1 . Winter _________ Eastern Canada into a deep freeze. We sat at home, waiting for the COVID-19 cases to decrease and for the weather to improve. Each of us looked forward to something to keep us _________ the isolation: seeing friends, eating in restaurants, watching a movie at a cinema ... My hope has quietly been _________ dust in the garage since November.

My bike got stolen within months of moving to Toronto. I rode my old bike faithfully for almost 20 years before getting the replacement, which then got stolen, forcing me back to Old Faithful. The faint of heart might have _________ biking completely at that point, but not me, _________ what biking means to me: freedom.

Every spring I take Old Faithful down from the rack, clean it, lubricate it and pump up the tires. As time goes by, the old gal has started showing her age, and now there are more replacement parts on her than _________ ones. But with all bike stores being _________ on new models as the pandemic has swept them clean, she is all I have.

On my bike, I’m limitless and unshackled by gas tanks or batteries; as long as I’m alive and eating, I’ve got fuel and can pedal to the ends of Earth if I want. No _________ is impassable. Jammed roads mean nothing: I can still weave between cars in traffic. This memory means even more to me with the experience of _________.

Society gritted its teeth (咬紧牙关) in the knowledge that we just had to __________ it out for a year to get to the other side. Then Delta hit. Then Omicron. A year __________ into two, and that’s when the walls really started closing in. That’s when we really needed hope. So, I count the days until I can return to my bike. On my bike, I achieve another state of mind. As ridiculous as it sounds, in the old days when I __________ up a hill, in my mind I became the leader in the Tour de France and that inner-city hill became the Alps. I would push myself to reach the top each time. I wanted to feel that little __________ of making it to the summit, knowing that doing so told me once again that I could go anywhere and that nothing could hold me back. I was free.

Every few years I add a new ache or pain. I am starting to get old. At some point, I won’t be able to tackle those hills the way I used to, but biking is a time-limited undertaking and is worth every __________. Therefore, every time I encounter a hill, I don’t give up. I never want to lose this sense of __________. I’m waiting for that first warm day when I’ll escape the pandemic walls. I want to put on my helmet and for one brief, beautiful moment, be free again.

1.

A．scared

B．plunged

C．frosted

D．sealed

2.

A．going through

B．suffering from

C．holding up

D．putting off

3.

A．stuffing

B．gathering

C．assembling

D．coating

4.

A．forgotten

B．undertaken

C．loathed

D．abandoned

5.

A．regardless of

B．no matter

C．in spite of

D．because of

6.

A．excess

B．replaced

C．original

D．backup

7.

A．dependent

B．hard

C．keen

D．low

8.

A．shortcut

B．vehicle

C．obstacle

D．spot

9.

A．lockdown

B．congestion

C．meltdown

D．recovery

10.

A．spill

B．tough

C．cross

D．stress

11.

A．bumped

B．rushed

C．slipped

D．turned

12.

A．rounded

B．powered

C．leapt

D．scaled

13.

A．presence

B．interest

C．spark

D．thrill

14.

A．tumble

B．strike

C．stretch

D．rumble

15.

A．proportion

B．belonging

C．freedom

D．relief

2 . Many of us have heard of Alex Honnold, who made history in 2018 when he became the first man to climb EI Capitan without ropes or safety equipment. But his mother, Dierdre Wolownick, just became the oldest woman to conquer the famous peak: she reached the top on September 23 — the morning of her 70th birthday.

Dierdre, the writer and language teacher, decided to take up climbing as a means to connect more with her son. In 2008, accompanied by her son Alex, she visited a climbing gym and completed 12 routes that first day with his help, but it was months before she worked up the courage to return and practice on her own.

Dierdre became committed to the sport, and began to meet friends and sharpen her skills. She scaled (登上) parts of Half Dome and Cathedral peak at a time when many people at her age are thinking about retirement and slowing down. The writer would go on to publish a book about her climbing experiences with Alex called The Sharp End of Life: A Mother’s Story.

“As a mother, I am impressed by this role exchange process. Parents and children often wind up changing roles in life as they get older,” she writes in her book. “But never, I thought, is that transformation as obvious as when they climb together.”

On September 23, Dierdre and her friends set out in the dark, at 6 am. The route is steep (陡峭的) enough to require all-fours, grabbing rocks and trees and whatever else will hold the weight. Yet despite all difficulties the team made it to the top.“It was really inspiring to watch her and then to have her on top with all of us,” said one of Dierdre’s friends.“There was a special look on everyone’s face. We knew where we were. We knew how amazing the moment truly was.

1. Why did Dierdre start climbing mountains?

A．To know her son better.

B．To celebrate her birthday.

C．To seek writing inspiration.

D．To set an example for the old.

2. Which of the following best describes Dierdre?

A．Patient.

B．Courageous.

C．Intelligent.

D．Generous.

3. What does the last paragraph tell about Dierdre’s climbing journey?

A．It was worth the efforts.

B．It took days to complete.

C．It was arranged on her own.

D．It required special equipment.

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

A．Mountain climbing benefits health

B．Mother goes beyond her son’s wish

C．Climb together, bond closer

D．Slow down, better your life

3 . Weeks ago, the longest I had ever run was 5K.What’s more, I didn’t like running, so often I would fasten my old shoes, walk out of the house with heavy steps, get less than a mile in and wonder why I was bothering, especially when there are many more satisfying ways of exercising.Before last summer, I had never participated in any kind of race at all.

At the end of July, I had completed triathlon(铁人三项) after two weeks of training. At the end of it came the run—which ended up more like a walk. But afterwards, I realized something about it appealed to me. The extremely painful fun of doing something I hated and was unprepared for turned out to be like a difficult task to test my abilities and skills.

So when an invitation to do the Berlin Marathon dropped into my inbox a couple of weeks later, it felt like a twist of fate. After the triathlon, hadn’t I been saying that I should start running, precisely because I hated it so much? The joy of the triathlon had been that I challenged my limits. It felt necessary to find out again where those limits might lie. There was a very good chance that I would not only fail but embarrass and hurt myself in the process. But there were plenty of reasons not to do it, I said yes.

Marathon training is supposed to take at least 20 weeks or more, and that is for someone who has run before. But I don’t even know what speed I’m aiming for. Finally the training plan becomes something to stop me worrying when the race seems too frightening. This happens often, as I count the days to the race and picture I fell over in the middle of a Berlin street. This anxiety feels sure to happen, but there is something equally unavailable about the training plan; if I follow it, then I have done everything I can; if I do everything I can, then I can’t regret what comes at the end. In the most extreme training week, I run about 40 miles.

1. What can we infer from the first paragraph about the author?

A．He had less practical experiencing in running.

B．He had difficult in walking after try hard.

C．He failed to find satisfying ways of exercising.

D．He preferred staying indoors to do exercise.

2. Which of the statement is TRUE according to the passage?

A．He did a perfect job in the triathlon.

B．Running is part of triathlon.

C．He knew his limits in the triathlon.

D．He start running because he liked it after the triathlon.

3. Why did the author accept the invitation to the Berlin Marathon?

A．To adjust himself.

B．To amuse himself.

C．To protect himself.

D．To challenge himself.

4. What lesson does the author learn after taking the marathon training?

A．Nothing is impossible

B．Roman is not build in a day.

C．Everything is worth trying.

D．It is no use crying over spilt milk.

4 . 语法填空

On the     1     (one) day of my senior high school life in the USA,I showed a great interest in one of the     2     (lecture),marketing lecture. My teacher, Mrs. Tolman,     3     (recommend) that I should register a     4     (nation) marketing club called DECA which attracts many students with interest in business. So I did,

The first challenge was     5     (collect) money for the marketing competition later in the year by selling candles. Mrs. Tolman said the competition was due (到期的) in a week and that 40 percent of the income (收入) would go into my personal ac-count,     6     made me     7     (addict) to the selling.

At     8     beginning, I tried to sell some candles to my host mom. She said that if I could show the candles     9     (confident) and do a wonderful sales presentation, she would certainly buy some. I started my topic with a firm handshake. Then I focused     10     all the different kinds of candles and the special sales I could offer and convinced(说服) her that our candles were the best choices for gifts and home decorations. Finally she bought three candles.

5 . 某英文读书网站 “My favorite writer” 栏目面向中学生征稿，请你写一篇英语稿件，推荐一位你最喜欢的作家。内容包括：
1. 推荐的作家及作品;
2. 推荐理由。
注意：词数100左右。
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . It’s a classic story. A kid is forced to learn an instrument from a young age, and they develop a bittersweet _________ with it. In the end, is the struggle worth it? For me? it was.

I started playing_________ when I was around four years old — that was 15 years ago! -—and since then, the longest I’ve ever gone without _________ piano keys was probably two months. This was an immense _________ of dedication to something that I wasn’t even planning to be “productive” with. So there must have been something worth holding on to, right?

The easy guess is that I was always so purely in _________ with music and piano that I couldn’t bear to let them go, even as my life got_________. Family and peers who played instruments were, at least in my own head, _________ placed beside me in competition. I felt _________ to improve and be the best in order to _________ something to others, even to myself. I never felt like piano was mine; it was something I was trying over and over to __________ the right to.

It’s difficult to learn to love something that you didn’t choose in the first place. I didn’t __________ piano; for a while, it was more of something I was __________ than a hobby. But somehow, sometime, love grew. The love and hate I’ve had for the piano were both__________ and grown.

Remember that with dedication, __________ can make a home where hate grows. There is no__________. We need time. We need room.

1.

A．expectation

B．inspiration

C．relationship

D．challenge

2.

A．guitar

B．violin

C．organ

D．piano

3.

A．touching

B．feeling

C．flowing

D．hearing

4.

A．series

B．range

C．amount

D．sort

5.

A．love

B．competition

C．touch

D．tune

6.

A．sharper

B．merrier

C．busier

D．better

7.

A．confidently

B．annually

C．fortunately

D．constantly

8.

A．adaptation

B．pressure

C．leisure

D．benefit

9.

A．prove

B．Inspire

C．create

D．prevent

10.

A．buy

B．earn

C．lend

D．do

11.

A．play

B．replace

C．quit

D．choose

12.

A．fed up with

B．in line with

C．come up with

D．caught up with

13.

A．sought

B．planted

C．attracted

D．informed

14.

A．effort

B．energy

C．condition

D．love

15.

A．sunrise

B．daybreak

C．shortcut

D．highway

7 . We were designing a wheelchair for the engineering course. Based on my experience, I believed steel would be too _________ and aluminum (铝) would be lighter. But the student who insisted on using steel once worked at a bike shop; _________ I didn’t know better, having used _________ only for crafts (手工艺). A few days later, when the steel wheelchair arm kept _________ because of its weight, I felt I had been _________.

I liked crafting, but when I took engineering in college, I put this _________ aside because I didn’t think it was _________ to my academic work. I told myself engineering adequately fed my creative side and I didn’t _________ the hobby.

Although the wheelchair project was a _________ that my crafting might be important and relevant, I continued to __________ bringing it up in professional spaces.

My __________ didn’t change until one day when I felt restless and __________ crafting as an outlet. While putting liquid into a mold, I __________ “injection molding”—a standard engineering manufacturing process. I suddenly realized that in the __________ sense, this art is not injection molding, but it shares the spirit and probably some __________. Maybe my crafting was something I should hug rather than hide.

Soon I saw more examples of __________ between engineering and craft that I had previously __________. I saw how crafting taught me not to quit when my product didn’t __________ my initial vision and to consider the failed __________ as a learning experience, just as an engineer must.

So I took up crafting again and also stopped __________ it from others.

1.

A．expensive

B．hard

C．ugly

D．heavy

2.

A．originally

B．surely

C．previously

D．embarrassingly

3.

A．metal

B．tools

C．wheels

D．technique

4.

A．falling

B．waving

C．shaking

D．breaking

5.

A．lucky

B．confused

C．right

D．disappointed

6.

A．ability

B．hobby

C．idea

D．opportunity

7.

A．relevant

B．equal

C．new

D．similar

8.

A．like

B．develop

C．abandon

D．need

9.

A．chance

B．hint

C．possibility

D．demand

10.

A．try

B．keep

C．practice

D．avoid

11.

A．goal

B．method

C．attitude

D．fate

12.

A．referred to

B．looked for

C．held on

D．turned to

13.

A．pointed out

B．stared at

C．thought of

D．focused on

14.

A．medical

B．social

C．technical

D．mental

15.

A．skills

B．benefits

C．examples

D．materials

16.

A．conflicts

B．connections

C．advantages

D．differences

17.

A．overlooked

B．discovered

C．used

D．learned

18.

A．meet

B．match

C．suit

D．improve

19.

A．test

B．agreement

C．creation

D．project

20.

A．keeping

B．borrowing

C．separating

D．hiding

8 . 340-pound Andy Duran decided to return to his favorite high school hobby—skateboarding.

However, Duran’s _________ began before he even stepped on a skateboard. He couldn’t find any resources (资源) for _________ skateboarders—what types of skateboards to _________ and where to buy plus-size shirts.

What Duran did find instead was an unfounded _________. “People say that if you’re over 190 pounds you shouldn’t be on a skateboard,” he says.

Determined to do something to _________ the description of plus-size people in sports, Duran set up Chub Rollz—a skateboarding community for overweight skateboarders. To encourage plus-size people to _________ the fun sport, Duran created a list of recommended _________ for them. He also hosted skateboarding classes to teach beginners.

The comments on Chub Rollz have been _________. Following an article about his action on the Internet, Duran received a lot of messages from _________ showing thanks for giving them courage to stand on skateboards.

Duran believes a lot more needs to be done to __________ body image stereotypes (成见). “Maybe skateboard shops should create a __________ environment for us and all types of boards should be made—everyone is making lighter products, but sometimes we need other __________,” he explains. For those __________ about taking up their favorite sports due to their __________, Duran has this to say, “Be __________ to yourself, as you’re often your worst critic (批评家). That you don’t see it doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”

1.

A．chances

B．protests

C．challenges

D．arrangements

2.

A．new

B．fat

C．gifted

D．young

3.

A．register

B．design

C．sell

D．try

4.

A．proof

B．guideline

C．report

D．belief

5.

A．check

B．change

C．stress

D．match

6.

A．play

B．promote

C．like

D．rate

7.

A．products

B．books

C．hobbies

D．sizes

8.

A．unusual

B．positive

C．informal

D．immediate

9.

A．volunteers

B．students

C．strangers

D．neighbors

10.

A．understand

B．control

C．compare

D．remove

11.

A．safe

B．competitive

C．welcoming

D．healthy

12.

A．choices

B．plans

C．measures

D．experiences

13.

A．careful

B．curious

C．certain

D．doubtful

14.

A．skill

B．weight

C．popularity

D．age

15.

A．useful

B．open

C．kind

D．faithful

9 . When I was a young student, none of my friends listened to classical music. Few learned to play an _______ for more than a year or two. They were listening to the big bands. But dad _______ me to learn to play the piano and I studied for three years. And later, you know, I gave it up. But one day one thing changed me _______.

One Saturday, I went to a _______ birthday party of one of my classmates and there were quite a crowd of people of my _______. And some of the kids were fooling around at the piano while the parents are _______ us a big meal. Then one of the girls _______ stopped talking, looked at me and said, “Robert, you took piano lessons. _______, play something!”

“No, I’m not going to play the piano.” I _______ that no one in that room would show________ in the kind of music that I could play. But though I was ________ objecting, I was pushed by my friends toward the piano. I was “________” to sit down. And there I was face to face with eighty-eight black and white ________.

What to play? The only thing that came to my ________ was Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. So, I began with the slow ________. And after two measures I became aware that there was a ________ in the room. After the next two measures, I felt people ________ toward me, and then the parents came out of the kitchen ________. I played the whole first movement and when I was through, the applause and cheers were ________ to believe.

If I had known that this would have happened, I never would have given up ________ playing the piano.

1.

A．apartment

B．instrument

C．equipment

D．argument

2.

A．advised

B．allowed

C．instructed

D．persuaded

3.

A．completely

B．generally

C．cruelly

D．hopefully

4.

A．boring

B．secure

C．sweet

D．brief

5.

A．city

B．age

C．height

D．dream

6.

A．buying

B．earning

C．breaking

D．cooking

7.

A．actually

B．foolishly

C．suddenly

D．curiously

8.

A．Come on

B．Get up

C．Break out

D．Carry on

9.

A．admitted

B．observed

C．figured

D．regretted

10.

A．knowledge

B．delight

C．respect

D．interest

11.

A．shyly

B．strongly

C．luckily

D．hardly

12.

A．forced

B．guided

C．invited

D．protected

13.

A．keys

B．letters

C．words

D．pictures

14.

A．music

B．party

C．meal

D．mind

15.

A．ending

B．opening

C．reading

D．stop

16.

A．quarrel

B．relaxation

C．silence

D．noise

17.

A．moving

B．sending

C．looking

D．hearing

18.

A．satisfied

B．annoyed

C．disappointed

D．surprised

19.

A．easy

B．hard

C．certain

D．glad

20.

A．remembering

B．considering

C．practising

D．imaging

10 . Some little boys are addicted to Legos. Others can’t get enough of dinosaurs. But it is Blackpool Tower in England that has captured one 6-year-old’s imagination.

The Blackpool Tower was built in 1894. It is twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty in NYC. Now Charlie Barratt has achieved his dream by becoming the voice of the attraction’s lift (电梯). Charlie did a project about the tower at school, recording his own version of the lift’s existing speech. In the voice-over, Charlie welcomes visitors to the attraction. He also offers interesting facts about the tower. One of his teachers contacted Kenny Mew, the tower’s operation manager, and told him about Charlie’s love for the 518-foot (157 meter) structure.

Mew told BBC Radio Lancashire, “His school reached out to me and said they had this young boy who was passionate about Blackpool Tower and had actually recorded the lift speech and I was thinking to myself: how’s he done that? I played it back and he had the speech word for word that we’d had recorded already in the lift and it just sounded amazing. And we thought we were going to give Charlie the opportunity to do it. He was absolutely brilliant. He’s done an amazing job, and we’re really proud of what he’s done.”

Charlie was then invited into a professional recording studio to perform his version and his mum, Wendy, is as thrilled as he is. She told the BBC, “He adores the tower.” Wendy first took Charlie to visit the tower when he was a baby. She said he loved it “from the minute he can walk”.

Now Charlie is the voice of the attraction’s lift. As well as the lift, there are plans in progress for Charlie to lend his voice to other areas in the future.

1. Why does the author mention other boys in the first paragraph?

A．To imply that Blackpool Tower is better than Legos and dinosaurs.

B．To highlight that Charlie Barratt has a unique passion.

C．To indicate that Charlie Barratt cannot get along with other boys.

D．To criticize other boys who fail to achieve their dreams.

2. What can we know about Blackpool Tower?

A．It did not have a lift speech until Charlie made one.

B．Its manager attempted to find a boy to record lift speech.

C．It is now using Charlie’s remade recording in its lift.

D．It is the highest tower in England with interesting facts.

3. Why did Charlie record the voice-over for Blackpool Tower on his own?

A．His mother Wendy inspired him.

B．His teacher encouraged him to do so.

C．He had a strong interest in Blackpool Tower.

D．He decided to attract more tourists to it.

4. Which words can better describe Charlie?

A．Passionate and unselfish.

B．Hard-working and persuasive.

C．Promising and kind.

D．Enthusiastic and committed.