1 . I was 17 years old. Along with a dozen other boys I had made a long trip to Iowa in order to see a college that I was thinking of
Here in Iowa everything was
Over the years to come I learned something else. Each of us has a special beauty
Each of us has our own
| A．assisting | B．attending | C．visiting | D．quitting |
| A．fun | B．hard | C．novel | D．tiresome |
| A．chance | B．school | C．family | D．goal |
| A．when | B．how | C．why | D．whether |
| A．became | B．flooded | C．drew | D．surrounded |
| A．easy | B．beautiful | C．flat | D．rough |
| A．hear | B．touch | C．taste | D．smell |
| A．cared about | B．prepared for | C．dreamed of | D．thought over |
| A．body | B．soul | C．face | D．pain |
| A．fill | B．cover | C．separate | D．block |
| A．folded | B．sank | C．escaped | D．flowed |
| A．tiny | B．pale | C．splendid | D．weak |
| A．change | B．punishment | C．creation | D．reflection |
| A．as well | B．in addition | C．for sure | D．in between |
| A．extra | B．unique | C．possible | D．reasonable |
2 . Just a couple of hours ago, I was on the plane, ready to fly home from London. The flight had been delayed by a few hours so it felt good to be so close to take-off. I had my iPod in place and a new book to read. Then, over the loudspeaker came the pilot’s voice: “The ground crew has found a metal instrument in one tire. We regret that we must cancel this flight.”
The passengers’ reactions that announcement led to were interesting. One man close to me began to argue with a flight attendant. A couple in another row complained loudly. A businessman in a black suit actually kicked the seat in front of him. Yet some passengers responded differently. An elderly gentleman smiled as he helped others take their bags down from the overhead compartments. A teenager, rather than trying to rush off the plane like most of the other passengers, stopped to help a woman with a disability. The lady sitting next to me laughed and said: “Hey, it’s not the end of the world,” before she made a call to her kids and shared her adventure with them, the wisest among us who has a remarkable ability to maintain grounded(稳定的) when times get tough.
No life is perfect; mine certainly isn’t. We all must face challenges, both large and small. You and I have the power to choose to rise above the external circumstances(外部环境). We always have the choice to be strong and kind when things fall apart.
That’s grace under pressure. My seatmate was right — things could have been so much worse. Anyway, I am safe. I have my health. I have two wonderful children. I have work I love and so much to be grateful for. Sure I now have to wait a few hours to catch the next flight home.
1. What caused the passengers’ different reactions?| A．The loudspeaker. | B．The delay of the flight. |
| C．The ground crew’s fault. | D．The pilot’s announcement. |
| A．A teenager helping the disabled. | B．An old man taking bags down. |
| C．A man in a black suit. | D．A man close to the author. |
| A．She assisted a disabled woman. | B．She made a phone call to her family. |
| C．She helped others carry their luggage. | D．She told moving stories to her children. |
| A．Our life is full of ups and downs. |
| B．It is natural to be scared under pressure. |
| C．We should help each other in times of difficulty. |
| D．We should be positive and calm when life is hard. |
3 . Last May I was hired by a large government agency. I had seven coworkers and a boss, Mrs. King. Our job was to sort huge amounts of mail into four hundred slots( 位置). We delivered the mail out of grocery carts we wheeled from office to office, picking up outgoing mail as we went along. Each mail delivery took an entire half-day to sort and deliver.
My troubles began almost as soon as I arrived. I was horrified to see that the slots were labeled not with people’s names but with their initials. Without thinking, I asked why this was a good idea, only to receive a sharp glance from Mrs. King. So I repeated the question. This time Mrs. King told me not to question what I didn’t understand. It was the first of many such exchanges, and I hadn’t been on the job a half-hour. The longer I worked at the job, the more I saw how inefficient all the procedures were, from delivery routes to times for coffee breaks.
When I asked Mrs. King about the procedures, however, she always reacted the same way. I continued with it over the next seven weeks, but my efforts were fruitless, even counterproductive.
Two months later, I was fired. I objected, of course. The personnel manager asked me if I had ever heard of the barnyard pecking order: the top chicken pecks on the one below it, the second pecks on the third, and so on all the way down the line to the lowliest chicken, whose life is a constant misery. Mrs. King, the manager said, was that lowliest chicken at the bottom of the pecking order in the agency’s management. No one should doubt for a moment that she ruled her rooster.
I reflected upon my adventure in the agency. Eventually I saw how arrogant, and how unsympathetic, my behavior had been. In my next job, I ’ll learn the pecking order before I become a reformer, if I do.
1. What trouble did the author meet when he started his job?| A．He had too many co-workers and a boss to work with. |
| B．He found the slots were labeled not with full names but initials. |
| C．He had to spend too much time in sorting and delivering. |
| D．His boss Mrs King glanced at him sharply and answered him quickly. |
| A．He questioned his boss Mrs King endlessly. |
| B．He did not work according to work procedures. |
| C．He worked inefficiently. |
| D．He did not make his efforts to work. |
| A．work procedure | B．job morality |
| C．production line | D．ranking system |
| A．Honesty | B．Self-confidence |
| C．Respect | D．Perseverance |
4 . As a dropout myself, I often feel it is my duty to defend my fellow non-scholars. Common wisdom would have you believe we are the “bad kids", the future criminals, the worst sort of people. But not all dropouts are likely to deal drugs,steal goods from a shop, or shoot pool all day.
My own favorite place to go when skipping school was always the public library. My early retirement meant that at last I had the time to read everything I wanted to. I found reading Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow a lot more interesting than reading about Sir Isaac Newton and the falling apple.
Best of all was the time I finally had to myself. I felt liberated. I had been in school nearly my whole life. I wanted to find out for myself who I was,and until I did,everything else felt like a waste of time.
However, after nearly three years, a series of strange thoughts began to make me anxious and unsure. Images of myself at the age of 35 began to haunt(缠扰）me in my sleep. And a voice in my head began asking over and over,"Who is paying the hot water bills? Who buys the microwave pizza?"The answer, of course, was my poor old parents. Sure,I was having an enjoyable time doing plenty of nothing, discovering myself and all, but that's unfair to them. What parents long to see their child drop out of school,with no plans for the future? Could they be expected to support me forever? Certainly not. I immediately moved out of the house and out of town, in search of a future for myself.
And it is here, in my new home of San Francisco, that I have decided to do what was once unthinkable: go back to school. I plan to take adult education classes and then apply for City College. On the one hand, I can hardly believe I'm doing it: a return to desks, chalkboards, and clocks that tell you when to stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about another. But at City College, I'll be able to take film production, semiotics, and sociology—just because I want to know about them.
So next time you see a dropout, be sympathetic. And please don't push him to do something he doesn't want to do. It never works. He'll come around when he's ready.
1. It is commonly believed that dropouts are_____.| A．bad kids from birth |
| B．interested in studying drugs |
| C．very likely to commit crimes |
| D．responsible for defending non-scholars |
| A．Living in comfort with his parents. |
| B．Reading in the public library. |
| C．Escaping the pressure from school. |
| D．Having time for self-discovery. |
| A．To fight for his own future. |
| B．To apply for City College. |
| C．To break away from his parents. |
| D．To live up to his parents' expectations. |
| A．Push them to the limit. |
| B．Open their hearts to them. |
| C．Try to be understanding. |
| D．Encourage them to be friendly. |
5 . I was sitting in an airport when a woman behind me asked, “What's the best gift you’ve ever got?” I closed the magazine I'd paid too much for and listened for an answer. “What do you mean, like the best birthday present?” a young man said, “Probably the gold coin I got for graduation.”
I threw my magazine onto a neighboring chair and thought about the question. What’s the best gift I’ve ever got? Good health aside, when it comes to material objects, for me the answer is easy. It was a high school graduation present, gift-wrapped and hand-delivered by my grandfather. He handed it to me and said, “Stay close to the land. Don’t be afraid to dig in and get a little dirt on you.”
That fall, I went off to college and that shiny new green-handled spade with the silver blade （刀刃）hung untouched on the wall in my parents, garage. A few years later, I had my own family and that graduation spade made its way from my folks5 garage into my own. I dug gardens, planted trees, roses and bushes. The spade was nothing but a tool.
The years rolled by. The spade has lost some of its color and I've added some gray, but I still dig hard into the earth, more often than ever. It’s more than a trusted workout partner. It’s a reminder of my family, one proudly rooted in agriculture. It’s a useful tool with a memorable message about staying close to the earth. Priceless!
A few months from now, my daughter will finish graduate school, and she has already had a job waiting in another city. She’s knowledge-rich but cash-poor, and though she’s expecting nothing from me, I have something valuable to give her before she moves away. It'll be wrapped of course, and it'll be worth the weight in gold.
1. Why did the author mention his experience in the airport?| A．To compare his gift with the man's. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| C．To recall his graduation ceremony. |
| D．To share his way of killing time. |
| A．It was hung on the wall. |
| B．It was sold for gold coins. |
| C．It was used to plant trees. |
| D．It was wrapped without touch. |
| A．A practical garden tool. |
| B．An ordinary workout partner. |
| C．A very precious present. |
| D．A reminder of his school life. |
| A．The family makes a living by farming. |
| B．The spade is kept in the garage at present. |
| C．The author gradually changed his attitude to life. |
| D．The spade will be passed down to the next generation. |
6 . Wildfires were rapidly spreading through northern and southern California as powerful winds swept through the state, burning homes and forcing more than 200,000 people to leave their homes. Thousands of structures were destroyed in the massive fires. Firefighters and volunteers worked around the clock, risking their lives to save others, although thick clouds of wildfire smoke hung in the air.
But it's not just humans in danger’s path. A video of a horse running away from the rescue team to find his family of horses from CBS Los Angeles went viral. The public was touched by the horse's heroic act and shared their thoughts on the Internet.
Volunteers were rescuing several horses from the wildfire when one of the horses jumped away from the group. They were trying to help the horse, but he refused. They probably had no idea what was wrong with the horse, who just started running away from them. The horse raced back into danger to lead his family to safety, despite rescuers' best efforts to stop him. He knew he couldn't leave them behind. As the tension increased, several human strangers jumped in to help the animals — they went back to the burning barn where some of the horses remained.
You can watch the horse run back into the smoke-filled area, reconnect with the horses inside the fence, and quickly accompany them out of the fenced-off area. Though it's not clear from the video, CBS Los Angeles reported that all but one of the horses involved were saved. Disastrous as the California wildfires have been, the video and countless other rescue stories — humans and animals alike — are shining light on all acts of goodness taking place.
1. What does the author intend to show by telling the wildfires in detail in Para. 1?| A．What caused the big wildfires. | B．How serious the wildfires were. |
| C．What rescuers did in the wildfires. | D．How rapidly the wildfires spread. |
| A．Turned bad. | B．Got attacked. |
| C．Became interesting. | D．Grew popular. |
| A．Loyal but stubborn. | B．Caring and courageous. |
| C．Responsible and clever. | D．Flexible but aggressive. |
| A．Fighting disasters needs joint efforts. | B．Animals are always friends of man. |
| C．All good deeds deserve to be praised. | D．Animals show goodness to each other. |
7 . Giving generously and receiving gratefully make it easier to live happily with others.
Yet, why do we have such difficulty accomplishing these things in our relationships?
Let me start with the idea of giving generously. I think people are unwilling to be generous with others because they fear to be used. For example, my husband and I have family members who only contact us when they need money. We usually accept their requests, but we rarely receive a "thank you". Most people would say that my husband and I are being used, and I suppose we are. But when we give, we shouldn't be giving for the purpose of getting gratitude or praise. Rather, we should be giving because it's the good thing to do. A “thank you” is merely the icing on the cake.
Everything that we have, from our ability to wake up each morning to the money in our bank account, is a gift from the world. In return, the world asks us to use these gifts to help others, either by giving them our time or our resources.
The good news is that when we live our lives being nice to others, our lives run more smoothly(顺利地).
If you're generous, yes, some people will use you. But if you practice being generous, most of your relationships will improve.
And at the same time, we should remember to receive gratefully. I truly believe that you cannot say “thank you” enough. So often we get lazy about expressing gratitude. Parents can feel unappreciated by their children, and teachers can feel unappreciated by their students. Just because a task is part of someone's job description doesn't mean that you shouldn't thank them for it.
Words of appreciation make others feel good about themselves like nothing else. It's good for us to say “thank you” because we regularly need to remind ourselves of how lucky we are. And hearing those two words can make us feel great for days.
If you are looking for a secret solution to improve your life, I can give you one: Give generously and receive gratefully.
1. The author mentions her family members in the passage mainly to explain ________.| A．why we should give even if we feel we are being used |
| B．why people have trouble expressing gratitude |
| C．why we should accept whatever others request |
| D．why it's necessary to express gratitude or praise |
| A．something that is necessary |
| B．something that is not of much help |
| C．something that leads to an unexpected result |
| D．something that makes an experience better |
| A．Because it makes us feel lucky. |
| B．Because words of gratitude delight people. |
| C．Because it's not other people's duty to help us. |
| D．Because all we normally get are gifts from the world. |
| A．To stress the importance of being generous. |
| B．To persuade people to give generously and receive thankfully. |
| C．To show how to express our gratitude to others. |
| D．To give tips on how to improve other people's lives. |
8 . Earlier this year, my husband and I were presented with the chance to make our home in an urban “micro” space. As we initially considered it, it seemed crazy. Would we even make it a week without going mad? Living room, kitchen, office, dining room, all in one small four-walled space.
There were a number of other potential options. We could move out into the suburbs like most people do in our extraordinarily expensive city and have a small yard maybe even a basement. But there was something about this neat “tiny” home that aroused our interest, which challenged us. We like to live differently from the crowd, to avoid what everyone else is doing “just because” everyone else is.
“Let’s try it for six months. If it makes us crazy, we’ll move. We can do anything for 6 months,” my husband said. It was challenging squeezing into the space at first, but then something caught us by surprise. We started having a ton of fun with our tiny space.
In the past, sometimes we had quite different ideas about which art or decorating style we found appealing. But here, in this tiny space, we found ourselves having a ton of fun exploring possible options. There’s no room for clutter(凌乱的东西), either. This is a gift!
It’s been 8 months, and we’re staying. Perhaps forever. When a space is this small, you don’t need to spend much in furnishing it, and you can’t keep endlessly buying things. There’s nowhere to put them!
This leaves us more financial resources and more time to go out into the much bigger world and enjoy life. For us, living in a “tiny” home has filled us with a feeling of abundance. It’s so much better than feeling weighed down, paying for a big space and more and more things. I highly recommend it.
1. What can we learn from the words of the author’s husband?| A．He didn’t like to stay in the small space. |
| B．He made up his mind to stay in the small space. |
| C．He was uncertain about living in the small space. |
| D．He encouraged the author to live in the small space. |
| A．It was depressing but inspiring. |
| B．It was challenging but interesting. |
| C．It was disappointing but touching. |
| D．It was embarrassing but rewarding. |
| A．She could enjoy life more. | B．She could avoid the crowds. |
| C．She could clean the room easily. | D．She could enjoy a feeling of freedom. |
| A．A new trend of living | B．The joy of living “tiny” |
| C．Save space, save money | D．Make good use of space |
9 . Mother Teresa and I were deeply engaged in this close conversation when we were
First I smelled them, then heard them: middle aged couple, both very tall, very large, very
As I snapped the photo, without hesitation the woman put her
Right after the photos, she and her husband, without so much as a “thank you” to Mother Teresa or to me,
Mother Teresa returned to her chair and continued
Later, I wrote Mother Teresa a letter, telling her how I had
In her
I thought back and realized that Mother Teresa had had no
“You must open your heart to them and become their student and their teacher,” she said in her letter. “
| A．attracted | B．annoyed | C．amazed | D．interrupted |
| A．gently | B．poorly | C．heavily | D．lightly |
| A．camera | B．present | C．notebook | D．purse |
| A．helped | B．invited | C．lifted | D．pulled |
| A．pushed in | B．stood out | C．took in | D．hurried out |
| A．asked | B．insisted | C．suggested | D．demanded |
| A．face | B．eyes | C．arm | D．hand |
| A．love | B．treat | C．like | D．hate |
| A．apologized | B．disappeared | C．turned | D．greeted |
| A．as if | B．even if | C．so that | D．in that |
| A．absorbed in | B．adapted to | C．concerned with | D．filled with |
| A．burst | B．sought | C．ran | D．saw |
| A．felt | B．identified | C．hated | D．ranked |
| A．response | B．reply | C．reaction | D．letter |
| A．recognition | B．mind | C．attention | D．head |
| A．happiness | B．sadness | C．kindness | D．loneliness |
| A．argument | B．conversation | C．problem | D．question |
| A．pitiful | B．deep | C．equal | D．long |
| A．care | B．service | C．welfare | D．benefit |
| A．Inspect | B．Respect | C．Include | D．Contain |
| [1] I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability-to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this… [2] When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a marvellous vacation trip-to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans: the Coloseum①, the Michelangelo② David, the gondolas③ in Venice, etc. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting. [3] After months of eager expectation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The airhostess comes in and says, “Welcome to the Netherlands.” [4] “The Netherlands?!” you say. “What do you mean, the Netherlands?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” [5] But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in the Netherlands and there you must stay. [6] The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, awful, dirty place, full of diseases. It’s just a different place. [7] So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. [8] It’s just a place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that the Netherlands④ …and the Netherlands has tulips⑤. The Netherlands even has Rembrandts⑥. [9] But everyone you coming and going from Italy and they’re all boasting about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned. [10] And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. [11] But if you spend your life regretting the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about the Netherlands. | ① ② (1475~1564) Italian artist and architect ③  ④  ⑤  ⑥(1606~1669) Dutch painter |
1. The author compares her motherhood to ________.
| A．her involvement in traveling abroad |
| B．her experience with an unfamiliar task |
| C．her dream of enjoying beautiful scenery |
| D．her journey to an unplanned destination |
| A．the Netherlands has many scenic spots to visit and enjoy |
| B．the Netherlands is a country with many paintings to appreciate |
| C．a mother of a disabled child can also feel the bright side of her life |
| D．a mother who has traveled a lot can receive a special treat from her child |
| A．proud | B．anxious | C．sociable | D．sensible |
| A．beyond her endurance | B．more a gift than a loss |
| C．worthy of others’ sympathy | D．preferable to going to Italy |
