1 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

There is immense value in stepping out of your comfort zone and making a change to your life that you truly want to happen. This not only creates your    1    (confident) and nurtures personal growth. In many cases, it can help to end     2    (desire) situations and signal the beginning of    3    new life chapter. Making that decision and taking the first step may be difficult to begin with. Many of us are resistant to change because we fear the unknown,     4    feel a lack of competence. But once you get started and reap the     5    (benefit) that shaking things up brings, it will naturally become     6    (easy).

The first step is to change your words. Your words-whether spoken or thought-influence your own experience and    7     of those around you. Putting effort and intention into    8    （keep) your language positive - whether you’re communicating how you feel, or expressing your opinion, will improve your thought patterns and relationships     9     others. It will also reduce negative interpretations.

“By taking just a couple of breaths before speaking, we can first open our hearts, and feel the connection and appreciation for ourselves and whoever we’re communicating with or about,” explains Andrea Gardener.

This conscious action will transform the words     10    we use and their effect.

3 . “There is nothing noble (高尚的) in being superior (优秀的) to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” —— Ernest Hemingway

As Hemingway says, self-improvement is a noble cause.     1     Much of who we are is determined by how we relate with others around us. When we seek to improve ourselves, we can also make our relationships with others better.

    2     If you have a good self-image, then others are likely to relate to you in a positive way. When people see a self-controlled and confident individual, they are likely to be affected in a positive way. And this can result in a more optimistic and constructive relationship.

Only when you have accepted who you are can you grow. If you continuously fight against yourself, you won’t have the emotional energy you need to better yourself. If you wish to get on with people better, then you may start by accepting yourself.     3    

If you are on a personal path that is going upwards, then you are likely to find a friend or partner who is also seeking to better themselves and their circumstances.     4    

Focusing on your good qualities and attempting to protect and improve these characteristics will help you become a better person.     5     When you stop damaging who you are, you are likely to avoid ruining relationships and this can lead to longer and more meaningful connections with others.

A．Like-minded people attract one another.

B．When you feel confident, you keep calm.

C．It will also stop you from damaging yourself.

D．The way you view yourself affects how others view you.

E．This will probably help you become a successful person.

F．People like to be around individuals who like and accept themselves.

G．It can help us learn about who we are and enable us to be better people.

5 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

In my childhood, I     1     (call) a stammer (结巴) by my friends. I often got     2     (stick) when I answered the teachers’ questions in class,     3     of course embarrassed me greatly. My parents took me to many doctors, but none of them could cure my stammer.

One day, my father took me to a speech therapist. After giving me a thorough examination, he said it was mainly because of the fear and lack of confidence     4     I spoke with a stammer. He was definitely right. I could express myself freely when I talked to my parents and friends, but I became     5     (anxiety) and stammering when talking with strangers.     6     (overcome) my fear and build up my confidence, I landed myself on the area of unknown people. I took it as a challenge. I also attended lots of face-to-face job     7     (interview) so that I had to talk with people I wasn’t familiar with. Gradually my confidence increased.

Now I am 27 years old and I am now working in a large company     8     the personnel manager and I can speak in public     9     (smooth). So my friends, try to make an experiment on     10    . Don’t give up. You can achieve anything so long as you set your mind to it.

6 . Empathy, the ability to understand and co-experience the feelings and thoughts of other people, is probably one of the most important skills a person can have.     1    

• Humans are social animals.

There are very few activities that humans take part in that don’t involve others.     2    It allows you to perceive others’ motives, treat them the way they want to be treated, understand how others perceive you, and so on.

• It lets you better understand non-verbal components of communication.

    3    People who are not empathetic have a hard time reading between the lines of conversations. They cannot understand that what the other person means to communicate is different from what they actually say.

•     4    

When you unconsciously perceive what the other party wants and needs and can understand exactly why they want it, reaching a “win-win” solution gets easier. You don’t have to blindly search for a way out.

• It broadens your horizons.

Seeing the world from other people’s perspectives lets you perceive it to a fuller extent. When you are able to look at life from other people’s point of view, you are able to live a more fulfilled life.

    5    Thus, achieving higher levels of empathy often means achieving greater fulfilment as human beings.

A．It makes you better at handling conflicts.

B．It helps you introduce your ideas to others.

C．Empathy basically is what makes us human.

D．Humans always live and work with each other.

E．So why exactly is empathy so important for us?

F．Communication is so much more than what words express.

G．Therefore, the ability to better understand others and read their feelings is an advantage.

7 . The joy of giving is real, according to a study. Research presented in the Journal of the Association for Psychological Science shows that those who give gifts are happier — and happier for longer — than those who receive gifts.

Researchers conducted two studies last year. In one，participants were given $5 every day for five days and were required to spend the money on the same thing each day. Some participants were required to spend the money on themselves, while others were required to give to make a donation to charity. In a second experiment that was done online, participants played 10 rounds of a word puzzle game and each won 5 cents per round, which they could keep or donate.

In both experiments, participants reported their overall happiness. Those who donated their money showed that their happiness declined at a much slower rate than those who kept the money or spent it on themselves.

The researchers note that when people focus on an outcome, they can easily compare outcomes, which may diminish their sensitivity to each experience. When people focus on an action, they may focus less on comparison and instead experience each act of giving as a unique happiness-inducing event. Further analyses ruled out some potential alternative explanations, such as the possibility that participants who gave to others had to think longer and harder about what to give, which could promote higher happiness.

The results are especially interesting because according to one of the researchers, Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, they conflict with past research. “If you want to sustain happiness over time, past research tells us that we need to take a break from what were currently consuming and experience something new. Our research reveals that the kind of thing may matter more than assumed: Repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical other，may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more we do it,” O’Brien said.

So for all the holiday gifts you give this season, expect to feel happy and know that feeling is going to stick around for a while.

1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?

A．To lead to the topic.

B．To highlight the importance of the study.

C．To recommend a journal.

D．To persuade people to give gifts regularly.

2. Why did the researchers do two experiments?

A．To challenge the past research.

B．To rule out different experimental data.

C．To show the benefits of donation.

D．To make the conclusion more convincing.

3. What does the underlined word “diminish” probably mean in the fourth paragraph?

A．Develop.

B．Show.

C．Reduce.

D．Lack.

4. What’s the main finding of the new study?

A．Gift giving will result in longer happiness than receiving.

B．Thinking longer and harder on giving will promote higher happiness.

C．The feeling of happiness will disappear soon if people just give holiday gifts.

D．Taking a break from what were currently consuming will sustain happiness.