2 . Many of us are lonelier than ever. We can go shopping and avoid speaking to a single person. Automated voice son phones and machines suck the contact and relational element out of day-to-day life, so much so that experts say that we are experiencing a loneliness disease.

According to Dr. Lalitaa, loneliness is the feeling we get when our need for rewarding social contact and relationships is not met. But loneliness is not always the same as being alone. Loneliness is a state of mind linked to wanting human contact but feeling alone. People can be alone and not feel lonely, or they can have contact with people and still experience feelings of loneliness.

Loneliness is a universal human emotion that is both complex and unique to each individual. There are many contributing factors to loneliness, such as illness, relationships breaking down, moving country, changing jobs or not being understood by co-workers, retiring, starting university, etc.

We cannot underestimate the impact loneliness can have on our physical and mental wellbeing. According to research, loneliness has comparable health risks to smoking 15cigarettes a day, and people who feel lonely are more likely to die earlier and suffer from heart attacks. Dr. Lalitaa says, “People often say to me, ‘It’s too late to meet new people as an adult.’ Having human connect ion can look different for each person, but this can become a block, stopping them going out, trying new things and connecting with new people. Remember, it is never too late to make good, meaningful connections.”

However, don’t put pressure on yourself. A meaningful relationship takes time. It is not just created overnight. Also, take some time to sit with yourself and venture (冒险) into some of the things that you like doing. “The first thing I would say is not to deny or distance the feeling. Acknowledge it and then you can choose to focus on ways to help yourself,” says Dr.Lalitaa.

1. How does the author clarify what loneliness is?

A．By stating arguments.	B．By giving examples.
C．By making comparisons.	D．By employing figures.

2. Why is smoking cigarettes mentioned in the text?

A．To explain the causes of loneliness.

B．To illustrate the harm from loneliness.

C．To overestimate the impact of loneliness.

D．To emphasize the universality of loneliness.

3. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Lack of appealing reward.

B．Dependence on the network.

C．The regret for the passing youth.

D．The idea of being too late for new relations.

4. What does Dr. Lalitaa consider as priority when dealing with loneliness?

A．Having new experience.

B．Telling it from being alone.

C．Being aware of and recognizing it.

D．Making friends from all walks of life.

3 . The phrase "The early bird catches the worm" may be true. It means people who wake up early get more done than people who don’t. Another saying is, "Early to bed, early to rise" makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Scientists have found that people who go to bed before 11: 00 p. m. may do better in life than people who sleep around 2:30 a.m.

The researchers are from Birmingham's Centre for Human Brain Health in the UK. Their research showed that people who slept and rose early (early birds) had an advantage over people who slept and woke up late(night owls). There were differences in the brain function of early birds and night owls.

The scientists tested 38 people in their research. The people answered questionnaires about their sleeping pattern and when they felt tired during the day. They were then put into an early bird or night owl group based on their answers.

All of the people had MRI scans on their brain and did different tests throughout the day. The researchers said there were big differences between the two groups. The early birds said they felt less sleepy and were able to do the tests quicker than the night owls. The researchers said, "Night owls during school have to get up earlier, then they go into work and they have to get up earlier, so they re constantly having to fight against their bad life habits.”

1. Why does the author use two phrases in the first paragraph?

A．To compare their differences.

B．To offer some useful language materials.

C．To persuade people to learn more phrases.

D．To prove sleeping and rising early is good.

2. Who are night owls according to the research?

A．People who stay up late.

B．People who sleep early.

C．People who get up on time.

D．People who wake up early.

3. How does the author prove his viewpoint in the text?

A．By answering questions.

B．By offering an example.

C．By showing the research result.

D．By performing an experiment.

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

A．The Harm of Going to Bed Late.

B．Tests From Birmingham's Centre.

C．Two Different English Phrases.

D．Early to Bed, Early to Rise.

4 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

Mark was a boy admired by his classmates and friends. He was happy, confident, brave, social, and had good school performance. But when Mark was ten years old, all this changed.

During that year, Mark met with an accident, and his left leg got terribly injured. After recovery, he could no longer walk normally like before though he didn’t need the crutches (拐杖), which made him sad and hopeless. Worried about Mark’s situation, his parents tried to entertain him and cheer him up.

On a cool Saturday morning in summer, Mark’s mother, Nicole, wondered how to entertain and encourage him. Suddenly she remembered Mark had said he wanted to learn to row a boat. Mark said it before the car accident. But after the disaster, Mark never mentioned it again. Wondering whether Mark still liked it, Nicole asked. But Mark just replied, “No, Mom!” He was thinking to himself, “With this disabled (残疾的) leg, I could do nothing. I’ll be a loser for the rest of my life.” But Nicole kept telling him that it would be fun and easy for him to row a boat under her guidance. Not wanting to disappoint his mom, Mark finally decided to give it a try, but didn’t hold any hope. Then he and his mom set off for a lake.

Mark was a little anxious all the way because it was his first time that he had rowed a boat. Nicole tried to comfort him. After about an hour of driving, they arrived at the lake. There were already many people who came for entertainment. Some were driving boats on the lake. And some were fishing. There were also some people doing exercise, running around the lake.

After parking the car, Nicole came to a building with Mark. There Nicole rented a small boat driven by oars (桨). After putting on life jackets, Nicole and Mark headed to the boat stopping by the lake. A worker showed them the boat they had rented.

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。
Paragraph 1:

Nicole first stepped onto the boat.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:

Observing his mother, Mark also took an oar, trying rowing the boat.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . Professor Paul Hughes says the way we talk to ourselves and about ourselves to other people can affect our life in many ways, from our career to our family life. He saw this firsthand while teaching at a community college.

He noticed that some students who studied hard and came to class every day still did poorly in exams. They are filled with angst about taking a test. Hughes used one of his students as an example. Lindsay was a good student. She came to class early, took part in discussions and did all of her homework. However, she did poorly in exams. When Hughes asked her how she felt before a test, she told him she was very nervous. She wondered why she had trouble remembering what she had learned. She said she did not trust that she knew the right answers.

Hughes took Lindsay’s negative statements and turned them into positive questions. Before a test, he told Lindsay to say to herself: Why am I so relaxed when I take an exam? Why am I so focused during my exam? Why do I remember everything I study for an exam? Why do I trust my answers?

Lindsay took his advice. Two weeks later, she took an exam and scored 15 points higher than she had in an earlier exam. Four weeks later, she got a “B” in the final exam.

After Lindsay left the community college and went to a four-year university, she continued to use the method of positive self-talk. She got straight A’s in all of her exams. Hughes saw student after student succeed with his method. They got more than just good test scores. They got their selfconfidence back.

Hughes does not just help his students. He also uses his positive self-talk method to help his friends and neighbors. In a television interview, he summed it up this way, “We can program ourselves for failure in class or in life, but we can also program ourselves for success.”

1. What does the underlined word “angst” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Tiredness.

B．Concern.

C．Dislike.

D．Satisfaction.

2. What did Hughes advise Lindsay to do before exams?

A．Review her lessons carefully.

B．Join in more group discussions.

C．Encourage herself by thinking positively.

D．Write her thoughts down to remove stress.

3. What can we learn about Hughes’ self-talk method?

A．It helps students get smarter during the exam.

B．It can’t lead to success until used for a long period.

C．It is designed for students who do poorly in school.

D．It can help increase students’ scores and confidence.

4. Which of the following best describes Hughes’ idea?

A．Thoughts influence actions.

B．Sometimes hard work doesn’t work.

C．It’s easy to improve self-confidence.

D．All things are hard before they are easy.