1 . Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck,talent,and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However,to succeed in life,one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical.And,in addition to that,in order to get really good at something,one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing.To become great at certain things,it’ll require even more time,time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do ,it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success,you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost.It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent,but thinking that way does you no good,and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do,if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out,almost to the point of addiction,and over a long period of time.If you’re not willing to put in the time and work,don’t expect to receive any rewards.Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.
1. Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.

A．the reasons for success	B．the meaning of success
C．the standards of success	D．the importance of success

2. In Paragraph 2,the underlined word that refers to ______.

A．being good at something	B．setting a practical goal
C．putting in more time	D．succeeding in life

3. Successful people suggest doing what one loves because ______.

A．work makes one feel pain	B．one tends to enjoy his work
C．one gives up his work easily	D．it takes a lot of time to succeed

4. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?

A．Successful people like to show their great skills.

B．People sometimes succeed without luck or talent.

C．People need to achieve success at the cost of life.

D．It helps to think that luck or talent leads to success.

5. What is the main theme of the passage?

A．Having a goal is vital to success.

B．Being good is different from being great.

C．One cannot succeed without time and practice.

D．Luck,talent and family help to achieve success.

2 . How long can human beings live? Most scientists who study old age think that the human body is ___ to live no longer than 120 years. However, 110 years is probably the longest that anyone could hope to live — if he or she is ___ healthy and lucky. Some scientists even say we can live as long as 130 years! Yet, our cells simply cannot continue to reproduce ___. They wear out, and as a result, we get old and ___ die.

Even though we can’t live forever, we are living a ___ life than ever before. In 1900, the average American life span(寿命)was only 47 years, but today it is 75 years!

When does old age begin then? Sixty-five may be out-of-date as the ___ line between middle age and old age. After all, many older people don’t begin to experience physical and mental ___ until after age 75.

People are living longer because more people ___ childhood. Before modern medicine changed the laws of nature, many children died of common childhood ___. Now that the chances of dying ____ are much lower, the chances of living long are much higher due to better diets and health care.

On the whole, our population is getting older. The ____ in our population will have lasting effects on our social development and our way of life. Some people fear such changes will be for the worse, while some see ____, not disaster. Today, many men and women in their "golden years" are healthy, still active, and young in ____ if not in age.

As our society grows old, we need the ____ of our older citizens. With long lives ahead of them, they need to ____ active and be devoted.

1.

A．designed

B．selected

C．improved

D．discovered

2.

A．completely

B．generally

C．apparently

D．extremely

3.

A．rapidly

B．harmlessly

C．endlessly

D．separately

4.

A．eventually

B．hopelessly

C．automatically

D．desperately

5.

A．busier

B．longer

C．richer

D．happier

6.

A．finishing

B．guiding

C．waiting

D．dividing

7.

A．stress

B．damage

C．decline

D．failure

8.

A．survive

B．enjoy

C．remember

D．value

9.

A．problems

B．fears

C．worries

D．diseases

10.

A．poor

B．young

C．sick

D．quiet

11.

A．changes

B．recovery

C．safety

D．increases

12.

A．dreams

B．chances

C．strengths

D．choices

13.

A．mind

B．appearance

C．voice

D．movement

14.

A．protection

B．suggestions

C．contributions

D．permission

15.

A．sound

B．appear

C．turn

D．stay

3 . Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends. Is this a good thing? Sometimes, when Mr. Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents when he was a teenager.
“I would never have said to my mom, ‘Hey, the new Weezer album is really great. How do you like it?’” says Ballmer. “There was just a complete gap in taste.”
Music was not the only gulf. From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.
Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families. Conversations on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago. Now they are comfortable and common. And parent—child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that can continue into adulthood.
No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, “To my mother, my best friend.”
But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents. “There’s still a lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,” says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College. “In the middle of that change, there is a lot of confusion among parents.”
Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving roles and attitudes. They see the 1960s as a turning point. Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that encourages everyone to have a say.
“My parents were on the ‘before’ side of that change, but today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the   ‘after’ side,” explains Mr. Ballmer. “It’s not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now.”
1. The underlined word gulf in Para.3 most probably means _________.

A．interest

B．distance

C．difference

D．separation

2. Which of the following shows that the generation gap is disappearing?

A．Parents help their children develop interests in more activities.

B．Parents put more trust in their children’s abilities.

C．Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs.

D．Parents share more interests with their children.

3. The change in today’s parent-child relationship is _________.

A．more confusion among parents	B．new equality between parents and children
C．less respect for parents from children	D．more strictness and authority on the part of parents

4. By saying “today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side.” the author means that today’s parents _________.

A．follow the trend of the change	B．can set a limit to the change
C．fail to take the change seriously	D．have little difficulty adjusting to the change

5. The purpose of the passage is to _________.

A．describe the difficulties today’s parents have met with

B．discuss the development of the parent—child relationship

C．suggest the ways to handle the parent—child relationship

D．compare today’s parent—child relationship with that in the past