I am a Grade 11 student, and all my peers are obsessed with the future. 9 out of 10 conversations with my friends are about universities, dream jobs, or what we want to pursue after high school. My laptop is already plastered with stickers from universities I don’t know if I’ll even apply to yet, and my diary is filled with more notes about grades for admissions than personal thoughts. My best friend and I have already planned the fantasy apartment that we’ll rent together if we get into the same university.
However, I recently found that keeping my mind on the future is preventing me from living in the present. I selected courses I had absolutely no interest in just to boost my average. I found myself doing schoolwork with the intention of getting good grades for university admissions. At one time, I had thought of high school as nothing more than a highway to transport me from childhood to adulthood. I felt that way until last month when I attended my school’s semi-formal dance (半正式舞会).
As I danced with 200 sweaty teenagers in the venue, I felt a feeling I hadn’t felt for a long time: I was present, and we were all present. I wasn’t worried about my future because that wasn’t relevant at that moment. All that mattered was that we were young. We all lost ourselves in teenage bliss (幸福) on the dance floor without a single thought of our futures in our heads. What a wonderful feeling adolescence is.
That night changed everything. I understand now that high school is more than just a pathway to adulthood. High school is a rightful destination of its own. Ever since I’ve been trying to spend every second of my life living in the moment. Every time I catch myself going down the mental rabbit hole of the future, I take a step back and recenter myself. Instead of thinking years into my career, I try to think just one day at a time. Since my semi-formal, I’ve lived my life as an adolescent, not an adult-to-be.
1. Why did the author select courses he disliked?(no more than 5 words)2. What did the author use to think of high school?(no more than 10 words)
3. What does the underlined phrase mean in Paragraph 4?(no more than 2 words)
4. What’s the author’s new attitude towards high school?(no more than 10 words)
5. What’s the highlight or unforgettable moment of your high school life? Please explain it.(no more than 25 words)
2 . My family moved into our home nine years ago. We spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like the way it does today. In front of the house, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish. We called this area our “rock garden”. Denise and I would also plant some flowers between the rocks, just to bring some color to the area.
Last summer I found, in the rock garden, a tiny little plant that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either. We decided to let it continue growing until we could figure out what it was.
Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the strange plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. It looked thin and tall with only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed(除杂草)around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The sunflower had not started where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.
That’s when I realized that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t allow a big rock to stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability to do the same thing. Once we believe in ourselves like that little sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment(养分)for growth as well.
Stand tall like the sunflower and be proud of who and what we are, then the environment will begin to support us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to achieve our goals.
1. What can we know from the first paragraph?A.The author finished building his house hurriedly. |
B.The family has lived in this house for 9 years. |
C.The author’s house is made of rocks. |
D.The family don’t like gardening. |
A.see how long it could live |
B.see how big it could grow |
C.find out what it actually was |
D.know if his wife had planted it |
A.the strange plant turned out to be the sunflower |
B.the sunflower grew under and around a big rock |
C.the sunflower had only one head on it |
D.the sunflower was very thin and tall |
A.Confident. | B.Devoted. | C.Delicate. | D.Modest. |
A.rocks cannot prevent us from success |
B.the sunflowers are able to grow everywhere |
C.we should take good care of the rock gardens |
D.we can get over difficulties if we trust ourselves |
3 . A girl is smiling at me from a picture on my desk. She is one of my sponsor (资助) children. I didn’t spend much money helping her. The joy from helping her gives me, however, is over the picture.
I can still remember the first time that I decided to help a child. It was many years ago, I was only a middle school student. I had a little extra (额外的) money each month. I didn’t feel like buying anything, though. A few years ago, we lost everything in a house fire. That fire bought me a lot. I cleared that I didn’t need a lot of things to be happy. From then on I began to care about the suffering of children in poor countries. With my mom’s help, I soon found a few groups and joined them. They were helping others around the world.
It felt so good being able to reach out and help others in need. It felt so good being able to make even one life better. I could feel the love growing in my head and beginning to change me. This feeling makes us into better people with bigger hearts. It helps us to love, to be kind, and to make this world a better place.
1. The writer began to sponsor a child ________.A.when he studied in the middle school | B.before his house had a fire |
C.when he felt like buying something | D.before he had a little extra money |
A.苦难 | B.经验 | C.情绪 | D.要求 |
A.Why the writer helped poor children. | B.How the writer found a few groups. |
C.When the writer began to care about others. | D.How the writer felt after helping others in need. |
A.The writer needed a lot of money to be happy before. |
B.The writer spent much money on his sponsor child. |
C.The writer spent lots of money doing shopping every month. |
D.After joining the groups, the writer changed a lot in his heart. |
A.rich | B.lucky | C.kind | D.careless |
4 . Music is something I could never live without. Without music, I was
Everyone who wanted to be in show choir auditioned for the
A year passed, I was at a
A.calm | B.mad | C.anxious | D.quiet |
A.teach | B.express | C.praise | D.help |
A.heart | B.brain | C.mind | D.head |
A.looking forward to | B.getting along with | C.trying out for | D.picking up |
A.pride | B.adventure | C.passion | D.courage |
A.activity | B.programme | C.service | D.job |
A.suggested | B.recorded | C.permitted | D.written |
A.sound | B.scene | C.play | D.answer |
A.relief | B.concern | C.anger | D.sympathy |
A.removed | B.signed | C.expected | D.posted |
A.signature | B.mark | C.name | D.position |
A.kindness | B.confidence | C.pressure | D.luck |
A.crashed | B.started | C.continued | D.existed |
A.theatre | B.restaurant | C.garden | D.park |
A.eat | B.dance | C.sing | D.drink |
A.create | B.write | C.play | D.choose |
A.struggled | B.stopped | C.cheered | D.voted |
A.efforts | B.ideas | C.knowledge | D.hope |
A.picked out | B.turned down | C.brought up | D.left behind |
A.love | B.connection | C.touch | D.common |
5 . When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person. When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest.
The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why, he said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow (浅的)roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important. So he never watered his trees. He’d planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They’re very big and strong now. I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray (祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won’t be beaten down.
1. We know from the reading, the doctor ______.A.didn’t know how to plant trees at all |
B.had his own ways of planting trees |
C.wasn’t good at his own medical job |
D.had nothing to do but plant trees |
A.some weak trees would be easily found out at the beginning |
B.he would choose the weak trees to water earlier |
C.the weak trees would be sent to his patients later |
D.he would not plant weak trees so early anymore |
A.beat all his trees with a rolled-up newspaper |
B.often water his trees |
C.took too much care of his trees |
D.didn’t have a large field |
A.his trees will be stronger than Dr. Gibbs' |
B.his trees will not be beaten down |
C.his sons will be better at planting trees |
D.his sons will be able to face difficulties |
A.Watering Trees |
B.Growing Roots |
C.Doctor and his Neighbor |
D.Father and his Children |
When I was a little girl, I spent memorable holidays with my grandmother, who lived in a small village. She was a farmer with a stooped (弯曲的) back that made it seem like she was always leaning forward to examine something. Early in the morning, she would tie a cloth around her waist and set out to the farm. I would skip breathlessly alongside, trying to keep up. On our way, she would greet everyone we passed.
There was the standard greeting, “Did you wake up on the right foot this morning?” Then, the more personalized greetings. To Patriarch Kosi who sat under the mango tree, she would ask, “Are the grandchildren in good health?” To the Bean Stew Seller who was preparing to serve breakfast, she would inquire, “Are your boys well?”
Sometimes, the greetings were spoken soothingly (安慰地). When we walked past the widow, Dada Mawusi, many months after her husband’s death, Grandmother would say directly, “How is your grieving?” She didn’t like to beat around the bush. The greeting made more sense to her to acknowledge the woman’s suffering, and in doing so, empathize (理解) with her.
The people that Grandmother greeted would respond similarly. “I see you have your granddaughter with you today. How is her father?” or “I see you have woken up before the cock’s crow today. May it be a fruitful day at the farm.” As a young girl, I thought these greetings were unnecessarily time-consuming. What I now realize is that the greetings increased a sense of belonging. My grandmother taught me that there is always time to greet someone before getting down to business. You can always take a few extra seconds to say a greeting to a person. We enrich our society when we acknowledge the unique presence of one another.
1. Where did the writer spend holidays when she was young? (no more than 6 words)2. What made the writer feel breathless? (no more than 8 words)
3. How do you understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3? (no more than 10 words)
4. What did the writer think about greetings when she was young? (no more than 10 words)
5. Why do you think greeting neighbors is important? Give your reasons, (no more than 20 words)
7 . Over the years, I’ve been guilty of hurriedly shutting the front door to many strangers when they came knocking with the intention of selling the things. But around Easter time this year, a dear friend of mine had an experience that
Alice who recently moved to a new neighborhood, had been housebound (足不出户的) all week
Coughing, she poked her head out and impatiently
After Alice told this story to me, I thought about how
A.decided | B.changed | C.occupied | D.crossed |
A.suffering | B.removing | C.coming | D.leaving |
A.owning | B.throwing | C.making | D.holding |
A.communicated | B.gotten | C.left | D.delivered |
A.eagerly | B.happily | C.willingly | D.hesitantly |
A.satisfied | B.persuaded | C.informed | D.convinced |
A.Therefore | B.However | C.Furthermore | D.While |
A.in surprise | B.in despair | C.in silence | D.in anger |
A.scared | B.frustrated | C.shocked | D.annoyed |
A.Before | B.After | C.As | D.Though |
A.puzzled | B.concerned | C.excited | D.satisfied |
A.blamed | B.disturbed | C.beat | D.visited |
A.Hopefully | B.Luckily | C.Suddenly | D.Lastly |
A.movement | B.thought | C.word | D.gesture |
A.take | B.give | C.bring | D.assist |
A.congratulated | B.celebrated | C.praised | D.appreciated |
A.tiring | B.surprising | C.touching | D.exciting |
A.encouragement | B.inspiration | C.honesty | D.thoughtfulness |
A.worrying about | B.thinking about | C.discussing about | D.hearing about |
A.kindness | B.hate | C.regret | D.happiness |
I was traveling with my husband and three teenage sons, in the United States. We ordered our food at a fast-food place, and with my meal I also wanted a blueberry pie. My husband is the chatty one in the family and likes to socialize, so he started to a conversation about the place where blueberries grow with the girl. She answered, with some anxiety, “They grow on trees.”
The whole family’s jaws dropped! How could this girl not know where blueberries grow? We tried not to embarrass her, and just took the opportunity to teach her a little about how blueberries grow, on small shrubs on the ground. She seemed to appreciate learning something new. We can’t know all the same things, as you’ll see from the next thing I’m going to tell you.
In 2002 our family made a short trip to a coffee plantation. The road to the plantation was narrow filled with hairpin bends. I worried about hitting another car. We didn’t, lucky us! When we finally got to our destination, we learned a lot about the plantation and coffee production, but we didn’t see any coffee plants. Where were they? We decided to ask one of the people working there. “So where are the coffee plants? We can’t see them anywhere.”
She reached out her arm and caught a twig right next to us and explained, “This is the coffee plant and these little things will be coffee beans.” I looked around in embarrassment, as we were surrounded by coffee plants! She explained that coffee plants aren’t big and that they have to grow in the shade of other bigger plants. I appreciated her lesson.
We love our coffee, but I’m sure most of my countrymen would not be able to recognize a coffee plant among other tropical plants if asked. Our jaws can drop at different things, depending on geographical locations, at what we know and don’t know. Never take anything for granted!
1. What topic did the author’s husband discuss with the girl? (no more than 5 words)2. How do you understand the underlined part in Paragraph 2? (no more than 10 words)
3. How was the way to the coffee plantation ? (1 word)
4. What did the author learn from the worker? (no more than 15 words)
5. What inspiration do you get from the story? Please express it in your own words. (no more than 20 words)
9 . Life is meant to be lived. No excuses. No reservations. No holding back.
An inspiring story about violinist Fritz · Kreisler tells how he once
He went to the new owner’s home in order to try to
Disappointed Kreisler turned to leave, but then
William Arthur Ward said, “If you believe in prayer, pray; if you believe in serving, serve; if you believe in giving, give.” For you and I are fine violin—our music is
I want to live my life that way—to take it into the world and live it
I’m not talking about
In the end, I know that my
A.came over | B.came across | C.came about | D.came up |
A.raised | B.found | C.stored | D.provided |
A.relative | B.owner | C.merchant | D.collector |
A.encourage | B.command | C.persuade | D.remind |
A.valueless | B.precious | C.expensive | D.important |
A.showed | B.did | C.won | D.asked |
A.before | B.unless | C.since | D.until |
A.Assistance | B.Price | C.Permission | D.Invitation |
A.interesting | B.classical | C.powerful | D.beautiful |
A.idea | B.right | C.room | D.sense |
A.hear | B.see | C.feel | D.know |
A.supported | B.meant | C.valued | D.convinced |
A.properly | B.briefly | C.normally | D.fully |
A.whichever | B.whenever | C.whatever | D.whoever |
A.helping | B.keeping | C.wearing | D.making |
A.always | B.never | C.once | D.already |
A.devoting | B.changing | C.investing | D.absorbing |
A.spend | B.cost | C.take | D.pay |
A.business | B.hardness | C.kindness | D.happiness |
A.participation | B.existence | C.responsibility | D.difference |
内容要点:
1. 这首歌告诉我们自信的重要性; 2. 自信给人勇气尝试,使人成功;
3. 梦想和自信使人勇于面对困难; 4. 没有梦想和自信,不会获得成功;
5. 你的感悟(考生自拟,至少一点)。
注意:
1. 词数100左右;
2. 参考词汇:自信 — confidence(n);
3. 短文须包括所有要点,不要逐词翻译,可适当发挥,使短文连贯、通顺;
4. 文中不得出现真实的人名、校名等相关信息。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________