1 . It was a dark day, one of depression, sorrow and anger. As I climbed out of the _____, after witnessing my time in the 100 yard freestyle, I did not feel like speaking to anyone. I saw the bright smiles of swimmers who had just _____ a best time. _____ , I had failed. Or at least that is what I thought at the time.

I was lying on my cool bed when an idea _____ my head. Success is the _____ to go from failure to failure without _____ your enthusiasm. At practice the next day, I told my swimming teammates about my goal time and they all either laughed or replied with a _____ similar response like, “You can’t do it” or “Probably not”. Believe it or not, these are the responses that made my goal _____.

Finally came the day when I had to _____ to myself and others that with ______ there is no limit to your achievements.

With the starting gun ______, I dove with perfect form into the pool. I felt the cool water running ______ my back. I swam like a fish, bouncing off each ______ at the wall as if it was a spring board. On the ______ turn, I came back to the wall with every piece of strength I had. I ______ the final wall with my fingertips and knew that I had swum the ______ race.

I had done it! I had achieved my best time! Joy filled my ______ like water does a cup. I saw the ______ on all of my friends’ faces as I ______ out of the pool: their jaws dropped to the ground. I began to laugh and gave them thumbs up.

I have ______ in life that having belief in yourself opens all gates. Never forget that anything the mind can conceive and believe can achieve.

1.

A．pond

B．sea

C．pool

D．bed

2.

A．made

B．achieved

C．reached

D．realized

3.

A．Otherwise

B．However

C．Besides

D．In addition

4.

A．occurred

B．broke

C．stuck

D．hit

5.

A．opportunity

B．action

C．cause

D．ability

6.

A．keeping

B．losing

C．reducing

D．decreasing

7.

A．somehow

B．somewhat

C．anyhow

D．anywhere

8.

A．magical

B．reasonable

C．confident

D．achievable

9.

A．promise

B．provide

C．present

D．prove

10.

A．consideration

B．impression

C．belief

D．desire

11.

A．setting out

B．going off

C．breaking out

D．getting off

12.

A．through

B．above

C．across

D．to

13.

A．turn

B．jump

C．struggle

D．shoot

14.

A．next

B．previous

C．very

D．last

15.

A．pushed

B．reached

C．got

D．touched

16.

A．whole

B．perfect

C．first

D．best

17.

A．heart

B．head

C．mind

D．face

18.

A．expressions

B．emotions

C．feelings

D．responses

19.

A．ran

B．climbed

C．stood

D．jumped

20.

A．gained

B．dreamed

C．learned

D．remembered

3 . We always convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, than another. Then we are upset that the kids aren’t old enough and we’ll be more satisfied when they are. After that we’re upset that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage

We always tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse (配偶) gets his or her act together, when we get a nice car, and are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is that there’s no better time than right now. If not now, when? Our life will always be filled with challenges. It’s best to admit this to ourselves and decide to be happy anyway.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said, “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin- real life. But there was always some obstacle (障碍) in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last I realized that these obstacles were my life.”

I have understood that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment that you have. And remember that time waits for no one. So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school; until you get married; until you get divorced, until you have kids; until you retire; until you get a new car or home; until spring; until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination (目的地). So work like you don’t need money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one is watching

1. Why do we always convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, than another?

A．Because we are always satisfied with our present life

B．Because we don’t realize treasuring every moment means happiness.

C．Because no one will be happy until he gets married.

D．Because we will be happy without a kid

2. In the opinion of the writer, we should ______.

A．wait for happiness to come later	B．try to help others to be as happy as we are
C．experience happiness right now	D．learn to be happy from our family members

3. “Dance like no one’s watching” means ______.

A．to live a life of your own	B．it’s better to dance alone
C．to dance when none is present	D．dancing is a good habit

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Happiness Is a Cloud	B．Happiness Is a Dream
C．Happiness Is a Destination.	D．Happiness Is a Journey.

5 . 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.

2. The author let the tiny plant continue growing to ______.

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

3. The author found it unusual that ______.

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

4. Which of the following can best describe the sunflower?

A．Confident.

B．Devoted.

C．Delicate.

D．Modest.

5. We can conclude from the passage that ______.

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

6 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

I can well remember that I was once asked to deliver a speech titled “A Real Test in My Life” before the whole class at the age of 9! You can imagine how     1     (terrible) shy I was with so many eyes       2       (fix) upon me. I had no     3     (choose) but to prepare for it, though. First of all, I was to draft the speech, which was just a piece of cake for me, a good writer. But the hardest part     4     (lie) in my oral presentation from my memory— for to read from the paper was not allowed. The real moment began     5         I stood on the platform with my legs trembling and my mind blank. But my listeners were waiting patiently without any signs of rushing me. Gradually I found myself back,     6     (deliver) my speech with difficulty. After what seemed to be a hundred years, I found my audience applauding— I made     7    ! From then on, my fear of talking before an audience disappeared. Actually with my     8     (confident) building up, I now turn out to be a great speaker. Looking back, I know the greatest difficulty on our way         9     success is our fear. Overcome it     10     we will be able to achieve our goals.

7 . 假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（⋀），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Three years ago I failed an important exam in my life and became a student at a ordinary school. Although I felt disappointed at the shabby campus and my poorly-equipped classroom, but I found the teachers impatient and considerate. Beside, I enjoyed the friendly class atmosphere. I decided to make the best it. I worked hard and got along good with my teachers and classmates. Whenever I had difficulties, they are always available. Soon, I became one of the top student in my class, that greatly increased my confidence and got me motivated. My experience tells me that it is not what you are given but how you make use of it that determines who we are.

8 . 利用下面所给的词汇，写一篇60词左右的小短文。
要求：至少要用上其中的5个词汇，用到的词汇在文中用下划线标出。
senior, challenge, positive, rise to, acquire, effort, advance, amazing, confidence, make a difference, make the most of, equal, attitude, goal,   in time, look forward to, independent
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . Growing pains and gains

It’s not easy to grow up. Actually it’s far from easy. Growing up can be a real “pain” for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren’t allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel stuck, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don’t understand why we can’t stay young forever. When we look back on all the challenges in life with a positive attitude, we realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!

As a young girl my parents forced my sisters and me to do so many things that I never liked. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music, just because it was what they wanted me to do. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched my life in so many ways. I realize that my parents and teachers were always pushing me along. not because they wanted me to suffer(受苦)but because they wanted me to succeed in life. They’ve always wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.

Every moment of our lives is either living or dying, so live life to its fullest! We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just small pains in life. They might seem so huge at the time but we must be strong. Think about how we would feel if we had no fear and live life like that. The future is ours!

A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps(凸块)on our road to success we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!

1. According to paragraph 1, we learn that when we are young, ______.

A．life is full of joy

B．life is easy for us

C．we know we can stay young forever

D．we sometimes can’t do things we like

2. When the author was young, she was forced by her parents to ______.

A．take music lessons

B．turn gains into pains

C．look back on challenges

D．live a successful life

3. What does the underlined phrase “to its fullest” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Directly.

B．Completely.

C．Carefully.

D．Terribly.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．Growing pains are necessary for us to grow up.

B．We all have to experience growing pains.

C．A little hard work and sweat are harmful to us.

D．Life without fear is a better choice for us.