1 . The story happened years ago，when my daughter was still little.
I was driving across the country with my daughter to____my husband. Since I intended to get to my destination before supper time, I drove ____ for a long time without a stop. Then after driving for many miles, I became tired and needed to stop for a break to get ____
I found a rest area. It was mostly deserted, in a quiet area of the highway. I parked the car and carried my ____ into the restroom. When I came out I saw a middle-aged ____ wandering around. Feeling ____ about that, I asked the lady. What ____ me was: they were waiting for us!
The lady told me that she and her husband wanted to see us safely back into our ____ She explained that sometimes rest areas could be a ____ place for a young lady like me. She told me that she had a daughter almost my age, so they wanted to make sure that I got safely back on my way.
I was very touched by their ____. Being young, and probably naive to the potential ____ of rest areas, it had never occurred to me that there was any possibility of something going wrong. I ____ them for their kindness. My daughter and I continued our journey and ____ our destination safely.
I never got their names but years have passed and their kindness is still not ____ Sometimes angels come in make-up and just because you can’t see their ______ it doesn’t mean they aren’t angels.1.

A．desert

B．stop

C．join

D．save

2.

A．slowly

B．quickly

C．safely

D．quietly

3.

A．excited

B．bored

C．interested

D．refreshed

4.

A．daughter

B．luggage

C．license

D．car

5.

A．lady

B．man

C．couple

D．angel

6.

A．angry

B．curious

C．jealous

D．terrible

7.

A．surprised

B．worried

C．annoyed

D．upset

8.

A．room

B．car

C．area

D．park

9.

A．quiet

B．noisy

C．dangerous

D．safe

10.

A．devotion

B．honesty

C．potential

D．consideration

11.

A．stops

B．dangers

C．mistakes

D．changes

12.

A．forgave

B．asked

C．thanked

D．blamed

13.

A．reached

B．left

C．missed

D．passed

14.

A．seen

B．forgotten

C．deserted

D．recognized

15.

A．kindness

B．safety

C．faces

D．wings

2 . Natalie Doan, 14, has always felt lucky to live in Rockaway, New York. Living just a few blocks from the beach, Natalie can see the ocean and hear the waves from her house. “It’s the ocean that makes Rockaway so special.” she says.

On October 29, 2012, that ocean turned violent. That night, Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast, and Rockaway was hit especially hard. Fortunately, Natalie’s family escaped to Brooklyn shortly before the city’s bridges closed.

When they returned to Rockaway the next day, they found their neighborhood in ruins. Many of Natalie’s friends had lost their homes and were living far away. All around her, people were suffering, especially the elderly. Natalie’s school was so damaged that she had to temporarily attend a school in Brooklyn.

In the following few days, the men and women helping Rockaway recover inspired Natalie. Volunteers came with carloads of donated(捐献的)clothing and toys. Neighbors devoted their spare time to helping others rebuild. Teenagers climbed dozens of flights of stairs to deliver water and food to elderly people trapped in powerless high-rise buildings.

“My mom tells me that I can’t control what happens to me,” Natalie says, “but I can always choose how I deal with it.”Natalie’s choice was to help. She created a website page, matching survivors in need with donors who wanted to help. Natalie posted information about a boy named Patrick, who lost his baseball and collection when his house burned down. Within days, Patrick’s collection was replaced.

In the coming months, her website page helped lots of kids: Christopher, who received a new basketball; Charlie, who got a new keyboard. Natalie also worked with other organizations to bring much-needed supplies to Rockaway. Her efforts made her a famous person. Last April, she was invited to the White House and honored as a Hurricane Sandy Champion of Change.

Today, the scars(创痕) of destruction are still seen in Rockaway, but hope is in the air. The streets are clear, and many homes have been rebuilt. “I can’t imagine living anywhere but Rockaway,” Natalie declares. “My neighborhood will be back, even stronger than before.”

1. When Natalie returned to Rockaway after the hurricane, she found _______.

A．some friends had lost their lives

B．her neighborhood was destroyed

C．her school had moved to Brooklyn

D．the elderly were free from suffering

2. According to Paragraph 4, who inspired Natalie most?

A．The people helping Rockaway rebuild.

B．The people trapped in high-rise buildings.

C．The volunteers donating money to survivors.

D．Local teenagers bringing clothing to elderly people.

3. How did Natalie help the survivors?

A．She gave her toys to other kids.

B．She took care of younger children.

C．She called on the White House to help.

D．She built an information sharing platform.

4. What do you think is the best title of the passage?

A．A Girl Helps Make a Difference

B．A Hurricane Disaster.

C．Home is Best.

D．Technology is Power.

3 . One of the easiest things in the world is to become a fault-finder. However, life can be _______ when you are not busy finding fault with it.

Several years ago I _______ a letter from seventeen-year-old Kerry, who described herself as a world-class fault-finder, almost always _______ by things. People were always doing things that annoyed her, and _______ was ever good enough. She was highly self-critical and also found fault with her friends. She became a really _______ person.

Unfortunately, it took a horrible accident to change her _______. Her best friend was seriously hurt in a car crash. What made it almost _______ to deal with was that the day before the _______, Kerry had visited her friend and had spent the whole time criticizing her _______ of boyfriends, the way she was living, the way she related to her mother, and various other things she felt she needed to ________. It wasn’t until her friend was badly hurt that Kerry became ________ her habit of finding fault. Very quickly, she learned to appreciate life rather than to ________ everything so harshly(刻薄). She was able to transfer her new wisdom to other parts of her ________ as well.

Perhaps most of us aren’t as extreme at fault-finding, ________ when we’re honest, we can be sharply ________ of the world. I’m not suggesting you ________ problems, or that you pretend things are ________ than they are, but simply that you learn to allow things to be as they are — ________ most of the time, and especially when it’s not a really big ________.

Train yourself to ＂bite your tongue＂, and with a little ________, you’ll get really good at letting things go. And when you do, you’ll get back your enthusiasm and love for life.

1.

A．lonely

B．great

C．quiet

D．uneasy

2.

A．received

B．answered

C．expected

D．rejected

3.

A．threatened

B．interrupted

C．bothered

D．spoiled

4.

A．anything

B．everything

C．something

D．nothing

5.

A．caring

B．boring

C．interesting

D．surprising

6.

A．attitude

B．plan

C．measure

D．explanation

7.

A．urgent

B．unnecessary

C．certain

D．impossible

8.

A．occasion

B．event

C．accident

D．adventure

9.

A．memory

B．notice

C．evidence

D．choice

10.

A．hear

B．contribute

C．express

D．admit

11.

A．aware of

B．afraid of

C．curious about

D．confused about

12.

A．discuss

B．realize

C．judge

D．settle

13.

A．family

B．life

C．career

D．education

14.

A．so

B．or

C．but

D．for

15.

A．proud

B．sure

C．hopeful

D．critical

16.

A．face

B．create

C．solve

D．ignore

17.

A．rarer

B．better

C．stranger

D．worse

18.

A．at least

B．at last

C．by far

D．so far

19.

A．task

B．deal

C．result

D．duty

20.

A．practice

B．speech

C．rest

D．pity

4 . “Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the concept that image is everything, but an appealing image isn’t enough when there’s no substance behind it.
First of all, one should consider how important image is in selling products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. But if the product or service doesn’t live up to it, customers will be very dissatisfied. The recent scandal (丑闻) about the Arthur Andersen accounting firm showed that behind that image, it had unfair business practices under the table. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to its downfall.
Similarly, personal consultants(顾问) can build up a very positive public image for politicians and movie stars in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both that fell from grace (体面) like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind it, failure is close.
To conclude, it’s clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person. But image is only half of the equation(等式). What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself — the person or product must live up to that image or there’s little chance for long-term success.
1. The downfall of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm is due to ______.

A．its dishonesty in business

B．its bad management

C．its previous images

D．its poor service

2. Some famous people fall from grace because _____.

A．their images were not well built up

B．they failed to live up to their images

C．they felt much pressure from the public

D．they paid little attention to fame and fortune

3. The structure of the passage is probably       .

(A: Argument             P: Point             C: Conclusion)

A．A

B．B

C．C

D．D

4. The author might support that______.

A．image is the basis of everything

B．truth and image are equally important

C．truth goes hand in hand with image

D．image holds the key to success

5 . Wallet Back

This is a story about a learning experience that had a big effect on the way I live my life．The _______in the story did not give me tests or even grade me on my work．I was taught by one of the most effective_______ of teaching，one that only people with lots of love can do．

“My wallet! Where is it?” were my first words_______I found my wallet was missing．I _______ my memory for a few good seconds, then realized that I had left my precious wallet in the library’s public _______ ! Because the library was now _______, I had to wait until the next morning to look for it．When I got there the next day, all I found was a clean restroom．This was the first time I could remember ever_______to see a clean restroom．As I walked out，I looked at myself in the mirror and shook my head at the _______ fool in front of me．

I politely _________the librarian at the front desk and asked her if a wallet had been found in the restroom yesterday．“No．”That was that．I walked off with a sense of __________．

I __________what I would do if I had found a wallet with sixty dollars，a phone card and other irreplaceable __________things．Finally，I __________ accepted the fact that my wallet was gone．

A week later，I received a __________ in the mail．It was my wallet! And most__________，nothing was missing! But there was a letter folded up in one of the wallet pocket that had not been there before．I slowly unfolded the letter，which __________something like this:

When we continue to help people around，we will live in a larger and more rewarding world．

This person didn’t even leave a return address．So I couldn’t__________ whoever it was．But from that day on，I __________ myself that l will follow this __________ and help others and make them as__________as I was when I opened that parcel!

1.

A．1eader

B．writer

C．teacher

D．scholar

2.

A．aids

B．systems

C．materials，

D．methods

3.

A．once

B．when

C．before

D．since

4.

A．searched

B．improved

C．developed

D．recorded

5.

A．canteen

B．lounge

C．restroom

D．showroom

6.

A．closed

B．deserted

C．crowded

D．occupied

7.

A．hoping

B．hating

C．refusing

D．preferring

8.

A．grateful

B．curious

C．forgetful

D．nervous

9.

A．approached

B．interviewed

C．identified

D．reminded

10.

A．safety

B．forgiveness

C．satisfaction，

D．disappointment

11.

A．described

B．wondered，

C．discovered

D．expressed

12.

A．personal，

B．strange

C．surprising

D．reasonable

13.

A．gladly，

B．naturally

C．willingly

D．painfully

14.

A．1etter

B．note，

C．package

D．suitcase

15.

A．sincerely，

B．amazingly

C．honestly，

D．obviously

16.

A．read

B．printed

C．explained

D．wrote

17.

A．owe

B．thank

C．admire

D．inspire

18.

A．supported

B．suggested，

C．improved

D．promised

19.

A．plan

B．course

C．regulation

D．example

20.

A．shocked

B．cautious

C．delighted，

D．optimistic

6 . Alibaba started taking the lead in China， simply enough， by connecting big Chinese manufacturers（制造商） with big buyers across the world． Its business-to-business site， Alibaba． com allowed business to buy almost everything． Alibaba’s advantage wasn’t hard to identify: size． Alibaba is just big， even by Chinese standards． Its marketplaces attract 231 million active buyers，8 million sellers，11．3 billion orders a year—and _______________It encourages people to use its markets—not charging small sellers a percentage of the sale．
If you want a quick look into the influence of Alibaba on daily Chinese life，take my experience．I moved to Beijing almost a year ago and quickly got tired of visiting small stores across the crowded，polluted city of 20 million people in search of new electronics，bathroom furnishings，and anything else my wife wanted． “You’re looking for what exactly？ Why not try it？ ” my Chinese teacher asked me one day．With that，my wonderful new relationship with Alibaba began．
Alibaba’s original business-to-business model now is secondary to consumer buying．Chinese retail（零售）buying makes up 80% of Alibaba’s profit，and leading that group is Taobao，with 800 million items for sale and the most unbelievable selection of things you’ll ever find． TMall．com is Alibaba’s other big site，where you can find brand name goods from Nike and Unilever near the lowest prices．
What I have a hard time explaining to friends and family back in the U．S．is how China has gone beyond traditional shopping—big-box retailers especially —in favor of online purchases on Taobao and a few other sites．In smaller towns than Beijing，where big retailers have not yet traveled，shopping online is shopping，and shopping is Taobao．
I have a list of some of my recent purchases on Taobao for a sense of how extensive the marketplace is．Almost everything arrived a day or two after ordering with free shipping．I’m not even a big buyer，because I need friends to help me search the Chinese-language site．When I was searching my purchase history on my Chinese teacher’s iPad，which helps me buy goods，I looked through with great difficulty about 10 of her purchases for every one of mine．
1. Alibaba’s advantage mainly lies in ___________．

A．its big size

B．its business-to-business service

C．its not charging small sellers

D．its low price

2. What can we learn from the underlined sentence in the passage？

A．Alibaba is of middle size among all the online sites

B．Alibaba will continue to develop．

C．Alibaba stands out as the best online site．

D．Alibaba acts as a bridge between the buyers and sellers．

3. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to？

A．a new store

B．Alibaba

C．a business

D．a foreign website

4. What can be inferred from the passage？

A．The author’s Chinese teacher is also an online purchase lover．

B．Taobao has no obvious advantage over other similar online sites．

C．Alibaba’s business-to-business service earns more money than retail now．

D．TMall．com provides more profit than Taobao．

5. What is the passage mainly about？

A．Shopping online is TaoBao．

B．The influence of shopping online goes beyond traditional shopping．

C．Alibaba greatly influences people’s daily purchase in China．

D．How the author purchases online in China．

7 .        1. Mean old ladies

There is always a reason why an old lady gives you a serious look – you are being too loud, dressed improperly or not crossing the street in the right place. Sometimes it can be lovely, but if you are already having a bad day, a mean old lady can drive you mad.

What to do about it:

I’ve come to realize that when people start conflicts, it is actually an expression of their inner state expressed in an outside way. You, your personality, your looks or your actions have nothing to do with it. It is not personal, so why take it personally?

2. That person, who cuts in front of everybody in line

This is something that gets me angry. Even if I am not in a hurry, I still feel bad for the other people in line who are being treated unjustly. Are you more patient than I am or do you feel annoying too?

What to do about it:

If we have negative thoughts then we are wasting our energy on negativity. Situations like this could be a great opportunity to learn to control our first negative responses and practice understanding. After all, the person may just have a quick question or maybe there is an emergency.

3. Friends that tell you “I told you so”

It is one thing to admit that you made a mistake and another to hear it from a friend. Friends should be there to support you and cheer you up when you are feeling down, not make themselves feel better at your expense, right?

What to do about it:

It helps to remember that when people say “I told you so”, they may mean, “Please listen to my advice to avoid future mistakes.” If this is not the help you need – voice it out, without getting defensive.

1. According to the author, what can you do when meeting with a mean old lady?

A．Take it personally.	B．Take it seriously.
C．Don’t apologize to her.	D．Don’t get upset.

2. When seeing someone cutting in line, we’d better ________.

A．stop him immediately	B．treat it with a good state of mind
C．pretend not to see it	D．teach him a good lesson

3. The third tip intends to advise you ________.

A．not to keep silent at a friend’s improper suggestion

B．to tell your friend if they have misunderstood you

C．not to talk to your friend if they feel better at your expense

D．to apologize to your friend when you’ve done something wrong

4. What is the best title for this passage?

A．What to do when meeting with these people?

B．How to ask your friends for help when in trouble?

C．How to give advice to your friends when asked to?

D．What to say when faced with different situations?

8 . When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor of the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University（SMU）in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn’t afford the operation because her family was poor.
Her mother ran a boardinghouse in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic（阁楼）one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript（手稿）. On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry”. It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Galveston boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, who authenticated the story as O. Henry’s.
My father then set out to sell it. Eventfully, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Gardner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loves the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed.
My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that it could have been better than his own story.
1. Who found the O. Henry’s manuscript?

A．The girl’s mother.	B．The author’s father.
C．The girl.	D．The author.

2. Which of the following might explain the fact that the manuscript was found in the   attic?

A．O. Henry once worked in Houston.

B．O. Henry once stayed in Galveston.

C．O. Henry once moved to Des Moines.

D．O. Henry once taught at SMU.

3. The underlined word “authenticated” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.

A．named	B．treated
C．proved	D．described

4. According to the text, why did the author’s father go to Des Moines?

A．To sell the O. Henry story.

B．To meet the author himself.

C．To talk with the O. Henry expert.

D．To give money to the girl.

9 . Silence is unnatural to man. He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness. In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else. Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence. If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatterbox (喋喋不休的人). He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure (蜡塑人像).
The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito (蚊子). But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person. Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind. He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing -with his neighbors.
Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish 1:0 talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new. Some of them are content, if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new, plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel. At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conservationists.
1. According to the author, people make conversation to        .

A．exchange ideas	B．prove their value
C．achieve success m life	D．overcome their fear of silence

2. By “the buzzing of a fly” (Para. 1), the author means“_____”.

A．the noise of an insect	B．a low whispering sound
C．meaningless talks	D．the voice of a chatterbox

3. According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors___ ．

A．about whatever they have prepared

B．about whatever they want to

C．in the hope of learning something new

D．in the hope of getting on well

4. What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?

A．To discuss why people like talking about weather.

B．To encourage people to join in conversations.

C．To persuade people to stop making noises.

D．To explain why people keep talking.

10 . 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
A HOLIDAY jet pilot (飞行员) said that he would land and call the police after a woman refused to stop smoking.
He warned Maureen Harkavy, “Put that cigarette out, or I’ll land the plane and have you arrested.”
Maureen, 47, was so shocked she wrote to the airline’s chairman. But his reply was even ruder.
“You seem to think you have a God-given right to pollute your neighbours’ atmosphere,” wrote John Ferriday of Paramount Airways.
(a)Said Maureen, “I only found out about it when I was checking in. I’m a nervous flyer so I lit a cigarette during the flight. A stewardess (空姐) asked me to put it out, but I said I wanted to carry on as there was no rule against smoking on the plane.” She was just finishing her cigarette when the pilot arrived.
(b) I’ve never seen such an unpleasant letter. She said, “I don’t think I’ll ever fly again.” But there was a funny side. Maureen explained, “We were offered duty-free (免税) cigarette from the stewardess on the plane!”
(c) Mr. Ferriday went on; “Believe me, you haven’t. Especially when you travel on my planes.”
Maureen and her husband Michael were moved to Paramount flight just before they left Portugal. But they were not told of the company’ s (公司的) no smoking policy.
(d) “He was loud and rude,” said Maureen. “He said if I lit another cigarette he would land the plane at Bordeaux and hand me to the French police.”
Later, from her home in Mosely, Birmingham, Maureen wrote to the company and received the rude reply.
1. The second half of the story has been in wrong order. (Parts a-d) Choose the rearranged order which you think is right.

A．a, c, b, d	B．c, a, b, d
C．c, a, d, b	D．d, a, b, c

2. Maureen Harkavy ____ on the plane.

A．accepted the warning

B．agreed to the warning

C．refused to do what she was told to

D．was so shocked that she wrote to the airline’s chairman

3. From the story we can see that the writer probably takes the side of ____ .

A．the pilot	B．the airline’s chairman
C．the stewardress	D．Maureen Harkavy