1 . Fifteen years ago, I took a summer vacation in Lecce in southern Italy. After climbing up a hill for a panoramic(全景的) view of the blue sea, white buildings and green olive trees, I paused to catch my breath and then positioned myself to take the best photo of this panorama.

Unfortunately, just as I took out my camera, a woman approached from behind, and planted herself right in front of my view. Like me, this woman was here to stop, sigh and appreciate the view.

Patient as I was, after about 15 minutes, my camera scanning the sun and reviewing the shot I would eventually take, I grew frustrated. Was it too much to ask her to move so I could take just one picture of the landscape? Sure, I could have asked her, but something prevented me from doing so. She seemed so content in her observation. I didn’t want to mess with that.

Another 15 minutes passed and I grew bored. The woman was still there. I decided to take the photo anyway. And now when I look at it, I think her presence in the photo is what makes the image interesting. The landscape, beautiful on its own, somehow comes to life and breathes because this woman is engaging with it.

This photo, with the unique beauty that unfolded before me and that woman who “ruined” it, now hangs on a wall in my bedroom. What would she think if she knew that her figure is captured(捕捉) and frozen on some stranger’s bedroom wall? A bedroom, after all, is a very private space, in which some woman I don’t even know has been immortalized(使……永存). In some ways, she lives in my house.

Perhaps we all live in each others’ space. Perhaps this is what photos are for: to remind us that we all appreciate beauty, that we all share a common desire for pleasure, for connection, for something that is greater than us.

That photo is a reminder, a captured moment, an unspoken conversation between two women, separated only by a thin square of glass.

1. What happened when the author was about to take a photo?

A．Her camera stopped working.

B．A woman blocked her view.

C．Someone asked her to leave

D．A friend approached from behind.

2. According to the author, the woman was probably_______.

A．enjoying herself

B．losing her patience

C．waiting for the sunset

D．thinking about her past

3. In the author’s opinion, what makes the photo so alive?

A．The rich color of the landscape.

B．The perfect positioning of the camera.

C．The woman’s existence in the photo.

D．The soft sunlight that summer day.

4. The photo on the bedroom wall enables the author to better understand ________.

A．the need to be close to nature

B．the importance of private space

C．the joy of the vacation in Italy

D．the shared passion for beauty

5. The passage can be seen as the author’s reflections upon _______.

A．a particular life experience

B．the pleasure of traveling

C．the art of photography

D．a lost friendship

2 . Stop Negative Talk

“I’m so fat,” one of your friends says. The girl next to her joins in. “Welf, I hate my hair today.” Without thinking, you respond “No, you ate not fat! I am fat. And my hair is flat and boring.”     1    

It is easy for people to engage in self-critical conversations, and once it starts there is often pressure for you to join in.     2    Maybe it is because “just talking” feels harmless. But before you know it, those opinions flow out of your conversations and into your life, where they start eating away at your self-respect.

    3     When you start talking about yourself in a negative way, you are not only affecting your self-respect, but your friends! When you criticize yourself, your friends might think you have the same standards for them. You have heard that it is important to treat others the way you want to be treated, but there is also value in treating yourself like you treat your friends. If you wouldn't criticize your friend for the same thing, chances are that you are being too hard on yourself. So, don't start it.

But what if someone else starts? For example, your friend feels insecure about how well he played in his soccer game, so he puts himself down. “I suck at soccer.”     4     Ask him, “do you really think that? Why?” Maybe he is actually upset about a comment someone made, or is just getting down on himself over one bad play. Whatever it is, talking through the real issue will help him more than slipping into another negative talk.

It is important to talk to your friend about your insecurities, but make sure you are not talking about them just to put yourself down.     5     Instead of just focusing on the negative, talk about what makes you and your friends beautiful and unique-including what you love about your body und what you have accomplished. When you show yourself love, you set yourself as an example, and everyone benefits from you positively.

A．Negative talk affects self-respect.

B．Criticizing yourself helps nobody.

C．But why do we hesitate to praise ourselves?

D．But why is it acceptable to talk so negatively?

E．All it takes is just one comment and the negative talk starts.

F．It is better to resist negative conversations and create more balanced ones.

G．Before everyone puts himself down, see if you can get to the root of the problem

3 . Finding a New Spring

A tradesman was leading a caravan(商队) to another country to sell his goods. Along the way they came to the edge of a severe hot-sand desert. They learnt that during the daytime the sun heats up the fine sand until it’s as hot as charcoal, so no one can walk on it — not even bullocks(小公牛) or camels! So the caravan leader hired a desert guide, one who could follow the stars, so they could travel only at night when the sand cools down. They began the dangerous night-time journey across the desert. A couple of nights later, after eating their evening meal, and waiting for the sand to cool, they started out again.

Later that night, the desert guide, who was driving the first cart, saw from the stars that they were getting close to the other side of the desert. He had also overeaten, so that when he relaxed, he fell asleep. Then the bullocks who, of course, couldn’t tell directions by reading the stars, gradually turned to the side and went in a big wide circle until they ended up at the same place they had started from! By then it was morning, and the people realized they were back at the same spot. They lost heart and began to cry about their condition. Since the desert crossing was supposed to be over by now, they had no more water and were afraid they would die of thirst. They even began to blame the caravan leader and the desert guide.
However, the leader himself didn’t lose courage. He began walking back and forth, trying to think out a plan. Remaining alert, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small clump of grass. He thought, "Without water, no plant could live in this desert." So he asked his fellow travelers to dig up the ground on that very spot. They dug and dug, and after a while they got down to a large stone. He got down into the hole, put his ear to the stone, and heard the sound of flowing water.

A spring was found. All the people were overjoyed. They drank and bathed and washed the animals and cooked their food and ate. Before they left, they raised a high flag so that other travelers could see the new spring in the middle of the hot-sand desert. Then they continued on safely to the end of their journey.

1. Why did the tradesman and his caravan have to travel during the night?

A．To use less water while crossing the desert.

B．It was too hot to walk on the desert in the daytime.

C．They might be able to find the spring in the quiet night.

D．The guide could find a short way by following the stars.

2. Why did the group feel so desperate when they were back to the starting point?

A．They were in danger of dying of thirst.

B．They were running out of food.

C．Their guide had lost the way.

D．Their leader had lost heart.

3. What is the moral of the story?

A．Never give up too easily.

B．Don’t mind what others think of you.

C．Don’t forget sorrow follows extreme joy.

D．Never refuse to offer help when you are needed.

4 . Just when I though there could be no way to comfort my two children, Robbie and Krista, only hours after burying their father, there was a special gift just for us. The morning was    1    (cloud) with light drizzles(细雨)at times. The only    2    (think) that came to my mind was how to comfort my children. My home was     3     (fill) with friends. My father had taken the children to play in the backyard to make them calm.

As my     4    (friend) would leave, I would walk them to the front door to see them     5    . We found the most amazing sight    6    we walked out the front door：The end of a rainbow was clearly in our front yard，    7     made all of us astonished.Before I could catch my breath，my father and the children were calling me from the backyard     8     (excite) to come and look at the beautiful rainbow in the backyard.

I ran to the backyard to see it. I looked over the house to see the most perfect rainbow     9     (shoot) its colors directly over our house. There were no words to describe the    10     (warm) in my heart for what we were seeing: a true gift from God. It was a sign to me that he was still with us. I couldn’t help but cry.

5 . It’s extremely difficult to get rid of deep anger and bitterness.    1    It could result in depression or even. substance abuse(药物滥用). You must rid yourself of these poisonous feelings before your life is ruined. You owe it to yourself to get over the anger and bitterness and find peace in life.

●Stop making excuses for your feelings.

You can’t overcome your anger or bitterness if you keep yourself' stuck in it and making excuses for why you are angry and bitter.    2    You’re in control of your life and you can get rid of the anger and bitterness. When you start feeling bitter or angry, make a conscious effort to stop.

●Forgive those who have caused you anger.

    3     However, it’s a necessary part of healing and moving on with life. Speak to the person who hurt you and tell him you forgive him. Alternatively, write a letter to the person who hurt your. Whatever you do you must forgive so that you can move on with your life.

●Find to be grateful for what you have.

Look around you and count your blessings.    4    Make thankfulness and gratefulness a part of your everyday life. Keep a journal and write about the ways in which you’re grateful. Your anger and bitterness will eventually disappear as you become happier and more content with life.

●    5    

Perhaps you’ve kept it bottled up for years. You need to let it go, so talk to your family or friends. You can even talk to a professional when necessary. The point is to talk about your feelings so that you can move on from the anger and bitterness.

A．This is not an easy thing.

B．Swear to move on from the past.

C．Perhaps you own a loving family or a good job.

D．Offering forgiveness can lead to less anxiety and stress.

E．You could spend years carrying these feelings inside you.

F．Express your deep-rooted feelings of anger and bitterness.

G．Recognizing signs and causes of bitterness is a healthy start.

6 . 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Five Things Ambitious People Never Say◆“I can’t do this—it’s too hard.”Ambitious people never limit themselves or undervalue hard work with these words.    1    .◆“I’m not good enough.”Ambitious people never say they are not good enough. Saying you are not good enough holds you back and makes you easy to quit when things get a little rough. And quitting when things get a little rough is never a good thing. The most successful people in the world are not quitters.    2    Be confident and believe in yourself, or no one else will.◆“I won’t make it through the obstacles(障碍).”Challenges and obstacles are tests of your resolve(决心) and desire to succeed.    3    They say they will make it because they know better things lie ahead-the sun always shines after the storm.◆    4    The only time people won’t take you seriously is if you don’t take yourself seriously. Insisting that people won’t take you seriously is an excuse not to do what you know you should do. Ambitious people never say these words. Start respecting yourself and honoring what you do and people will respect and take you seriously.◆“I’m going to fail for sure.”    5    It can teach you valuable lessons and redirect you to the right path. Ambitious people don’t say they are going to fail and let that stop them from trying. They challenge the fear of failure bytaking calculated risks(甘冒风险) because they know the only time you are truly defeated is when you don’t try at all.

A．Ambitious people never say they won't make it through the hard times.

B．They are hard workers who believe in themselves and their abilities.

C．Failure is not entirely bad.

D．They tell themselves they can do it.

E．“People won’t take me seriously.”

F．“People think me impossible.”

G．Ambitious people say they can do everything well.

7 . 根据短文内容，从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

How northern Europeans beat the winter blues

Ask a child from northern Europe to draw two pictures — one on a rainy day and a second in the sunshine — and this is what you will get: in the first, as raindrops fall from the top of the page, the man behind the window has an unhappy expression. When a yellow sun sends out some light from the corner, the man is smiling.

Northern Europeans associate rain with sadness and sunshine with happiness. They think this is true because they are so aware of how their environment affects them.    1    In October 2008, a group of researchers examined the influence of different daily weather factors, including temperature, wind and sunlight, on 1,200 participants. The conclusion was that good or bad weather had little effect on people’s feelings.    2    A person who is upset on dark or cold days suffers from a negative mood (情绪), and he will be likely to experience a sad winter. This is the basis of an illness called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).    3    

AniKalayjian, professor of psychology at Fordham University, advises that we should take steps to strengthen the brain’s system against weather-driven mood changes. Research on SAD has been focused on the brain’s response to darkness and light. When our eyes detect darkness, the brain gives off melatonin, which starts sleep cycles.    4    It takes over to help us wake up and feel better when we detect light. “We can encourage people to take charge of their feelings,” says Kalayjian. “We tell them to leave the computers and the indoor games and get out there in the sun.    5    ”

A day of rain can potentially destroy your plan and affect your mood. But as the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly once said: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing.”

A．Yet that link has no scientific basis.

B．It is seriously doubted among the people who suffer from SAD.

C．It affects about10% of the population of northern Europe each year.

D．Another chemical called serotonin, however, can make people happy.

E．That’s when people can recharge their serotonin and get a better mood.

F．Most studies prove that a negative feeling is associated with bad weather.

G．They determined that people actually differ in their sensitivity to weather changes.

8 . 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。Lots of people give you advice on overcoming fear.    1    . However, I want to tell you that a world without fear would be more dangerous, less rewarding. So we want to treat fear as a friend. Here are three reasons.    2    Think about it. Do you get more nervous when you meet the girl (or guy) of your dreams? Which is more fearful, talking to the boss of your company or to some of your friends?    3    . If you didn’t have fear to guide you, you might not know that! Not so bad, right?Next, fear encourages us to take action. Fear is a call to action. In the past, our ancestors (祖先) didn’t run away in fear when they saw a tiger running toward them but tried to kill it for food. Now, most of us don’t face serious danger like hungry tigers every day, but we do face serious bosses or public speaking. So, what can we do?    4    .Lastly, fear lets you know you are alive. Why do we like roller coasters (过山车)?    5    Same for horror movies.So fear can guide you towards what’s important for you and encourage you to take action to improve your situation. Don’t we all need that kind of friend?

A．The first is that fear is an excellent guide to opportunity.

B．Don’t fear to be wrong.

C．They say if you can overcome fear, you will be successful.

D．It frightens us in a mostly safe way.

E．Imagine what life would be like without fear.

F．Fear is showing you what is important and what matters to you.

G．Let fear provide us with the energy to do what needs to be done.

9 . 众所周知，每个人都希望能保持一份好心情，因为好心情对于我们的学习和工作都非常重要。因此，如何保持一份好心情就成了大家关心的话题。根据下面的提示和要求写一篇英文演讲稿，并就如何保持好心情谈谈你的看法。
为什么要保持好心情：
1． 促进工作和学习，提高生活质量；               2． 有利于身心健康。
如何保持一份好心情：
1． 保持幽默感；       2． 拥有广泛的兴趣爱好；     3． 为人友好，多与人分享乐趣。
注意：词数100左右
参考词汇：促进promote       心情 mood
Good morning, everyone !
The topic of my speech today is “How to keep a good mood?”.
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That’s all. Thank you !

10 . You wake up in the morning, the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then the telephone rings,you say hello,and the drama starts.The person on the other end has a depressing tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to.You are still in a wonderful mood?Impossible!

Communicating with negative people can wash out your happiness. It may not change what you think, but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.

Life brings ups and downs,but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer. They only feel glad when they make others feel bad. No wonder they can hardly win others' pity or respect.

When you communicate with positive people, your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted. When the dagger（匕首）of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that all in all, brings you down.

Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people. This could be a coworker, or a relative. In this case, say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to the negative person, but all this does is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that.

Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized. The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to（附着）you throughout the rest of your day, which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness. Life is too short to feel negative. Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible.

1. The purpose of the first paragraph is to______.

A．make a comparison

B．offer an evidence

C．introduce a topic

D．describe a daily scene

2. How can negative people have effect on us?

A．By influencing our emotion.

B．By telling us the nature of life.

C．By changing our way of thinking.

D．By comparing their attitude to life with ours.

3. Some negative people base their happiness on________.

A．other people's pity for them

B．making other people unhappy

C．building up a positive attitude

D．other people’s respect for them

4. According to the passage, to reduce negative people’s influence on us,we are advised______.

A．to change negative people’s attitude to life

B．to show our dissatisfaction to negative people

C．to make negative people feel ashamed of themselves

D．to communicate with negative people as little as possible