1 . Alone in my office one afternoon, I unpeeled (打开) the wrapper from a square of chocolate with a deliberate curiosity. The words printed inside the wrapper _______ “Accept a compliment.”

I would normally not say yes to _______ from strangers who work in the marketing department of Dove Chocolate. But they aren’t _______ in their advice: Come on women. Quit being apologists. _______ accept the compliments you deserve—without any self-deprecation (自我贬低) or changing of the subject. Until this point, I would have responded to a compliment with half _______ and half distraction—“Thanks, but…”. However, a simple “thank you” was not my style, I decided to _______ it.

Walking home from work, I _______ a neighbor on the street. I smiled and waved as we neared each other. She waved back and shouted, “I like your dress!” I assumed this was an opportunity to _______ the new way to accept compliments and simply said, “Thank you.”

An awkward _______ followed. When we started again, Her eyes acquired a(n) ________ look. “It’s appropriate,” she said. “I like it when people dress appropriately.”

“Oh. Ugh,” I was ________ for words and continued my walk home, embarrassed. What had I ________ by failing to add a remark about how old or inexpensive my clothing was?

The answer: a coded linguistic (语言的) invitation.

Up until that candy wrapper advice, I hadn’t ________ the purpose of. compliments. According to experts, two-thirds of the time, people ________ to compliments with something in addition to “Thank you.” We   ________ credit( “My mom picked this dress out for me.”), make a historical comment ( “I bought it on sale.”), or question the complimenter ( “Hmm; you think/so?”). Other times we ________ the compliment ( “This thing is so old I was about to give it to Goodwill.”), or treat the compliment as a ________ ( “You want to borrow it?”) ________ , the compliment is a coded invitation to chat, and “Thank you” linguistically slams the door in the complimenter’s face.

In trying out the supposed right way to accept a compliment, I learned what such a pleasant commentary really signals for people: connection and ________ . I have since returned to my previous ways, which is to add a little P. S. after saying “Thank you.” ________ , I would be missing the big point of small talk.

1.

A．read

B．inform

C．perform

D．sign

2.

A．invitations

B．presentations

C．predictions

D．suggestions

3.

A．afraid

B．alone

C．ready

D．serious

4.

A．Fully

B．Partially

C．Shortly

D．Specially

5.

A．congratulation

B．acknowledgement

C．instruction

D．judgement

6.

A．forget

B．deny

C．try

D．review

7.

A．promised

B．challenged

C．imagined

D．encountered

8.

A．handle

B．neglect

C．practice

D．share

9.

A．gesture

B．silence

C．manner

D．sound

10.

A．determined

B．strict

C．worried

D．innocent

11.

A．meant

B．intended

C．prepared

D．lost

12.

A．applied

B．changed.

C．mentioned

D．missed

13.

A．given much thought to

B．put an end to

C．taken a look at

D．made every effort with

14.

A．respond

B．object

C．attend

D．answer

15.

A．obtain

B．ignore

C．loosen

D．shift

16.

A．downgrade

B．highlight

C．update

D．underline

17.

A．method

B．request

C．permission

D．discipline

18.

A．In other words

B．A’s a result

C．In addition

D．After all

19.

A．appreciation

B．conversation

C．expression

D．inspiration

20.

A．Besides

B．However

C．Otherwise

D．Therefore

2 . The funny thing about basically doing anything is that we typically know what to do. The hard thing is actually doing it, day after day after day. The problem isn’t knowledge. The problem is willpower. Hold that thought.

Last year a friend wanted to get in better shape, so he started the Hard 75 Challenge, which involves following a diet, working out twice a day for 45 minutes each session, drinking a gallon of water, reading 10 pages of a nonfiction personal development book, and taking a picture of yourself. Every day. For 75 straight days.

Fail to complete any of the above on any given day? Start over.

In many ways, Hard 75 is similar to a diet. As anyone who has tried knows, following a specific diet is hard. Temptation. Availability. Consistently making the right choices is hard.

The same is true for exercising outdoors. It’s hard to force yourself to go for a run when your day got away from you and it’s 8 p.m. and raining and 35 degrees. If you can pull off the Hard 75, that’s awesome.

But it’s really hard.

And it was really hard for my friend.

He started, got disappointed, got up the determination to start over, got disappointed, forced himself to start over… while he got in a little better shape, he didn’t make the progress he hoped for.

Then he took a different approach. Instead of following a strict diet, he just created a few simple rules. He wanted to eat healthier, so he cut out all “white” foods (breads, white rice, potatoes, crackers, added sugar). When he went out to eat, he avoided failing to find the “right” food by just choosing the healthiest option available.

And instead of following a specific exercise program, he just decided that he would always work out for at least 20 minutes every day. Most of the time he did longer workouts, but still: The only rule he had for himself was that he would work out for just at least 20 minutes a day. That way he never “failed,” never got disappointed, and never felt like he had to start over. As long as he got his 20, he was good.

The same approach applies to everything. In my case, I decided I needed to drink more water and less soda. So I decided I would always drink water with meals. Within a couple days, that habit became automatic.

Bottom line? Diets are bad. Having to rely on willpower is even worse.

Rules, on the other hand, are easy.

And great, especially when those rules help take you to the place you someday want to be.

1. We can learn about the Hard 75 Challenge that it ____.

A．lasts 75 days straight without any additional efforts

B．imposes demanding requirements on the participants

C．requires participants to exercise on hot and rainy days

D．aims to cultivate people’s ability to appreciate literature

2. The author’s friend failed to make the progress he hoped for because ____.

A．he was not determined enough	B．he didn’t have enough knowledge
C．he made the wrong choices	D．he followed a strict diet

3. What a different approach would the author’s friend took to keep fit?

A．Picking his own diet and always follow it.	B．Eating the healthiest foods available.
C．Sticking to doing intense exercise indoors.	D．Pushing himself to prolong daily workouts.

4. The author will probably disagree that ________.

A．in most cases we typically know what to do	B．persisting in doing something daily is hard
C．we might well fail with stronger willpower	D．some simple rules are easier to carry out

5. According to the passage, simple rules can ________.

A．help you achieve goals by making the habit stick	B．encourage people to drink enough water
C．reverse the effect of relying on willpower	D．prevent you from getting lost in a place

3 . People say home is where the heart is. However, when the home you’re living in isn’t safe, the heartache can be a real headache. That was the ________ for one Nova Scotia family until neighbors stepped in to help them get through the difficulties.

When Alvero Wiggins was diagnosed with kidney failure, it created a(n) ________ effect on the family. That meant spending about nine hours a day on the ________. And that also meant ________ work. Unable to earn a living, Wiggins, his wife, and their three children were ________ to move into a shelter. The terrible conditions they faced led to a(n) ________ adjustment for Wiggins’s family.

________, Alvero Wiggins had developed strong ties with his community. ________ his illness, he was an active volunteer in two local youth-related organizations. So many people in the neighborhood were willing to offer a helping hand. Sarah MacLaren, one of his neighbors, had ________ alongside him for years. And she knew how much Wiggins ________ in the pursuit of ________ others. So she thought he ________ to get something back. Getting his family a better place to live in became the most ________ mission for her.

MacLaren was ________ a local housing initiative --A Home For Everyone. For the past 15 years, she and her peers have ________ funds for various housing-related charities. Along with her charitable board, the ________ was made that this year’s earnings would go toward helping the Wiggins family find a new place called home. With their ________, a four-bedroom townhouse near a park and a swimming pool would be the home of the family.

“It means a lot to us to have a home,” Wiggins told CBC with ________. “I don’t even know how to find the words to ________ everybody who has supported me. I believe everything will ________ gradually.”

1.

A．case

B．ambition

C．solution

D．request

2.

A．opposite

B．predictable

C．desired

D．lasting

3.

A．improvement

B．treatment

C．experiment

D．argument

4.

A．taking on

B．returning to

C．searching for

D．knocking off

5.

A．encouraged

B．forbidden

C．forced

D．allowed

6.

A．unknown

B．stable

C．necessary

D．tough

7.

A．Accidentally

B．Gradually

C．Fortunately

D．Hopefully

8.

A．After

B．Before

C．Since

D．Despite

9.

A．fought

B．sat

C．worked

D．studied

10.

A．invested

B．suffered

C．wondered

D．gained

11.

A．teaching

B．understanding

C．helping

D．accepting

12.

A．pretended

B．deserved

C．managed

D．needed

13.

A．important

B．challenging

C．fruitless

D．unpleasant

14.

A．in place of

B．in response to

C．in charge of

D．in memory of

15.

A．started

B．borrowed

C．exchanged

D．raised

16.

A．imagination

B．decision

C．assumption

D．discovery

17.

A．efforts

B．words

C．tips

D．dreams

18.

A．excitement

B．embarrassment

C．confusion

D．sorrow

19.

A．reward

B．thank

C．greet

D．invite

20.

A．take place

B．get across

C．catch on

D．turn around

4 . At a young age, Patti Wilson was an epileptic (癫痫病患者). Her father, Jim Wilson, is a morning jogger. One day Patti said, “Daddy, what I’d really love to do is ________ with you every day, but I’m ________ I’ll have a seizure (癫痫发作).” Her father told her, “If you do, I know how to ________ it so let’s start running!”

That’s just what they did every day. It was a ________ experience for them to share and there were no seizures at all. After a few weeks, she told her father, “Daddy, what I’d really love to do is ________ the world’s long distance running record for women.” Her father ________ the Guiness Book of World Records and found that the ________ any woman had run was 80 miles. As a freshman in high school, Patti ________, “I’m going to run from Orange County up to San Francisco.” (A distance of 400 milcs.)

________ her handicap, Patti was as ambitious as she was enthusiastic, but she said she ________ the handicap of being an epileptic as simply an inconvenience. She focused not on what she had lost, but on what she had ________.

In her sophomore year (二年级) Patti’s classmates got ________ her. They built a giant poster that ________, “Run, Patti, Run!” She finished her second marathon Portland, ________ her last mile with the governor of Oregon. After four months of almost ________ running from the West Coast to the East Coast, Patti arrived in Washington. She told the media, “I wanted people to know that epileptics are ________ human beings.”

I told this story at one of my seminars not long ago, and afterward a big teary-eyed man came up to me, ________ his big hand and said, “Mark, my name is Jim Wilson. You were talking about my daughter, Patti.” Because of her constant ________, he told me, enough money had been ________ to open up 19 multi-million-dollar epileptic centers around the country.

If Patti Wilson can do so much with so little, what can you do to outperform (超出) yourself in a state of total ________?

1.

A．work

B．run

C．stay

D．play

2.

A．afraid

B．sure

C．curious

D．careful

3.

A．help

B．handle

C．fix

D．ignore

4.

A．private

B．different

C．wonderful

D．essential

5.

A．keep

B．destroy

C．seize

D．break

6.

A．checked

B．reviewed

C．afforded

D．examined

7.

A．latest

B．farthest

C．slowest

D．newest

8.

A．responded

B．invented

C．announced

D．argued

9.

A．In view of

B．In contrast with

C．On behalf of

D．In memory of

10.

A．stuck to

B．took on

C．made up

D．looked at

11.

A．earned

B．deserved

C．left

D．desired

12.

A．around

B．over

C．about

D．behind

13.

A．read

B．sounded

C．engaged

D．felt

14.

A．leaving

B．completing

C．attempting

D．fighting

15.

A．free

B．frequent

C．continuous

D．regular

16.

A．tough

B．cautious

C．typical

D．normal

17.

A．extended

B．took

C．felt

D．withdrew

18.

A．pressure

B．failure

C．efforts

D．challenge

19.

A．spent

B．drawn

C．lost

D．collected

20.

A．wealth

B．wellness

C．honour

D．action

9 . 阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

We all know that in our lives, we never stop learning. In fact, there are those individuals who continue at an advanced age to learn new concepts, new information, and new skills. Grandfather Domenico, an elderly man who lives in Bari in southern Italy, decided to go back to middle school to get his eighth-grade diploma at the age of 83.

In grandfather Domenico’s times, going to school was a completely different matter! Poverty was very common. Four students had to share one school desk, and education ended as soon as it was possible to find a job and go to work.

It was the birth of his grandchildren that changed everything! In the evenings, Domenico often found himself reading and telling simple stories to his grandchildren, and right at that time, he began thinking about an idea that he had always had in the back of his mind. He wondered: “What if I decided to study and get my middle school diploma?”

So, for a whole year, Domenico studied Italian, French, mathematics, science, technology... in short, all the subjects he needed to learn in middle school.

His class was a very unusual middle school class. It was made up of immigrants eager to get their diplomas to find jobs, retired parents who in their mature age wanted to continue to reach personal aims, and young workers who wanted to get a better position or a promotion. In short, everyone there had a particular story that was sometimes painful but they were all eager to start a new path through education, study, and knowledge.

And so instead of spending the evening playing cards or watching TV, Domenico prepared seriously for his exam, and his teachers were amazed at his great progress. In fact, his grandchildren also noticed his progress, seeing the cease with which their grandfather spoke to them about topics that once were unknown to him!

1. What can we learn about Domenico’s educational background? (no more than 10 words)
2. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2. mean? (no more than 5 words)
3. What was special about Domenico’s class? (no more than 15 words)
4. What did Domenico’s grandchildren find about him? (no more than 15 words)
5. How do you feel after reading Domenico’s story? Please explain. (no more than 20 words)

10 . Tischler and her daughter, Ruby, 6, have a routine: They place canned goods, nonperishable (不易坏的)food and toiletries on a long table on their front lawn. They go back into their house and wait.

This is Tischler’s Sharing Table. After being_______. by a magazine article about a woman who collects and_______essential goods, Tischler created her own version of the community plan.

The_______of her table is the same: “Take what you need, leave what you can, if you can.”

“I just thought it was such an easy yet_______way to help local people,” Tischler said. Two Sundays ago, she_______some “starter supplies” in the local store to get the Sharing Table_______. “It also gave me a(n)_______to clean out my own cabinets (储藏柜),” she said. She placed handmade_______on the table, indicating that everything on it was free.

With the help of her sister-in-law, Kristine Lenza, Day One of the Sharing Table was “surprisingly successful,” Tischler said.

Weather_______, Tischler now set up the table every day. “You don’t, have to have lost your job, you don’t have to have had COVID,” she said. “It could just be that you need an extra________to get you through the year, or if your budget is________this month.”

The Sharing Table has also taught Tischler’s daughter some valuable life________. “The world is so full of________and fear right now and I feel like this is a really positive way to remind people we can help each other and________for one another,” Tischler said.

One Long Islander________out to Tischler on Facebook, saying she wished she lived closer to the Sharing Table and could have used some of the________on it.

Tischler and Ruby packed up a few bags and________them to a home in Long Island.

“Now, seeing families stop by the table is really________,” she said. “A lot of people around here are________and not telling anyone out of pride, not wanting to ask for help. It’s really nice to have a community space where people are all________a hand,” she said. “This is not something I’m doing; it’s something the community is doing for the community.”

1.

A．expected

B．inspired

C．convinced

D．educated

2.

A．gives away

B．sends out

C．sets out

D．takes away

3.

A．notice

B．mark

C．message

D．symbol

4.

A．common

B．effective

C．typical

D．limited

5.

A．donated

B．produced

C．increased

D．purchased

6.

A．going

B．loading

C．showing

D．working

7.

A．change

B．aim

C．excuse

D．hope

8.

A．designs

B．signals

C．forms

D．signs

9.

A．breaking

B．permitting

C．promising

D．appealing

10.

A．uplift

B．attention

C．expense

D．effort

11.

A．available

B．similar

C．tight

D．modest

12.

A．tests

B．abilities

C．memories

D．lessons

13.

A．freedom

B．anxiety

C．risk

D．doubt

14.

A．lay out

B．set out

C．look out

D．put out

15.

A．sent

B．kept

C．crossed

D．reached

16.

A．items

B．sources

C．facilities

D．parts

17.

A．reserved

B．delivered

C．ordered

D．collected

18.

A．heartwarming

B．annoying

C．impressive

D．shocking

19.

A．fighting

B．waiting

C．struggling

D．complaining

20.

A．wanting

B．holding

C．waving

D．lending