1 . When I first set foot in Western Australia’s Pilbara, a landscape holding 3.5-billion-year-old clues to the beginning of life, I was very disappointed. The year was 1994. I drove excitedly out of the west coast town of Port Hedland, but all I saw for the first 150 kilometers were a few dead trees and smoky dust across the burnt, flat plain. And the heat!! I’d never experienced anything this terrible before. Or breathed air so thick with biting flies.

But as we continued to head south on the highway to. Marble Bar—the hottest town in Australia—some low, broad hills started to rise from the horizon. As we continued down a dirt track into the hills, the burnt plains gave way to grass-covered hills. This grass is called spinifex, an amazing but cruel creation. It grows as bushes up to one meter in diameter (直径), with round, fine leaves with needle-sharp tips. The tips will go through just about any piece of cloth. My guide wore thick gaiters (护腿) to protect his legs. But he had failed to inform me of the risk. Without any gaiters, my skin was covered with needle tips that remained in my legs for months.

The land, ultimately, proved worth the discomfort. Here I was walking over some of Earth’s oldest, best-preserved rocks that contain evidence of life from almost the very beginnings of time on our planet.

This area had changed much from when it was first formed 3.5 billion years ago. Back then it would have been a black volcanic land, with no color from vegetation. Over the hills I might have seen a green, iron-rich sea under an orange sky heavy with carbon dioxide and without oxygen. Several billion years after that, the world would turn cold and become covered in a global ice sheet, destroying almost every living thing. When it melted away, oxygen levels rose again. Life really got going. Animals slowly occupied the land, so did new types of plants. The greening of our planet began, and a wide variety of organisms (有机体) appeared including. unfortunately for me, spinifex.

1. What was the author’s first reaction to the Pilbara landscape?

A．Dissatisfaction.

B．Excitement.

C．Amusement.

D．Confusion.

2. What does the writer mean by “The land, ultimately, proved worth the discomfort”?

A．It was no easy task to set foot on the land.

B．He had never seen spinifex on any other land.

C．The trip was valuable despite all the suffering.

D．The tips remaining in his flesh were not that uncomfortable.

3. What is the significance of the Pilbara landscape?

A．It is where life began.	B．It is still a black volcanic land.
C．It is home to many unique plants.	D．It contains almost no living things.

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．How Life Started on Earth	B．Pilbara: Rich in Organisms
C．An Abandoned but Lively Land	D．Journey to a Land across Time

2 . I hadn’t got exercise lately and felt a bit dizzy. I was a little ______. One of my friends invited me to show up to see a ______ that they said would help me feel better. Little did I know that I was about to see something I would never forget.

They introduced a young ______, Mr Patrick Henry Hughes. He was ______ onto the stage in his wheelchair and began to play the piano. His fingers ______ across the keys as he made beautiful music. He then began to sing as he played, and it was even more beautiful. For some reason, ______, I knew that I was seeing something special. Ten minutes later, someone came on the stage and ______ a video of Patrick Henry Hughes.

Patrick was born with no eyes and a tightening of the joints which left him ______ for life. Before his first birthday, he ______ the piano. On his second birthday, he asked to play it. His father was ______. “We might not play baseball, but we can play music together.”

Today, Patrick is a ______ at university. His father attends classes with him and he has made nearly all “A” s. He is also a trumpet player of a band. He and his father do it together — they ______ all the band practices and the half-time performance in front of thousands of people.

But even more than his ______ musical talent, it was Patrick’s attitude to gratitude that touched me. I will never forget that night, that smile, that music, but most importantly, that ______ attitude to gratitude. Gratitude can change your attitude, ______ your life forever.

1.

A．active

B．down

C．shocked

D．eager

2.

A．match

B．spot

C．performance

D．picture

3.

A．musician

B．physician

C．physicist

D．lawyer

4.

A．appealed

B．rolled

C．delivered

D．forced

5.

A．danced

B．applied

C．employed

D．connected

6.

A．briefly

B．eventually

C．however

D．instantly

7.

A．shared

B．made

C．released

D．sold

8.

A．demanded

B．sad

C．worried

D．disabled

9.

A．discovered

B．displayed

C．drafted

D．demonstrated

10.

A．proud

B．satisfied

C．excited

D．shocked

11.

A．writer

B．junior

C．professor

D．poet

12.

A．apply

B．attend

C．contact

D．concern

13.

A．available

B．reliable

C．unbelievable

D．achievable

14.

A．wonderful

B．common

C．useful

D．strange

15.

A．literally

B．still

C．instantly

D．thus

3 . We moved to Washington, D.C. in 2016. The first few months were ______; my daughter cried her eyes out almost every night. Luckily, we found a dog and named it Luna. Every day after dropping my daughter off at school, I ______ Luna at the nearby dog park, where I met a crew of other mums. With Luna by our side, we survived the hard times.

The end of our ______ in the US was accompanied by the outbreak of COVID-19. Several days before our departure, we ______ the call saying that all pet travel on flights had been ______.

We were ______. Who could take Luna? Unbelievably, those dog-park mums came to help, ______ to look after Luna for as long as it would take. Leaving our adopted home during COVID-19 was ______. Unable to say a proper ______ to the city or our friends, our departure felt open-ended. We left Luna behind, and with her a part of ourselves.

We ______ the hole as best as we could and fell to the work of settling in. When the wheels of her ______ started turning 16 months later, our excitement built up. We counted down the days and ______ ourselves for the reunion. After a journey through six cities, Luna finally ______. With Luna home, our life has changed. She ______ a circle of unsaid goodbyes and ______ with her the imprint of friends and loved ones far away. We felt complete.

1.

A．brief

B．fantastic

C．beneficial

D．tough

2.

A．met

B．helped

C．walked

D．remembered

3.

A．time

B．service

C．performance

D．interview

4.

A．followed

B．rejected

C．ignored

D．received

5.

A．canceled

B．arranged

C．enjoyed

D．completed

6.

A．patient

B．shocked

C．honest

D．tired

7.

A．demanding

B．happening

C．offering

D．hesitating

8.

A．impossible

B．satisfying

C．amusing

D．unnatural

9.

A．hello

B．goodbye

C．sentence

D．plan

10.

A．surrounded

B．dug

C．repaired

D．entered

11.

A．return

B．search

C．growth

D．recovery

12.

A．rewarded

B．readied

C．forgave

D．treated

13.

A．survived

B．arrived

C．replied

D．continued

14.

A．needed

B．noticed

C．closed

D．chose

15.

A．shared

B．played

C．compared

D．carried

4 . Sadness and regret often go hand in hand, but we can’t let them hold us back. We must find peace and move forward.

Ever since I was young, it had been my greatest dream to attend Harvard, “the best” university in my eyes. I studied hard and maintained (保持) my good grades so that one day I could get into Harvard.     1     After all, I had always passed exams with flying colors.

However, my whole world fell apart when I got my rejection (拒绝) letter from Harvard. Everyone, including me, had gotten their hopes up so high that it was a long way down.

I gave in to my disappointment. I couldn’t understand what went wrong.     2     I cried all day and night, letting my disappointment and sadness eat me away.

Each time I tried to regain (重获) control, the feeling of rejection would come back and hit me hard. I knew that I couldn’t continue like this.     3     Though it was hard, I started rebuilding myself little by little every day because it’s okay to lose and to fail.

It doesn’t matter how many times or how hard you fall.     4     .

Even if it was painful at first, I went to Yale and attended my classes with a heavy heart. Over time the wound healed (愈合) itself up.     5     I fell but got back up. I didn’t let my disappointment silence me or control my actions.

A．I regretted that I hadn’t studied hard.

B．Everyone has different ideas about success.

C．It is how quickly you get back up that matters.

D．I knew that the news was hard to accept, but I had to face it.

E．Even if my future might be different from what I expected, I considered it a victory.

F．All my friends and families believed I would be able to get into my dream university.

G．Even greeting to Yale, which I considered a “second best” university, couldn’t revive me.

5 . 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。

It was a summer afternoon a long time ago. I was a little boy watching my favourite rerun(重播) on our tiny little television set. All that was about to change, however. CRACK! BOOM! The lightening and thunder sounded. I was so frightened that I sat up on the sofa immediately. There was a line of snow flashing across the TV screen.

Suddenly my mum ran into the living room, unhooked the antenna(天线) wire and dropped the metal claws(钳子) into a glass jar by the TV. Seeing this, I started to complain but knew that Mum wasn’t going to risk lightening hitting our antenna, running through the wire, and blowing up our only TV set. Since there was no way she was going to let me go outside and play either, I settled into my chair and reread a book for the tenth time while she placed empty coffee cans under the leaks in the roof which my dad hadn’t had a chance to fix yet.

After a while, my mum walked to me and asked me if I could play cards with her. As I had no natural interest in the game of bridge, I refused her without hesitation. She looked at me with her imploring(恳求的) eyes. But I said nothing and buried my head in the book again even though there was no other attractions to me in it. She walked away quietly with a sigh(叹息).

Later after the lightening and thunder had passed and only a gently falling rain remained, I saw my mum walk out onto our back porch(门廊), sit down on our old porch swing and watch the rain. She loved watching it water the flowers, forests and gardens. She enjoyed seeing it swell(使膨胀) the river down the hill from our house. She knew it would be providing water to drink and wash and clean and live. She had told me all this many times too, but my young mind was too selfish then to take all in. All I knew was that rainstorms meant no TV and no playing outside.

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。

This time, though, I took the time to watch it fall.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next time it rains, I’ll turn off my TV, computer, and phone.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . My grandchild, Harold, was celebrating his 7th birthday. Asked what _________ he wanted, he said he wanted me to make fudge (乳脂软糖). I _________ it perhaps 20 years earlier with little success. What I once made was either fudge _________ or a hard and burnt rock.

Harold remembered me telling of these _________, but he held the _________ that I could successfully make fudge for him. Since he eagerly wanted it, I _________ and I tried my best to make it.

I followed the _________ step by step, which told me to “continue stirring the cooked mixture until it turns white and shiny”. I _________ stirring it. And then something _________ happened. I felt the fudge start to harden. “This is just the ____________ moment,” I thought. I stopped stirring immediately and poured it into a big plate. How happy! The fudge came out ____________ for the first time!

As I presented the perfectly crafted fudge to Harold, his eyes sparkled with ____________ and a wave of pride ____________ me. It dawned on me that life is about a series of challenges and, more importantly, opportunities for ____________. It’s about embracing the unknown and believing in oneself even when past experiences may suggest otherwise. Harold’s simple ____________ had become a catalyst (催化剂) for personal growth and overcoming my own limitations.

1.

A．colour

B．gift

C．plan

D．game

2.

A．did

B．witnessed

C．bought

D．considered

3.

A．stick

B．pie

C．candy

D．soup

4.

A．changes

B．failures

C．thrills

D．hardships

5.

A．fact

B．reason

C．belief

D．theory

6.

A．complained

B．resisted

C．persisted

D．agreed

7.

A．story

B．recipe

C．grandson

D．thought

8.

A．avoided

B．regretted

C．enjoyed

D．kept

9.

A．scary

B．interesting

C．amazing

D．awkward

10.

A．quiet

B．proper

C．regular

D．difficult

11.

A．ahead

B．late

C．fine

D．wrong

12.

A．joy

B．intelligence

C．humor

D．inspiration

13.

A．stood for

B．weighed on

C．struck at

D．washed over

14.

A．education

B．involvement

C．growth

D．fun

15.

A．interruption

B．request

C．answer

D．pleasure

7 . Many years ago, I was on an early morning flight to Ecuador. ______, during such long journeys, I would put my headphones and go to sleep. ______, on this particular day, I decided to take a little risk.

I ______ the silence and started a conversation with the man sitting next to me. I learned that this companion was a ______ and we had a fascinating conversation.

Mid-flight, I gathered the courage to take another ______, sharing with him a book proposal I put together for something I was doing in my class. He read it, but politely declined it. That risk didn’t ______. Upon landing, we exchanged contact information.

Months later, I ______ him, inviting him to my class to discuss a project on redesigning the book. I shared my students’ project videos. One particular project caught Mark’s   ______.

He expressed a desire to meet these students. I admitted I was a little bit ______ for he seemed more interested in working with my students than with me.

After meeting the students, I, together with him and his colleagues, had a dinner together where life once again showed a(an) ______ turn. During this dinner, one of his editors asked me if I’d ever considered writing a book. I shared the ______ proposal that I had showed his boss a year earlier. Within a fortnight, we had a contract, and within two years, over a million books had been ______ around the world.

This journey may seem lucky, but it ______ a series of small risks, beginning with a ______ “hello.” Anyone can follow this path by ______ these small risks and finally increase your chances of being lucky.

1.

A．Fortunately

B．Typically

C．Curiously

D．Thankfully

2.

A．Besides

B．Therefore

C．Otherwise

D．However

3.

A．broke

B．maintained

C．enjoyed

D．observed

4.

A．writer

B．teacher

C．publisher

D．photographer

5.

A．risk

B．choice

C．lesson

D．joke

6.

A．stand out

B．run out

C．work out

D．show off

7.

A．made friends with

B．reached out to

C．lost contact with

D．argued with

8.

A．breath

B．meaning

C．imagination

D．interest

9.

A．amazed

B．stressed

C．scared

D．hurt

10.

A．unexpected

B．disappointing

C．wrong

D．intentional

11.

A．new

B．same

C．different

D．updated

12.

A．donated

B．copied

C．sold

D．printed

13.

A．reduced

B．created

C．resulted from

D．led to

14.

A．surprising

B．simple

C．quick

D．formal

15.

A．hugging

B．cutting

C．estimating

D．avoiding

8 . It was early winter several years ago. I had pulled out my old winter coat for another year’s use. It was still in pretty good shape although it was looking dirty from so many winters’ wear. I didn’t really need a new one but I wanted one and casually mentioned it to my daughter one day. She was such a sweet, loving girl that I should have guessed what would happen next. A few weeks later she gave me a new winter coat as a gift.

I put the old one in my closet and started to wear the new coat every day. Each day, though, when I opened my closet, something troubled me. It seemed a shame that my old but still good coat should just sit there keeping no one warm during the cold winter days. After a few weeks, I took it out and drove to a local charity shop. I knew that there was someone who couldn’t afford a coat but could get my old one.

My new coat is my old coat now. It is getting a little dirty and worn, too. It has black marks on the sleeves. It is in too bad shape to even donate to charity. I wonder if I should buy a new one soon, but I think I will wait for a while. I don’t really need a new one and maybe I can find something else to give to the charity shop instead.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.” Perhaps the best way to deal with our wants then is to give instead. Love, after all, brings us the most joy. And the more of it you give away, the more of it you have.

1. Which word can best describe the author’s daughter?

A．Wealthy.

B．Thoughtful.

C．Easy-going.

D．Humorous.

2. Why was the author in shame when seeing his old coat in the closet?

A．It cost too much.	B．It was looking dirty.
C．There was not enough room for his new coat.	D．It was not sent to someone in need.

3. What is the author’s decision after his second coat becomes old?

A．Telling his daughter.	B．Buying a new one soon.
C．Donating it to charity.	D．Sending something else to charity.

4. What does the author want to show in the last paragraph?

A．Giving fills our wants.	B．Love is the key to joy.
C．The more you give, the more you lose.	D．A coat is large enough to cover our wants.

9 . 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。

The year 2013 marked a turning point in my life. In June, my husband was offered a new Job in Ghana. Feeling that I had hit a career bottleneck as a photographer and copywriter (广告文字撰写人), I, without any hesitation, made the decision to relocate with him.

While my husband engaged in work, my visa didn’t grant me the same privilege. But that’s okay. I didn’t know what to do anyway. I was left isolated, homesick and lacking purpose. Our new home was a bungalow near a river that cut across expansive grasslands. With few people around our home, I turned to nature, which had been a fondness of mine since childhood. Every day, I would take my camera and wander around, photographing aimlessly.

It wasn’t long before September arrived, bringing the full flow of the rainy season. After one particularly bad thunderstorm, I found a finch (雀) — a poor little thing barely a month old with one wing broken — on the ground. Evidently, he had been abandoned by his flock, his nest blown from a tree. The sight was heartbreaking. He was the size of my lite finger. His eyes were tightly shut and he was shuddering, too young to survive alone. I somehow felt a connection with it. Immediately I scooped him up and cautiously placed him in a cardboard box with towels, mimicking a nest, and stayed up all night researching how to care for him.

The next day, he seemed to regain some energy. He woke with his mouth open, though still too weak to let out a call. I fed him some food and chirped (叽喳) at him. To my amusement, he chirped back and even climbed into my hand. I affectionately gazed at this adorable creature, who was now boldly pecking (啄) my fingers now and then. A surge of warmth ran through me. Tenderly stroking his feathers, I chirped a lullaby, singing him to sleep. Gradually, his eyes drooped and he drifted off. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene — as far as he was concerned, I was his mother.

Para 1. “I will take care of you.” I murmured, making my promise to him.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Para 2. At that moment I realized that as I dedicated myself to the finch’s care, something within me changed.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . I settled into my seat on a plane to Cuba feeling frustrated. When I planned the trip, I had assumed that my Cuban partner and I would go to the field directly to collect water samples from rivers. That’s how I’d done fieldwork in Namibia and Bolivia. But not in Cuba, it seemed. Five days earlier, a Cuban scientist had emailed to inform me that we would only be meeting to talk about our planned project. Sampling would happen during a later trip.

At the airport, one of my partners greeted me. We drove to the research center where he worked, and then toured every lab in the building. I met scientists, technicians, students and even the cook. I was impressed that I was introduced to each person. The lack of hierarchy (等级制度) was unlike anything I had experienced before in academia (学术界).

The next day, we met again to brainstorm. Together, we looked at maps to plan how we were going to collect samples. Had it not been for the Cubans, I would have been unaware that the map I had left out some new reservoirs (水库) Local involvement and knowledge were key — making me wonder what I’d missed working without such a team in other places.

Six months later, I flew back to Cuba and this time, we headed to the field. I was impressed again by the lengths to which my Cuban partners went to ensure that all team members were treated equally. We drove around Cuba in bright yellow minibuses, and each minibus had a mix of members at all seniority levels. In the field, all members sweated together.

On the last night of the trip, we searched for a restaurant that could seat all 14 of us at one table. When a restaurant couldn’t accommodate the team without separating us, my partners insisted that we move on and find a place with a large enough table.

In 26 years as a professor, I have never been a fan of academia’s hierarchy. I want everyone working with me to feel as though they are part of a team. But my Cuban partners take teamwork to another level entirely. They make it clear that all team members are valued, that everyone is equal, and that true teamwork makes for better science.

1. Why did the author feel frustrated in paragraph 1?

A．He was asked to host a meeting in Cuba.

B．He was told to change his planned project.

C．He couldn’t do his work in his usual way in Cuba.

D．He spent a long time waiting for his plane to Cuba.

2. What was wrong with the author’s map?

A．It was torn up.	B．It was outdated.
C．It was too old to read.	D．It was about another water area.

3. What can prove that the Cuban team didn’t have hierarchy?

A．They drove minibuses to the field.	B．They were friendly to the author.
C．They worked in different groups.	D．They had dinner at one table.

4. Which of the following can be a suitable title for the text?

A．A fruitful trip in Cuba	B．Impressed by a Cuban team
C．Respect seniors in the team.	D．You’ll never know until you try