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.

3 . 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

4 . 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

5 . We have often heard that “work smart and not hard”．Does only smart work bring you success? And if so, then why are so many of us still busy putting our blood and sweat into working hard? Here, we’ll discuss hard work and smart work.

Hard work is all about consistently working towards a particular goal irrespective (不考虑的) of its worth, not being worried about the result and not using any means to reduce your effort. Hard work requires a lot of commitment (投入) and sincerity from the person. Although being boring and tiresome, it can give you the best results if it is done with heart and soul.

One of the preconditions of smart work is having in­depth knowledge or experience of the work in hand, because that allows you to look for efficient ways to do the work in a planned time. Being a smart worker saves a lot of time as you can find means to reduce your work by using logical and innovative ways to achieve your goals. Besides, it also gives you enough time to learn a new task while completing the present one.

Although it seems that smart work is a better option, what we forget is that smart work is the fruit of hard work. Only when you work hard can you gather the expertise (专门技能) and the knowledge to understand the work in hand and efficiently improve on it and work smartly.

You will attain great heights and lead a better and comfortable life if you combine both smart and hard work together. If you are not smart, your hard work will never pay. A donkey only does hard work, while a horse does hard work and uses its smartness whenever and wherever it needs. In a similar way, smart work is the result of hard work. To master the quality of smart work, you really need to work hard. Through hard work, we gain experience which helps us discover new things that may make us work smartly. The effort is important，but where to make that effort makes a difference.

1. What can we learn about hard workers from Paragraph 2?

A．They lack proper work skills.

B．They always have great patience.

C．They tend to ignore the goal of work.

D．They can obtain excellent results from their work if they work with heart and soul.

2. How can smart workers save a lot of time?

A．By making a sensible plan.

B．By making use of innovative ways.

C．By learning experience from others.

D．By getting inspiration from a new task.

3. What does the author think of hard work?

A．It is inspiring.	B．It is ineffective.
C．It is challenging.	D．It is fundamental.

4. What does the example of donkey in Paragraph 5 intend to show?

A．It is useless to work hard.

B．It is necessary to work smartly.

C．The efforts you make matter most.

D．The horse is cleverer than the donkey.

7 . Both my parents were educators, and for the past 40 years I’ve done the same thing. As_________, we know why kids don’t learn. But one thing that we _________discuss is the value and importance of human_________. A fellow teacher once said to me, “They don’t pay me to_________the kids. They pay me to teach a lesson.” I replied, “Kids don’t_________from people they don’t like.”

For years I watched my mother take the_________at break to buy snacks for kids that needed to_________, and bath soap for kids who didn’t smell so_________. Years later, after she retired, I watched some of those same kids come through and say to her, “Ms. Walker, you made me feel like I was _________. And I want you to just see what I’ve __________.”

When my mama died two years ago at 92, there were so many__________students at her funeral (葬礼). It brought tears to my eyes, not because she was __________, but because she left a treasure of relationships that could never __________.

Every child deserves a champion, and an adult who will never __________on them. We’re educators. We’re born to make a__________.

1.

A．adults

B．referees

C．parents

D．educators

2.

A．even

B．seldom

C．usually

D．frequently

3.

A．nature

B．resources

C．connection

D．behaviors

4.

A．like

B．feed

C．teach

D．protect

5.

A．disconnect

B．hear

C．learn

D．separate

6.

A．lead

B．time

C．charge

D．picture

7.

A．rest

B．grow

C．eat

D．defend

8.

A．good

B．awful

C．unique

D．strange

9.

A．nobody

B．anybody

C．everybody

D．somebody

10.

A．insisted

B．become

C．expected

D．understood

11.

A．well-rounded

B．former

C．enthusiastic

D．fresh

12.

A．gone

B．tired

C．reserved

D．respected

13.

A．progress

B．remain

C．cover

D．disappear

14.

A．give up

B．hold up

C．think about

D．talk about

15.

A．mark

B．promise

C．presentation

D．difference

8 . When the host announced that my choir (合唱队) won the second place of the World Choir Game, I couldn’t believe what I heard. All the_________that we made was worthwhile. Through this unforgotten experience, I _________much.

In the semi-finals (半决赛), we were supposed to sing four songs. When we played the third song, I suddenly heard an unexpected _________— a girl in the alto (女低音) got quick. The other students in the alto were _________ by the girl and were getting quicker and quicker. Our choir’s leader, Mrs Li noticed it and_________used her hand to keep time, but she _________. After the song, the smile on Mrs Li’s face froze and some of our members turned and tried to find the person who first got_________. My mind was blank, but quickly I realized the only thing we could do was to _________the performance. Then with a smile, Mrs Li became a _________again, who seemed to have totally forgot what we had done. We sang the____________song as usual.

After the competition, I was disappointed. Just because of one person’s fault, the whole choir must afford the fact that we might lose the game. I cried, but then I found nothing would change no matter how hard we____________ the girl who played poorly.____________, I came to her, encouraged her, and practiced the whole melody with her. In the finals, we got the medal because of our____________performance.

Never blame a person when she makes a mistake, but help her to solve the problem when you are struggling____________the same goal. No matter what you will experience with others in the future, successes or failures,____________or tears, these will surely become your precious treasure and memory.

1.

A．promises

B．efforts

C．requirement

D．differences

2.

A．considered

B．forgot

C．learned

D．explained

3.

A．name

B．shout

C．voice

D．song

4.

A．driven away

B．led away

C．given out

D．turned down

5.

A．similarly

B．easily

C．happily

D．immediately

6.

A．failed

B．succeeded

C．arrived

D．agreed

7.

A．busy

B．wrong

C．warm

D．slow

8.

A．quit

B．stop

C．complete

D．end

9.

A．conductor

B．singer

C．dancer

D．worker

10.

A．late

B．only

C．first

D．last

11.

A．blamed

B．encouraged

C．called

D．asked

12.

A．Otherwise

B．Therefore

C．However

D．Besides

13.

A．bad

B．common

C．perfect

D．rude

14.

A．up

B．on to

C．for

D．in

15.

A．mistake

B．surprise

C．sadness

D．laughter

10 . 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