1 . I have a strong faith that the pain is almost gone but the feeling of success will stay forever. I was among the 38,000 runners who participated in the marathon (马拉松赛跑), the largest event of its kind in Asia.
My decision to participate in the marathon was because of the insistence of my wife, who had run the half-marathon previously. This year, she wanted me to participate along with her. Unexpectedly, her application got rejected while mine got accepted.
Though I had been into fitness training before, it seemed to be a daunting task to run 21 km. I started training about 10 weeks before the day. I had made up my mind to finish the run. So I tried my best to accommodate training into my busy schedule whenever I could.
What’s more, I remembered that four weeks into my training, my shoes were worn. I searched and hunted and literally spent a fortune on a new pair of shoes. However, right on the first day of running with them, I felt that they were not for me. I preserved, thinking that my discomfort was because the shoes were new. Eventually, I gave up on them. I even tried looking for another new pair of shoes, but couldn’t find that were as comfortable as my old ones.
Finally, on 16th January 2011, I ran and completed the half-marathon. And I did it in my old shoes.
Now, when I think about it, it all seems so easy. All I had to do was to picture completing the run in good time in my mind.
What I have learned from the experience is that completing a marathon is like any other goal in life — largely a mind-over-matter phenomenon. In other words, unless you believe you can reach your goal, you’ve lost even before you begin. No doubt, factors such as hard work, experience and talent help to a greater or lesser degree. But without your belief that you will get there, every goal remains difficult to achieve.
1. Why did the writer participate in the marathon at first?| A．It was the largest event of its kind. |
| B．He had run the half-marathon previously. |
| C．His wife insisted on him participating. |
| D．He had been training for a long time. |
| A．The writer was the best among all the runners. |
| B．The writer tried his best to do some marathon training. |
| C．The writer’s fitness training before was only a little help to him in the run. |
| D．The writer’s old shoes were very expensive. |
| A．self-confidence is the primary factor in a marathon. |
| B．to win a marathon depends on your mind, not on your shoes |
| C．it would be easy if you made up your mind to begin it |
| D．belief can bring you success in a marathon |
| A．Practice Makes Perfect. | B．Insist on Your Decision |
| C．The Pain before Success | D．A Running Lesson |
2 . Keep a Gratitude(感激)Diary
Writing a gratitude diary is more than making a note of saying thanks. It gives you benefits now and into the future.
Why should I be grateful?
Gratitude is being thankful for the good things in life, big or small.
A gratitude diary is a diary or notebook in which you write down what you are thankful for.
How do I know what to write?
| A．What is a gratitude diary |
| B．It doesn’t have to be special |
| C．Where can I start my gratitude diary |
| D．There are times when you can get worried or scared |
| E．This is because it takes longer to write than to think or speak |
| F．Ask questions to help you think about what you’re thankful for |
| G．Begin writing three things you’re grateful for each day for 21 days |
3 . Kyle was a boy in my fifth grade class. When we sat across from each other, he would reach his legs and step on my foot, causing rapid pain. Eventually, my seat was moved. But Kyle’s abuse didn’t stop. His words were annoying to an eleven-year-old girl. Kyle also bullied my friend Megan. At one point she ran out of the classroom because he copied her nonstop. Despite meetings with teachers and parents, nothing changed.
Then one day, Kyle forced me into a wall and insulted (侮辱) my brother. With my teacher standing behind me, I told Kyle exactly how much he had hurt Megan and me physically and emotionally. I had tears streaming down my face, but I didn’t care. In the end, I cheered inside as Kyle quietly apologized.
Kyle’s teasing didn’t completely end, but it definitely subsided, and the final month of school went by fairly smoothly. Kyle was going to a private school the next year. I had only seen Kyle once, at a movie theater. We didn’t speak, and pretended we didn’t see each other.
Later one night as I thought about the marks he’d left on the tops of my feet, the words, and the pain, I felt no hate for him. Instead, I felt pity. This boy, who had ruined much of my fifth grade experience, had probably been going through his own issues then. He was obviously mad at the world and maybe he was simply taking that anger out on my friend and me. I felt that being angry with Kyle for what he had done was like drinking poison and expecting him to die. By holding my hate for Kyle inside, I was only hurting myself. That night, by letting go of that pain, I felt free. With forgiveness, we can let go of unnecessary burdens and truly own our lives.
1. What did the author do about her trouble?| A．She turned to the teacher. |
| B．She reported it to the police. |
| C．She quietly accepted all this. |
| D．She shared it with Megan. |
| A．Annoyed. | B．Happy. | C．Quiet. | D．Frightened. |
| A．Increased. | B．Supported. | C．Reduced. | D．Replaced. |
| A．Never be afraid to express your true feelings. |
| B．Never pity those without concern for others. |
| C．Don’t let other people hold back your dreams. |
| D．Don’t take the punishment for others’ mistakes. |
4 . The wonderful multiple-award winning producer, writer, and director Norman Lear, who is 100, was recently interviewed by a TV host, who asked him what advice he would give to younger people as a successful man. Without missing a beat, Lear said, “Learn to let things that bother you go.”
Those few words are some of the most powerful in the world. I know that if people could just learn to do it, murder and divorce rates would fall dramatically, and I would be out of a job.
Learning to let go of what bothers you is a dream for many people, each of us has our own personal demons (魔鬼) to fight. The big question is: how do you let go of them? There is no one solution that works for everyone, because we’re all different. Psychotherapy(心理疗法) may help some people who hold on to negative thoughts, while others don’t respond to such treatments.
Even after you’ve worked on this, you may have to deal with the after-effects of a traumatic experience. It’s hard to forget, for example, that someone held a gun to your head or broke your heart. Truly letting go means not forgetting what happened but rather leading to live with it, because no one can completely forget their past and it’s no use avoiding the unfortunate past. But each day is a chance to start anew.
Elvira, an actress, was disturbed by PTSD, a mental disorder. Medication didn’t help. She got counseling from some good people and did her own work, but she would still wake up in a state of anxiety every morning. When we started working together, I asked her to imagine, as often as she could, that the discomfort she was feeling was the negativity leaving her body. Whenever a negative thought entered her mind, she would repeat this visualization exercise and would soon begin to feel okay again.
Learning to let go of things that bother you frees you from the feeling that you don’t deserve good things coming your way. It takes effort, but it’s worthwhile.
1. What advice did Norman Lear share with younger people?| A．Being professional in multiple fields. | B．Being enthusiastic about one’s career. |
| C．Having an optimistic attitude to bad things. | D．Showing great love and caring for the young. |
| A．Annoying dreams share certain similarities. | B．Strategies for letting go vary between individuals. |
| C．It’s necessary for us to let go of negative thoughts. | D．It’s normal for us to receive psychological treatments. |
| A．Move forward with bad memories. | B．Avoid things related to past traumas |
| C．Try hard to forget unpleasant experiences. | D．Mark the boundary between the present and the past. |
| A．An effective technique for battling against anxiety. |
| B．The way how mental disorders affect people’s life. |
| C．The process of treating mental disorders is painful. |
| D．Actresses are more likely to suffer mental disorders. |
5 . George Headley would have been a dentist in the USA rather than one of the greatest cricketers (板球运动员) if he had got his papers from Panama on time. The Indian legend was born in Colón, Panama and a period of unemployment in Jamaica caused him to begin the process of seeking a career elsewhere.
The delay, however, gave Headley time to make his first-class debut (首次亮相) for Jamaica against the visiting Lord Tennyson’s XI from England. These were his scores in the three first-class games in the series: 16, 40, and 71. The rest, as they say, is history. Yet, consider what might have occurred if his documents had arrived on time and he had migrated to America. There would have been a missing chapter in cricket.
Headley’s ta le brings to the fore the role that happenstance (偶然情况) plays in life. In the song A Different Comer, George Michael lamented (哀叹) that a romantic union went wrong and suggested that it might have been better if circumstances had worked to prevent their first meeting: “Take me back in time; maybe I can forget. Turn a different corner and we never would have met.”
Our lives are the result of much planning and deliberate action. But they are the result of chance as well. “The harder I practice, the luckier I get” is a quote normally used by sportsmen to discount the occurrence or consequence of luck. Athletes like to think that whatever success they’ve had is only down to them. To admit otherwise is to devalue the skills and efforts.
The changes in luck are a large part of why we watch sports. It fosters uncertainty, which, in turn. enhances interest in the process and the result. On any given day, the underdog can be at the champion. Whenever that occurs, luck is likely to have played some significant part, and sport is better for it.
1. What decision did George Headley make before getting his papers?| A．To complete his official documents in Panama. | B．To sharpen his cricket skills in Jamaica. |
| C．To get a degree in medicine in the USA. | D．To work as a dentist in the USA. |
| A．It affected his debut performance. | B．It became a turning point in his life. |
| C．It benefited the England cricket team. | D．It led to a missing chapter in cricket. |
| A．To stress the importance of chance. |
| B．To explain the necessity of planning ahead. |
| C．To show the significance of the first impressions. |
| D．To illustrate a love-hate relationship with friends. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Little people can make a big difference. |
| C．Efforts and chances are equally important. | D．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
6 . One busy morning, I was driving my father-in-law to the airport. My mind went away from the heavy highway traffic to the to-do lists in my office. Then a plane flew over us, like a huge bird, about to touch down at the airport.
“It’s magic,” my father-in-law said, interrupting my thoughts. I looked at him, confused.
He was a doctor who lectured at colleges and had visited more than 100 countries. He understood better than I what keeps planes in the air and how planes “fly”. It definitely wasn’t magic.
But thinking back now, I realize he was right. While flying might not be magic, it’s certainly magical.
I read a tweet (推特) a few months ago that struck me deeply. “You know you’re grown up,” it said, “when you no longer want a window seat.”
Too often in recent years, I’ve asked for a seat near the exit row, forgetting the wonders of traveling fast. But a window seat is never dull. I still remember one night when I was heading home from California after a challenging work trip. Because of the flight delay and heavy rain, it was pushing midnight when we finally took off. Most of my fellow passengers were asleep. I was about to sleep when a flash of light from outside the window caught my attention. The thunderstorm that had delayed air traffic that night still had some life. Clouds were shining as they shot silent lightning to the ground. They were putting on a light show. I stared, and noticed a flight attendant (机舱服务员) was also watching the show nearby. For the next half an hour we were watching, not saying a word as we sailed through the night. How many hundreds of thousands of miles had she flown? I didn’t ask. But she could still appreciate the fascinating moment.
And I’m glad I still can.
1. Why did the writer’s father-in-law say“It’s magic“?| A．He appreciated what he saw. |
| B．He seldom saw planes landing. |
| C．He was wondering how it happened. |
| D．He was kidding with his son-in-law. |
| A．He no longer wanted the window seat. |
| B．He didn’t want to be a grown-up. |
| C．To him taking window seats was too childish. |
| D．A window seat hadn’t meant so much to him. |
| A．It was annoying because it delayed flights. |
| B．It was too dangerous to his flight. |
| C．It was exciting to see it from high above. |
| D．It was so shining that he couldn’t sleep. |
| A．Flying is something not magic, but scientific. |
| B．Wise people always take the window seats. |
| C．A flight attendant is an exciting job. |
| D．The world is never dull in discovering eyes. |
7 . After eleven months of unemployment, Dad gathered our family in the living room one December night and said, “I accepted a new job in Austin, Texas.” I would start over in a new high school. My crying continued well into the night.
While my sister and I were allowed six months to finish the school year and to sabotage my relationships with people who cared about me, I withdrew into myself to make leaving seem painless. However, gradually I found myself counting down my days before the beginning.
Suddenly I decided to add some certainty to my unclear future. I diligently researched highschools and neighborhoods, and in turn my parents gave me a say in where we would begin the search for our new home in Austin. Once we purchased our new house, I could see my future unfold before me. With knowledge comes power, I’d use my circumstance as a chance for self-improvement.
I emailed the tennis coach at my new high school about trying out for the team, which turned into a conversation as he said that the team looked forward to having me. He went on to inform the team of my arrival. For the first time I felt like I could take the role of the confident girl I wanted to be.
I successfully threw myself into everything I could, enjoying the process of uncovering what I liked. At my old school I would never have given math club a second thought, though I was skilled at it. But in the new school, I decided to challenge myself and join Mu Alpha Theta, a mathematics honor society. Shocking as it may be, I actually enjoyed being a “mathlete”, but even more shocking was the fact that no one teased me for my decision.
It was then that I realized the courage and confidence I had sought had been waiting beneath my insecurities to finally surface when the time was right. While every new beginning contains an element of fear, it also contains an element of promise.
1. How did the author react to her father’s getting a new job?| A．She felt excited. | B．She remained unconcerned. |
| C．She was sorrowful. | D．She was confused. |
| A．Strengthen. | B．Establish. |
| C．Accompany. | D．End. |
| A．She wanted to challenge herself. |
| B．She could make friends in the club. |
| C．It was her dream to join a math club. |
| D．It was a chance to become an athlete. |
| A．Good endings promise good beginnings. |
| B．All new beginnings have promise in them. |
| C．Challenging oneself can boost confidence. |
| D．Moving to a new school has positive effects. |
8 . Since I learned that shoppers who do less research are happier with their purchases (购买的东西), I’ve been proud of my “good enough” method of shopping. Unlike my husband, who does weeks of research, looking at various choices, and weighing his preferences compared to costs, I always buy the first item I come across that fits my needs and price range.
According to Barry Schwartz, author of the book The Paradox of Choice, my method of shopping is called “satisficing,” while my husband engages in (参与) “maximizing.” Maximizers want the best and believe that there’s a perfect one of whatever they’re looking for. Satisficers, on the other hand, focus on what will be good enough to meet their minimum (最低的) standards.
I recently purchased a desk chair. I wanted one that offered more lumbar (腰部的) support, so I went to a store and picked out a chair that felt comfortable and was within my price range. I was happy with my purchase for six months, until the day I put just a little weight on the back of the chair, and it broke. Turned out that the chair’s back was made of particle board and it was just a matter of time before some weight broke the board. Now I have to buy a new one. It would have been less expensive if I’d researched various chairs, even if I’d ended up with a pricier chair.
While I am very much a satisficer, there are purchases that bring out the maximizer in me. One of them is blank notebooks. Recently I spent nearly two hours looking through the notebooks at a store to find the perfect one for a creative project. While I could use any notebook to take notes and draw pictures, the one I found fitted the project I had in mind.
While I’m always glad to be a satisficer, I admit my satisficing ways can sometimes prevent me from getting the satisfaction of finding exactly what I want. I know making sure that I raise my standards and get the enjoyment of finding the right choice for me will help me to enjoy the best of both worlds.
1. What can we learn about the author from paragraph 1?| A．She dislikes shopping at all. |
| B．She wants every purchase to be perfect. |
| C．She is proud of every choice she has made. |
| D．She is a quick decision-maker when shopping. |
| A．To suggest that satisficing can save time. |
| B．To show that satisficing can often be silly. |
| C．To show that satisficing can be expensive. |
| D．To prove that satisficing can bring happiness. |
| A．She regretted buying it. | B．She felt satisfied with it. |
| C．She thought it was affordable. | D．She found it was not good enough. |
| A．It pays to be a patient shopper. |
| B．Shopping can provide pleasure. |
| C．Spending wisely saves one trouble. |
| D．One never wastes time on what to buy. |
9 . Life Lessons Sports Teach Us
There are lessons in life to be learnt from almost everything that can be observed. Here are a few of my favourite lessons I am reminded of when I watch a sports game or involve myself in one.
You’re not always going to win, so move on. Like in life, you don’t always come out on top in sports.
Hard work does lead to results. Most athletes know that time, energy and enthusiasm equals success. They’ve been through enough games to know the formula (公式) and see the results. Ronald once suffered a major body transformation, from a skinny boy to a muscled man.
Success is sweetest when there’s someone to cheer you on. A game with no crowd and fans is just a training session and no one really cares for victory. Though it might not seem so at first, fans have a great impact on the match atmosphere and on the players themselves. It’s an interesting relationship. They cheer you on and you get the victory for both of you.
Trusting others is great. Nothing quite teaches us teamwork and trust as a great time spent watching any sports of your choice. Players in spite of their talent have to trust the entire team to succeed. In life as well, you should learn to let go and trust people to help you out.
| A．What if they fail? |
| B．How can we make it? |
| C．Fans never want your medals. |
| D．Your family also support you. |
| E．But that didn’t happen by accident. |
| F．Athletes know this and know how to move on. |
| G．Don’t pursue success alone, but find those people. |
10 . We’ve heard about several “poor students” in the past year. Cui Qingtao, a student from Yunnan, working with his parents on a building site when he got an admission letter (录取通知书) from Peking University.
Whatever kind of values you hold, such personalities are necessary for growth.
For them, few can choose their lifestyles.
| A．Life is full of ups and downs. |
| B．A girl named Wang Xinyi is another example. |
| C．“Poor students” are usually hard-working and caring. |
| D．And these experiences make me grow and become better. |
| E．Born in poor families, these students have a lot in common. |
| F．However, all of them can choose their attitudes towards life . |
| G．We can learn a lot from these “poor students”. |
