2 . Do you know the proverb “no pain, no gain”? It gives the impression that we ought to be suffering while we study. It seems that the only way to know if we’ re putting in enough work is how much hardship we bear. We are totally taken up with study, shutting ourselves away for a big exam. Is that necessarily true?

When we haven’t taken the time to come up with another idea, we just shut ourselves in a room with a book. It’s no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off. Shutting ourselves away can make us learn to hate studying, leading to a situation where, instead of being able to concentrate on our work, we are troubled by how unfair it is that we must study. This can be part of a vicious cycle (恶性循环) that traps us into ineffective revision, or poor progress fueling further annoyance.

Thankfully, working in the company of other people really helps fight against that. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions(使人分心的事). It’s not necessary to avoid all company, just lazy company. They constantly try to keep others in conversation, while studying in the same room with someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. Of course, it’s also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities where you would rather be playing than studying. Working while sitting next to someone playing video games is most likely to end with a new high score of games rather than productive revision.

If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out noises. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you. Besides, we should know friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation. And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it’s important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.

1. What is the author’s purpose of writing the text?

A．To introduce effective studying means.

B．To encourage us to work as hard as possible.

C．To remind us to balance activities and study.

D．To discuss the importance of family company.

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A．Good ideas are needed in terms of progress.

B．Ways that interest us can lead to effective revision.

C．Shutting ourselves away can help concentrate on work.

D．With study techniques, revision is interesting and easy for certain.

3. What does the last sentence in Paragraph 3 imply?

A．One should learn from certain activities that interest him.

B．Playing video games is helpful for effective study.

C．One shouldn’t study with the company of a video game player.

D．The more time one spends in playing games, the higher test scores one will get.

4. What should you do if you are studying in a noisy environment?

A．Give up others company at once.

B．Think twice before taking any action.

C．Give indication of not wanting to be interrupted.

D．Force yourself to be accustomed to the environment.

3 . In most situations, bystanders’ responses like disapproving glares, uninvited comments or pieces of advice to a child’s angry behavior can add to the stress of the situation. But sometimes bystanders’ truly understand, and sometimes their words or actions can make a positive difference. One mom experienced this firsthand.

This mom was noticeably pregnant and traveling alone with her young son at a Los Angeles airport. Then things had taken a turn for the worse.

The boy, about 18 months old, was in the midst of what Beth, a Facebook user, referred to as a “total meltdown”. He was running all over the place, kicking, screaming, and flopping down (趴) on the floor, dead set on not getting aboard the plane. His mom did her best to calm him down, but, according to Beth, “she couldn’t pick him up because he was so upset. He kept running away from her, then lying down on the ground, kicking                           and screaming again.” Finally, the mom came to her wit’s end. She sat down on the floor next to her son, buried her face in her hands, and began to cry.

Then the most amazing thing happened.

A group of six or seven women, Beth included, circled around the mother-son pair and did something to help. Beth sang him “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” Another offered an orange. Another gave him a toy she had on hand. Another helped get his cup out of Mom’s bag. Yet another tended to Mom by offering her a water bottle. With the help of these incredible women, the kid and his mother calmed down and were able to board the plane.

And then life moved on. All of the strangers went their separate ways without speaking of what had happened. But Beth said it was something she’d never forget. “We were strangers, gathering to solve something,” she wrote. “It occurred to me that a circle of women, with a mission, can save the world.”

1. What reaction of the bystanders is proper to a child’s angry behavior?

A．Understanding and trying to help.	B．Offering parents some advice.
C．Commenting on the situation.	D．Stopping the child by glaring.

2. What does the underlined part “came to her wit’s end” probably mean?

A．Burst into tears.	B．Felt totally at a loss.
C．Gave in to her kid.	D．Ran away from her kid.

3. What were the group of women like?

A．Professional.

B．Courageous.

C．Calm.

D．Considerate.

4. What’s the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To describe a great volunteer Beth.	B．To introduce some incredible women.
C．To show how strangers can help out.	D．To appeal to people to care for children.

4 . 阅读文章回答问题。

A couple of weeks ago, my grandfather explained his favorite expression, “Nothing is ever easy.” Then the following day, as I tried to complete my day’s work, I happened to notice a bumblebee(大黄蜂) on the skylight(天窗). The skylight was particularly high up, but I thought removing the bee would take no more than five minutes. An hour later, the bee still remained. All that had changed was that the living room was a mess and that I was dizzy from looking up into the sunlight. I did not expect to waste an hour on an insect so tiny, but by doing so, I understood what my grandfather meant.

It is not only time that we tend to underestimate — we don’t account for unexpected costs. We often imagine what can work in our favor, but we seldom think of all the negative things that could affect us. However, it is important to remember that your day or week or year might not go as planned, and that is completely normal. It is perfectly acceptable to feel challenged — even at a task you thought was simple — because that is part of life.

If you can accept that nothing will ever be easy, then life might seem slightly more manageable. In middle school, I thought high school might be easier because I could choose the classes I wanted to take. In high school, I thought college might be easier because I could have a schedule best suited for myself. Yet each time, I was both wrong and disappointed. After accepting that school wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) be easy, I found myself with a more positive attitude and improved results.

Of course, there should be preparations made to account for expenses or time. Doing so can only help you accomplish your goals in a better way. However, there is no need to beat ourselves up(过分自责) when something stands in our path. Maybe we cannot see a bee coming our way, but we can always give ourselves the extra time to catch it.

1. What was out of the author’s expectation when he removed the bumblebee on the skylight?(no more than 15 words)
2. What does the underlined phrase “account for” in Paragraph 2 mean? (no more than 3 words)
3. What does Paragraph 3 mainly tell us? (no more than 15 words)
4. According to the passage, how will you deal with what stands on your path? (no more than 15 words)
5. What do you understand the sentence—“Nothing is ever easy.”? (no more than 25 words)

5 . From now on, never spend your precious time thinking of reasons for your failures and shortcomings. Instead, realize that the seeds of success were planted within you when you were born. Only you have the power to make those seeds grow.

The seeds, and the power to grow them, are contained in the most awesome machine ever created：the human mind. Success is a choice and not a chance. You were born a winner. You were born rich. You can be a success if only you make the right choice.

You cannot be successful without first developing your self-esteem. Your level of self-esteem is always based on the degree of control that you are able to exercise over yourself, and thus over your life. People with low self-esteem are people who do not believe that they have any power, or responsibility for their lives. They are the perennial（长期的）victims and martyrs. They are leaves tossed（摇摆）by the winds of chance blown about with any sudden change in the weather.

You can exercise control over your life only to the degree that you believe that you are responsible for everything that happens in your life. Failures think that everything happens by accident and chance. Successful people realize that they are responsible.

Everything happens as a result of something. If we can identify the cause, we can control the effect. We are responsible for what we choose to think and believe. One generally rises to the level that one expects. We are responsible for setting our expectations. Our success is dependent upon our level of confidence.

If you associate with positive-thinking people, you are definitely going to achieve success. On the contrary, the opposite happens. We are responsible for finding, planting, and nurturing the seeds that contain future victory, born from setbacks.

In short, in all areas of your life, whether they be financial, physical, emotional, or spiritual, you are responsible. Once you recognize this, accept it, and firmly believe it, you are on the road to success.

1. People with low self-esteem are compared to leaves because they ______.

A．are ready to change their minds	B．are easily affected by windy weather
C．don't have the power to face their fate	D．can't exercise control over themselves

2. Losers would think that ______.

A．success is the result of hard work	B．working hard will lead to success
C．their failure is only because of bad luck	D．they don't make efforts to succeed

3. It can be inferred from paragraph 5 that ______.

A．whether we will succeed depends on our attitudes

B．one’s expectation is the key to future success

C．thoughts and beliefs are the result of creative mind

D．setting our expectations is essential before taking action

4. The last paragraph serves as ______.

A．the proof of the author's points	B．the conclusion of the argument
C．an introduction to another topic	D．a comparison between two views

5. Which is the best title for the text?

A．The secrets of success．	B．Success is a choice．
C．Develop our confidence．	D．How to achieve success．

6 . In my starting days of real-life practice, I took up a job in a direct sales firm as a door-to-door marketer. I ______ this job and the good pay pushed me to become the best at the door-to-door sales. The motto given to us by our CEO, Mr Jones sounds ______ —meet 200 people and then you’ll achieve 10 sales. But it’s not that simple to do. I _______ this every day. Most of the days, I just couldn’t meet 200 people and the ______ left short of my target. But whenever I did meet 200 people, I could achieve the target. So I realized the motto was truly ______ words.

There were so many people who slammed (砰地关上) their ______ in my face. The kids answered the door, shouting “Mom, another ______ is here”. Some scared me with their dogs. Some even ______ to call the police. Some called me a thief. _______, there were a minority of people who gave me the strength to ______ hour after hour, day after day.

I remember such a _______: One Sunday at the railway station I ______ to sell something to two positive customers. One of them even went to ATM to get _______ for me during the big rain. When I asked him not to _______, his reply made me even stronger. He said that when I could sell in the big rain then he could ______ in the rain to get the money to help me.

These experiences in my life made me a stronger person and made me ______ that no matter what happens in life, I can never give up _______. And that’s how I have been able to achieve a little success from being ______ to being somewhere. I’m the CEO of my own marketing company now.

The lesson I learnt from door-to-door sales is that good doors are ______ there, and we have to ______ several bad ones before reaching the good one. Keep going and you’ll reach your target.

1.

A．lost

B．offered

C．liked

D．refused

2.

A．easy

B．ridiculous

C．complex

D．confusing

3.

A．wrote

B．played

C．thought

D．practiced

4.

A．salary

B．result

C．goods

D．partners

5.

A．warning

B．comforting

C．magical

D．meaningless

6.

A．books

B．doors

C．phones

D．windows

7.

A．neighbor

B．stranger

C．salesman

D．beggar

8.

A．threatened

B．forgot

C．expected

D．determined

9.

A．Besides

B．Otherwise

C．Therefore

D．However

10.

A．go away

B．stay up

C．carry on

D．pull out

11.

A．report

B．novel

C．movie

D．situation

12.

A．preferred

B．managed

C．failed

D．wished

13.

A．cash

B．food

C．drinks

D．tickets

14.

A．stop

B．return

C．trouble

D．complain

15.

A．sell

B．walk

C．talk

D．stand

16.

A．realize

B．imagine

C．doubt

D．dream

17.

A．exercising

B．shopping

C．learning

D．trying

18.

A．everywhere

B．anywhere

C．somewhere

D．nowhere

19.

A．never

B．always

C．seldom

D．sometimes

20.

A．open

B．repair

C．break

D．avoid

7 . 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

8 . 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

9 . Did you ever have a dream? I'm talking about a conscious dream where you would like to ____ a new future, a different choice of employment and a ____ of your own.

Several years ago, I had a dream about inventing a board game that would ___ my fortune. After many revisions, a board game was developed. It was a(n)_____ time. Our dream seemed to come true with sales starting to ___, and our company was also founded.

___ ,another new board game come into the ___ and made great progress in sales. Eventually, our company was dissolved (解散).Perhaps for a game developer, the ____emotions that it never was meant to be will discourage his future dreams of a different life. To me, maybe I didn't succeed to the level I ___, but there is one thing I'm ___ of: at the very least I turned my dream into a reality. If I had never transferred my dream into a ___ and then to action, there wouldn't have been valuable lessons to be learned from the failure. It may take many ___ but success is only achieved. Once dreams are ___ action, failure becomes a better action plan in future. The important ___ here is that success only comes by turning dreams into reality and realizing that the ___ that you fortunately get along the way are only stepping-stones to final success.

1.

A．experience

B．plan

C．see

D．know

2.

A．house

B．company

C．car

D．farm

3.

A．destroy

B．realize

C．change

D．create

4.

A．exciting

B．terrible

C．dark

D．embarrassing

5.

A．surge

B．dive

C．decrease

D．accumulate

6.

A．Unfortunately

B．Unlikely

C．Unconsciously

D．Unfairly

7.

A．market

B．society

C．country

D．school

8.

A．optimistic

B．negative

C．changeable

D．positive

9.

A．needed

B．devoted

C．desired

D．begged

10.

A．careful

B．afraid

C．confident

D．proud

11.

A．goal

B．question

C．worry

D．difficulty

12.

A．analyses

B．designs

C．attempts

D．revisions

13.

A．taken up

B．looked into

C．run across

D．put into

14.

A．saying

B．point

C．question

D．standard

15.

A．efforts

B．failures

C．possibilities

D．sadness

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