1 . Life can be wonderful, but realistically, it isn’t always so, no matter how hard you try.     1    . However, it mostly depends on the amount of effort you put in. And what about bad things? The mere fact of living means you’ll go through hard times, that you won’t always get what you want, and you’ll need resilience to get through it.

Resilience is the ability to adapt to adversity (逆境) in a positive way. Resilient people are those who can become strengthened by difficult situations.     2    . Resilience involves, among other things, being able to effectively regulate your emotions. This will allow you to face difficult situations and overcome obstacles.

Another great thing about resilience is that it is not determined by genetics or personality.     3    . Instead, it develops throughout your life as you interact with your environment.

To maximize your resilience, you need to know which factors influence it, both personal and environmental. That way, you can work on each factor and learn how to adapt to adversity in a positive way.

    4    . Obviously, this doesn’t just occur immediately after an unfortunate event. It’s a gradual process that comes with time and often, the help of a qualified psychologist.

Next, it’s important to be able to see the good side of the situation. In other words, be optimistic — just don’t forget to be realistic. You shouldn’t focus on the negative things and forget about the positive,     5    .

Lastly, having a sense of humor can help to improve your resilience greatly. Being able to laugh at yourself or the situation is a worthwhile tool that helps you adapt to different obstacles.

A．but nobody is born knowing how to adapt

B．Some good things will happen purely by chance

C．First of all, you have to accept what has happened

D．Firstly, you should keep all external factors in mind

E．But it’s more than just “seeing the good side of things”

F．That is, you’re not born with a limited capacity for resilience

G．but you also shouldn’t elevate the positive to an impossible level

2 . My sister and I couldn’t be more different. I’m louder and taller. She’s quieter and shorter. When we were young, I sped through Michigan forests on my bike while she read Nancy Drew books. My sister, who is 14 months older than me, and I have always gotten along, but for years we weren’t especially friendly and spoke only when necessary.

Twelve years ago, our father had a stroke (中风). Soon our mother was seriously ill. I managed all the day-to-day caretaking; from afar, my sister offered suggestions which made me feel she was unsatisfied with me. Our mother died in 2015.

Last year I suddenly wanted to watch Chinese TV dramas (电视剧). That felt natural. When I was young, my mother and her friends would share videos of TV dramas sent from China. Perhaps these dramas were her only connection to her early years in China.

I started with one of the most popular dramas—“The Story of Yanxi Palace.” I was amazed at the beautiful clothes, detailed settings and excellent performances (表演). One afternoon, I decided to text my sister what I might have told my mother about the drama. At that point, my sister and I only texted once every few months, usually to discuss our father’s caretaking. Surprisingly, she began to watch along with me. Soon we were live texting as we watched.

Our interest grew until we were watching other dramas, like the hit “GO Ahead.” The more dramas we watched, the more conversations we had. Over the past year, my sister and I have watched so many Chinese dramas together that I’ve lost count.

2020 has been a long year of repeated losses for us all, but amid these losses, I’ve found a lost sister. I never could have imagined how Chinese dramas could help me get back to my Chinese roots (根), or how dramas would help me build a new relationship with my sister.

1. What was the young author’s relationship with her sister like?

A．Rather cold.

B．Very difficult.

C．Very close.

D．Quite changeable.

2. What made the author start to watch Chinese TV dramas?

A．The influence of her sister.	B．Her mother’s love for them.
C．Her dream of learning Chinese.	D．The popularity of Chinese TV shows.

3. What did the author text her sister that afternoon?

A．Her sadness at losing their mother.	B．Her interest in watching a TV drama.
C．Her plan to better look after their father.	D．Her views on a Chinese live show.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．How different my sister and I could be

B．Why TV dramas from China are popular

C．Why I have come to believe in family love again

D．How Chinese dramas helped me connect with my sister

3 . As ninety approached, many things had changed for Mom except one: She wanted a big birthday party. But because of a fractured (断裂的) hip just 3 weeks before, we could only arrange a small one at the rehab (康复中心) instead of giving her a big celebration in a restaurant.

Mom’s husband, Fred, was also in the facility, admitted to the dementia (痴呆) unit prior to her admission. Mom visited him a few times each week, but these visits distressed her because he was usually asleep and did not respond to her. She often left in tears and was sad for days.

On the day of the party, we decorated the dining room with balloons, and a sheet cake was decorated in her favorite colour. Surrounded by her loved ones, Mom was overwhelmed with happiness. Only one other person could have made this day happier: Fred, her husband of thirty years. Because the party was held in the nursing facility, we had taken him to the party, too. When an attendant brought him into the room, Mom shouted with joy. We positioned them side by-side in their wheelchairs. He sat there with his eyes closed, unresponsive, and the party went on.

A short time later, there was a buzz in the room: “Fred’s awake!” And he was! Mom spoke to him, and he responded. He said, “I love you.” He ate the birthday cake and ice cream. He stayed for the rest of the party. After I sent him back to his nursing unit, the remaining guests were still talking about Fred and his miraculous awakening, just in time to share his wife’s ninetieth birthday. Mom was very happy, crying that his presence was the best gift of all.

God works in strange ways. We were able to give Mom a lovely celebration after all, and with her husband at her side, a happy birthday indeed.

1. Why couldn’t Mom enjoy a big birthday party?

A．Because her husband got sick.

B．Because she herself got injured.

C．Because she preferred to celebrate it with her husband.

D．Because we didn’t want to arrange one for her.

2. What can be inferred about Fred?

A．He was admitted to the rehab after Mom.

B．Mom felt disappointed with him.

C．He was unconscious most of the time at the rehab.

D．He had been married to Mom for nearly twenty years.

3. Why did the attendant bring Fred to the dining room during the party?

A．To inspire him to get better.	B．To help us get close to him.
C．To celebrate his birthday.	D．To make him keep his wife company.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Mom’s Unexpected Birthday Gift	B．Fred’s Amazing Recovery
C．Mom’s Miraculous Party	D．Mom’s Strange Birthday

4 . When life is stressful, it’s very easy to give in to feelings of anger or depression.     1     Here are some ways that can help you better deal with a wide range of negative emotions.

·Acknowledge your feelings.

Dealing with negative emotions can be difficult. But it’s important to allow yourself to experience those emotions. Suppressing(抑制)them can cause stress.     2     For example, if you are feeling nervous, ask yourself, “What am I afraid of?” Acknowledging the issue can help you figure out how to handle it.

·Change your environment.

    3     Try changing your space to make it a more calming place. For example, if your negative emotions arise from feeling out of control, try organizing your space. Clearing up the mess can make you feel on top of things.

    4    

When you know that something is causing a negative emotion, try to shift your focus away from that situation. For example, if you are stuck in a traffic jam and running late, listen to your favorite CD. Focusing on something positive can help to calm you down.

·Talk about your feelings.

Talking about your negative emotions is very productive. It is a good idea to let your loved ones know your feelings. Try saying, “I’ve been really stressed out lately. Do you have time to talk things through with me?”     5     It’s fine to express anger or frustration, but do so without shouting.

A．It’s time to figure out what causes them.

B．Shift your focus away from the bad thing.

C．Be calm and reasonable while you are talking.

D．You don’t have to put too much effort into them.

E．When you experience a negative emotion, acknowledge it.

F．However, you will be more productive if you can handle them.

G．Small changes can have a big impact on your emotional health.

5 . Like many people, public speaking once filled me with fear As a writer, I felt much more ________ expressing myself on the page, rather than on the ________. Strangely, I found that the feelings of ________ to be perfectly tolerable; ________, I was concerned with the ways that others would perceive my nervous energy. A slight change of ________, the unconscious biting of my lip — I assured that I’d be ________ for any nom-verbal signal that showed my lack of ________. I was experiencing anxiety about my anxiety—consequences that made the whole task feel much more ________.

You might have ________ this yourself before a job interview or important work meeting in front of senior colleagues. And the more you try to ________ your feelings, the more obvious they appear to others.

According to a striking new study, however, these concerns may be ________. Jamie Whitehouse, a research fellow at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, has shown that visible signs of stress are often ________, leaving others more likely to like us and treat us ________. If so, then we need not try so hard to ________ a calm-and-collected poker face, safe in the knowledge that people will relate well to our ________.

1.

A．anxious

B．comfortable

C．cautious

D．hesitant

2.

A．exam room

B．video call

C．stage center

D．teacher’s desk

3.

A．burden

B．loneliness

C．conflict

D．anxiety

4.

A．besides

B．instead

C．therefore

D．otherwise

5.

A．voice

B．appearance

C．attitude

D．routine

6.

A．paused

B．rejected

C．assessed

D．warned

7.

A．knowledge

B．experience

C．process

D．confidence

8.

A．astonishing

B．terrifying

C．pressing

D．confusing

9.

A．noticed

B．refreshed

C．mentioned

D．supposed

10.

A．permit

B．declare

C．hide

D．deserve

11.

A．practical

B．inaccurate

C．unpredictable

D．unnecessary

12.

A．appealing

B．annoying

C．frustrating

D．convincing

13.

A．warmly

B．apparently

C．curiously

D．casually

14.

A．remind

B．require

C．wander

D．maintain

15.

A．attention

B．expectation

C．emotions

D．appreciation

6 . 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.

2. Which of the following best describes the mother daughter relationship?

A．Shaky.

B．Distant.

C．Reserved.

D．Intense.

3. Why did the author send the poem to her mom?

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.

4. What does the poem mean to 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.

7 . Halfway home I asked to stop for a drink. Then afterward I jumped in the backseat to read a book to my brother. And that’s what _________ me, because the crash happened a few miles down the road. The entire front of our car was _________.

I was taken in an ambulance. But my dad, Kash, never regained _________. He died too _________ to save his organs. But everything else was _________: his eyes and tissues. We have a list of fifty people whose _________ he changed. The only things my mom _________ were his bones.

As for me, I couldn’t even play the piano, which had been such a _________ part of my identity. All the bones in my left _________ were seriously damaged, and whenever I tried to __________ with my right hand, I’d just __________ desperately crying. I went through surgery after surgery, but nothing __________. Finally the doctors told me: “Your hand is dying, and the only thing __________ to try is a bone transplant.” Only then did my mother __________ my father’s bones. When the doctor transplanted his bones onto my wrist, the blood started to flow. My hand __________ came back to life. And I could play again.

Now, seventeen years later, though our house is small, we have a piano. Whenever I play the piano, I __________ my dad so deeply. How I wish he could have survived that __________. In our living room we keep a photo album of my dad. I __________ the fact that he never got to meet my kids, but they are quite __________ with him. They call him “Papa Kash”, who we know is __________ alive in this house.

1.

A．honored

B．developed

C．discouraged

D．saved

2.

A．controlled

B．destroyed

C．exposed

D．renewed

3.

A．consciousness

B．reputation

C．acceptance

D．confidence

4.

A．randomly

B．secretly

C．quickly

D．peacefully

5.

A．buried

B．donated

C．refused

D．replaced

6.

A．attitudes

B．purposes

C．lives

D．interests

7.

A．presented

B．recognized

C．witnessed

D．reserved

8.

A．difficult

B．significant

C．strange

D．practical

9.

A．wrist

B．leg

C．chest

D．foot

10.

A．drag

B．strike

C．play

D．touch

11.

A．ended up

B．gave up

C．aimed at

D．insisted on

12.

A．remained

B．matched

C．worked

D．appeared

13.

A．left

B．persuaded

C．avoided

D．predicted

14.

A．approach

B．demonstrate

C．discover

D．remember

15.

A．frequently

B．impossibly

C．mistakenly

D．incredibly

16.

A．move

B．trust

C．miss

D．annoy

17.

A．business

B．accident

C．report

D．surgery

18.

A．hate

B．imagine

C．deny

D．doubt

19.

A．angry

B．familiar

C．strict

D．popular

20.

A．seldom

B．later

C．never

D．forever

8 . Studies have shown optimistic thinking leads to a positive attitude and that people with positive attitudes live healthier, happier and longer lives. Here are some benefits of staying positive in life.

Better feeling. When you’re positive, you will feel happy and satisfied with what you are doing. Moreover, you’ll feel better about life.     1    

More energy. When you have less stress and worry in life, you will have extra energy to do what you love, and you will be active. Being stressful and not being able to see the bright side of life steal your energy.     2     Energize yourself by simply changing the way you think.

Great first impression. If you positively think about your priority (优先权), you will always make a great first impression. A good first impression depends largely on good personalities.     3     Besides, a good first impression can have a big impact on the development of your future relationships—both personal and professional.

Better health.     4     Even scientific studies have shown that people with positive attitudes are less likely to suffer from depression and that they get ill more rarely than the negative thinkers. Positive thinkers are often less stressed, have lower blood pressure and are often more active.

    5     Fear results from negative thoughts. Being a positive thinker removes fear. Courage comes from the fact that you can deal with whatever happens in your life if you stay positive.

A．More courage.

B．Positive lifestyle.

C．Therefore, stay positive and you’ll feel happy.

D．Positive thinking is very beneficial to your health.

E．You will feel tired and less interested in the things you love.

F．People, in general, are attracted to kind and friendly personalities.

G．To be positive is to know and truly believe you are a valuable person.

9 . How to Learn from Your Regrets

Regret’s benefits don’t come to us by chance.     1     . Here are three steps you can take the next time you find yourself thinking carefully about your past missteps.

Kill the ghost (鬼魂).

People often say their regrets keep coming to their mind. This suggests that regret is like a ghost. Bring your ghost out of the shadows by making a list of your regrets. Write down why each one still bothers you and its bad effects.     2    .

Forgive yourself.

    3    , but sometimes you just can’t stop blaming yourself. Perhaps you dropped out of school decades ago and are constantly calculating today how much money you would be making if you had pressed on to graduation. Now is the time to declare: “I will not waste my life reliving a decision that cannot be changed.”

Collect your diploma.

Regret is like a school run by human nature. If you never experienced regret, you would keep repeating the same behaviors that led you to miss opportunities.     4    . Next. list all the ways that you can invest in your own skills and improvement right now — and get started.

Regrets may hurt.     5    , while trying to live without them is a lost opportunity to grow. Life is a journey full of pleasures and pains. To live it well and fully means learning from every bit of it, including the mistakes, and moving forward.

A．After you make a mistake, life moves on

B．Filling your mind with them is destructive

C．The ghost certainly doesn’t rule a person’s life

D．We have to seek them out on purpose to improve ourselves

E．You will find that a list is a lot less frightening than a ghost

F．You choose a life sentence for a poor decision you made in the past

G．If you let regret teach, you can note how you want to change your behavior

10 . How to Express Appreciation to Your Parents

Do you know how to show your parents your appreciation for what they have done for you? Showing appreciation can be difficult—you may not be sure exactly what to say. Here are some tips.

Talk to your parents

If you want to let your parents know how much you care for them, find a good time to do so.     1    Make sure to thank your parents through your interactions when appropriate. Always thank your dad for paying for dinner. Offer your mom a “thank you” when she gives you advice.

    2    

Conveying your feelings or thoughts in thank-you letters or cards can be a fun way to let your parents know how much you love and care for them.     3    . And the letters or cards can be kept for long and be often reread.

Treat your parents to a fun day

    4    . Sometimes, doing something nice for your parents is enough. On weekends, plan a fun day full of family activities, such as a family picnic or movie time together. When your parents are too busy to enjoy a day out of the house, you can do something at home to show your love. Either helping out around the house without being asked or cooking their favorite meal can make a day for them.     5    .

A．Express yourself in writing

B．Send thanksgiving cards to your parents

C．Words are not the only way to express appreciation

D．Your parents will value everything that you do for them

E．The effort you put into the chosen gift will show your love

F．This can be really helpful if you are nervous with face-to-face talks

G．Nothing is better than a simple “thank you” to show your appreciation