1 . 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

2 . Imagine spending 1, 182 hours working hard and receiving no encouraging words. This was the situation I found myself in as I joined a new swim team with a Russian coach. As a long-time swimmer, I was used to receiving plentiful praises and ________ speeches from my coaches. However, after practicing for a few weeks, I noticed I did not hear any words like “you’re almost there”, “congratulations”, or “you’re doing great” that helped me through those hard practice. I received scoffs (嘲笑) when I was expecting ________ and praises. To me, Vladimir seemed like a ________ man.”

As I was trying to understand him through his heavy accent, I realized that Vladimir had been trained and ________ by the culture in Russia and that led to his different coaching style and unusually high ________. He spent over 1, 182 hours swimming, receiving no praises and was simply expected to ________. This method of coaching that seemed so foreign to me was from what he ________, leaving home at the age of twelve, and eventually winning an Olympic medal. I began to appreciate his ________ to give out praises. He had a much different idea on how best to coach and motivate swimmers. He did not feel the ________ to say compliments, since he believed one should be ________ without these praises.

It was the fact that he was so different from my previous coaches that made him ________. He forced me to really think about why I was swimming. I learned to swim not for ________ but to find the motivation. It became clear to me that the ________ of experiencing various coaching styles is that each one can bring out the best in me if I learn from these ________. Various training styles may be ________ to me at the start but can help me grow in many ways.

1.

A．typical

B．practical

C．positive

D．polite

2.

A．promises

B．instructions

C．smiles

D．surprises

3.

A．funny

B．cold

C．poor

D．brave

4.

A．replaced

B．judged

C．frightened

D．influenced

5.

A．profits

B．evaluations

C．expectations

D．scores

6.

A．perform

B．fail

C．listen

D．remember

7.

A．went through

B．gave up

C．earned out

D．kept on

8.

A．proposal

B．removal

C．refusal

D．approval

9.

A．possibility

B．need

C．duty

D．right

10.

A．advised

B．ignored

C．accepted

D．encouraged

11.

A．valuable

B．effective

C．reasonable

D．creative

12.

A．fame

B．prize

C．praise

D．power

13.

A．pleasure

B．risk

C．chance

D．benefit

14.

A．differences

B．lectures

C．mistakes

D．stories

15.

A．similar

B．uncomfortable

C．important             `

D．impossible

4 . Defeat can be a lot of things. Learning to accept defeat is a bitter pill to swallow, but the patience you store is so _______.

A few months out of _______, I was looking through the jobsite in the hope of finding my first job. By page three, I had applied to 7 jobs. By page eight, 34. I was _______ to take anything and everything. I just needed to have financial stability away from my _______, and prove to them two degrees were worth the extra fees.

Out of the 34 jobs I applied to, only four called me back for an interview. I _______ the interviews for early the week after. I was so excited to finally be given a chance to show my _______ and importance. I would say the interviews went swimmingly. I hit every question with a solid answer, and even made the interviewers _______ a little. They said they were impressed with my humor and would let me know the result after Thursday. Friday came, and I still had no _______, no emails.

After _______ all the places, they broke the news to me of how other people were more ________ or I wasn’t what they were looking for. I was shocked and confused. I thought I had it all ________ the door decided to slam (猛然关闭) in my face four times.

But my parents encouraged me to keep trying. ________ is letting your opponents win, even if you’ve already been defeated. I picked myself backup and ________ to look for jobs again. Eventually, one worked out well and I got my first job after what felt like a lifetime.

Forget about all the ________, and focus on what the positives could be. You never know what the right door is unless you keep ________.

1.

A．common

B．invaluable

C．typical

D．accurate

2.

A．college

B．work

C．action

D．shape

3.

A．ashamed

B．willing

C．grateful

D．surprised

4.

A．employers

B．classmates

C．relatives

D．parents

5.

A．postponed

B．set

C．applied

D．scheduled

6.

A．worth

B．dream

C．fantasy

D．opinion

7.

A．cry

B．change

C．laugh

D．hesitate

8.

A．tricks

B．blessings

C．calls

D．presents

9.

A．contacting

B．connecting

C．informing

D．searching

10.

A．satisfied

B．fitted

C．interested

D．gifted

11.

A．when

B．once

C．until

D．unless

12.

A．Giving out

B．Giving off

C．Giving away

D．Giving up

13.

A．determined

B．preferred

C．claimed

D．stopped

14.

A．wonders

B．negatives

C．restrictions

D．consequences

15.

A．praying

B．waiting

C．knocking

D．studying

5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。 续写的词数应为150左右。

As a father, I was always seeking for opportunities to teach my son how to balance risk with freedom.

Last month, I bought four little chicks. I decided to make a beautiful coop (鸡笼) for them.

In the next few weeks, I, together with my son Gordon, spent all our spare time in the garage. Finally, the coop was finished.

While admiring his well-made handwork, Gordon suddenly raised his head and asked,

“Dad, shall we lock the chicks in the coop all the time? I am afraid they will be attacked by some fierce animals or become someone’s chicken soup?” Seeing his anxious look, I cracked a smile and asked, “Do you want to be trapped in a limited room or have the freedom to get around?” Hesitant for a while, he murmured, “Freedom, of course.” “Chicks will also think so.” Therefore, our chicks were often seen chasing around in the lawns (草坪), digging for bugs in the bushes and laying eggs in the yard.

Yesterday, we needed to go downtown to shop for food supply after lunch. Knowing that the chicks wouldn’t go very far, we left home with them running around the lawn. When we got back, the first thing Gordon did was to check on his chicks. There were only three chicks in the yard. Their feathers were no longer fair and smooth but dirty and tangled (乱糟糟的). Hearing our steps, they jumped to their feet and scattered in all directions, seeming to have just experienced a terrifying disaster. Worse still, Pecky, Gordon’s favourite chick was nowhere to be found.

We searched the yard inch by inch and found some feathers littering the yard. Seeing this, Gordon’s eyes got watery. I picked Gordon up and comforted him. As we began to accept the fact that we were now a three-chick family, we heard it---a soft clucking (咯咯声) sound under a bush.

Para 1: I put Gordon down and we looked under the bush.

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Para 2: The next day Gordon offered to have a talk with me.

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