1 . Sometimes in life, we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, without learning a lesson, till reality strikes us. Other times, some decisions are very hard, so we often end up feeling we could have gone the other way.    1     Life is limited, and it is better to learn some life lessons.

Be full of confidence.

Successful people don't just gain confidence after achieving success. Instead, they have made achievements as they always believe in themselves.    2    

    3    

If you agree to do things even if you don't want to, you will welcome more stress in your life. This is why you must be able to and have the courage to turn someone down in a polite way whenever you are not totally ready to do something you are asked to.

Be responsible for your life.

    4     Other people may advise you or influence you but they cannot force you to determine what you should do.

Stay away from people who always drag you down.

We tend to be with people who inspire us or who make us feel better, but sometimes we end up spending time with those who don't appreciate us .    5     Or you will end up feeling worthless for yourself.

A．Be brave and willing to say “No”.

B．Then what we are left with is regret.

C．Accomplish the more urgent tasks-first.

D．It is time to cut those people out of your life.

E．Avoid things that prevent your concentration.

F．It's your responsibility to take charge of your life, so don't always rely on others to determine what your life will be like.

G．To overcome all the obstacles in your way, you need to trust yourself to get out of your comfort zone and that requires confidence.

2 . I didn’t quite know what I was looking for when I flew to Mongolia for a term abroad. I just needed something different, far from the late-night libraries of my college town. Most different, I hoped, would be my rural homestay: two weeks in central Mongolia with a family of nomadic(游牧的) herders.

I was studying Mongolian at the time, but still, there was so much I couldn’t say or understand. As we walked in the snow behind the goats, my host mom would ask me if I was cold, then giggle (咯咯地笑) and copy a big shiver to make sure I understood. In the evenings, she showed me how to make dumplings with her fingers. My host siblings would talk with me, speaking too fast for me to understand, as we explored the rocks around our tent; I’d listen and nod.

This verbal(言语的) barrier was strangely freeing. In the crowded dining hall at home, meeting new people made me anxious. I’d stay quiet, measuring out my words, struggling for something to say that wouldn’t expose me as unfunny or boring. In Mongolia, I couldn’t perfect my words. I could only smile, and try out one of the phrases I’d mastered: “May I help?” “Where is the dog?” “Are you tired?” My host family laughed at my pronunciation, at the way I threw up my hands and eyebrows in a frequent gesture of confusion. But in their laughter, I felt safe, unembarrassed.

With my Mongolian family on the grassland, I found a feeling of ease I’d never felt before. We were so different, they and I, and not just in language. Their skin was hardened and darkened by sun; I’d been hidden under hats and sunscreen since birth. My host siblings(兄弟姐妹) grew up drawing water from frozen streams and jogging behind herds of sheep; I spent summers at tennis camp.

For me, these gaps made all the difference. Without shared social measures, I wasted no time wondering how I was measuring up. Only real things—kindness, helpfulness—mattered.

1. Why did the author go to Mongolia for a term abroad?

A．She dreamed of living a nomadic life.	B．She was tired of studying late at night.
C．She had to study Mongolians’ normal life.	D．She was collecting information for libraries.

2. What does the underlined word “shiver” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Hug.

B．Smile.

C．Attack.

D．Shake.

3. How did the author behave at the dining hall in her home country?

A．She felt at ease in the crowd.	B．She usually weighed her words.
C．She asked a lot of funny questions.	D．She often made others laugh with jokes.

4. What did the author learn from her life in Mongolia?

A．You are judged wherever you go.	B．Nature makes humans feel insignificant.
C．Appearance reflects one’s standard of life.	D．Being kind is the common social standard.

3 . A confident smile is a happy smile. Have you ever had a stranger smile at you while you were out in public? Maybe you were feeling down, but their genuine and friendly smiles literally made you turn your frown upside down. All thanks to that smiley person, your negative attitude suddenly subsided. It is hard to believe that such a small gesture can impact your mood so sim ply, but I would be lying if I said that I’ve never experienced this feeling. I’m sure you can relate.

With that being said, science can back this up. Where are these happy feelings coming from? Well, when you smile at someone, you may feel like you’re experiencing temporary happiness.That is because endorphins (内啡肽) are released in the brain when you smile. Endorphins can be described as natural painkillers for the body, which also boost your self-esteem (自尊). Smiling is really a simple act of kindness, which can also make you feel better about yourself.

As an illustration, someone going in for a job interview with their heads held high, and smiles on their faces will have a better chance of scoring the job. Employers remark that a person who looks down when they speak to avoid showing their smiles during an interview, most likely won’t be hired, because it looks as though they are hiding something. However, that person with an inviting smile shows confidence. No matter what you look like, a smile is worth a thousand words and people can recognize that.

It gives me such a rewarding feeling helping children, teens, and adults to build their selfesteem through treatment. It’s all worth it seeing that spark of joy in my patient after the job is all said and done. I truly believe that a bright eyed smile has the capacity to allow you to connect with others, without uttering a sound.

1. What does the underlined word “subsided”mean in Paragraph 1?

A．Appeared.

B．Weakened.

C．Increased.

D．Smiled.

2. What’s the use of endorphins?

A．Making people feel happy.

B．Making people act kindly.

C．Making brains work fast.

D．Curing some diseases.

3. Why is it hard for a person not showing a smile to get a job?

A．He holds his head too high.

B．He looks down upon others.

C．He looks a little dishonest.

D．He is too confident.

4. What kind of work is the author likely to do?

A．A teacher.

B．A volunteer.

C．A scientist.

D．A doctor.

4 . I was driving when my phone alerted me to a new email. Filled with eager anticipation, I pulled over, turned on my hazard lights, and opened it. My emotions quickly changed as I learned, for the sixth and final time, that I had been denied a promotion to full professor. My institution didn’t seem to value what I brought to the table. But when I told my family that night, my children offered a surprisingly positive response. They were excited to see what I was going to do next, they said. They apparently knew long before I did that losing my bid for a promotion would turn out to be the best thing that could have happened for me.

This had been the final step in a long process spanning 15 months and involving so much effort. I had started by studying successful promotion bids and asking senior scholars for frank discussions about my readiness. I had carefully prepared my application packet, summarizing everything I had achieved in my career. For more than a year, I had spent hours every day trying to prove my worth to my university.

To my surprise, having a final answer brought a welcome sense of closure. As a first step toward healing, I decided to prioritize my own values and follow my own internal compass. I disconnected from people in my life who violated my values, cultivated my relationships with those who share my priorities and bring out the best in me, and spent more time with my family. I founded a nonprofit that helps first-generation and low-income students and young professionals advance in the workforce while serving their community. The initiative had long been a dream of mine, but I never pursued it because typical academic hiring and promotion don’t reward such efforts. Now, such considerations were no longer my North Star.

Five months after that email from top leadership, I found myself in the car again, experiencing another career-defining moment. I may have lost my bid for a big promotion, but in the end, it brought me to the right place.

1. What did the author feel after he read the email?

A．Anxious and annoyed.	B．Embarrassed and ashamed.
C．Relieved and peaceful.	D．Disappointed and sorrowful.

2. What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A．What contributions the writer had made.	B．What preparations the writer had made.
C．How successful the career had been.	D．How tiring the process had been.

3. Which of the following would the writer probably agree with?

A．Success is more than a title or a rank.

B．One’s internal compass is to be developed.

C．Serving the community may heal a broken heart.

D．One’s real value first lies in his family interaction.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Emails: my North Star

B．Full professor: a double-edged sword

C．A career setback becomes a great opportunity

D．An academic career witnesses a failed promotion

5 . Life is filled with regrets. Ask anyone around you what their regrets are and they usually have no difficulty coming up with many items on their “regret list.”     1    .Here are four things that Iregret most not doing in my 20s.

    2    

I regret not focusing more on where I wanted to go in life, what I wanted to do, who I wanted tobe and what it would take to get there.With some more designing in my twenties, I’d be further ahead in my 40s and perhaps a bit happier as well.

Seizing more experiences

I wish I had lived somewhere else before settling down.     3    .Others have said they regret not pursuing their hobbies or learning to sky dive or mountain climb. I prefer to stay on the ground, but I do regret not learning more, not trying new things that are hard to fit into the life of a fortysomething working wife and mother.

Living a more active lifestyle

The bodies of youth are wasted on the young···I wish I had run a marathon before my knees ached,that I had biked more,hiked more, and took spinning classes when my legs were stronger.    4    ．We don't often realize that we have squandered(浪费)our physical abilities until things start aching.

Making more friends

I regret not reaching out more, putting more effort into creating a lot of support that would carry me through more difficult times. We socialize sure, but many of us don’t put enough importance on building deep and lasting friendships. Some do,but many don’t.    5    !

Life is good; don’t misunderstand. How I wish I had planned more, lived more, and stretched myself more when I had the freedom and energy to do so.

A．Better planning

B．Travelling more

C．How they wish for a second chance

D．If only they had got through difficulties

E．I regret not learning to paint or speak Italian

F．I regret not joining a softball team or volleyball league

G．And for some reason our twenties are ripe for a field of regrets

6 . Many of us have stories about that one person who, along the way, chose to believe in or help us.

When I was a first-semester college junior, my GPA(Grade-Point Average)was in the 2.9 range—too ______ for the honors program that I was trying to get into because the GPA ______ was 3.0 at least. My advisor, Gwen Gustafson, chose to believe in me and she made a(n)______ for me, allowing me to get into the honors program at the University of Connecticut.

After I got into the honors program, I needed to have a faculty member who ______ to oversee my honors thesis (论文). Faculty members (全系教师) really get no extra ______ for overseeing students’ honors theses, and saying “no” is both ______ and easy; however, professor Amerigo Farina told me “yes” when I asked him to serve as my thesis advisor, which made my entire academic career take a big ______.

Life junctures (特定时刻) where someone in a position of ______ chooses to be ______ as opposed to (而非) negative can make all the difference in someone’s life. If you’re like me, you can point to a small set of special people who used their powerful roles to help ______ your life in a positive way.

If you find yourself in a position of power, ______ the requests of others is easy. It requires little ______ and costs you less time. ______ , saying “yes” to requests from subordinates (下级) can be costly, but it can help people develop in all kinds of positive ways. Such an ______ is most likely to come from a leader or an authority figure who can bring you a bright _______ rather than a dark one.

1.

A．difficult

B．ridiculous

C．low

D．sensitive

2.

A．assessment

B．information

C．standard

D．requirement

3.

A．exception

B．excuse

C．decision

D．reservation

4.

A．expected

B．agreed

C．prepared

D．promised

5.

A．award

B．qualification

C．compliment

D．compensation

6.

A．random

B．common

C．challenging

D．free

7.

A．surprise

B．chance

C．jump

D．hit

8.

A．power

B．trust

C．doubt

D．advantage

9.

A．determined

B．optimistic

C．responsible

D．supportive

10.

A．plan

B．analyse

C．control

D．advance

11.

A．adopting

B．changing

C．rejecting

D．raising

12.

A．effort

B．attention

C．equipment

D．knowledge

13.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Besides

D．Otherwise

14.

A．attempt

B．opportunity

C．approach

D．accident

15.

A．future

B．impression

C．idea

D．experience

7 . I Don’t Want to Be …

To those who, my dear parents, teachers, and seniors, want to see the future of China in us.

Actually no answer of it is available from me now. But, what I can share with you is, what kind of person I don’t want to be.

I don’t want to be an extremist with a saw in hand, who always sees people as two distinct categories, men vs women, partners vs opponents, in which life becomes a matter of defying each other and fighting out without a sound judgment.

I don’t want to make myself a mean person, teasing others of their success or failure, envying those who live a better life than myself while looking down upon those who are not as good as myself. I don’t want to be the kind of person who complains and makes excuses, who is quick to blame others whenever something fails.

I don’t want to be a person like a product on an assembly line. There is no independent personality, only a predetermined persona (表面形象). There is no brilliant talent, only delusional (假象的) high popularity. There are no wonderful works, only gossips of on-lookers.

I don’t want to make myself an invisible man. I will, offer to bell the cat when needed, instead of being lost in sight when trouble comes and disappearing in the crowd when solutions are sought.

I don’t want to be an unpleasant insincere person, who tells you being at a disadvantage is a blessing when you suffer, who says ignorance is a perfect happiness when it is time to be serious.

Yes, I don’t want to be . I don’t want to be a cold-hearted person. I don’t want to be a cheater. I don’t want to be a barbarian (没有教养的人). I don’t want to be a quitter. I don’t want to be an ingrate (忘恩负义的人). I do not want to be someone who is unpatriotic.

I don’t want to keep on proclaiming, “Humanity further doomed generation after generation.”

When I become a parent, a teacher, or a senior, I hope my child would tell me, I want to be someone like you.

1. What may the speaker most probably be now?

A．A teacher.

B．A judge.

C．A student.

D．A worker.

2. What can we learn from paragraph 5?

A．The speaker intends to be popular.

B．The speaker prefers to be dependent.

C．The speaker likes to be praised by others.

D．The speaker wants to be a man of character.

3. From the passage, we know that the speaker would most like to be anything but________.

A．kind-hearted

B．responsible

C．unreliable

D．stubborn

4. What writing technique is mainly used in the passage?

A．Comparison.

B．Metaphor.

C．Exaggeration.

D．Parallelism.

8 . The way I treat a clove(瓣)of garlic does not just change its size but its chemistry; the decision to slice or crush it will shape the flavour of the meal. Cooking can show us this: our actions matter. Through my work in the kitchen, I thought about what I had learned about time, about people and the world beyond me. Then I asked myself: What would I discover if I treated cooking as thinking?

When I cooked for myself as an 18-year-old, I attempted to improve the flavor of a dish by adding more things to the pot. But frustratingly, these dishes tasted of less. A logic of scale failed here: more was not more.

Then I came across a recipe for tomato sauce, through which I learned how small changes would cause a big difference. The first few times I made it, I was respectful towards the amazing transformation. But once I crushed the garlic instead of carefully slicing it, and the sauce tasted different. Another time I replaced fresh tomatoes with canned, which resulted in a watery mixture.

When I documented all the times I had cooked it, I was suddenly able to answer questions that had escaped me in the library during my studies. I had been studying the broken relationship between language and the lived world for years. Through cooking, I saw how each time a recipe was translated anew in the kitchen. Therefore, life could be returned to language, reinvigorating(使复兴)it.

When I cook, I’m using the knowledge produced through the work of generations of cooks in kitchens all over the world. Unlike the knowledge stored in libraries, this is information that each person who uses it can rewrite in their own image. People who cook become part of a chorus. When I began to pay attention, I could hear their voices in a bubbling pan. Cooking is thinking, and there is knowledge on an epic(史诗般的)scale in a pan of hot red sauce.

1. Why is garlic mentioned in paragraph 1?

A．To explain a rule.	B．To present a story.
C．To introduce a topic.	D．To make a comparison.

2. What did the author learn from the cooking experiences?

A．Crushed garlic tastes better.	B．Fresh tomatoes work better.
C．Sliced garlic ruins the sauce.	D．More ingredients improve flavour.

3. What does paragraph 4 mainly tell us?

A．Life can bring language alive again.

B．A recipe can be renewed by each user.

C．The relationship between language and the world is broken.

D．The inspiration from cooking helps solve academic problems.

4. What might be the best title?

A．Less is more.	B．Our actions matter.
C．Cooking is thinking.	D．Recipes have souls.

9 . I spent a few hours diving into the book The Maid by Stephanie Land. The book has been translated into a popular TV series, but I like _________ the book before diving into its TV adaptation.

Even if it seems insignificant, a simple act of kindness can go a long way for someone. Stephanie’s words engulfed (吞没)me as she took me into her story of _________ cleaning jobs and the kindness of strangers. As Stephanie’s storytelling _________ how she was able to raise her beautiful daughter, Mia, on her job as a maid, I _________ how impactful our actions are. A kind word and an act of kindness can go a long way in making people feel seen and _________.

Stephanie’s memoir (自传)details how the _________ of her boss and strangers who trusted her in the cleaning of their houses went a long way in helping her not just survive but keep some _________ in the work. It was these random acts of kindness that _________ her to move forward. Her book reminded me of the importance of taking a moment to step out of our own world to lend a _________ hand.

More often than not, we are engulfed in the story of our own lives, forgetting we live in a(n) __________ where others exist. We __________ that one encountered（遇到)in the grocery store or a kind word can go a long way for someone trying to survive.

As Stephanie __________ told the tales, I felt two things: awe and __________. Awe because of the strength she displayed and gratitude because her story __________ me of the strangers I have encountered who were kind to another. The gestures were not grand but __________.

1.

A．seeing

B．learning

C．reading

D．buying

2.

A．living on

B．concentrating on

C．working on

D．calling on

3.

A．worried

B．wondered

C．settled

D．shared

4.

A．realized

B．desired

C．prepared

D．promised

5.

A．heard

B．cared

C．ignored

D．found

6.

A．kindness

B．curiosity

C．generosity

D．bravery

7.

A．fright

B．confidence

C．pride

D．dignity

8.

A．forced

B．pulled

C．encouraged

D．pushed

9.

A．warm

B．large

C．shaking

D．helping

10.

A．world

B．place

C．house

D．age

11.

A．stopped

B．forget

C．lost

D．assisted

12.

A．eagerly

B．impatiently

C．firmly

D．beautifully

13.

A．respect

B．love

C．gratitude

D．hope

14.

A．persuaded

B．rid

C．reminded

D．informed

15.

A．emergent

B．grateful

C．satisfactory

D．significant

10 . That morning, I got the train as always. I was a publishing director and was looking forward to embracing a new day of work, as usual. I would always turn to the crossword (纵横填字游戏), but that day it didn’t make sense. I’d been doing it for 30-old years, but trying to read this one was like walking through syrup (糖浆)：________ slow and hard. I thought I must be tired.

I said to my assistant. The ________ colleague contacted my wife, Beth, and she drove me straight to hospital. There, confirmation came that I’d had a stroke in the part of my brain that ________ with communication. I was now in a condition that means it’s difficult or________ to receive and produce language. It was the only time I cried.

I was back at home a week later, and my goal was to get better and return to work in a couple of months. The way to ________ my language ability was rough. I’d look at simple pictures and try to describe them as my mind ________ round and round in the darkness, looking for words.

As the months passed, it became self-evident that I wasn’t going to be able to go back to my old job. For 25 years, I had ________ myself as a publisher. I was used to a busy day of meetings. I didn’t feel ready to say goodbye to my old self. There were times when I felt incredibly ________.

In the darkest months, I devoted myself to________. I couldn’t manage novels or newspapers, ________ I tried reading poetry, and found the shorter lines less overwhelming. My speech came back, and I learned how to read again, though much more slowly. I also learned the ________ to keep up. I allowed myself to slow down, and started to enjoy it.

________, I get rid of my old skin. I grieved the past, its passing and its absence, and started to come to terms ________ it. Now, 10 years later, I look after my grandson a day a week, and my relationship with my family is deeper than ever. If you’d asked me 15 years ago to ________ the importance of the things in my life I might have said work, but now I’m no longer a high-achieving publisher or someone who reads 10 books a week. I’m a ________ man, and if I read 10 books a year, that’s pretty good.

1.

A．temporarily

B．scarcely

C．unbelievably

D．mildly

2.

A．curious

B．reserved

C．casual

D．concerned

3.

A．messes

B．deals

C．identifies

D．cooperates

4.

A．practical

B．absurd

C．impossible

D．innocent

5.

A．gaining

B．rebuilding

C．revealing

D．improving

6.

A．slipped

B．doubted

C．wandered

D．fled

7.

A．informed

B．evaluated

C．reflected

D．defined

8.

A．angry

B．cautious

C．awesome

D．merciless

9.

A．speaking

B．trying

C．writing

D．managing

10.

A．since

B．until

C．so

D．as

11.

A．favor

B．patience

C．sympathy

D．comfort

12.

A．Gradually

B．Hopefully

C．Narrowly

D．Annually

13.

A．above

B．with

C．beyond

D．below

14.

A．arrange

B．compare

C．rank

D．declare

15.

A．genius

B．community

C．dignity

D．family