1 . Like many people, public speaking once filled me with fear As a writer, I felt much more
You might have
According to a striking new study, however, these concerns may be
| A．anxious | B．comfortable | C．cautious | D．hesitant |
| A．exam room | B．video call | C．stage center | D．teacher’s desk |
| A．burden | B．loneliness | C．conflict | D．anxiety |
| A．besides | B．instead | C．therefore | D．otherwise |
| A．voice | B．appearance | C．attitude | D．routine |
| A．paused | B．rejected | C．assessed | D．warned |
| A．knowledge | B．experience | C．process | D．confidence |
| A．astonishing | B．terrifying | C．pressing | D．confusing |
| A．noticed | B．refreshed | C．mentioned | D．supposed |
| A．permit | B．declare | C．hide | D．deserve |
| A．practical | B．inaccurate | C．unpredictable | D．unnecessary |
| A．appealing | B．annoying | C．frustrating | D．convincing |
| A．warmly | B．apparently | C．curiously | D．casually |
| A．remind | B．require | C．wander | D．maintain |
| A．attention | B．expectation | C．emotions | D．appreciation |
2 . When reading, my mother likes to slice a paragraph or a sentence out and attach it to the wall of her kitchen. She picks boring sentences that puzzle me. But I prefer copying favorite bright lines into a journal in soft, gray No. 2 pencil, word by word.
She doesn’t know any of this. There's nothing shocking: for our chatting. we seldom begin certain conversations though we talk on the phone weekly, sometimes making each other laugh so hard that I choke and she cries. But what we don't say could fill up rooms. Fights with my father. Small failures in school. Anything that really upsets us.
My mother has never told me “I love you, Lisa.”—as if the four-word absence explains who I am—so I carry it with me, like a label on me. The last time she almost spoke the words was two years ago, when she called to tell me a friend had been in hospital. I said, “I love you, Mom.” She stopped for a while and then said, “Thank you.” I haven't said it since, but I've wondered why my mother doesn't until I've found a poem that supplies words for the blank spaces I try to understand in our conversations:
Don’t fill up on bread. I say absent-mindedly. The servings here are huge.
My son, middle-aged, says: Did you really just say that to me?
What he doesn’t know is that when we’re walking together, I desire to reach for his hand.
It's humble, yet heartbreaking. After copying it down in my journal, I emailed it to mom, adding “This poem makes me think of you.” My mother doesn’t read poetry—or at least, she doesn’t tell me, and I felt nervous clicking “Send”.
She never mentioned the poem. But the next time I went home for vacation, I noticed something new in the kitchen fixed to an antique board: the poem. The board hung above the heater, the warmest spot in the kitchen. The poem still hangs there. Neither my mother nor I have ever spoken about it.
1. What's the function of paragraph 1?| A．To stress the theme. | B．To establish the setting. |
| C．To represent the characters. | D．To create the atmosphere. |
| A．Shaky. | B．Distant. | C．Reserved. | D．Intense. |
| A．It reminded her of mom's love. |
| B．She wanted to apologize to mom. |
| C．It suited mom's taste of literature. |
| D．She needed an interpretation from mom. |
| A．A memory of golden days. |
| B．Daughter’s gratefulness to her. |
| C．A decoration in the plain kitchen. |
| D．Daughter's understanding of her. |
I still remember the day when we decorated the house, I was ten and it was two weeks before Christmas. I was looking forward to my presents. Since I’m the youngest in the family, all of the family members would give me a gift one way or another. Sometimes it was a cookie or a hug but it was always there. I was the only center of attention and it was feeling good.
My uncles usually would ask me what I wanted before Christmas and that year I knew what I wanted. It was the spaceship I saw in the ads. I was dreaming of opening a big gift box, and it was there. But that year it came in a way that I wasn’t expecting.
It was two weeks before Christmas. Just two weeks. She couldn’t wait. My dear mother told my father that it was time, and then we went to the hospital. After an hour, they told me that I had a sister now. But I didn’t want a sister. I wanted a spaceship. The next few days went so fast. No one was caring about me. Everyone was talking about her and I knew that my life is never going to be the same ever again. I wasn’t ready to grow up, to be a big brother. But it just happened in an instant.
On the day before Christmas, everyone was in our home, talking only about my newborn sister. My family was becoming hers. Even my uncles didn’t ask me anything about the gift. She stole everything I’d ever had, my life and my presents. Thinking about this, I cried to sleep. I had a nightmare (噩梦) and woke up at the middle of the night. Shadows were all around me, and I was defenseless and so weak. I ran into my parents’ bedroom but couldn’t wake up my poor parents who were just too worn out. I was standing near their bed, trying not to cry when I saw her. She was awake and looking at me with her big eyes in her small bed.
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。
Suddenly a long shadow came into the bedroom and she started crying.
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After having comforted her, something slowly changed inside me.
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4 . Everyone, at some point in their lives, loses their enthusiasm when they’re at their lowest and things just don’t seem right. During these down moments, it is important that you care for yourself mentally.
● Open up. When you are not at your best, you can always reach out to someone who is trustworthy.
●
● Do what you love. Your productivity will improve when involved in what you love. Make a list of those activities you love when you’ve got the chance, or do them with friends. Doing what you love keeps yourself happy and less stressed.
● Be kind. I don’t know if you’ve felt this before. But there’s this joy that comes with putting a smile on others’ faces.
| A．Take a break. |
| B．Find stress factors. |
| C．How can you do it? |
| D．Stress comes from unpleasant experiences. |
| E．It’s better to share it than to keep it all bottled up. |
| F．This is one big secret to improving your mental health. |
| G．Be the reason someone believes in the goodness in people. |
5 . Everyone gets angry. If you’re experiencing huge anger, though, it could be damaging your mental and physical health as well as your relationships with others. Uncontrolled anger can be potential problems, such as anger management issues or mental disorder.
Take a break as soon as you recognize that you’re angry. You can take a break by stopping what you’re doing, getting away from what makes you annoyed or just take a deep breath.
Visualize a happy place. If you still have a difficult time calming down, imagine yourself in a scene you find incredibly relaxing.
Practice positive self-talk. Change the way that you think about something from negative to positive.
| A．Ask for the support of someone you trust. |
| B．Positive thinking can help you relieve your anger in a healthy way. |
| C．Keep exercising until you feel that you have regained control. |
| D．It could be any place that makes you feel at home and peaceful. |
| E．So it’s important to control your emotions and calm yourself down. |
| F．Remember that you do not have to respond to a situation immediately. |
| G．Getting away from what is upsetting you will make it easier to calm down. |
6 . For my 56th birthday, my daughter, Beth, bought me two beautifully carved wooden butterflies. I hung them in prominent (显眼的) places on my walls so that I can see them often during the day. Each time I do so, they give me a wonderful reminder of love.
My daughter and my love of butterflies goes back many years. After a long battle against cancer, my mom passed away when I was only 25 years old. Beth was only a baby at the time and never got to have any memories of her grandma. I tried to make up for it by telling her stories of my mom but each time I did, I could see that there was a little sadness in Beth’s eyes. One day when she was only seven or so we were outside at the playground. Beth suddenly said how much she saddened not having her grandma around. Well, sometimes I comforted her and this time I told her how much her grandma loved her and that Grandma still remained positive in the last weeks of her life. I said she was watching over her from Heaven and that maybe she was even hitching (搭乘) a ride on the back of a butterfly to come down and get a closer look. At that very moment, a butterfly appeared flying around Beth’s face and then flew away. We both laughed with our hearts full of love and joy.
Since that moment all of those years ago, both Beth and I seem to attract butterflies like flowers. Whenever we are outside, they seem to fly down, circle around us, take a good look, and then fly away. And every time, we are reminded of my mom’s love watching over us. The only time this doesn’t happen is during the coldest months of the year when there are no insects of any kind. But now during those times I can take a look at the two beautiful wooden butterflies my daughter bought me and still be reminded of that love.
1. Why did Beth buy wooden butterflies?| A．To celebrate the new year. |
| B．To decorate her bedroom. |
| C．To celebrate her mother’s birthday. |
| D．To remind her childhood. |
| A．Tough and optimistic. |
| B．Enthusiastic and helpful. |
| C．Independent and reliable. |
| D．Knowledgeable and respectable. |
| A．Terrified. | B．Confused. | C．Joyful. | D．Nervous. |
| A．Wooden butterflies are of great artistic value. |
| B．We all need reminders that we are loved in our life. |
| C．It is difficult to maintain family ties during difficult times. |
| D．The presence of parents is important to children’s development. |
Rick, a ten-year-old boy, was constantly angry at everything around him. He always fought in school with the other kids. Once he had an outburst in school. Upset by something a classmate said to him, he pushed the boy, and a fight happened. When the teacher stepped in to break it up, Rick went crazy, throwing papers and books around the classroom and rushing out. His teachers couldn’t say anything that would comfort the kid. And the parents of his schoolmates were getting concerned. Rick was earning quite the reputation. After talking with school officials, Rick’s mom tried everything she could to calm Rick down.
She tried different methods until one day she came home with a canvas (画布) and paint. “What’s this?”, Rick asked. Rick’s mom handed over the painting equipment and said, “Whenever you feel angry, paint whatever you’re angry about instead of bursting out.” Rick wasn’t that happy about it but he gave it a try anyway. Over the next few weeks, the young boy created several artworks. They mostly showed disturbing images though. So his mom took all of the paintings and called Rick over so that they could talk about them. “Tell me, Rick. What are these paintings about?”
“Well, the first painting is about how some of the kids show off their new clothes and pencil cases. The next painting is about my teacher who keeps telling me about how I’m doing things wrong. And the last painting is about how one of my schoolmate’s father suggested that I change my attitude. All of them make me so angry.” Rick’s mom, in a calm voice, took Rick by her side and told him: “Don’t you see it, Rick?” “See what?” Rick asked. “You’re so angry at all of these things but not once did you try to understand why you’re getting so angry. What have all these people done to you, really?”
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。
Rick was lost in thought.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Rick knew it was time to change.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8 . A new study published by Dan Johnson of Washington and Lee University shows experimentally that reading fiction increases empathy (共情).
The participants were asked to read a short story and report their mood. Then, in a staged accident, the experimenter knocked over several pens and recorded whether the participants helped pick them up. They found that the more people were transported into the story, the more likely they were to help pick up the dropped pens. Those who engaged more deeply with the fictional characters also showed more empathy for the real-life person.
Empathy, like patience appears to be a character that can be improved with practice. Study has shown the more students read books, especially storybooks, the better they are at understanding the emotions of others. However, researchers at the University of Michigan reported last year that empathy among college students had declined during the past 30 years, with an especially steep drop in the last decade. The reason is plain to see.
It’s important to understand where empathy comes from in the first place. Looking at the evolution of the human mind, it has been suggested that the ability to process hypothetical scenarios (假设情景) of what another person might be thinking provided an advantage to our early ancestors. Empathy may have arisen from one of the most fundamental human characteristics—the ability to cheat.
Storytelling is essentially just a kind of art. Is Harry Potter real? No, but by projecting ourselves into his story, we’re engaging a very real part of our brain. That sense of escape or social participation often is what makes books so enjoyable. Unfortunately, books are falling out of style. The cause of this is partially due to e book sales, which have arisen greatly over the past few years and taken a share out of the physical book market without necessarily indicating a decline in reading.
Even though some of us would like to, we can’t blame the digital retailers for our decreased empathy. In fact, some people probably read more with their more convenient e-readers than ever before with hard copies. It’s the culture of reading in general that needs to change.
1. What did the experiment show?| A．The participants stressed teamwork. | B．The participants were forced to pick up pens. |
| C．A story might have an instructive effect. | D．A person lost in a story paid less attention to real life. |
| A．Limited patience | B．The lack of reading | C．Diverse emotions. | D．The social practice |
| A．The art of lying. | B．The culture of reading |
| C．The escape from the society. | D．The ability to process real information |
| A．Reading stories can increase empathy. | B．Paper books have edges over digital ones. |
| C．Writers play a trick on readers by cheating. | D．College students tend to lack understanding. |
9 . It’s all right to cry. Really. Although it’s often seen as a sign of weakness, crying can be just what the doctor ordered for sorting through chaotic(混乱的)emotions and cheering up.
Our general disapproval of emotional expression and crying specifically stems from childhood, said Stephen Sideroff, an assistant professor. As kids, we’re often taught to restrain(抑制)our emotions. Maybe you remember being teased in elementary school for crying when you were hurt. Many of us learned there were feelings, such as anger or resentment, that we shouldn’t have or express. As children grow into adulthood, we gradually learn to regulate our feelings. So what, you might say? Who cares? But we don’t hold emotions in only our heads, Sideroff said. We store them in our bodies, too.
Holding back your feelings can hurt. “These feelings have energy,” Sideroff explained. “You (then) have to restrain them in different ways.” That interferes with natural processes and creates imbalances since the body’s need is still there. If you’re sad or hurt or angry, you need to find something to resolve that imbalance. If you don’t, you might express those imbalanced feelings in inappropriate ways—like lashing out at(猛烈抨击)your family or friends. Emotional restraint can limit our ability to experience positive feelings, such as joy and love, as well.
Generally, the three types of tears include emotional tears, which result from strong feelings such as joy or sadness. Basal tears lubricate(润滑)your eyes. Reflex tears release when dust or onion oxides annoy your eyes. Humans are the only animals who cry into adulthood and have emotional tears.
People often report feeling better after they cry. That could be because crying forces us to pay attention to what triggered(触发)us and work through our emotions and thoughts. Crying might also help in understanding what’s important to us, especially if we cry over something that upsets us unexpectedly.
1. Which of the following is Stephen’s idea?| A．Emotions are created by the chaos. |
| B．Emotions are stored only in our heads. |
| C．Emotional restraint originates from childhood. |
| D．Emotional restraint develops positive feelings. |
| A．Joy. | B．Bitterness. | C．Satisfaction. | D．Disappointment. |
| A．The characteristics of crying. | B．The functions of tears. |
| C．The classification of tears. | D．The results of crying. |
| A．It’s doubtful. | B．It’s unexpected. |
| C．It’s discouraging. | D．It’s beneficial. |
1. How does Joanna feel?
| A．Tired. | B．Happy. | C．Anxious. |
| A．To practise cooking. |
| B．To pay back her mum. |
| C．To look after her sick mum. |
| A．She has got married. |
| B．She can get up early every day. |
| C．She loves her father more than her mother. |
