2 . Since our twins began learning to walk, my wife and I have kept telling them that our sliding glass door is just a window. The _______ is obvious. If we _______ it is a door, they’ll want to go outside _______. It will drive us crazy. The kids apparently know the _______. But our insisting it’s _______ a window has kept them from _______ millions of requests to open the door.

I hate lying to the kids. One day they’ll _______ and discover that everything they’ve always known about windows is a _______.

I wonder if _______ should always tell the truth no matter the ____________. I have a very strong     ____________ that the lie we’re telling is doing ____________ damage to our children. Windows and doors have ____________ metaphorical(比喻) meanings. I’m telling them they can’t open what they absolutely know is a door. What if later in ____________ they come to a metaphorical door, like an opportunity(机会) of some sort, and ____________ opening the door and taking the opportunity, they just ____________ it and wonder, ＂What if it isn’t a door?＂ That is, ＂What if it isn’t a ____________ opportunity?＂

Maybe it’s an unreasonable fear. But the ____________ is that I shouldn’t lie to my kids. I should just ____________ repeatedly having to say, ＂No. We can’t go outside now.＂ Then when they come to other doors in life, whether they are real or metopherical, they won’t ____________ to open them and walk through.

1.

A．relief

B．target

C．reason

D．case

2.

A．admit

B．believe

C．mean

D．realize

3.

A．gradually

B．constantly

C．temporarily

D．casually

4.

A．result

B．danger

C．method

D．truth

5.

A．merely

B．slightly

C．hardly

D．partly

6.

A．reviewing

B．approving

C．receiving

D．attempting

7.

A．win out

B．give up

C．wake up

D．stand out

8.

A．dream

B．lie

C．fantasy

D．fact

9.

A．parents

B．twins

C．colleagues

D．teachers

10.

A．restrictions

B．explanations

C．differences

D．consequences

11.

A．demand

B．fear

C．desire

D．doubt

12.

A．physical

B．biological

C．spiritual

D．behavioral

13.

A．traditional

B．important

C．double

D．original

14.

A．life

B．time

C．reply

D．history

15.

A．by comparison with

B．in addition to

C．regardless of

D．instead of

16.

A．get hold of

B．stare at

C．knock on

D．make use of

17.

A．real

B．typical

C．similar

D．limited

18.

A．safety rule

B．comfort zone

C．bottom line

D．top secret

19.

A．delay

B．regret

C．enjoy

D．accept

20.

A．hurry

B．decide

C．hesitate

D．intend

3 . Last year I decided to do some volunteer work. I began to________on the Internet and discovered Volunteer USA. Three months later I________myself on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona. I was________at the thought of living with loads of new people for three months. However, within fifteen minutes of________, my worries had gone. Everyone was so________and like-minded that it was very________to feel at home.

I was sent to the Coronado National Forest for my first 8-day________. We had to________everything we needed and walk three miles to where we worked. It may not seem like a________way but in 35℃ heat and with a heavy pack, my legs were on fire.

My job was to________a stairway out of rock. This________climbing up and down the side of a mountain inhabited (栖息) by mountain lions, although I should say they were only heard,never________.

Three days later, a beautiful stairway came into being. The________of knowing that my________will be on that mountainside for years to come is massive.

But on the last night we were________in a thunderstorm. I woke up at midnight to find a swimming pool in my tent. The temperature was close to________. I had to spend the rest of the night trembling in the only________part of my tent.

________, I suffered a lot. But I know whatever I have to face in my life I was there and I________. I think I am much________for having taken part in the project.

1.

A．calculate

B．negotiate

C．advertise

D．research

2.

A．imagined

B．introduced

C．enjoyed

D．found

3.

A．annoyed

B．surprised

C．scared

D．excited

4.

A．arriving

B．sleeping

C．thinking

D．walking

5.

A．confident

B．friendly

C．energetic

D．curious

6.

A．funny

B．good

C．lucky

D．easy

7.

A．tour

B．project

C．campaign

D．course

8.

A．drop

B．make

C．carry

D．buy

9.

A．nice

B．safe

C．long

D．quick

10.

A．build

B．test

C．clean

D．guard

11.

A．helped

B．ended

C．allowed

D．meant

12.

A．hunted

B．trained

C．seen

D．fed

13.

A．satisfaction

B．ambition

C．expectation

D．intention

14.

A．work

B．memory

C．record

D．story

15.

A．left

B．caught

C．attacked

D．separated

16.

A．boiling

B．average

C．normal

D．freezing

17.

A．tidy

B．dry

C．new

D．soft

18.

A．By the way

B．Regardless of that

C．Needless to say

D．In either case

19.

A．survived

B．resisted

C．escaped

D．recovered

20.

A．smarter

B．stronger

C．happier

D．busier

4 . You run into the grocery store to pick up one bottle of water. You get what you need, head to the front, and choose the line that looks fastest.

You chose wrong. People who you swear got in other lines long after you are already checked out and off to the parking lot.     1    

It turns out, it’s just math working against you; chances are, the other line really is faster.

Grocery stores try to have enough employees at checkout to get all their customers through with minimum delay.     2    Any small interruption-a price check, a chatty customer-can have downstream effects, holding up an entire line.

If there are three lines in the store, delays will happen randomly at different registers. Think about the probability:    3    So it's not just in your mind: Another line probably is moving faster.

Researchers have a good way to deal with this problem. Make all customers stand in one long, snaking line- called a serpentine line-and serve each person at the front with the next available register.     4    This is what they do at most banks and fast-food restaurants. With a serpentine line, a long delay at one register won't unfairly punish the people who lined up behind it. Instead, it will slow down everyone a little bit but speed up checkout overall.

    5    It takes many registers to keep one line moving quickly, and some stores can't afford the space or manpower. So wherever your next wait may be: Good luck.

A．Why does this always seem to happen to you?

B．So why don’t most places encourage serpentine lines?

C．Some of the may have stood in a queue for almost an hour.

D．The chances of your line being the fastest are only one in three.

E．How high is the probability that you are in the fastest waiting line?

F．With three registers, this method is much faster than the traditional approach.

G．But sometimes, as on a Sunday afternoon, the system gets particularly busy.

5 . There is something to be said for being a generalist, even if you are a specialist. Knowing a little about a lot of things that interest you can add to the richness of a whole, well-lived life.

Society pushes us to specialize, to become experts. This requires commitment to a particular occupation, branch of study or research. The drawback to being specialists is we often come to know more and more about less and less. There is a great deal of pressure to master one's field. You may pursue training, degrees, or increasing levels of responsibility at work. Then you discover the pressure of having to keep up.

Some people seem willing to work around the clock in their narrow specialty. But such commitment can also weaken a sense of freedom. These specialists could work at the office until ten each night, then look back and realize they would have loved to have gone home and enjoyed the sweetness of their family and friends, or traveled to exciting places, meeting interesting people. Mastering one thing to the exclusion （排 除）of others can hold back your true spirit.

Generalists, on the other hand, know a lot about a wide range of subjects and view the whole with all its connections. They are people of ability, talent, and enthusiasm who can bring their broad perspective （视角）into specific fields of expertise （专长）.The doctor who is also a poet and philosopher is a superior doctor, one who can give so much more to his patients than just good medical skills.

Things are connected. Let your expertise in one field fuel your passions in all related areas. Some of your interests may not appear to be connected but, once you explore their depths, you discover that they are. My editor Toni, who is also a writer, has edited several history books. She has decided to study Chinese history. Fascinated by the structural beauty of the Forbidden City as a painter, she is equally interested to learn more about Chinese philosophy. "I don't know where it will lead, but I'm excited I'm on this pursuit."

These expansions into new worlds help us by giving us new perspectives. We begin to see the interconnectedness of one thing to another in all aspects of our life, of ourselves and the universe. Develop broad, general knowledge and experience. The universe is all yours to explore and enjoy.

1. To become a specialist, one may have to_____.

A．narrow his range of knowledge

B．avoid responsibilities at work

C．know more about the society

D．broaden his perspective on life

2. The specialists mentioned in Paragraph 3 tend to______.

A．treasure their freedom

B．travel around the world

C．spend most time working

D．enjoy meeting funny people

3. According to the author, a superior doctor is one who_____.

A．is fully aware of his talent and ability

B．is a pure specialist in medicine

C．should love poetry and philosophy

D．brings knowledge of other fields to work

4. What does the author intend to show with the example of Toni?

A．Passion alone does not ensure a person's success.

B．In-depth exploration makes discoveries possible.

C．Everyone has a chance to succeed in their pursuit.

D．Seemingly unrelated interests are in a way connected.

5. What could be the best title for the passage?

A．Be More a Generalist Than a Specialist

B．Specialist or Generalist: Hard to Decide

C．Turn a Generalist into a Specialist

D．Ways to Become a Generalist

6 . About five weeks ago, I noticed the skin of our pet lizard was growing dusty. It worried me. I reported the strange surface on the skin of the lizard to my husband and children the next morning. Seconds later, our lizard emerged from its tank with its old skin flowing behind it.

I didn't think about it much until a morning last week when I knocked my favorite teapot off the table. It burst into hundreds of pieces. As I swept up the mess, I wondered why we had been breaking so many things over the months.

The destruction started three months ago. It was my husband's birthday. He had just lost his job. The uncertainty was starting to wear on us, so I wanted to do something special.

“Let's make a cake for Dad!” I cried.

My kids screamed with joy. We baked, iced and sprinkled for most of the day. Candles on the cake! Balloons on the walls! Flowers on the table!

Two hours before my husband came back home from another job interview, my daughter climbed up to grab a glass vase from a high shelf. It fell and crashed beside the cake. Tiny pieces of glass were everywhere. She sobbed loudly as I threw the cake away. My husband had banana pudding for his birthday.

Three days ago, the light in our living room suddenly went out. After several frustrating hours of unsuccessful attempts to fix it, my husband suggested watching the Michael Jordan documentary series The Last Dance.

The poignancy of Jordan retiring from his beloved basketball to play baseball and what had pushed him to make such a tough decision took me by surprise. As I watched him take off his basketball uniform and replace it with a baseball uniform, I saw him leaving behind the layer that no longer served him, just as our lizard had. Neither of them chose the moment that had transformed them. But they had to live with who they were after everything was different. Just like us. I realized that we have to learn to leave the past behind.

Humans do not shed skin as easily as other animals. The beginning of change is upsetting. The process is tiring. Damage changes us before we are ready. I see our lizard, raw and nearly new.

Jordan said that no matter how it ends, it starts with hope. With our tender, hopeful skin, that is where we begin.

1. What can we learn about the pet lizard from Paragraph 1?

A．Its tank grew dirty.	B．Its old skin came off.
C．It got a skin disease.	D．It went missing.

2. Why did the author's husband have banana pudding for his birthday?

A．The birthday cake was ruined.	B．The author made good puddings.
C．Pudding was his favorite dessert.	D．They couldn't afford a birthday cake.

3. Why does the author mention The Last Dance in the passage?

A．To prove a theory.	B．To define a concept.
C．To develop the theme.	D．To provide the background.

4. The underlined part "leaving behind the layer" in Paragraph 8 can be understood as        .

A．letting go of the past	B．looking for a new job
C．getting rid of a bad habit	D．giving up an opportunity

5. What does the author most likely want to tell us?

A．Love of family helps us survive great hardships.	B．It's not the end of the world if we break things.
C．We should move on no matter what happens.	D．Past experiences should be treasured.

8 . Being good at something and having a passion for it are not enough. Success _______ fundamentally on our view of ourselves and of the _________ in our lives.

When twelve-year-old John Wilson walked into his chemistry class on a rainy day in 1931, he had no _______ of knowing that his life was to change _________. The class experiment that day was to _________ how heating a container of water would bring air bubbling (冒泡) to the surface. _________, the container the teacher gave Wilson to heat _________ held something more volatile (易挥发的) than water. When Wilson heated it, the container _______, leaving Wilson blinded in both eyes.

When Wilson returned home from hospital two months later, his parents _________ to find a way to deal with the catastrophe that had ____________ their lives. But Wilson did not regard the accident as ____________. He learned braille (盲文) quickly and continued his education at Worcester College for the Blind. There, he not only did well as a student but also became a(n)____________ public speaker.

Later, he worked in Africa, where many people suffered from ____________ for lack of proper treatment. For him, it was one thing to __________ his own fate of being blind and quite another to allow something to continue __________ it could be fixed so easily. This moved him to action. And tens of millions in Africa and Asia can see because of the ____________ Wilson made to preventing the ____________.

Wilson received several international ____________ for his great contributions. He lost his sight but found a __________. He proved that it’s not what happens to us that ____________ our lives-it’s what we make of what happens.

1.

A．depends

B．holds

C．keeps

D．reflects

2.

A．dilemmas

B．accidents

C．events

D．steps

3.

A．way

B．hope

C．plan

D．measure

4.

A．continually

B．gradually

C．gracefully

D．completely

5.

A．direct

B．show

C．advocate

D．declare

6.

A．Anyway

B．Moreover

C．Somehow

D．Thus

7.

A．mistakenly

B．casually

C．amazingly

D．clumsily

8.

A．erupted

B．exploded

C．emptied

D．exposed

9.

A．deserved

B．attempted

C．cared

D．agreed

10.

A．submitted to

B．catered for

C．impressed on

D．happened to

11.

A．fantastic

B．extraordinary

C．impressive

D．catastrophic

12.

A．accomplished

B．crucial

C．specific

D．innocent

13.

A．deafness

B．depression

C．blindness

D．speechlessness

14.

A．decide

B．abandon

C．control

D．accept

15.

A．until

B．when

C．unless

D．before

16.

A．opposition

B．adjustments

C．commitment

D．limitations

17.

A．preventable

B．potential

C．spreadable

D．influential

18.

A．scholarships

B．rewards

C．awards

D．bonuses

19.

A．fortune

B．recipe

C．dream

D．vision

20.

A．distinguishes

B．determines

C．claims

D．limits

9 . During my second year at the city college，I was told that the education department was offering a "free"course, called Thinking Chess, for three credits. I _________the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn't want to _________ a few dollars? More than that, I'd always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren’t _________enough about free credits, news about our _________was appealing enough to me. He was an international grandmaster, which _________ I would be learning from one of the game's _________. I could hardly wait to _________him.

Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this _________was no game for him: he meant business. In his introduction, he made it _________that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to __________the class, among other criteria, we had to write a paper on how we plan to __________what we would learn in class to our future professions and, __________, to our lives. I managed to get an A in that __________and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the __________.

Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I'm still putting to use what he __________me: “The absolute most important __________that you learn when you play chess is how to make good __________. On every single move you have to __________a situation, process what your opponent(对手）is doing and __________the best move from among all your options.”These words still ring true today in my __________as a journalist.

1.

A．put forward

B．jumped at

C．tried out

D．turned down

2.

A．waste

B．earn

C．save

D．pay

3.

A．excited

B．worried

C．moved

D．tired

4.

A．title

B．competitor

C．textbook

D．instructor

5.

A．urged

B．demanded

C．held

D．meant

6.

A．fastest

B．easiest

C．best

D．rarest

7.

A．interview

B．meet

C．challenge

D．beat

8.

A．chance

B．qualification

C．honor

D．job

9.

A．real

B．perfect

C．clear

D．possible

10.

A．attend

B．pass

C．skip

D．observe

11.

A．add

B．expose

C．apply

D．compare

12.

A．eventually

B．naturally

C．directly

D．normally

13.

A．game

B．presentation

C．course

D．experiment

14.

A．criterion

B．classroom

C．department

D．situation

15.

A．taught

B．wrote

C．questioned

D．promised

16.

A．fact

B．step

C．manner

D．skill

17.

A．grades

B．decisions

C．impressions

D．comments

18.

A．analyze

B．describe

C．rebuild

D．control

19.

A．announce

B．signal

C．block

D．evaluate

20.

A．role

B．desire

C．concern

D．behavior

10 . I was born legally blind. Of all the stories of my early childhood, the one about a______is my mother's favorite.

I was only two when the______occurred. We had just arrived home from a trip. Mom lifted me out of the car and _____to speak to the driver. I took advantage of my brief______to dash across the lawn (草坪) — and hit a large maple tree! I was running so fast that I bounced off the trunk and______on my backside. Mom______me to start crying, but I just sat there for a minute. Then I______myself up and kept right on going. Mom always______here that, as many times as I______across the lawn after that, I never again______into that tree.

Mom loves to use this story as an______. It reminds her that children don't enter life______to take risks or unwilling to______again when they fall down. She never wanted me to lose that______as I grew older. When I______my major life decisions，I was still that little girl tearing full-speed across the lawn. I studied abroad and later moved away from my parents' home to look for a______, Through years of______, I have become a respected teacher in a school serving high-need students.

We are almost certain to get______at some point during the process of achieving our goal. When that happens, don't sit in the grass and______. Just get up and keep on going. It will all be worth it______.

1.

A．trip

B．race

C．tree

D．driver

2.

A．incident

B．change

C．illness

D．problem

3.

A．feared

B．refused

C．forgot

D．turned

4.

A．delay

B．absence

C．freedom

D．rest

5.

A．landed

B．slept

C．laughed

D．wept

6.

A．promised

B．encouraged

C．allowed

D．expected

7.

A．woke

B．picked

C．warmed

D．gave

8.

A．adds

B．replies

C．admits

D．supposes

9.

A．drove

B．lived

C．stood

D．zoomed

10.

A．crashed

B．broke

C．climbed

D．looked

11.

A．answer

B．example

C．excuse

D．order

12.

A．able

B．ashamed

C．afraid

D．anxious

13.

A．ask

B．share

C．learn

D．try

14.

A．honesty

B．toughness

C．kindness

D．curiosity

15.

A．regretted

B．reviewed

C．made

D．explained

16.

A．job

B．friend

C．fortune

D．house

17.

A．memories

B．efforts

C．research

D．experience

18.

A．mixed up

B．fed up

C．knocked down

D．settled down

19.

A．play

B．relax

C．dream

D．cry

20.

A．all at once

B．in the end

C．in either case

D．as a result