1 . Natural disasters may claim thousands of lives or destroy millions of homes. What can we learn from disasters?

Sometimes, there are no real answers. Everyone has lost something and someone, and they keep on asking what they have done to deserve this cruel fate. It’s okay to hold on to these questions, but no matter how hard and painful it is, you should keep moving, breathing and living.     1    

Even strangers can teach you kindness. There may be millions of selfish people in the world.     2     There is still kindness out there, waiting to be discovered. You will find it everywhere, at the most unexpected places—even among the wastelands left by the disaster.

Family is everything. Sometimes we forget to love our family, just because we’re too busy with our own lives.     3     We will not realize their value until we arrive at an empty house, an abandoned and forgotten place that you once called “home”.

    4     Sure, reality can be harsh and unforgiving but it doesn’t mean that we should blame ourselves and feel like a victim forever. We have to strive and thrive; we have to fight and do whatever it takes to resist and rise up. Not everyone will have a happy ending or an interesting plot, but we can always decide how to write the ending.

Every day of your life should be spent loving and living. Don’t be angry at the world for letting you live an unbearable life of heartbreaks and frustrations.     5     So just love deep and love hard. Live as if it’s your only chance to find the happiness that you deserve.

A．You’ll find your way someday.

B．Your money won’t matter in the end.

C．Life is too short to live in its imperfections.

D．However, it’s not a reason to lose hope in humanity.

E．You shouldn’t be a victim forever——be a survivor.

F．You have to help yourself first before you can help others.

G．At times, we take them for granted because we think they’ll always be there.

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

Be yourself and always follow your heart. Never let anyone change who you are. This is the lesson I have learned from my childhood experience when I figured out I wasn’t invited to the party, Bridget’s party.

One morning, I got off the bus and saw my friends except me hugging under the tree where we used to stand. The circle seemed tighter as I approached；the white invitation cards being hastily stuffed into backpacks gave it away. I knew as well as the entire universe that Bridget’s party was this weekend. Bridget was the most popular girl in our class. She was thin and beautiful, always wearing fabulous clothes and fine makeup.

Why hadn’t she invited me? My feet were too big? No. Maybe. My face was broken out? Why did she invite every person in my group except me? I tried to think of any interactions I’d had with Bridget recently. A few days earlier, we’d been partners during a sixth period project. I was determined to get the project done and she was absorbed in looking at fashion magazines. She barely spoke to me except to say, “You’re so serious. You know, you should smile more."

Soon, I had overheard all the details about the party. They were going swimming. It was a sleepover. They were renting scary movies and were going to stay up all night. Each time someone mentioned the party, I smiled weakly and nodded, with my stomach in knots.

When having my favorite English class, I found myself just unable to concentrate on the short stories we were supposed to be reading in class. Maybe she didn’t invite me because of my coat. It is pretty ugly compared to some of the other girls’ coats. I should have bought another color. Maybe I should smile more but I just can’t get into smiling at people unless I know them really well. But I just couldn’t pretend to be the person I wasn’t. I felt sick.

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。

At lunch, my friend Kate who had been invited came over to me, trying to show off.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I was about to let it go when Bridget invited me as a substitute for a girl who couldn’t come.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 . 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

4 . I’m an American-born Chinese. I wouldn’t say I’m more American than Chinese or vice versa. My character was equally molded by both cultures. For a long time, I was comfortable with being from two cultures. I was fluent in “Chinglish”.

However, as I grew up, something unexpected rose, causing a parallel tension between the two corresponding cultures. During Chinese events when I was in China, the host would sometimes make fun of America. My relatives would look at me and laugh, asking me how I felt. But how could I respond to a question like that? If I said I was uncomfortable, it would just make me seem even more American in their eyes. But I couldn’t pretend to laugh either. So, I often just stayed quiet and smiled.

Sometimes, I’d leave China feeling less Chinese than when I went in.

This past summer, on my way back to Rochester, a man at the airport kept asking my father and I where we were from. When I told him I was from the United States, he didn’t seem to believe me.

He then went on to ask the terrible question, “But like where are you really from, like, where were you born?” And no matter how specific our answers were, the man still seemed a little doubtful. He then went on to ask us if we knew where Tampa, Florida was and if we knew anything about it. It’s moments like these when I realize that sometimes my appearance makes it hard for me to seem fully American.

These experiences made me question if I was more Chinese or American.

I felt like I was neither. So, if I wasn’t completely one culture or the other, what was I? In China, I would feel more American, while in America, I would feel more Chinese. There was no balance between my two cultures.

But this doesn’t mean that I don’t embrace (拥抱) both my identities. I love both my Chinese cultural identity and my American one. I just need to learn to love them together.

1. How did the author feel about his identity at the very beginning?

A．Special.

B．Confident.

C．Confused.

D．Ridiculous.

2. Why did the author feel less Chinese when he left China?

A．Because he found it hard to remain quiet and have a big smile.

B．Because he was unable to speak fluent Chinese at his hometown.

C．Because he had lost face in front of his relatives and friends.

D．Because he was treated as an American by his Chinese relatives.

3. What made the man at the airport keep questioning where the author was from?

A．His cultures.

B．His experience.

C．His look.

D．His air tickets.

4. What could be the best title of the passage?

A．Being Culturally Homeless	B．A Boy with Two Identities
C．A Chinese Boy Born in American	D．Better Chinese than American

5 . Simple Tips to Increase Self-Confidence

Having confidence begins with having a mind full of confident thoughts. A mind is controlled by you, therefore believing only the things that will bring you things you desire. Almost anyone in the world can have confidence.     1    . It is a matter of following these easy steps.

Set goals

It’s a great idea to keep a “Goals Book” and every time something enters your mind you’d like to achieve, list it in the book. Soon you’ll see a pattern among all your goals.     2    , you begin to see simple changes in your life. There is no greater joy in life than to realize a goal.

    3    

People usually can’t tell you how you should live your life when it’s just an expression of their own shortcomings. Don’ allow the shortcomings of others to affect your life negatively. No one but you knows your interests and ambitions. Work in the direction of your true loves and ignore everything that enters your mind going against your own desires.

Challenge your beliefs

    4    . If they are not, cross them out. You may find it difficult to get rid of some of the deep-rooted beliefs, but with true desire you can abandon negative beliefs about yourself and you will realize enormous benefit in growing self-confidence and self-esteem.

Get started

Don’t expect changes right away and have patience in knowing that it takes time to be the person you wish to be. The wonderful thing about becoming a more self-confident person is that little benefits start taking shape almost immediately.     5     — as long as you continue to keep a positive outlook and display your confidence.

As you achieve confidence, and find little moments of confidence coming closer and closer, all the things you desire will come to you easier than you ever imagined.

A．Follow your heart

B．They keep coming one after the other

C．Believe in a power greater than yourself

D．When you make conclusions about your goals

E．If you maintain a confident position long enough

F．And, it is entirely easier than you may have once believed

G．Examine all of your beliefs and determine if they are in line with the life you desire

6 . Are you a person who loves challenges, or hates them? I must _______ I’ve spent most of my life as a person who hates them. I always _______ challenges as maddening _______ keeping me from where I want to be. I even used to take them _______, feeling like the universe must hate me and like to see me struggle.

As I grow older and wiser——I find my _______ nature rising up to meet these challenges, and I’m learning to see them _______. Most of us know that great rewards _______ great effort. Nothing _______ comes easy. When we work hard for something and then see it appear before our eyes, we get such s powerful sense of _______. We can point to it and say, “I did that. It was tough, but I did it ________.”

Challenges are truly ________. They give us opportunities to grow and learn, to test and improve ourselves. They show how ________ we want to create the dreams in our hearts. This is such a(an) ________. It may not seem that way at first, but with a tiny ________ in attitude, we can see that we have been handed an excellent opportunity.

The next time life ________ you a challenge, stop and consider for a moment what it means. Don’t look at challenges as an end, look at them as a door ________ your heart’s desires. That door might be locked and maybe you forgot ________ you put the key. It might take some effort and patience to find it again but I believe that you will.

Once we begin to change our ________ about obstacles and challenges that can actually become fun. Our competitive human nature ________ and gets ready to win, no matter what. We develop a steely determination to not be ________.

1.

A．permit

B．admit

C．convince

D．ensure

2.

A．thought of

B．took advantage of

C．heard of

D．talked of

3.

A．possessions

B．sufferings

C．failures

D．obstacles

4.

A．correctly

B．reasonably

C．personally

D．generously

5.

A．kind

B．sensitive

C．available

D．competitive

6.

A．proudly

B．differently

C．sensitively

D．desperately

7.

A．require

B．deserve

C．submit

D．target

8.

A．easy

B．comfortable

C．worthwhile

D．appropriate

9.

A．happiness

B．pride

C．direction

D．awe

10.

A．any longer

B．at all

C．above all

D．anyway

11.

A．opportunities

B．achievements

C．substitutes

D．capacities

12.

A．easily

B．wisely

C．badly

D．difficultly

13.

A．joy

B．chance

C．puzzlement

D．blessing

14.

A．shift

B．accumulation

C．decline

D．selection

15.

A．punishes

B．hands

C．states

D．sponsors

16.

A．closing

B．consisting of

C．leading to

D．responding to

17.

A．when

B．why

C．how

D．where

18.

A．way

B．future

C．attitude

D．fate

19.

A．rises up

B．takes up

C．makes up

D．hold up

20.

A．intended

B．beaten

C．introduced

D．recommended

7 . Road trip stories are basically wild adventures of self-discovery. But the book Me (Moth) carves out a path through ancestry (祖先), pains and art.

Moth is a dancer with a loving, supportive family - until a terrible car accident takes them all away. Now she doesn't dance any more and lives with her sad aunt, wearing borrowed clothes and living on what feels like borrowed time, because not even the wisdom and Hoodoo (扶都教) passed down to her by her grandfather can bring back her family or ease her pain. Her survivor's guilt is so strong that she makes herself almost invisible.

Until the new boy at school, Sani, notices her. He sings when he thinks no one is listening and he sees Moth like no one else does. The two young people decide on a road trip across the country and hope to make some sense of their life on the way.

Novels in poetic language can sometimes feel awkward, but the book, Me (Moth) spills effortlessly across the page, becoming the song that Moth and Sani write together on their journey. It's all in Moth's voice, and her words dance, giving the reader a real sense of how she can move her body if she isn't afraid to. The language is sometimes so beautiful and terrible that it catches me off guard.

During their trip to the South, Moth and Sani stop to pay respect to the spirits of those who came before them, and to think about their strengths as well as the pains that they've suffered. As they do so, their own strengths and pains are connected with the ones that came before.

1. What can we learn from the underlined part in paragraph

A．She is sad with her aunt.

B．She wears borrowed clothes.

C．She doesn't have time to dance.

D．She feels guilty of surviving alone.

2. Which of the following best describes their trip?

A．Painful.

B．Joyful.

C．Rewarding.

D．Challenging.

3. What can the passage probably be?

A．A biography.	B．A book review.
C．A love story.	D．A travel journal.

8 . During school, college and service I never participated in any group discussion or stage program. Therefore, I didn’t know what the stage______was.

Our school has a weekly “Parents View”______in the assembly. (全校师生的晨会) Around four years ago,______I received a call from the Principal of our school telling me to come to the “Parent View”, which was out of my expectation. He asked me to______to the group.

After the call my whole body became feverish and I felt really______. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many______thoughts were coming. One of them was to call the Principal, with______, and tell him that I could not go. I gathered some______. I thought, if I missed this opportunity, surely, the school would never invite me again to any of their programs.     _____I decided to go.

When my turn came and I started speaking, my legs started shaking and my heartbeat increased. After the speech, I met with the Principal and______what had happened to me. He told me that this happened to everyone. These symptoms were very   ____. Even great speakers faced the same things when they______.

Later on with the help of the Principal I ______a topic of talk for the next occasion. I practiced my presentation throughout the week. I was somewhat_______but not confident. Afterwards, I_______the Principal again and told him about the________I felt I had made. He was kind enough to______me again, but this time to give a presentation for the teachers.

For around one month, I prepared and practiced for my presentation on Motivation. This time I felt easy. I gave the presentation and it was________by the Principal as well as the teachers________they knew where I started from. They encouraged me and praised my efforts.

I learn that everything is________if we have the courage to take the first step. The saying goes: A journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step.

1.

A．fear

B．performance

C．style

D．art

2.

A．talk

B．magazine

C．program

D．lesson

3.

A．fortunately

B．surprisingly

C．secretly

D．unluckily

4.

A．listen

B．move

C．write

D．speak

5.

A．nervous

B．joyful

C．satisfied

D．disappointed

6.

A．foolish

B．useful

C．clever

D．negative

7.

A．anger

B．regret

C．thanks

D．hope

8.

A．courage

B．information

C．proof

D．advice

9.

A．And

B．But

C．So

D．Or

10.

A．explained

B．forgot

C．imagined

D．controlled

11.

A．serious

B．special

C．strange

D．common

12.

A．failed

B．started

C．mastered

D．finished

13.

A．exhibited

B．refused

C．prepared

D．understood

14.

A．worried

B．sad

C．curious

D．comfortable

15.

A．met with

B．turned down

C．looked after

D．learnt from

16.

A．trouble

B．mistake

C．fun

D．improvement

17.

A．remind

B．invite

C．phone

D．reach

18.

A．descried

B．studied

C．joked

D．appreciated

19.

A．because

B．although

C．if

D．therefore

20.

A．interesting

B．obvious

C．possible

D．right

9 . My brother and I are exactly one year apart. We look like twins, but we are completely _________ . By the time we got to middle school it was clear that my older brother _________ meditation (冥想),while I was a born _________ who preferred the theatrical, even when off stage. I took his relative silence to be offensive. We simply didn't _________.

I didn't _________ having a tense relationship with my brother because I was involved at school. _________, I threw myself into the world of musicals. I practised singing in the bedroom every day to remain at my best and be _________ for roles; my brother would meditate on a window seat. He might feel high school was already hard enough _________ my noisy singing. So space to practise became a（n）_________ between us because we shared a room.

At the start of the semester, I practised “Circle of Life" for a musical. This was the first time I __________ to learn a song, because my voice cracked (破音)as I switched to a head voice. I was annoyed in that period and __________ practising, declaring I had reached the ceiling of my singing career. For the first time in years my brother __________ quiet when I got home.

After two days of this, my brother asked me to __________ him in meditation. Feeling my anger at my inability to manage this song __________,I accepted. My brother said, "When your mind floats away, you simply come back. Don't blame yourself" I got the message, and it soon became my new __________. I kept trying at the song, no longer getting __________ at myself. And just in time for the trial performance, I was able to __________ power in my singing despite the switch to a head voice. It was important for me to learn that you don't have to always get everything __________ the first time and that good things come with continual __________.I now understand why my brother favours the __________.

1.

A．mature

B．different

C．content

D．normal

2.

A．disliked

B．preferred

C．replaced

D．abandoned

3.

A．writer

B．leader

C．painter

D．performer

4.

A．get along

B．drop by

C．show off

D．check in

5.

A．try

B．mind

C．enjoy

D．delay

6.

A．In particular

B．In vain

C．In return

D．In theory

7.

A．humorous

B．ordinary

C．competitive

D．grateful

8.

A．above

B．below

C．near

D．without

9.

A．issue

B．contrast

C．agreement

D．balance

10.

A．struggled

B．expected

C．promised

D．decided

11.

A．began

B．allowed

C．stopped

D．continued

12.

A．hated

B．experienced

C．accepted

D．wanted

13.

A．help

B．invite

C．join

D．admire

14.

A．gracefully

B．suddenly

C．fiercely

D．cautiously

15.

A．limit

B．sentence

C．mistake

D．philosophy

16.

A．rude

B．angry

C．surprised

D．excited

17.

A．lose

B．share

C．reduce

D．maintain

18.

A．wrong

B．right

C．back

D．down

19.

A．luck

B．absence

C．effort

D．fear

20.

A．fight

B．noise

C．quiet

D．safety

10 . 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。

The Summer I Learned to Really See

It was a muggy(闷热)end-of-summer dog day in Missouri. I was preparing to go after the mail—about a mile's distance, through fields and forests, across a river, from our farmhouse, in which three generations of my family lived.

“Take the bucket with you,” my grandmother said, handing me the very familiar bucket.

“What for?” I asked, petulantly(使小性子). The berries had been picked, and it was too early for wild grapes, too late for roasting ears(穗).

“You'll find something to fill it with,” she said, her blue eyes sparkling with anticipation.

I didn't want to take the bucket. It would be a burden to me. Twice a day I'd carried a bucket for milking. With it I'd carried feed to the chickens, salt to the cows, sugar to the neighbors. I'd had enough with carrying with the bucket!

Nevertheless, I took the bucket. Halfway to the mailbox, I set it down beneath a pokeberry bush(胡桃树). I needn't carry it the whole way, I reasoned. There was no mail. When I got back to the bucket, I saw that a few ripe pokeberries had fallen into it. With childish ill humor, I picked off enough clusters(花串) to fill the bucket, even though I thought they were good for nothing.

“Aren't they just lovely!” Grandma exclaimed admiringly when I set them on the kitchen table. She squeezed out the juice of the berries and we used the lovely red ink to paint rings on our fingers and pen letters to distant cousins.

When I went to mail the letters the next day, Grandma again told me to take the bucket along. This time I carried the bucket a little farther than the previous day before setting it down. There was only a sale catalogue in the mail. When I got back to the bucket, I dropped it in. But I felt vaguely uncomfortable, remembering the pokeberries. I caught sight of a bunch of peppermint(薄荷) growing close to the path. Funny, I had passed it every day and never noticed it before. Peppermint just doesn't spring up overnight. I picked a bucketful, its fragrance seeming to cool the day. Grandma was pleased with the peppermint. She liked to chew it and make tea with it.

注意：
1. 续写词数应为150 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡上的相应位置作答。
The daily routine to take the bucket along was repeated for weeks, and I began to see more.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
One day when I went home, I didn't have anything in the bucket.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________