1 . A Florida teen is gaining national attention with her graduation speech and a basket of strawberries. “Care for some strawberries?” Brenda said at her graduation from Mulberry High School. After jokingly acknowledging there might not be enough, she went on, “These are no ordinary strawberries.” She held up a series of strawberries, revealing what each represents: sweat, dirt, aches, and pains.

Brenda described herself as the daughter of two tireless farmers who immigrated from Mexico and spent most of their days working in fields of strawberries, blueberries, and cucumbers. “My motivation has been rooted in my immigrant culture.” Because of this, she chose to focus on that in her address. “Many students used to be ashamed of their upbringing but today, we’re proud of what makes us.”

She explained how she grew up under poor conditions. “I’m motivated by my parents’ hands that lose feeling from laborious work. Despite the hot sun and body pains, they back me up heart and soul in my education, which weighs more strongly with me than anything else. I must work hard and succeed.” Brenda’s heading to Stanford University this fall. She also credited some of her outstanding achievements to her teacher Higgins, who helps immigrant students and the poor.

Her speech has been viewed by thousands online. “Hearing it touched other people’s hearts who said they understood my message, I’m struck the same,” Brenda said later. The principal of Mulberry High School, Michael Young, was one member of the audience getting emotional. “The speech was very powerful—her fruit did help paint a good picture of things she wanted to convey,” Young said.

As for her message to young people struggling, Brenda said, “Past circumstances aren’t in charge of your future. If you’re from a poor family, use every resource and try to better yourself. You’re the author of your story.”

1. Why did Brenda bring strawberries to her graduation?

A．To share her home-grown fruit.	B．To show hardship her parents faced.
C．To better illustrate her speech’s topic.	D．To explain the importance of motivators.

2. What affected Brenda most in terms of her academic success?

A．Help from her teacher.	B．Her life experience.
C．Her native culture.	D．Support from her parents.

3. How did Brenda feel about the viewers’ response online?

A．Proud.

B．Sympathetic.

C．Awkward.

D．Moved.

4. What did Brenda convey to the young?

A．Life is what you make it.	B．Every cloud has a silver lining.
C．Everyone deserves a good life story.	D．Resources in hand decide your future.

2 . While I was riding a bike, I notice a man about a half mile in front of me. He was traveling at a lower speed, so I decided to _______ him. I had about a mile to go on the road before turning off .

I started _______ faster, and every block, I gradually closed the distance. Finally, I _______ him and passed him. I felt like a winner, _______ he had no clue that we were even in a _______.

After I passed him, I realized that I had been so _______ on competing against him that I had _______ my turn, had gone nearly six blocks past it and had to turn around.

Isn’t that what _______ in life? We spend most of our time competing with neighbors, friends and family, trying to _______ them — while there was ________ a competition in the first place.

We use most of our time and energy competing with others instead of ________ our destination, and we miss out on our own paths to our fate ________.

Unhealthy competition is a ________ process, a never-ending cycle, a race of life. No matter what you do, someone will always be ________ you: someone with a better job, a nicer car and more money .

Feel grateful for what life has offered you. Stay focused on your path, and live a healthy life . There’s no ________ in fate. Run your own race of life and wish others well!

1.

A．remind

B．approach

C．pass

D．follow

2.

A．running

B．driving

C．walking

D．cycling

3.

A．caught up with

B．put up with

C．kept up with

D．came up with

4.

A．when

B．while

C．as

D．unless

5.

A．test

B．project

C．race

D．task

6.

A．focused

B．dependent

C．hard

D．impressed

7.

A．finished

B．missed

C．wasted

D．made

8.

A．remains

B．offers

C．happens

D．works

9.

A．defeat

B．help

C．encourage

D．please

10.

A．ever

B．never

C．always

D．sometimes

11.

A．choosing

B．understanding

C．reaching

D．exploring

12.

A．by chance

B．on purpose

C．as usual

D．as a result

13.

A．dangerous

B．adventurous

C．continuous

D．disastrous

14.

A．next to

B．ahead of

C．around

D．behind

15.

A．competition

B．mistake

C．experiment

D．limit

3 . Someone recently asked me when I became more confident about my abilities as an entrepreneur. I thought it was a funny question, _________ I’m not very confident at all, and constantly filled with _________ about every decision I make.

It doesn’t exactly hold me back in my work; it is just that I am very _______ of what I do, and I’m always _______ on the way I work, think and talk. I have also learned over the years that making a decision is often more important than making the right decision. Preferably your decisions are the right ones, but inaction or indecisiveness is more _______ than making the wrong decision every now and then.

There is one thing I have learned over the years that I wish I had learned earlier in my career. And that is the _______ that I am not stupid.

It sounds logical, but I often sat in on meetings and heard people explain things and then _______ to myself, “I don’t understand that. Maybe I’m stupid?” or I would hear about a startup and I would not _______ their business model and think I’m stupid. Or I would hear an entrepreneur speak and think, “That all _______ like bullshit, but I must be stupid, because other people seem to love it.”

A couple of years ago, I came to the ________ that I was not stupid at all. When people in meetings say things I don’t understand I speak up and tell them so. Usually, I hear a sigh of ________ in the room and find out nobody understood what was being talked about.

When I don’t understand a business model it usually means there is not one, or it sucks. Turns out I’m not stupid and ________ I don’t understand it, most people won’t understand it at all. ________ doubting my own abilities I’ve learned to trust my “bullshit radar” a bit more and not understanding something is a clear sign that something is off.

My advice to young entrepreneurs is this: you are not stupid! If something does not make ________, if it sounds stupid, if you do not understand it, something is wrong! Trust your gut (本能的) ________. Feel free to not know and be honest when you don’t understand something!

1.

A．if

B．unless

C．because

D．when

2.

A．disappointment

B．doubt

C．terror

D．curiosity

3.

A．conscious

B．tired

C．ashamed

D．fond

4.

A．insisting

B．working

C．relying

D．reflecting

5.

A．boring

B．costly

C．disgusting

D．significant

6.

A．truth

B．concept

C．realization

D．reputation

7.

A．thought

B．referred

C．smiled

D．came

8.

A．mind

B．know

C．love

D．understand

9.

A．tastes

B．sounds

C．smells

D．looks

10.

A．compromise

B．conclusion

C．point

D．agreement

11.

A．despair

B．pleasure

C．relief

D．impatience

12.

A．since

B．if

C．as

D．while

13.

A．Instead of

B．Apart from

C．As well as

D．Regardless of

14.

A．progress

B．history

C．money

D．sense

15.

A．feeling

B．level

C．happiness

D．comfort

4 . I have the bad habit of skipping to the last pages of a book to see how it ends while I’m still in the middle of it. This habit_______ people around me. Often my_______wouldn’t be confined(局限) just to the books I read but also to what others were reading as well. Finally, one day my daughter told me with a little anger. “Dad, please just read a book one page at a time like everyone else!”

At times I didn’t limit this bad habit to just reading books either. I also tried to skip ahead in my life and _______ what to do months and even years from now instead of_______each day as it is intended. I knew that the book of my life wasn’t done yet and that I had many _______ left to go._______ , that didn’t stop me from trying to write the _______half-way through. Time and again, I would_______ jump ahead and try to solve every potential problem before it happened so I could reach that storybook happily ever after ending. Life, however, doesn’t _______like that. It loves to surprise us, and you never know what new problem or opportunity each new day will bring.

Life has often had to ________me to slow down. Recently, when I found myself________to that bad habit of rushing ahead and living in the__________again, I felt a special voice gently telling me, “Live one day at a time.” Then I smiled, and turned the book of my life back to the________page. Each of us has to live the book of life one page and one day at a time. Each of us has to write it________and moment by moment. We have to trust that it will bring our________to its perfect end.

1.

A．concerned

B．annoyed

C．frightened

D．embarrassed

2.

A．impatience

B．difficulty

C．influence

D．effort

3.

A．bring out

B．let out

C．try out

D．figure out

4.

A．fearing

B．enjoying

C．doubting

D．imagining

5.

A．pages

B．things

C．reports

D．novels

6.

A．Indeed

B．Still

C．Surely

D．Finally

7.

A．ending

B．plot

C．outline

D．passage

8.

A．happily

B．carefully

C．unwillingly

D．foolishly

9.

A．start

B．finish

C．work

D．change

10.

A．allow

B．force

C．remind

D．encourage

11.

A．admitting

B．returning

C．responding

D．referring

12.

A．present

B．memory

C．dream

D．future

13.

A．right

B．first

C．new

D．blank

14.

A．more or less

B．line by line

C．one by one

D．now and then

15.

A．story

B．job

C．plan

D．hope

5 . When I was a graduate student, I felt too busy to exercise. I promised myself I’d do it once I _________ school. I knew I would be busy as an assistant professor. _________, I believed in my will power.

When I started my first job at Williams College, I _________ did exercise regularly. It turned out that I was in a(n) _________ that offered excellent support for what I _________ to do.

Research shows that our _________ are influenced by whether our environment makes something easy or difficult. Even the smallest difference can have an outsized _________. In one study, researchers _________ items from the front to the back of a salad bar — a change of just 10 inches — and the _________ inconvenience made people eat less of these items.

My plan to exercise benefited from Williamstown’s long winter. People figured the best way through it was to get __________ happily and enjoy it. I kept meeting people who were __________ joggers. When I started, they were quick to offer social __________. With so many runners in town, it was easy to find trails (小径), including those __________ for beginners.

Do __________ your environment to make challenging tasks easier. If you want to socialize, befriend outgoing persons. Or __________ your cell phone when you need to concentrate on study. The right surroundings are more powerful than willpower alone.

1.

A．attended

B．finished

C．started

D．furthered

2.

A．However

B．Thus

C．Instead

D．Meanwhile

3.

A．unwillingly

B．virtually

C．actually

D．barely

4.

A．occupation

B．situation

C．position

D．environment

5.

A．hoped

B．insisted

C．hesitated

D．managed

6.

A．experiences

B．choices

C．consequences

D．emotions

7.

A．advantage

B．reward

C．effect

D．risk

8.

A．examined

B．concerned

C．counted

D．moved

9.

A．obvious

B．major

C．unique

D．slight

10.

A．aboard

B．outdoors

C．home

D．inside

11.

A．enthusiastic

B．sensitive

C．independent

D．ambitious

12.

A．resources

B．activities

C．support

D．service

13.

A．instructive

B．strange

C．tough

D．fit

14.

A．change

B．protect

C．ignore

D．accept

15.

A．answer

B．silence

C．keep

D．ring

8 . I can remember once when I was just a little boy, I sat on a chair and watched as my mum painstakingly _______ a large, homemade quilt (被子). I looked over at one edge of the quilt being sewed and saw a piece of thread _______. Without thinking I reached over to pull it.

“No!” yelled my mum. I jumped back. That was the first time I can ever remember her yelling at me. Seeing the _______ look on my face, she smiled and _______ showed me why she had yelled. That piece of thread wove in and out, making its way from one end of the quilt to the other. If I had pulled it out, I might have torn the entire quilt and _______ hours of work.

As I look back on that moment today, I can see that each of our lives is like that _______. We are all just a _______ string in the tapestry (挂毯) of life. We can’t always see where we are going or what we are connected to. If we pull ourselves out of it, we will leave a _______ in it.

Don’t feel lost in the tapestry of life then. Embrace your _______ in it. You may only be a single piece of thread but your love and your life help to __________ the whole thing together.

1.

A．sewed

B．ironed

C．folded

D．measured

2.

A．winding up

B．laid aside

C．sticking out

D．wrapped up

3.

A．depressed

B．disappointed

C．terrified

D．annoyed

4.

A．gently

B．reluctantly

C．roughly

D．eagerly

5.

A．stopped

B．ruined

C．repaid

D．disturbed

6.

A．quilt

B．thread

C．scene

D．work

7.

A．special

B．strong

C．straight

D．single

8.

A．blank

B．hole

C．line

D．mark

9.

A．change

B．weakness

C．power

D．place

10.

A．do

B．press

C．push

D．hold

10 . Failure is probably the most exhausting experience one ever has. There is nothing more tiring than not succeeding. We experience this tiredness in two ways: start-up fatigue (疲惫) and performance fatigue.

In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it is either too boring or too difficult.     1     Such start-up fatigue is very real, even if not actually physical. The solution is obvious though perhaps not easy to apply: always handle the most difficult job first.     2     Using my own rule, I determined to write them in alphabetical (字母) order and I always started the day’s work with the difficult task of essay-writing. Experience proved that the rule works.

    3     Though willing to get started, we cannot seem to do the job right. Its difficulties appear so great that we fail again and again. Years ago, when planning Encyclopedia Britannica (《大英百科全书》), I had to create a table of contents based on the topics of its article. Nothing like this had ever been done before and none of the solutions that I came up with worked. My fatigue became almost unbearable. Mentally exhausted, I wrote down all the reasons why the problems cannot be solved. I tried to convince myself that the trouble was with the problem itself, not with me.     4     An hour later, I woke up suddenly with the solution which had come up in my unconscious mind and proved correct at every step.

    5     Success was now as exciting as failure had been depressing. Human beings, I believe, must try to succeed. Success, then, means never feeling tired.

A．This feeling finally weighed me down.

B．Hard as I worked as before, I felt no fatigue.

C．Performance fatigue is more difficult to handle.

D．And the longer we delay it, the more tired we feel.

E．Feeling relieved, I sat back in an easy chair and fell asleep.

F．I once was asked to write 102 essays on some famous authors.

G．I racked my brains day and night and wrote the essays desperately.