1 . Do Yao Ming, Liu Xiang or Guo Jingjing have anything in common with people like us? You will probably answer “NO!” It seems that top athletes live in a world that is totally different from ours. They don’t have to worry about homework or exams. There are fans everywhere they go, constantly cheering them on. However, if we could see into their minds, it would be clear that they are actually just like us.

We may not all be sports stars, but we have to face similar problems. We set goals and seek self- development. We have to manage our fears before important exams. We worry about our relationships with classmates... Like sportspeople, we try to be mentally strong and do our best on a daily basis.

However, how an athlete becomes a success teaches all of us a lesson. To achieve their goals, sportspeople not only have to prepare physically, but also mentally. They have to get to know themselves, highlight their strong points, manage stresses and develop their powers of concentration. Here is some advice on how to achieve success from China’s top athletes.

China’s top woman badminton player Zhang Ning shows us the importance of motivation. It’s the first step to success. It is her love of badminton and sense of responsibility that contribute to her success.

Teng Haibin’s experience shows that “planning” exactly what should be done in your mind is as important as physical preparation. Give yourself a few minutes before a speech contest, for example. Close your eyes and picture things like your posture. It helps a lot!

How important is concentration? Hurdling star Liu Xiang knows. Focus is not only important for Liu Xiang, but for you too. If you can’t focus in class, you won’t get good grades.

A clear objective encourages a person to pursue their dream. Diving star Xiong Ni won a silver and a bronze in two Olympics. But his goal of winning an Olympic gold medal drove him on.

Top athletes show us that success isn’t simply down to chance and that all people can steer their life’s journey.

1. According to the passage, to achieve their goals, sportspeople should do the following EXCEPT________.

A．get to know themselves well	B．manage stresses
C．develop powers of concentration	D．stop being tough with themselves

2. From the passage, we can know that________.

A．success of top athletes largely depends on chance

B．ordinary people don’t need to become strong-minded

C．one needs to be physically and mentally prepared to achieve success

D．sportspeople have similar fears before important exams

3. The underlined word “objective ” in paragraph 7 can be replaced by “________”.

A．medal

B．goal

C．dream

D．decision

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Top athletes’ stories of success.

B．Problems that ordinary people have in common with top athletes.

C．The importance of physical and mental health.

D．Lessons drawn from top athletes’ success.

2 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一个完整的短文。

“Why did Dad’s job make us move to South America anyway?” I asked Mom. “The TV shows are in Spanish and I miss going to school. The worst part is that I don’t have any friends here. All of the kids speak Spanish.”

“I know it’s hard, sweetheart. I’m lonely here too,” Mom said. “It’s hard to make friends when I can’t talk to anybody.”

Mom hugged (拥抱) me. “We’ll only be living here for eight more months.”

At that moment, eight months sounded like forever. A few days later, Dad said that a man at his work had a daughter my age. “Would you like to invite her over to play?”

“Does she speak English?”

“No,” Dad said, “but I can teach you a few Spanish words so the two of you can talk a little bit.” I shrugged ( 耸 肩 ). “It’s hard to be friends with someone when you can’t really talk to them.” Dad nodded. “I understand, but you wished for a friend.”

“I mean a friend who speaks English.”

“I know, but this might be fun anyway. I’m going to ask her dad to bring her over to our house.”

The following afternoon, Maria and her dad came over. I felt funny because I didn’t know how we’d play together without being able to talk to one another.

“Hola,” I said quietly, which means “hi” in Spanish.

Maria smiled and said something I didn’t understand. I looked at Dad and whispered (低声说), “This isn’t going to work.”

“Give it a chance,” he said.

Then Maria showed me a cardboard box. She’d brought a game called Connect Four. Dad smiled. “You don’t need to speak the same language to play that game.”

Maria and I went to my bedroom and set up the game. We took turns putting the colored disks (圆片) into the board, trying to get four in a row. Suddenly Maria smiled and pointed at the four red pieces in a row.

I smiled and said, “You won. Good game.”

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

Although I’m sure Maria didn’t understand my words, I could tell she understood my smile.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As we were both laughing, I realized that although we spoke different languages, I’d actually made a friend.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . Everyone tries their best in life, and sometimes a few kind words of encouragement can help people realize that their efforts are not in vain (徒劳).Ⅰ remember a time when I was in fifth grade, and I was a very shy girl.

There was a drawing competition at my school that day. As everyone started to use their creative ideas to draw, I was only trying to think of something creative that could express my thoughts and emotions. Lost in my own world, I was brought back to reality when my art teacher called my name from behind. She came to me and encouraged me, saying, “Don’t overthink it, just put whatever comes to your mind on the canvas (画布). Do your best, and you will do well.”

Taking her words of wisdom to heart, I started my painting. Time flew by, and soon the bell rang, signaling the end of the time limit. We all turned in our canvases for inspection (检查). The next day, the winners of the competition were announced in front of the whole school. To my surprise, I heard my name being called second prize. It was a bolt from the blue for me, as I had never dared to dream of winning any prize.

Later on, I expressed my gratitude to my art teacher for her words of encouragement and for believing in me. That day, I became aware of my talent and started painting more whenever I had free time. Sometimes, I think that if it weren’t for her words of encouragement, I may have never discovered the talent I have.

Overall, this experience taught me the importance of encouraging others and how a few kind words can make a significant impact on someone’s life.

1. What was the author doing when called by the art teacher?

A．Organizing a drawing competition.	B．Trying to get some creative ideas.
C．Painting her work on her canvas.	D．Trying to get help from others.

2. What did the author think of the competition?

A．Easy.

B．Interesting.

C．Challenging.

D．Encouraging.

3. What do the underlined words “bolt from the blue” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Addiction.

B．Puzzlement.

C．Disappointment.

D．Surprise.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The Power of Encouragement

B．The Importance of Art Competitions

C．Overcoming Shyness Through Painting

D．Discovering Your Great Natural Ability

4 . Signs That You Are Growing

Growing is a lifelong process. Here are the signs that show that you are actually growing and not getting stuck in the process.

    1    

Often, we see how badly people look when they get overly upset due to unimportant things. So the first sign of maturity (成熟) is letting the small things go and not getting angry over a tiny detail that didn’t go as you planned.

You start forgiving and understanding other people

When we are young, we are often unforgiving. As we mature, we are better able to understand the world beyond black and white.     2    . It enables us to look beyond the obvious and let go of simple judgments. We begin to understand better that others have complex (复杂的) lives and personalities, and so we become more willing to forgive their mistakes.

You always complete things that matter

Immature people don’t know when to commit (承诺) themselves and their energy or resources are always not well employed.     3    . In this way, they can often keep their promises and honor their commitments.

You accept the possibility of being wrong

    4    . They are always able to accept the possibility that they are wrong, that they don’t know something, because there is always more to learn.

Being mature is knowing that you are always growing up. You are never done learning and developing. This means that you don’t set yourself up as the highest authority.     5    .

A．You follow the crowd

B．You let the small things go

C．Instead, mature people focus on completing things that matter

D．Immature and mature people can both have plans for their lives

E．Rather, you open your mind to other ideas and new possibilities

F．Becoming more understanding is a sign of strength, not weakness

G．Mature people appear more confident, however, they are not overconfident

5 . There are things we all do, or don’t do, that lead us to waste far more time than we realize in the moment. The biggest time regret, I think, is dwelling on (沉湎于) mistakes and shortcomings.

    1     In a study, researchers asked subjects to spend money during an imaginary trip to the mall. Before “shopping”, some subjects were asked to recall a past financial mistake. They found those subjects were more likely to incur (招致) debt. Dwelling made them feel like a failure and told them there was no need to try, because they already sucked. So, they got further into debt when already feeling like an over spender. Of course, we don’t want to skip over our mistakes or ignore them either.     2    

I also missed too much for fear of my own shortcomings.     3     I wanted to travel after high school, but I went to university close to home instead, because I was too shy to meet new people and was afraid I couldn’t make it in another city. After university, I wanted to be a writer, but I decided to find a more stable, accessible job instead, because that’s easier.     4     I decided to find work I actually enjoyed, travel more and live somewhere else. I made a ton of mistakes along the way, but the bigger mistake was not trying sooner.

    5     So, never beat yourself up over your mistakes and shortcomings. The sooner you learn from them, the sooner you can free up your time and energy to live the life you want.

A．Eventually, I got tired of this.

B．Regret is another big waste of time.

C．I was doing it for the wrong reason that I was afraid to fail.

D．For years, I stayed in a comfortable place, doing things I disliked.

E．The goal is to learn something from them, and then release the failure.

F．When you finally relate it to your own past experiences, it probably becomes easier.

G．Dwelling on mistakes wastes time and, worse still, makes us more likely to repeat mistakes.

6 . As I walked onto the soccer field I had a knot(结) in my stomach. I was too shy to _________ the year before but decided to go for it this year.

When the coaches came, I felt as if I was going to pass out. With no _________ ability I began to wonder why I was _________ here. Everyone immediately took a ball and began to _________. I stood there, not knowing what to do. My friends came over to _________ me a few quick moves and drills. I had fun and _________ enjoyed playing. Every other girl on the team was far more skilled than I. The moment I _________ that to myself, I was fine.

This _________ has stuck with me all through high school. Without _________ it, I learned a valuable lesson about myself. __________ I tried out for the soccer team, I always wanted to be __________ at everything. Previously(以前), I would do anything to achieve the high __________ I set for myself. I was so stressed out over schoolwork that I never had fun. I decided it was time for a (n) __________.

Like most high school students, my __________ with more responsibilities and worries, began to change as I got older. Balancing school and sports has not been easy. But through it all, I have become a __________ person. No longer do I __________ that I have to be perfect. Although my athletic ability doesn’t __________ a ticket to universities, I have other good __________ that make me important. Knowing that I have put 100% __________ into everything I do and am honest with myself, I am completely __________ with the person I am.

1.

A．give up

B．pass by

C．try out

D．walk away

2.

A．logic

B．sports

C．language

D．communication

3.

A．just

B．even

C．never

D．always

4.

A．warm up

B．make up

C．calm down

D．turn around

5.

A．ask

B．pass

C．show

D．throw

6.

A．nearly

B．really

C．hardly

D．partly

7.

A．kept

B．expressed

C．proved

D．admitted

8.

A．match

B．activity

C．experience

D．performance

9.

A．checking

B．realizing

C．practicing

D．considering

10.

A．When

B．After

C．Unless

D．Before

11.

A．quick

B．clever

C．perfect

D．pleased

12.

A．speed

B．record

C．position

D．standard

13.

A．break

B．escape

C．change

D．holiday

14.

A．life

B．team

C．friends

D．coaches

15.

A．better

B．kinder

C．warmer

D．quieter

16.

A．beg

B．feel

C．pretend

D．imagine

17.

A．add

B．buy

C．deserve

D．promise

18.

A．ideas

B．attitudes

C．creations

D．qualities

19.

A．effort

B．money

C．brain

D．trust

20.

A．happy

B．strict

C．careful

D．patient