1 . These days, many young people wonder if they would be better served by striking out on their own than pursuing a college education. In this rapidly evolving digital era, narratives of overnight success and entrepreneurial glory have flooded our social media feeds, fascinating the digital natives of Gen Z into questioning the worth of an expensive traditional college degree.
Contrary to popular belief, successful entrepreneurship is rarely seen among the young. Recent research suggests that the average age in the U. S. of founders when they launched their companies is 42, rising to 45 for those within the top 0.1% of earnings based on growth in their first five years. That’s even the case for high-tech startups. Indeed, successful entrepreneurship is frequently the result of years of learning, experimenting and risk-taking—traits cultivated over time.
Campuses create environments rich in intellectual diversity and foster cooperation among their inhabitants, promoting an entrepreneurial mindset. They encourage students to challenge established norms and develop their unique thinking patterns to create value — practices that are also key to entrepreneurial success. Thus, higher education is not just about attaining a degree; it’s more importantly about acquiring the skills and experiences that inspire and enable the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
But some may doubt since formal entrepreneurship itself isn’t typically a course of study, are all college majors capable of instilling entrepreneurial skills? Let’s examine the arts majors, which are often subjected to the most suspicion concerning their career paths. Consider a theater major. That curriculum often includes entrepreneurship-focused capabilities beyond stage direction, lighting, sound systems and performance. Students learn to mobilize resources, lead creative teams and navigate the uncertainties of a theatrical production — skills that are readily transferable to launching any entrepreneurial business.
Like a compass for the future, entrepreneurship guides us toward a society that prizes critical thinking, nurtures intellectual curiosity and champions innovation. Let’s not get swept away by short-lived trends or misleading narratives. Instead, we should appreciate the enduring value of college education.
1. What do the figures in paragraph 2 indicate?| A．The chance of success multiplies with age. | B．Young people dominate high-tech startups. |
| C．Quite a number of enterprises are in the red. | D．Successful entrepreneurship isn’t built in a day. |
| A．Sticking to one’s own principles. | B．Acquiring knowledge from textbooks. |
| C．Developing a startup mentality. | D．Following established norms and traditions. |
| A．To illustrate it is complex and demanding. |
| B．To prove people’s suspicion is reasonable. |
| C．To show entrepreneurial skills can be integrated into all majors. |
| D．To stress it is the launchpad for successful entrepreneurship. |
| A．Arts. | B．Insights. | C．Entertainment. | D．News. |
2 . Even when you have confidence in yourself, your goals will sometimes seem out of reach. When that happens, get hold of the people who
When I was younger, I
Early in my
Even now, I
| A．refer to | B．depend on | C．learn from | D．believe in |
| A．quit | B．struggled | C．regretted | D．argued |
| A．responsibilities | B．dreams | C．opportunities | D．doubts |
| A．stopped | B．admitted | C．allowed | D．considered |
| A．tracked | B．recommended | C．accompanied | D．encouraged |
| A．serious | B．possible | C．hard | D．necessary |
| A．request | B．unwillingness | C．inability | D．attempt |
| A．difficulties | B．options | C．aims | D．standards |
| A．career | B．experiment | C．business | D．recovery |
| A．foolishly | B．simply | C．wisely | D．bravely |
| A．original | B．familiar | C．typical | D．positive |
| A．looking into | B．taking down | C．dealing with | D．pointing out |
| A．introduce | B．remind | C．guarantee | D．warn |
| A．experience | B．describe | C．compare | D．limit |
| A．probably | B．fortunately | C．obviously | D．importantly |
Thank You, Mr. Baumgartner
If I hadn’t been a failed violinist, I might never have become a writer.
When I was in fourth grade, the public school I attended had an orchestra (管弦乐) program. I signed up to learn the violin, along with my friend Irene Cervantes. We were both interested in the violin and the bright future of being in the orchestra. Every week, Irene and I walked together through our working-class neighborhood to our before-school music lessons, proudly holding our black violin cases.
Mr. Baumgartner, the orchestra teacher, was very strict. He emphasized that if anything happened to the instrument we played we’d be cut from the program because the school could not afford to replace it. We all understood.
I wasn’t very good at the violin. Then the scary thing happened: I was practicing at home when the bridge dropped off my violin and flew across the room, the strings collapsing (塌陷) before my eyes.
Terrified of Mr. Baumgartner’s reaction, and having no idea that this was a common violinist’s mistake, I tried to fix it. I slipped into the garage and secured the bridge back in place with an unfamiliar glue, making sure it would never, never, drop off again. I prayed that Mr. Baumgartner wouldn’t notice.
Of course, he did. Sadly, he patted me on the back and told me that maybe I could join the orchestra next year. When I cried, he suggested that I join a chorus (合唱团).
I did switch to the chorus, where I stayed. As luck would have it, the elementary school orchestra automatically fed into the junior high chorus — which performed with the All City Honor Orchestra on New Year’s Eve, where Irene Cervantes was now the first-chair violinist.
After the performance, my English teacher, who was the advisor for the school newspaper, asked if anyone was a member of the chorus and would be interested in writing an article for the school newspaper about the experience. Something inside me made me raise my hand. I loved reading, but the idea of writing anything had never occurred to me until then.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I wrote the article.
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I saw Irene Cervantes years later at a high school reunion.
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4 . In all one’s lifetime it is oneself that one spends the most time being with or dealing with. But it is
To get a thorough understanding of oneself is to gain a correct view of oneself and be a realist-aware of both one’s strengths and shortages. You may
To get a thorough understanding of oneself needs self-appreciation. Whether you think you are a towering tree or a blade of grass, a high mountain or a small stone, you
To get a thorough understanding of oneself also requires doing oneself a favor when it’s needed. In time of anger, do yourself a favor by giving an
In a word, to get a thorough understanding of oneself is to get a full
| A．permanently | B．previously | C．precisely | D．probably |
| A．reach | B．touch | C．range | D．control |
| A．look up | B．look back | C．look forward | D．look down |
| A．expect | B．anticipate | C．inspect | D．dream |
| A．honest | B．comprehensive | C．courageous | D．delicate |
| A．what | B．which | C．how | D．where |
| A．symbolize | B．demonstrate | C．assure | D．represent |
| A．eagerly | B．earnestly | C．desperately | D．gratefully |
| A．As much as | B．As soon as | C．As far as | D．As well as |
| A．advised | B．devoted | C．enabled | D．committed |
| A．outlet | B．excuse | C．criterion | D．solution |
| A．Unless | B．Once | C．Since | D．If |
| A．reject | B．restore | C．recover | D．resist |
| A．expected | B．exposed | C．experienced | D．exported |
| A．credit | B．control | C．power | D．grace |
5 . It was decades ago now, but it’s still one of the most memorable conversations of my life. On a long, slow train heading north, with nothing to do but watch the rain, the man sitting opposite began trying to talk to me. Like most young women who have learned the hard way to be careful of strangers, I was unfriendly. But curiosity took over when he said that he was just bored, and liked talking.
So that’s what we did for hours and hours as the man turned out to be quite talkative. When the train finally pulled in, we didn’t change numbers. However, I still think about it sometimes on long, boring journeys, before getting a phone out and scrolling silently like everyone else. It’s a rare person who can cheerfully break the social rule about not talking to strangers without any ill intention, but life would be more interesting if more of us knew how to do it.
And that’s why I can’t be as cynical as I probably should be about “Tube Chat” campaign launched to encourage Britons to talk to each other. All anyone is being asked to do is to start a conversation they wouldn’t otherwise have had — maybe with a friend from whom they’ve been apart or a neighbor they don’t know.
Obviously, it takes more than a bit of small talk over garden fences to unite strangers together. More people live alone than did so a generation ago, and the rise in freelancing (自由职业) means more of us work alone too. We socialize increasingly through screens, sending texts instead of bothering to call.
It’s true that the “Tube Chat” campaign of a few years back failed in its attempts to make Londoners talk to each other on public transport. But even city people who would normally die rather than make eye contact with strangers still happily gather in large numbers by the Thames for the New Year’s Eve fireworks. They would get a far better view at home on television — it’s not really about the fireworks, but about being part of something communal (公共的).
There’s no guarantee (保证) that this latest campaign to reconnect will succeed wherever others have failed. But if there ever a moment to stop social disbelief it may start a fire to warm a world that sometimes feels cold. Wherever my train friend is now, I hope he’s still talking.
1. The author introduced her train friend to .| A．share her most memorable but boring journey |
| B．express her deep regret for losing touch with him |
| C．show that talking to strangers can add interest to life |
| D．explain why people are becoming indifferent |
| A．doubtful | B．supportive | C．confused | D．disappointed |
| A．“Tube Chat”, failed in its attempts to unite strangers together |
| B．it’s hard to break the social rule about not talking to strangers |
| C．people have a wish to be socially connected by nature |
| D．“Tube Chat” made some difference to reconnecting people |
| A．Keep our desire to connect. | B．Avoid talking to strangers. |
| C．Show respect for social disbelief | D．Socialize with our friends. |
6 . 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. Some times 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 into tell her that she was mean (刻薄的). 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 ten life lessons to help them. Think what you will, but when you get older you’ll be glad our paths crossed!”
I thought the idea was absurd until one day my daughter came to me with homework troubles.
“It’s too hard,” she said. “Could you finish my math problems for me?”
“If I do it for you, how will you ever learn to do it yourself?” I said.
Suddenly, I was back at that general store where I had learned the hard way totally up (结算) my bill along with the cashier. As my daughter went back to her homework, I wondered: Had Miss Bee really taught me something all those years ago? I took out some scrap paper and started writing.
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．Don’t be so quick to judge other people |
| B．The best teacher isn’t only in school |
| C．Stick to your dream whatever happens |
| D．Things can be learned in daily routines |
7 . The curb cut (下斜路缘). It’s a convenience that most of us rarely, if ever, notice. Yet, without it, daily life might be a lot harder—in more ways than one. Pushing a baby stroller onto the curb, skateboarding onto a sidewalk or taking a full grocery cart from the sidewalk to your car—all these tasks are easier because of the curb cut.
But it was created with a different purpose in mind.
It’s hard to imagine today, but back in the 1970s, most sidewalks in the United States ended with a sharp drop-off. That was a big deal for people in wheelchairs because there were no ramps (斜坡) to help them move along city blocks without assistance. According to one disability rights leader, a six-inch curb “might as well have been Mount Everest”. So, activists from Berkeley, California, who also needed wheelchairs, organized a campaign to create tiny ramps at intersections to help people dependent on wheels move up and down curbs independently.
I think about the “curb cut effect” a lot when working on issues around health equity (公平). The first time I even heard about the curb cut was in a 2017 Stanford Social Innovation Review piece by PolicyLink CEO Angela Blackwell. Blackwell rightly noted that many people see equity “as a zero-sum game.” Basically, that there is a “prejudiced societal suspicion that intentionally supporting one group hurts another.” What the curb cut effect shows though, Blackwell said, is that “when society creates the circumstances that allow those who have been left behind to participate and contribute fully, everyone wins.”
There are multiple examples of this principle at work. For example, investing in policies that create more living-wage jobs or increase the availability of affordable housing certainly benefits people in communities that have limited options. But, the action also empowers those people with opportunities for better health and the means to become contributing members of society—and that benefits everyone. Even the football huddle (围成一团以秘密商讨) was initially created to help deaf football players at Gallaudet College keep their game plans secret from opponents who could have read their sign language. Today, it’s used by every team to shield the opponent from learning about game-winning strategies.
So, next time you cross the street, or roll your suitcase through a crosswalk or ride your bike directly onto a sidewalk—think about how much the curb cut, that change in design that broke down walls of exclusion for one group of people at a disadvantage, has helped not just that group, but all of us.
1. By “might as well have been Mount Everest” (paragraph 3), the disability rights leader implies that a six-inch curb may become ________.| A．as famous as the world’s highest mountain |
| B．an almost impassable barrier |
| C．a connection between people |
| D．a most unforgettable matter |
| A．it’s fair to give the disadvantaged more help than others |
| B．it’s impossible to have everyone be treated equally |
| C．it’s necessary to go all out to help the disabled |
| D．it’s not worthwhile to promote health equity |
| A．Spaceflight designs are applied to life on earth. |
| B．Four great inventions of China spread to the west. |
| C．Christopher Columbus discovered the new world. |
| D．Classic literature got translated into many languages. |
| A．Everyday items are originally invented for people with disabilities. |
| B．Everyone in a society should pursue what is in his or her interest. |
| C．A disability rights leader changed the life of his fellow men. |
| D．Caring for disadvantaged groups may finally benefit all. |
8 . Somebody gave me an award! In my entire life, I have only ever received one award: in 2000, I was named Most Helpful by my university drama society.
This time, however, I won an actual award! Admittedly, there was no big awards ceremony. just an email and a social media post. But, nevertheless, it’s given me a glow of pride. Somebody acknowledged my achievements!
The problem is that society seems to favor youth. There are a million ‘30 under 30’ lists which I was never on, and yet it was only last year that the magazine Forbes launched its ‘50 over 50’ list. But while I don’t want to take those awards away from the kids, 1 know if someone had declared me an ‘up-and-coming’ anything at 30, I’d have been as terrified as I was delighted; so much to live up to. Now, however, I am grabbing that award and shouting: “At last, the recognition I deserve!”, because I know how much work I’ve put in, and I’m not about to let anyone lessen that.
If I was to list the advantages of getting older, then the ability to recognize my accomplishments and to be proud of them would be at the very top. Heard too many times, it’s boring to say that we women put ourselves down, but too often we push away praise, rather than taking it up like the cat who got the cream. For most of us, praise is not a daily gift. So, when it comes, we need to allow ourselves to receive it. And if no one else is giving it to us, we need to give it to ourselves.
It works the other way, too. My new favourite hobby is writing emails to the head offices of restaurants and shops, to tell them how lovely their staff are. It makes me feel good, and I hope it does them, too.
A friend once told me about a self-development course she’d been on where participants had to shout ‘I apprise of my decision!’, and then high-five themselves. I put this ritual into my daily life. Now, I am done. And, then, I’m writing myself an email of praise. Because, like that award, I deserve it.
1. What made the author feel proud of getting the award this time?| A．The big awards ceremony. |
| B．The social media post. |
| C．The second award after her graduation. |
| D．The recognition of her achievements. |
| A．Society presents unfairness to youth. |
| B．Her years-long effort pays off eventually. |
| C．She is confident enough to be superior to kids. |
| D．She is too scared to live up to others’ expectations. |
| A．Practice. |
| B．Course. |
| C．Hobby. |
| D．Need. |
| A．Being content with their own life. |
| B．Being appreciative of themselves. |
| C．Being generous to their lovely staff. |
| D．Being modest about their achievements. |
I first became conscious of my body image last year in fifth grade. One day I was walking by my mirror getting ready for bed and I noticed that my stomach looked big. I started to really hate that and think I was fat even though my family always told me how skinny I was. It wasn’t only my stomach—I started to think my nose was ugly and that my laugh was disgusting. I was even afraid to laugh or smile in public.
Then, in the sixth grade, a popular guy in my class named Luke made it worse. He told his table group that my body looked swollen in skinny jeans. I heard about it from someone else, but then Luke even told me to my face! I couldn’t stop thinking about what Luke had said. Even worse, I started to believe it was true, and I hid my skinny jeans all the way at the bottom of my drawer.
I know I cared too much about what other people said and thought about me. I guess I just wanted to be liked. In fact, I really wish I could have just brushed off comments like that, but I couldn’t change my personality and what I care about that easily.
Luke’s mean comment affected me in a big way. I lost confidence in more than just my body—I started to think that I didn’t matter and that I didn’t have a place in the world. To make it worse, some people also started telling me that I was not meant to be an author, which is what I really want to be. That especially hurt and I started to feel really sad all the time.
I hadn’t really told anyone how I’d been feeling until a couple of months ago when I got a call from my cousin. I’m really close to her, and hearing her voice and laugh made me feel so good inside. I thought about how I used to be that way too, and how I was so sick of feeling sad.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Then I started telling her and it all came out.
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When I went back to my bedroom, I looked at myself in the mirror for a long time.
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I had never noticed her. She was not the kind of girl who could draw attention. She was not tall and just plain. In class, she liked sitting at the back, reading or taking notes. It was once I asked her to read aloud the text that I looked at her with new eyes when I heard her standard American pronunciation. Later on, the National College English Speech Contest would be held. I thought it over and filled in her name with a smile. I red-penciled her draft of speech, corrected her pronunciation, and even adjusted her body language.
However, I was always kind of worried because she was too introvert(内向的)and too quiet. Could she seize this rare opportunity?
On the night of the contest, I told her to take it easy. Blushed(脸红的), she looked at me and said nothing.
My heart sank. It seemed that she did tense up. I pated her and let her go to draw lots(抽签). As a result, what she drew was No. 9 while No. 8 was recognized English master-hand(高手).
Sure enough, the English master-hand was fairly successful in the speech with his humor and highly personal style. The whole audience would make a warm applause almost every 30 seconds until she appeared on the stage, still talking over his speech with excitement.
My palms began to sweat. I sat there, with no courage to look at her. It was the first time that she went up the stage, so I couldn't blame her for any slips. But at that moment, I found I was so scared of her failure.
The strong spotlight made her so small and so insignificant that nobody seemed to notice she had been on the stage, I said to myself, no hope.
But the moment that shocked me occurred. I clearly heard a voice, a very loud voice, “Now, please focus on me.” She said this sentence three times in all, louder and louder.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150词左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The whole audience fell silent.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After her speech ended for a long while, a thunderous applause sounded in the whole audience.
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