2 . I once thought that outward beauty was the only factor to become a great person. When I was young, I read many kinds of books, most of which described characters who are handsome or beautiful. So I thought that being beautiful was the only way to become a success.

As I grew up, the story of my best friend made me realize that outward beauty was not so important to make a person successful. She was so beautiful a girl that every classmate liked to chat with her, but she was very arrogant (傲慢). In her opinion, she could get all she wanted because of her beauty, but all of her friends left her one by one! Only then did she come to know the importance of the beauty in a person’s heart, which changed her attitude and she made friends again.

Turning on TV, we can see many advertisements, most of which seem to give us a feeling that physical attractiveness is the most important thing. There seems to be a boom in plastic surgery. It is surprising that more and more people, especially girls and women, try it like the first man-made beauty in China, Hao Lulu. It is a common sense that attractive people can easily find work. Most good-looking guys usually get higher scores in the job interviews. But, what is real beauty? I want to say that is inner beauty because those who have beauty in their soul are really beautiful persons.

As is known, the beauty judged with eyes is temporary, so we should concentrate on inner beauty. And if we make efforts to make our minds beautiful, we’ll live a happier life.

1. Why did the author want to have a good appearance when she was young?

A．Because she wanted to be one of the characters in the books.

B．Because she wanted to get higher scores in the job interviews.

C．Because she wanted to follow the example of her friend.

D．Because the successful characters in the books she read were attractive.

2. Why did the writer refer to her friend’s story?

A．To show how important outward beauty is.

B．To show how terrible it is to be a beautiful girl.

C．To show the importance of the beauty in a person’s heart.

D．To show how beautiful her friend is.

3. What does the underlined sentence in the third paragraph mean?

A．A large number of people pay attention to outer beauty.

B．Surgery is becoming more and more popular.

C．More people can afford the price of doing plastic surgery.

D．The living standard has been improved over the past years.

4. Which of the following covers the passage best?

A．How do attractive persons become successful?

B．Inner beauty is the real beauty.

C．The key factor to find a good job is being attractive.

D．Plastic surgery is the best way to make a person more beautiful.

4 . My father loves his garden. He planted some seeds in it. But at that time, I didn’t understand why working in the dirt excited him so much.

Unfortunately, in early May, my father was seriously injured in an accident. He had to stay in bed for a while. My mother had several business trips, so she couldn’t take care of the garden. I didn’t want my father to worry, so I said that I would take care of his garden until he recovered. I assumed that the little plants would continue to grow as long as they had water, and luckily it rained fairly often, so I didn’t think much about the garden.

One Saturday morning, my father said to me, “Christine, the vegetables should be about ready to be picked. Let’s have a salad today!” I went out to the garden and was upset to see that many of the lettuce leaves and carrots had been half eaten by bugs. There were hundreds of bugs all over them!

I panicked for a moment but then I quietly went to the nearest store to buy some vegetables. When I gave the salad to him, he said, “Oh, Christine, what a beautiful salad! I can’t believe the carrots are this big already. You must be taking very good care of my garden.” I felt a little bit guilty.

Coming home, my mother saw the bag from the supermarket in the kitchen. I was embarrassed, and I admitted Dad wanted a salad but the garden was a disaster. I didn’t want to disappoint him so I went to the store. She laughed but promised to help me in the garden and weeks later I was finally able to pick some vegetables.

I carefully made a salad and took it to my father. He looked at it with a hint of a smile, “Christine, the carrots are smaller in this salad, but they taste better.”

Now, I better understand how putting a lot of effort into caring for something can help you appreciate the results more, however small they may be. Perhaps this was one of the reasons for my father’s love of gardening.

1. Why did Christine originally promise she would do the gardening?

A．She was asked by her father to do it.	B．She was interested in growing vegetables.
C．She knew it was important to her father.	D．She wanted to improve her gardening skills.

2. Which of the following was a problem in the garden?

A．Insects destroyed the lettuce and carrots.	B．Animals often dug holes in the garden.
C．The plants were given too much water.	D．The vegetables were marked incorrectly.

3. Why could Christine secretly use the store-bought vegetables to make the salad?

A．Her mother helped her to buy the vegetables.

B．Her mother regularly helped her to make a salad.

C．Her father couldn’t see the progress of the vegetables in his garden.

D．Her father went on a business trip at that time.

4. What did Christine learn from her experience of gardening?

A．Always get ready for a rainy day.	B．Don’t be disappointed by bugs.
C．Working alone produces results.	D．Hard work can often be rewarding.

5 . A few years ago, a friend sent me a restaurant gift card for Christmas, and I picked a pretty, sunny Sunday afternoon to use it. It felt good taking my two grown sons and daughter to a nice sit-down restaurant instead of the fast food places we usually ate at. The meal was delicious, and we all had a good time just being together. The gift card covered almost all of the check. I reached into my wallet to get enough cash to cover the rest. I saw two bills (钞票) in the front of it. The first would cover the rest of the check. The second would cover the check and give the waitress a nice tip. I reached down to pick out the first one.

At that moment, my mind flashed back to 30 years ago. I was working as a busboy (餐厅勤杂工) in a restaurant much like the one we were in. It was long hours of hard work for low pay. I went home just barely making enough to feed my young family. I also remembered how more than once I saw the waitresses counting their small tips while worrying about how they were going to pay the rent and buy their kids the things they needed. I remembered the pain in their eyes and saw the sadness in their faces at the end of the day.

I blinked (眨眼睛) and was back in the present again, with my fingers touching the smaller bill in my wallet. I smiled, pushed it back down and picked out the larger bill. I folded it around the gift card and covered both of them with the check. As we all got up from the table, I handed them to the hard-working waitress. “You keep the change,” I said with a smile and a happy heart.

We are all one family in this world. We live together, rejoice (高兴) together and suffer together. Do your best to be kind. Do your best to be a good person and replace the suffering with joy.

1. What do we know from the first paragraph?

A．The author's family had a hard life.	B．The gift card was enough to pay the check.
C．The author seldom ate together with his family.	D．The author valued the time he spent with his children.

2. The author mentioned his working experience as a busboy to ________.

A．describe struggles he faced in the past	B．complain about his job at the restaurant
C．explain why he chose the larger bill	D．show how hard waiters work

3. How did the author feel after giving the tip to the waitress?

A．Moved.

B．Pleased.

C．Puzzled.

D．Concerned.

4. What is the author's main purpose in writing this article?

A．To tell people to be kind.	B．To remind us not to forget our hard days.
C．To stress the importance of tipping servers.	D．To show that we should thank friends and family.

6 . Five Secrets to Living a Sunshine Life

Don't avoid or ignore negativity.

In order to conquer and overcome the negativity, it must be acknowledged. You are in control of your environment and if these negative situations keep making an appearance, it's up to you to handle them.

Take care of yourself and your needs.

In order to live a powerful and meaningful life, you must love yourself.     1     And this will be reflected in your thoughts and emotional state of mind. Love yourself fully in order to love others fully.

    2    

Determine what is worth your time and effort and what is not. If situations are bad and beyond repair，it's time to let go. Are there relationships or friendships that remain damaged but you know are worth the time?     3     Do what you can to find love in situations where it may have been absent in the past.

Give.

Give our time, energy, love and sometimes money to others.     4     So if you can, don't hesitate to do it.

Focus on things that make us smile, laugh and feel good.

This one is pretty simple.     5     That is, do more of what makes you happy! I truly believe happiness may not come as easily as we wish. In order to go through work and boring responsibilities, we have to actively pursue and engage in beautiful acts of love and kindness. So let's have a try.

A．Just do MORE of it.

B．Fix them and find peace.

C．Always put yourself first.

D．Mend what's broken or get rid of it.

E．Determine what is important to you.

F．Mind your actions and how you live each day.

G．Everything we put out into the world comes back to us.

7 . Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her seat by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.

After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window. I would say to myself, “I wonder why that woman doesn’t wash her window. It really looks terrible.”

One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window on the inside.

Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly visible. Her window was clean!

Then it dawned on me. I had been criticizing her dirty window, but all the time I was watching her through my own dirty window.

That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own shortcomings?

Since then, whenever I wanted to judge someone, I asked myself first, “Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?” Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world more clearly.

1. The writer couldn’t see everything clearly through the window because ________.

A．the woman’s window was dirty	B．the writer’s window was dirty
C．the woman lived nearby	D．the writer was near-sighted

2. “it dawned on me” probably means “________”.

A．I began to understand it	B．It cheered me up
C．I knew it grew light	D．It began to get dark

3. It’s clear that ________.

A．the writer often washed the window	B．they lived in a small town
C．they both worked as cleaners	D．the writer had never met the woman before

4. From the passage, we can learn that ________.

A．one shouldn’t criticize others very often

B．one should often make his window clean

C．one must judge himself before he judges others

D．one must look at others through his dirty window

8 . Many people connect gratitude with saying “thank you” to someone who helped us, making it a short act of appreciation. According to Robert Emmons, a leading researcher, gratitude is an emotion that can result in long-lasting positivity.     1    

Gratitude is good for your health.

Through his research, Emmons found that grateful people reported feeling healthier and happier, both mentally and physically.     2     In the workplace, employees who are shown that they are appreciated are healthier and more productive by 50 percent.

    3    

Gratitude is a selfless act. We often take for granted the simple things in life. Those who recognize the goodness in life, no matter how simple, are more likely to be sensitive to the needs of others and to help whenever they can. Thinking about other’s opinion, experiences and backgrounds will make you a better person.

Gratitude makes us more self-aware.

            Working in an ever-developing, fast-paced society, we are surrounded by ambitious people who are always struggling for more and better.     4     It starts by paying attention to what’s now going on in your life, and that’s true self-awareness is the key to being successful.

Gratitude helps us build strong relationship.

Gratitude is a powerful tool for strengthening relationship, both at work and in your personal life. People who express their gratitude tend to be more willing to forgive others and therefore able to create long-lasting connections.

    5     Taking the time to thank people for their work and kindness — whether it was today, last month or many years ago — makes you happier and more self-aware.

A．In fact, those who were grateful were 25 percent happier than those who weren’t.

B．Gratitude builds understanding.

C．The old saying goes “It’s never too late to say you’re sorry”, but the same is true of gratitude.

D．All in all, we feel and express our gratitude in different ways.

E．Gratitude makes you reflect (反思) in the moment instead of always thinking about the future.

F．Gratitude helps us build up self-confidence.

G．Here are a few benefits of being grateful.

9 . You are a member in a full-time school called “life”. Each day here you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.

Why are you here? What is your purpose? Humans have sought to discover the meaning of life for a very long time. What we and our ancestors have to overlook is that there is no one answer. The meaning of life is different for every individual.

Each person has his own purpose and distinct path, unique and separate from anyone else’s. As you are travelling your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons you will need to learn in order to achieve that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and achieving the meaning of your own life.

As you are travelling through your lifetime, you may meet challenging lessons that others don’t have to face, while others spend years struggling with challenges that you don’t need to deal with. You may never know why you are blessed with a wonderful marriage, while your friends suffer painful divorces, just as you cannot be sure why you struggle financially while your peers enjoy abundance. The only thing you can count on is that you will be presented with all the lessons that you specifically need to learn.

The challenge, therefore, is to arrange yourself with your own unique path by learning individual lessons. This is one of the most difficult challenges you will face in your lifetime, as sometimes your path will be different from others. But don’t compare your path with that of people around you and focus on the differences between their lessons and yours. You need to remember that you will only face lessons that you can learn and are specific to your own growth.

Our sense of fairness is the expectation of equality. Life is not, in fact, fair, and you may indeed have a more difficult life path than others around you, deserved or not. Everyone’s circumstances are unique, and everyone needs to handle his or her own circumstances differently.

1. According to the passage, how can the meaning of your life be realized?

A．Gathering different opinions from others.

B．Taking the distinct path from others.

C．Learning the lessons presented to you.

D．Doing the different things from others.

2. From the passage we can conclude         .

A．everyone has his own track to follow

B．unexpected things usually happen to the peers

C．a painful divorce must lie in financial problems

D．a wealthy man must have a wonderful marriage

3. In your lifetime, the lessons you are faced with        .

A．are beyond your power

B．keep you from growth

C．limit your development

D．help you with your success

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．All things should be equal and justice to everybody.

B．You should learn to deal with specific problems differently from others.

C．One has to fix his mind on unfairness of circumstances.

D．You can complain life is unfair whenever possible.

10 . Understand your directional future, and plan ahead, but most of all plan a life which is full of excitement and a life which you’ll enjoy living.

As the manager of the World Youth Organization, I must say, “It is not quite easy to get this position.” My parents have always been top supporters for my educational progress rather than my true passion, which of course is the World Youth Organization. There have been many arguments when it comes to the controversial(有争议的) topics. Time after time I have to protect my belief and hope it will come true one day.

Proving one wrong, especially your parents, is a tough ride. But when you love something, you constantly put up a fight. You stand for what you believe in, which is one of the most important aspects of life. Any parent or career would require too much. “You must go to university” “You will not get anywhere without that degree”. All of those sentences make perfect sense, when you’re dreaming of becoming a nurse, doctor, teacher or scientist, or a career path which requires that important degree. But I believe what many parents see is that when one has the degree, he/she is automatically set on the right path of life.

However, when the truth is bitter(令人痛苦的), it doesn’t always go smoothly. If I am not full of passion, will I lead a happy life? Possibly. Will I be true to myself? No. However, if you are enthusiastic about the subject you study, you are willing to do everything to make it a reality.

A person can take many paths in life and you just need to find the best one for yourself. I strongly agree with considering something to fall back on just in case plan A doesn’t go well. Stick with your passion as plan A, unless staying in college can ensure that you are going to be okay in the future.

Follow your passion, be prepared to work hard, be devoted and above all, don’t let anyone limit your dreams.

1. Which of the following can cause a fight between you and your parents in the writer’s view?

A．You go to university.

B．You listen to your parents.

C．You hold on to your belief.

D．You study hard for the degree.

2. What is the most important thing in exciting life, according to the last paragraph?

A．Love.

B．Diligence.

C．Devotion.

D．Independence.

3. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Always stick with your passion as plan A

B．A generation gap between children and parents

C．The importance of gaining a degree

D．Attempts to make a dream a reality