1 . Many years ago, I was living with my best friend and we had many happy moments together. But there was one night that ________ our lives forever.

On the night of November 25, 2011, I got into a fistfight with my best friend in our kitchen. It all started because I was trying to help him. He was drinking a lot, arguing with everyone and ________ himself from others by keeping silent most of the time. This had been going on for weeks and finally I decided it was time for a(an) ________ I told him that he needed to stop drinking so much and tried to ________ his alcohol and he got angry and started ________ with me. It was scary, but by the end of the night, we were able to calm down and talk to each other.

I thought alcohol ________ was his main problem. But he was just using alcohol to ________ himself through. He was lonely, heartbroken and struggling to connect with people. So during the Christmas season a few weeks later, I gave him a ________ that I didn’t even know I had.

That Christmas my friend didn’t have any place to go, so I invited him home to my parents’ house in Lancaster. They ________ cleaned up our guest room for him and even bought him some Christmas gifts. I’ll never forget the night we arrived at my home. My parents were already ________, but my mom had prepared dinner for us, baked some cookies and left us a note. My parents are known for their ________, so I wasn’t surprised by this warm welcome. But when my friend read my mom’s note and saw all that she had prepared, he broke down and cried. That’s when I ________ how much I took my loving family for granted.

That year my friend and I both received gifts that we would ________ forever. I gave him the gift of a warm, loving, safe place to spend Christmas. And he gave me the gift of a new ________ on life. If I hadn’t shared my home with him, I wouldn’t have understood how ________ I am.

1.

A．defined

B．inspired

C．created

D．changed

2.

A．defending

B．separating

C．protecting

D．locking

3.

A．communication

B．investigation

C．exploration

D．promotion

4.

A．put up

B．take away

C．break out

D．call off

5.

A．talking

B．crying

C．fighting

D．laughing

6.

A．access

B．addition

C．abuse

D．affection

7.

A．look

B．break

C．drive

D．carry

8.

A．time

B．holiday

C．gift

D．family

9.

A．happily

B．generally

C．formally

D．hurriedly

10.

A．awake

B．asleep

C．available

D．absorbed

11.

A．generosity

B．curiosity

C．ability

D．creativity

12.

A．admitted

B．realized

C．recognized

D．accepted

13.

A．exchange

B．present

C．treasure

D．appreciate

14.

A．day

B．test

C．skill

D．eye

15.

A．kind

B．grateful

C．blessed

D．healthy

2 . 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。

Rick, a ten-year-old boy, was constantly angry at everything around him. He always fought in school with the other kids. Once he had an outburst in school. Upset by something a classmate said to him, he pushed the boy, and a fight happened. When the teacher stepped in to break it up, Rick went crazy, throwing papers and books around the classroom and rushing out. His teachers couldn’t say anything that would comfort the kid. And the parents of his schoolmates were getting concerned. Rick was earning quite the reputation. After talking with school officials, Rick’s mom tried everything she could to calm Rick down.

She tried different methods until one day she came home with a canvas (画布) and paint. “What’s this?”, Rick asked. Rick’s mom handed over the painting equipment and said, “Whenever you feel angry, paint whatever you’re angry about instead of bursting out.” Rick wasn’t that happy about it but he gave it a try anyway. Over the next few weeks, the young boy created several artworks. They mostly showed disturbing images though. So his mom took all of the paintings and called Rick over so that they could talk about them. “Tell me, Rick. What are these paintings about?”

“Well, the first painting is about how some of the kids show off their new clothes and pencil cases. The next painting is about my teacher who keeps telling me about how I’m doing things wrong. And the last painting is about how one of my schoolmate’s father suggested that I change my attitude. All of them make me so angry.” Rick’s mom, in a calm voice, took Rick by her side and told him: “Don’t you see it, Rick?” “See what?” Rick asked. “You’re so angry at all of these things but not once did you try to understand why you’re getting so angry. What have all these people done to you, really?”

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。

Rick was lost in thought.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rick knew it was time to change.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . I started playing the piano when I was around four years old—that was 15 years ago!—and since then, the longest I haven’t touched piano keys was probably two months. This was an enormous amount of devotion to something that I wasn’t even planning to make money off of—so there must have been something worth holding on to, right?

The easy guess is that I was always so purely in love with music and piano that I couldn’t bear to let them go. However, it’s a bit more complicated than that. I struggled a lot with piano. I felt pressure to improve, innovate, and be the best in order to prove something to others. The seed of my musical interest was grown with competition and doubt.

It’s difficult to learn to love something that you didn’t choose in the first place. But somehow, sometime, love grew. And by high school, it was strong enough that I found the strength to hold on tighter, dig further, and find something of my own to grow. In a way, I had to start over.

And so, I took a pause. I switched teachers, and got incredibly lucky with one who encouraged me and helped me tunnel into what I loved, not what I was told I should learn. Anything I had was good enough to be loved.

This summer, I started learning the guitar. I deliberately wanted to learn on my own—this was just for me, to form a new relationship to music. Even though my guitar skills are miles lower than my piano skills, I feel I can express myself even more wholly through strings than keys. There’s just something about doing it all for myself that has helped me heal the damages to my relationship to music.

The love and hate I’ve had for the piano were both planted and grown. If you too have learned to hate something you once loved—or something you never chose—remember that with dedication, it can be uprooted, and love can make a home in its place. There is always time. There is always room.

1. What can we learn about the author’s experience from Paragraph 1?

A．He probably spent two months in playing the piano.

B．He began to play the piano when he was 15 years old.

C．He thought it necessary to start playing the piano early.

D．He committed himself to the piano not for financial factors.

2. Which of the following words best describes the author’s relationship with the piano?

A．Bittersweet.

B．Harmonious.

C．Painful.

D．Passive.

3. What inspired the author to learn the guitar?

A．His teacher’s constant encouragement.	B．His desire for a new relationship with music.
C．His interest in strings rather than keys.	D．His talent for playing musical instruments.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Practice makes perfect	B．Love cannot be forced
C．Love is a thing that grows	D．There is no end to learning

4 . One day my 10-year-old son, Kavi, left his typewritten math homework at school. He came to me in ________ . “What should I do?” he asked.

Together, we ________ that he could ask his friend to send a photo of the homework so that he could ________ the content by hand. The problem got solved, right? Wrong. He remained anxious. Soon, I discovered what really ________ him: He was afraid that his teacher would   ________ the homework left on his desk at school and be upset with him. He begged me to email the teacher to offer a(n) ________ .

I wanted to help—which parent doesn’t want to make the ________ go away, especially when the solution is as ________ as sending an email? Yet, that would have been a(n) ________ thing to do. Research shows parents’ helping to avoid worry-causing ________ may comfort anxious children at the moment, ________ it prevents them from learning to cope in the long run.

I never sent that email to Kavi’s teacher. I ________ to talk Kavi through his worry, but he still felt restless at supper. However, the next day, he got an A+ on his homework along with a note: “You did a good job ________ how to get your homework done.”

I think it’s necessary for parents to let their children stay with worry but ________ them in seeking solutions, and that children’s gaining mastery over their worry is just the key to their growing up ________ .

1.

A．silence

B．comfort

C．panic

D．amazement

2.

A．convinced

B．remembered

C．announced

D．considered

3.

A．copy out

B．clear away

C．point at

D．pass down

4.

A．touched

B．inspired

C．bothered

D．probed

5.

A．replace

B．ignore

C．correct

D．notice

6.

A．cooperation

B．explanation

C．guarantee

D．definition

7.

A．embarrassment

B．homesickness

C．hurt

D．dream

8.

A．simple

B．essential

C．ridiculous

D．intense

9.

A．complicated

B．permanent

C．illegal

D．wrong

10.

A．principles

B．comments

C．situations

D．contests

11.

A．otherwise

B．but

C．because

D．nevertheless

12.

A．tried

B．spotted

C．hesitated

D．pretended

13.

A．setting aside

B．benefiting from

C．figuring out

D．focusing on

14.

A．criticize

B．support

C．assign

D．contact

15.

A．willingly

B．flexibly

C．crazily

D．healthily

5 . We all have things that we want to achieve in our lives-getting into the better shape, building a successful business, raising a wonderful family, and so on.    1    , At least, this is how I approached my life goals until recently.

What I’m starting to realize, however, is that when it comes to actually getting things done and making progress in the areas that are important to you, there is a much better way to do things. It all comes down to the difference between goals and systems.    2     Your system is the writing schedule that you follow each week. Now for the really interesting question: If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system,would you still get tcstilts? I think you would.

    3     In the last 12 months, I’ve written over 115, 000 words. The typical book is about 50, 000 to 60, 000 words, so I have written enough to fill two books this year. All of this is such a surprise because I never set a goal for my writing. I didn’t measure my progress in relation to some benchmark.     4     1 never said, “I want to write two books this year.” What I did focus on was writing one article every Monday and Thursday. I focused on my system and the process of doing the work. And after sticking to that schedule for 11 months, the result was 115, 000 words. In the end,I enjoyed the same (or perhaps better) results.

Goals are good for planning your progress and systems are good for actually making progress.Goals can provide direction and even push you forward in the short term, but eventually a well-designed system will always win. Having a system is what matters.     5    

A．None of this is to say that goals are useless.

B．If you’re a writer, your goal is to write a book.

C．Forget about predicting the future and build a system.

D．I never set a word count goal for any particular article.

E．Committing to the process is what makes the difference.

F．And for most of us, the path to those things starts by setting a specific goal.

G．As an example, I just added up the total word count for the articles I’ve written this year.

6 . Now I live in Paris. Actually, I don’t mind the food or the people, but I do care about the land that is extraordinarily lack of characteristics of hiking. I enjoy being outdoors and hiking, but Paris’s natural resources don’t hold much potential for my bent. So when my dad asked if I wanted to go hiking with him, I was overjoyed.    1    . It turned out that I was too optimistic.

We started our main hike up Flattop Mountain. As we hiked it was much more challenging than I expected.    2    . The path is winding and we saw mountains towering over the green valleys and cliffs that seemed endless. What amazed me most was that thick clouds enveloped the mountainsides.    3    .

I stared up at the top to see how much farther we had to go and I began to worry that I wouldn’t finish it.     4    . It made me doubtful about my persistence (坚持). But when we looked back at the path that faded in the distance, I was filled with fulfillment with seeing how much we had done.

As I was hiking, I started to reflect on how hiking was similar to other aspects of my life.    5    . It reminded me of my struggles in my classes and the difficulties I had to overcome. I spotted that the process of learning isn’t always the most fun, but the fulfillment after seeing how much I had finished just increases the thirst for knowledge, causing me to long for more learning. Looking down at the mountain I was content but never fully satisfied. Having considered a lot, I was determined to pursue the summit (山顶).

A．Hiking could make me fly.

B．Hiking gave time for my mind to wander.

C．I thought I would finish the journey with ease.

D．But I was shocked at the beauty surrounding me.

E．I was satisfied with the landscape along the way.

F．It was unlike anything I had ever witnessed before.

G．A recent ankle injury had left me unsure of my physical capabilities.

7 . When Failure Is a Good Thing

Failure is an important process you can learn from.    1    

Most people view failure as something that should be avoided at all costs.    2    It may have been an “F” we received on a paper or the high expectations our parents placed upon our shoulders that stopped us from trying.

Award-winning psychologist and author, Ron Friedman, tells the story of how Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, revolutionized the women's clothing industry and became a billionaire in his book, The Best Place To Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace.

    3     She had zero experience in the clothing industry, lacked an education in business and raised only $5,000 to invest. When asked where she found the courage, she gave all credit to her dad. While most parents ask their kids, “How was your day?" when sitting down for dinner, Sara's parents asked her and her brother, “What did you fail at today?” each and every night.

When interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper, Sara said, “Instead of failure being the outcome, failure became not trying. It forced me at a young age to want to push myself so much further out of my comfort zone.”     4     It became more about learning and less about a personal weakness.

If we view failure as weakness, we avoid stepping out of our comfort zone.     5     It does not define us, but instead matures us. I 'm sure that there are many risks we would all take in our personal, professional and spiritual lives if we could get past a fear of failure.

What has been the greatest lesson you have learned when taking a chance? Please share with us.

A．And, most importantly, it means you tried.

B．Let's take a look at how Sara faced failures.

C．In reality, Sara's father had re-defined failure.

D．Early on, Sara overcame a series of difficulties.

E．Instead, we must remind ourselves that failure is an action.

F．It is important to reflect on what can be learnt from failure.

G．We tend to connect failure with a bad experience we had as a child.

8 . A teacher gave his students a test. Most of the students finished all the questions without much effort _______they all read the last one which was “What is the first name of the woman who _______ the school? ”

All of the students thought that this question was some kind of _______. They had all seen the cleaning woman many times during each day at school. It was _______ that she was tall and old, but how would they know her _______?

So they all _______ their test paper, leaving the last question _______. Just before the class ended, one of the students asked if the last question would count toward the results of the _______.

“_______”said the teacher.

He went on to say, “In your lives and careers, you will ________ many people and they are ________individual, so they each are worth your ________ and care, even if all you do is ________and say “Hello”.

Over the following days each of the students ________ the importance of finding out the name of the cleaner and introduced themselves. They all learned that cleaner’s name was Dorothy and they never forgot the ________ that everyone is important.

1.

A．while

B．until

C．since

D．after

2.

A．cleans

B．manages

C．supports

D．guards

3.

A．pity

B．risk

C．story

D．joke

4.

A．natural

B．clear

C．possible

D．unusual

5.

A．address

B．family

C．name

D．age

6.

A．left behind

B．lifted up

C．put away

D．handed in

7.

A．unanswered

B．open

C．out

D．unprepared

8.

A．exercise

B．experiment

C．test

D．match

9.

A．Possibly

B．No

C．Sure

D．Never

10.

A．love

B．help

C．respect

D．meet

11.

A．important

B．unique

C．intelligent

D．honest

12.

A．consideration

B．attention

C．discussion

D．protection

13.

A．look

B．smile

C．listen

D．play

14.

A．remembered

B．proved

C．explained

D．realized

15.

A．lesson

B．opinion

C．premise

D．argument

9 . The new, “used” car that I bought just three months ago wouldn't start the other day. The factory battery that ________ along with it decided that it had worked long enough and ________ to take an early, permanent retirement. My ________ neighbor gave me a jump but the battery stubbornly wouldn't ________ the charge. After getting one more jump, I ________ to the local auto parts store to buy a new one. Installing (安装) it was much more ________ than we thought, however, so I took it to a local mechanic who finally got the new battery in and the car ________ once again.

Driving it this morning, though, I ________ that the time and date on the screen in the dashboard (仪表盘) had ________ gone back to nine years ago, resetting to the ________ date of the first time it was started. While my son smartly figured out how to ________ it back to today I thought about all the times I had wished I could go back in time and undo some of the ________ and missteps I had taken in my own life.

Yes, many of my choices brought me ________ in the past, but they have also brought me wisdom for the present. When you ________ your own life, don't regret the roads not taken Instead, be ________ with the path you are on, the things you have learned, and the love you have shared.

1.

A．came

B．waited

C．left

D．raced

2.

A．planned

B．refused

C．chose

D．managed

3.

A．easy-going

B．kind-hearted

C．hard-working

D．good-tempered

4.

A．lead

B．take

C．offer

D．hold

5.

A．welcomed

B．headed

C．returned

D．got

6.

A．complex

B．vital

C．efficient

D．accurate

7.

A．switching

B．jumping

C．running

D．shaking

8.

A．guessed

B．remembered

C．expected

D．noticed

9.

A．suddenly

B．slightly

C．casually

D．secretly

10.

A．final

B．original

C．special

D．temporary

11.

A．bring

B．program

C．call

D．drive

12.

A．attempts

B．effects

C．mistakes

D．changes

13.

A．damage

B．pain

C．peace

D．convenience

14.

A．look at

B．come out of

C．focus on

D．take control of

15.

A．faced

B．patient

C．strict

D．pleased

10 . Several years ago, Cindy and her kids noticed that two robins (知更鸟) had built a nest in one of their trees. As they paid attention to the robins’ _________ they realized there were eggs in the nest.

Soon four baby birds hatched. Cindy and her kids took _________ of the baby birds. They loved to watch them and would check on their condition _________.

Then one day as Cindy was _________ clothes in one of the kids’ rooms—she saw something she’d never seen before or since. More than a dozen birds were flying around the tree with the robins’ nest. Cindy _________ out to see what the trouble was and saw all different types of birds were _________ the tree. Instinctively, Cindy ran to _________ the baby birds and what she found was _________.

The birds were dive-bombing (俯冲攻击) the tree because a snake had _________ itself around the tree and was trying to get to the baby robins. The birds were doing everything they could to __________ the baby birds.

Cindy thought quickly and took a __________ and used it to pull the snake off the tree. It slid away and when Cindy eventually __________, all of the birds were sitting on the branches of the tree looking at her as if to say thank you. Then they flew away.

There is something remarkable that happens when we have a __________ cause. When we have a common __________, just like the birds, we forget our __________. We begin to work together and focus on common objectives and we fight for our cause.

1.

A．weight

B．cage

C．color

D．activity

2.

A．ownership

B．advantage

C．place

D．hold

3.

A．anxiously

B．casually

C．regularly

D．quickly

4.

A．washing

B．folding

C．buying

D．renting

5.

A．rushed

B．looked

C．worked

D．stood

6.

A．attacking

B．waving

C．ruining

D．observing

7.

A．catch

B．protect

C．comfort

D．serve

8.

A．interesting

B．rewarding

C．amazing

D．inspiring

9.

A．defended

B．enjoyed

C．resigned

D．wrapped

10.

A．save

B．satisfy

C．support

D．carry

11.

A．stick

B．gun

C．net

D．rope

12.

A．settled down

B．gave in

C．turned around

D．cheered up

13.

A．common

B．final

C．public

D．personal

14.

A．problem

B．enemy

C．idea

D．sense

15.

A．dangers

B．friends

C．differences

D．promises