1 . My Perfect Imperfect Life

A few years ago, I was standing at the barre (扶手杠) waiting for my adult ballet class when I heard a voice behind me. “So, do you have this perfect life?”

My first reaction was to _______ who was being asked such an odd question. Then I remembered there were only two of us in the room. When I turned _______, the other woman was looking straight at me.

I had no idea how to answer it. Was she _______? Who has a perfect life? Sure, occasionally I did find the perfect dress or the perfect pair of shoes, _______ never would I use that word to describe anything about me or my life. I felt a twinge of guilt for somehow giving her that _______.

She watched me. I finally _______ to whisper a quick “No”.

By then, the teacher had entered the room and turned on the music to start class. With a sigh of _________, I moved my feet into the best position. But as soon as my knees bent for our first pose, I realized my _______ had been disturbed. This woman’s words wouldn’t _______ echoing in my thoughts.

I wanted to know how she came up with her very mistaken _______. If she knew anything about my life, she never would have had the _______ to ask me that question.

I did my best to do our floor exercises in front of the mirror. For a few moments, I didn’t see the usual _______ of my older self attempting to use a beautiful art form to _______ my gracefulness. I only saw the little girl whose father died when she was two, the child who walked home from elementary school every day to an empty house, who learned to sew her own clothes to _______ money.

Perfect. My life had been far from it.

When those memories ________, I was left with a vision of the woman I had become, the woman _______ by all those things I considered imperfect. I now saw the woman who had learned to be self-reliant, who _______ her family and her friends, who didn’t take life for granted. Was that the “perfect” this woman had detected?

I still don’t know, but I no longer feel _______ or feel like I must keep track of all the difficult times to prove my life isn’t _______. If ever again asked whether my life is perfect, I would have a different _______. Because now I see that, despite all its imperfection, it is.

1.

A．notice

B．understand

C．wonder

D．expect

2.

A．up

B．away

C．over

D．around

3.

A．fair

B．serious

C．anxious

D．wise

4.

A．but

B．or

C．for

D．and

5.

A．intention

B．instruction

C．impression

D．information

6.

A．learned

B．managed

C．agreed

D．planned

7.

A．sadness

B．surprise

C．pleasure

D．relief

8.

A．concentration

B．patience

C．confidence

D．effort

9.

A．escape

B．keep

C．stop

D．stand

10.

A．idea

B．advice

C．reason

D．theory

11.

A．right

B．urge

C．excuse

D．honor

12.

A．reflection

B．preference

C．appearance

D．expression

13.

A．experience

B．describe

C．replace

D．improve

14.

A．collect

B．earn

C．spend

D．save

15.

A．faded

B．failed

C．floated

D．flashed

16.

A．buried

B．shaped

C．watched

D．followed

17.

A．changed

B．welcomed

C．valued

D．protected

18.

A．worried

B．guilty

C．cautious

D．desperate

19.

A．comfortable

B．ordinary

C．perfect

D．meaningful

20.

A．solution

B．message

C．approach

D．answer

2 . A Game of Light and Shade

It was a sunny day. I had gone up and down the tower when, outside the door at the foot, a blind man came toward me. In a moment, he disappeared up the stairs. I looked at the sign that said “To the Tower”, and decided to _______ him.

I caught up with him in the ticket office. There I was _______ to see the attendant (工作人员) selling him a ticket as if he were any other visitor. Then, with the ticket in one hand and _______ the wall with the fingers of the other, the blind man reached the stairs _________ to the hallway.

“That man is blind. What would a blind man climb up the tower for?” I said to the attendant, expecting him to show some _______, but he didn’t answer.

“Not the _______ certainly,” I said. “Perhaps he wants to _______.”

I bought a ticket and _______ up the stairs. The man hadn’t gone as far as I _______. A third of the way up the tower, I heard his ________. I slowed down and followed him at a little ________. He stopped from time to time. When he got to the balcony, I was a dozen steps ________. As I reached it, I saw him at the corner of the tower.

At last, after ten minutes, I ________ him. “Excuse me,” I said as politely as I could, “but I am curious to know ________ you came up.”

He smiled. “Coming up the stairs, you will notice how not just light but sun ________ into the tower through the narrow windows here and there, so that you can feel the ________ —the cool stairs suddenly become quite warm—and how up here behind the wall there is ________, but as soon as going opposite a window you can find the sun. There is no ________ so good as this for feeling the difference between light and shade. It is not the first time I’ve come up.”

The blind man seemed quite ________ just like a child who was enjoying his favorite games. He told me the truth that blind men can also find the beauty in life ________ they cannot enjoy the sights of the world.

1.

A．accept

B．follow

C．control

D．visit

2.

A．frightened

B．disappointed

C．surprised

D．embarrassed

3.

A．touching

B．climbing

C．hitting

D．covering

4.

A．pointing

B．attaching

C．contributing

D．leading

5.

A．respect

B．doubt

C．concern

D．sympathy

6.

A．view

B．test

C．prize

D．trick

7.

A．kick

B．jump

C．relax

D．escape

8.

A．struggled

B．explored

C．wandered

D．hurried

9.

A．promised

B．examined

C．imagined

D．confirmed

10.

A．steps

B．words

C．secrets

D．cheers

11.

A．standard

B．distance

C．expense

D．intention

12.

A．ahead

B．around

C．outside

D．behind

13.

A．recognized

B．surrounded

C．approached

D．witnessed

14.

A．why

B．how

C．when

D．whether

15.

A．knocks

B．pours

C．slides

D．bursts

16.

A．trend

B．reaction

C．change

D．honor

17.

A．light

B．space

C．mess

D．shade

18.

A．place

B．signal

C．object

D．period

19.

A．nervous

B．content

C．curious

D．patient

20.

A．unless

B．because

C．once

D．although

3 . The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.--Thomas Macaulay.

Some thirty years ago, I was studying in a public school in New York. One day, Mrs. Nanette O’Neillgave an arithmetic___to our class. When the papers were___,she discovered that twelve boys had made the __ mistakes throughout the test.

There is really nothing new about__in the exams. Perhaps that was __ Mrs. O’Neill didn’t evensay a word about it. She only asked the twelve boys to__after class. I was one of the twelve.Mrs. O’Neill asked no questions, and she didn’t__us either.She wrote on the blackboard the__words by Thomas Macaulay. She then ordered us to__these words into our exercisebooksone hundred times.

I don’t__about the other eleven boys. Speaking for myself I can say: it was the most importantsingle__of my life. Thirty years after being introduced to Macaulay’s words, they__seem to methe best yardstick(准绳), because they give me a__to measure myself rather than others. ___of usare asked to make great decisions about__ going to war or armies going to battle. But all of us arecalled upon daily to make a great many ___ decisions. Should the wallet, found in the street, be putinto a pocket or turned over to the ____? Should the__change received at the store be forgottenor___? Nobody will know except___. But you have to live with yourself, and it is always better tolive with someone you respect.

1.

A．test

B．paper

C．lesson

D．problem

2.

A．examined

B．finished

C．marked

D．answered

3.

A．same

B．usual

C．silly

D．serious

4.

A．lying

B．talking

C．guessing

D．cheating

5.

A．how

B．why

C．what

D．when

6.

A．come

B．leave

C．remain

D．apologize

7.

A．excuse

B．reject

C．spare

D．scold

8.

A．above

B．common

C．special

D．following

9.

A．get

B．put

C．copy

D．repeat

10.

A．worry

B．hear

C．talk

D．know

11.

A．chance

B．lesson

C．incident

D．memory

12.

A．even

B．still

C．always

D．almost

13.

A．way

B．choice

C．reason

D．sentence

14.

A．All

B．Few

C．Some

D．None

15.

A．nations

B．families

C．individuals

D．organizations

16.

A．final

B．temporary

C．important

D．personal

17.

A．finder

B．stranger

C．passer-by

D．policeman

18.

A．some

B．extra

C．small

D．necessary

19.

A．paid

B．shared

C．returned

D．remembered

20.

A．me

B．us

C．you

D．them

4 . Who's in control of your life? Who's pulling your strings? For the majority of us, it's other people-society, colleagues, friends, family or our community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young,of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it," Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. "

So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug-we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix(成瘾物)we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.

But, just as with any drug. there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom-the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. People have their own agenda, and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they're more interested in themselves than in you. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted (tired) and probably pleasing no one in the process.

So how can we take back control? I think there's only one way-make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values- not values imposed from the outside by others. but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others. we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life.

1. What Oscar Wilde says implies that         .

A．most people have a variety of thoughts

B．we have thoughts similar to those of others

C．other people's thoughts are more important

D．most people's thoughts are affected by others

2. What does the author try to argue in the third paragraph?

A．The price of taking the drug is freedom.

B．We may lose ourselves to win the approval of others.

C．We need to pay for what we want to get.

D．Changing opinions may cost us our freedom.

3. It can be concluded from the passage that             .

A．it's better to follow others' opinions

B．it's important to accept others' comments

C．we shouldn't change our own decision

D．we shouldn't care too much what others think

4. The author tries to persuade the readers to accept his arguments mainly by         .

A．discussing questions	B．making suggestions
C．analyzing causes and effects	D．providing examples and facts

5 . This story happened when I was in Saint Lucia with my family. My sister, Diana, who also happens to be my best friend and one of the funniest and kindest people I know, went blind in one eye about 9 years ago. Diana sometimes feels concerned about the way her eye looks now. The pupil(瞳孔) is no longer black; it's sort of "glows" in photos. Diana recently purchased a special contact lens (隐形镜片) that makes her eye look like it did before it changed color, but she doesn't wear this lens often because it becomes quite painful after about an hour.

One night during our holiday, a hotel photographer was taking pictures of the guests as they entered the area set up for dinner. Diana casually said if she had known there was going to be pictures taken to capture this special memory, she would have worn her contact lens so her eye wouldn't be so shiny in the picture.

The next day, I was sitting with Diana and her husband Ted. While we were talking, the photographer who had been at the dinner the night before, handed her a photo, leaned in and quietly said, "I matched the color of your eyes in the picture. "

As he walked away, my sister happily said to me and Ted, " Look! He fixed my eye!" The photographer stopped. He turned around and walked back to our table. He put his hand on Diana's shoulder, leaned in again and gently said, "Just to be clear: I didn't fix your eye. There isn't anything wrong with your eye. I simply matched the color. "

Her eyes filled up with tears. It was very healing for her heart to hear these beautiful words. It didn't take much time and made so much difference. It helped her change the way she feels about herself.

I have always loved the quote: "The world is full of good people. If you can't find one, be one!" Your acts of kindness can impact the world in profound ways!

1. My sister bought a contact lens in order to         .

A．avoid the pupil being too bright and shiny

B．show off the beautiful color of her pupil

C．protect her eye from the strong sunlight

D．keep the pupil comfortable

2. Diana felt               when she knew there was a photo taken for the dinner.

A．excited	B．proud
C．regretful	D．shocked

3. Tears welled tip in Diana's eyes because         .

A．she felt her eyes were so painful

B．she was touched by the photographer

C．she was hurt by the gesture of the photographer

D．she felt so sad that she didn't wear her lens

4. From the article we can conclude that the photographer way         .

A．confident	B．easy-going
C．creative	D．considerate

6 . My husband and I changed our front yard with something eatable, adding apples, bananas, oranges, and pomegranates(石榴).

Every crop brought us_______ to neighbors and strangers. The food was a(an) _______to communicate. Kids in the neighborhood (including our son) learned _______ and gentle timing. When we had extra, we would _______it. Then, we received a powerful lesson: a gift hidden as a _______. Our first-ever crop of pomegranates had ripened(成熟)._______ , at harvest, they all disappeared in the middle of the night. We were   _______ sad and angry. Friends had fun suggesting deterrents(为摄物). One _______ suggested we post a sign to curse (诅咒) those who _______ our fruits.

And suddenly, the   ________ was clear. We did need a sign. But our sign would encourage sharing and community. Last autumn, we had a larger crop of pomegranates. We put________a sign that read, "If you'd like one, please knock and ________ yourself, and we would be   ________ to cut one off the bush for you. Cutting saves the branches and is good for future growth, so we can   ________ to share pomegranates with________friends like you. Thanks, the Green Family. "

Out of eight fruits, one pomegranate was taken. and most of others were________to new friends. This year, we won the Kindness Contest award, ________we planted three trees-a peach, a pear, and a plum. Before they fruit, I'll ________ a big sign to the yard to encourage sharing. Today. I'm happy to be a role model of ________ for my young sons and to have the opportunity to________ an eatable front yard for others.

1.

A．richer

B．stronger

C．closer

D．healthier

2.

A．tool

B．explanation

C．evidence

D．excuse

3.

A．patience

B．kindness

C．confidence

D．responsibility

4.

A．take

B．share

C．select

D．store

5.

A．result

B．challenge

C．loss

D．surprise

6.

A．Besides

B．However

C．Moreover

D．Otherwise

7.

A．embarrassed

B．interested

C．ashamed

D．shocked

8.

A．still

B．yet

C．just

D．even

9.

A．stole

B．destroyed

C．bought

D．hid

10.

A．attitude

B．answer

C．lesson

D．need

11.

A．away

B．down

C．up

D．on

12.

A．enjoy

B．impress

C．help

D．introduce

13.

A．happy

B．afraid

C．proud

D．worried

14.

A．pretend

B．continue

C．agree

D．happen

15.

A．true

B．close

C．polite

D．new

16.

A．gifted

B．sold

C．donated

D．devoted

17.

A．unless

B．since

C．so

D．or

18.

A．connect

B．add

C．turn

D．keep

19.

A．generosity

B．encouragement

C．enjoyment

D．creativity

20.

A．change

B．provide

C．prepare

D．choose

7 . Chuck was in my high-school English class.    1    So, when he told me he had been accepted into the journalism program at the University of Missouri, I wasn’t surprised.

During the first year at college, Chuck stopped by school a few times. We talked about our work together several years before. We had raised money together for twenty-three sick and abandoned babies.    2    . It was an activity that in some ways changed our formal relationship into a friendship.

In his second year in college, it was discovered that Chuck had lung cancer and had only a short while to live. So he left school and came home to be near to his loved ones.

About six weeks later, Chuck died.    3    The youngest of nine children, Chuck was talented and full of promise. More importantly, he was a good person, a just man.

When I went to his funeral, his father asked to speak with me. He told me that before Chuck’s death, he chose six items to bury with him.    4    He told me that Chuck had always kept the piece because he liked the message I had written to him at the bottom of the last page. In that little note, I affirmed his talent as a writer and I encouraged him to be responsible for the gift.

    5    His taking my note with him forever offered me a great opportunity for influencing students^’ lives. I felt inspired with a sense of purpose that was greater than ever: teachers have the power to affect hearts and minds for a long time.

A．It was a great loss for everyone, especially for his family.

B．Chuck helped to raise several thousand dollars.

C．Whenever I forget my purpose, I think of Chuck.

D．He was a writer of great promise.

E．My spirits were lifted up as Chuck was filled with the joy of life.

F．One of them was an essay he had written in my class some years before.

G．I was touched and grateful to Chuck who gave me a special gift that would change my life.

8 . Years ago, we celebrated our oldest son’s first birthday by holding a super party. I spent months ______, cutting out handmade banners（横幅）and making all kinds of decorations. I kept

____ my husband’s work as he built a cardboard city background. And I would lose ______ of my emotions when it didn’t progress exactly as I _____.

I didn’t know exactly why I stuck to ______ a party like that, but I felt this unspoken ______. It was a feeling that my ______ as a mom and my love for my son were tied to how ______ this party was. Actually my son was turning one year old, and he had no idea what was going on. ______, this clearly meant nothing to him.

I tried to ______ other people and maybe even prove something to myself, only to find it made me ______. On his birthday, I put on a ton of makeup（化妆品） to _____ my stress and smiled to our ______ even though I nearly broke down. It was the ______ party because of the memories attached to it! I ruined a ______ memory for me as a mother and decided to make a ____.

Last weekend, we celebrated my other son Hudson’s sixth birthday. He asked a Ninjago theme, so a week before the party, I searched Amazon (a shopping website) and ______ a banner and some basic party materials as he ______. On that day, we ordered a big meal and used disposable（一次性的）plates to avoid hours of cleaning up. The party was ______ but perfect. As Hudson went to bed that night, he told me it was his best birthday ever.

Parents’______ for kids does not lie in the complexity of celebrating kids’ birthday.

1.

A．researching

B．preparing

C．thinking

D．studying

2.

A．ignoring

B．doubting

C．finding

D．checking

3.

A．control

B．count

C．sight

D．track

4.

A．learned

B．explained

C．expected

D．promised

5.

A．damaging

B．arranging

C．attending

D．leaving

6.

A．fears

B．concern

C．questions

D．pressure

7.

A．dream

B．job

C．identity

D．post

8.

A．personal

B．difficult

C．familiar

D．brilliant

9.

A．However

B．Therefore

C．Anyhow

D．Besides

10.

A．persuade

B．remind

C．inspire

D．impress

11.

A．delighted

B．annoyed

C．tired

D．astonished

12.

A．create

B．cover

C．express

D．experience

13.

A．neighbors

B．relatives

C．colleagues

D．guests

14.

A．worst

B．newest

C．best

D．biggest

15.

A．clear

B．bitter

C．precious

D．accurate

16.

A．mess

B．deal

C．joke

D．change

17.

A．designed

B．purchased

C．made

D．wanted

18.

A．taught

B．did

C．demanded

D．commanded

19.

A．splendid

B．complicated

C．plain

D．boring

20.

A．affection

B．praise

C．sympathy

D．advice

9 . It was a cold day, and I had no desire to drive up the winding mountain road to my daughter Carolyn’s house. But she had insisted that I come to see something at the ________ of the mountain.

So here I was ________ to make the two-hour journey through ________. By the time I saw how thick it was near the top, I’d gone too far to turn back.

“I’ll stay for lunch, but I’m heading back down as soon as the fog lifts,” 
I ________ when I arrived.

“But I need you to drive me to the garage to pick up my car,” Carolyn said. “Could we at least do that?”

“How ________?” I asked.

“About three minutes,” she said. “I’ll drive—I’m used to it.”

After ten minutes on the mountain road, I looked at her ________. “I thought you said three minutes.”

She smiled. “This is a different route.”

Turning down a narrow track, we parked the car and ________ out. We walked along a path that was thick with old pine needles. Huge black-green pines ________over us. Gradually, the peace and silence of the place began to ________ my mind.

When we stopped, I took a deep breath in _______.

From the top of the mountain were rivers of flowers in bloom. A mix of _____from white to lemon to red — unfolded like a carpet before us. At the center was a waterfall of purple flowers and here and there were coral-colored ones. And western bluebirds flew ________ the heads of the flowers happily.

A series of ________ came to my mind. Who created such beauty? How? When?

As we approached home, we saw a sign that read: “I ________ Answers to Your Questions.”

The first answer was: “One Woman—Two Hands, Two Feet, and Very Little Brain.” The second was: “One at a Time.” The third: “________ in 1958.”

As we drove home, I was so ________ by what we had seen, I could hardly speak. “She changed the world,” I ________ said, “one flower at a time. She took her first step almost 60 years ago, probably just the beginning of an idea, but she kept at it.”

“Imagine,” I said, “if I’d had a(n) ________ like her and worked at it, just a little bit every day, what might I have ________?”

Carolyn looked at me, smiling. “Start tomorrow,” she said. “ ________ yet, start today.”

1.

A．back

B．bottom

C．top

D．corner

2.

A．unwilling

B．unable

C．unlucky

D．unfit

3.

A．rain

B．snow

C．storm

D．fog

4.

A．announced

B．criticized

C．suggested

D．complained

5.

A．much

B．many

C．fast

D．far

6.

A．excitedly

B．calmly

C．nervously

D．anxiously

7.

A．checked

B．looked

C．got

D．dropped

8.

A．floated

B．streamed

C．towered

D．skipped

9.

A．empty

B．fill

C．disturb

D．control

10.

A．embarrassment

B．amazement

C．disappointment

D．amusement

11.

A．materials

B．patterns

C．colors

D．shapes

12.

A．over

B．through

C．within

D．along

13.

A．predictions

B．decisions

C．imaginations

D．questions

14.

A．Understand

B．Know

C．Doubt

D．Forget

15.

A．Started

B．Continued

C．Finished

D．Quitted

16.

A．troubled

B．moved

C．encouraged

D．confused

17.

A．frankly

B．seriously

C．frequently

D．finally

18.

A．promise

B．story

C．idea

D．challenge

19.

A．gained

B．required

C．regretted

D．remembered

20.

A．more

B．better

C．harder

D．later

10 . A Writing Fool

In the seventh grade I realized I was dyslexic, which made it difficult for me to read and spell. I did really badly in my history course, so my mother said to me, “I’ll work with you for a full week. I’m going to show you what you can do if you put in the right amount of effort.” So we did. We worked on history for a full week, an extra hour every day. Then I went to school and failed the test, as always. It was really upsetting.

By the time I got to college I came to know that I couldn’t spell no matter how hard I tried. So I would sign up for extra courses. I’d be in registration lines all day. Then I would go around the first day of class and ask each professor: “What’s your policy on misspelling?” If he said, “Three misspellings is a fail,” I’d drop it.

Although I was an academic failure, I had a great time. I had many friends and I was always popular. I was a good football player, which was important in those years because I could read my name in the newspaper. I never had a day when I would think, “People don’t like me.”

In spite of my obvious weaknesses, I became successful in my career, so much so that people say to me, “So you’ve overcome dyslexia.” No. I don’t overcome it. I just learn to compensate for it. Some easy things are hard for me. Most people read 500 words a minute. I only read 200. I try not to dial a phone because I sometimes have to dial three times to get the number right. I owe my successful career to my writing instructor, Ralph Salisbury. He looked past my misspellings and gave   me   encouragement.   So   I   always   feel   confident.   When   I   write   my   books, I’m   seeing everything in my imagination. I write quickly and go like the wind.

The real fear that I have for dyslexic people is not that they have to struggle with their reading skills or that they can’t spell correctly, but that they will quit on themselves before they get out of school.

1. When the author did badly in the course, his mother thought that    .

A．he needed a better teacher

B．he did not work hard enough

C．he was probably too ill to study

D．he was not as smart as other children

2. In college, the author was in registration lines all day to    .

A．choose most interesting courses

B．become friends with new classmates

C．stay distance from language teachers

D．avoid courses that require correct spelling

3. Which of the following best describes the author in college?

A．Happy and active.

B．Shy and unhappy.

C．Successful and funny.

D．Quiet and unsuccessful.

4. According to the author, it is important for dyslexic people    .

A．not to get out of school

B．not to give up so easily

C．to learn to spell correctly

D．to develop reading skills