1 . When I was 13 years old, I went on a 735-mile cycling trip with my brother and father. We were all keen cyclists and I can say I felt like I was born on a bike. My father was a professional cyclist, and wanted to show us, his twin sons, the work of the trade and bond with us.

The trip was across the San Juan Islands and then Vancouver Island. We prepared for the journey by going on smaller rides and practiced cycling with panniers (货筐). Adjusting to the weight on the bike was harder than I thought. When we set out for the trip, I knew that I yearned to have an adventure and wanted to see the beautiful sights of mountains, bears, moose, deer, forests, and much more.

One night, after perhaps a week into the trip, we were on our last legs(路程)getting to a campsite, and going down a large hill. It was raining moderately and we were coasting down the hill in eager delight to take a rest from going up a mountain with all of our gear and sore legs.

Suddenly, my brother’s front tire slipped in the rain, and he slid into the middle of the road. My father and I stopped, asking if he was okay. Apparently, he was not hurt too much, but his leg was caught up in the bike frame. From the top of the hill, we saw the light of a car coming. My father and I looked on in shock. Chris could not seem to get out of the entrapment of his bike, and now the car was blasting its way. This all happened within seconds.

Instinctively, I rushed out in front of my brother in the middle of the road, and waved my hands frantically. The car rushed forward, but swerved to the left to go around my brother and I. My brother was saved from being crushed by the car.

My brother says I was incredibly brave, but I think we do what we know is right. I believe that one should listen to one’s gut in times of peril, and not intellectualize dilemmas. If I had thought about what I was doing on that night, my brother might have been robbed from this world. Life and death often swing in the balance between what seems natural and rational.

1. What does Dad expect from the cycling trip?

A．To spend time with his sons.

B．To instruct his sons how to cycle.

C．To show off his professional skills.

D．To explore the adventures in the mountain.

2. The possible reason for the accident is that________.

A．It rained cats and dogs.

B．A bear came out of nowhere.

C．The road down the hill was too slippery.

D．They were too excited to get back to the campsite.

3. What can we learn from the story?

A．A friend is never known till a man has need.

B．The best that we find in our travel is an honest friend.

C．Brothers concentrate on each other, and their strength runs out of gold.

D．If you are serious about what you’re doing, keep you head and follow your instinct.

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。

Life is Good Clothing is a 100 million-dollar company run by brothers Bert and John Jacobs. Like any other businessmen, they went through a lot of failures. However, the idea

“Life is good” from their mother kept them going and inspired them to build a clothing company that is now very successful.

In 1988, Bert and Jacobs took a seven-week road trip from California to Boston. The brothers said this trip changed their lives forever as they looked back on their childhood. According to the Jacobs, their childhood was perfectly-imperfect. Their house did not have heating but they were taught to always see the good in things.

They remembered playing outside all day and when it was dinner time, they would gather around the dinner table. Their mother would say to them, “Tell me something good that happened today.” Their father had a near — death accident which caused severe damage to his right hand. The accident made their father develop a terrible temper （脾气），but their mother would always sing to them and read them children’s stories. “That optimism was something our family always had, even when we had little else,” the brothers said.

During the trip, they tried to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives and decided to run a clothing business. They started selling T-shirt designs in street fairs around Boston. Their design was just a simple drawing of a stick figure with the phrase “Life is good.”

Their small business didn’t turn out so well, but the two brothers did not give up. Then they changed their target audience. This time, they tried to sell their T-shirts to college students, going to different schools every night. Again it did not work. To figure out what they had been doing wrong, Bert and John held beer parties, where they asked their friends for their honest opinions. In return , they could enjoy free beer and amusing stories from the brothers. Again this did not seem to work and they were running out of money.

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。
However, they took the risk and held another party which they thought was the last.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Finally, someone noticed their design and showed sincere appreciation.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . Selflessness is an important key to marriage, friendship, and relationships. It is also a vital key to happiness and fulfillment(满足). But unfortunately, often overlooked.

Selflessness is often overlooked as a key to happiness because, on the surface, it appears to run contrary to the very concept.    1    No, it is not. Or at least, it doesn't need to be.

Our lives can be lived for any number of purposes.    2    But our lives can also be lived for the pursuit(追求)of justice, happiness, or growth for another person or people group. We can devote ourselves to advancing certain causes. But only when we practice service and selflessness will we find lasting significance in our world.

Many will try to explain success in terms of winning out over others, having power over others, or the ability to control others.    3    Nobody is drawn to selfishness. Nobody is willing to give themselves up for one who desires his own kingdom above all things.

We are uniquely drawn to those who selflessly give of themselves. Those who love und give generously find a type of fulfillment that extends beyond position or title.    4    

    5    Instead, may we choose to pursue selflessness as the very means to achieve happiness—not just for ourselves, but for those we choose to love.

A．Nobody seeks the wise advice of a selfish person.

B．But this type of happiness and influence is short-lived.

C．Isn't the pursuit of happiness by its very nature selfish?

D．May we refuse to overlook the importance of selflessness.

E．Is the desire for happiness common and widespread in humans?

F．Their stories are told in positive ways and their happiness is truly lasting.

G．They can be used to advance a personal kingdom for selfish reasons—money or reputation.

4 . 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 sticks to the traditional form of doing work. It 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 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 an in-depth knowledge or experience of the work in hand, because that allows you to look for efficient ways to do the work in a planned and organized manner. 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 you gather the expertise (专业技能) and the knowledge to understand the work in hand and efficiently improve on it and work smartly.

So which do you think should be preferred? We are sure you have heard of “United we stand, divided we fall.”, and that is true in this case too. 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 in turn enables us to 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 obtain excellent results from their work.

2. Smart workers can save a lot of time by ________.

A．making a sensible plan

B．making use of creative ways

C．learning experience from others

D．getting inspiration from a new task

3. What does the author think of hard work?

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

4. In the author’s view, the improvement of work pattern requires ________.

A．keeping working hard

B．finding a method of working smartly

C．combining smart work with hard work

D．choosing a suitable way of working based on your need

5. What does the example of donkey in Paragraph 6 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.

5 . One steamy July afternoon in central Arkansas, my house caught fire unfortunately. I was lost for words to describe the feeling of seeing my home going up in flames. But the panic that filled my shocked heart in that awful moment was for the nine cats that shared my home after being rescued from situations of abuse and abandonment.

The amazing firefighters arrived in time, but the chemical-laden smoke had already caused deaths. I examined and kissed each cat goodbye, extremely grateful that they had passed away gently, without injuries or burns. After staying with a friend for weeks, I was relocated to a furnished apartment. One evening I was occupied in writing a mystery novel when a “meow” sounded from outside the apartment door. Was it my mind playing tricks again? More than once I had heard, seen or felt the brush of one of my departed furry roommates. The meow grew louder and more insistent. Curious, I opened the door.

Sitting on the doorstep was a kitten (小猫) with a black coat and alert amber eyes. A neighbor walking by picked him up and began petting him. When I remarked how cute her kitten was, she explained that he had been born under a bridge and looked around for food. This kitty-loving neighbor was quick to offer an extra litter box asking if I was interested in giving him a home. My immediate reaction was a seemingly humorous “that’s all I need!” After all, my determination had been well reasoned and remained firm. But without hesitation she put the adorable kitten down. I thanked her and closed the door, determined to just let him stay until a real home could be found.

That night, as I slid between the sheets of the bed in the still unfamiliar apartment, the energetic little fur ball jumped onto the bed yawned dramatically, and nestled by my side. That was the first night since the fire that I actually slept. Needless to say, the cat community knew the precise treatment for healing far better than I.

The name Starlight (Star for short) just occurred to me because that night he brought some light back into my life. He adored wrestling rubber bands, raced up and down the stairs, darted outside anytime the door opened, suddenly appeared everywhere I didn’t want him to be, held onto the broom while I was trying to sweep, and rolled in catnip or whatever else happened to be on the floor.

In the five years since the fire, we have been through a lot, Starlight and I. We returned to the house, managed to keep the business alive, brought the mystery novel to the final edits before it’s submitted in the hope of publication. Star helped me through a massive, yet untraditional, healing of spirit. The memories of the kitties that passed away in the fire now spark only warmth in my heart and win some smiles. Every single day, I appreciate the serendipitous (有意外收获的) nature of the Universe that sent me hope in the form of a little black fur ball.

So take a little advice from my furry friend: no matter how hopeless things may become or how fixed your resolution may be, open the door whenever opportunity knocks. It just might be a star to light your way.

1. What made the author relieved after the fire was put out?

A．The cats being rescued from situations of abandonment.

B．The cats being lost in the fire without receiving injuries.

C．A description of the belongings going up in flames.

D．A new house being designed for him to move in.

2. What probably caused the author to open the door?

A．The brush of his departed furry roommates playing tricks on him.

B．The impact of the fire that burnt down his house on his soul.

C．The curiosity about the novel written in memory of his cats.

D．The thought of making sure that it was a kitten outside.

3. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．The author desired to make friends with a cat-loving neighbor.

B．The author made a decision not to take in any animals.

C．The author didn’t consider a cat-loving neighbor as a friend

D．The author made a decision to adopt other animals.

4. What did the author say about Starlight?

A．It was given a unsuitable name “Starlight”.

B．It was very naughty and made him annoyed.

C．It made him regain hope and make progress.

D．It knew how to give right treatment for healing.

5. What is the best title for the passage?

A．The Dream for Kittens	B．Ways to Remove Sadness
C．The Power of Resolutions	D．Starlight to Give Hope

6 . 你校正在组织英语作文比赛，题目为“My Greatest Harvest in the Past Year”，请你写一篇短文参赛，内容包括：
1. 简述你的最大收获；
2. 谈谈该收获对你的影响；
3. 表达对新一年的期待。
注意：1. 词数 100 左右；
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

My Greatest Harvest in the Past Year

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . There's 8 Symphony Just Below the Surface—Can You Hear It?

Imagine it's your birthday, and your friends and family pool their money to get you the best gift you can imagine: tickets for fabulous seats to see your favorite musical act.     1     You'd broken your knees, say, or you learned of a failure of exam. Even while facing the prospect of extreme difficulty in your life, you are so thrilled to see your favorite group that for a couple of hours, you can put all of that behind you.

As humans, we have been given a wonderful gift.     2     In the example of the concert, we know that when the music ends, we may go back to our concerns, but while it's playing, there is nothing we can do about them, so we might as well just give in.

Life always has its music, and we don t need to be front-row center at a concert to hear it. Throughout our lives, no matter what else is going on, a melody is present.     3     The noise of our worry drowns out all the other things we might otherwise hear and enjoy.

    4     And let's face it, this is something we were born to do, so the skill is there, waiting for us to employ it. We can tap into the music, and when we do find ourselves distracted from it, we can use consciousness to bring us right back. It is as simple as saying, “OK, I'm distracted again; I am going to start listening again." Soon, we will find that we have to redirect ourselves less and less, and we hear the music more and more.

Life is always playing music, but we have to listen, and we listen by being present. We can do this. We just need to realize and engage with the music of life that is always playing.     5    

A．We can become magnificent listeners to life, with enough practice.

B．This may work for a few minutes, and it may even last several hours.

C．In summary, listening to the music of life requires wisdom and a good taste.

D．That is the ability to suspend our fears and worries and focus on what we love.

E．When we do this, we'll discover that the symphony inside of us is magnificent.

F．But we are often so focused on the present moment that we fail to hear the melody.

G．But what if you got to the venue and something terrible had just happened to you?

8 . I grew up as a country girl. My sister and I didn’t play video games. We didn’t have cable TV. Summers were filled with swimming in the pond and picking wild blackberries for Grandma to make a pie. Autumn was filled with corn mazes and crunching through leaves in the woods. And winter was all about building igloos near the frozen lake.

My high school had zero diversity. Most people here could visit their entire extended family within 30 miles’ drive. And many were perfectly happy with the prospect of staying in rural northeast Ohio forever.

It was in high school that I began to realize that I wanted something beyond what I knew inside my Midwest bubble. I loved reading and learning about new places, so I spent the rest of my high school career saving up so that I could go on a Lord of the Rings–themed tour of New Zealand when I graduated.

After that initial trip to New Zealand, I was fully infected with the travel bug. I joined my college marching band simply because it would mean international performance tours every two years. And I began to realize that I couldn’t imagine my life without travel in it.

I got a great education from both my little rural high school and my little rural Ohio college. But, the more I traveled, the more acutely aware I became of the fact that traveling made up for my education in a way that textbooks and PowerPoint presentations in lecture halls just simply could not.

So, is travel the best education? Well, I don’t know if it deserves the superlative of the “best”. But travel is definitely really valuable and a necessary part of becoming a global citizen of the world.

1. Which word best describes the author’s childhood?

A．Lonely.

B．Carefree.

C．Difficult.

D．Bittersweet.

2. What can be inferred about the author as a high school student?

A．She liked to judge others.	B．She was in favor of a rural life.
C．Her idea of traveling took roots.	D．She was never concerned about money.

3. Why is traveling important to the author?

A．She could apply the knowledge from the textbooks.

B．She could go on international performance tours.

C．She could receive scholarship where she traveled.

D．She could learn beyond the school and textbooks.

4. What message is mainly conveyed in the text?

A．East and west, home is the best.	B．He who doesn’t advance loses ground.
C．Life without travel can only call it survival.	D．A person to travel, perhaps lonely, may be free.

9 . 阅读短文，根据要求回答问题。

When an editor wrote to offer me the task of writing a famous artist's authorized biography, I was surprised. I replied, "Me? Are you sure you have the right writer?” But that's just what I was thinking. At that point in my career, although I had written many magazine articles, I had just a few small books to my name — children's comic books, mostly.

So I asked why she chose me. “Because of your warmth” the editor said. The editor thought my writing style would be a good fit for that artist. Finally, I accepted the writing task. I told my friend about the task. And she warned me, “Just understand that celebrities will often not treat others well. They all just seem nice on television, but they'll treat you like nothing but a servant to them.

Her words made me quite uncertain and anxious. “What if the artist ignores me? Can I finish the writing task? Should I give up?” I thought to myself. Anyway, days later I boarded the plane to the artist's city to meet her, still feeling very uncertain and anxious. However, these feelings melted into thin air within minutes after meeting her. My friend was wrong; this artist was an absolute sweetheart, who was humble, down-to-earth, funny and caring.

She shared cookies with me. She sat on the floor with me and we chatted into the middle of the night like we were old schoolmates. During the following days, she told me a lot about her life, work, dream, etc. And I managed to have a good knowledge of her. When I finished the book, the artist's husband called to tell me how well I had captured her, and that he felt very emotional and proud after reading the book. Hearing it, I was very glad.

Since that time, I've found I need to believe in myself and needn't be afraid of any uncertainty. Otherwise, I may miss a good opportunity in life. Now I've met many fascinating people and written many fascinating stories.

1. Why was the author surprised when the editor offered her the writing task? (no more than 10 words)
2. What was the author's friend's warning to her? (no more than 10 words)
3. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 3 probably mean? (no more than 5 words)
4. What made the author feel very glad after getting a call from the artist's husband? (no more than 8 words)
5. What lesson can you learn from the author's story? (no more than 20 words)

10 . Recently while driving, I heard poet Robert Pinsky on the radio. He was talking,______, about poetry and said something that ______ the way I had always thought about the ______. The idea was so ______ that I was almost embarrassed to admit it. It was something ______this: when we look at a painting, we don’t expect ourselves to ______ its literal meaning, or any meaning at all, right away. No, we enjoy ______because we like it, and we don’t know why. We generally ______ this as aesthetics (美学), a word that ______ the most “un-artsy” recognize and willingly accept.

Yet, when words on a page come into play, our brains ______, and we start trying to ______ and understand word structure. If we can’t assign a meaning within the first few ______, then our brains, ______ since childhood in the task of “reading comprehension”, may start to panic at our ______. The information becomes difficult, maybe even unknowable and therefore ______. This can happen to even a great____, a lover of literature — for poetry is a different animal.

However, as Pinsky______ that day, if we can recognize this, let it go, and ______ourselves to read poetry as we would look at a painting, with no ______of “translation”, then we may decide if we like it — or maybe even ______ it. Once we fall in love, a true passion is awakened.

1.

A．at least

B．of course

C．by accident

D．in vain

2.

A．approached

B．changed

C．proved

D．repeated

3.

A．talent

B．lesson

C．subject

D．example

4.

A．strong

B．special

C．simple

D．stupid

5.

A．similar to

B．familiar to

C．useful for

D．famous for

6.

A．hide

B．limit

C．remember

D．understand

7.

A．art

B．culture

C．literature

D．history

8.

A．write

B．accept

C．memorize

D．report

9.

A．yet

B．seldom

C．even

D．again

10.

A．pause

B．recall

C．return

D．switch

11.

A．organize

B．miss

C．recommend

D．believe

12.

A．goals

B．offers

C．rules

D．lines

13.

A．trusted

B．worried

C．trained

D．sharpened

14.

A．failure

B．illness

C．regret

D．carelessness

15.

A．unarguable

B．unappealing

C．unavoidable

D．undemanding

16.

A．speaker

B．adviser

C．performer

D．reader

17.

A．showed up

B．handed out

C．pointed out

D．took up

18.

A．allow

B．inspire

C．warn

D．forbid

19.

A．loss

B．expectation

C．evidence

D．suggestions

20.

A．create

B．see

C．hear

D．love