1 . As the Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Jessica Pels is responsible for managing the content of one of the world’s largest young women’s media brands. Pels has ambitiously navigated her career to the top role relatively quickly, but the path she took wasn’t traditional.
Pels learnt ballet as a child and found her way to New York City dancing for a summer, but eventually gave up dance when she knew she “wasn’t good enough to be a star”. She didn’t give up her dream of working in the big city, though. Pels attended a film school at New York University and as a sophomore (大学二年级), got her first internship at The New Yorker. After graduation in 2008, many brands were in a hiring freeze. But Pels was not affected. She got a job doing communications for a charity.
Six months into her first job, Pels got a job at Glamour Magazine to work for the Editor-in-Chief Cindy Levy. She would turn this first assistant role into her career, and finally found her way to Cosmopolitan, where she became the youngest editor-in-chief in the magazine’s history.
Reflecting on her career and the worst advice she’s ever received, Pels said it was “to say yes to everything”. It was a habit she had to learn to break. And while she acknowledges the importance of seizing opportunities, she doesn’t think that strategically saying “no” would have been a damage to her career.
She remembers the conversation with her boss Kate Lewis that changed her perspective on over-committing. “I had just started at Marie Claire as the digital director, and she said, ‘I worry you’re going to burn out because you’re saying yes to everything and you are acting in such an aggressive way, and you need to take a step back and prioritize.’ And that really changed my life. I thought that was an incredible career moment.”
1. Why did Jessica Pels give up dancing?| A．She wasn’t eager to be a star. |
| B．She didn’t want to practice hard. |
| C．She didn’t think she was a gifted dancer. |
| D．She wanted to take an untraditional career. |
| A．She lost confidence in her future. |
| B．She gave up her hobby of dancing. |
| C．She was employed at The New Yorker. |
| D．She succeeded in landing herself a job. |
| A．She always refused to help others. |
| B．She didn’t seize opportunities in time. |
| C．She didn’t know how to ask for advice. |
| D．She seldom refused others’ requests. |
| A．Creative and generous. | B．Ambitious and determined. |
| C．Humorous and confident. | D．Considerate and energetic. |
2 . Over the phone, Jack's mother told him, “Mr. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday." Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.
“Jack, did you hear me?"
“Oh, sorry, Mum. Yes, I heard you. It's been so long since I thought of him. I'm sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago," Jack replied.
“You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man's influence in your life,' she said.
As busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser's funeral was small and uneventful. The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mum stopped by to see the old house next door one more time.
Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture. Jack stopped suddenly ...
“What's wrong, Jack?” his Mum asked.
“The box is gone," he said.
“What box?" Mum asked.
"There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever told me was the thing he valued most. Now I'll never know what was so valuable to him," Jack said.
Returning home from work one day Jack discovered a note in his mailbox. 'Signature required on a package. No one at home. Please stop by the main post office within the next three days,' the note read. Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack s hands shook as he read the note inside.
"Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It's the thing I valued most in my life.'
Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch. Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he found these words engraved (雕刻): 'Jack, Thanks for your time!- Harold Belser.'
1. What did Mr. Belser do when Jack was a child?| A．He played the role of a father. |
| B．He taught Jack school subjects. |
| C．He sponsored Jack for education. |
| D．He brought Jack longer memories. |
| A．It belonged to Mr. Belser. | B．It remained a mystery to him. |
| C．It was his childhood memory. | D．It was worth a lot of money. |
| A．Take over. | B．Reach for. | C．Pull out. | D．Get back. |
| A．A gold pocket watch is the best gift. |
| B．Good company deserves treasuring. |
| C．Loss of father influences a boy deeply. |
| D．Close neighbors should help each other. |
3 . An 89-year-old man, Manfred Steiner, has reached a goal he spent 20 years working toward and nearly a lifetime thinking about: earning his Ph. D. And now he is a physicist
Steiner values this degree because it is what he always wanted and because he overcame health problems that could have affected his studies. “But I made it, and this was the most satisfactory point in my life, to finish it,” he said.
When he was young, Steiner wanted to become a physicist after reading about Albert Einstein. But his mother and uncle persuaded him that studying medicine would be a better choice. He earned his medical degree in 1955 and moved to the US soon after.
Steiner studied hematology（血液学）at Tufts University and biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became a full professor and led the hematology department at Browns’ medical school from 1985 to 1994. Steiner helped establish a research program in hematology at the University of North Carolina. He directed that program until he retired from medicine in 2000.
Steiner found medical research pleasing, but it was not quite the same as his interest in physics. “It was something like a wish that was never fulfilled, that always stuck in the back of my head,” he said. At age 70, he started taking undergraduate classes.
Physics professor Brad Marston was surprised when Steiner entered his quantum mechanics class. But he became Steiner’s adviser for his dissertation（学位论文）after realizing how serious Steiner was about the subject and how hard he worked. “He has written many papers in medical science, more papers than I’ve written in physics,” Marston said. “One thing that’s really true about Manfred is that he perseveres.”
After the university published a story about Steiner on its website, people across the US contacted him to ask for advice on how to go after their dreams later in life. His advice is: Do what you love to do.
1. Why did Steiner value his degree in physics?| A．Because it solved his health problems. | B．Because it was his long-pursued dream. |
| C．Because it met his mother’s expectation. | D．Because it was inspired by Albert Einstein. |
| A．Steiner’s contributions to teaching. | B．Steiner’s researches after retirement. |
| C．Steiner’s achievements in hematology. | D．Steiner’s performances at Tufts University. |
| A．His taking undergraduate classes at 70. | B．His writing more papers in physics. |
| C．His sticking to becoming a physicist. | D．His being a role model for Americans. |
| A．Active and open-minded. | B．Enthusiastic and easy-going. |
| C．Intelligent and warm-hearted. | D．Perseverant and hard-working. |
4 . In my mind, the effect that experience had on me lasted forever. I was determined to learn swimming at the age of ten. There was a pool, at the K. P.L.B., offering the opportunity. My mother constantly warned against it, and bore fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But the K. P.L.B. pool was safe.
My fear of water started from childhood. It began when I was four years old and father took me to the beach. There the huge waves knocked me down and swept over me.
The K. P.L.B. pool was quiet. I was afraid of going in all alone, so I sat on the side of the pool to wait for others. Then came a big boy. He yelled, "Hi, Skinny! How'd you like to be ducked?" With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end. I landed in a sitting position, and swallowed water. But I was not frightened out of my wits-when my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump, come out of the surface. It seemed a long way down. I gathered all my strength when I landed and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. Then I opened my eyes and saw nothing bur water. I tried to yell but no sound came out. I went down, down, endlessly.
When I came to consciousness, I found myself on the bed in the hospital.
I never went back to the pool. I avoided water whenever I could. This misadventure stayed with me as the years rolled by. It deprived me of the joy of boating and swimming. Finally, I decided to get an instructor. Piece by piece, I practiced hard and finally he built a swimmer. Several months later, the instructor was finished, but I was not. Sometimes the terror would return.
This went on till July. I swam across the Lake Wentworth. Only once did the terror return. When I was in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw nothing but bottomless water. I laughed and said, "Well, Mr. Terror, what do you think you can do to me?"
I had conquered my fear of water.
1. Why was the author frightened of water originally?| A．His skill in swimming was very poor. |
| B．An experience of an outing to the beach affected him. |
| C．He had an unpleasant memory of the pool at the age of four |
| D．His mother warmed him about the danger of being drowned |
| A．The experience made him aware that the pool was safe |
| B．While he had no skill in swimming, he struggled to go upwards. |
| C．When he was thrown into water, he knew someone would save him. |
| D．The big boy eagerly wanted to help him to conquer the fear of water. |
| A．Diligent and cautious. | B．Determined and far-sighted. |
| C．Dependable and adaptable. | D．Demanding and courageous. |
| A．A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit. | B．Do one thing at a time, and do well. |
| C．Deed divides beings into lower and higher ones. | D．Success always comes from daring to challenge. |
5 . I was walking around in a Big Bazar store doing some shopping, when I saw a cashier（收银员） talking to a boy of 5 or 6 years old. The cashier said, “I’m sorry, but you don’t have enough money to buy this doll.” Then the little boy turned to me and asked, “Uncle, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”
I counted his cash and replied, “You know that you don’t have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.” The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. I asked him whom he wished to give this doll to. “It’s the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much. I wanted to gift her for her birthday. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.” His eyes were so sad while he was saying this.
“My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy said that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I think that she may take the doll with her to give it to my sister.” My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said, “I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.” Then he showed me a very nice photo of him, where he was laughing. He then told me, “I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won’t forget me. I love mommy and I wish she didn’t have to leave me, but daddy said that she has to go to be with my little sister.
Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy, “I suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll.” He said, “OK, I hope I do have enough.” I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.
The little boy said, “Thank you, God, for giving me enough money!” Then he looked at me and added, “I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me! I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask God for too much. But he gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.”
1. What difficulty did the little boy run into in the store?| A．He forgot to take any money. | B．He couldn’t afford the doll. |
| C．He failed to find a doll for his sister | D．He couldn’t find his parents. |
| A．It was what he himself loved most. | B．It was the best gift for his mother. |
| C．It was a gift intended for his sister. | D．His sister would forget him without it. |
| A．She would have to leave the boy for a while. |
| B．She didn’t want the boy to buy her a white rose. |
| C．She would be really excited to meet her daughter. |
| D．She must be in a dangerous situation in hospital. |
| A．The boy himself was really fond of the doll. |
| B．The boy’s sister would be upset without the doll. |
| C．They boy thought he couldn’t have the gift for his sister. |
| D．The boy was sad that his mother would leave him. |
| A．He was deeply moved by the boy’s love for his family. |
| B．He was wealthy enough to help those who are in need. |
| C．He wanted to help the little boy out in place of God. |
| D．He believed his help would make the boy’s sister happy. |
6 . With about 1,000-meter-high steep cliffs (陡峭的悬崖) around, there Xiazhuang, Chongqing had only one pathway out of the village, and it took villagers three days to walk to the main town. People there used to risk their lives going out of the mountain village. In the 40 years to 1997, 23 people had died from falling off the cliff while cutting firewood or travelling to the county seat, and 75 people had been injured or disabled while doing the same activities. Then, village head Mao Xianglin held a meeting in 1997 and suggested building a road snaking along the mountains, but almost no villager agreed because they had no money, no machines and no confidence to take on the tough project.
Later that year, around 100 people volunteered to do the work after Mao’s efforts. Workers from ropes and used hammers, drills and even explosives to create the road. Falling rocks and other dangers led to the deaths of six villagers. When they slept in caves (洞穴) at night, they tied a rope around their bodies with the other end tied to the root of an old tree to make sure they did not fall off the cliff.
“Mountains had isolated us from the outside for generations. We had to do something to ensure the next generation could go out of the mountains for a good life,” Mao said. When the 8-kilometer road was completed in 2004, it enabled many villagers to travel out and find work. Incomes increased as a result. Mao will retire in five years, planning to widen the current road and focus on ecotourism. “The spirit of the Xiazhuang people can’t be lost and has to be passed down from generation to generation,” he said.
1. What is Paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The history of the village. | B．The development of the village. |
| C．The specific deaths in the building. | D．The reason for building the road. |
| A．It was a tough task. | B．It caused 100 deaths. |
| C．It was far from dangers. | D．It made workers sleep soundly. |
| A．Attracted. | B．Separated. |
| C．Contacted. | D．Gathered. |
| A．Frightened. | B．Determined. |
| C．Distant. | D．Curious. |
7 . Phoenix is a hot place and its temperature can easily break records from June to September．But that doesn’t stop hikers from hiking 1．3 miles to the top of the city’s famous Camelback Mountain．Signs warn that the trip is “extremely difficult”．If you continue, you should take at least a liter of water per person．
Unfortunately, many people didn’t care the warnings．However, Scott Cullymore does．When he’s not working，the 53一year-old man can be found hiking up and down Camelback a couple of times a day, handing out cold bottles of water to tired hikers．He has helped so many hikers that he has earned a heavenly nickname: the Water Angel．
Cullymore was on Camelback Mountain one day in 2015 when a British tourist died after being lost nearly six hours in the July heat．That experience inspired him to start helping people caught unaware of the danger of Mother Nature．“They underestimate(低估)the mountain，and they get themselves in trouble, ”he said．If a hiker has a flushed face and is not sweating any more, he reaches into his backpack, pulls out a bottle，and hands it to the person．“It’s misleading that we’re in the middle of the city．But the truth is, you can die up here, and nobody would know．’’
1. What do we know from paragraph 1?| A．It is necessary to take water on the trip to the mountain． |
| B．The temperature of Phoenix easily breaks records all the year round． |
| C．The heat of Phoenix attracts hikers to the top of Camelback Mountain． |
| D．Hikers warn that the trip to the mountain is not easy． |
| A．He cares about the warnings． |
| B．He insisted on giving water to hikers． |
| C．He hikes up and down the mountain carrying water． |
| D．He hikes to the mountain a couple of times a day． |
| A．A hiker’s death contributed to Cullymore’s action of helping others． |
| B．A hiker’s flushed face suggests that he may need water． |
| C．It is misleading that we will die in the city． |
| D．We should be aware of the danger of Mother Nature． |
| A．Giving life-saving water for free． | B．The importance of taking water on hot days. |
| C．Hiking in a hot city is tough． | D．Conquering Camelback Mountain—you need water |
8 . Michelle Swan, a 33-year-old mother, says she was ordered off a bus into the cold and rain by the driver because one of her twin toddlers(学步的小孩) was crying.
Michelle Swan says the driver stopped the bus angrily, walked up to her and shouted at her to shut up her son and get off the bus. Afterwards, she had a 30-minute walk into a nearby town Tonbridge in the cold and rain.
Ms. Swan said: “I was shaking and fighting back tears. I just froze. I felt awful. I’d been to hospital with one of the boys because he can’t walk properly. I had been to a hospital appointment. About every two weeks he goes to see the doctor. We go about three or four times a month. I had tried everything to stop Rocco crying, but it was useless,”
After she was forced to get off the bus, she had to walk in to Tonbridge town centre to get her prescription(处方) when it was so cold in the rain and then on home.
She telephoned the company and said she wanted an apology from the driver.
The manager from the company spoke to Miss Swan for around 15 minutes on the phone and listened carefully to everything she had to say. Then he apologised several times to her. Meanwhile, he took down the code(密码) on her bus ticket to find out who the driver was. As a result, the driver was spoken to and left work for one day.
1. Why was Michelle Swan ordered to get off the bus?| A．Because it was raining and very cold. |
| B．Because her twin babies were crying. |
| C．Because the driver couldn’t stand the crying baby. |
| D．Because the driver stopped the bus angrily. |
| A．The driver of the bus. | B．A son of Michelle Swan. |
| C．The manager of the company. | D．A doctor in the hospital |
| A．She wanted an apology from the driver. | B．She wanted some money. |
| C．She wanted to work as a driver. | D．She wanted to go home. |
| A．Careful and curious. | B．Cold and angry. |
| C．Sad and rude. | D．Patient and caring. |
9 . A few years ago, I moved to Aurora, Ont. with my boyfriend and I longed to make friends in my new neighborhood.
Where we lived the houses were jammed together so tightly. But the irony (讽刺) of living so close was that no one actually talked to each other; as in an open-concept office, they pretend they can’t hear or see each other to maintain at least an illusion of privacy.
It was not so easy to make friends as an adult. I was about to give up when I caught sight of a beautiful, tall blonde taking out her recycling. She walked with confidence—even her ponytail bounced. I gasped, “I recycle too! We have so much in common!”
The question was, how would we meet? What would I say? So I thought, “What if I just happened to be jogging by?” I put on my running shoes, but after a few times around the block, dripping sweat, I didn’t see her. I decided to seize on the one thing I already knew about her— she takes out her blue bin.
The following day, I woke up a little earlier than usual. A little after 8 a.m., the garage truck appeared and the blonde emerged. I grabbed a bin and made my way to the end of my driveway. “Just act naturally, Megan,” I told myself. “Good morning. How are you?” I said, cool as a cucumber. “Good. And you?” she replied. “Doing well…I am a new comer, just a DJ. I talk for a living. Clearly!” “Interesting,” she said.
As we both walked away, I turned and called out, “Oh, and by the way, I’m Megan.” “Michelle,” she replied. I walked back inside, wearing a giant grin.
Our “coincidental” recycling meet-ups continued for a few weeks until I finally gathered my courage to ask her to watch The Bachelor with me and she said yes.
That night, after we got everything ready, we settled on the couch and proceeded to drink wine, binge from our buffet, dissect doomed television relationships, tell stories about our own and laugh our faces off. We “found what we’d been looking for”: a new friend to fall platonically in love with.
1. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?| A．The author lived in a small house. |
| B．The neighbors actually didn’t have privacy. |
| C．The author lived in a very crowded neighborhood. |
| D．The neighbors did not communicate with each other. |
| A．The tall blonde pretended to be very cool. |
| B．The tall blonde wore a big smile when talking. |
| C．The author was quite satisfied with their first talk. |
| D．The two friends met accidentally when the truck came. |
| A．Timid but kind-hearted. | B．Shy but persistent. |
| C．Hospitable and generous. | D．Caring and modest. |
| A．A DJ talking for a living began to recycle. |
| B．A blonde watched The Bachelor with a DJ. |
| C．A new comer finally made friends with a blonde. |
| D．Two women recycled together in the neighborhood. |
10 . I had very good parents. My mother came to America from Scotland by herself when she was 11, and she didn’t have much education. My dad was kind of a street kid, and he eventually went into the insurance business, selling nickel policies door to door. One day, my dad asked his boss, “What's the toughest market to sell?” and the insurance guy replied “Well, black people. They don’t buy insurance.” My dad thought, but they have kids; they have families. Why wouldn’t they buy insurance? So he said, “Give me Harlem.”
When my dad died in 1994, I talked about him on The Tonight Show. I told the story of how he worked in Harlem and how he always taught us to be open-minded and not to say or think things of racism (种族主义). Then one day, I got a letter from a woman who was about 75 years old.
She wrote that when she was a little girl, a man used to come to her house to collect policies. She said this man was the only white person who had ever come to dinner at their house. The man was very kind to her, she said, and his name was Angelo—was this my father?
The letter made me cry. I called her up and said yes, that was in fact my dad, and she told me how kind he had been to her family. Her whole attitude toward white people was based on that one nice man she met in her childhood, who always treated her with kindness and respect and always gave her a piece of candy. From this experience, I learned a valuable life lesson: never judge people and be open-minded and kind to others.
1. What did my father do after knowing what was the toughest market to sell?| A．He asked his boss to give him some insurance. |
| B．He went to Scotland to improve his education. |
| C．He specially went to white families with kids. |
| D．He chose Harlem to face the toughest challenge. |
| A．It was rare that a businessman had dinner in his customer's house. |
| B．Angelo was the only white person to sell insurance in Harlem. |
| C．The little girl admired Angelo very much. |
| D．Racism was a serious problem in America at that time. |
| A．Stubborn and generous. | B．Patient and intelligent. |
| C．Determined and open-minded. | D．Confident and romantic. |
| A．Memories from a TV Show. | B．A Letter from an Old Lady. |
| C．Life Lessons from My Father. | D．My Father's Experience in Harlem. |
