How to improve our life? Many people think that they have to accept whatever life throws at them. They'll say, "This is my destiny(命运).I cannot change it."
Of course not! You don't have to suffer needlessly. Your life depends on you, not on any other external(外部的)factor.
I know a woman who says she just accepts what life gives her because she has done everything she can to improve it. Guess what her lifestyle is? She wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes back home, relaxes, chats with people, watches TV, and then goes to sleep. Next day, the same routine cycle follows.
Huh! Is this what she calls "doing her best"? She believes she has tried her best and just accepts it in her heart that this is the life that has been intended for her and that her luck can only change if God wills it. She hasn't realized that we have to do our share of making the effort to live the life of our dreams.
Remember that you harvest what you sow. You have to get off the sofa, get your eyes off the TV screen, get your hands off the phone(unless it contributes to your success),and get your mind and body to work! Don't expect your luck to change, unless you do something about it. If something goes wrong, don't just regard it as a temporary setback; instead, learn your lesson, make the most of the situation, and do something to solve the problem. It's not enough to think positively; you also have to act positively.
If someone's life is in trouble, do you just hope and pray that things will turn out fine? Of course not! You get to do anything you can to save the person. So it is with your own life. It is not enough to hope for the best, but you have to do your best. In other words, don't just stand(or sit)there, do something to improve your life.
1.According to the woman mentioned in Para. 3, her life_________________.
|
A．doesn't need improving |
B．couldn't be improved |
|
C．will be better some day |
D．will be worse in the future |
2. What does the author think of the woman's life?
|
A．Positive |
B．Passive |
C．Colorful |
D．Disturbing |
3.Which of the following statements is the author's opinion?
|
A．Your temporary problem is not discouraging. |
|
B．Your luck can be changed by your own efforts. |
|
C．You can only achieve success when God wills it. |
|
D．You should treat yourself in the way you treat friends. |
4.In Para. 5, the author emphasized the importance of _______________.
|
A．positive thinking |
B．positive action |
|
C．hope for the best |
D．intention to succeed |
5. The text is mainly written to advise you to _________________.
|
A．understand yourself |
B．improve your life |
|
C．believe in yourself |
D．change your normal way |
There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
1. The author expected the train trip to be________ .
|
A．adventurous |
B．pleasant |
C．exciting |
D．dull |
2. What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
|
A．The friendly country people. |
B．The mountains along the way. |
|
C．The crowds of people in the streets. |
D．The simple lunch served on the train. |
3. Which of the following words can best take the place of the word "relish" in the second paragraph?
|
A．choose |
B．enjoy |
C．prepare for |
D．carry on |
4. Where was the writer going?
|
A．Johore Baru |
B．The Causeway. |
C．Butterworth |
D．Singapore |
5. What can we learn from the story?
|
A．Comfort in traveling by train. |
B．Pleasure of living in the country. |
|
C．Reading gives people delight. |
D．Smiles brighten people up. |
语法填空（共15小题，满分15分）
用所给动词的适当形式或适当的连接词完成句子，每空一分。
1. Weather _________ (permit)，we’ll visit the Great Wall.
2.With him _________ (give) us a lead，our team is sure to win.
3.___________ (not； receive) a reply，he decided to write a sixth letter.
4.He will attend the meeting _________ (hold) tomorrow.
5. The novel is said ____________ (translate) into many languages.
6. The manager promised to keep me ___________ (inform) of how our business was going on.
7. ______ (give) more encouragement, the boy could have behaved better.
8. After ______(interview) for the job, you will be required to take a language test.
9.The officials discussed the plan that they would like to see _________(carry out) the next month.
10. On ________ (hear) the news of his father’s death, he burst into tears.
11. The reason ______ she gave for not coming to the party is that her mother wouldn’t allow her to.
12. We are wondering our teacher will come to the party or not.
13. The reason I have to go is that my mother is ill in bed.
14.This is the place ________ we worked last year.
读写任务(共1小题；满分25分)
阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror —— the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun’s rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping.
According to a weather expert’s prediction, the atmosphere will be 3℃ warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate. If this warming up took place, the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt, thus raising sea level several metres and severely flooding coastal cities. Also, the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere, possibly resulting in an alteration of earth's chief food-growing zones.
In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet. But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming, in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.
Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing. The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place. This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.
However, most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere, where temperatures seem to be falling. Scientists conclude, therefore, that up to now natural influences on the weather have exceeded those caused by man. The question is: Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?
【写作内容】
1.以约30个词概括短文的要点；
2. 然后以约120个词就“Solutions of slowing climate change”为主题写一篇短文，包括如下要点：
(1) 你认为地球会不会持续变暖；
(2) 其原因是什么以及人类在其中的作用；
(3) 谈谈你的建议。
【写作要求】
(1) 你可以使用实例或者其他论述方法支持你的观点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用阅读材料中的句子。
(2) 字迹清楚，书写工整。
【评分标准】 概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。
PLAYA GRANDE, COSTA RICA----This resort town was long known for Leatherback Sea Turtle（棱皮龟）National Park, nightly turtle beach tours and even a sea turtle museum. However, on a beach where dozens of turtles used to nest on a given night, scientists spied only 32 leatherbacks all of last year.
With leatherbacks threatened with extinction, Playa Grande’s turtle museum was abandoned （抛弃）three years ago and now sits among a sea of weeds. And the beachside ticket office for turtle tours was washed away by a high tide in September. “We do not promote that as a turtle tourism destination any more because we realize there are far too few turtles to please,” said Alvaro Fonseca, a park ranger.（管理员）
Even before scientists found temperatures going up over the past decade, sea turtles were threatened by beach development, drift net fishing and Costa Ricans’ interest in eating turtle eggs. But climate change may cause the most serious harm to an animal that has lived in the Pacific for 150 million years.
Sea turtles are sensitive to numerous effects of warming. They feed on reefs, which are dying in hotter seas. They lay eggs on beaches that are being covered by rising seas and more violent waves.
More uniquely（独特地）, their gender is determined not by genes but by the egg’s temperature during development. Small rises in beach temperatures can result in all-female populations, obviously problematic for survival. If the sand around the eggs hits 30 degrees Celsius, the gender balance shifts to female; at about 32 degrees they are all female. Above 34, you get boiled eggs.
On some nesting beaches, scientists are artificially cooling nests with shade or irrigation and trying to protect broader areas of coastal property from development to ensure that turtles have a place to nest as the seas rise.
1.Why does the resort town stop promoting its turtle tourism?
A.It decides not to disturb the turtles’ normal life.
B.Tourists have lost interest in watching turtles.
C. There are only very few turtles now. D. The turtle museum was destroyed by a high tide.
2. Which of the following is the major factor in the turtles’ endangerment?
A. The locals’ eating habit. B. Drift net fishing. C. Beach development. D. Global warming.
3. The underlined word “gender” in Paragraph 5 means ____.
A. the sex of turtles B. the habit of turtles C. the weight of turtles D. the kind of turtles
4. We learn from the last paragraph that scientists ____.
A. are doing research on the sea rise B. are moving turtles to new homes
C. are protecting turtles’ nests D. are going rid of sea weeds
5. The passage intends to ____.
A. introduce a special kind of sea turtle B. explain the mystery of turtles’ eggs
C. show the dangers a certain kind of sea turtle is facing
D. attract more visitors to a sea turtle museum
In 1995, Susan Boyle went to Glasgow to audition（试镜）for My Kind of People, a televised talent show popular in the UK. She was immediately rejected. She was nervous during the audition, and felt she didn’t perform well, but her brother said that she was rejected because of her plain looks. Susan was not discouraged and continued to sing at church and at the karaoke nights in a local pub.
Susan suffered a personal loss in 1997, when her father passed away. After his death, Susan put her big dreams on hold to care for her sick mother, Bridget Boyle. The mother and daughter often talked of Susan’s possible fame. Bridget Boyle encouraged her daughter to take part in singing competitions. “She was the one who said I should enter Britain’s Got Talent. We used to watch it together,” Susan later told reporters. “She thought I would win.”
In 1999, Susan used all of her savings to pay for a professional demo（样本唱片）tape, which she sent to record companies. In 2002, Susan began taking singing lessons from voice coach Fred O’Neil.
In 2007, her mother passed away at the age of 91. A neighbor reported that when Bridget Boyle died, her daughter “wouldn’t come out for three or four days or answer the door or phone”. She lived alone with her cat, Pebbles. For over a year, she refused to sing. But in August of 2008, O’Neil urged her to try out for Britain’s Got Talent. Convinced that the performance would be an honor to her mother, Susan auditioned in Glasgow, Scotland. She sang I Dreamed A Dream, a hit song from the musical Les Miserables（《悲惨世界》）, in the first round of the show, which was aired on April 11, 2009.
The 47-year-old Scottish woman's plain looks provided a sharp contrast（对比）to her powerfully beautiful voice. The performance astonished the audience and the judges. Online videos of her performance totaled over 40 million views within a week. Although she failed to win the final of Britain’s Got Talent, Susan Boyle became globally popular. Her first album I Dreamed A Dream has sold over five million copies.
1. Bridget Boyle’s attitude towards her daughter’s musical talent can be described as ___.
A. critical B. doubtful C. indifferent D. confident
2. From Paragraph 4, we can learn that Susan _____.
A. was slightly discouraged by her voice coac B. entered Britain’s Got Talent to prove her ability
C. decided to give up her singing career D. was deeply affected by her mother’s death
3. Which of the following is TRUE about Susan Boyle?
A. Her international fame grew rapidly in 2008. B. Her audition for My Kind of People failed.
C. She has never stopped singing since 1995. D. She was the winner of Britain’s Got Talent.
4. We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. Susan Boyle was convinced by her brother that her plain looks were disadvantageous to her success
B. It was at the age of forty that Susan Boyle established a student-teacher relationship with O’Neil.
C. Susan Boyle was so struck by her father’s death that she shut herself out from the neighborhood.
D. The online views of Les Miserables numbered over 40 million within a week in 2009.
5.In writing this passage, the author mainly intends to ______.
A. tell us how Susan’s dream come true B. let us know more about Susan’s personal life
C. show how Susan was influenced by her family D. explain how to enter and win a talent show
