1 . While socializing comes naturally for some, it can be a struggle for others. Shyness is a normal, common personality trait (特征).     1    . If you’re often hesitant to engage in social situations, you may interact with those around you in a more comfortable way. We outline four strategies for overcoming shyness in life.

Get Excited About A New Adventure

You may have been shy most of your life.     2    . Working through shyness and developing increased confidence may seem like a discouraging task for you, but viewing the journey as an exciting adventure to parts unknown can be exciting and, in turn, may boost your self-esteem.

Pay Attention To Your Words

    3    . Talking to yourself in a negative way when describing yourself can damage your self-confidence. Consider replacing phrases like “I am shy” with “I am learning to be more comfortable” in social situations. This can go a long way toward moving from shyness to confidence.

Practice Mindfulness (正念)

Mindfulness involves drawing your attention to the present and being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.     4    . In one study, participants in a mindfulness program experienced an improved view of their self-worth.

Take Small Steps

Getting started can be the hardest part of learning how to be more social for those who are shy.     5    . You can start out small. Try chatting with the teller at the bank or the person ahead of you in the checkout line. This can help you build confidence and work your way up to more difficult challenges.

A．If so, that’s a part of you that you’re used to

B．Sometimes the best path toward addressing a fear is exposure

C．Mindfulness can help reduce symptoms of social anxiety disorder

D．Taking time to tend to your appearance can make a big difference

E．How we communicate and characterize ourselves can be powerful

F．However, shyness can make it hard for people to connect with others and achieve their goals

G．But engaging with people doesn’t have to be practiced as an important work presentation

2 . Confidence is a feeling of trust in your abilities, qualities and judgment. Building confidence is like building a house. You need to start with a solid foundation, then construct everything else from there. It takes time and effort to improve your confidence, especially if you haven’t had the opportunity to prove your skills in the past.     1     Start strengthening your self-confidence with these how-to guides.

    2     It’s easier said than done, but daily, positive thoughts about what you’re able to do can improve your confidence. Everyone has days when staying positive is tough, but force yourself to remember one good thing you like about who you are every morning until it’s a habit.

Do things you’re good at. What happens when you do things that you are good at?     3    Your strengths become even stronger, which helps improve your belief in yourself. Taking this approach also has another benefit: It can increase how satisfied you are with your life.

Spend time with positive people. The people around you greatly impact how you feel about yourself. If judgmental or critical people surround you, it’ll take a toll(产生负面影响)on your mental strength. If, however, you’re interacting with people who can cheer others on and support one another, you’ll feel much better.     4    

Take care of yourself. Focusing on you and what you need sometimes feel like it’s selfish,but it’s not!     5     Taking care of yourself can help you take care of others, but it can also help boost your self-confidence. Easy ways to start include taking a break when you’re overwhelmed(不堪重负的), wearing your favorite outfit, or doing something you love.

A．Act as if you feel confident.

B．Your self-confidence starts to rise.

C．It’s a necessary part of being human.

D．However, it is something that everyone can do!

E．Think positively about yourself and your skills.

F．Actually, it’s hard to feel good about yourself if you overuse your health.

G．So focus on creating healthier relationships with the positive people in your life.

3 . One of the primary goals of cognitive behavioral therapy (疗法) is finding effective ways to channel your anxiety into productive action. The best possible one is under the care of an experienced mental health care provider. Still, if you are hoping to stop being paralyzed (麻痹) by anxiety and use this energy to fuel and improve your life, you can.     1    

Set a goal. Goal-setting is one way to use your anxiety as fuel. Take notice of your anxious thoughts and worries. What are you most concerned about?     2     Instead of shaking in your boots, get to work developing a plan that allows you to overcome these fears.

Challenge yourself regularly to build resilience. Think of your resilience to anxiety as a muscle.     3     Rather than avoiding those situations that cause anxiety, gradually expose yourself to them more often. When you do this, you will find that, over time, they lose their power. For instance, if you hate public speaking, you might benefit from signing up for a local Toastmasters club. Doing so will allow you to practice speaking in front of a group more often, which will reduce your anxiety.

    4     Anxiety can feel like a live wire in your body. You can’t sit still or focus. Exercise is a great activity to make use of this spare energy. Exercise offers a host of benefits like fighting off illness and helping you manage weight. One of the benefits most helpful to you, however, is its ability to neutralize anxiety and improve your mood.

Perform reality testing. You don’t have to become a slave to your anxious thoughts, giving them permission to get you all worked up.     5     Reality testing involves assessing a situation for errors in thinking. To assess the reality of this situation, you want to ask what evidence is there that says this is true. Did your friends actually call you lame? Are they avoiding you?

A．Put them to the test instead.

B．What are your biggest fears?

C．Burn off nervous energy with physical activity.

D．When you find yourself becoming anxious, check your thought patterns

E．Just transform anxiety into action by using positive strategies.

F．How can you deal with getting fired if it does happen?

G．The more you use the muscle, the stronger it becomes.

4 . There’s no single best way to cheer someone up when they are feeling down.    1    Some people might prefer socializing while others might like relaxing. They may even want you to simply send them helpful articles or funny pictures online without actually seeing you in person. Here are four ways to cheer someone up after a bad day.

Write them a handwritten note. If you want to cheer someone up, you don’t have to write a six-page letter detailing every happy thing you can think of.    2    Try writing out positive things like good memories you have together, or even an encouraging quote (名言).

Have a movie night. Perhaps you won’t be talking a lot during the movie, but it’s an excuse to come together with the person you’re trying to support. Sometimes they just need a little company when they’re feeling down.    3    Therefore, turn on the TV and find a movie that you’ll both enjoy.

    4    Your normal routine (日常事务) can feel dull and remind a person of what’s troubling them. Try doing something new with the friend you want to cheer up. It could be getting some fresh air by going hiking you’ve never tried or visiting your local museum. Any of these ideas can help build some memories together and lift your friends’ spirits.

Bring them their favorite food. Surprising someone with their favorite meal is an act of kindness that many like. They’re called our “comfort foods” for a reason, and sharing them will help your friends feel better.    5    

A．Try something new together.

B．Talk about interesting things.

C．It shows them that you value them.

D．Often, it just depends on the person.

E．Being close to someone can help them feel less alone.

F．A simple note with a supportive sentence or a little card will be OK.

G．Plus, sharing a meal together is a good chance to chat about whatever they want.

5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Jack was a bright and curious child, always eager to learn new things and explore the mysterious world about science. However, he often found himself in disagreement with his mother. His mother was always busy with her work and she didn’t have enough time to learn about his interests and passions.

One day, Jack came home from school feeling particularly excited. He just found a sci-fi book about an adventure on the moon. Upon arriving at home, he couldn’t tear himself away from the book. He read and read until it was dark. Having finished reading it, he couldn’t wait to share it with his mother, only to be told that he should focus on more practical subjects like math and history, which would help him get into a good college and have a successful career.

Jack couldn’t understand why his mother didn’t see the value in what he was doing. He felt that she was holding him back and not allowing him to pursue his true interests. “Why can’t you see how important this is to me?” Jack asked his mother angrily. “I’m never going to be happy if I have to spend my life doing things that I show no interest in just because they are practical or make you proud.”

The once peaceful home was filled with tension and anger. His mother’s voice grew louder as she shouted, “You can’t just do whatever you want! You should be responsible for your future!” Jack, fueled by his own frustration, shot back, “I am tired of you always telling me what to do! I am not a child anymore! You only care about your own feeling! You never thought about my feeling!” They were so caught up in their own anger and hurt that they failed to see how their words and actions were affecting each other.

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。

Jack rushed into his bedroom and locked the door heavily.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Jack heard his mother’s words, regretful tears rolled down his face.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . The characteristic (特征) of shyness is to feel frightened and nervous in new social situations or when being the center of attention. Whether shyness is part of your children’s personality or just something they feel when they are in front of a group of strangers, it is a common experience, according to a study.

To look at shyness, researchers brought 152 children aged 7-8 into a lab and told them they would give a speech, which would be filmed and shown to other children. The study showed that about 10% of the children showed a level of stress over time when giving the speech. About 25% of the children were not reported to be shy in the eyes of their parents, but in fact showed a level of social stress from giving the speech. This finding provides the fact that shyness may be a part of these children’s temperament (性情).

For children at this age, shyness may be a quite common and normal experience when they face a speech task. For a smaller group of shy children, however, being the center of attention may be stressful at different times and environments.

A shy temperament isn’t always valued by society like an outgoing personality, but that doesn’t mean there is something wrong. Everyone can feel shy at times depending on the environment. And those who are particularly shy often have happy social lives—they just aren’t likely to be the liveliest people in a crowded room.

Although shyness itself may not necessarily be a problem, parents should pay attention to signs of worry, particularly in their shy children. Importantly, however, we know that not all shy children are the same, and that many shy children grow up to be well-balanced adults.

1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?

A．Shyness is not an unusual characteristic.

B．Shyness is born with personality.

C．Shyness will appear when one is in public.

D．Shyness means not communicating with others.

2. What is the finding of the study?

A．Few kids like to give a speech to others.

B．Some kids can get shy while giving speeches.

C．Some kids appear less shy with their parents.

D．Some kids are stressed when being separated.

3. What does the author advise parents to do when facing shy children?

A．Bring them to crowded space.

B．Care for them and give them confidence.

C．Keep them away from shyness.

D．Let them be alone.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．When are people shy?	B．Ways of beating shyness
C．Why is shyness a bad thing?	D．The discoveries about shyness

7 . It was wintertime 30 years ago. I was a young father with 3 little children to support. My college education, however, didn’t ________ me a good job. Now I was working in a sawmill (锯木厂) for just above the minimum ________. Every day before I went to work, I would ________ band-aids around my fingers. Working 8 hours a day in the cold dry air had ________ cuts and scars.

That day was harder than normal. We were ________ of workers and the machines kept breaking down. We could see our ________ as the heaters weren’t working. When the day finally came to an end, I ________ my legs to my car. There I took off my work ________ to see my aching fingers. The cuts were worse than ever and ________ leaked through again. As I made a (n) ________ to fix it, my bad back cramped (抽筋). I had never felt that ________ before. I finally started my car back home and ________ fought back the tears. I wondered why life was so hard and how ________ I could keep doing this.

As I opened the door, I ________ a weak smile on my face. But it soon became ________ as my daughter screamed a sweet “Daddy”. When she threw her little arms around my neck, my heart ________ with love. All my aches and pains disappeared in her ________! In that second I remembered again I was here for ________ and I knew I could move on.

In our lives, we all have ________ fingers and band-aid days. But with love we can survive.________, work may give us a living, but love gives us a life.

1.

A．show

B．guarantee

C．teach

D．name

2.

A．wage

B．size

C．order

D．grade

3.

A．hang

B．move

C．pull

D．wrap

4.

A．applied to

B．put off

C．resulted in

D．cleaned up

5.

A．short

B．aware

C．proud

D．fond

6.

A．eyes

B．teeth

C．life

D．breath

7.

A．crossed

B．dragged

C．swung

D．kicked

8.

A．shoes

B．uniform

C．gloves

D．cap

9.

A．water

B．sweat

C．juice

D．blood

10.

A．attempt

B．excuse

C．schedule

D．deal

11.

A．nervous

B．sad

C．angry

D．lonely

12.

A．successfully

B．bravely

C．desperately

D．simply

13.

A．long

B．well

C．soon

D．often

14.

A．imagined

B．practiced

C．shared

D．forced

15.

A．obvious

B．pure

C．natural

D．innocent

16.

A．broke

B．exploded

C．sank

D．beat

17.

A．cry

B．suggestion

C．laughter

D．hug

18.

A．assistance

B．comfort

C．love

D．shelter

19.

A．slim

B．bleeding

C．nervous

D．bent

20.

A．After all

B．On average

C．In contrast

D．At last

8 . Soothe the Sunday Scaries

As the weekend comes to an end, many of us are missing out on Sunday Funday and anxious about the upcoming week. Experts have nicknamed this worry the “Sunday scaries”.     1    

Here’s how you can ease your end-of-weekend anxiety.

When structuring your Sunday, try not to arrange too many errands and chores. If you’re feeling more stress, it’s important to make space for some activities to relax yourself. And there’s no right way to do so — maybe a midafternoon shower or bath, maybe an engaging movie or show.     2    

Anxiety is a normal human experience, and one of the main ways to manage it is to identify your personal triggers.     3     Is it a deadline, meeting, or presentation? Even if there’s not a single reason behind your Sunday anxiety, organizing the stress you expect from the week ahead into small pieces can help it.

Getting rid of the Sunday scaries isn’t just about minimizing the gloom of the week ahead, either. Having something to look forward to gives you something pleasing to think about, rather than only focusing on the anxiety you feel.     4     Instead of focusing on the awful things you expect from the week, build excitement over a lunch date with a friend.

Make Sunday nights about doing something for yourself to reduce your anxiety about Monday. Plan some favorite foods to enjoy or go all in for some self-care.     5     Do your best to honor this time and make Sunday night all about you—leave the work emails for Monday morning.

A．It’s a form of shifting your thoughts.

B．This is an opportunity to give yourself a refreshing time.

C．Try to figure out what’s really causing you to fear the week.

D．It doesn’t mean you have to shift your thoughts to something fun.

E．But even though the Sunday scaries are common, they are manageable.

F．It can be whatever feels like a helpful distraction to relieve from the stress.

G．Instead of sitting on the sofa and watching the clock, do something that you enjoy.

9 . 根据下列句意及所给汉语提示，写出所缺单词的正确形式，每空一词。
Dear Tracy,

How are you going recently? It’s almost a month     1     I saw you off at the airport. I miss you a lot. Please accept my     2     (感谢) for all that you have done to help me with my study.

Whenever I got into trouble, you were always there, reaching out a hand for me to hold. It was your help and encouragement     3     helped me get through all the difficulties and made me what I am today. I couldn’t have made it without your timely help.

By the way, please come back to China for a visit whenever it is     4     (方便的) for you. Anyway, you once told me that you enjoyed your travels across China. I am looking forward to     5     (看见) you again.

Give my best wishes to your family.

Yours,

Li Hua

10 . I didn’t believe in ghosts (幽灵). However, my mother reminded me many times that I had the_________ . It was all because of a_________ I told when I was 4. One night I ________ to get ready for bed, so I lied there was a ghost in the bathroom. Mother was_________ to learn that.

After that she often_________ anything unusual—a sudden wind, a vase that fell and got broken. She would ask me,“Is she here?” She ________ my grandmother, who she said died in a car accident. When I was 14, my older brother was seriously ill. My mother ________ me to ask my grandmother to save him. When he died, she asked me to talk to him as usual. “I don’t know ________, ” I said. When my father died six months after my brother, mother asked me if they still loved us. I spelled out the answer which I_________ she wanted to hear: “Yes， always.”

When I became a writer in my 30s， I wrote a story about a woman who killed herself by eating too much opium (鸦片).

________ the story, my mother got shocked, ________ its exactly how my grandmother died. For some reason, mother didn’t tell me the truth. Now she had ________ : My grandmother had talked to me and told me her true story. She asked me, “Is she here now?” I answered ________, “I don’t know.”

Over the years, mother always asked me some ________ questions. Sometimes I really got ________ of them. And I began to ________ whether there was something wrong with her ________. Ten years later, my mother left me forever. Suddenly I felt sad and ________. It seemed that I had lost everything. That night I ________ about her and she was laughing at my surprise. When she reached me, I felt as if I had been ________ in the chest with something: love, but also joy and peace. “Now you know,” my mother said.

1.

A．chance

B．gift

C．secret

D．experience

2.

A．lie

B．story

C．excuse

D．plan

3.

A．pretended

B．prepared

C．refused

D．decided

4.

A．satisfied

B．moved

C．disappointed

D．surprised

5.

A．noticed

B．questioned

C．appreciated

D．found

6.

A．asked

B．meant

C．mentioned

D．missed

7.

A．begged

B．forced

C．ordered

D．helped

8.

A．what

B．who

C．how

D．which

9.

A．imagined

B．doubted

C．hoped

D．knew

10.

A．Printing

B．Telling

C．Reading

D．Typing

11.

A．because

B．so

C．though

D．unless

12.

A．confidence

B．proof

C．knowledge

D．information

13.

A．quickly

B．happily

C．honestly

D．sadly

14.

A．difficult

B．silly

C．familiar

D．similar

15.

A．tired

B．proud

C．afraid

D．hopeless

16.

A．understand

B．figure

C．wonder

D．speak

17.

A．eyesight

B．mind

C．body

D．head

18.

A．strong-minded

B．strange

C．relaxed

D．empty

19.

A．chatted

B．dreamed

C．read

D．wrote

20.

A．taken

B．hit

C．filled

D．kept