1 . Ways to Embrace Solitude (独处)

For many, being alone is something they shy away from because it’s like loneliness. But loneliness and solitude are not the same.    1    . The latter offers a chance to direct attention to self-care and self-discovery without outside influences or expectations from others. It sharpens your concentration and helps you focus on your tasks and also boosts your creativity regularly.

Psychologists even consider solitude as important as relationships and view the ability to be alone as a sign of healthy emotional development.    2    , just as people learn social skills to guide themselves in the world of relationships successfully. And some specific strategies may make it a constructive, enjoyable experience.

Enjoy solitary activities

People who enjoy solitude find satisfaction and meaning when getting absorbed in a hobby, reading for pleasure, or getting out in nature. They rarely experience boredom when they’re alone and genuinely enjoy themselves while doing something interesting.

    3    

In solitude, buried feelings, memories, or problems can surface. Rather than avoid being discouraged by them, you can learn to engage in the regulation with curiosity, using the private time to explore your feelings without judgment. Accepting and expressing them safely helps you self-regulate and release stress.

Be self-reflective

People who enjoy solitude are willing to self-reflect.    4    , reflecting on their values, or considering the bigger picture. Instead of going round about situations you can’t control, self-reflection invites self- awareness, bringing you closer to insight about who you are.

Know when to exit solitude

    5    , if you begin to feel lonely or your thoughts turn to self-harm. It is equally important to know when it’s time to leave solitude and seek the company of others.

A．Protect your privacy

B．Feel and regulate your emotions

C．They prefer listening to solitude signals

D．Break your solitude and turn for support

E．The former is marked by negative feelings

F．There are skills associated with its capacity

G．They spend time considering behavior patterns

2 . WHY A DOSE OF FEAR IS GOOD FOR YOU

Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” She was onto something. Science has shown that feeling fear — in the right doses (量) — has several benefits.

·Feeling fear is fun and exciting. Many people scare themselves on purpose.     1    

When you step outside your comfort zone, it is fear that makes you feel alive, which is fun and exciting. The excitement generated can also help reduce depression by increasing adrenaline (肾上腺素), which in turn increases excitement and glucose (changed into energy).     2     A dose of fear is an “eraser” for the mind.

·    3     Being afraid of something can remind you of an area of your life that is limiting you. For instance, if you’re afraid of flying but face the fear and gather up the courage to step on an airplane, you can travel the world. Adding to your experiences means that you’ll create a varied life. You’ll also have fewer regrets.

·Fear makes you aware of what’s really important in life. How often have you said to yourself: “When I have more time, I’ll spend it with my family, pursue my passion, eat healthier or exercise more”? Fear makes you realize that “now” is the only time you have to achieve and follow through what is most important.    4    

Some say where fear meets courage is the sweet spot in which mountains get scaled and rivers are run.       5     We should all embrace our fear. Not the big fears that are life-threatening but the helpful fears that come in small doses.

A．Fear helps you succeed.

B．“Later” is never ensured.

C．Fear allows you to live life to the fullest.

D．They watch scary movies, ride roller coasters or go skydiving.

E．And every time you come through a challenge, you feel empowered.

F．Most of all, fear can be the birth place of change, creativity and innovation.

G．Actually, it’s nearly impossible to be thinking of your worries when you are experiencing fear.

3 . 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.

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4 . Tiffany Hammond and her son Aidan communicate in some familiar ways, like hand gestures and body language. But when Aidan wants to ______ himself with words, he uses a tablet (平板电脑).

Aidan is autistic (患孤独症的) and does not speak, so when his mom asks ______ , he can press a button on the screen to answer them. The family has designed routines around his autism, but people outside the household don’t ______ .

“Every single time we go outside the house, there’s something bad happening. There’s a______ , and there’s a mean stare,” Hammond said. “And he feels lonely a lot.”   However, that loneliness and those reactions from outsiders ______ Hammond to find a way to ______the ways in which people with autism can express. They just communicate in a(n) ______type of way. The result of this experience is a children’s book from Hammond titled A Day With No Words. The book followed Aidan through a regular day, showing his ______routines.

Hammond also wrote about the ______ of the book to want people to give kindness and the goal she hoped to ______ with the writing.

In an interview, Hammond said,   “I want to ______ all the things that I see in him. He loves being outside and swings, and he loves life. He is ______ like other people. I want to______ the regular life that I have with my son, and it is supposed to ______ a loving letter to him.”

______, a day with no words can be full of meaningful communication.

1.

A．express

B．enjoy

C．persuade

D．change

2.

A．chances

B．questions

C．roles

D．fantasies

3.

A．imply

B．inquire

C．understand

D．bother

4.

A．saying

B．witness

C．cheat

D．comment

5.

A．pushed

B．elected

C．warned

D．begged

6.

A．avoid

B．represent

C．ignore

D．refuse

7.

A．necessary

B．cold

C．different

D．equal

8.

A．daily

B．weekly

C．monthly

D．yearly

9.

A．cover

B．significance

C．price

D．time

10.

A．imagine

B．notice

C．defeat

D．achieve

11.

A．record

B．teach

C．doubt

D．celebrate

12.

A．nervous

B．strange

C．dangerous

D．hopeful

13.

A．create

B．organize

C．share

D．build

14.

A．look for

B．pick up

C．stare at

D．serve as

15.

A．Immediately

B．Fortunately

C．Actually

D．Finally

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。

“Daddy, I have something to tell you. I wanted to ask your permission to go to America.” I didn’t finish my speech as he shouted, “No!” “But why? What…”, I replied. “If this all is about money, then you may not worry, I got a scholarship …”

I didn’t know what to do. I felt a warm tear running down my cheek. I thought there would be no problem because he always knew how much I dreamt about studying abroad. I was so angry and said: “But why do I have to ask your permission? I am already 18 and I’m not a kid anymore. You can’t tell me what is right and what is wrong.”

I shut the door so hard that it staggered. I was so disappointed that all these years he couldn’t see what I was doing. The tears were flowing on their own. I realized how much my love for dad was, however, I just could not stay at my hometown anymore.

I left home and my eyes were full of anger and tears. I didn’t know what to do and what to expect, but I decided to go far away from home and start creating my dream life. I took a bus and went to the airport.

I closed my eyes and felt that something was wrong. Everything was so silent when suddenly I heard my phone ringing. It was a nurse from the local hospital:

“Hello! Are you the daughter of Kuat?”, she asked. “Your dad has had a heart attack and he’s in a coma now. The situation’s serious. We want you …”

I wasn’t listening to her anymore. Tears were flowing and I started to choke when all of a sudden I heard a man’s voice and opened my eyes. I realized that it was a nightmare.

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。

I started searching for my phone and wanted to hear my dad’s voice.

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“Here you are, my sweetie. I’m not letting you leave because I don’t want you to forget me.

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6 . 假如你是学生会主席李华，最近青少年学生心理健康引起了公众关注，请围绕这一主题，写一份倡议书，内容包括：
1. 简述现状；
2. 表示理解；
3. 发出倡议。
注意：
1. 词数80字左右，可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
2. 开头已给出，不计入总字数。请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear fellow students,

I’m Li Hua, president of the Students’ Union.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Students’ Union

November 17^th , 2023

7 . How to cultivate emotional awareness

In school, we learned the periodic table and were told to recite the alphabet, but nobody forced us to take a class on what emotions are and how they work.     1     Yet, research shows that being aware of your emotions is hugely beneficial and people with high emotional awareness have better social and emotional functioning.

Emotional awareness is being able to identify and make sense of not only our own emotions but those of others. It’s absolutely essential in maintaining good mental health. But if you’ve spent a lifetime masking your real emotions, being honest with yourself for the first time may prove tough.     2    

Turn to mindfulness

Mindfulness is the process of bringing our attention to: the present moment and becoming more aware of our thoughts.     3     There are many ways to be mindful, from practising breathwork to sitting in silence. Where emotional awareness is concerned, meditation which can aid clarity and allow us to view our emotions in a more measured way is strongly recommended.

Practice daily self-reflection

    4     You’d better create a habit of checking with yourself every day. Self-reflection cultivates emotional awareness and is key to understanding why you feel the way you do. Activities such as journaling can be really beneficial in learning about your thought processes. It may also help you actively choose healthy coping strategies to manage more challenging emotions. Free-writing, where you write out everything that’s on your mind without judgement, can be used to dig deeper into your thoughts and feelings.

Name what you’re feeling

Sometimes what we really struggle with is putting our emotions into words.     5     Instead of employing basic descriptions like angry, happy, frustrated or sad, consult The Emotion Wheel which identifies eight basic emotions at the centre of the wheel, with dozens of corresponding emotions of various intensities stemming out from it. It gives you a specific name for what you’re feeling. By naming them, we can not only find relief from those uncomfortable feelings but bring more joy and fulfilment into our lives too.

A．When was the last time you stopped and truly observed how you feel?

B．Turn into your emotions and honestly reflecting on how you feel is important.

C．It can be difficult to feel heard by others if we don’t have the language to describe how we’re feeling.

D．But it gets easier with practice.

E．It’s not always easy to put a finger on exactly what’s wrong, without digging a little deeper.

F．It’s a state of calm, non-judgmental state of mind.

G．And for many of us, that means understanding how we feel and why can be incredibly difficult.

8 . 假定你是李华，你的英国交换生同学John在英语学习上帮助了你，他即将回国，请你用英语给John写封信，内容包括：
1. 你在英语学习上遇见的困难；
2. John对你的帮助和建议；
3. 你对John的感谢和祝福。
注意：词数100左右，行文连贯。
Dear John,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

9 . When your best friends are upset, sad, or disappointed, all you want to do is lift their spirits. Here are some easy ways to cheer them up.

Help your friend clean their room.

Being surrounded by a mess doesn’t do much for your mental state.     1     Helping your friend straighten up their room gives you something productive to do together. Plus, when they’re on their own, they can relax in a clean, peaceful space.

Encourage them to talk it out.

Talking is effective. Teenagers usually want someone to talk to when they are stressed.     2     If they aren’t interested in talking, invite them to do an activity with you and they will likely start talking.

Practice gratitude.

Thinking about and focusing on the good things in your life can do wonders for lifting your spirits. Help your friend turn their attention to those things.     3    

    4    

Staying active can help get depression (抑郁) away. Invite the person to join you in a dance class or anything else they may have mentioned before that they wanted to try out but never have. Fun time with friends is surely helpful.

Do an aimless act of kindness together.

    5     So go out, do things, even small things (e.g., opening a door for someone, paying for someone’s drink, smiling at and greeting a stranger. etc.), for others and see how your day changes.

A．Try new things together.

B．Plan for your future together.

C．Just be there for them and listen to them.

D．Together, you can each list all the things you’re grateful for.

E．Science has shown just being in nature naturally improves one’s mood.

F．Meanwhile, having a tidy space can help you feel more in control and calmer.

G．Oftentimes when we do things for other people, we are the ones that benefit.

10 . Four Habits That Lead to Emotional Security

Can you become more emotionally secure by doing certain things differently?     1     Doing what emotionally secure people do creates results. What follows is a list of good habits.

●   Be willing to apologize.

Do you know that refusing to apologize may actually increase your ego (自负)?     2     This creates insecurity because you then must defend your ego. Since nobody is perfect, it seems important to learn to apologize, admit when you are wrong and confess your limitations.

●   Be willing to accept failure.

Emotionally secure people can recognize and accept failure. This may be why two top schools in England teach failure as part of their curriculum.     3    

●   Learn to manage self-criticism.

Self-criticism is a usual stumbling block (绊脚石). It may be the most common psychological hang-up (障碍) in existence.     4     Constant self-criticism creates a lot of insecurity. Emotionally secure people handle the critical inner voice and do not allow it to control them.

●       5    

Taking a more objective viewpoint on your own life gives you access to the big picture. Emotionally immature people tend to lack thinking and make poor decisions, which will only create more problems to feel insecure about. One solution is to step back and consider the big picture before making decisions.

A．Learn to accept.

B．Take a big step back.

C．You need more help than this.

D．Research suggests that yes, you can.

E．It gives you a false sense of moral superiority (优越感).

F．The critical inner voice is common and almost without exception.

G．Losing or at least losing gracefully is a vital skill for students to learn.