1 . Once upon a time, there was a young man, rather immature (不成熟的) in his life, but ready to learn. He had a ________ for tea cups. He felt that they all had their own stories to tell.

Once in a store, he ________ a tea cup. He asked the ________ “May I see that attractive tea cup?” As the salesperson ________ him the tea cup, the young man ________ heard the tea cup speak. Here goes his story. “I have not always been a tea cup. I was just a piece of red clay on the ground. I’ve lived for thousands of ________. One day my master came. He took me to his home, ________ me on a wooden table until I ________ all my sense of direction. The master then placed me in a(n) ________. I never felt such heat before. After a while, he ________ took me out with great care and put me on a shelf where I began to ________.

After I had become solid, he carefully brought colors along with glaze (釉). The smell was terrible! I thought I would ________! Then he put me back in the oven. I felt this was my death. After taking me out, he placed a ________ in front of me and said, ‘Look at yourself!’ What I saw ________ me. I replied, ‘It could not be me. It’s fairly beautiful.’ But he said, ‘I knew it ________ you when I did all these. I knew you must feel dizzy ________ I was spinning you. And when I placed you in the oven for the second time, it would be the most ________ part. But all I did was for your ________.’”

The young man bought the tea cup and he never ________ the lesson he received from it. Whenever he was in a(n) ________ situation, he remembered the words of the tea cup.

1.

A．pace

B．preference

C．skill

D．quality

2.

A．found

B．checked

C．touched

D．recognized

3.

A．leader

B．judge

C．salesman

D．actor

4.

A．sent

B．supplied

C．handed

D．put

5.

A．suddenly

B．gradually

C．finally

D．entirely

6.

A．months

B．moments

C．hours

D．years

7.

A．attacked

B．buried

C．shook

D．rolled

8.

A．lost

B．regained

C．gained

D．ignored

9.

A．oven

B．store

C．bottle

D．pan

10.

A．seriously

B．slowly

C．tightly

D．quickly

11.

A．freeze

B．settle

C．cool

D．calm

12.

A．look un

B．pick up

C．come up

D．throw up

13.

A．vase

B．mirror

C．blanket

D．pillow

14.

A．frightened

B．scared

C．shocked

D．annoyed

15.

A．injured

B．wounded

C．hurt

D．damaged

16.

A．before

B．when

C．until

D．after

17.

A．difficult

B．wonderful

C．official

D．native

18.

A．power

B．energy

C．fame

D．good

19.

A．remembered

B．forgot

C．told

D．explained

20.

A．reliable

B．useless

C．easy

D．helpless

2 . Did you hear about the rose that grew from the concrete? You know the one that shone in the middle of darkness and blossomed in times of misfortune?

It was December of 2000 and my dad had been in a coma (昏迷) for two weeks. Mom only had about $20 left because the rest of the money had been used to pay the hospital bills. She bought twenty bags of bananas with that money and sat on the roadside for eight hours until she sold them all. Since Mom had to sell bananas for a living, I had to stop going to school in order to take care of my four-year-old brother — at the time I was only in the third grade. I was too young to understand the whole situation. I was just glad that I didn’t have to go to school anymore so I could play soccer until mom came home at one in the morning.

A few weeks passed and I started expecting the nights when we would eat dinner together, as a family. Before this misfortune I had always complained about the food, but now I did not have any food and I had no one to complain to. For six months every day was the same: wake up in the morning, stomach hurting from hunger, ask the neighbors for food, feed my brother, play soccer until dark, and stare at the stars until mom got home. The day when dad left hospital was the first day when I came face to face with appreciation, although I was totally unaware of what the feeling was.

Now I’m eighteen years old and I believe that I’m the rose that learned how to grow from the crack in the concrete, the rose that blossomed in the dark when no one was around.

1. What troubled the author’s family?

A．Money was tight for them.	B．They had to live on bananas.
C．The children always complained.	D．They couldn’t afford his education.

2. Which was the experience the author had in that six months?

A．He was going hungry.	B．He faced his father’s death.
C．He helped mom sell bananas.	D．He played soccer with his brother.

3. What does the author intend to tell us through the text?

A．Misfortune makes people grow.

B．People should be helpful in hard times.

C．Society is the best school for young people.

D．Young people should be independent earlier.

4. Which can be the best title for the text?

A．A hard childhood	B．My hard-working mother
C．Life is like the cold concrete	D．Rose that grew from the concrete

3 . We all dream of reaching a certain success someday. Because of this we all are afraid of the very same thing- failure. But we should understand that we all have to experience some sort of failure in our lives. It is part of growing up and it is part of life itself. Failure doesn't have to always be seen as something negative. When you get to see failure in a different perspective, you will see that it has the power to help you get to your goal.

Don't be so hard on yourself whenever you make a mistake or fail a task. Everyone makes mistakes. Whenever you face one failure, remember to accept your fault and do something to make things right. Whenever you fail something, you just have to get up and keep trying. You will get to your goal eventually.

Every mistake is a lesson you have to learn from. As the saying goes, “If you do something wrong for the first time, it is a mistake. But if it happens again, then it becomes a choice.” Your mistakes and failure make you wiser.

You should be smart enough to know and avoid the causes that lead you to them once more. No dream or goal is ever easy. With every great success, there are some failures along the way that lead to something great. Don't give up and don't be afraid to make mistakes. It is all part of the game of life.

Life is not a bed of roses. The journey to success will have its ups and downs and have its share of joy and suffering. You will encounter failure once in a while. But pain is part of the learning process. Failures and mistakes are experiences that will make you wiser and stronger as you climb the ladder of success.

1. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To encourage people to think about failure positively.

B．To emphasize the importance of self-confidence.

C．To explain some meanings of achieving success.

D．To discuss the relation between failure and success.

2. What can we know from Paragraph 2?

A．Everyone should pay for their mistakes.	B．Failure makes success more meaningful.
C．Mistakes can bring people great benefits.	D．It's common to make mistakes in daily life.

3. What does the author think of people who make the same mistakes again?

A．They are complete losers.	B．They are not good learners.
C．They should not be forgiven.	D．They need sympathy and support.

4. What does the underlined word “encounter” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Expect.

B．Avoid.

C．Experience.

D．Appreciate.

4 . We are in the middle of December now, and for many weeks we haven’t even seen a glimpse of the sun. It’s been hidden under a thick layer of clouds. And December is a very dark time of the year even if it’s a clear sky, since we only can see the sun for about an hour above the treetops before it goes back down.

But in some way I really love this time. I love the extremes. The very dark December, and the very light June. The midnight sun and the polar night. It’s so special and magical in some way.

But today, we finally saw the light from the sun again. It was still behind clouds but it was so beautiful to just see the light and the beautiful colors in the sky. That really made my day! I flew up with my drone (无人机) so that I could take a photo of it.

It’s only in the contrasts that we can really appreciate life. We need the darkness to see the light. We need the cold to feel the warmth. We need to put ourselves in discomfort to appreciate the comfort. And every year this time I get the same deep feelings of gratitude for the light and the sun. It’s ok to live in darkness for a long time each year just to get this feeling when standing in the window and suddenly feel a little ray of sunlight hitting your face. It’s like being flushed with a wave of love. It’s like I wanna cry every time.

Our cat Nayeli must have also felt very happy about the little sunlight we got today, since she sat in the window looking out for a long time while the sun was visible.

I took the photo of my beautiful home and my village today. And I always love to see Grundtjärn from far away. It really gives you an idea of how far away we live from towns, cities and streetlights. All you can see is forest everywhere.

1. What can make the author excited for a day?

A．Taking a photo.	B．Feeling the warmth.
C．Experiencing a polar night.	D．Seeing the sunlight and beautiful clouds.

2. What does the author learn from the change of light?

A．The appreciation of light.	B．A fear of sunless days.
C．The grateful attitude.	D．The hate of darkness.

3. Which of the following best describes the life the author presents in the text?

A．Depressing.

B．Peaceful.

C．Colorful.

D．Tireless.

4. Where can the text be found?

A．In a blog.	B．In a science journal.
C．In an advertisement.	D．In a guidebook.

5 . Over the last few weeks, I have been back and forth to the hospital and working with my doctors and medical technicians. I feel very _________ and appreciative of all the great minds and effort involved in _________ my illness. I found I have become _________ grateful to those human beings who invented the many medical _________ that have saved so many lives and _________ so much pain.

With everything I _________, I couldn’t help thinking about many life-changing _________ that we humans have come up with, from the fairly simple stethoscope (听诊器) to more _________ inventions like X-rays, and other great devices. Of course, one of the biggest, most basic inventions was the _________. It changed the world in all kinds of ways. Without wheels, we’d have no __________, such as bikes, cars, trains, or airplanes.

__________many inventions human beings have invented through the ages, I __________ some very popular inventions. It is __________ to imagine what if we live without them. These __________ things like tape, nails, Post-it notes, DNA testing, the Internet, vaccines, and medical imaging.

Some inventions were accidental __________ but many were matter of simply trying to solve a problem. If we pay attention to what we experience and really put our __________ to it, there is no reason why we couldn’t come up with some new inventions ourselves. Maybe make a list of __________ items, systems, and habits we all have, and then go up and down the list and see if we can put two or three items together in a way to come up with a new __________ or better way to handle life and the __________ in it. Give it a try and see what we can come up with, We could __________ ourselves, and others as well!

1.

A．regretful

B．grateful

C．severe

D．pure

2.

A．ignoring

B．concerning

C．curing

D．swapping

3.

A．painfully

B．specially

C．frequently

D．particularly

4.

A．devices

B．antiques

C．curtains

D．manuals

5.

A．gathered

B．threatened

C．relieved

D．detected

6.

A．suffered from

B．set down

C．packed up

D．went through

7.

A．inventions

B．shadows

C．editions

D．proofs

8.

A．pure

B．complex

C．adorable

D．contradictory

9.

A．wheel

B．train

C．airplane

D．car

10.

A．structures

B．labels

C．vehicles

D．assumptions

11.

A．Drafting

B．Reviewing

C．Adapting

D．Seizing

12.

A．switched

B．pirated

C．leaked

D．found

13.

A．hard

B．steady

C．funny

D．safe

14.

A．mean

B．expand

C．include

D．indicate

15.

A．discoveries

B．statistics

C．patents

D．observations

16.

A．principles

B．policies

C．minds

D．effects

17.

A．distinct

B．strange

C．legal

D．common

18.

A．current

B．product

C．powder

D．criterion

19.

A．challenges

B．directions

C．privacies

D．conclusions

20.

A．puzzle

B．frighten

C．annoy

D．surprise

6 . What Is Your Money Attitude?

Your money attitude is often the reason why you spend too much, are in debt or fear your finances.     1    . Changing your financial outlook begins with your money attitude. There are three different money attitudes with which you may identify.

ADORING

If you adore money, it means you love to spend it. In many cases, you buy things (often on credit) just because you enjoy shopping.     2    . You look at the credit card bill and focus only on the minimum payment.

Simply put, you love to spend money. That’s it.

AVOIDANCE

If you feel you don’t deserve money, then this money attitude is yours. It isn’t even just a feeling of not deserving money.     3    . You don’t handle it well.

Avoidance is one of the most difficult attitudes to change. That doesn’t mean it is impossible. It means that you may have to work a bit harder to make it happen.

CAUTIOUS

    4    . Some may call you economic. Others may call you a miser. Whatever the name, you need to learn to let go once in a while.

This cautious person refuses to spend money. They are afraid to let it go and fear that it will be gone, never to return. When you are overly cautious with money, you risk opportunities.

Now that you know which attitude you have, now is the time to make changes. It is something only you can do.     5    

A．No one can do it for you

B．You might be careful with your money

C．You must understand your money attitude

D．But, that doesn’t mean you can’t make a change

E．You don’t worry about the fact that you must pay for it later

F．They will help you make changes to take control of your money

G．You may also feel anxious or stressed at the mere thought of money