1 . Years ago, our history teacher asked to create a newspaper in groups about world culture in class.

We first wrote the names of three _______ we wanted in our group. Unluckily, Mrs. Bartlett, our teacher, didn’t put me in the group with any of my friends. Instead, I was with Mauro, who never spoke English, Juliette, who always wore thick glasses and Rachel, who wore strange clothes. I _______ talked to them. Oh, how I wanted to be with my friends!

I was so _______ that I walked up to Mrs. Bartlett. “I know what you want, Karina,” she gently patted (拍) me on my shoulder, “but your group needs a leader. I need you to _______ them pass this project. Only you can make it.”

I was shocked (震惊的).

“Will you help them?” she asked.

I couldn’t believe I said “yes” _______ it came out of my mouth.

I bravely walked to my group and started our project. We had _______ tasks (任务) according to our own interests. Gradually (渐渐地), I felt myself enjoying being with them. I found out Mauro had problems with English but was talented in history. _______ Juliette’s thick glasses were her big and beautiful eyes. Rachel was so creative that she always bad new ideas. I realized that they were not strange; they were just people that _______ cared enough for, but (除了) Mrs. Bartlett. Her kindness _______ me best in the four of us.

I learned something that week. Mrs. Bartlett gave me a(n) ________ to see other people in a new way. I learned that who we are is more important than what we seem to be.

Mrs. Bartlett gave us an A on that project, but I thought we should have banded it back, because she was the one who truly deserved (值得) it.

1.

A．teachers

B．friends

C．groups

D．students

2.

A．never

B．always

C．sometimes

D．usually

3.

A．happy

B．surprised

C．upset

D．understanding

4.

A．expect

B．promise

C．refuse

D．help

5.

A．until

B．if

C．so

D．because

6.

A．the same

B．similar

C．different

D．simple

7.

A．Between

B．Behind

C．On

D．In front of

8.

A．every one

B．someone

C．anyone

D．no one

9.

A．made up

B．looked for

C．brought out

D．turned on

10.

A．chance

B．exam

C．beginning

D．part

2 . 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。

It was the day before Thanksgiving. Gray clouds covered the sky. The air was biting. The temperature was below freezing. And I was on the way home.

This is my driver Jacob, a tall, strong and middle-aged man. Jacob was sent to pick me up and take me three hours on a drive inland in Mexico. Like most drivers, he is very talkative. As we were driving, he started to tell me his story. Out of the habit shaped by my career, I like to chat and I like to get to know people and their stories.

He shared with me that since the pandemic, he had to change jobs and was currently spending six days a week away from his family in a town that had more work. This life certainly can seem full of pains at times. It is up to us, though, to make each one a blessing in disguise (伪装，掩饰).

He mentioned the name of his hometown ‘Nah Bok’ and shared that he had to spend five hours on his only day off on the three different buses to get there and back to spend one day with them. His mother, his wife and his kids are there, waiting for him. The weekly trips are tiring but worthwhile for those short moments of happiness and joy. Then they parted ways, wishing well thoughts for the week ahead.

I do understand such experience. Admittedly, I was one of those kids like his. My father had worked away when I was young, sometimes away for weeks and months at a time. I remember us kids waiting for our turn to have just a couple of minutes on the phone with him back before we had Skype (一种即时通讯软件).

注意：
1.所续写的短文词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

After two hours into our drive, I saw a sign saying ‘Nah Bok’.

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That’s a little moment of JOY I brought to the man.

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3 . 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。

It was the last day of school, and the long year spent in fourth grade had finally come to an end. It had rained heavily all day, and by the afternoon it became chilly. The sun had dipped below the horizon (地平线) as I got home soaked (湿透) and cold. I rushed into my room and slipped into some dry clothes. Once I had changed, I joined my mother in the kitchen. She had already lit the fire to prepare supper.

The wood soon caught fire, and the warmth spread around the room. I tried to get closer to the fire as my body was shivering with the intense cold. My mother gently rubbed my back and said, “I am proud of you, my little hero,” as I told her how my schoolwork had improved. I remember her bright smile and the joy in her eyes.

My mother started humming the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson. I immediately began to sing with my mother. We would always sing songs like this together. My mother knew how much I loved singing. She always felt sorry that she couldn’t afford to pay for music classes for me.

Life was not easy for us during that period. I was living with my mother after she separated from my dad, which happened the year before when I was in third grade. Sometimes the nights were tedious (单调乏味的) and tiresome as we did not have a television and the batteries in our old radio would often run out. However, I enjoyed the 20 songs that my mother and I sang together. As she hummed the tune and I sang along, I dreamed of a world where performing on stage would be the pillar (支柱) of my life. The turning point of my childhood came after the end of fourth grade. Our neighbor moved away and left his old piano to us.

注意：

1. 续写词数应为150个左右;

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

My mother was so happy that she could teach me singing at home with this piano.

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The next term, I became the lead singer of the school chorus, which was one step closer to my dream of becoming a singer and inspiring people with my voice.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 . Most of us have some sort of bucket list—a checklist of experiences and accomplishments we hope to achieve before our time here on earth is up. When we think of how to improve our lives, our first urge is generally to add things: I’d be happier if my career were going better. Everything would be different if I could find a good relationship. There is only one problem with this approach—science suggests it tends to have the opposite result.

A mountain of researches show that when you reach your goals, they’re likely to only bring you momentary joy. After a brief high, dissatisfaction creeps in and we start to long for the next thing on the list. How do you get off this problem and find lasting peace of mind? Brooks offers a simple, practical suggestion: Swap your traditional bucket list for something he calls a “reverse bucket list.”

“Each year on my birthday, I list my wants and attachments—the stuff that fits under the categories of money, power, pleasure and honor. I try to be completely honest,” he writes. Next, Brooks sits down and lists what his life would be like in five years if he were truly happy and successful—if he were living up to his values and experiencing a sense of psychological peace. The final step is to compare the two lists side by side. Would those things he longs for actually bring him closer to his vision of the good life?

If an item is on your bucket list because it lines up with your deepest desires and values, keep it. If it’s there to impress the neighbors or feed a vague and strong need for “success”, onto the reverse bucket list it goes.

When scientists ask people to solve problems of all kinds, their first urge is to add elements. They think a new feature, additional rule or extra ingredient will improve the final outcome. But recent research shows that subtraction (减法) is often the better one.

1. What is a problem probably caused when you achieve your goals?

A．You will be eaten up with pride.

B．Your confidence will be boosted overly.

C．You will be unwilling to achieve the next goal.

D．Your temporary happiness will give way to discontent.

2. What’s the difference between the traditional and the reverse bucket list?

A．Whether the items on the list are listed honestly.

B．Whether the items on the list can bring you glory.

C．Whether the items on the list can be achieved.

D．Whether the items on the list are consistent with your beliefs.

3. According to Brooks, which of the following will be classified into the reverse bucket list?

A．Buying a more luxurious villa than a friend’s.

B．Keeping on working out regularly to keep fit.

C．Serving the community to keep mentally peaceful.

D．Studying abroad for further education to realize self-value.

4. What is a suitable title for the text?

A．The Barrier of Happiness: A Rule of Subtraction

B．The Secret to Happiness: A Reverse Bucket List

C．The Block to Happiness: A Traditional Bucket List

D．The Truth of Happiness: A Checklist of Achievements

5 . 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。

Once upon a time, there lived a poor but cheerful shoemaker. He was so happy that he sang all day long. The children loved to stand around his window to listen to him.

Next door to the shoemaker lived a rich man. He used to sit up all night to count his gold. In the morning, he went to bed, but he could not sleep because of the sound of the shoemaker’s singing. One day, he thought of a way to stop the singing. He wrote a letter to the shoemaker inviting him over for a cup of tea.

The shoemaker came at once, and to his great surprise, the rich man gave him a bag of gold as a gift. The shoemaker took the bag and thanked the rich man. When he returned home, the shoemaker couldn’t wait to open the bag. He had never seen so much gold in his life! He sat down at his bench and began, carefully, to count it. The children watched through the window.

There was so much there that the shoemaker was afraid to let it out of his sight. So he took it to bed with him. But he could not sleep for worrying about it. So he got out of bed and went to hide it in the attic (阁楼), but he was not sure if that was a good place.

Very early in the morning, he got up and brought his gold down from the attic. He had decided to hide it up the chimney (烟囱) instead. But after breakfast, he thought it would be safer in the chicken house. So he hid it there. But he was still uneasy, and in a little while he dug a hole in the garden and buried his bag of gold in it.

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。
Paragraph 1:

He was in no mood for singing and found it difficult to focus on his work.

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Paragraph 2:

At last the shoemaker felt so unhappy that he took his bag of gold and ran next door to the rich man.

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6 . T. S. Eliot wrote of “Distracted from distraction by distraction /Filled with fancies and empty of meaning.” T. S. Eliot never had a smartphone.

Neither did I for a long time. No Facebook account; not even email. But according to my date of manufacture, I’m supposed to be a digital native. Perhaps it’s because by the age of 20 I was living in the Welsh countryside with no signal and no Wi-Fi.

When I finally fell into the digital world, I fell hard. Unlike my friends for whom social media and mobile technology had grown and flowered around them, for me it was a sudden immersion. I got Facebook, Twitter and Gmail accounts at the same time that I got an iPhone 4. I would check my phone; five minutes later I would check my phone again. I was addicted and it started to affect my relationships with friends and family

One night, without a word, I abandoned my iPhone and bought a Nokia 3310 and became the talk of the town. Soon I became aware that not only had I stolen secret time back from the hurried days, but somehow a secret space as well. I could stretch out, free to think again, to be wholly creative and to learn meaningfully.

But, wherever I went I got bloody lost. Wandering blindly around London, only to miss appointments, became a frequent pastime (消遣). What did we do before Google Maps? I was useless. The change was worth it, though. I’ll sound like an overstatement but I think it changed my life. My choices are broader and healthier because I’m not being screamed at all day.

I bought a new Samsung phone last week. I had been scared of the rate of progress, crying: “Stop the train! Stop the madness.” But I want to be part of building the future, and to do that, you’ve got to swim in contemporary waters. Rejecting the modern world doesn’t help anyone. It slows you down and I need to be efficient. Time will tell whether I’ve mastered the wisdom to reject constantly checking my phone.

1. What can be learned about the author when she lived in the Welsh countryside?

A．She read a lot of T. S. Eliot.	B．She had no friends to talk with.
C．She had no access to the Internet.	D．She was afraid of the digital world.

2. Why did the author buy the Nokia 3310?

A．She thought she needed a spare phone.	B．She found her iPhone stopped working.
C．She wanted to attract people’s attention.	D．She hoped to break her smartphone addiction.

3. What happened after the author used the Nokia 3310?

A．She led a simple and healthy life.	B．She found her life was in a mess.
C．She spent more time with her friends.	D．She became an example for other people.

4. For what purpose did the author buy the Samsung phone?

A．To seek wisdom.	B．To stop her madness.
C．To keep pace with the times.	D．To get back to the real world.

7 . As the saying goes, life is sweet. But while we may wish for consistently sweet moments, life often serves us other _________.

Recently, we celebrated my mom’s birthday. In her nineties now, as she _________ the closing stages of a long and remarkable life, she struggles with dementia (痴呆), leading to her mind and body not _________ the way she would want.

The day before the celebration, we _________ to bake cookies with her great grand kids. Not just any cookies, but 60 _________ sugar cookies cut in different shapes, covered with lots of sprinkles (糖屑). Though the kids worked as carefully as they could, they made the kitchen a total mess, _________almost as many sprinkles on the floor as on the cookies. They went on for hours, rolling dough, baking, cutting shapes, and _________ with four kinds of sprinkles.

The next day, the birthday _________ was a success. We took many pictures, and the beautiful cookies were shared. In an _________ way, those sweet sprinkles have not only stuck in my mind but remained almost everywhere in our home for the past few days. In every __________, I continue to find them, in all the colors of the rainbow, four shapes and sizes, sweet, and after I __________ step on them, not so sweet.

Truly, these are bittersweet moments, filled with __________ emotions. From such moments, we unwillingly learn that much in life is __________ our control: the separations and losses, the __________ of life, the passage of time. Life serves up many flavors. __________, we can choose our attitudes on the journey.

1.

A．memories

B．flavors

C．experiences

D．smells

2.

A．forgets

B．realizes

C．nears

D．questions

3.

A．functioning

B．changing

C．failing

D．growing

4.

A．decided

B．asked

C．managed

D．continued

5.

A．new-born

B．snow-covered

C．hard-won

D．home-made

6.

A．working on

B．preparing for

C．cutting off

D．resulting in

7.

A．checking

B．decorating

C．struggling

D．volunteering

8.

A．cake

B．wish

C．gift

D．party

9.

A．unexpected

B．unknown

C．undoubted

D．unlimited

10.

A．picture

B．cookie

C．room

D．house

11.

A．dangerously

B．successfully

C．emotionally

D．accidentally

12.

A．new

B．strong

C．mixed

D．negative

13.

A．within

B．through

C．beyond

D．toward

14.

A．shortness

B．meaning

C．record

D．style

15.

A．Instead

B．However

C．Meanwhile

D．Therefore

8 . I wasn’t raised to be a fan of snails (蜗牛). I was always taught that if we see a snail on a plant, we should pick it off and_________on it. This brought us the kind of giggly (咯咯傻笑的) _________that only children experience. We loved it. However, my_________on snails has changed, as I’ve grown older. They bring me a different kind of happiness.

The first time I thought of snails as more than a_________was when I saw something that_________ me in my garden. A small snail, _________a hard shell, moved slowly toward one_________bud and explored it. The exploration lasted for quite a while and, _________enough, the bud turned into a full bloom. Watching the snail carefully touching the flower_________me of the lyric: “Snails see the beauty in every inch.” I realized that the snail is probably a best representation of__________and taking life slowly.

Then, I__________the snail in my palm. It was scared by the sudden move and immediately__________back into its shell. I thought it would__________inside for several minutes, but shortly after gutting used to the takeaway, the snail poked its head out again. It was not just hiding but__________.

Giving ourselves time to nourish (滋养) inside and out, and waiting for the right__________to reenter the exciting life, is extremely restorative and worthwhile.

1.

A．knock

B．stamp

C．lean

D．click

2.

A．relief

B．satisfaction

C．sympathy

D．scare

3.

A．view

B．focus

C．debate

D．article

4.

A．pet

B．toy

C．pest

D．mascot

5.

A．puzzles

B．interests

C．comforts

D．distracts

6.

A．dragging

B．using

C．lifting

D．pushing

7.

A．eye-catching

B．breathtaking

C．familiar-looking

D．half-blooming

8.

A．magically

B．secretly

C．swiftly

D．silently

9.

A．cured

B．reminded

C．warned

D．informed

10.

A．curiosity

B．excitement

C．calmness

D．eagerness

11.

A．placed

B．covered

C．stuck

D．wrapped

12.

A．stepped

B．drew

C．crawled

D．walked

13.

A．wander

B．sleep

C．hide

D．struggle

14.

A．competing

B．resisting

C．exploring

D．adjusting

15.

A．reason

B．position

C．moment

D．choice

9 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Zu Ti of the Jin Dynasty was a man who had with great ambition. When he was young, he had a good friend     1     (name) Liu Kun. They had such a deep friendship     2     they stayed together every day and got up at the same time every morning.

One day, when they were sleeping. Zu Ti heard the rooster crowing (鸡鸣) . He woke up Liu Kun and said, “How about     3     (get) up to play swords (剑) as soon as we heard the rooster crowing from now on?” Liu Kun was still     4     (sleep) . But he agreed with him     5     (joyful) . From then on, they got up and played swords once the rooster began crowing. They kept their word and never gave up no matter     6     cold in winter or hot in summer. Hard work     7     (pay) off. After a long period of hard study and training, they finally became the all-rounder. And they both did excellent jobs to their country.

The idiom “to rise with the rooster” teaches us that with ambition and hard work,     8     (succeed) is possible. When we can discover our shortcomings     9     time, it is not too late to try. But if you are not willing     10     (work) hard, you will not be able to achieve a career after all.

10 . My plan to learn to play the cello (大提琴) was a health y choice. So I took the next innocent step of going to a shop that sells and rents string instruments, especially violins, violas, and cellos. The place was a hole-in-the-wall, up a steep flight of stairs. Instruments left a narrow path to the counter where a woman with grey hair and warm eyes greeted me. Since I couldn’t form a question about what I wanted, I just stood there exploring the scene, which felt immensely pleasurable.

I rented a cello, a bow, and a case to hold them. What attracted me to the cello was its enormous size and its soft, smooth, and memorable sounds. It’s an instrument made of beautifully polished wood that I could wrap my arms around and feel its powerful vibrations when the strings were played. That was a good starting point for me. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to play it.

There’s a popular belief that the cello is a particularly difficult instrument to learn. Another is the admonition, “Don’t bother if you are a beginner over age 10!” Well, I was 70, and what others thought no longer influenced me. And besides, I thought of the words of Dr. Cohen, who suggested that learning causes physical changes in the brain.

So I found a teacher who had respect for older adult beginners and I practiced diligently, daily for years, and sometimes disheartened, but I kept up. I’m happy to report that now, more than a decade later, I can hold my own in a string trio and two quartets （two violins, a viola, and me, the female cello）and even a senior community band. Of course, I’ll never sound like Yo-Yo Ma but you could recognize a Mozart piece if you heard me play it. And, more importantly, I don’t need to please anyone but myself.

Whether it’s a pleasurable pastime or a new career, the starting point is the same: wonder, curiosity, determination, and the desire to keep your brain sharp.

1. How did the writer feel in the shop?

A．Amused by the shop assistant.

B．Anxious for a live performance.

C．Pleased at the nice music atmosphere.

D．Curious about where to find a teacher.

2. What does the underlined word “admonition” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Approval.	B．Criticism.
C．Puzzlement.	D．Warning.

3. Why does the writer mention Dr. Cohen in paragraph 3?

A．To recommend a reliable doctor.

B．To provide proof for common belief.

C．To add another reason for her decision.

D．To stress the crucial function of the brain.

4. Which of the following can best convey the writer’s idea?

A．Art is man’s second nature.

B．One is never too old to learn.

C．Education is the key to success.

D．Happiness is the best form of health.