2 . In this modern age, most of us have forgotten to be patient and get angry very quickly over minor things like a traffic jam, a baby crying and such things. It often seems so easy to get what we want right away that when we have to wait even a little while, it seems like we are waiting for ages. We used to be happy to wait 10-15 minutes it took to reheat food in the oven (烤箱), but now we’re impatient when waiting two minutes it takes in the microwave.

With the convenience provided by modern society, is patience still a virtue (美德) in the fast-paced world? To begin with, I’d like to share the meaning of the word “patience”. Generally it means being able to tolerate delay without getting impatient. However, it isn’t necessarily a passive activity. It takes an active commitment, knowing when to take action and when not to.

So I would argue that patience is still — and always — a virtue. Sure. I used to be one of those who often stared at the microwave for the full two minutes it took to heat my food. And in the end, the food tasted bad. If l had had the patience to heat the food properly in the oven, I would have enjoyed a delicious meal.

Actually the benefits of patience go beyond just heating up our food. Patience is an exercise in self-control which shows that we can handle life problems when things get tough, and that we can exercise good judgment. Lack of patience can cause us to make wrong decisions that negatively affect our health and happiness, waste our time, put us under a lot of stress and affect our relationships in a very negative way.

Everything in life happens for a reason. Sometimes we face an obstacle (障碍) because we need to grow in ways we didn’t realize. It’s not always obvious when that was happening, but with patience we will soon see clearly why it happened; and what we were meant to learn from it.

Taking time to think about our actions and being patient are a small price to pay when we determine the best possible solution to any problems.

1. The author uses the example of reheating food to show that          .

A．people have no time to enjoy the meal	B．high technology brings more benefits
C．more people lack patience now	D．the fast-paced life makes people stressed

2. What could be inferred from Paragraph 4?

A．People under stress tend to get angry.

B．Patient people are more likely to make better decisions.

C．People with self-control are easier to succeed.

D．Patient people are unlikely to make mistakes.

3. What does the author intend to tell us in Paragraph 5?

A．A wise man learns from experience.

B．A brave man is not afraid of challenges.

C．A man should find out reasons for what happened.

D．A man should be patient to deal with difficulties.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The causes of impatience.	B．Ways to exercise patience.
C．Is patience really a virtue?	D．What does “patience” mean?

4 . There is a popular saying in the English language: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, that is not true. Unkind words, name-calling or even the so-called “the silent treatment” can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so. A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal (言语的) abuse by other children can harm, the development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, aged 18 to 25. These young men and women had not ever been treated in a cruel or violent way by their parents. The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects.

The images showed that the people who reported suffering verbal abuse from peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain. The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped.

The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period have the greatest effect. The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that this same group of people had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study.

The researchers published their findings online on the American Journal of Psychiatry's website.

Parents cannot control what other people say to their children, but they can prepare their children.

1. Why does the author use the popular saying at the beginning?

A．To show the power of words.

B．To introduce an opposite view.

C．To prove the author's argument.

D．To show ancient people's wisdom.

2. What did the people studied in the research have in common?

A．They were hurt by unkind words.

B．They performed poorly in imaging tests.

C．They had their brain slightly damaged.

D．They experienced no physical abuse at home.

3. What will be discussed in the next paragraph?

A．Comments on the findings.

B．Approaches to further studies.

C．Suggestions to parents.

D．Different opinions on the matter.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Unkind words hurt the brain.

B．Verbal violence should be stopped.

C．The way we speak matters.

D．Words are worse than sticks and stones.

5 . In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Jonses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

1. Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.

A．want to be as rich as their neighbors	B．want others to know or to think that they are rich
C．don’t want others to know they are rich	D．want to be happy

2. It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ______.

A．live outside New York City	B．live in New York city
C．live in apartments	D．have many neighbors

3. Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ______.

A．an important name	B．a popular name in the United States
C．his neighbor’s name	D．not a good name

4. What’s the author’s attitude to keeping up with the Joneses？

A．Negative.	B．Positive.
C．Supportive.	D．Objective.

7 . In 2010, a huge earthquake hit Haiti, causing the deaths of over a hundred thousand people and millions of dollars’ worth of damage.    1    On this occasion, funds were raised with amazing speed--within a week of the quake, the American Red Cross had raised $22 million. The reason? People were donating via their mobile phones.

    2     Gone are the days when people donated door by door. In today’s world of computers, smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, charities can now reach more people than ever before.

Social media in particular has had a great impact on charity.    3     This enables charities to raise money extremely quickly, as in Haiti. And the quicker aid can be delivered, the more lives can be saved. Individual fundraising has also benefited. Most people are now so well-connected through sites like Facebook that asking people to contribute to your chosen cause is easier than ever.

New, innovative ways of donating are being thought up all the time. For example, if you want to support a good cause and keep fit at the same time, you can use an app called Charity Miles.    4     For every kilometer you cover, the app’s sponsors will make a donation to a charity of your choice. There’s also Snapdonate, which allows users to donate simply by taking a photo of a charity’s logo with their smartphone. The app recognizes the logo and allows users to immediately make a donation through their phones. This cuts out the need for entering payment details on charity websites, and makes the process of donating small amounts to multiple charities much simpler.

Apps like these are growing in number, and that can only be a good thing.    5    

A．People were eager to aid others in trouble.

B．The app can track the distance you run or cycle.

C．News of disasters spreads quickly around the world.

D．Charity helps to refresh the development of social Media.

E．Technological advances have changed how charities work.

F．The international community jumped into action to provide aid.

G．In future, we could support our chosen cause more easily and more often.

8 . On the way home from his job at a cake shop on one August evening, Craig Schum stopped his car at the East Hampton Airport for a break. He got out of the car and kicked off his shoes to relax.

Within seconds, though, Schum saw something shocking: A small plane dived and crashed into the woods at about 100 yards from the run-way. “I don’t remember making the decision that I should go help out,” he says. “I just started running.” Schum rushed across the street barefoot before taking off his apron (围裙). Then he climbed over a six-foot-high fence and ran toward the woods.

When he got there, he discovered the pilot, Stephen Bochter－his head was covered in blood－beside the burning plane. Brochter’s only passenger, his wife, Kim Brillo, was on the ground, unable to move. “She had blood all over her,” says Schum. “I thought she was dead.”

Without a second thought, Schum struggled to lift the fence and brought Brochter and Brillo out from under it. There was only one thought in Schum’s mind that he must bring the couple to safety as quickly as possible. Moments later, the entire plane exploded (爆炸). After the ambulance arrived, Bochter and Brillo were taken to a nearby hospital and treated for injuries.

Brochter, an experienced pilot, later said that the plane’s electrical system had failed shortly after take-off. He had been trying to land at the East Hampton Airport when the plane began to fall. He managed to level the wings before crashing into the woods. “Everything was on fire, and Schum came out of nowhere to save us,” says Bochter. “We are extremely lucky to have lived through it because of him.”

1. What did Schum do upon seeing the plane crash?

A．He called the police at once.	B．He decided to pull over.
C．He rushed to rescue without thinking.	D．He got back to put on his shoes.

2. What’s the main idea of Paragraph 3?

A．How Schum got to the crash site.	B．How terrible the crash was.
C．How Schum helped with the crash.	D．How the injured were treated.

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The crash of the plane was no surprise.

B．Schum came to help at Brochter’s request.

C．The plane broke down near its destination.

D．Brochter appreciated Schum’s timely help.

4. What’s the best title of the text?

A．An Angel in an Apron	B．An Experienced Pilot
C．A Terrible Plane Crash	D．A Couple in Love

9 . 阅读下面短文，回答文后的5个问题，并把答案写在答题卡上。每题答案不多于15词。

2018 Human Development Report

HDI: Human Development Index(人类发展指数)

[1] Looking back over almost three decades (十年), human beings have made impressive progress. Across the world, people are living longer, are more educated and have greater living chances. The average lifespan(寿命) is seven years longer than it was in 1990, and more than 130 countries have improved their primary education.

[2] Although HDI values are rising, the rising rates differ greatly. South Asia was the fastest growing region over 1990–2017, at 45.3 percent, followed by East Asia and the Pacific at 41.8 percent. And the OECD(经济合作与发展组织) countries grew 14.0 percent. It shows gaps(差距) across regions are hopefully to be reduced.

[3] But HDI growth has also slowed in all regions, particularly in the last decade. Part of the reason lies in the 2008–2009 global food, financial and economic problems. But part is simply that as human progress advances, slower HDI growth is unavoidable. As more countries reach the upper limits of HDI, measures of the quality of human development become more central.

[4] Progress since 1990 has not always been steady(稳定的). Some countries suffered great losses or even setbacks due to wars, diseases or economic problems. For example, many countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia saw their HDI values fall in the 1990s due to the fall of the Soviet Union(前苏联). Although faced with these challenges, countries in these regions recovered their losses and grew over the last two decades.

[5] In sum, there have been great advances in human development over the past few decades, especially in low human development countries since 1990. But some countries have suffered serious setbacks—sometimes paying the price of the gains of several decades. And the gaps in human development across countries, while narrowing, remain huge.

1. What’s the present situation of people according to 2018 Human Development Report?
2. The fact of different rising HDI rates gives us hope to ______.
3. Compared with the HDI growth, what is more important?
4. How do wars, diseases or economic problems affect human development?
5. Which paragraph is the topic paragraph?

10 . There’s no doubt that one of the greatest human achievements is the exploration of the space. Ever since astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to be sent into the orbit around the moon in 1961, scientists have been pushing the boundaries further and further. But until now the exploration into the unknown has been dominated (主导) by men.

Of course, in the past, women were also included in the space projects and played an active role on the ground and behind the scenes. For example, they worked as seamstresses (女裁缝师), sewing vital spaceflight components. In fact, many of NASA’s key works would never have been possible without them. Recently Hollywood produced a movie called Hidden Figures to focus on a group of American female mathematicians, especially the black women, who helped NASA send the first American into space. But this was not women’s only contribution. Back in 1963, Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to be sent into space. However, after that, space flight programs were slow to employ women. In the USA. NASA didn’t accept applications from women to become astronauts until 1978.

But attitudes have changed and leading officials at NASA say that the first person to set foot on Mars should be a woman. The space agency aims to have a sex-balanced workforce but can only achieve that if equal numbers of men and women are trained for science and technology jobs. As Allison McIntryre told the BBC, “My director is a woman. We have female astronauts. We haven’t put a woman on the moon yet. And I think that perhaps the first person to step on Mars should be a woman.”

1. What did Yuri Gagarin do in 1961?

A．He landed on the moon in success.

B．He discovered many new boundaries.

C．He led scientists to explore the moon.

D．He made the first journey into the space.

2. Why does the author mention the film Hidden Figures?

A．To show women are the true heroes of NASA’s first launch.

B．To stress that black people have won equal rights in NASA.

C．To prove women can do as well as men in NASA’ projects.

D．To present women’s contributions to NASA’s space programs.

3. What is Allison McIntryre’s attitude toward women astronauts?

A．Uncaring.	B．Disapproving.
C．Supportive.	D．Disappointed.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Will the First Person to Step on Mars Be a Woman?

B．Great Achievements Have Been Made in Space Exploration?

C．Why Men Played an Important Role in Exploring the Unknown?

D．Men and Women Have Made Equal Contributions to NASA’s Projects?