She was six years old when I met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sandcastle and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. “Hello,” she said. I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. I was depressed: my life seemed completely out of balance.
“What’s your name?” She wouldn't give up. “Ruth,” I answered. “Mine’s Wendy....I’m six.” She giggled, “Nice to meet you, Miss Ruth. Do you want to play? Maybe we can build something together. You’ll be happy!” She looked at me eagerly, waiting for my answer.
I just couldn’t refuse this lovely creature. I asked her: “Why don’t you go to school?” “I don’t go to school. Mommy says we’re on vacation.” She chattered little girl talk as we built the sandcastle. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed. She pointed toward a row of summer cottages and told me she lives there.
Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy when Wendy caught up with me, “I’d rather be alone today.” She seems unusually pale and out of breath. “Why?” she asked. I turned to her and shouted, “Because my mother died!” “Oh,” she said quietly, “then this is a bad day.” “Yes, go away!” “Did it hurt when she died?” “Of course!” I shouted. She didn’t say anything more, tears rolling down her face.
A month or so after that, when I went to the beach, she wasn’t there. Feeling guilty, ashamed and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage and knocked at the door.
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。
A drawn-looking(憔悴的) young woman with red and swollen eyes opened the door.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“She left something for you,” her mum’s voice trembled and handed me an envelop.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As Wale Ayeni once said, “Be thankful for what you have. Your life, no matter how bad you think it is, is someone else’s fairy tale (童话). ”
Often, I find myself wishing I was living other people’s lives. I’m sure many of us wish that we could step into a luxurious (豪华的) private plane and fly to a private island. However, I’m also sure that many of us wish to have a bigger house, or wish to be able to work fewer hours.
I’ve seen numerous homeless people on the street and in the subway.
When I was younger, I never understood the reality of their lives. I was just scared of them and walked on the opposite side of the street. As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to consider how difficult and painful their lives must be and how much they struggle.
I take the subway home every day after school. One day, when I got off, I noticed a young man on the side of the road holding a sign asking for money. I had seen him a couple of times in that spot, and now I saw the sadness on his face. He looked upset. I immediately looked in my wallet to see if I had cash to give him, but I didn’t.
I finally realized that this guy’s wants are things that come to me so easily every day. He probably never gets to eat three meals in a day. He doesn’t have a home to live in. He doesn’t have a family to spend time with.
I went home and continued to think about that look on his face and knew that I had to bring cash with me the next day to give to him.
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。
The next afternoon, when I got off the subway to walk home, I hoped he would still be there, and he was.
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After that day, I began to reflect on the things I should be grateful for.
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3 . Brady has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It has been
We truly
Last week, I bought a simple card, reading, “Healing thoughts and wishes are coming your way. We are all
He is still undergoing intense treatment, trying his best to stay
Despite being too sick to teach classes, my professor has managed to continue being a great teacher, introducing his last
| A．disappointing | B．challenging | C．heartbreaking | D．confusing |
| A．normal | B．responsible | C．ordinary | D．outstanding |
| A．collected | B．awarded | C．delivered | D．chosen |
| A．admit | B．admire | C．inspire | D．cure |
| A．hard | B．natural | C．practical | D．simple |
| A．seeking | B．searching | C．praying | D．competing |
| A．text | B．message | C．comment | D．wish |
| A．anxious | B．thoughtful | C．curious | D．optimistic |
| A．Therefore | B．Instead | C．Particularly | D．Besides |
| A．related | B．devoted | C．committed | D．applied |
| A．relief | B．power | C．pain | D．vain |
| A．motivated | B．frightened | C．interested | D．touched |
| A．added | B．considered | C．wandered | D．hesitated |
| A．personal | B．precious | C．professional | D．inaccurate |
| A．offer | B．convey | C．sacrifice | D．mean |
Okay. I’ll admit it. I can be a complainer. After all, there’s so much in this life to complain about: the dirty clothes that don’t make it into the basket, that annoying neighbor’s loud music, my husband’s shoes left casually at the front door, rainy days, traffic…
Complaining is a habit I have developed since childhood, and a skill I have honed (磨练) through the years. My family didn’t seem to mind — they were great complainers, too — though I do recall some eye-rolling and long-drawn sighs from friends and schoolmates when I would voice my negative opinions. In fact, I can distinctly recall the exact moment when I first realized my complaining habit reached its expert level.
One day, as I reminded my husband once again to remove his bills from the dining-room table, put his shoes away, and lower that dog-gone radio, he put up his hand. “Stop! Stop your complaining. It’s driving me crazy.”
I looked at him blank-eyed.
He took a deep breath. “You never hear me complaining, do you?”
“Well,” I answered, “you’re complaining about my complaining, so actually, yes, I am hearing you complain right now.”
His eyes widened. Sweat formed on his upper lip. Then he grabbed his car keys and ran out the door.
Perhaps I’d gone too far, I thought. Maybe I really did complain too much. But, what to do about it? After all, it had been a lifetime habit. And habits are hard to break.
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 took a break and sat down to think about solutions.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The benefits of this solution were immediate and obvious.
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5 . When I travel, away from home, especially in India, I feel like Alice in Wonderland; I feel like I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole, or stepped through the looking glass. I felt everything is challenging, including my sense of self in the world and my ideas about how life and people should be.
In India, I meet other foreigners who tell me they think Pahar Ganj in Delhi is “the real India,” and who say the only way to travel in India is by staying in 150-rupee-a-night hotels. I also meet Delhi-born Indians who tell me they think Pahar Ganj is a ghetto(贫困区)and wouldn’t go near it. They prefer Delhi’s five star hotels and the shopping malls of Gurgaon.
I’m familiar with Indian life, but when I travel, I am seen as a foreigner and as if I know nothing about the culture. What’s the truth? The truth lies in the fact that “a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.”
Perception(认知)is the reason one person loves Thailand and another Rome. The scenery outside of the window depends of our culture, age, and everything else that goes into making us who we are. I have long been into perception and the nature of consciousness. I’ve studied and practiced running for close to 20 years, which told me: truth is in your experience, your experience is coloured by your perception, and you are a co-creator in your perception and thus in your reality of life.
As is written in Talmud, we do not see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.
1. What do we know from this passage?| A．The author finds the travel in India easy. |
| B．All of the Indians love five star hotels. |
| C．The author knows nothing about Indian culture. |
| D．People who love Thailand may not love Rome. |
| A．The god helps those who help themselves. | B．East or west, home is best. |
| C．We see what we are. | D．Experience is the best teacher. |
| A．Perception can influence our understanding of the outside world. |
| B．The people looking at the broken mirror can get the truth from god. |
| C．We should live in the hotel instead of the ghetto when travelling in India. |
| D．If we share the same culture, we will have the same perception of the world. |
| A．How to better understand the Indian culture? |
| B．A colorful experience during a foreign trip. |
| C．India-a different but attractive country. |
| D．Perception is what lies behind our understanding. |
6 . That holiday morning I didn’t have to attend school. Usually, mother
I stood by my window overlooking the
As I watched several people go by, get into their cars and go off, I
There was a noticeable touch of
It was a
| A．allows | B．forces | C．causes | D．lets |
| A．otherwise | B．besides | C．therefore | D．however |
| A．bus stop | B．parking lot | C．school | D．market |
| A．useful | B．surprising | C．terrible | D．interesting |
| A．called | B．recognized | C．noticed | D．looked |
| A．seat | B．back | C．wheel | D．handle |
| A．found | B．moved | C．wandered | D．1eft |
| A．stopped | B．planned | C．finished | D．started |
| A．changed | B．slid | C．crossed | D．inspired |
| A．simple | B．shiny | C．attractive | D．expensive |
| A．repairmen | B．motorists | C．drivers | D．cyclists |
| A．satisfied | B．busy | C．careful | D．bored |
| A．laughing | B．1ooking | C．waving | D．pointing |
| A．more or less | B．sooner or later | C．here and there | D．now and then |
| A．worry | B．pride | C．stress | D．shock |
| A．fixing | B．cleaning | C．replacing | D．covering |
| A．still | B．again | C．yet | D．soon |
| A．fact | B．subject | C．skill | D．1esson |
| A．ashamed | B．doubtful | C．fearful | D．tired |
| A．flash | B．sunlight | C．horizon | D．shelter |
7 . In a classic episode of The Simpsons, Homer’s class reunion ends in shame when one of Homer’s guilty secrets is exposed: he never graduated from high school. To get his diploma, he must pass a science test. As he sits down to retake the exam, he holds one of his trademark dialogues with his brain. “All right, brain. You don’t like me and I don’t like you. But let’s just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer.”
Many a true word is spoken as a joke. Homer Simpson’s Everyman character really is an Everyman. For most people, engaging in the kind of effortful thinking that is required to pass a science test feels too much like hard work. It is so much easier to quit and let the brain’s autopilot take over.
And no wonder. Evolution has blessed the human brain with all kinds of mental shortcuts that make life manageable. If we had to think about every action or weigh up every decision, we would break down. As a result, certain ideas and modes of thinking come naturally to us, such as effortless thinking.
But at huge cost. Our mental shortcuts work fine at the level of individuals and small-scale societies, but in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world, they are a danger to society. Effortless thinking is at the root of many of the modern world’s most serious problems: terrorism, hatred, inequality and religious extremism. All are caused by people disengaging their critical thinking and going with their gut (非理性的) feeling.
Everybody is capable of gut feeling, but also of the critical thinking. Both thinking styles are needed to make the world go round. Unfortunately, the latter requires training that is unavailable or unappealing to many people.
One of the bright spots in 2017 was the start of a movement called the March For Science. Those who believe in the power of science need to keep on marching, or give more power to people who don’t much like their own brains — or other people’s.
1. What does the author want to convey through Homer’s story?| A．Feeling is very important. |
| B．Drinking beer is harmful to one’s brain. |
| C．High school seniors should work hard. |
| D．Most people hate effortful thinking like Homer. |
| A．Most people would rather tell jokes than tell the truth. |
| B．Most people don’t want to toil through scientific tests. |
| C．Most people would love to have their brains controlled by a pilot. |
| D．Most people like Simpson’s ordinary character are willing to think simple. |
| A．Our mental shortcuts function well. |
| B．Effortless thinking is expensive for people. |
| C．Effortless thinking is dangerous to society. |
| D．People prefer effortless thinking to critical thinking. |
| A．It makes the world go round. |
| B．It needs necessary training. |
| C．It works fine at the level of personal affairs. |
| D．It leads to the March For Science in 2017. |
| A．Critical Thinking Is Urgently Needed |
| B．Effortless Thinking Is Out of Date |
| C．We Need to March Towards Science |
| D．Thinking Contributes to Social Problems |
8 . A stand-up comedian is, supposed to be, a fluent communicator who is also good at using body language to
However, for 27-year-old comedian Zhang Jiaxin, it takes a great effort to
It was two years ago when Zhang first performed stand-up comed yon the stage. At the time, he worked for the new media operation department of a company
He didn’t know much about stand-up performance.
It opened Zhang’s door to a colorful world of stand-up comedy.
He started to pay attention to the stand-up comedy live shows in Xiamen and got the
“She sent me some videos of Drew Lynch (an American stand-up comic who developed a(an)
After he read through a manual for writing and performing stand-up comedy, he started to
Once he walked onto the stage, the audience
“
Wows and claps resounded. His jokes went down well as he worked the room with his humor.
1.| A．appoint | B．accompany | C．play | D．accomplish |
| A．likely | B．especially | C．necessarily | D．clearly |
| A．special | B．significant | C．flexible | D．obvious |
| A．supply | B．turn | C．addition | D．reserve |
| A．applied to | B．led to | C．lived up to | D．held on to |
| A．based | B．settled | C．discovered | D．explored |
| A．Besides | B．Therefore | C．However | D．Moreover |
| A．amaze | B．entertain | C．experiment | D．greet |
| A．contract | B．concept | C．conduct | D．contact |
| A．artificial | B．little | C．permanent | D．consequent |
| A．attracted | B．instructed | C．inspected | D．inspired |
| A．examine | B．select | C．consider | D．expect |
| A．facts | B．insights | C．moments | D．opinions |
| A．frequently | B．immediately | C．subsequently | D．literally |
| A．Initially | B．Finally | C．Completely | D．Precisely |
It was my twelfth birthday, and what I really wanted most was a new bicycle. But I knew that my family couldn’t afford one, so I settled for a bedside table with lockable drawers, a safe place to keep my private stuff.
We went to the charity shop where we found an old dark one. It didn’t look too cool, but I thought that I would paint it to make it look better.
After we took it home, I was getting ready to paint it. When I pulled the drawers out. I felt something stuck to the back. I reached in all the way, and guess what? A sealed bag with some papers in it.
When I opened the bag, I realized that the papers were official documents. And, wrapped in them were a bunch of ten and twenty dollar bills! Talk about finding a treasure! And on my birthday!
“Is this some kind of joke?” I said aloud. I went ahead and read the papers, and it turned out to be a will. Some old lady was leaving her savings for her son and grandchildren.
My mind was going crazy. Was I the luckiest twelve-year-old ever? With this money I could buy the coolest bicycle. Who knows?
I began counting. When I reached a thousand dollars, my mother was knocking on my bedroom door. I quickly closed the drawer with the money in it.
“Do you want some help? Is everything all right?” she asked.
No, everything was not right. Actually, my stomach was growling (低吼).
“I’m okay,” I lied.
When my mother left my room, I lay on my bed, starting thinking. What a dilemma (窘境)! I wished there were some one I could talk with. Could I keep it and get all kinds of stuff for me and my family? It wouldn’t be too bad for me to keep it, if I shared it...right? Thoughts ran through my mind. But I really didn’t need someone else to give me the answer.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I finally made a decision and called my parents into my bedroom.
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Though surprised, the shop owner helped find the family’s telephone number.
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10 . “Smile and the world smiles at you.”
One day on the subway, I noticed my daughter, Alex, I
Alex
The way Alex
Alex said. “After hearing his story. I
Later that day, as we were
A smile is a small but
| A．pointed | B．smiled | C．looked | D．shouted |
| A．conversation | B．question | C．feeling | D．certainty |
| A．created | B．heard | C．shared | D．wrote |
| A．organized | B．attended | C．left | D．needed |
| A．studies | B．advantages | C．hobbies | D．experiences |
| A．difficult | B．common | C．strange | D．good |
| A．arm | B．face | C．hand | D．foot |
| A．liked | B．understood | C．agreed | D．remembered |
| A．changed | B．saved | C．entered | D．took |
| A．replied | B．suggested | C．worried | D．checked |
| A．smartly | B．luckily | C．honestly | D．bravely |
| A．happy | B．frightened | C．amazed | D．angry |
| A．forgotten | B．refused | C．encouraged | D．praised |
| A．realized | B．doubted | C．imagined | D．expected |
| A．finished | B．avoided | C．minded | D．started |
| A．reading | B．running | C．shopping | D．singing |
| A．dangerous | B．unbelievable | C．confused | D．uncomfortable |
| A．just | B．once | C．still | D．never |
| A．interesting | B．boring | C．powerful | D．useless |
| A．business | B．habit | C．problem | D．spirit |
