I have always been somebody who often alternated(交替)between hoping to be alone and hoping to be with others. The thing was, I only wanted to be with others in a very particular way. I wanted to feel warmth between me and the other person. I wanted to feel safe and comfortable. I wanted to feel close. If my relationship with someone didn’t have closeness, it tended to make me feel lonlier than just being alone.
I found most of the advice out there about how to get over loneliness futile. “Put yourself out there more!” the experts said. “Meet more people and you will finally find good friendships.” That only sounded reasonable. Most of us already have people in our lives with whom we feel that spark(火花)of connection, and we just don’t know how to properly fan the flames. We don’t know how to move from common interacting with someone to becoming close. In other words, I’ve found that most of us who fight against loneliness do not lack access to other people. That’s not the source of the pain.
The source of the pain is the lack of a certain feeling in our relationships. And that feeling is closeness. This feel of closeness is what you really want when you are lonely. The feeling of closeness arises between two people when they both feel that the other understands them well and cares about them deeply. I call these two important qualities of closeness “knowing and caring”.
Taken together, knowing and caring are a powerful combination. They say to the other person, “Not only do I see the real you, but I want to keep the real you well.” This is the message you will give and receive from close relationships. Getting to know others in the way that improves closeness means coming to understand them from their own perspective(角度). Closeness doesn’t have to be something that happens by accident--- it is within your control to create. Starting now, you really can stop being lonely.
1.What does the underlined word “futile” mean?
A. Unhelpful. B. Wonderful.
C. Useful. D. Unbelievable.
2.According to the author, most people who feel lonely _______ .
A. should make more new friends
B. don’t lack chances to contact other people
C. don’t know how to express their feelings
D. refuse to ch
ange their attitudes toward others
3.According to the passage, the feeling of closeness is ______ .
A. what we really need in our daily life
B. something we can’t control or create
C. based on understanding and valuing each other
D. the most important for building a good relationship
4.To build a close relationship with others, we should ______ .
A. learn to look after others
B. share our thoughts and feelings
C. spend more time staying with others
D. think more from others’s points of view
The Iranian-American Maz Jobrani knew early in life that he wanted to become an actor or a comedian. Jobrani came to California with his parents from Iran when he was six and attended school there. His introduction to acting was an experience of trying out for a school play. “When I was 12, I tried out for the school play and fell in love with the stage...” said Jobrani, “I have friends who were funnier than I was!”
Jobrani tried an ordinary career path, studying political science in college and even starting a Ph.D. Program at UCLA. But the comedy of Eddie Murphy was a more powerful influence. “I’m a comedian because I’m a fan of comedy. I love watching comedy and I believe I discovered Eddie Murphy probably by watching “Saturday Night Live” and just then I wanted to be like Eddie Murphy,” Jobrani said.
Now as a full-time comedian, Maz Jobrani uses comedy to bridge the cultural divide. His performances both laugh at extremism and challenge American bias(偏见)of Muslims. And his recent movie does the same. He co-wrote and started in “Jimmy Vestvood: American Hero.”
“The movie is about a man who loves America, who wins the green card coming to America from Iran. He wants to be a policeman. But once he comes to America, he realizes America doesn’t accept immigrants(移民)the way he thought they would and the only job he can find is working as a security guard(保安)and from there he has to go on to save the world.”
“This comedy has a message of showing Iranians in a very different light, a fun light that most Americans aren’t used to seeing,” he said. For example, he feared when he first heard the phrase “axis of evil,” which is used to describe such countries as Iran. But he soon realized it could also make a great name for a series of shows. So, in 2005, the “Axis of Evil Comedy” Tour came. The shows featured Jobrani and three other comedians of Middle Eastern descent(血统).The group first appeared on the American television channel Comedy Central.
It’s a good feeling when you realize it’s working. It’s the worst when you’re doing stand-up (单人说笑表演的)comedy and the audience doesn’t relate to you. But their laugh is like a drug keeping feeding you. It’s kind of like I were surfing. So whether it’s doing stand-up comedy or putting on a movie, your goal as a comedian is to make people laugh.
1.By introducing his comedian career, Jobrani tends to tell us that ________.
A. he is actually a born comedian
B. Americans’ lifestyle makes him a comedian
C. Eddie Murphy has a great influence on him
D. Murphy’s plays made him first like comedy
2.What do you know about Jobrani’s film “American Hero”?
A. It is all about his personal experiences.
B. It is about Iranians who are against Americans.
C. It mainly plays a joke on the US immigrant policy.
D. It makes fun of American bias of Muslims.
3.What do you learn about the “Axis of Evil Comedy” Tour?
A. It turns what’s frightening into something funny.
B. It is performed by Jobrani and two Iranians.
C. It blames the US’ unfriendly attitude to Iran.
D. It didn’t work well at the very beginning.
4.To comedians, ________.
A. stand-up comedy is difficult to perform.
B. the audience’s laughter is their power.
C. doing stand-up comedy is just like surfing.
A 7.0-magnitude(震级)earthquake attacked Kumamoto, Japan on April 15th, 2016, less than two days after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocked the same area. The smaller 6.2-magnitude quake on April 14th killed nine people and injured hundreds more, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. With these two and the memories of the huge 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami(海啸)that destroyd northeast of Japan in 2011 not far from people’s minds, what is it about this part of the 
world that makes it so active in earthquakes?
First of all, Japan is along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which is the most active earthquake area in the world. This “ring” is actually an imaginary U-shaped zone that follows the edge(边缘)of the Pacific Ocean, where many of the world’s earthquakes occur.
“The earthquake in Kumamoto seems to have been caused by the collision(碰撞)between the Philippines Sea Plate(板块)and the Eurasia Plate,” said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist of the USGS. While Japan is no stranger to earthquakes, the 7.0-magnitude earthquake is one of the largest ever recorded in this part of southern Japan, Caruso told Live Science. “The second largest was probably on March 20, 1939 --- there was a magnitude of 6.7 in this area,” he said.
“Not all earthquakes cause tsunamis,” Caruso said. In general, there are three key elements that can produce a dangerous earthquake-tsunami combination, he added. First, the earthquake must be at least 7.0-magnitude. Second, the quake’s epicenter(震中)has to be under the ocean, Caruso said. And 
finally, the earthquake hasn’t to be too deep.
“We have quakes around Fiji all the time, but those are sometimes 640 kilometers underground, so they aren’t going to cause a tsunami,” he said. The one in Kumamoto was about 10 km underground but the epicenter was on land, Caruso said.
“There are lots of large aftershocks,” Caruso told Live Science. “And of course, after a large earthquake, buildings are often weakened as a result. Additional damage can be expected. ” People living in the area should expect more shaking in the coming days, according to Caruso. “We can say for certain that there are going to be more aftershocks in this area,” he said. “Exactly when and how big they’re going to be is difficult to say, though. No one can predict that.”
1.The earthquake happened on April 15th in Kumamoto ________.
A. was the largest one that ever happened there
B. caused the movement of the Philippines Sea Plate and the Eurasia Plate
C. was the first one that reached the magnitude of 7.0 in Japan
D. brought great destruction to the northeastern part of Japan
2.What does the underlined word “elements” in Para 4 mean?
A. Conclusions. B. Influences.
C. Ingredients. D. Intentions.
3.Which inference about the Kumamoto earthquake is the most probably correct?
A. It didn’t cause too much destruction to the buildings.
B. The epicenter was too deep to cause tsunami.
C. The aftershocks were well-controlled.
D. It didn’t bring about any powerful tsunamis.
4.Which of the following might be the title of the passage?
A. Why Are Earthquakes in Japan So Destructive?
B. Why Do So many Earthquakes Attack Japan?
C. Why Do Earthquakes Cause Tsunamis in Japan?
D. Why Do So Many Earthquakes Happen?
A cafe in Virginia, America, has come up with a method to convince customers to be more polite.
A sign advertises different costs for a cup of coffee depending on how polite the customer is when ordering. The prices are listed with the typical phrases a customer might use when placing their order. They include: “Small coffee” at $5, “small coffee please” at $3 and “hello, one small coffee please” at $1.75.
A passer-by took a photo of the sign and posted the image online. This isn’t the first time that a coffee shop has attempted to teach customers a lesson. The Petite Syrah cafe in Nice, on the French Riviera, charged customers €7 for “a coffee”, but a more affordable €4.25 for “a coffee please”.
Fabrice Pepino, manager of Petite Syrah, explained the reason: “It started as a joke because at lunchtime people would come in very stressed and were sometimes rude to us when they ordered a coffee.” He added: “I know people say that French service can be rude but it’s also true that customers can be rude when they’re busy.”
The American cafe will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Petite Syrah cafe as the original coffee shop proved a success in changing customers’ behaviors. Pepino said that he had noticed a huge difference in the behaviors of his customers after a few days of the sign being on show.
1.If a customer orders a coffee politely, the cafe will ________.
A. present him/her a gift as a reward
B. charge him/her less money
C. offer him/her the coffee for free
D. teach him/her a good lesson
2.It can be known from the passage that ________.
A. the cafe in Virginia is the first coffee shop to do so
B. people don’t believe the strategy because it is a joke
C. the French cafe made the rule just for fun at first
D. both French service and French customers are rude
3.What do you know about the strategy of the Petite Syrah cafe?
A. It is useless. B. It is boring.
C. It is unacceptable. D. It is effective.
假如你是李华，你在布告栏中看到学校每日早操前将开展“疯狂英语”集中训练活动，需要招募一位英语资料编辑兼领读员，请你根据以下要点写一封自荐信，内容包括：
1. 写信的目的； 2. 你的特长； 3. 希望被招聘。
注意：
1. 总词数 100 左右； 2. 可适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
Dear Sir or Madam,
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（ ∧ ），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均限一词；
2. 只允许修改 10 处，多者（从第 11 处起）不计分。
My soccer coach retired in last week. I wanted to do anything special for him at his retirement party. My mum makes the better biscuits in the world, so I decide to ask her for help. Mum taught me some basic step of baking．I insisted on doing most of the baking myself. I thought the biscuits were really well. My only mistake was that I dropped some on the floor after I was packing them up.
At a party, my coach, with a biscuit in his mouth, asked surprisingly who made them and joked, “I might have to retire again next year just get some more of these biscuits.”
My favorite picture at the party is of my coach and me enjoy the biscuits with happy laughter!
