1 . Although people often say we look alike,they also say that our personalities are completely different from each other.They describe me as intelligent and dependable,but consider him as self-centered.
He is my younger brother, Bob. He was born only 18 months after I was born.We did not get along well with each other. Maybe I was unhappy, even at the age of 18 months, about the new arrival. Another problem was that Bob was often sick. I must have felt cheated out of my parents' attention. I didn't understand why the two people I wanted to be with were always with him. We were fighting all the time.
Then, just over a year ago, doctors thought my brother could have cancer. Suddenly I felt as if the whole world was going black. It was at that point in my life that I realized just how much he meant to me. The day he went into surgery(手术) was one of the most terrible days in my life. When the test result came back negative(阴性), I felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off my family and my brother.Although Bob has to go every few years for tests just to make sure that he is healthy, right now he is the picture of health.
Now, with me away at college, our relationship has improved greatly. Suddenly, he is more responsible, and is showing it. When I am home on breaks, he treats me with some respect. He even tries to include me in some of his activities with his friends.
Many years ago, I had wished that my baby brother would go away. But now, I will never find another person like him. He has the ability to make me laugh now, instead of upsetting me. I won't give him up for anything.
1. What might be the most possible reason for their fighting?| A．The author's being self-centered. | B．The two brothers' age difference. |
| C．Bob's being younger than the author. | D．More of their parents' attention to Bob. |
| A．Bob was thought to have a bad disease. | B．Bob began to show respect to the author. |
| C．The author showed understanding to Bob. | D．The author was away to attend university. |
| A．As a person who can go away. | B．As a person who must be changed. |
| C．As a person who will not upset him. | D．As a person who will never be replaced. |
2 . Nowadays,being a parent has become harder than ever before.When it comes to useful parenting methods,advice from experts is different.One of the things researchers and educators agree on,however,is that if you want to raise successful children,you must"give them wings and let them fly."
Let go.It's natural to want to help your kids but raising independent kids requires you to fight the urge(欲望）to help at all times.
Be present.Raising independent kids is difficult.It requires you to find the right balance between being present and letting go.
| A．Be their model. |
| B．Focus on their strengths. |
| C．Kids need to take chances. |
| D．You must inspire independence. |
| E．The competition among parents is very fierce. |
| F．They are worried that their kids will get left behind. |
| G．Your presence is necessary to help your kids become independent. |
3 . Jim found himself exhausted during a trip. When he came home, he went to see a doctor. “The reason why I was fatigued (精疲力竭),” Jim says, “was that my kidneys were gone.”
Jim, 69, a former Air Force pilot, immediately started dialysis (透析) three times a week. A person of his age on dialysis usually lives only about four years. Transplants are a long-shot alternative. The National Kidney Foundation estimates that 13 people die every day while waiting for a donor with the right blood and tissue types.
Jim’s wife, nephew and four family friends offered but weren’t a match. Jim was so discouraged that he was even considering not attending a reunion of some Air Force buddies (铁哥们). But his wife encouraged him to reunite with his old friends, among whom was one he hadn’t seen for nearly 50 years: Doug Coffman. The two had met. When they both were learning Vietnamese before they went overseas.
Doug, then 70, felt a strong bond with his band of brothers, even though he hadn’t seen some of them for decades. Their connection went beyond the battlefield in ways most, soldiers never experience.
Doug had received help from his friends when he was in trouble, so he felt like it was a time that he could pay that ahead by donating a kidney to Jim. Fortunately, series of testing revealed not only that Doug’s tissue type matched Jim’s but also that he had the kidneys of a 35-year-old.
The transplant was a success. “It’s pretty miraculous to be able to take an organ out of one person’s body—a living organ—put it in another person’s body, and have it work.” Doug says. “And there’s nothing finer than knowing I’ve helped another person live a better life.”
1. From paragraph 2 we know that kidney transplant is ________.| A．expensive | B．dangerous |
| C．a matter of luck | D．an unwise choice |
| A．About 17. | B．About 19. | C．About 22. | D．About 25. |
| A．Doug is happy to donate a kidney to Jim. |
| B．Jim is having a better life than Doug. |
| C．The kidney transplant was very successful. |
| D．Modern medical science is very advanced. |
| A．To share his good luck. | B．To tell us to pay it forward. |
| C．To introduce a kidney transplant. | D．To encourage us to make friends. |
4 . 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 |
5 . ''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 |
6 . America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while - then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans are that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!
1. The writer of this passage must be __________.| A．an American | B．a Chinese |
| C．a professor | D．a student |
| A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| A．strict with time | B．serious with time |
| C．careful with time | D．willing to spend time |
| A．Friendship between Chinese | B．Friendship between Americans |
| C．Americans’ hospitality | D．Friendship between Chinese and Americans |
7 . My daughter Kelly is a cautious person. She needs to warm up to situations, and is hesitant to try new things. But this has been a year of firsts for my girl that has filled her with a new sense of confidence. This year she moved to lap lane in swimming where she was preparing for a swim team. This year she learned to ride a bike without training wheels. And this year she completed her first kids’ triathlon (三项全能).
On Saturday, with a thunderstorm coming soon and my son’s birthday party later in the day, we all went out in the dark of the morning for Kelly to participate in her first triathlon. We practiced transitions from swim to bike to run with her, we got all the equipment she’d need, and we kept talking about the race. But as we waited the two hours for the older kids to finish before her turn, she held my leg a little harder and told me she loved me a few too many times. She was nervous but trying to keep it together.
And then it was her turn. From the second she jumped into the water, my heart soared. My daughter transformed into the most confident human being I had ever seen. She dominated that swim, crushed that bike ride and ran to the finish with the biggest smile on her face.
I can honestly say that I never felt so proud of someone in my entire life. It wasn’t because she did a sport or anything like that. It was because she was afraid of something and conquered that fear with confidence and a fire I hadn’t seen before.
I kept looking at her with smile. She might be wearing the finalist medal but I felt like I won that day. I won the chance to see my girl shine.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?| A．The race began in the early morning. |
| B．Kelly prepared for her brother’s birthday party. |
| C．Kelly was eager for her turn in the race. |
| D．The whole family gave Kelly support. |
| A．worried and hesitant | B．excited and proud |
| C．anxious and uneasy | D．curious and concerned |
| A．to succeed in dealing with or control something |
| B．to take control of an area and its people by force |
| C．to become very popular or successful in a place |
| D．to defeat someone especially in a competition |
| A．expressed love to her | B．won the gold medal |
| C．overcame the fear | D．took part in the sport |
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 . Guinness World Records Set by Kids
♦ The youngest club DJ
Oratilwe A J Hongwane likes putting in more efforts when playing music for a crowd. In 2012, he became the youngest club DJ—he was five when he played a one- hour set to 100 people at a bar in South Africa. Known in the business as DJ Arch Jnr, he broke the record previously held by a six-year-old in Japan.
♦The most viewed video game-unboxing video
Kids love watching someone unbox a new purchase—especially if it's something they can't get themselves. Maybe that's why more than 25 million people have watched YouTube HD. What's really cool about Evan is that he actually donates most of the toys to those in need. He also uses his popular YouTube channel to draw people's attention to worthy organizations for helping the poor.
♦The youngest drummer
The rules of Guinness World Records say a drummer must record a real song and be paid for his skills and that the drummer must give at least 20 concerts of 45 minutes or longer within five years. At the age of just four Julian Pavone met all those qualifications.
♦The fastest assembly (组装)of 10,000 Lego pieces and the longest Lego chain
A group of school kids in New Jersey went for their world records to increase public awareness about a fellow student who is suffering from a rare and deadly disease. The group put together 10,000 Lego pieces in just three hours, breaking the old one by five hours. They also set the record for the longest Lego chain, which ended up at 947 meters, beating the old record by 40.
1. Who is devoted to charity?| A．Oratilwe A J Hongwane. | B．Evan. |
| C．DJ Arch Jnr. | D．Julian Pavone. |
| A．He has recorded 20 real songs. |
| B．He gave at least 20 concerts at five. |
| C．He must earn a lot of money by recording. |
| D．He was qualified for the Guiness World Reords at four. |
| A．To help a sick schoolmate. |
| B．To inspire team spirit. |
| C．To prevent a rare disease. |
| D．To make their school famous. |
