2 . I’ve been writing now for 34 years. It all started when I was just 18 years old.

As a boy growing up, I probably read hundreds of books. I read mysteries, science fiction, thrillers, and just about any other type of book I could find. I had a thirst for knowledge that never seemed to disappear, no matter how many books I read over the years. Then suddenly, I found that I too had ideas of my own that I wanted to write and share. I wanted to share things that were full of goodness, love, joy, and happiness. I tried to ignore my desire at first, but as any writer will tell you, once ideas awaken inside of you, they don’t leave you alone until you write them down. I didn’t have a computer, or even a typewriter, but I grabbed a pen and a notebook and wrote down everything that was burning inside of me.

When I was finally done, I didn’t know how to share my work with the world. There was no internet back then, no smartphones, and no social media. However, I sought out (找到) the editor of my local newspaper and asked if he would like to print what I’d written. He was a good man, full of both wisdom and kindness. He not only printed my first story but agreed to publish anything else I was willing to write.

After that, of course, nothing could stop me. I continued to write new articles each week, which were published in different local papers and later on the internet. Years later, I even self-published two collections of my stories in book form.

Through my writing, I slowly became a better person. Writing allowed me to discover the goodness and light that exist in us all. I also found that we are all writers, whether we put pen to paper or not.

With every choice we make, with every thought we think, and with every action we take, we are writing our own life story.

1. Why did the author start writing?

A．He wanted to try writing thrillers.

B．He wanted to express his own ideas.

C．He thought it would be easy after reading so much.

D．He wanted to inspire others with his reading experience.

2. What can we know about the author’s writing career?

A．It was lucky but short.

B．It was busy and lonely.

C．He like writing but he gave it up.

D．He pushed forward with his writing.

3. After publishing his works, the author________.

A．felt writing had improved him

B．encouraged others to put pen to paper

C．often thought about the choices he made

D．used social media to spread his influence

4. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A．We will think twice before writing and action.

B．We will make wise choice by writing articles.

C．We will become a better person by writing.

D．We are all the authors of our own lives.

5. Which of the following can best describe the author?

A．Hardworking.	B．Cooperative.
C．Humorous.	D．Outgoing.

3 . 阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

When I was a boy growing up, I could not once ever remember either my mom or my grandmother wasting food. Anything we didn’t eat at one meal was saved, stored, and served as leftovers (剩饭剩菜) later on. I can remember my grandmother making a huge pot of brown beans with a large cake of cornbread. We would all eat until we were stuffed but there was always about half of the beans left over. A few days later my grandmother would take those beans out of the refrigerator, boil pasta, add parsley and mix them all together into her delicious Pasta Fasule. And I also remember when I watched my mom fry bacon for us in the mornings, she would always take the grease (油脂) and carefully pour it into a container. Then she later would use it to flavor up so many other dishes. I was an adult before I realized that green beans didn’t actually taste like bacon.

I learned their lessons well and after I grew up I tried never to waste food by myself. I always planned the week’s meals ahead of time and only bought what was on my shopping list so nothing went to waste. Every meal went into my stomach and any leftovers were later eaten by either myself, my boys, or my dogs. To me throwing food in the trash was just wrong. All the work it took to grow it, harvest it, and prepare it needed to be honored, not wasted.

I learned something else over the years, however: when it comes to living there are no leftovers. Each moment that you don’t live is lost forever. Life cannot be saved. Life cannot be stored. Life has to be lived, TODAY!

Live each moment of your life to the fullest then. Make every day a feast of love with no leftovers. Leo Buscaglia once said: “Each day is a fresh beginning, a little life unto itself.” Don’t let any of these little lives go to waste. Live your life with a full belly and a full heart.

1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 1 probably mean? (1 word)
____________________________________________________________
2. How could the beans the author ate as a child taste like bacon? (no more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________
3. What did the author do to avoid wasting food? (no more than 15 words)
____________________________________________________________
4. What do the last two paragraphs mainly talk about? (no more than 20 words)
____________________________________________________________
5. How do you live your life to the fullest? Please explain. (no more than 20 words)
____________________________________________________________

4 . 阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

When I was a kid, there was only one way my parents would let me stay home from school and that was if I had a high fever. Most of my friends could stay home due to a stomachache or a mild fever — but not me… I had to be dying in order to stay home. By the way, my parents are both doctors. My parents used to say that they were teaching me how to have a good work ethic(职业道德). I didn’t understand the connection until last week.

The other day I was on the train and sat behind a young man who was complaining to his friend about his life. He went on for twenty minutes about how his passion in life was to make movies, but he wouldn’t pursue it because he had no clue if he could make enough money and he didn’t want to waste time because it would take years to make it big. He then admitted to thinking about buying stocks by borrowing money because he thought he could easily make six figures within one year. His friend agreed with him and said, “The stock is good because you can make tons of money and only work for a short time.”

I think they were indulging(沉溺) in the wildest fantasy. Many people these days don’t realize that when things seem to happen immediately, it is only because a lot of effort, determination and time have gone into them and it isn’t due to some miraculous(不可思议的) event. The easier it looks, the more hours go into it. There is no excuse for laziness.

Looking at the two young men, all of a sudden I was having a flashback of being ten years old and watching the television show Fame.

In the show the dance teacher told her students, “If you want fame, fame costs and here’s how you start paying for it … in sweat.” Every time we watched that show, my dad would proudly say how right the teacher was because in order to succeed you have to work hard.

1. When did the author’s parents allow her to stay home from school?(No more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________
2. Why did the young man on the train give up his dream of making movies?(No more than 15 words)
_______________________________________________
3. What will it take to succeed immediately in author’s opinion?(No more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________
4. How do you understand the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?(No more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________
5. Do you agree with the author’s opinion? Please explain it in your own words.(No more than 25 words)
_______________________________________________

5 . Idling around all day long while wondering why you can’t succeed? Better stop wasting your time thinking of reasons for your failures and shortcomings. Instead, realize that the seeds of success were planted within you when you were born. Only you have the power to make those seeds grow. The seeds, and the power to grow them, are contained in the human mind. Success is a choice and not a chance. You can be a success if only you make the right choice.

You cannot be successful without first developing your self-esteem (自尊). Your level of self-esteem is always based on the degree of control that you are able to exercise over yourself, and thus over your life. People with low self-esteem do not believe that they have any power, or responsibility for their life. They are leaves tossed (摆) by the winds of chance blown about with any sudden change in the weather.

You can exercise control over your life only to the degree that you believe that you are responsible for whatever happens in your life. Losers think that everything happens by accident while successful people realize that they are responsible.

Everything happens as a result of something. If we can identify the cause, we can control the effect. We are responsible for what we consciously choose to accept and believe. Thoughts and beliefs cause everything. Our actions are merely a result of habits ingrained in us over a period of time. One generally rises to the level that one expects. We are responsible for setting our expectations. We are responsible for either reinforcing (强化) good habits or kicking bad habits and consciously replacing them with consistently practiced good habits. All in all, you are what you choose to be, so please make an informed choice first.

If you associate with positive-thinking people, you are definitely going to achieve success. On the contrary, the opposite happens. We are responsible for finding, planting, and nurturing (培育) the seeds that contain future victory, born from setbacks.

In short, in all areas of your life, whether they are financial, physical, emotional, or spiritual, you are responsible. Once you recognize this, accept it, and firmly believe it, you are on the road to success.

1. People with low self-esteem are compared to leaves because they .

A．are ready to change their minds

B．can’t exercise control over themselves

C．don’t have the power to face their fate

D．are easily affected by windy weather

2. Losers would think that .

A．success is the result of hard work

B．working hard will lead to success

C．they don’t make efforts to succeed

D．their failure is only because of bad luck

3. It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that .

A．developing confidence is the key to future success

B．whether we will succeed depends on our attitudes

C．thoughts and beliefs are the result of creative mind

D．setting our expectations is essential before taking action

4. The last paragraph serves as .

A．the conclusion of the argument

B．the proof of the author’s points

C．an introduction to another topic

D．a comparison between two views

5. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Success Is a Choice	B．The Secrets of Success
C．Develop Our Confidence	D．How to Achieve Success

6 . My family moved into our home nine years ago. We spent a lot of time and energy in the yard to get it looking like the way it does today. In front of the house, the rocks appear to be just thrown up onto the dirt as if someone were in a hurry to finish. We called this area our “rock garden”. Denise and I would also plant some flowers between the rocks, just to bring some color to the area.

Last summer I found, in the rock garden, a tiny little plant 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 continue growing until we could figure out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the strange plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. It looked thin and tall with only one head on it. I decided to baby it along and weed(除杂草)around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something unusual. The sunflower had not started where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big rock and grown under and around it to reach the sun.

That’s when I realized that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t allow a big rock to stand in its way of developing, we too have the ability to do the same thing. Once we believe in ourselves like that little sunflower, we can attain the same nourishment(养分)for growth as well.

Stand tall like the sunflower and be proud of who and what we are, then the environment will begin to support us. We will find a way to go under or around any “rocks” in order to achieve our goals.

1. What can we know from the first paragraph?

A．The author finished building his house hurriedly.

B．The family has lived in this house for 9 years.

C．The author’s house is made of rocks.

D．The family don’t like gardening.

2. The author let the tiny plant continue growing to ______.

A．see how long it could live

B．see how big it could grow

C．find out what it actually was

D．know if his wife had planted it

3. The author found it unusual that ______.

A．the strange plant turned out to be the sunflower

B．the sunflower grew under and around a big rock

C．the sunflower had only one head on it

D．the sunflower was very thin and tall

4. Which of the following can best describe the sunflower?

A．Confident.

B．Devoted.

C．Delicate.

D．Modest.

5. We can conclude from the passage that ______.

A．rocks cannot prevent us from success

B．the sunflowers are able to grow everywhere

C．we should take good care of the rock gardens

D．we can get over difficulties if we trust ourselves

7 . Ever seen a great champion boxer like Manny Pacquiao? With his speed and power, he has conquered lots of other great boxers of the 21st century. In between fights, he keeps his training and strengthens it when another fight approaches.

Just like a boxer, we too, come face to face with many competitors in the arena (竞技场) of life ― problems and difficulties. The bad news is that we don’t really know when they occur.

Here are several reasons why you should train yourself for success like a champion boxer!

You don’t practice in the arena; that’s where your skills and your abilities are evaluated. This also means that you don’t practice solving problems and developing yourself when problems occur; you prepare yourself to face them long before you actually face them.

Talent is good but training is even better. Back in college, one of my classmates in Political Science didn’t bring any textbook or notebook in our classes. But he was always a top student because he attentively listened and actively participated in discussions. Obviously, he was gifted with a great memory and analytical skills. If you are talented, you maybe need less preparation and training time in facing life’s challenges. But even for people who are talented, training and learning are important, just like my classmate. Avoid the lazy person’s maxim: “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?” Why wait for your roof to leak in the rainy season when you can fix it right away?

Training enables you to gain intuition and reflexes. Without training, you will mess up. Without training, you won’t be able to predict how your enemy will hit you. You will lose control of your race car after the first lap. With training, you lower the possibility of these accidents.

Keep in mind that training means self-command and strong will. Even if you meet with some setbacks in your training, if you keep at it and persevere, you will soon see results in your life and when problems come, you will be like the champion boxer who stands tall and fights until the final round is over and you’re proclaimed as the champion!

1. The passage starts with the champion boxer _______.

A．to lead in the topic

B．to explain the skill of boxing

C．to show the speed and power in boxing

D．to illustrate the difference between fights

2. Why does the author mention his classmate?

A．To introduce his classmate’s learning methods.

B．To prove an average person doesn’t need more training.

C．To prove even talented people also need training.

D．To show respect for his classmate.

3. According to the passage, we can learn that _______.

A．talented students don’t need training

B．you can get intuition and reflexes naturally

C．training requires strong will and self-control

D．we may increase the possibility of accidents when we get training

4. What can we know from the last paragraph?

A．Victory depends on the positive attitude to training.

B．It’s normal to meet with some difficulties in training.

C．Boxers often win the victory by persevering.

D．Perseverance in training is very important.

5. What does the text mainly tell us?

A．To become a top boxer isn’t easy.

B．We should train ourselves for success.

C．Life is full of problems and difficulties.

D．Talent is more important than training for success.