1 . “Sating from now on, to be healthy, I will NOT eat any snacks besides granola bars (燕麦棒),” is what I told myself yesterday, and yet here I am today chewing a Chocopie. I’m aware that I’m breaking my own promise to myself. Instead of eating this, I should be working out or something. But the thing is, chocolate is too good at this moment for me to refuse it!
As I type this, I’m experiencing what’s called instant gratification — the desire to experience pleasure or fulfillment without delaying it for a future benefit. Essentially, when you want it, you get it.
Instant gratification is also the exact opposite of what we’re taught to do-delayed gratification: deciding to put off satisfying our current want to gain something better in the future. We’ve all encountered instant gratification before. Should I sleep in or wake up early to work out? When I get home, should I rest and watch TV first or get started on my homework?
All humans have the tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain, which is a basic but fundamental concept known as the pleasure principle. Originally coined by Sigmund Freud, it clearly states that all humans are driven, to some extent, by pleasure.
Constantly seeking quick pleasure may bring subsequent troubles. However pleasant not doing your homework may seem pleasant right now, it only results in pleasure plagued by guilt and last-minute panicking late at night. An inability to resist instant gratification may result in underachieving in the long term and failure to meet certain goals.
Instant gratification, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t always have to say no to things you want at that moment, and it’s good to treat yourself when you need it. In other words, times where you “treat yourself” are only valuable in combination with delayed gratification. While my Chocopie may taste good now, it’ll taste even better if I only eat it after I’ve worked out or done something healthy.
1. How does the author introduce the topic?| A．By making a contrast. | B．By giving a definition. |
| C．By citing a personal case. | D．By listing detailed problems. |
| A．Purchasing items regardless of budgets. | B．Exercising regularly for long-term health. |
| C．Limiting time on social media platforms. | D．Finishing homework before watching TV. |
| A．Reminded. | B．Highlighted. | C．Introduced. | D．Bothered. |
| A．Delayed gratification is pointless. |
| B．Instant gratification should be prioritized. |
| C．Enjoying the moment brings in endless pleasure. |
| D．Instant treats paired with delayed gratification are sweeter. |
2 . My first shopping in a general store was in Miss Bee’s when I spent the summer with my grandmother in New York.
“Go get them yourself” Miss Bee said, ignoring the shopping list held up before her nose. “I’m not your servant, so just get yourself a basket from that pile over there and start filing.”
It took me three wall-to-wall searches before I found the first item on my list — a pork can be placed between boxes of cereal and bread. Next up was toilet paper, found under the daily newspaper, and Band-Ads, found next to the face cream. The store was a puzzle, but it held some surprises too. I found a new Superman comic behind the peanut butter.
I visited Miss Bee a couple of times a week that summer. Sometimes she short-charged me. Other times she overcharged or sold me an old newspaper instead of a current one. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I left my Grandma’s house armed with my list — memorized to the letter — and marched into Miss Bee’s like General Patton (巴顿将军) marching into North Africa.
All summer long she found ways to trip me up. No sooner had I learned how to pronounce bicarbonate of soda (小苏打) and memorized its location on the shelf than Miss Bee rearranged the shelves and made me hunt for it all over again. By summer’s end, however, the shopping trip that had once taken me an hour was done in 15 minutes.
The morning I was to return to Brooklyn, I stopped in to tell her that she was mean. To my amazement, she laughed and said. “Well, I don’t care! Each of us is put on this earth for a reason. I believe my job is to teach every child I meet some life lessons to help them. Think what you will, but when you get older you’ll be glad our paths crossed!”
1. Why did the writer spend a long time doing her first shopping in the general store?| A．She was too young to remember all the items on the list. |
| B．Miss Bee didn’t treat her kindly. |
| C．Her grandmother asked her to buy too many things. |
| D．The store was in disorder and she was not familiar with the shop. |
| A．She was well prepared and full of confidence. |
| B．Going shopping in the store was a challenge to her. |
| C．She was very aggressive, taking Miss Bee as the enemy. |
| D．Going shopping was so fun that it was like playing a war game. |
| A．The writer would benefit from the experience of shopping in Miss Bee’s. |
| B．The writer would find shopping in Miss Bee’s store very interesting. |
| C．The writer would be happy to meet Miss Bee again later in life. |
| D．The writer would realize that Miss Bee could become her friend. |
| A．Mean. | B．Careless. | C．Helpful. | D．Humorous. |
“A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.” — J. Burroughs
内容包括：
1. 你对该名言的理解；
2. 个人或他人的例子；
3. 你的感悟。
注意：
1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
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4 . After years of observing human nature, I have decided that two qualities make the difference between men of great achievement and men of average performance curiosity and discontent. I have never known an outstanding man who lacked either. And I have never known an average man who had both. The two belong together.
Together, these deep human urges (驱策力) count for much more that ambition. Galileo was not merely ambitious when he dropped objects of varying weights from the Leaning Tower at Pisa and timed their fall to the ground. Like Galileo, all the great names in history were curious and asked in discontent,“Why? Why? Why?”
Fortunately, curiosity and discontent don’t have to be learned. We are born with them and need only recapture them.
“The great man,” said Mencius (孟子), “is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” Yet most of us do lose it. We stop asking questions. We stop challenging custom. We just follow the crowd. And the crowd desires restful average. It encourages us to occupy our own little corner, to avoid foolish leaps into the dark, to be satisfied.
Most of us meet new people, and new ideas, with hesitation. But once having met and liked them, we think how terrible it would have been, had we missed the chance. We will probably have to force ourselves to waken our curiosity and discontent and keep them awake.
How should you start? Modestly, so as not to become discouraged. I think of one friend who couldn’t arrange flowers to satisfy herself. She was curious about how the experts did it. How she is one of the experts, writing books on flower arrangement.
One way to begin is to answer your own excuses. You haven’t any special ability? Most people don’t; there are only a few geniuses. You haven’t any time? That’s good, because it’s always the people with no time who get things done. Harriet Stowe, mother of six, wrote parts of Uncle Tom’s Cabin while cooking. You’re too old? Remember that Thomas Costain was 57 when he published his first novel, and that Grandma Moses showed her first pictures when she was 78.
However you start, remember there is no better time to start than right now, for you’ll never be more alive than you are at this moment.
1. In writing Paragraph 1, the author aims to ______.| A．propose a definition | B．present an argument |
| C．reach a conclusion | D．make a comparison |
| A．Trial and error leads to the finding of truth. | B．Greatness comes from a lasting desire to explore. |
| C．Creativity results from challenging authority. | D．Scientists tend to be curious and ambitious. |
| A．Observe the unknown around you. | B．Follow the fashion. |
| C．Lead a life of adventure. | D．Develop a questioning mind. |
| A．Lack of talent and time is no reason for taking no action. |
| B．The genius tends to get things done creatively. |
| C．Gaining success helps you become an expert |
| D．You should remain modest when approaching perfection. |
5 . I remember as a young child bringing a bunch of brilliant yellow flowers to my mother. It didn’t matter that the stems felt sticky or that both my parents cursed the presence of these flowers in the lawn. I thought they were beautiful!
And there were so many of them! We spent hours picking the flowers and then popping the blossoms off with a snap of our fingers. But the supply of dandelions (蒲公英) never ran out. My father or brothers would chop off all the heads with the lawnmower at least once a week, but that didn’t stop these hardy wonders.
And for those flowers that escaped the honor of being hand-delivered to my mother or the sharp blades of the lawnmower, there was another level of existence. The soft roundness of a dandelion gone to seed caused endless laughter of delight as we unconsciously spread this flower across the yard.
As I worked in my garden last week, pulling unwanted weeds out of the space that would become a haven for tomatoes, corn, peas and sunflowers, I again marveled at the flower that some call a weed.
And I thought, if only I had the staying power of a dandelion. If only I could stretch my roots so deep and straight that something tugging on my stem couldn’t separate me completely from the source that feeds me life. If only I could come back to face the world with a bright, sunshiny face after someone has run me over with a lawnmower or worse, purposely attacked me in an attempt to destroy me. If only I could spread love and encouragement as freely and fully as this flower spreads seeds of itself.
The lawns at my parents’ home are now beautiful green blankets. The only patches of color come from well-placed, well-controlled flowerbeds. Chemicals have managed to kill what human interference couldn’t. Still, I hope you and I can be different. I hope that we can stretch our roots deep enough that the strongest poison can’t reach our souls. I hope that we can overcome the poisons of anger, fear, hate, criticism and competitiveness.
1. The author’s parents probably viewed the dandelions in the lawn as ________.| A．unwanted weeds | B．hard y wonders | C．supplies of seeds | D．patches of colors |
| A．The flowers were meant as a joyful gift to her mother. |
| B．The flowers that some called a weed were difficult to pull out. |
| C．The flowers were tough enough to spread new lives themselves. |
| D．The flowers evolved into a stronger species because of frequent mowing. |
| A．The author’s family enjoyed the dandelions as much as she did. |
| B．The author purposefully replaced some dandelions with crops. |
| C．The dandelions were never successfully removed from the lawn. |
| D．The author felt sorry but encouraged by the fate of the dandelions. |
| A．You reap what you sow. |
| B．Never judge a book by its cover. |
| C．United we stand, and divided we fall. |
| D．Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine. |
6 . A few days before my high school ended, I was sitting in my English class. My classmates were talking about who would be the first person to shed tears at
High school isn’t for everyone, but there is something for everyone in high school. You just have to
But there were a lot of times when I felt
My biggest
| A．school | B．graduation | C．break | D．random |
| A．cry | B．lie | C．sing | D．sigh |
| A．proposal | B．option | C．possibility | D．thought |
| A．meant | B．replied | C．reacted | D．faded |
| A．bring | B．figure | C．cross | D．carry |
| A．anxiously | B．bravely | C．luckily | D．initially |
| A．organization | B．impression | C．voice | D．discovery |
| A．benefit | B．chance | C．challenge | D．purpose |
| A．objectives | B．principles | C．concerns | D．updates |
| A．disturbed | B．sheltered | C．alarmed | D．inspired |
| A．applauding | B．searching | C．fighting | D．longing |
| A．counted down | B．went through | C．set aside | D．put off |
| A．promise | B．assume | C．pray | D．realize |
| A．support | B．advice | C．rule | D．warning |
| A．account | B．notice | C．control | D．advantage |
7 . At eleven, I decided to learn to swim. There was a pool at the YMCA offering exactly the opportunity. My mother always warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But the YMCA pool was safe.
I had a childhood fear of water. This started when I was three years old and my father took me to the beach. The huge waves knocked me down and swept over me.
The pool was quiet. I was afraid of going in all alone, so I sat on one side of the pool to wait for others. Then came a big boy. He yelled, “Hi, how’d you like to in the water?” With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end. I landed in a sitting position, and swallowed water. But I was not frightened out of my wits — when my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump to come out of the surface. It seemed a long way down. I gathered all my strength when I landed and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. Then I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water. I tried to yell but no sound came out. I went down, down, endlessly.
When I came to consciousness, I found myself lying on the bed in the hospital.
I never went back to the pool. I avoided water whenever I could. This misadventure stayed with me as the years rolled by. It deprived (剥夺) me of the joy of boating and swimming. Finally, I decided to get an instructor. Piece by piece, he built a swimmer. Several months later, the instructor was finished, but I was not. Sometimes the terror would return.
This went on until July. I swam across the Lake Wentworth. Only once did the terror return. When I was in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw nothing but bottomless water. I laughed and said, “Well, Mr. Terror, what do you think you can do to me?”
I had overcome my fear of water.
1. The author’s original fear of water was caused by ______.| A．his poor skill in swimming | B．his mother’s warning of drowning |
| C．an outing to the beach with his father | D．an unpleasant memory of the pool |
| A．He knew how to swim in the pool. | B．He felt that the YMCA pool was safe. |
| C．He was waiting for others to save him. | D．He came up with an idea to go upwards. |
| A．he was still a poor swimmer |
| B．he had not overcome the fear yet |
| C．he was not afraid of drowning any more |
| D．he was not satisfied with the swimming training |
| A．It is important to face our fears head-on. |
| B．It is better to avoid situations that cause fear. |
| C．It is impossible to overcome deep-seated fears. |
| D．It is best to rely on others to help us overcome fear. |
When we were finally dismissed from the last class of the day, the students streamed out of the classrooms. It was another boring day after school. I dragged my feet home as I sighed. Yet another uneventful day, I thought. Little did I know that the day would take a turn for the worse.
The lift lobby (电梯间) of my flat was old and dirty. The walls, which were painted white, had been dirtied over many years. I reached my flat’s lobby, and pressed the lift button and went in. Just then, Mrs Lim, my elderly neighbour, hobbled (蹒跚) in. She looked ancient with tissue paper white hair, wearing a faded old-fashioned dress. I held the lift door open, flashing a friendly smile, and politely greeted her. I asked her how she felt that day and pressed the buttons. She thanked me for being so polite, then we were silent for the rest of the ride.
The lift fell down increasingly fast. There were loud clanking sounds here and there while the lift grew slower and slower. My heart beat hard and fast as my hands turned cold and wet with sweat. Unfortunately, the lift came to an abrupt stop at the fifth floor. I pressed the buttons hard several times, but it was of no help. The lights on the buttons had gone out. It soon dawned on me that we were trapped. An icy fear crept up my spine. Mrs Lim was hysterical (歇斯底里).
“We will never get out!” she cried with her face pale. It had become a colourless mask. I had no time to lose. I pressed the bell in the lift immediately. The sound was surely deafening, but what other choice did I have? Mrs Lim burst into tears. I tried my very best to comfort her, telling her that everything would be all right and that we needed to find out how to get out safely. Mrs Lim began having trouble breathing, and I immediately helped her sit down and loosened her collar.
Paragraph 1: Several minutes passed, but no help came.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Bang! My hopes were lifted when I heard the firefighters on the other side of the lift door.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9 . One early Saturday morning, I was enjoying my coffee and reading the newspaper alone when I heard an old voice from the radio.
“Well, Tom, sounds you’re busy with your job. But it’s a
“You see, I did a little
“So I visited three toy stores,
“By watching the marbles decrease, I
……
He gave us all a lot to think about. However busy we were, we should spare time to stay with our family. I had
| A．pity | B．pride | C．must | D．disaster |
| A．delayed | B．avoided | C．missed | D．prevented |
| A．track | B．update | C．revive | D．rate |
| A．research | B．evaluation | C．maths | D．experiment |
| A．in particular | B．on average | C．on purpose | D．in all |
| A．cheerful | B．regretful | C．confused | D．satisfied |
| A．yet | B．still | C．even | D．only |
| A．rounded up | B．fixed up | C．sold out | D．played with |
| A．thrown | B．given | C．sent | D．driven |
| A．based | B．reflected | C．spent | D．focused |
| A．flash back | B．run out | C．stop | D．drag |
| A．straight | B．complete | C．reasonable | D．personal |
| A．longed | B．remembered | C．intended | D．pretended |
| A．Furthermore | B．Instead | C．Anyway | D．Thus |
| A．coffee | B．newspapers | C．containers | D．marbles |
10 . As a teacher for a decade, I find that college kids want to carve their routes and live out their journeys. But so many of them don’t know what they want to do—what major to choose? What career to pursue? What topic to write their papers on? More importantly, they wonder why any of these things really matters.
One of the best books I have read is Dr. Meg Jay’s The Defining Decade. Basically, Dr. Meg Jay explains one’s 20s have an enormous effect across years and even generations to come, in terms of careers, families, friends, and relationships. She states that our brain completes the second and last growth peak in our 20s as it rewires itself for true adulthood.
From the time we are in primary school, people ask us what we want to be when we grow up. I once asked my friend’s eight-year-old the question and she said, “I’m just a kid; I have no way of knowing what I want to be when I’m an adult.” Maybe the questions should be: What means something to you? What makes you happy? What do you care about regardless of any rewards? This train of thought may benefit all.
In a world of easy access, today’s students can find everything they need after a few clicks on the Internet. Sure, that’s great, quick and convenient. But there is something important missed in the hunt persistence(坚持), patience, and concentration. So I’m grateful that when I was in college, I still had to visit the library to find the resources I needed to write a research paper. During this process, I reflected on what truly made me happy and what I genuinely cared about.
My friend Brandon recently told me that he often woke up in the early morning and realized things he cared about were not what he devoted his life to, because he took the way that others considered good when he was in his 20s, instead of the way that was right for him. What you want to be when you grow up is something that may change throughout your life, but it’s likely that your passion and motivation will always come along.
1. What idea does Dr. Meg Jay express in her book?| A．One’s twenties matter a great deal in one’s life. |
| B．The brain is in its most active stage in our 20s. |
| C．One’s career choice affects their family members. |
| D．The old have a long-time influence on the young. |
| A．To help people find out what they truly love. |
| B．To call on people to make plans for the future. |
| C．To encourage people to have a positive attitude. |
| D．To warn people to learn life skills at an early age. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Optimistic. | C．Objective. | D．Uncaring. |
| A．Laziness in youth spells regret in old age. |
| B．Our dreams keep changing throughout life. |
| C．Our life journey is always full of uncertainties. |
| D．We should follow our heart and live a full life. |
