1 . Behind our house there was a patch of land. “It would be a pity to let it go _________,” said Mother. “I suggest that _________you are all so fond of peanuts you should grow some there.”

We children and the little maidservants were all delighted. Some of us bought seeds, some_________ the plot and others watered it. In just a few months we had a harvest.

Mother said, “Let’s have a harvest festival tonight and invite your father to have a _________ of our fresh peanuts.”

We all agreed. Mother made a variety of dishes using our peanuts and_________   that the festival should be held in the thatched pavilion in the garden.

The weather was not very good that evening, yet , to our great joy, father came,   _________. “Do you all like peanuts?” asked Father. “Yes!” we all clamoured to reply.

“Who can tell me what’s good about peanuts?” “They taste good,” said older sister.

“They can be made into oil,” said older brother.

“Everybody can _________   to buy them, whoever they might be, and everyone likes them. That’s what’s good about peanuts,” said I.

Father said, “In fact the peanut has many uses, but the most valuable thing about this little nut is this: it’s not like the apple, peach or pomegranate,_________ their bright, beautiful fruits on their branches for all to see and admire. The peanut lies _________ in the soil, waiting ____________it is ripe before letting people dig it up. If ever you ____________a shy peanut plant you cannot immediately tell whether or not it has any nuts. You have to find them to be certain.”

We all agreed with this and Mother____________her head too. Father continued, “So you should all try to be like the peanut, because it is neither grand nor beautiful, but useful.”

“Does that mean that people should try to be useful____________ famous or great?” I asked.

“That is what I hope of you all,” Father replied.

We kept chatting until the party____________late at night Although we ate all the peanuts that evening, Father’s words still remain ____________     in my mind.

1.

A．blank

B．empty

C．wild

D．bad

2.

A．Since

B．For

C．While

D．When

3.

A．roll up

B．tore up

C．pull up

D．dug up

4.

A．bite

B．taste

C．roast

D．toast

5.

A．warned

B．demanded

C．intructed

D．commanded

6.

A．still

B．though

C．however

D．yet

7.

A．afford

B．offer

C．addict

D．allocate

8.

A．arousing

B．raising

C．rising

D．arising

9.

A．buried

B．covered

C．surrounded

D．crowded

10.

A．before

B．when

C．until

D．after

11.

A．come   about

B．come up with

C．get across

D．come across

12.

A．nodded

B．shook

C．swing

D．wave

13.

A．instead of

B．other than

C．rather than

D．in addition to

14.

A．broke into

B．broke in

C．broke down

D．broke up

15.

A．obvious

B．vivid

C．outstanding

D．cheerful

2 . I'm not the type of person that enjoy going to the supermarket, but every now and again I do help out with the shopping. As I know, that's part of being in a team. The problem is that unlike my wife who only buys the necessities, I buy like there is going to be natural disaster and we are planning for no tomorrow.

One day, when 1 arrived at home, I carried every single bag from the car to the kitchen in one go. I should have known it would be unachievable but I thought the more I could do on this trip, the fewer trips I would have to make.

As a competitive person, I wanted to do everything in one trip because in my mind, it’s more productive. As you can imagine, it ended in disaster. Two of the bags ended up being crushed(压变形) with a loaf of bread and broken eggs inside.

It reminded me of my time as a head teacher. Every evening, my teachers would walk past my office on the way to the car park with their arms full of things, unable to even give a quick wave out of fear of dropping something.

Like most schools, it isn’t uncommon for my teachers to fit another day’s work in during the evening. In schools, we have this crazy idea that our performance is often measured by how many programs we can carry out, how long we are at school and what time we sit up working until.

Now, it’s too hard to say ‘no’ with the increasing pressure and expectation placed on us. But what I’m going to say is that unlike when I carried every single bag from the car in one hit, maybe we should be better off putting some things down and doing the job properly.

Whether you’re a head teacher or a classroom teacher, it’s a time reminder that we should pay attention to how effective we are, not how much we can do. Maybe I should have taken my own advice and my family would have been able to enjoy their eggs and bread.

1. In what way is the author different from his wife?

A．He loves shopping.	B．He buys a lot at a time.
C．He makes a good shopping plan.	D．He only goes to the supermarket.

2. Which of the following sentences is wrong according to Paragraphs 2 and 3?

A．The author is a competitive person.

B．The author’s family couldn’t enjoy the eggs and bread.

C．It is more productive to carry as many bags as possible in one go.

D．It is unwise of the author to carry as many bags as possible in one go.

3. What did the author find when he was a head teacher?

A．His teachers were too busy.	B．His teachers didn’t respect him.
C．His teachers performed very well.	D．His teachers were efficient at work.

4. What’s the author’s advice for educators?

A．Have dinner with their family	B．Do their work in a proper way.
C．Pay more attention to their students.	D．Devote themselves to what they can do.

3 . The pursuit of happiness

What is happiness?    1    However, most of us would probably agree that happiness is a feeling that life is good, that our surroundings are a bit brighter and more beautiful than usual, and that we’re in harmony with family and friends.

For our ancestors, being happy was not a priority(优先考虑的事情). While the concept of happiness has been around for thousands of years, for much of that time, humans were simply struggling to survive.    2    Today, though, most of us regard happiness as something we have a right to, and therefore something to be actively pursued(追求).

The increasing interest in the topic is being given extra weight by the realization that material wealth alone is not making us happier. In 1974, the US economist Richard Easterlin carried out some research on happiness.       3    Then economists and social scientists got to work trying to find out what---if not material wealth---makes us happy.

There is no final answer, but Richard Layard, a professor at the London School of Economics, suggests that our relationships, work satisfaction and mental health are more important for us as individuals than how much we earn.    4    

For individuals in search of a better life, the market for books on happiness is booming(繁荣). In 2018, three million self-help books were sold in the UK. Each book promises a great new life. But is there a book that looks at whether self-help books actually work?     5    It’s called Help Me!: How self-help has not changed my life.

A．Yes. There is!

B．They knew nothing about happiness.

C．Happiness can mean something different to each of us.

D．As societies, we are happier if there is social trust and freedom.

E．It was almost impossible for them to think about quality of life.

F．Of course, I found a lot of titles of self-help books in my local bookshop.

G．It showed that increased wealth did not seem to be making people happier.

4 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。

A man was caught and thrown into a pit (坑) of about “40 feet” deep. He struggled trying to get out of the pit,     1    the more he tried, the weaker his muscles became. He said to himself, “I don't know how    2    (get) myself out of this. Maybe I should just die instead of enduring these miserable struggles and pains.”

Just then, he heard a voice screaming, “Help! Help!! Help!!!” The shouts were coming from another pit,     3    was 10 feet more deeper than the one he was in. “Wow, so there is somebody else like me     4     (stick) here too,” He thought to himself.

Listening     5    (careful), he heard some cracking and sand dropping from     6    wall of the pit of the other victim. Immediately he summed up his courage and with his last bit of strength,     7    (start) crawling\little by little until he made it out of his pit.

When you go through pains, remember that there are people pain     8     (badly) off than you. Always say something sweet to yourself. Always smile at your pains. Try to     9     (courage) yourself. Look at yourself in the mirror, beat your chest and say, “I can make     10    and I can stand the test of time.”

5 . “You know, these cups bring to mind a tea quote I heard.” Mary’s aunt said.

She poured tea. There were four of them and there were four totally different cups on the table.

They took their tea cups.

“What quote?” Mary asked.

“Well, maybe I should rather say it is a story,” aunt said, “I heard that there was a wise teacher who took all his students for tea. They were surprised that all the cups on the table were different. Each of them took a cup and started drinking their tea, each looking at the cups of others. The teacher let them do that for a while and then said, ‘Do you notice your behavior? You are all looking at each other’s tea cup and I can see some of you with the broken ones are even envious(羡慕的) of the finer cups of others. Is this not so?’”

The students agreed, amused by their own behavior.

“You may have wondered why you all had different cups, but I put them here on purpose. You see they represent life itself. Life is like that tea and the cups are like the physical circumstances(状况) of your life. You all got the same thing in your cups — tea. And yet you can not truly enjoy it in your envy of another’s cup. It’s just the same with life. You forget to enjoy your own life when you concentrate on envying the circumstances of someone else’s life.

So now, close your eyes, and taste your own tea. Really taste it. And tell me — did it matter from which cup it came from?”

Aunt finished telling her short tea story and they all sat in silence for a while, tasting their tea. A sleepy fly buzzed(嗡嗡作响) past, a bird sang in the tree. And it really did not matter one bit from which tea cup they drank.

1. When the students found they had different tea cups, they_____________.

A．were satisfied with their own cup

B．were angry about the broken cups they had been given

C．asked the teacher to get new cups for them

D．were curious about the difference between the cups

2. According to the passage, by comparing the cups to the physical circumstances of people’s life, the teacher meant that people_______.

A．should try different ways of life

B．shouldn’t focus on envy others’ physical circumstances

C．can never change their physical circumstances

D．should work hard for a better life

3. In the passage the teacher’s message to the students was that _______.

A．life is hard and boring for everyone

B．it is strange to be envious of the lives of others

C．everyone should learn to enjoy his own life

D．people act differently in different circumstances

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

A．More than tea in a cup	B．The value of tea
C．Tea vs cup	D．Enjoying tea with a broken cup

6 . It was a day in late July, grey and depressing，with dark clouds ______ low. I was driving to Plymouth for a much-needed vacation. I traveled ______, hoping to get there and have dinner and a rest before evening came. Suddenly, on a lonely stretch of highway, a storm ______.       Pouring water shut me in, making driving impossible. I ______ onto the shoulder of the road and stopped.

Then, ______ someone had turned off a ______ in the sky, it ended. A thin ray, like a spray of gold，______ from the clouds. Every piece of grass was shining as the sun flashed on ______ drops. A rainbow ______ across the sky. It seemed as if the ______ had been there for me alone. I was ______ with awe and joy.

My friend Janet had a (an) ______ experience. She had walked out on a lonely beach ______. It was a time of ______ for her, and loneliness was what she wanted. Offshore ______ the darkening sea, she made out the ______ of an anchored fishing boat, and in it the figure of a man. After a while, she felt an intense and glowing sense of oneness with that silent figure. It was as if the sea, the sky, and those two solitary human beings were ______. I was   ______   with joy," she said.

Most of us have experienced such enlightened moments, ______ we seem to understand ourselves and the world. And almost anything can serve as the ______ of such a feeling： stars shining on new snow，or a sudden sight of a field of daffodils (水仙花)."

1.

A．lifting

B．hanging

C．climbing

D．passing

2.

A．slowly

B．nervously

C．quickly

D．energetically

3.

A．struck

B．arose

C．formed

D．exploded

4.

A．pulled out

B．pulled off

C．drove in

D．dropped by

5.

A．even though

B．after

C．once

D．as though

6.

A．tap

B．light

C．key

D．button

7.

A．spread

B．unfolded

C．soar

D．reflected

8.

A．bright

B．shrinking

C．thick

D．trembling

9.

A．moved

B．wound

C．arched

D．flew

10.

A．sighting

B．view

C．scenery

D．landscape

11.

A．powerless

B．fragile

C．sensitive

D．speechless

12.

A．contrary

B．similar

C．strange

D．familiar

13.

A．at sunrise

B．at noon

C．at sunset

D．at night

14.

A．grief

B．disappointment

C．annoyance

D．relief

15.

A．through

B．beyond

C．across

D．above

16.

A．sightseeing

B．scene

C．image

D．picture

17.

A．united

B．gathered

C．separated

D．related

18.

A．overlooked

B．filled

C．overcome

D．own

19.

A．that

B．where

C．which

D．when

20.

A．power

B．strength

C．pull

D．motivation

7 . Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time.

In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons，your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health；when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you；when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it，and when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.

Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor，you can also feel you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving(旋转的) door. When it does, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you will be a happy and lucky person.

1. Those who have big houses may often feel ________.

A．happy

B．lonely

C．free

D．excited

2. When you fall down in a PE class，both your teacher and your classmates will ________.

A．laugh at you	B．play jokes on you
C．quarrel with you	D．help you up

3. What will your friends say to you when you make great progress? ________

A．Oh，so do I.	B．Congratulations.
C．Good luck.	D．It’s just soso.

4. Which of the following is this passage about? ________

A．Bad luck.	B．Good luck.
C．Happiness.	D．Life.

8 . Lectures on happiness are becoming increasingly popular in Harvard University. I went to one of them, which left a lasting impression on me. While we were listening with close attention, the speaker suddenly stopped and started a game, giving each person a balloon. Each one was asked to write their name on it using a pen. Then the 100 students from 25 schools were divided into two groups.

Now the two groups were in different rooms with their balloons flying in it. The first group of 50 students were asked to find the balloon with their name on it within 5 minutes. Everyone was hurriedly searching for their own name, pushing and running into each other, and there was lots of noise. At the end of 5 minutes, none of them could find their own balloon.

The second half, on the other hand, was asked to randomly (随机地) collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

This is exactly happening in our lives. Everyone is hurriedly looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is. Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness, and you will get your own happiness. And this is the purpose of human life.

1. What happened to the first group?

A．None made any noise at all.	B．None found their balloon
C．Everyone found their friends.	D．Everyone helped one another.

2. How many students found their own balloons in the game?

A．5.

B．25.

C．50.

D．100.

3. According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?

A．Everyone pushed each other in the two groups.

B．Students in the game come from the same school.

C．Our happiness comes from the happiness of others.

D．Students learned nothing about happiness in the game.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Finding Happiness	B．Having Lectures
C．Collecting Balloons	D．Playing Games

9 . When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, a physician named Doctor Gibbs. He didn't look like any _________ I'd ever known. We often played in his yard. But he never _________ us for making a mess in his yard.

When Doctor Gibbs wasn't _________ lives, he was planting trees in his yard. He had some interesting _______ about planting trees. He _________ the principle "No pains, no gains". He _________ watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional（传统的）wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that _________ plants spoiled（宠坏）them because it made them grow _________. He said he had to make things _________ for the trees so that only the strongest could __________. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow __________ and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water. So, __________ watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled-up newspaper to help the trees build up __________.

After he died, I walked by his __________ and looked at the trees, which were all tall and strong. I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of __________ these trees meant they grew weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Hardship seemed to benefit Doctor Gibbs' trees in ways __________ and case never could exist.

Every night, before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But __________I've been thinking that it's time to change my __________. I know my children are going to __________ hardship. What I need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rain falls and the wind blows, they won't be __________.

1.

A．doctor

B．teacher

C．lawyer

D．farmer

2.

A．liked

B．admired

C．respected

D．blamed

3.

A．saving

B．losing

C．changing

D．shortening

4.

A．stories

B．theories

C．goals

D．projects

5.

A．took apart

B．worried about

C．believed in

D．made up

6.

A．briefly

B．hardly

C．enthusiastically

D．constantly

7.

A．watering

B．caring

C．drying

D．growing

8.

A．stronger

B．bigger

C．weaker

D．healthier

9.

A．easy

B．good

C．interesting

D．tough

10.

A．escape

B．survive

C．sleep

D．recover

11.

A．flowers

B．leaves

C．branches

D．roots

12.

A．because of

B．in addition to

C．instead of

D．thanks to

13.

A．kindness

B．love

C．strength

D．interest

14.

A．yard

B．hospital

C．garden

D．tomb

15.

A．planting

B．attending

C．processing

D．ruining

16.

A．comfort

B．freedom

C．happiness

D．wealth

17.

A．early

B．lately

C．previously

D．originally

18.

A．situation

B．result

C．design

D．prayer

19.

A．leave out

B．care about

C．long for

D．meet with

20.

A．turned down

B．torn apart

C．picked out

D．thought of

10 . As a young child, I lacked confidence, mainly because of my foot defect (缺陷). I was ______about it by being called penguin (企鹅). It made me feel left out (忽视，遗漏). It was not until I moved to a new place that a(n)______ happened in my life. This move was important ______ here I could have a fresh start.

My ______ life started when I met my best friend who was the reason I ______ social isolation (孤单) . He helped me by being a friend in______. Someone who you can trust will ______ when you come to them with a problem. Unfortunately, however hard I tried , I could not get rid of my humiliation (耻辱，屈辱). This is when I learned some things never change. I was ______ enough to have one friend to help me survive.

I came to ______ that I don't want others to feel ______ and left out. I started by becoming more easy－going and open. I ______ at people to show I was friendly. Finally, I not only helped people who were left out, but also helped myself by ______ more friends and grew more as a person. I ______ more when I finally accepted my name and defect for what they were.

This experience changed my view (态度，见解) on life. Life is to give everyone a ______ to overcome (克服). Everyone eventually (最终) has to ______ life as it is.

1.

A．curious

B．puzzled

C．amused

D．uncomfortable

2.

A．duty

B．change

C．effect

D．trouble

3.

A．before

B．until

C．because

D．when

4.

A．awful

B．strange

C．interesting

D．new

5.

A．satisfied

B．survived

C．developed

D．received

6.

A．need

B．pain

C．advance

D．danger

7.

A．wake

B．live

C．stay

D．understand

8.

A．lucky

B．disappointed

C．dull

D．talented

9.

A．research

B．realize

C．explore

D．demand

10.

A．helpful

B．lively

C．friendly

D．lonely

11.

A．stared

B．pointed

C．smiled

D．laughed

12.

A．hunting

B．making

C．treating

D．spreading

13.

A．followed

B．cleared

C．grew

D．held

14.

A．challenge

B．favor

C．test

D．threat

15.

A．replace

B．accept

C．resist

D．reward