1 . 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 |
2 . Jenna, a popular girl from Westwood Middle School, had graduated first in her class and was ready for new
Arriving home, she started with math. She had always been a good math student, but now she was
The next day Jenna went to see Mrs. Biden about being on the school
Later in
| A．words | B．ideas | C．challenges | D．exercises |
| A．Therefore | B．However | C．Otherwise | D．Besides |
| A．difficult | B．easy | C．boring | D．interesting |
| A．editor | B．boss | C．cheerleader | D．judge |
| A．played | B．sank | C．stopped | D．raced |
| A．good | B．happy | C．awful | D．lonely |
| A．struggling | B．improving | C．working | D．making |
| A．ashamed | B．disappointed | C．bored | D．relieved |
| A．put off | B．hand out | C．worry about | D．cut off |
| A．committee | B．newspaper | C．radio | D．team |
| A．excited | B．serious | C．anxious | D．confident |
| A．speakers | B．readers | C．teachers | D．writers |
| A．widely | B．weakly | C．warmly | D．brightly |
| A．similar | B．ordinary | C．different | D．familiar |
| A．music | B．history | C．English | D．math |
| A．pleasure | B．hope | C．trouble | D．attention |
| A．fit in | B．look out | C．stay up | D．get off |
| A．swim | B．try | C．ask | D．escape |
| A．in return for | B．in case of | C．in terms of | D．instead of |
| A．slimmest | B．smallest | C．best | D．gentlest |
3 . The word “happy” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by hardship. The circular motion (循环运动) between happiness and
A year ago, I developed troubling symptoms(症状) in my left
Over that long week, I
Finally, I gained a
| A．loneliness | B．tiredness | C．sadness | D．greatness |
| A．eye | B．arm | C．leg | D．ear |
| A．suddenly | B．carelessly | C．secretly | D．immediately |
| A．luck | B．treatment | C．apology | D．discussion |
| A．needed | B．expected | C．managed | D．congratulated |
| A．in relief | B．in anger | C．in peace | D．in panic |
| A．new | B．traditional | C．strong | D．folk |
| A．rarely | B．frequently | C．occasionally | D．mistakenly |
| A．forbade | B．encourages | C．forced | D．permitted |
| A．lay down | B．hold back | C．fall into | D．meet with |
| A．desired | B．promised | C．refused | D．attempted |
| A．gave in | B．cheered up | C．gave up | D．broken down |
| A．terrible | B．sweet | C．spare | D．precious |
| A．election | B．challenge | C．goal | D．choice |
| A．guilt | B．pride | C．hope | D．joy |
| A．stresses | B．analyzed | C．investigated | D．guaranteed |
| A．wrong | B．unique | C．funny | D．valuable |
| A．sunny | B．cloudy | C．rainy | D．snowy |
| A．disturb | B．experience | C．blame | D．assign |
| A．admit to | B．listen to | C．adapt to | D．contribute to |
4 . On November 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the world famous violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Lincoln Centre in New York City. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert you know that getting on stage is not easy for him. He got polio (小儿麻痹症) as a child, and has to walk with the aid of two crutches (拐杖) now.
That night Perlman walked slowly to his chair. Then he sat down and began to play. But, suddenly, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it break — it broke with a loud noise.
People thought to themselves, “He would have to get up to either find another violin or find another string for this one.”
But he didn’t. Instead, he waited a moment closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra (管弦乐队) began, and he played from where he had stopped. He played with such passion and such power.
Of course, everyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. But that night Itzhak Perlm refused to know that. You could see him changing and recomposing (重新作曲) the piece in his head.
When he finished, there was a silence in the room. Then people rose and cheered. We were all on our feet, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done.
He smiled and then he said in a quiet tone, “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can make with what you have left.”
His words have stayed in my mind ever since I heard them. That is also the way of life. Perhaps our task in this quickly changing world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.
1. Holding a concert is challenging for Perlman because ________.| A．he is just a world famous violinist | B．he has never performed on stage before |
| C．he is physically disabled as a result of a disease | D．he has difficulty in moving his body |
| A．there was something wrong with the violin | B．he fell ill suddenly |
| C．an accident happened and caused a disturbance | D．a very loud noise arose from the audience |
| A．He would cancel the concert. | B．He would play another violin. |
| C．Another performer would play instead. | D．The concert would be put off. |
| A．to show they are satisfied with Perlman’s performance |
| B．to thank the orchestra for their passionate performance |
| C．to ask Perlman for another performance |
| D．to express their appreciation of Perlman’s creative mind |
| A．we should make the best of what we have | B．what we have is more important than what is lost |
| C．we should not care about what is lost | D．the way of life is to always live with music |
5 . Many years ago, I was fresh out of school and working in Denver. One day, I drove to my parents’ home in Missouri for Thanksgiving Day. Suddenly, I found the gas was running out. I stopped, wondering what I was supposed to do. A car pulled up behind me and an old couple came out. They offered to pull my car to a gas station. When we said good- bye to each other. the husband gave me his business card.
When I arrived home, I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note. I soon received a note saying that helping me had made their holiday meaningful.
Years later, I drove to a nearby town for a meeting in the morning. In the late afternoon, I returned to my car and found that the battery was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford Dealership — a shop selling cars — was right next door. I walked over and found a salesman waiting beside the door.
“Would you please do me a favor?” I asked and explained my trouble. He quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. He would accept no payment. When I got home, I wrote a note to thank him. I received a letter back from the salesman. He said no one had ever taken the time to write him a note of thanks and it meant a lot.
Although it is easy to say thanks to others, it means so much.
1. Why did the author drive to his parents’ home in Missouri?| A．To repair his car. | B．To see a friend. |
| C．For Thanksgiving Day. | D．For a meeting. |
| A．An old couple helped him go to a gas station. |
| B．He had a word with a policeman nearby. |
| C．He pushed his car to a car dealership. |
| D．He called up his best friend for help. |
| A．The author got a gas from the old couple. |
| B．The author’s car battery was dead. |
| C．The author wrote a letter to the old couple. |
| D．The author bought a car from the dealership. |
| A．moved | B．worried | C．nervous | D．sad |
| A．how to write a thank-you note | B．how to deal with car problems |
| C．the kind-heartedness of old people | D．the importance of expressing thanks |
6 . 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)
8 . There is a wonderful story about a young girl who had no family and no one to love her.
One day, feeling very sad and lonely, she was walking through a grassland when she noticed a small butterfly caught in a thorn (荆棘) bush. The young girl carefully released the butterfly. Instead of flying away, the little butterfly changed into a beautiful fairy. The young girl rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
“For your wonderful kindness, ” the good fairy said to the girl，“I will give you any wish you would like.” The little girl thought for a moment and then replied, “I want to be happy.” The fairy leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. Then the fairy disappeared.
As the little girl grew up，there was no one in the land as happy as she. Everyone asked her secret of happiness . She would only smile and answer，“The secret of my happiness is that I listened to a good fairy when I was a little girl.”
When she was very old and on her deathbed, the neighbors all gathered around her, and feared that her unbelievable secret of happiness would die with her. “ tell us，please, ” they begged，“ tell us what the good fairy said. ” The lovely old woman simply smiled and said，“ She told me that everyone，no matter how safe they seemed，no matter how old or young，how rich or poor, had need of me.”
1. ________the girl felt sad and lonely.| A．There were many friends but | B．There was nobody to love her so |
| C．There was nothing to do | D．Seeing the butterfly was caught |
| A．helped the butterfly escaped from the thorn |
| B．felt sorrow，but she didn’t go up to help it |
| C．fell down on it too |
| D．failed to help it release from the thorn |
| A．flied away | B．still died |
| C．changed into a fairy | D．was more beautiful than before |
| A．to be rich | B．to have her own parents |
| C．to have a lot of friends | D．happiness |
I recently gave my adult class homework. The assignment was to “go to someone you love and tell them you love them. It has to be someone you have never said those words to before or haven’t shared those words with for a long time”.
That doesn’t sound like a tough assignment, but most of the men in that group were over 35 and were taught that expressing emotions is not “macho（男子汉的）”.
At the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. One of the men raised his hand. He appeared quite moved and a bit shaken.
He began by saying, “I didn’t feel that I had anyone to say those words to. But as I began driving home, I knew exactly who I needed to say ‘I love you’to. Five years ago, my father and I had a disagreement and never resolved it. We hardly spoke to each other.” “The next morning, I called my dad. When he answered the phone, I said, ‘Dad, can I come over tonight? I have something to tell you.’ I assured him it wouldn’t take long, so he finally agreed.”
“At 5：30, I was at my parents’ house ringing the doorbell. As luck would have it, Dad answered the door.”
“I took one step in the door and said, ‘Dad, I just came over to tell you that I love you’”
“His face softened, his wrinkles（皱纹）disappeared and he began to cry. He reached out and hugged me and said, ‘I love you too, son, but I’ve never been able to say it.’”
“Dad and I hugged for a moment longer. I hadn’t felt that great in a long time.”
“Two days after that visit, my dad had a heart attack and ended up unconscious in the hospital. I don’t know if he’ll make it.”
“My message to all of you is this：Don’t wait to do the things that need to be done. Take the time to do what you need to do and do it now！”
1. Why might the assignment challenge the students?（no more than 10 words）2. What happened to the author’s student and his father five years ago?（no more than 15 words）
3. What is the meaning of the underlined part in Paragraph 5?（no more than 5 words）
4. Why did the student’s father cry? （no more than 10 words）
5. What do you often do when you have disagreements with your parents? Please explain.（no more than 20 words）
Mr. Black was spending his holiday in Africa. One day he watched some elephants passing by. Each of them was tied to his front legs only by a small rope. To his great surprise, these large strong animals could easily run away, but they did not.
So Mr. Black asked the owner why not a single elephant made an attempt to break free. The owner said, ''When the elephants were very young, the same size ropes were used to tie them, and at that time the ropes were strong enough to hold them. Now they have grown big and strong, but they believe that the ropes still hold them and it is impossible to escape, so they never try to get away. ''
Sometimes people act like these elephants. They often give up after the first failures. In fact, the failures are part of learning. If we want to succeed, we should never give up, but try and try again.
1. Where was Mr. Black spending his holiday?2. What was each of the elephants tied by?
3. How did Mr. Black feel when he saw the elephants did not try to get away?
4. Why do the elephants never try to break free?
5. According to the text, what should we do if we want to succeed?
