1 . Have you ever given a thought to inspiration？In fact, inspiration can be a strange thing. You never know when it might_________, and sometimes, it can come from the most_________places.

I recently read about an author named Nnedi Okorafor. When she was in college, she had a serious spine disorder. Okorafor was told that a simple operation could_________it. But when she woke up from her_________, she found that she couldn’t move her legs and was in great pain.

Okorafor got_________later. But before she did, she saw strange things in her hospital room. She imagined her _________as a beast that hunted her from the shadows. But she also_________a woman-a woman who could fly, in fact. This_________woman inspired her and helped her_________her pain. “I felt myself become__________,” she wrote in her book Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected.

We__________know where we might find the inspiration to create. As a__________, most of my inspiration comes from other people’s music. But I also find__________in other places. Books, movies and__________just moments in everyday life can lead to new creations.

__________, I recently rewatched the film Blade Runner. I’ve seen it plenty of times before; it’s one of my favorite movies. But this time, for some reason, I saw it__________.I decided to make music that could create the same feeling as the__________. It’s not done yet, but the music I’m working on now is heavily__________by the movie’s setting and characters.

Anything can__________us. You just have to be__________to catch inspiration when it hits.

1.

A．work

B．hit

C．exist

D．pass

2.

A．interesting

B．ordinary

C．unexpected

D．dangerous

3.

A．fix

B．make

C．remove

D．control

4.

A．dream

B．shock

C．recovery

D．operation

5.

A．well

B．bad

C．worried

D．annoyed

6.

A．curiosity

B．pain

C．anger

D．fear

7.

A．asked

B．met

C．imagined

D．visited

8.

A．confident

B．smart

C．honest

D．magical

9.

A．forget

B．recognize

C．describe

D．practice

10.

A．richer

B．better

C．busier

D．quieter

11.

A．always

B．never

C．sometimes

D．still

12.

A．director

B．dancer

C．musician

D．writer

13.

A．tips

B．messages

C．examples

D．ideas

14.

A．even

B．again

C．not

D．only

15.

A．In short

B．In addition

C．For example

D．After all

16.

A．differently

B．perfectly

C．vividly

D．smoothly

17.

A．story

B．song

C．play

D．film

18.

A．changed

B．supported

C．disturbed

D．influenced

19.

A．impress

B．inspire

C．amuse

D．challenge

20.

A．free

B．thankful

C．ready

D．careful

2 . I always wanted to be extraordinary at something. Not just as in, “Great job, Jimbo!” No, I wanted to be best-in-class, awe-inspiring, tiptop; a world-famous genius, like Michael Phelps or Mark Zuckerberg.

Unfortunately, my version of reality did not quite line up with thisdelusionalvision. I was a good swimmer, but I peaked at the collegiate State Championships level. My academic record was pretty solid, but I never would have made it into one of those ivy-league schools.

Though I rose to above-average status in a couple of areas, the disappointing truth was that I would never amount to anything more than a mid-sized fish in a small pond. God apparently had other plans.

What drove me crazy, though, was the superstar talent thrown in my face at every turn. Some folks just seemed to get an unfair intensive dose (剂量) of it. Why couldn’t I be like Bernie William, the famed New Yorkees player who also happens to be a world-class jazz guitar virtuoso (艺术大师)?

Some say greatness is simply a function of putting in the practice time. Around ten thousand hours, to be precise, according to author Malcolm Gladwell. I don’t question the theory of devoting extraordinary efforts to developing one’s expertise, but it seems that raw talent is equally important. You either have it or you don’t.

I’ve heard that as people approach middle age, their life satisfaction increases because they begin to accept the gap between the expectations for themselves and the reality. After a few decades of frustration without the desired results, we eventually come to terms with how our lives turned out, even if it falls far short of our idealized youthful expectation.

Hope bends, it seems.

1. What does the word “delusional” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?

A．Practical.	B．Realistic.
C．Abstract.	D．Imaginary.

2. In the passage, the writer thinks of himself as__________.

A．a world-famous genius	B．a mid-sized fish in a small pond
C．a world-class virtuoso	D．a student in an ivy-league school

3. According to the writer, what make “greatness”?

A．Raw talent.	B．Talent and time.
C．Extraordinary efforts.	D．Ten thousand hours of practice.

4. Which of the following might be the best title?

A．Hope Bends	B．Frustrating Decades
C．Practice Works	D．Youthful Expectation

3 . Respect is one of the most important qualities in your relationship with anyone.     1     Having respect for yourself is vital in maintaining a positive self-image by allowing yourself to feel confident in who you are.

Self-respect is about having the courage to stand up for yourself when you are being treated in a manner that is less than what you deserve. It is about knowing your worth and having the ability to adjust your life.     2     If you have respect for yourself, you will naturally demand respect from others.

Self-respect is about being the kind of person that you are proud of and the kind of person that pleases the people you care about. If you reflect on your life and the things you have done and feel a strong sense of dignity, you are likely to possess a great deal of self-respect.     3     If you are not proud of who you are or what you've done in your life, then you could be letting yourself down or compromising (妥协) your values.

Ultimately, if you are confident in yourself and proud of who you are, you are respecting yourself by being the person you wish to show the world.     4     And then most people will treat you well in return. Have enough respect for others and never treat people poorly. Have enough respect for yourself and know that you deserve to be surrounded by good people. Self-respect is the basis of a good relationship with yourself and eventually others.     5    

A．For example, you can remove people from your life if they are treating you poorly.

B．So it is very important to build a strong basis capable of facing anything.

C．Self-respect is about having a sense of humor about yourself.

D．But there is no exception when it comes to your relationship with yourself.

E．Treat others with the same respect you are giving to yourself.

F．If you respect yourself enough, you will get respect from the people who care about you.

G．The ability to have pride in yourself is the most important aspect of self-respect.

4 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

Caitlyn stepped into the warm, wet sand and wiggled her toes. The white, foamy waves raced over her feet and up her legs and then pulled back again. Caitlyn loved playing in the ocean water.

“Ouch!” said the girl, as her foot stepped on something hard. She looked down. At the bottom of the ocean was a large shell. Caitlyn bent down to pick it up. It was a pretty pink conch shell with points and curves and an opening that looked like a horn. She held it up to her ear, hoping to hear the whooshing sound for which they were known. Instead, she heard something quite different.

“Hey kid! How are you doing? Want to hear a joke?”

Caitlyn nearly dropped the shell. Holding it back up to her head, she tried again.

“What’s the most musical part of a fish?” the shell asked.

“I – I don’t know,” Caitlyn whispered.

“Their scales! Ha, ha!” laughed the shell. Caitlyn looked around to see if anyone was looking at her. They weren’t.

“I’m just getting warmed up, kid! Why don’t fish play basketball?” It seemed to be waiting for a reply.

“Uh, I’m not sure?” Caitlyn said. Was she dreaming?

The shell answered its own joke. “Because they are afraid of the net! Ha, ha!”     Caitlyn had to laugh. Okay, that was sort of funny.

The girl giggled. On and on the conch shell talked with her. For the rest of the week, Caitlyn would walk into the shallow water and sit with the shell held against her ear.She smiled and chuckled as it whispered corny jokes.

On the last day of her vacation, Caitlyn decided she couldn’t leave the shell behind. “You’re coming home with me,” she said to the pretty shell. She thought it would be happy. It wasn’t. “My home is in the ocean,” it replied, without any laughter in its voice.

注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有 下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。

But Caitlyn couldn’t bear to go home without it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gently, she lowered it back under the water.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . It is impossible to perform consistently in a manner inconsistent with the way we see ourselves. In other words, we usually act in direct ___________ to our self-image. Nothing is more difficult to ___________ than changing outward actions without changing inward feelings.

One of the best ways to ___________ those inward feelings is to have some “success” under your belt (在以往的经历中). My daughter Elizabeth has a ___________ to be shy and wants to hold back on new experiences. But once she has ___________ to a situation, it’s “full steam ahead”. When she was in first grade, her school had a candy bar ___________. Each child was given thirty candy bars and was ___________ to sell every one of them. ___________ I picked up Elizabeth from school she was holding her “challenge” and needed some ___________ encouragement. It was time for a sales meeting with my new salesgirl.

All the way home I taught her how to sell candy bars. I ____________ each teaching point with half a dozen “You can do it—your smile will ____________ them over—I believe in you” phrases. By the end of our fifteen-minute ____________, the young lady sitting beside me had become a ____________ saleslady.

At the end of the day, all thirty bars had been sold. She excitedly ____________ as I tucked her into bed that night: “Oh God, thanks for the candy sale at school. It’s great.”

Elizabeth’s prayer reflects the heart’s ____________ of every person. We all want to be winners. The next day Elizabeth came home ____________ another box of candy bars. She’d exhausted the ____________ of friendly neighbors, and she was thrown into the cruel world of the unknown buyer. ____________ I offered encouragement and a few more selling tips. And she did it. The experience ____________ two days of selling, two sold-out performances, two happy people, and one boosted (提高的)____________. How we see ourselves reflects how others see us.

1.

A．opposition

B．response

C．preference

D．contrast

2.

A．accomplish

B．acknowledge

C．appreciate

D．allocate

3.

A．follow

B．control

C．injure

D．improve

4.

A．chance

B．tendency

C．need

D．competence

5.

A．turned

B．complained

C．warmed

D．submitted

6.

A．sale

B．delivery

C．present

D．bargain

7.

A．forced

B．ordered

C．challenged

D．warned

8.

A．When

B．While

C．If

D．Because

9.

A．negative

B．further

C．rough

D．positive

10.

A．decorated

B．surrounded

C．rewarded

D．classified

11.

A．get

B．take

C．win

D．look

12.

A．complaint

B．quarrel

C．amusement

D．drive

13.

A．committed

B．nervous

C．frightened

D．pretty

14.

A．wrote

B．prayed

C．recalled

D．recommended

15.

A．humor

B．impression

C．desire

D．justice

16.

A．toward

B．without

C．for

D．with

17.

A．wealth

B．emotion

C．supply

D．dignity

18.

A．Again

B．Deliberately

C．Instead

D．Eventually

19.

A．added to

B．amounted to

C．came to

D．catered for

20.

A．self-help

B．self-study

C．self-respect

D．self-image

6 . All I had to do for the two dollars was clean her house for a few hours after school. It was a beautiful house, too, with a plastic-covered sofa and chairs, wall-to-wall blue-and-white carpeting, a white enamel stove, a washing machine and a dryer—things that were common in her neighborhood, absent in mine. In the middle of the war, she had butter, sugar, steaks, and seam-up-the-back stockings.

I knew how to scrub floors on my knees and how to wash clothes in our zinc tub, but I had never seen a Hoover vacuum cleaner or an iron that wasn't heated by fire.

Part of my pride in working for her was earning money I could squander (浪费)：on movies, candy, paddleballs, jacks, ice-cream cones. But a larger part of my pride was based on the fact that I gave half my wages to my mother, which meant that some of my earnings were used for real things—an insurance-policy payment or what was owed to the milkman or the iceman. The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound. I was not like the children in folktales: burdensome mouths to feed, nuisances to be corrected, problems so severe that they were abandoned to the forest. I had a status that doing routine chores in my house did not provide—and it earned me a slow smile, an approving nod from an adult. Confirmations that I was adultlike, not childlike.

In those days, the forties, children were not just loved or liked; they were needed. They could earn money; they could care for children younger than themselves; they could work the farm, take care of the herd, run errands（差事）, and much more. I suspect that children aren't needed in that way now. They are loved, doted on, protected, and helped. Fine, and yet...

Little by little, I got better at cleaning her house—good enough to be given more to do, much more. I was ordered to carry bookcases upstairs and, once, to move a piano from one side of a room to the other. I fell carrying the bookcases. And after pushing the piano my arms and legs hurt so badly. I wanted to refuse, or at least to complain, but I was afraid she would fire me, and I would lose the freedom the dollar gave me, as well as the standing I had at home—although both were slowly being eroded. She began to offer me her clothes, for a price. Impressed by these worn things, which looked simply gorgeous to a little girl who had only two dresses to wear to school, I bought a few. Until my mother asked me if I really wanted to work for castoffs. So I learned to say "No, thank you" to a faded sweater offered for a quarter of a week⁵s pay.

Still, I had trouble summoning （鼓起）the courage to discuss or object to the increasing demands she made. And I knew that if I told my mother how unhappy I was she would tell me to quit. Then one day, alone in the kitchen with my father, I let drop a few whines about the job. I gave him details, examples of what troubled me, yet although he listened intently, I saw no sympathy in his eyes. No "Oh, you poor little thing. " Perhaps he understood that what I wanted was a solution to the job, not an escape from it. In any case, he put down his cup of coffee and said, ⁴⁴Listen. You don't live there. You live here. With your people. Go to work. Get your money. And come on home. ”

That was what he said. This was what I heard:

Whatever the work is, do it well—not for the boss but for yourself.

You make the job; it doesn't make you.

Your real life is with us, your family.

You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.

I have worked for all sorts of people since then, geniuses and morons, quick-witted and dull, big-hearted and narrow. I've had many kinds of jobs, but since that conversation with my father I have never considered the level of labor to be the measure of myself, and I have never placed the security of a job above the value of home.

1. What is the "pleasure" of the author from the sentence "The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound. （paragraph 3） " ?

A．She was proud as she could earn money for her mother.

B．Her own value of being needed.

C．She is distinctive from those children in folktales.

D．She enjoyed a status of being an adult in her family.

2. According to the article, which of the following is true about children in the 1940s and now?

A．Children become needed, loved and liked when they are at forty.

B．Children in modern times are less likely to be spoiled by parents.

C．Children in 1940s are capable as they can handle various daily routine.

D．Children in modern times aren' t needed to do daily works any more.

3. What did the author's father make her understand?

A．Don't escape from difficulties at work.

B．Whatever decision she made, her father would support her.

C．Convey her dissatisfaction with her work.

D．Make a distinction between work and life.

4. Which of the following corresponds to the author's views in the passage?

A．Don't regard work achievement as a criterion for evaluating oneself.

B．Hard work is a struggle for a better future in your limited life.

C．Parents are the best teachers of children.

D．Job security is less valuable when compared with family.

7 . Have you ever wondered what you would tell yourself if you had the chance to go back to the past? We all have those life lessons that could have _______ to our personal growth if only we had known them _______.

When I was 8 I was told I had leukemia (白血病). Although it is _______ for a child to have cancer, I was somewhat lucky because I was unaware of the _______of it. Sure, I was sick, but _______.

Later I had a relapse (旧病复发), and it was much harder to _______ it again. After receiving treatments and operations, I ________ recovered. And I’m here 13 years later to tell my story.

Because of _______ the above things at a young age, I’ve learned things no other child gets the opportunity to. If I could go back and give my 8­year­old self _______, I'd say, “Bryce, what you will experience will be one of the ______ things anyone could face. You will have a hard time. You’ll be so ______ that for a year you won’t be able to go outside.”

“That sounds bad, but it doesn’t _______ what you’ll learn because of it. You’ll learn whatever happen, you should make a good life out of what is left. You’ll learn you can never judge a person because you just don't know what _______, illnesses, or trials they’ve been through.”

To this day, my cancer experience works as a reminder that difficulties are not all bad, and I hope to live up to the ________ I have of my personal growth. How about you? I hope the life lessons I’ve shared can help you ________ your own.

1.

A．owed

B．contributed

C．replied

D．referred

2.

A．later

B．better

C．earlier

D．further

3.

A．exciting

B．interesting

C．confusing

D．frightening

4.

A．seriousness

B．loneliness

C．encouragement

D．argument

5.

A．gave away

B．set off

C．gave in

D．pulled through

6.

A．stress

B．fight

C．solve

D．examine

7.

A．simply

B．extremely

C．actually

D．eventually

8.

A．studying

B．reading

C．experiencing

D．imagining

9.

A．knowledge

B．advice

C．news

D．lie

10.

A．safest

B．brightest

C．cheapest

D．toughest

11.

A．fat

B．sick

C．busy

D．cold

12.

A．turn to

B．point to

C．compare with

D．cooperate with

13.

A．challenges

B．dreams

C．projects

D．plans

14.

A．conclusions

B．expectations

C．invitations

D．considerations

15.

A．put forward

B．take up

C．reflect on

D．leave out

8 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

On Monday night, Cindy' s nine-year-old daughter Daisy announced she was going to practice one last time for the upcoming third grade talent show. The following day, she' d be performing "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten, which they both knew would be a crowd pleaser among her young classmates. She had prepared herself for the show for nearly two months, during which she herself made the final decision to sing to the guitar. She had learned to play the guitar for two years.

As she began to play, Cindy closed her eyes, imagining for a moment what the children' s faces would look like as she began to play and sing. Most of her classmates had never heard this girl sing, let alone play the guitar. As she shared her musical gift in that spotlight moment, Cindy knew it would be hard for her to contain her smile. Cindy guessed that she would be a little nervous before so many students and teachers. But she wouldn't be invited to witness what would happen. She was a little disappointed.

"Parents aren't allowed to come to the third grade talent show, Mom," she said matter-of-factly two weeks ago, breaking her heart right in half.

“What? You must be mistaken," Cindy said, feeling inappropriately emotional about this news. They were only students of the third grade. They should be accompanied by their parents on such important occasions. They may be nervous. Her mind was full of kind thoughts and love, but she said nothing. Perhaps that day she had something unhappy so she was unwilling to talk much with her. Perhaps her school would give out invitations to all the parents welcoming them to appreciate their children's performances. She decided to offer her puzzle, so she asked with caution, "Would parents be invited to the show?"

"No. No parents. It's just for kids. " she said, doing nothing to soften the blow…that is, until she saw the look on her face. Tapping her hand gently, she said with confidence, "Don't worry, Mom. I'll be fine.”

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Cindy knew she would be fine.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cindy desired to watch her growth especially on such occasions.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Asking for help is a sign of strength rather than weakness. In American culture, the independent individual is seen as their ideal. As the University of Missouri at St. Louis states on its website under the heading Key American Values, “Americans have been trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own situations in life and their own destinies.” The value also makes them think they can do everything themselves, and makes them feel bad about asking for help when they need it.

And when it comes to work situations, when they think about asking for help there, sometimes they fear that a request for help would make them look inept. While this has always been true for men, many women in the workplace have felt the need to try twice as hard as their male colleagues and do twice as much to get just as far and to prove their worth. Sometimes when we think about asking for help, our inner voices tell us, “See, if you admit you can’t do this on your own, they’ll see you for the imposter （骗子）you really are.”

But the fact is, even though individualism is on the rise, we can’t do everything by ourselves and we shouldn’t try.

Apple founder Steve Jobs once told the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association about the power of asking for help, and how he “never found anybody who didn’t want to help me when I asked them for help”. He said, at the age of 12, he called Bill Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, on the phone after getting his number from the phone book and asking him for spare parts so he could build a frequency counter（计频器）And Hewlett agreed and offered young Jobs a summer job assembling frequency counters.

“If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far,” Jobs said.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．What key American values are.

B．Asking for help is a sign of strength.

C．Why Americans refuse to ask for help.

D．Americans are responsible for their life.

2. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “inept” in Paragraph 2?

A．incompetent	B．depressed
C．impolite	D．sensitive

3. What can be learned from this US cultural phenomenon?

A．Americans suffer a lot from mutual distrust.

B．Americans think highly of individual values.

C．Americans should learn to build up confidence.

D．Americans see weakness as a sign of strength.

4. What can we learn from Jobs’ words in the last paragraph?

A．Learn to cooperate with others.	B．Be brave to try whatever you want.
C．Never ask for help.	D．Don’t hesitate to ask for help.

10 . A few years ago, I took a sightseeing trip to Washington, D.C.. Standing outside the Ronald Reagan Center, I heard a voice say, “Can you help me?” When I turned around, I saw an elderly blind woman with her hand extended. In a natural response, I reached into my pocket, pulled out all of my loose change and placed it on her hand without even looking at her. I was annoyed at being bothered by a beggar. But the blind woman smiled and said, “I don’t want your money. I just need help finding the post office.”

In an instant, I realized what I had done. I judged another person simply for what I considered she had to be. I hated what I saw in myself. This incident re-awakened my belief in humility (谦逊), even though I’d lost it for a moment.

The thing I had forgotten about myself is that I am an immigrant (移民). I left Honduras and arrived in the U.S. at the age of 15. I started my new life with two suitcases, my brother and sister, and a strong, serious-minded mother. Through the years, I have been a dishwasher, mechanic and pizza delivery driver among many other humble jobs, and finally I became a network engineer.

In my own life, I have experienced many open acts of prejudice (偏见). I remember a time, at age 17 — I worked as a waiter, and I heard a father tell his little boy that if he did not do well in school, he would end up like me. I have also witnessed the same treatment of my family and friends, so I know what it’s like, and I should have known better.

But now, living in my American middle-class lifestyle, it is too easy to forget my past, to forget who I am and where I have been, and to lose sight of where I want to be going. That blind woman on the streets of Washington, D.C., cured me of my blindness. She reminded me of my belief in humility and to always keep my eyes and heart open. By the way, I helped that lady to the post office. And in writing this essay, I hope to thank her for the priceless lesson.

1. We can learn from the first two paragraphs that ________.

A．the blind woman needed the money badly

B．the author thought what he did to the woman was wrong

C．the author was as poor as the blind woman

D．The blind woman was annoyed with the author

2. According to Paragraph 4, hearing the father’s words, the author was probably________.

A．rather hurt

B．very excited

C．deeply moved

D．greatly attracted

3. According to the passage, the author probably agrees that one should ________.

A．be nice to the elderly and the disabled

B．treat others equally with love and respect

C．try to experience different kinds of life

D．reflect on one’s past as often as possible

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A．Learn from your Past	B．How my American Dream Comes True
C．The Elderly Need Respect	D．A Valuable Lesson in the Street