1 . Our bachelor uncle lived with us, who loved hunting and fishing; and it was one of the pleasures of our young life to go fishing with him.

I remember my first fishing experience as if it happened yesterday. I was very excited when I received that first fishing pole from my uncle's hand, and went fishing with him. It was a still, sweet day of early summer; the leaves seemed greener, the flowers brighter, the birds merrier, than ever before.

My uncle considerately placed me at the most favorable point. I threw out my line as I had so often seen others, and waited anxiously for a bite, moving the bait (鱼饵) in rapid movement on the surface of the water just like the jumps of a frog. Nothing came of it. "Try again," said my uncle. Suddenly the bait sank out of sight. "Now for it," thought I, "here is a fish at last."

I made a strong pull, and brought up a tangle of weeds. Again and again I cast out my line with aching arms, and drew it back empty. "Try once more," he said, "we fishermen must have patience to catch a fish." "But remember, boy," he said, with his big smile, "never say you've caught a fish until it is on dry ground. It's no use showing off anything until it's done."

How often since I have been reminded of the fish that I did not catch! When I hear people boasting of a work as yet undone, I will remember the wise caution of my uncle in that particular instance takes the form of a proverb of universal application: "NEVER BOAST (吹嘘) OF YOUR FISH BEFORE YOU CATCH HIM."

1. From the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2, we can infer that_____________.

A．the leaves and the flowers were not so beautiful before.

B．the birds ate lots of fish and felt far merrier than before.

C．that day the author was much happier than ever before.

D．that day the uncle was much happier than ever before.

2. What message can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.

B．Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

C．One false step will make a great difference.

D．True friends have hearts that beat as one.

3. Which of the following can best describe the author’s uncle?

A．Strong and brave.	B．Wise and patient.
C．Patient and strong.	D．Lazy and talkative.

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

A．A sweet day of summer	B．My first fishing pole
C．The way to catch a fish	D．The fish I didn’t catch

2 . I was watching a TV series one night when I took in one scene. A man was seeking his community votes, and people mostly wanted to know why they should give him their_______. He took them to his house and on every mirror in his house was the word “Faith” pasted(粘贴). People raised lots of _______to find out why the word was pasted on his mirrors. He said, “My dad often_______me to believe that as long as you have_______, you should have faith. Every time you look into the mirror, you’re looking at yourself and see ‘Faith’. ”

The_______I learned from this is simple—faith is a living thing and in the same way we’re all_______given 24 hours a day and we’re all given the same measure of faith. Faith keeps us going when things get_______! Why is some people’s faith stronger than that of others? Exercise! If we choose to exercise our faith, it will grow; but if we choose not to, it remains weak. Some people might_______that they don’t have faith, but we all practice faith every day even if we don’t_______it was faith. Daily tasks, such as studying, investing or reaching for a dream, take faith.

Faith________hearing and doing. I made a decision yesterday—to stop reading the newspaper full of too much sad and________news. Why? Because I ________there was a drop of my mental state after reading the newspapers.

Faith, when it’s put to________, becomes a beautiful thing. It lifts your mental state to a higher place that________you to raise yourself up and declare, “Yes, I can. ” So make the decision today to strengthen your faith by________it.

1.

A．support

B．instruction

C．pity

D．information

2.

A．voices

B．questions

C．rules

D．standards

3.

A．teaches

B．permits

C．forces

D．promises

4.

A．friendship

B．breath

C．wealth

D．success

5.

A．lesson

B．view

C．choice

D．example

6.

A．extremely

B．freely

C．equally

D．frequently

7.

A．strange

B．different

C．funny

D．rough

8.

A．argue

B．realize

C．understand

D．predict

9.

A．agree

B．appreciate

C．admire

D．acknowledge

10.

A．dreams of

B．comes from

C．feels like

D．keeps on

11.

A．various

B．genuine

C．latest

D．negative

12.

A．heard

B．noticed

C．declared

D．explained

13.

A．check

B．list

C．work

D．sleep

14.

A．warns

B．causes

C．orders

D．forbids

15.

A．exercising

B．forming

C．obtaining

D．thinking

3 . When I was young, I was a terrible student. I didn’t ____ talking with my grandmother on the phone, because she would ask me about school and about what I was reading. Her inability to know what was ____ to me was never more evident (明显的) than at gift-giving time. 

Each Christmas, I would get a package from Grandmother. “Another____ just like every year!” I would think and then put it aside. I would____all my latest toys on Christmas morning and for days and even weeks.____, I would open Grandmother’s gift. I would read the book and sometimes memorize the text, but I didn’t count this as having fun. 

Although I was not interested in____, I had great patience with younger children. Seeing how I____her kid with homework, my neighbor said that I should become a teacher when I grew up. At first, the idea seemed____to me. Slowly the idea took root and I decided to give____a try. 

During my second term in college, I sat in my Children’s Literature class. Our teacher____a list of classic children’s books. It was then that I wanted to____. I raced home and ran to the basement (地下室). There on the dusty shelf sat the most amazing collection of children’s books any teacher could____to have. My grandmother didn’t____me what my little girl mind wanted, but what she knew I needed—a gift for the soul that would last a lifetime. 

I____to water the seed my grandmother planted so long ago. I graduated from college, received my master’s degree and became a____, trying my best to plant those tiny seeds in all my students.

1.

A．avoid

B．like

C．suggest

D．stop

2.

A．obvious

B．available

C．important

D．possible

3.

A．toy

B．phone

C．bag

D．book

4.

A．look for

B．play with

C．break down

D．clean up

5.

A．Suddenly

B．Gradually

C．Finally

D．Curiously

6.

A．school

B．Christmas

C．children

D．gifts

7.

A．provided

B．filled

C．left

D．helped

8.

A．mean

B．familiar

C．natural

D．silly

9.

A．college

B．sport

C．diet

D．job

10.

A．received

B．asked

C．wanted

D．showed

11.

A．rest

B．explain

C．cry

D．travel

12.

A．agree

B．happen

C．afford

D．hope

13.

A．tell

B．give

C．read

D．lend

14.

A．hurried

B．pretended

C．continued

D．refused

15.

A．teacher

B．writer

C．manager

D．doctor

4 . Did you know that Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four years old, and could not read until he was seven? His parents and teachers worried about his mental (大脑的) ability.

Beethoven’s music teacher said about him, “As a composer (作曲家) he is hopeless.” What if this young boy had believed it?

When Thomas Edison was a young boy, his teachers said he was so stupid that he could never learn anything. He once said, “I remember I used to never be able to get along at school. I was always at the foot of my class ... My father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided that I was a stupid person.” What if young Thomas had believed what they said about him?

When the sculptor (雕刻家) Auguste Rodin was young, he had difficulty learning to read and write. Today, we may say he had a learning disability. His father said of him, “I have an idiot (白痴) for a son.” His uncle agreed. “He’s uneducable,” he said. What if Rodin had doubted his ability?

Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor because he was thought to have no “good ideas”. Enrico Caruso was told by one music teacher, “You can’t sing. You have no voice at all.” And an editor told Louisa May Alcott that she was unable to write anything that would have popular attraction.

What if these people had listened and become discouraged? Where would our world be without the music of Beethoven, the art of Rodin or the ideas of Albert Einstein and Walt Disney? As Oscar Levant once said, “It’s not what you are but what you don’t become that hurts.”

You have great potential (潜力). When you believe in all you can be, rather than all you cannot become, you will find your place on earth.

1. How many successful people are mentioned as examples in the passage?

A．Six.

B．Seven.

C．Eight.

D．Nine.

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．When he was young, Thomas Edison always got good grades at school.

B．Levant thought Louisa May Alcott couldn’t write any popular works.

C．Only Auguste Rodin’s uncle regarded him a boy of learning ability.

D．Both Enrico Caruso and Beethoven achieved their dreams in music.

3. What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence “He’s uneducable”?

A．He is too stupid to be taught.	B．He is very clever.
C．He is different.	D．He is a late success.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Working Hard for Success	B．Having Dreams
C．Believing in Yourself	D．Self-challenging

5 . Some people think if you are happy, you are blind to reality. But when we research it, happiness actually raises every single business and educational outcome for the brain. How did we miss this? Why do we have these social misunderstandings about happiness? Because we assumed you were average. When we study people, scientists are often interested in what the average is.

Many people think happiness is genetic. That’s only half the story, because the average person does not fight their genes. When we stop studying the average and begin researching positive outliers —people who are above average for a positive aspect like optimism or intelligence —a wildly different picture appears. Our daily decisions and habits have a huge impact upon both our levels of happiness and success.

Scientifically, happiness is a choice. It is a choice about where your single processor brain will devote its limited resources as you process the world. If you scan for the negative first, your brain really has no resources left over to see the things you are grateful for or the meaning embedded(嵌入) in your work. But if you scan the world for the positive, you start to acquire an amazing advantage.

I wrote the cover story for the Harvard Business Review magazine on “Happiness Leads to Profits.” Based on my article called “Positive Intelligence” and my research in The Happiness Advantage, I summarized our researched conclusion: the single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and busy workforce.

A decade of research in the business world proves that happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: increasing sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%, as well as a number of health and quality-of-life improvements.

1. The underlined word “this” in the first paragraph refers to        .

A．the fact that people are happy

B．the connection between happiness and educational outcome

C．the fact that people often misunderstand happiness

D．the fact that most people are average

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Scientists are only interested in what the average is.

B．You can choose to be happy or not.

C．The average are not happy at all.

D．Our decisions and habits have nothing to do with happiness.

3. Why does the writer mention his articles and research?

A．To advertise himself.

B．To arouse the readers’ interest.

C．To support his point about happiness.

D．To attract the readers to read his articles.

4. What is the author’s purpose of writing this article?

A．To explain what is happiness.

B．To describe the misunderstandings about happiness.

C．To show people the importance of happiness.

D．To make the point that happiness promotes business and educational outcome.