’t imagine living without; now, since last January, I’ve had to. Suddenly, I have no one to talk to about meaningless little things, no one whose advice I trust completely to help me with decisions. When I come home from school, I come home to an empty house, troubled by memories of the year she spent here dying. I remember the disastrous Thanksgiving when she was feeling terrible, and our wonderful last Christmas Eve together.

What I feel cheated of is the future we’ll never have.

1. What can be learned about the author’s mother in Paragraph 2?

A．She gave in to her parents.	B．She had an obedient daughter.
C．She fell in love with her husband in college.	D．She wished her kids to follow her example.

2. What made the Christmas in the author’s second school year special?

A．Her rehearsal stories.	B．Her mother’s company.
C．Her favorite line from the show.	D．Her mother’s skills in doing hair.

3. What does the author think of her mother?

A．Clever and passionate.	B．Caring and humorous.
C．Supportive and reliable.	D．Talented and hard-working.

4. What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A．To show her mother’s great sadness.	B．To tell anecdotes about her mother.
C．To talk about the cruelty of the disease.	D．To share fond memories of her mother.

4 . It’s hard when a best friend isn’t around — maybe because he or she moved to a different school or a different class.    1    . You want to have new friends, but how do you make them? Maybe it seems like everybody else already has his or her friends.    2    .

Start by looking around your classroom — think about which kids you’d like to play with at break. Look for chances to say hi to them, smile, and be friendly.    3    . Invite someone to play with you or say “Do you want to sit here?” in the lunchroom. When you’re at break, walk over to kids you want to play with, act friendly, and say “Hi, can I play, too?” or just join in.

If you have trouble doing this or if you’re feeling shy, ask your teacher to help you make new friends. Teachers are usually pretty good at matching up friends.    4    . Be kind, be friendly, share, say nice things, offer to help — and pretty soon, you’ll have one, or two, or even more new friends.

    5    . But when you see each other, you can share something you didn’t have before he or she left: You can introduce him or her to your new friends!

A．What’s right for me?

B．But remember, there’s always room for more friends.

C．You may feel lonely at break or lunchtime.

D．The best way to make friends is to be a friend.

E．Offer to share something or offer greetings.

F．Make a choice in your life.

G．You might still miss that special best friend.

5 . 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.

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

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.

3. What does the underlined phrase “so -called ‘friends’”in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Friends in need.

B．Fair- weather friends.

C．Those who can help you.

D．Those who often gives you money.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards “true friends” according to paragraph 3?

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.

6 . “BANG!” the door caused a reverberation (回声). It was just standing there, with father standing on one side, and I on the other side.
We were both in great anger. “Never set foot in this house again!” stormed father. With tears welling up in my eyes, I rushed out of the flat and ran along the street.
The street lights were shining, causing rather sad-feeling. I wandered aimlessly.
A young father who held a child in his arms walked past me. I felt as if I saw my childhood from another space: happy and carefree.
But now … I don’t know whether it is because I have grown up or because dad is getting old. We differ in our ways of thinking. He always put his opinions and codes of behavior on me. Whenever I do something wrong, he never admits it. We are just like two people coming from two different worlds. It feels like there is an iron door between us that can never be opened.
I wandered the streets, without a destination in mind. My heart was frozen on this hot summer night. As I walked on there were fewer and fewer people on th e streets, until I had only the street lights to keep me company. When I finally reached the high-rise apartment block in which I lived , I saw that the light was still on.
I thought to myself: “Is father waiting for me, or is he still angry with me?”
In fact, it was nothing. Perhaps, dad was throwing away some of his old stamps. Perhaps he thought they were useless. I never had the courage to tell him that I liked collecting stamps. I can’t stand his outrageous(蛮横的)words: “I can’t throw you away, let alone these old papers?”
All the lights were off except father’s.
Dad was always like this. Maybe he didn’t know how to express himself. After shouting at me, he never showed any mercy or any moments of regret. After an argument he has the habit of creeping up in my sleep and then tucking me underneath the covers.
This was how he always was. He has been a leader for so long that telling everyone else what to do has become his second nature.
The light was still on. “Am I wrong?” I whispered, maybe… With the key in hand, I was as nervous as I had ever been. At last, I decided to open the door. As soon as I opened the door tears ran down my cheeks. I suddenly realized that the iron door that I had imagined between us did not exist(存在) at all. Love—it second to none.
1. Decide which is the best order of the following according to what happened in the passage.
a. I opened the door and entered the house.
b. Sadly I ran out into the street.
c. I reached the place where I lived and saw my house still brightly lit.
d. I thought of my father’s kindness towards me.
e. I walked about in the street without any aim.

A．b, e, d, c, a	B．b, e, c, d, a
C．b, e, a, c, d	D．b, e, c, a, d

2. What made the writer think of his childhood?

A．The sight of the street lights.

B．The sight of the empty street.

C．The sight of a father with a child in his arms.

D．The sight of light in his own house.

3. Why do you think the father often shouts at his son?

A．perhaps the father is getting older and older.

B．perhaps the son has already grown up.

C．perhaps they never agree with each other.

D．perhaps the father has got used to doing that.

4. What conclusion（结论）can you come to after reading the passage?

A．The father treats his son in an unfair way.

B．The father is actually kind to his son.

C．The father is neither kind nor cruel to his son.

D．The father is always finding fault with his son.

7 . My dad was a farmer in the Midwest and he spent his winters selling insurance. Dad could really talk up anyone and his favorite thing to do was find out their income. Once we were at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Dad was sitting with me as I waited for my flight to Fort Lauderdale. A Russian guy who sat down next to my dad could not speak a word of English but this did not stop my dad. He found out his business, how many children he had and of course how much he made.

I used to be a little embarrassed by this, but I changed later. It was in the last year of dad's life. As I was home visiting with my husband and twins and I was in the car with my mom, she told me a story about how she was in the doctor's office with dad and how he was his usual self-talking away to the others in the waiting room. She said he started talking to this young man in a wheel chair who could not talk, could not move his arms or head, really couldn't do anything. But dad was asking questions and got the young man to smile in response. And he carried on like that with the disabled man till he was called back to the doctor's office. When the young man and his father got up to see the doctor, the father of the young man came over and shook my dad's hands and said, "Thank you for speaking to my son. Most people just turn away when they see him.''

My father ended up dying later that month, a sudden heart attack. Fortunately, all the 9 children of his had been home that summer to visit. I told this story at his funeral（葬礼）. Truly, my dad was one who never knew a stranger.

1. What was the author's dad most interested in when talking with strangers?

A．What fields they worked in.

B．What insurance they bought.

C．How much they made yearly.

D．How many children they had.

2. The young man's father thanked the author's dad for .

A．calling in the doctor in time

B．chatting with his disabled son

C．comforting the other patients

D．teaching his disabled son to smile

3. Why did the author tell the story mentioned in Paragraph 2 at her dad's funeral?

A．To well remember her dad.

B．To entertain the whole family.

C．To introduce her dad's business.

D．To change strangers, opinion of her dad.

8 . We thought we had it all---a beautiful house, three healthy children and one more on the way, two cars, a couple of four-wheelers for entertainment---and we loved it. Then, the market turned and my husband’s job at a construction company was gone. The company was closing down for good.

We both started looking for jobs right away, but there weren't any to be found. With each passing day we were getting increasingly worried and we continued to work together in order to pull our family through. The more we pulled together, the closer we got. I felt feelings of admiration for my husband that I hadn't felt in years.

That's why it was so hard for me to watch him blame himself for our present situation. I continually asked him to stop, but he seemed to want to punish himself for not having a job.

Finally, one afternoon I pulled him aside and said, “We have four healthy children. That's what's important. That makes you a rich man.”

“But what if we lose the house? They'll hate me-you'll hate me,” he replied.

I smiled at him and put my hands on both sides of his face to make him look me in the eye. “No matter where we live I will be happy--as long as I have you.” I smiled again. In all the struggling together I had found that deep love for him that I had on the day we said “I do”.

I could see his shoulders and neck relaxed. He held me close and we were able to talk and plan and dream together in a way that we hadn't for quite some time. It was a turning point for us as a couple and a family.

We are still struggling for our better life, but I consider us well-off because we have something that money can't buy and no one can take away from us.

1. Why was it hard for the author to watch her husband blame himself?

A．She thought she should be blamed

B．She thought he had tried his best

C．She thought he would get a job someday

D．She thought it would remind her of sad memories

2. Which of the following can best describe the couple’s present life?

A．Bitter but quiet	B．Comfortable and easy
C．Hard but happy	D．Well-off and relaxing

3. The best title of the text might be     .

A．We Have It All	B．We Find It Again
C．A Perfect Couple	D．A Hard Time

9 . Do you always concern yourself with your kid’s play dates? Do you send them upstairs to get changed?     1     Put that red pen back in your purse, because micromanaging your kids is likely to do more harm than good.

Micromanaging or over-parenting comes in many forms. However it presents itself, it can give children the impression that parents don’t have confidence in them, and this can lead to problems. Kids who are micromanaged could also grow used to an unearned level of success, which may do harm to their attitude towards work and life. Parents who micromanage their kids sometimes struggle with a sense of control.     2    

So what should parents do? For modern parents, it can be a balance between healthy involvement in your kid's life and micromanaging. It can be especially difficult to know where the line is when it comes to the internet. We live in a digital age.     3     To help you walk that fine line, parents should be frank about it. If they're hiding their phone or acting secretively, a slightly different conversation about the health of their online activity might be needed.

Breaking a micromanaging habit isn't easy.     4     You could relax your grip in fairly inconsequential areas, like letting your child decide what clothes to wear. The plus side is that if you back off about little things, your words might carry more weight when it comes to the big things.     5     Therefore, you can let your children succeed, fail, and figure out life on their own.

A．But like any bad habit, start small.

B．Do you like talking with your kids?

C．Micromanaging can be a sign of anxiety in them.

D．Do you stay with them while they're doing homework?

E．You can also form a healthier relationship with your kids.

F．Keep your eyes open for the changes in your kids' behavior.

G．It's important for parents to care about their kids' activity online.

10 . Leaving junior high school, and going up to the big school was a very frightening change for me. I went there with no friends. The only two people who came from my previous school were two girls, Donna Davis and Sakjinda Rai, but I developed little friendship with them.At first I was scared (害怕的) and looked stupid. But after a few months, I tried keeping my arms open and making friends with people around me.

After an unsuccessful relationship with Amit Sharmar, who ran away from me whenever I said hello to him, Sher Bhachu joined me, and we seemed to have a bit in common. So I made my first friend, and I wasn't on my own any more! But after a few days，he broke his leg, and was off for a couple of months! I was on my own again!

Anyway, when Sher finally did return, I introduced him to another friend of mine，Graeme Parker. They got on like a house on fire, but unfortunately that little threesome (三人一组) only managed to last about a week or two before they had a bit of fight，and poor Graeme went his own way. Shortly after that we met and later joined another gang. Others later joined at various stages, including Chris Elemen, Venay Maru, Amandeep Vidhani, Yaser Ghauri and Paul Barrance. It was with these people that I spent most of my life in senior high school.

1. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The author felt frightened in the new school with no friends at the start of his senior high school time.

B．The author's junior high school was not very good.

C．The author didn't like Sakjinda Rai at all.

D．The author had tried his best to make friends with Donna Davis.

2. After a short time, the author was alone without friends again because ________.

A．they quarrelled about something

B．they found they had nothing to share

C．the author moved to another school

D．his friend was off because of injury

3. According to the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A．the author missed his little threesome

B．the author made more friends as time went on

C．the author and Graeme had a bit of fight

D．Graeme Parker and Sher Bhachu were close friends

4. The real purpose of the author in writing this passage is to ________.

A．introduce some friends to readers

B．prove senior high school life is hard

C．show his attitudes toward life in senior high school

D．tell readers his friendship in senior high school