1 . At 28 years old, I lost my job as a full-time magazine editor. I’d always dreamed of becoming a self-employed writer, but I _______ doing it at 35 or even 40 years old, _______   I had a more solid(坚实的) financial footing.

Despite the fear I felt at _______ this dream before I was ready, it was my best, most practical _______ at the time. With my husband’s encouragement, I took a leap of faith, _______ my fear and jumped.

I’ve been working for myself full-time for two years. Not only am I happier thanks to a(n) _______ schedule and the freedom to take on the projects I want, but I’m earning much more than I did as a _______ editor.

When it comes to big dreams, many of us plan out every last detail so that we feel     _______for success. But often, this over-planning prevents us from ever taking action. No matter how much planning we do, we’ll never feel 100% ready.

When Jennifer Qiao got _______ , she struggled to find a modern version of a cheongsam, a traditional Chinese wedding dress, and an idea was________. Neither she nor Vivian Chan, her co-founder, had experience in entrepreneurship(创业). They didn’t even know if there was a ________ for their products in the U.S. But they decided to just start small and test out their idea ________. They never truly felt ready to start a(n) ________ , let alone make custom wedding dresses. However, through hard work, trial and error, they’ve   ________their team to a successful company.

Never let over-planning get in the________ of you taking action.

1.

A．enjoyed

B．imagined

C．started

D．suggested

2.

A．so

B．but

C．once

D．although

3.

A．diving into

B．carrying on

C．breaking up

D．letting out

4.

A．offer

B．option

C．application

D．judgement

5.

A．shared

B．treated

C．understood

D．faced

6.

A．strict

B．tight

C．flexible

D．ambitious

7.

A．chief

B．part-time

C．retired

D．salaried

8.

A．eager

B．grateful

C．prepared

D．regretful

9.

A．fired

B．employed

C．dressed

D．married

10.

A．born

B．forgotten

C．stolen

D．rejected

11.

A．plan

B．charge

C．market

D．deadline

12.

A．widely

B．quickly

C．secretly

D．officially

13.

A．business

B．challenge

C．organization

D．game

14.

A．adjusted

B．referred

C．contributed

D．grown

15.

A．form

B．way

C．beginning

D．middle

2 . I experienced a day when I was extraordinarily _______. I’m never a picture of grace, but on this particular day, I seemed to be _______ everything. It’s an old church, and the floor is _______ in some places, so my fall was the floor’s fault. But when I fell again on my way out to the car, and yet again in my own home, I began to grow _______. Had I let myself get so stressed out that I had _______ become sick?

Having been raised by devoted Christian parents who also worked in the mental-health field, I tended to look for spiritual and emotional reasons before I headed to the local _______. I have the calming practice that _______ a yoga pose with a breath prayer. I went to _______ more comfortable clothes for the exercise, and as I removed my shoes, I was _______!

I wasn’t having a stroke at all. I had completely worn out my favorite pair of sandals. The soles (鞋底) of both shoes were split in two! I had ________ all the possibilities to figure out what was causing my clumsiness. It never occurred to me to check my soles.

So often when we start to feel ________, we look for ways to make things better. But just as it never occurred to me to check the soles of my shoes, our own souls are the very ________ thing we think of to check. Take a moment to remember the last time you sat still, meditating. If you can’t remember when that was, it might be a(n) ________.

The local cobbler (鞋匠) said my soles were irreparable. We had a good ________, but it was time to let them go. Fortunately for us, our souls can be mended and restored — once we realize they are in need of ________.

1.

A．busy

B．clumsy

C．stressed

D．bored

2.

A．going through

B．stepping on

C．falling off

D．tripping over

3.

A．uneven

B．sharp

C．stained

D．shallow

4.

A．inspired

B．grieved

C．concerned

D．interested

5.

A．luckily

B．literally

C．obviously

D．doubtfully

6.

A．doctor

B．coach

C．tailor

D．psychologist

7.

A．exchanges

B．equips

C．associates

D．combines

8.

A．wrap up

B．take off

C．change into

D．look after

9.

A．rescued

B．cured

C．injured

D．slipped

10.

A．exhausted

B．predicted

C．ignored

D．discussed

11.

A．delighted

B．divided

C．overwhelmed

D．thrilled

12.

A．best

B．last

C．easiest

D．hardest

13.

A．mistake

B．solution

C．test

D．clue

14.

A．run

B．exercise

C．yoga

D．gesture

15.

A．repair

B．review

C．response

D．replacement

3 . 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.

2. What does the author want to tell in paragraph 3?

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.

3. What does the underlined “ritual” in paragraph 6 probably mean?

A．Practice.

B．Course.

C．Hobby.

D．Need.

4. What advice would the author like to give women?

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.

4 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1个恰当的单词或者括号内单词的正确形式。

When we’re young, we fearlessly dream about what our lives might be like. Since I was very young, I have dreamed of working for the United Nations in some of the most troubled     1     (country) in the world. And thanks to a lot of courage, that dream finally came true.

But here's the thing about courage: It doesn’t just appear whenever we need it. It’s the result of tough     2     (consider) and real work, involving the balance     3     fear and bravery. Without fear, we’ll do foolish things. And without courage, we’ll never step into     4     unknown. The balance of the two is where the magic lies, and it’s a balance we all deal with every day...

I     5     (diagnose) with a disease called HIBM three years ago, which affects all my muscles from head to toe. It was frightening news, because I had no idea how the disease might progress. But what was     6     (extreme) disheartening was listening to other people advise me     7     (limit) my ambitions and dreams. So, I ignored them and continued to pursue my dream of working all over the world.

Life is already    8     (scare), so to make our dreams come true, we need to be brave. In facing my fears and     9     (find) the courage to push through them, I swear my life has been extraordinary. So live big and try to let your courage outweigh your fear. You never know     10     it might lead you in the life journey.

5 . I believe almost everyone would like two things from their jobs and careers: success and happiness. They want to do relatively well financially, receive fair recognition for their accomplishments, enjoy their work as much as one can, and become happier as a person as a result. So many people, especially ambitious, hard-working people, simplify them in a logical way: They first seek success and then assume that success will lead to happiness.     1    . Chasing success has costs that can end up lowering happiness.

This is not to say that you have to choose between success and happiness.     2    . But you have to reverse (颠倒) the order of operations: Instead of trying first to get success and hoping it leads to happiness, start by working on your happiness, which will enhance your success.

Whether you are an employee or employer, it is a better investment to increase happiness at work and in life, rather than simply trying to increase measures of success.

    3    . No matter how much you enjoy your work, overwork will become an obstruction (阻碍) to well-being.

Once work quantity is under control, happiness at work requires a sense of meaning and purpose.     4    . Earned success implies a sense of accomplishment and recognition for a job well done, while service to others requires knowledge of the real people who benefit from your work.

Ultimately, although success and happiness are linked, the magic mostly works one-way — and not in the way that most people think.     5    , and may lead you to unhappiness. But working on your happiness. gives you the best chance at getting both.

A．You can obtain both

B．But this reasoning is faulty

C．It’s fairly reasonable to think this way, though

D．Working on your success to get happier is inefficient at best (充其量)

E．The first thing to remember is that happiness requires balance

F．It’s dangerous to pursue success instead of happiness

G．The two key aspects of meaningful work are earned success and service to others

6 . Many of us seem to have lives that follow a certain way. From kindergarten all the way to when we get married, every stage of our lives seems to be preset. And although this works well for a lot of people, according to British scholar Jay Shetty, there is no “right” schedule to live our lives by.

A few months ago, a video of Shetty’s speech “Before You Feel Pressure” became popular on the Internet across the world. In the video, he sends an important message that we should think “outside of the way” and have the courage to follow our hearts. As Shetty says in the video, we don’t have to get stressed and put ourselves in a race with our peers or judge our lives based on others’. “Everything in life happens according to our time, our clocks,” he says.

In his inspiring speech, Shetty points out that UK author J. K. Rowling got her famous “Harry Potter” series published at age 32, after being turned down by 12 publishers. Shetty also mentions that US actor Morgan Freeman didn’t get his big break until he was 52 years old. So we shouldn’t let anyone rush us.

As physicist Albert Einstein once said, “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that’s counted truly counts. The key to staying on our own tracks is to be patient and keep our own interest. ” In Australian nurse Bronnie Ware’s best-selling book “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying”, she recorded the dying regrets of her patients, and the top one on the list was: “I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the one others expected of me. ”

Indeed, we are all unique in our personalities and gifts, and there’s no perfect fit for all. We should listen to our inner voices and ignore what the world has taught us, and what we’ve picked up from people around us. “It is important to allow people to go back to being self-aware of their own interests, needs and concerns,” Shetty told the magazine. “It’s disconnecting from what ‘makes sense’ to what actually moves you and what makes sense internally (内在地). ”

1. What does Jay Shetty agree to?

A．The stages of our lives should be preset.

B．Few people have lives that follow a certain way.

C．All people live their lives according to schedules.

D．We can live our lives not according to the given way.

2. According to Jay Shetty’s video, people should _________.

A．put more pressure on themselves

B．adjust their lives based on others’

C．decide their lives in terms of actual cases

D．compete with those who are better than themselves

3. Shetty lists the famous people in his speech to show ________.

A．everyone can be a winner	B．hard work is the key to success
C．great new life can begin anytime	D．success does not happen in one’s youth

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to Paragraph 4?

A．Everything that’s counted truly counts.

B．One should live a life as expected by others.

C．We should count and analyze everything in life.

D．The top dying regret was not living in the way one wanted.

5. We can conclude from the last paragraph that _______.

A．people should never listen to others’ advice

B．we should follow the heart and do what we want to do

C．what makes sense should not be about what people care internally

D．being self-aware of interests, needs and concerns is not acceptable

7 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个恰当的单词，在给出 提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Everyone has a sense of humor, but it’s pretty evident that not everybody has a good sense of it. Psychologists are divided on     1     humor is inborn or learnable. However, there is one thing that     2     (accept) universally so far — the sense of humor is uniquely human. It is associated with laughter and laughter is associated with happiness and courage. These are qualities     3     (share) with other forms of life. But if happiness is one of the goals     4     (chase) in life, then it is the sense of humor that provides the key.

8 . As I walked onto the soccer field I had a knot(结) in my stomach. I was too shy to _________ the year before but decided to go for it this year.

When the coaches came, I felt as if I was going to pass out. With no _________ ability I began to wonder why I was _________ here. Everyone immediately took a ball and began to _________. I stood there, not knowing what to do. My friends came over to _________ me a few quick moves and drills. I had fun and _________ enjoyed playing. Every other girl on the team was far more skilled than I. The moment I _________ that to myself, I was fine.

This _________ has stuck with me all through high school. Without _________ it, I learned a valuable lesson about myself. __________ I tried out for the soccer team, I always wanted to be __________ at everything. Previously(以前), I would do anything to achieve the high __________ I set for myself. I was so stressed out over schoolwork that I never had fun. I decided it was time for a (n) __________.

Like most high school students, my __________ with more responsibilities and worries, began to change as I got older. Balancing school and sports has not been easy. But through it all, I have become a __________ person. No longer do I __________ that I have to be perfect. Although my athletic ability doesn’t __________ a ticket to universities, I have other good __________ that make me important. Knowing that I have put 100% __________ into everything I do and am honest with myself, I am completely __________ with the person I am.

1.

A．give up

B．pass by

C．try out

D．walk away

2.

A．logic

B．sports

C．language

D．communication

3.

A．just

B．even

C．never

D．always

4.

A．warm up

B．make up

C．calm down

D．turn around

5.

A．ask

B．pass

C．show

D．throw

6.

A．nearly

B．really

C．hardly

D．partly

7.

A．kept

B．expressed

C．proved

D．admitted

8.

A．match

B．activity

C．experience

D．performance

9.

A．checking

B．realizing

C．practicing

D．considering

10.

A．When

B．After

C．Unless

D．Before

11.

A．quick

B．clever

C．perfect

D．pleased

12.

A．speed

B．record

C．position

D．standard

13.

A．break

B．escape

C．change

D．holiday

14.

A．life

B．team

C．friends

D．coaches

15.

A．better

B．kinder

C．warmer

D．quieter

16.

A．beg

B．feel

C．pretend

D．imagine

17.

A．add

B．buy

C．deserve

D．promise

18.

A．ideas

B．attitudes

C．creations

D．qualities

19.

A．effort

B．money

C．brain

D．trust

20.

A．happy

B．strict

C．careful

D．patient

9 . 请阅读下面材料，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。

Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don't act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is too luxurious for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine's Day is even more out of the question. Finally, my father has a bad temper. When he's very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.

One day my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.

“Mom, I have a question to ask you,”I said after a while.

“What？” she replied, still doing her work.

“Is there love between you and dad？” I asked her in a very low voice.

My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She did not answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.

I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment and I did not know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words.

“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at these thread. Sometimes it appears but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes them quite strong and durable （持久的）。If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it's really there. Love is inside.

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.开头已给出。
Paragraph 1：

I listened carefully but I couldn't understand her until the next spring when my father suddenly got sick seriously.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2：

The doctor had said my father would recover in two months.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . I was interested in volunteering at a hospital because both of my parents work in hospitals. I wanted to see what the ________ was after hearing them talk about it. To be more ________, I wanted to work at the VA — Veterans (老兵) Affairs hospital — in Palo Alto because the ________ of VA is “to serve those who served” and I really ________ this very idea.

To my greatest joy, I was ________ the VA program, and throughout this summer break I’ve spent around 110 hours ________ at VA Palo Alto in different departments. To be honest, I had never at all felt more welcomed and ________ in every department I went to. After some initial experiences, I ________ to work in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) since I am interested in computers, and I wanted to see how they are used in a hospital setting.

My overall experience of volunteering at VA can be ________ into the words of “eye-opening and ________.” Throughout my whole life I have been ________ to health care, from both my parents being physicians and my health problems, but I have never ________ been on the other side of the glass, so to speak. What I ________ most about my experience was the ________ to see what it’s like to help people. I want to continue volunteering at VA because I believe there is no other experience that can be as ________ as working in a hospital that treats Veterans.

1.

A．opportunity

B．decision

C．experience

D．adventure

2.

A．specific

B．private

C．flexible

D．cautious

3.

A．concept

B．mission

C．profession

D．advantage

4.

A．contributed

B．generated

C．transformed

D．shared

5.

A．accepted into

B．committed to

C．concerned about

D．withdrawn from

6.

A．studying

B．volunteering

C．observing

D．exercising

7.

A．convinced

B．determined

C．valued

D．amused

8.

A．applied

B．refused

C．promised

D．arranged

9.

A．classified

B．summarized

C．divided

D．combined

10.

A．normal

B．relevant

C．reliable

D．worthy

11.

A．attached

B．devoted

C．exposed

D．submitted

12.

A．actually

B．totally

C．absolutely

D．appropriately

13.

A．respect

B．treasure

C．understand

D．agree

14.

A．ability

B．responsibility

C．approach

D．courage

15.

A．relaxing

B．challenging

C．fulfilling

D．thrilling