1 . Failure is an unavoidable part of life. Though science has named some life skills that promise success, we’re told over and over again that no great success was ever achieved without failure—or many failed attempts. One of life’s most important lessons, therefore, has to be how to handle failure best. But what is the message?

For starters, ignore advice from anyone that tells you, “Don’t beat yourself up about it, ” no matter how well-meaning they are. According to the new research from the University of Kansas, we absolutely should be beating ourselves up when we fail. Marketing professor Noelle Nelson and her team found that the more emotional a person’s response is to failure, the more likely they are to achieve better results the next time they deal with a related task.

The researchers carried out two experiments in which undergraduate students were required to perform specific tasks. In one experiment, they were asked to search online for a squeezer and report the lowest price they could find with the possibility of winning a $50 cash prize. However, the task was controlled, and all participants were told (by a computer) that the lowest price was $3.27 less than their reported price. Consequently, no participant won the cash prize. When the results were announced,   some participants were asked to focus on their emotional response,   and others on their cognitive (认知的) response. During the next similar task, participants who focused on their emotional response to failure made more effort than those who focused on a cognitive response.

Everybody has their own unique challenges, responsibilities, duties, and projects, but these findings are related to all of us. Your personal failure may be a cake that fails to rise, a presentation that goes wrong, or a deadline that gets missed—it doesn’t matter. What matters is how you react to it. Instead of thinking about the failure, let yourself feel bad about it. Then follow this advice on how to bounce back after your failure.

1. What’s the relationship between failure and success?

A．Failure promises success.	B．Failure is the key to success.
C．Failure does damage to success.	D．Well-handled failure is good for success.

2. Why does the writer support beating oneself up when failing?

A．It’s a well-meaning suggestion for failure.

B．It’s been proved by the study of a university.

C．Being emotional is good for one’s future success.

D．It can make people less emotional about failure.

3. What is the purpose of the two experiments?

A．To test the participants’ abilities to search online.

B．To improve the participants’ cognitive response.

C．To teach the participants to avoid failures.

D．To test the benefit of emotional response to failure.

4. Which can be the best title for the passage?

A．Personal Failure Is a Cake That Fails to Appear

B．The Most Productive Way to Handle Any Failure

C．Different Methods to Change Failure into Success

D．The Reason Why Failure Is the Mother of Success

2 . “This world is so unfair!” my daughter shouted as soon as she entered the door. It turned out that she was caught talking with others while having a math class. And finally she was punished by the teacher. “There were other students talking in class, but the teacher only punished me,” she said angrily.

I asked her, “Should you be punished for speaking when your teacher is in class?” She nodded but also defended, “It is unfair for me because the teacher didn’t punish the other students who spoke!” “Let’s just talk about you. Was the teacher wrong to punish you?” I asked again. She lowered her head and said, “No.”

“That’s fair!” I said. “You know what the price of speaking in class is. You did it and got the punishment you deserved (应得). The teacher didn’t punish others because she could choose to forgive (原谅). From your point of view, it seems unfair, but for those students she has forgiven, there’s no unfairness. It depends on from which angle (角度) you look at the thing.”

People are often like this. When they look at themselves, they are very clear about what they are doing, knowing what their prizes and punishments should be, but they think differently after looking at others. Because comparison with others makes people confused and even becomes a stumbling block (绊脚石) in their life. The most important thing is to understand fairness in a deeper way, not from your point of view only!

1. Whom was the girl punished by that day?

A．Her mother.	B．Her father.
C．Her classmates.	D．Her math teacher.

2. Why was she so angry?

A．Because she argued with her teacher.

B．Because her mother disagreed with her.

C．Because she had a fight with a classmate.

D．Because she was the only one to be punished.

3. What does the underlined word “defended” mean?

A．建议

B．辩解

C．盼望

D．承诺

4. What does the writer think of the teacher’s punishment?

A．Fair.

B．Wise.

C．Unfair.

D．Common.

5. What does the writer want to tell us?

A．We should pay less attention to unfairness.

B．It’s good to compare ourselves with others.

C．We should understand fairness in a deeper way.

D．We should always be clear about what we are doing.

3 . “Do I really want to go through with this?” Have you ever asked yourself that question? Sometimes in life, there are moments when you ______ if you will be able to handle the responsibilities ahead of you.

For me, these ____ come daily, whether it’s taking a test or working. But one Saturday afternoon, my family and I were _____around when my dad pulled into a small mall. Little did I realize we were going to a______ store where a new member would be ______ to our family.

As my dad parked our car, I figured we would just take a ______ look and then leave. After a while, my dad called us over. He was standing next to my mom, looking at several cats.

I began to think, “Are we ______ a cat?”

My dad asked, “ So guys, you like any of these?”

My brother said “Yes!” before I could open my _______.

When I pictured feeding the cat, cleaning it and giving it water, all of these responsibility felt ______to me. Would I be able to handle it? After all, I would have to live a more adult-like ______ if I got a cat.

Later on, after ______ that we should get a cat, I thought about this new phase of my life. I realized that the _______ I make can affect my future.

Looking back, I find that I have been able to _____ the responsibility of owning a cat. Some tasks may be ______ , but that doesn’t mean they can’t be accomplished. You ____ need to do your best in order to push past them.

1.

A．arise

B．wonder

C．explore

D．announce

2.

A．activities

B．moments

C．curricula

D．chances

3.

A．walking

B．cycling

C．driving

D．dragging

4.

A．pet

B．food

C．book

D．net

5.

A．returned

B．attracted

C．addicted

D．introduced

6.

A．quick

B．extra

C．distant

D．informal

7.

A．getting

B．entertaining

C．feeding

D．training

8.

A．mouth

B．gesture

C．desire

D．mind

9.

A．dynamic

B．confusing

C．enjoyable

D．stressful

10.

A．dream

B．schedule

C．life

D．effort

11.

A．expecting

B．agreeing

C．reminding

D．advising

12.

A．experiments

B．lifestyles

C．decisions

D．chapters

13.

A．apply for

B．deal with

C．get ahead

D．connect with

14.

A．tense

B．exciting

C．challenging

D．independent

15.

A．regularly

B．probably

C．absolutely

D．simply

4 . 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。

There are many things in senior middle school that I still remember clearly. I studied three years in a country school, which is faraway. However, it has a good environment and strict but kind teachers, so I loved the school and all my teachers very much.

One Friday, just as we began to read books in reading class at our desks, our teacher, Mrs. Hill, said that she needed to be out of the classroom for a few minutes. She asked the class to read in silence while she was gone. And she said that those who didn’t read books in silence would have to be punished when she returned. It was well-known that Mrs. Hill was strict. So we had to be on our best behaviour.

But that Friday, Mrs. Hill hadn’t been gone for ten seconds before some students in the classroom started to talk. From one corner of the room I heard Josh ask Nick, “Can I trade my candies for your toy?” At the other end of the room I heard Samantha tell Kayla, “Let’s sit together on the bus for the museum field trip tomorrow.” And so it went all around me, until about half of the students communicated with each other.

After a while, I, too, forgot about Mrs. Hill’s instructions. I turned back and asked my friend Liza, “Can I borrow your storybook and keep it for a day?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Mrs. Hill walked into the classroom. The whole class returned to silence immediately. And we were full of fear.

Mrs. Hill slowly looked around the classroom and said, “If you were talking while I was gone, then please stand up.” The guilt (内疚) suddenly weighed heavily on me. “I shouldn’t have talked while she was not in the classroom. And now I should be honest and admit my mistake bravely. This is what my parents have always told me.” I thought. Then, I summoned up (鼓起) my courage to stand up, worried about the punishment that waited for me. Then I looked around.

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。

To my surprise, no one followed me and I was the only one in the classroom standing.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With Mrs. Hill’s encouragement, another student stood up.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . A Story on an Island

A ship was lost at sea and the only survivor was washed up on a small, inhabited(无人居住的) island. He prayed _________ for God to rescue him and for hours he just _________ at the horizon(地平线), waiting for a heaven-sent _________ but it never came.

Then he decided to do something. _________ tired and upset, he _________ some branches and dry grass. Hours of hard work paid off and a little shelter was built. The “Robinson Crusoe” began his life on the island. Believe it or not, a couple of days going by, he _________ and it seemed not that hard.

But then one day, after _________ for food, he arrived home to find his little shelter in flames and the _________ rolling up to the sky.

The _________ had happened: everything was lost.

“God, how could you do this to me!” he cried with __________ and anger.

Early the next day, __________, he was awakened by the __________ of a ship that was coming near to the island. It had come to rescue him!

“__________ did you know that I was here?” he asked one of his rescuers.

“We saw your smoke __________,” they replied.

It is easy to get __________, when things are going bad. But we shouldn’t lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even when we are in pains and sufferings.

Remember, next time your little shelter is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that calls for the grace of God. For all the negative(消极的) things we have to say to ourselves, God has a/an positive answer for it.

1.

A．sincerely

B．selflessly

C．swiftly

D．slightly

2.

A．stood

B．sat

C．stared

D．lay

3.

A．ship

B．doctor

C．policeman

D．angel

4.

A．Unless

B．Until

C．Though

D．Because

5.

A．destroyed

B．replaced

C．removed

D．gathered

6.

A．escaped

B．survived

C．recovered

D．disappeared

7.

A．waiting

B．searching

C．bargaining

D．begging

8.

A．shelter

B．food

C．smoke

D．branches

9.

A．best

B．coldest

C．heaviest

D．worst

10.

A．rudeness

B．cruelty

C．determination

D．sadness

11.

A．however

B．therefore

C．indeed

D．anyhow

12.

A．voice

B．sound

C．weep

D．scream

13.

A．Why

B．When

C．How

D．Where

14.

A．warning

B．letter

C．sign

D．signal

15.

A．relieved

B．discouraged

C．devoted

D．excited

7 . I’ve been having trouble concentrating on one thing. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.

In my first literature class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, “Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it.” She looked at me through her glasses, “You are not different from your classmates, young man.”

I tried, but I didn’t finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.

In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much education. But Louis didn’t give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots (点), which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind. Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class, being made to learn like the “sighted” students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was not different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up?

I didn’t expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day — with an “A” on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words: “See what you can do when you keep trying?”

Inspired and touched, I began to keep trying hard in my study and struggled against attention problems. I believe one can find his way out of difficulty with determination (决心) and efforts.

1. Why didn’t the author finish his reading in class?

A．He missed several classes before.	B．He was not interested in literature.
C．He always did his homework at home.	D．He was unable to concentrate on his task.

2. What do we know about Louis Braille from the text?

A．He was creative.	B．He was shallow.
C．He was tricky.	D．He was well-educated.

3. What kind of teacher is Mrs. Smith according to the text?

A．Impatient.

B．Careless.

C．Disappointing.

D．Encouraging.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．You can never be too old to learn.	B．Do not judge a book by its cover.
C．Where there is a will, there is a way.	D．Only study and no play makes Jack a dull boy.