1 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. defense     B. avoid       C. believing     D. mistake     E. required       F. critical G. cheating     H. ashamed     I. identify       J. confirm       K. similar

We are each responsible for our own decisions, even if the decision-making process has been cut down by stress or peer pressure. The real test of character is whether we can learn from our     1    , by understanding why we acted as we did, and then exploring ways to avoid     2     problems in the future.

Making ethical (伦理的)decisions is a(n)     3     part of avoiding future problems. We must learn to recognize risks, because if we can’t see the risks we’re taking, we can’t make responsible choices. To     4     risks, we need to know the rules and be aware of the facts. For example, one who doesn’t know the rules about plagiarism (剽窃) may accidentally use words or ideas without giving proper credit or one who fails to keep careful research notes may unintentionally fail to quote and cite sources as     5    . But the fact that such a violation is “unintentional” does not excuse the misconduct. Ignorance is not a     6    .

Most people who get in trouble do know the rules and facts, but manage to fool themselves about the risks they’re taking by using excuses: “Everyone else does it,” “I’m not hurting anyone,” or “I really need this grade.” Excuses can get very complex: “I know I’m looking at another’s exam, even though I’m supposed to keep my eyes on my own paper, but that’s not     7     because I’m just checking my answers, not copying.” We must be honest about our actions, and     8     excuses. If we fool ourselves into     9     we’re not doing anything wrong, we can’t see the real choice we’re making--and that leads to bad decisions.

To avoid fooling yourself, watch out for excuses and try this test: Ask how you would feel if your actions were public, and anyone could be watching over your shoulder. Would you feel proud or     10     of your actions? If you’d rather hide your actions, that’s a good indication that you’re taking a risk and rationalizing it to yourself.

2 . You are enrolled in a full-time school called “life”. Each day in this school 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.

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

As you travel through your lifetime, you may encounter 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 through bitter arguments and painful divorces, just as you cannot be sure why you struggle financially while your peers enjoy abundance. The only thing you can count on for certain is that you specifically need to learn; whether we choose to learn them or not is entirely up to you.

The challenge here, therefore, is to align (保持一致) yourself with your own unique path by learning individual lessons. But, remember, don’t compare your path to the people around you and focus on the difference between their lessons and yours. You need to remember that you will only be faced with lessons that you are capable of learning and are specific to your own growth.

Our sense of fairness is the expectation of equity — the assumption that all things are equal and that justice will always prevail. Life is not, in fact, fair, and you may indeed have a more difficult lift path than others around you, deserved or not. Everyone's circumstances are unique, and everyone needs to handle his or her own circumstances differently. If you want to move toward calm, you will be required to move out the comparing phrase of “it's not fair”. Focusing on the unfairness of circumstances keeps you comparing yourself with others rather than appreciating your own special uniqueness. You miss out on learning your individual lessons by distracting yourself with feeling of bitterness and anger.

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

A．Having the same opinions as 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．the same thing usually happens to the peers

C．a painful divorce must lie in financial problems

D．a wealthy man must have a wonderful marriage

3. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．All things are equal and justice will always prevail.

B．You should learn to appreciate your specific uniqueness.

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

D．The teachers have designed the lessons as part of your curriculum in the life school.

4. Life is called a full-time school, because ____.

A．it is full of all lessons to learn	B．you have plenty of time to learn lessons
C．you meet with specific lessons every day	D．there are so many subjects for you to choose

3 . One of the most inspiring quotes I ever heard was by Brian Tracy. He said: “The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people fail many more times than unsuccessful people.” I personally experienced the wisdom of that understanding right after my first book was published. Like many authors，I expected hundreds of bookstore customers lining up for me to sign copies for them. I’m afraid to say, it didn’t quite happen like that.

My first signing was arranged at the largest bookstore in the city. Filled with anticipation，I was put into a private signing room in the beautiful store. Despite a nice sign placed outside the room exhibiting images of both me and my book, not a single customer entered the room. As each minute passed, I became increasingly anxious.

Do they not like the title? I wondered. Do they not like the book cover?

After 90 minutes of this torture, I was absolutely distraught.

For the four years writing the book, I had felt a sense of mission and purpose like never before in my life. Working a full 8-hour day in my clinic, I had to get into bed by 9:30 pm every day, so I could wake up at 5:30 in the morning and have two hours of writing before heading into my clinic. Before I ever began each writing session, I would close my eyes for 10 minutes and then whisper, “Please grant me the words to touch just one person’s life”

Now, sitting there alone at my first book signing，I wondered if my entire life wasn’t just a big joke. At that moment, just when I couldn’t feel any worse, a middle-aged couple walked into the room. I managed to hide my emotions and introduced myself and my book. There was something different about the way they were looking at me that I couldn’t quite identify. But I didn’t know what else to say. The couple turned to each other, and the husband nodded to his wife. She then told me, “I think we’ll get the book.” My heart began to pound. But I realized the woman was trying to say something else.

“The reason we’re buying it，” she said hesitantly, “is because our son committed suicide two years ago. Maybe your story will help us get over it.”

At that moment, I knew if I never sold another copy of the book, my four years of writing it had served its purpose. Although I would have many more challenging years until my book caught on and sold well, this couple’s story was all the motivation I needed at that point to keep me moving ahead. Thanks to them, I would come to the realization that the greatest of lives are made all in the same way: One challenge... one hurdle... one step... and one small victory at a time.

1. The writer quotes Brian Tracy to emphasize the importance of _________.

A．conscience	B．success
C．confidence	D．perseverance

2. The word “distraught” (paragraph 4) probably means ________.

A．bored and impatient	B．cheerful and proud
C．upset and disappointed	D．miserable and ashamed

3. What can be inferred from paragraph 5?

A．The writer had to quit his job to make time for his writing.

B．The writer was not sure about the purpose of his writing at first.

C．The writing was completed with great self-discipline and efforts.

D．The process of writing the book was full of pains and frustration.

4. By saying “my four years of writing it had served its purpose”, the author probably means that _________.

A．he had succeeded in selling his first book to the couple

B．he had managed to touch someone’s life with his book

C．he was quite satisfied with the feedback of his readers

D．he had found someone who appreciated his writing

4 . If what we did were simply work to live, the reality of our everyday existence would be equivalent to that of stone age man. All of human achievement that makes modern life possible has happened because of the time that has been freed up from the work of everyday survival.

For most of the human species on earth man and woman have been occupied with the simple business of staying alive in as much relative comfort as possible.

Hunting and gathering, finding or building shelter, defending the little that one has from plunder(抢夺), surviving long enough to have offsprings of a mature enough age to contribute to the welfare of the group—this was initially the main business of living.

It has only been comparatively recently, since the agricultural and industrial revolutions that used emerging technologies to free human beings from the drudgery of day-to-day survival, that time has become available to do other than simply survive.

However, living to work is a luxury that we should not take for granted, for even now still most of the human race couldn’t be blessed with the pearl.

When we live to work we enjoy what we are doing, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it. The term “live to work” implies choice. Working to live denotes the exact opposite: anything will do that pays the bills. Anyone in the latter situation will attest to the undesirability of being in such a position. Living to work suggests exhilaration in one’s calling; it summons images of freedom and excitement in the prospect of what each new day will bring, whereas working to live suggests little choice if any. “What do you want to do when you grow up?” is a question with which most children will be familiar, perhaps even bored. It is a question of what even a young adult can often not be sure of until they have had experiences of many different jobs, or at least the ones they thought to try. But to be forced to work at a task that one does not enjoy day after day for survival would be last choice on anyone’s list. Enlightened humanity, while acknowledging that some undesirable jobs must be done regardless, would acknowledge that if one was motivated in his work, the work would be so much better accomplished.

1. The underlined word drudgery is closest in meaning to ______.

A．imagination	B．hard labor
C．dragging	D．familiarity

2. It is implied in the text that human beings ______.

A．have been satisfied by contributing to the welfare of the group.

B．stayed alive in much possible comfort for centuries

C．made little progress before the emergence of technologies

D．were addicted to hunting, gathering and building shelters.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Human achievements facilitating modern life are done during the leisure time freed from survival work.

B．The major early business of humans is to seek chances for technological developments.

C．In modern society, most people have enough comforts to make individual choices for work.

D．Most adults can answer confidently questions concerning what jobs they want to do.

4. The best title for the passage would be ______.

A．Technology, a driving force to push humans ahead

B．Working to live, a basic condition for pleasant living to work

C．Different desires and prospects people have for different kinds of work.

D．Working to live or living to work, a choice distinguishing joy from suffering

5 . There was a time when British Olympic medal winners became household names because there were so few of them. But the 67 medals at this year's Games in Rio and 147 at the Paralympics meant that the GB medalists’ reception at Buckingham Palace was a(n) _______ and yet happy event.

Throughout the Commonwealth there were _______ joyful celebrations. Grenada, the Bahamas, Jamaica and New Zealand won more medals per _______ than any other countries.

Many of this year’s winners spoke of being inspired by athletes of previous generations. Inspiration _______ their aspiration (抱负)；and having discovered abilities they _______ knew they had, these athletes are now inspiring others.

A few months ago, I saw inspiration of a different kind. It was not hard to be moved by the _______ of the highly skilled doctors, paramedics and crew, who are called out on average five times a day, even at night.

_______, to be inspirational you don’t have to save lives or win medals. I often draw strength from meeting _______ people doing extraordinary things; volunteers, carers, community organizers and good neighbors; _______ heroes whose quiet dedication makes them special. They are an inspiration to those who know them, and their lives frequently ________ a truth expressed by Mother Teresa. She once said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

To mark my 90th birthday, volunteers and supporters of the six hundred charities of which I have been patron came to a lunch in The Mall. Many of these organizations are ________ in size but inspire me with the work they do.

From giving friendship and ________ to our veterans, the elderly or the bereaved; to championing music and dance; providing animal welfare; or protecting our fields and forests, their selfless devotion and ________ of spirit is an example to us all.

When people face a challenge they sometimes talk about taking a deep breath to find courage or strength. In fact, the word “inspire” literally means “to breathe in”. But even with the inspiration of others, it’s ________ that we sometimes think the world’s problems are so big that we can do little to help. On our own, we cannot end wars or ________ injustice, but the collective impact of thousands of small acts of goodness can be bigger than we imagine.

1.

A．respectful

B．accessible

C．crowded

D．appreciated

2.

A．hardly

B．equally

C．roughly

D．disputably

3.

A．people

B．popularity

C．game

D．person

4.

A．concerned

B．engaged

C．fed

D．desired

5.

A．scarcely

B．always

C．almost

D．nearly

6.

A．specialty

B．reputation

C．skills

D．dedication

7.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Similarly

D．Ironically

8.

A．outstanding

B．uncommon

C．ordinary

D．fortunate

9.

A．unsung

B．passionate

C．unbelievable

D．unusual

10.

A．refer to

B．represent

C．define

D．inform

11.

A．great

B．acceptable

C．important

D．modest

12.

A．indifference

B．support

C．relations

D．challenge

13.

A．generosity

B．hope

C．wisdom

D．foundation

14.

A．satisfying

B．well-known

C．understandable

D．disappointing

15.

A．turn down

B．take over

C．make for

D．wipe out

6 . The other night I had dinner with my friend Kim, who in midlife is trying to change her career. She has spent decades as a successful photographer, but she knows it’s time to do something different. What, _______ , is she qualified to do, besides photography? “I’m good at parties, ” she told me with a shrug. “And parallel parking.” We refilled our wineglasses and laughed really hard as we dreamed up the various careers in which that particular _______ might be useful.

Here's a(n) _______ exercise: Ask yourself what you’re good at, aside from the skills you use at work. After my conversation with Kim, I put this question to a handful of friends and got_______ ranging from “finding restaurants for people” to “spotting terrific old chairs.” The more I think about my own answer to this question, the more confused I seem to get.

A year ago this month I _______ a job, and a career, which brought me great satisfaction for more than two decades. Can serendipity be a strategy? It certainly worked for me. I happened to find a field in which my ______ and the requirements of the job overlapped. Like most of my friends, I spent my 20s and 30s marching ______ along my given path, working hard, with purpose, and by the time I reached my 40s, I was able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Isn’t that the way the American Dream goes?

Here’s what you learn when you ______ that dream: pride is the unpleasant by-product of success. If you are really good at your job for a long enough time, you begin to _______ that you can be good at any job and therefore can easily jump from one thing to another, switching horses in midstream. Examples of this thinking are everywhere, from the harmlessly frivolous(轻率的） to the_______ serious. As it turns out, humility is its own kind of skill; _______it hurts, but falling on your face hurts more.

Over the years a number of 20-somethings have come to me for advice, which I have_______ given: Work hard, meet lots of people, say yes to many things. Don't complain, put a smile on your face, remind yourself that studying philosophy for four years in college might not prove to be particularly _______in the working world.

So, folks, an assignment: Ask yourself what you’re good at. As for me, aside from what I most recently did for a living—writing, editing, managing people and showing up to meetings on time—my greatest strengths seem to be making vacation packing lists and remembering which houses in my town are on the market. So I have entered this next phase of my life with _______ (for what I’ve accomplished), humility (about all that I don’t know) and fear (see_______ greatest strengths).

1.

A．additionally

B．otherwise

C．however

D．instead

2.

A．requirement

B．interest

C．combination

D．emphasis

3.

A．humbling

B．exciting

C．training

D．regulating

4.

A．excuses

B．responses

C．defenses

D．offenses

5.

A．offered

B．needed

C．guaranteed

D．left

6.

A．skills

B．dreams

C．demands

D．beliefs

7.

A．independently

B．effortlessly

C．determinedly

D．hesitantly

8.

A．look up to

B．wake up from

C．catch up with

D．add up to

9.

A．doubt

B．believe

C．neglect

D．boast

10.

A．dangerously

B．usually

C．visibly

D．sustainably

11.

A．developing

B．fighting

C．fearing

D．understanding

12.

A．reservedly

B．carelessly

C．unwillingly

D．dutifully

13.

A．helpless

B．difficult

C．common

D．relevant

14.

A．pride

B．gratitude

C．kindness

D．patience

15.

A．acknowledged

B．numerous

C．related

D．random

7 . Directions:After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

We want our children to succeed in school and, perhaps even more importantly, in life. But the paradox(悖论) is that our children can only truly succeed     1     they first learn how to fail. Consider the finding that world-class figure skaters fall over more often in practice than low-level figure skaters. Why are the really good skaters falling over the most?

The reason is actually quite simple. Top skaters are constantly challenging themselves in practice.     2     (stretch) their limitations, they keep trying their best. They fall over so often, but it is precisely why they learn so fast. Lower-level skaters have a quite different approach. They are always attempting jumps they can already do very easily,     3     (remain) within their comfort zone. This is why they don’t fall over. In a superficial sense, they look successful, because they are always on their feet. Never     4     (fail) in practice prevents them from making progress.

    5     is true of skating is also true of life. James Dyson worked through 5,126 prototypes (原型) for his newest vacuum before coming up with the design     6     made his fortune. These failures were essential to the pathway of learning. As Dyson put     7    : “You can’t develop new technologyunless you test new ideas and learn when things go wrong. Failure is essential to invention.”

In healthcare, however, things are very different. Clinicians don’t like to admit to failure, partly because they have strongegos (自我) —particularly the senior doctors—and partly because they fear litigation (诉讼). The consequence is that     8     learning from failure, healthcare often covers up failure. The direct consequence is that the same mistakes     9     (repeat). According to the Journal of Patient Safety, 400,000 people die every year in American hospitals alone due to preventable error.     10     healthcare learns to respond positively to failure, things will not improve.

8 . Directions: compete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

The best experiences can’t be planned, so I recently traveled to San Francisco some meetings and found myself with a half day to kill. My options: The 49ers’first game of the season, against the Green Bay Packers. The America’s Cup sailing     1     . Or I could get lost.

After a horrendously long line at the car rental center, I was free. So I disappear into the fog and clouds covering the Pacific Coast Highway and     2     south with absolutely no     3     in mind.

I drove through     4     carved out of the mountains and stopped at a few state beaches; at one, I watched a wedding out on the cliffs among the crashing waves.

Back in the car, I drove toward San Gregorio, a town that you can     5     miss. I know because I drove right through it and ended up on a pine tree-bordered ribbon of asphalt that felt like it would go on forever. A few people     6     around outside the San Gregorio General Store, smoking cigarettes and talking about the motorcycles they’ve owned over the years, Inside, I found a bar with regular patrons, a guitar duo, and, of course, a full-on store. I ordered a Pacifico, grabbed a seat, and watched the guitarists jam out. Then I congratulated them, threw a couple of     7     dollars in their bucket, and walked back out into the world.

The day could have been so different: crammed into a stadium or bar half-watching sports. But this was much more     8     .Hours prior, I was on a flight with the masses, going through the motions. Then I was out on my own, having an unexpected and unrepeatable experience. I learned something on September 8: Don’t be afraid to get lost—on purpose or     9     —and have zero     10    . It will be good for you. I promise.

9 . Travel, a home coming tour

In the UK travel is an enriching life experience that will make your resume stand out amongst other applicants. Travel is not simply a pursuit of____ but also “character-building”，“defining” and potentially “career-boosting”.

Most of the people I know here at university ___ the desire to travel and escape the stress surrounding us. But I don’t think, as UK students, we can blame our addiction to international travel simply on a stressful life. Yes, I have a lot to handle and it’s a fine___ act managing my part-time job, my degree and my social life to a perfect level. In a truly open world, we can get anywhere, see anything and experience every culture under the sun, at the click of a button, the purchase of a ____

Many people I met while working in China were surprised at the number of countries I’d travelled to. Compared to friends and family I consider myself vastly ____. I’ve never set foot across the pond in the U.S.A and Canada, let alone South America and even within Europe my checklist of destinations is far from____. I was also met by____at how little travelling I had done within my own borders. This was something I had not really considered before. How much of my own country had I really seen and experienced? To those from a place as vast and varied as China, Britain was really so ____in comparison and so to have spent 20 years there and not seen every part of it was quite surprising.

I had a conversation with a Chinese colleague over the reasoning behind our use of golden Cotswold stone, which sounds dull for most people. As a student of history, I found anything____fascinating. However it was not the stone within British cities I found interesting. What was curious was that it was something I had never even considered, and yet here was someone____on something I had simply taken for granted.

We continued our discussion, yet I was left____that I could not answer her question. In China, as well as a wealth of new culture that fascinated me, I discovered that there were parts of the UK’s culture, history, the very structure of my identity that were so different, so unique from China that I also____a newly found interest in my own heritage.

In this respect, travelling enables you with two things. Firstly you develop a(n) ____with new cultures, understanding customs, experiencing cuisines and absorbing the sights and smells of every new city. For many employers this____to new locations is seen as tremendous in your personal resume. But alongside increased employability, through international, cross-cultural conversations, you develop an interest in your own history, culture, and customs. You return to your home____ an understanding of other people’s fascination with it and your own sense of love for its peculiarities.

1.

A．leisure

B．wealth

C．company

D．personality

2.

A．question

B．refuse

C．detect

D．experience

3.

A．balancing

B．forcing

C．judging

D．disturbing

4.

A．course

B．stamp

C．diploma

D．ticket

5.

A．under-stuffed

B．under-travelled

C．under-used

D．under-expanded

6.

A．official

B．vacant

C．complete

D．accurate

7.

A．excitement

B．hatred

C．astonishment

D．disgust

8.

A．young

B．beautiful

C．remote

D．small

9.

A．historical

B．dramatic

C．religious

D．perfect

10.

A．piled

B．hooked

C．relied

D．carried

11.

A．exhausted

B．embarrassed

C．puzzled

D．convinced

12.

A．exchanged

B．lost

C．gained

D．traded

13.

A．observation

B．resolution

C．fascination

D．illustration

14.

A．relation

B．preference

C．agreement

D．adaptability

15.

A．objecting to

B．filled with

C．bothered by

D．searching for

10 . Directions:Read the passage carefully. Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box. Each sentence can be used only once. Note that there are two more sentences than you need.

Life is not easy when you are looking for something worthwhile and ready to learn from the best experiences.     1     Here are some life lessons which people will learn the hard way in majority of cases.

    2    However, people usually get discouraged when it takes more time than they thought it would. At this time, people refer only to people who have already achieved what they want to do. Look at any successful person and you’ll notice one thing common in all of them: they took time to learn and mastered their skill like no one else. There is no elevator to success and you have to take the stairs.

Be brave to take the road less traveled. In our whole life, we always want to follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the same thing everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clothes everyone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with. Why? Because we are scared to fail. But when you get bored of life, you realize that you are not meant to do what everyone does and that your destiny is different from anyone else’s out there in the world.     3    

You don’t have to live your life in a way society wants you to.    4    Parents sometimes force their children to select a career they don’t want because other children have selected that career.Worst of all, people follow them without even asking.There is no harm in believing in old beliefs but when you pursue them before your interest, sooner or later you’ll realize that you should first do what you think is right.

A．It takes continuous time and effort to be successful in any area.

B．The general rule goes that the harder you try, the greater results you get.

C．Many old beliefs are being performed these days and are followed blindly.

D．It always takes tests and then fails us to learn anything worthwhile.

E．However, in most circumstances your effort and attempt go well alongside with your desired achievement.

F．But the price we pay to realize this is high because it takes a great amount of courage to follow your own path.