1 . 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. |
2 . 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. |
3 . Simple Steps to Help You Cope With Anxiety
Anxiety involves feelings of worry, fear, and depress. Anxiety is typically experienced on cognitive, emotional, and physical levels. When feeling anxious a person may have negative or disturbing thoughts.
Stop and breathe
When anxiety appears, practice this simple breathing technique: Begin by getting into a comfortable seated position. Close your eyes and breathe slowly through your nose. Follow this inhalation(吸入)with a deep exhalation.
Figure out what’s bothering you
In order to get to the root of your anxiety、you need to figure out what’s bothering you. Writing in a journal can be a great way to get in touch with your sources of anxiety. If anxious feelings seem to be keeping you up at night, try keeping a journal or notepad next to your bed.
Replace your fears by changing your attitude about them. For example, stop fearing to lose your job and instead focus on how grateful you are to have a job. Come to work determined to do your best. Instead of fearing your loved one’s safety, spend time with them, or express your appreciation of them.
Focus on something less anxiety- provoking
At times, it may be most helpful to simply redirect yourself to focus on something other than your anxiety. Do some chores or organizing around the house.
| A．Read some jokes |
| B．Take part in a creative activity |
| C．Focus on what you can change |
| D．Continue to breathe deeply and fully |
| E．Write down all of the things that are bothering you |
| F．Therefore, there are some useful steps you can. take to be happy |
| G．Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to manage your anxiety |
I was in 7th grade when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was very sudden and unexpected for our family and obviously I was beaten. I tried my best to balance my first year of middle school and my home life, even if I knew this was impossible. I hated coming home from school every day for fear of what I would see when I got home. I hated seeing my mom sick all the time; she was not herself and all I wanted was for her to stop treatment and get better. Luckily, I had lots of support from my family, friends, and teachers during this hard time to help get me through it.
At the beginning of the year, I was determined to stay on track with my homework and studying and get through my first year at middle school successfully. Slowly, I started to become more distracted while at home with taking care of my mom, cleaning the house and helping my grandma cook our meals. While I was at school, I could escape and put my mom’s sickness in the back of my mind while I hung out with my friends and enjoyed playing. I noticed that my quiz and test grades were increasingly getting worse, but I never brought this to the attention of my mom because I did not want to worry her. Eventually, all of my grades were lower than C’s.
I knew that I was not doing well at school, and I needed to get my grades back up. I knew that a lot of my teachers were cutting me some unimportant work because they knew what was happening at home. Ms. Zazoski, my English teacher was the most supportive teacher that I have ever had and I am so glad that I was in her class that year.
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。
One day my teacher had me stay after school to have a talk with her.
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That was the motivation that I needed to improve my grades.
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5 . “Are you OK, Cassie?” Jonah asked, from the doorway of the Sea Holly Cafe.
Cassie had been sitting on a chair outside for the past 10 minutes, but not really taking in the beauty of the sea.
“Oh, I should be getting back to work.” She rose hurriedly.
“We’re not busy, take your time.” Jonah came with a cappuccino for her. “Thanks.” She accepted the coffee, “Everything’s fine.” Then Jonah nodded, revealing a comforting smile, and went back inside.
He was a great boss, but Cassie didn’t feel like telling him what was wrong.
Cassie had gone to study fine art hopefully but dropped out after only a year due to the unbearable homesickness. Since then, she hadn’t touched her paints for a whole year. Today was doomed to be a sad date, the anniversary of her exciting plans turning to dust. She felt a crushing sense of disappointment. In her painting, she had captured a good likeness of the cloudy sky and the reflection of the dying light upon the water, but the picture did have a sad, dreary (沉闷的) quality.
About 20 minutes later, she was shocked by a voice at her shoulder, “That’s beautiful.”
Cassie turned, and there was a woman wearing a blue coat. The woman eyed it again. “You have talent, but there is much sadness in it, for one so young.” Cassie’s eyes were filled with tears. “My name’s Willow,” the woman said kindly, “Why not try painting the sunrise instead, my dear? You might find it helps.”
With Willow’s words echoing in her brain, Cassie rose an hour earlier the next day, caught a bus to the beach and began to paint again.
When she finished, Jonah was just opening up. He picked the painting up and appreciated it at eye height. “Hey, this is good. It’s really —“For a moment he struggled for the word, then found it and turned to her, beaming, “Optimistic!”
In her picture the sun was powering into the sky, casting a clear, golden pathway across the sea.
1. Which of the following best explains “He was a great boss” underlined in paragraph 5?| A．Jonah offered a coffee to Cassie. |
| B．Jonah ran a successful cafe business. |
| C．Jonah figured out what was wrong with Cassie. |
| D．Jonah was considerate of Cassie’s emotional upset. |
| A．That her paints were covered with dust. |
| B．That her homesickness was aroused again. |
| C．That her original plan was abandoned midway. |
| D．That her painting was full of a sorrowful and dull quality. |
| A．It was more beautiful. | B．It might cheer Cassie up. |
| C．It had artistic inspiration. | D．It made a difference to Willow. |
| A．The Sun Always Rises | B．Every Man Has Its Price |
| C．Strike While the Iron Is Hot | D．A Good Medicine Tastes Bitter |
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.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7 . 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. |
My parents grew up poor. But as a family, we were comfortable, though we didn’t have much what would be considered luxuries. One year, my father went on a trip to Italy and brought my mother an opal ring. It was her favorite stone, and she cherished that ring. It represented Dad’s love for her.
Dad died at the age of 53 in 1980 after a grueling battle with cancer. Mom was working at Burlington Coat Factory Department store. She usually wore the ring to work. Over the years, the ring became impossible for my Mom to wear because of her swollen knuckles (指关节). I had the ring fitted with a clasp so that Mom could wear it again. She took great pride in the frequent compliments as she got on that ring.
One day during her shift, the ring slipped off. She didn’t realize it until the following day. Mom was sad. The ring did not have a high monetary value, but it meant as much to her as life itself. I decided to go and look for it.
I encountered Chloe, one of my Mom’s co-workers at my Mom’s workplace. She led me to the store where Mom worked, and then left. It was packed with clothes, racks and tables. I started row by row crawling on the floor to see if I could find the ring underneath all the clothes. When I got to the last row and hadn’t found the ring, the thought occurred to me that it might have fallen into the pocket of a coat as my Mom was hanging or rearranging the clothes. I started feeling around in the pockets of some of the coats, but quickly abandoned. There were at least 20,000 pieces of clothing in that department. The attempt seemed useless.
注意：续写的词数应为150左右;
I stood by a small table in disappointment when Chloe came in.
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I called my Mom and now I was choking back tears.
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9 . How to Work out Your Worries by Writing
Something troubling you?
You should write about it.
Research shows that people who write about a difficult situation often show improved mental and physical health.
Hundreds of studies over several decades have looked at the potential benefits of expressive writing. It can strengthen the immune system, including for people with illnesses such as flu, cancer and depression.
Expressive writing works because it allows you to make meaning out of a painful experience, experts say.
But expressive writing isn’t a magical cure-all solution.
Yet it can be a powerful tool for many, in large part because it helps prevent the secrecy people often feel about an injury, as well as their reluctance to face emotions.
| A．Why write? |
| B．What if you don’t write? |
| C．Expressive writing gave people the courage to face fears. |
| D．It shouldn’t be used as a replacement for other treatments. |
| E．It can also help reduce pain and improve mood, sleep and memory. |
| F．The first important step is to recognize what it is that is bothering you. |
| G．Psychologists refer to writing about an unpleasant experience as ”expressive writing“. |
Gratitude is more than just saying “thank you”. Gratitude is a deeper appreciation for someone or something. Expressing gratitude makes us feel a positive emotion. Over the past thirty years, there
