1 . Not having done physical exercise for some time, I found myself a little low-spirited and couldn’t study efficiently, so I decided to do some running the next day. At 6:15 the next morning, my alarm clock rang. Unwilling to rise from my bed, I turned it off and went back to sleep. However, 5 minutes later, I struggled to get up. After washing and brushing, I had my sneakers on and went out.

Wow! The air was so fresh that I couldn’t help breathing it deeply. I stretched (伸展) my arms and legs, then started to run. I found all things around me were so attractive. Look, the branches were waving, as if they were welcoming me; the blossoming flowers were bowing, with shyness, just like girls. Listen, the wind was whispering, as if to say “come on, girl”. What’s more interesting was those two birds, perching in the tree. They were scared and flew away when I passed them. “Hey, chaps, relax.” I shouted without stopping running. “Let’s enjoy the beautiful morning together!” Then miracle (奇迹) happened. The two little creatures seemed to understand what I said. They turned back and twittered (吱吱叫) around me. “Are you singing for me?” I asked. They twittered again and again, sounded like “Yes”. I was delighted to hear that. Ah, what a wonderful morning and how beautiful life is!

Actually, there are a lot of charming things around us. Helen Keller wrote in her famous article Three Days to Sec, “The seeing see little”. Indeed, many of us ignore (忽视) the beauty around us, just because we are familiar with them. They always complain that life is boring. But, I just want to say, if you live each day with appreciation of things around, you’ll find life is very charming. So, let’s enjoy life from now on.

1. According to the passage, the writer went running with the purpose of ______.

A．making herself more active	B．seeing the beauty of nature
C．talking with birds	D．breathing fresh air

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．The writer hated the singing of the two birds.

B．The writer rose immediately after the clock went off

C．The writer did some warm up exercises before running.

D．The writer felt tired after doing some running in the morning.

3. What does the underlined sentence “The seeing see little.” in the last paragraph mean?

A．People who can see rarely find the beauty of nature.

B．Those who can see enjoy nature very much.

C．People who go outside can see more.

D．Those who go out only see little things.

4. The purpose of the writer in writing this passage is to tell us that ______.

A．the nature is very beautiful

B．fresh air is beneficial

C．physical exercise is useless

D．we should appreciate the beautiful things in life

4 . Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table, reading his book. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to copy him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa, I try to read the book just like you, but I don’t understand it, and I forget what I understand as soon as I close the book. I think reading books is useless. So what are the benefits of reading books in your eyes?”

The grandpa quietly replied, “Take this coal (煤) basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out (漏出) before he got back to the house. The grandpa laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned. Out of breath, he told his grandpa that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, so he went to get a bucket (桶) instead. The grandpa said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough.” The boy again put the basket into the river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandpa the basket was empty again. Out of breath, he said, “Grandpa, it’s useless!”

“So, you think it is useless?” the grandpa said, “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket was different. It had been changed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean.

“Grandson, that’s what happens when you read the book. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you’ll be changed, inside and out.”

1. What did the grandson want to know?

A．The reason why he forgets so quickly.

B．The advantages that reading gives people.

C．The types of books which he can understand.

D．The way that his grandfather reads books.

2. Why did Grandpa ask his grandson to bring a basket of water for him?

A．To get him to realize the use of reading books.

B．To punish him for not reading carefully.

C．To clean the dirty basket in the river.

D．To train him to run faster.

3. What lesson can we learn from the story?

A．The old are always wiser than the young.

B．It is foolish to carry water with a basket.

C．You can’t expect to remember all you read.

D．Reading books can change a person gradually.

5 . The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping—where you hand over notes and count out change in return-- now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters, like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a corner shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores--Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance--you don’t go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with IPads to take your payment while you relax on the sofa.

Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I'm just old-fashion. But earning money isn't quick or easy for most of us. Isn't it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink of an eye? Doesn't a wallet-that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness-represent something that matters?

But I'll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet-the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets-is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone or an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as a pebble. Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into corners, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.

1. What is happening to the wallet?

A．It is disappearing.	B．It is being fattened.
C．It is becoming costly.	D．It is changing in style.

2. What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays?

A．Saving money is becoming a thing of the past.

B．Spending money is so fast and easy.

C．Earning money is getting more difficult.

D．The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading.

3. Why does the author choose to write about what’s happening to the wallet?

A．It represents a change in the modern world.

B．It has something to do with everybody’s life.

C．It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition.

D．It is the concern of contemporary economists.

4. What can we infer from the passage about the author?

A．He is resistant to social changes.

B．He is against technological progress.

C．He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.

D．He fells insecure in the ever-changing modern world.

6 . My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some ________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little plant in the yard 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 ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds (杂草) around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________.The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the ________.

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the sunflower, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, and then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

1.

A．flower

B．insects

C．vegetables

D．rocks

2.

A．water

B．fertilizer

C．color

D．shape

3.

A．stop

B．continue

C．improve

D．escape

4.

A．weak

B．strange

C．lonely

D．pretty

5.

A．collect

B．tend

C．remove

D．watch

6.

A．unusual

B．wonderful

C．terrible

D．valuable

7.

A．passed

B．started

C．left

D．died

8.

A．air

B．top

C．sun

D．house

9.

A．hoped

B．realized

C．doubted

D．regretted

10.

A．fill in

B．put in

C．worry about

D．believe in

11.

A．forget

B．hate

C．aim

D．wait

12.

A．wish

B．plan

C．ability

D．idea

13.

A．faith

B．energy

C．virtue

D．courage

14.

A．aware

B．afraid

C．proud

D．tired

15.

A．forgive

B．support

C．upset

D．affect

7 . I had a perfect childhood. _______ I saw was new, wonderful and exciting. I was _______ whether it was rainy or dry, whether it was hot or _______. I just wanted to _______ all the things around me.

But I can’t _______ time. When I reached my teens, I started to realize there was a different _______ of life. I no longer had enough time for little things－discovering a rainbow was not _______ , looking at a giraffe in the zoo was normal, and _______ a building with 50 floors was not amazing. A rainy day was a _______ day because the traffic was slow, and the first day of spring ________ me of aller­gies (过敏). Life moves on again. The first day of the month is not just the ________ of a new month; it’s the time to ________ bills. Going to the supermarket is a ________; it is not just fun walking around, looking for things and seeing the people around me.

Life is a ________ in which everyone has many obligations (责任), but if everyone tried to see life through the eyes of a child, I am sure that every day could be ________.

1.

A．Everything

B．Something

C．Anyone

D．None

2.

A．anxious

B．grateful

C．confident

D．happy

3.

A．warm

B．cold

C．windy

D．snowy

4.

A．confirm

B．introduce

C．discover

D．possess

5.

A．save

B．record

C．tell

D．stop

6.

A．way

B．choice

C．side

D．version

7.

A．challenging

B．disturbing

C．boring

D．surprising

8.

A．painting

B．seeing

C．purchasing

D．sharing

9.

A．bad

B．specific

C．favorite

D．wonderful

10.

A．informed

B．reminded

C．persuaded

D．freed

11.

A．breakthrough

B．preparation

C．beginning

D．function

12.

A．show off

B．send out

C．add to

D．think about

13.

A．trend

B．duty

C．burden

D．rule

14.

A．process

B．reward

C．lesson

D．skill

15.

A．worse

B．shorter

C．better

D．slower

8 . “I’m going to fail!” My best friend cried. She and I had this conversation almost every day while we were in high school.

The truth was that my friend never failed in any subjects. I just think that she can’t accept failures because she lives her life as a perfectionist. What she fails to understand is that a lot of good can come from failures.

For example, failure can help build relationships. Once I was cooking dinner for a friend, I was tired, and several dishes I tried to make turned out bad. I grew more and more upset until my friend told me that I shouldn't worry. She cared more about our friendship than the dishes. That day, I learned that failure doesn't always make people dislike you. In fact, after she said those words to me, I grew closer to her.

Failure can make success evermore exciting. Every few years, there would be an important test in the PE class at our school. Students had to run a mile within eight minutes. I was never good at running, so I failed every time until the third year at school. Then I began working out regularly, and yet still failed that year. A few days later, however, the teacher gave me and some other students another chance to run and I got a pass finally! You can't imagine how excitedly I was after that. I felt the memory of the success was as sweet as honey, because I had to overcome failure to reach it.

Now it’s clear to see that failure can teach us good lessons. It's not an end, but it can be a beginning.

1. What did the author finally get from a failed cooking?

A．Worries.

B．A closer friendship.

C．Bad feelings.

D．More experience.

2. Why did the author feel excited after the running test?

A．Because she could work out regularly.	B．Because she received honey as a reward.
C．Because she achieved success after many failures.	D．Because she got another chance to take the test.

3. What does the underlined word “overcome” in Paragraph 4mean?

A．Successfully deal with.	B．Quickly respond to.
C．Narrowly escape from.	D．Eagerly come up with.

4. What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?

A．To show the negative effects of failures.	B．To point out her best friends' fear of failures.
C．To introduce different types of failures.	D．To encourage the readers to face failures bravely.

9 . Get a Thorough Understanding of Oneself

In all one’s life time, it is oneself that one spends the most time being with or dealing with.     1    

When you are going upwards in life you tend to overestimate yourself. It seems that everything you seek for is within your reach.     2     It’s likely that you think it wise for yourself to stay away from the outer world. Actually, to get a thorough understanding of oneself, you may as well keep the following tips in mind.

Gain a correct view of oneself. You may look forward hopefully to the future but be sure not to expect too much, for dreams can never be fully realized. You may be courageous to meet challenges but it should be clear to you where to direct your efforts.     3    

Self-appreciate. Whether you compare yourself to a high mountain or a small stone, you represent a state of nature.     4     If you earnestly (诚挚地) admire yourself, you’ll have a real sense of self-appreciation.

    5     In time of anger, do yourself a favor by releasing it in a quiet place so that you won’t be hurt by its flames; in time of sadness, do yourself a favor by sharing it with your friends so as to change a bad mood into a cheerful one; in time of tiredness, do yourself a favor by getting a good sleep.

Get a full control of one’s life. Then one will find one’s life full of color and flavor.

A．Do oneself a favor when it’s needed.

B．It has its own value.

C．Do yourself a favor when you resist the attack of illness.

D．Especially if it is well within your reach, you are just too blind to see it.

E．But it is precisely oneself that one has the least understanding of.

F．When you are going downhill you tend to underestimate yourself.

G．So long as you have a perfect knowledge of yourself, there won’t be difficulties you can’t overcome.

10 . “Today I will give you a special test,” said the English teacher with a smile on his face.

All the students set up straight and ________ for the test to begin. The teacher began to ________ the test papers to all the students. ________ he finished handing out the test papers, he asked them to begin.

The students were very ________ to see that there was not a question but a black dot (圆点) in the centre of the paper. The teacher ________ the students’ surprise and said, “I want you to ________ about what you see there.”

At the end of the class, the teacher took all the students’ answer sheets (答题纸) and read the answers. ________ of them described the black dot. After reading all the answers, the teacher said, “Here everyone only paid attention to the black dot, ________ no one wrote about the white paper.” The whole class listened ________, because they were afraid to fail in the exam.

Then the teacher said, “Don’t worry about your ________ for this test. I just want you to think about our life. The white paper is like our whole life and the black dot in the centre of the paper ________ problems in our daily life.”

Our life is a ________ given to us by God, with love and care. Still, we just pay attention to the problems like ________ and poverty, and never see that these problems are very ________ compared to everything else we have in our life.

So we should try to take our eye off our problems and ________ each moment life gives us.

1.

A．searched

B．looked

C．called

D．waited

2.

A．e-mail

B．sell

C．give

D．throw

3.

A．After

B．Before

C．Until

D．While

4.

A．happy

B．surprised

C．excited

D．sad

5.

A．forgot

B．remembered

C．noticed

D．hated

6.

A．talk

B．write

C．hear

D．answer

7.

A．All

B．None

C．Some

D．Many

8.

A．because

B．although

C．if

D．but

9.

A．angrily

B．silently

C．happily

D．fast

10.

A．presents

B．grades

C．suggestions

D．tasks

11.

A．helps

B．finds

C．represents

D．solves

12.

A．gift

B．problem

C．moment

D．door

13.

A．illnesses

B．surprise

C．happiness

D．pains

14.

A．serious

B．big

C．small

D．important

15.

A．refuse

B．stop

C．waste

D．enjoy