Directions：Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
Hope
Nothing in my life had prepared me for what I had to do. Choosing my words carefully, and fighting to stay calm, I told my 4-year-old daughter that her grandmother had suffered a stroke（中风），that she was unconscious, and that the doctors said she would probably never wake up. As she moved closer to me, Amelia looked at me, eyes bright, and said, “Maybe Grandma will be okay.” “Maybe she will,” I said, keeping back the tears, But I knew better. I was flying up to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, from our Florida home in the morning to say good-bye to my mom.
The rest of that awful week, I joined my brother and father sitting by my mother’s side in the hospital room. I held her hand and talked to her. I told her that we still needed her. I told her that it wasn’t time to leave yet. I told her how much I loved her. And I told her that her little granddaughter, Amelia, believed that she’d get better. The doctors, with all their years of training and experience, offered no hope for recovery. The damage was simply too extensive.
Then, a couple of weeks later, an odd thing happened. Mom woke up. She regained consciousness. Persevered through a long and tough recovery, during which she had to learn to walk, read, and write all over again, and eventually returned home to Dad. The only one who wasn’t shocked was Amerlia. The doctors couldn’t explain it. Amelia didn’t need to. Hope came as naturally to her as breathings.
So why are we so afraid to hope sometimes? Maybe it’s because over the year, life’s disappointments can turn us to disillusionment（理想破灭）. How many times have you heard someone say: “Hope for the best, expect the worst”? That’s not really hope at all.
Hope is being able to look at our world with all of the joy and wonder of a child.
Directions：Read the passage carefully．Fill in each blank with a proper sentence given in the box．Each sentence can be used only once．Note that there are two more sentences than you need．
My wife and I recently welcomed a child into the world．His only interest right now is keeping us awake 24/7．But one day，he'll need to learn something about finance．When he does，here are some suggestions．
1. You might think you want an expensive car，a fancy watch，and a huge house．But you don't． 1. You think having expensive stuff will bring it．It almost never does-especially from the people you want to respect and admire you．
2. I hope you're poor at some point．Not struggling，and not unhappy，of course．But there's no way to learn the value of money without feeling the power of its scarcity．It teaches you the difference between necessary and desirable． 2. These are essential survival skills．
3. Don't stay in a job you hate because you made a career choice at 18．Almost no one knows what he or she wants to do at that age．Many people don't know what they want until they're twice that age．（These are the signs you're in the wrong career．）
4. The best thing money buys is to control over your time． 3. One day you'll realize that this freedom is one of the things that makes you truly happy．
5. Your savings rate has a little to do with how much you earn and a lot to do with how much you spend．I know a dentist who lives paycheck to paycheck，always on the edge of ruin．I know another person who never earned more than 50，000and saved a fortune．The difference is entirely due to their spending． 4.．
6. Don't listen to me if you disagree with what I've written．The world you grow up in will have different values and opportunities than the one I did．More important，you'll learn best when you disagree with someone and then are forced to learn it yourself．（On the other hand，always listen to your mother．）
A. It’ll make you learn to enjoy what you have, fix what’s broken. and shop for a bargain.
B. Spending more is likely to stimulate your motivation for more earning.
C. It gives you options and frees you from relying on someone else’s priorities.
D. Living with less is the most efficient way to control your financial future.
E. Actually, your parents have already given you too much.
F. What you want is respect and admiration from other people.
Louis Armstrong had two famous nicknames．Some people called him Bagamo．They said his mouth looked like a large bag． Musicians often called him Pops, as a sign of respect for his influence on the world of music．
Born in 1901 in New Orleans, he grew up poor, but lived among great musicians．Jazz was invented in the city a few years before his birth．Armstrong often said, "Jazz and I grew up together．"
Armstrong showed a great talent for music when he was taught to play the cornet (短号) at a boy's home．In his late teens, Armstrong began to live the life of a musician．He played in parades, clubs, and on the steamboats that traveled on the Mississippi River．At that time, New Orleans was famous for the new music of jazz and was home to many great musicians．Armstrong learned from the older musicians and soon became respected as their equal．
In 1922 he went to Chicago．There, the tale of Louis Armstrong begins．From then until the end of his life, Armstrong was celebrated and loved wherever he went．Armstrong had no equal when it came to playing the American popular song．
His cornet playing had a deep humanity (仁爱) and warmth that caused many listeners to say, "Listening to Pops just makes you feel good all over．" He was the father of the jazz style and also one of the best-known and most admired people in the world．His death, on July 6, 1971, was headline news around the world．
1.Armstrong was called Pops because he ．
A.looked like a musician
B.was a musician of much influence
C.showed an interest in music
D.traveled to play modern music
2.Which statement about Armstrong is true?
A.His tale begins in New Orleans．
B.He was born before jazz was invented．
C.His music was popular with his listeners．
D.He learned popular music at a boy's home．
3.Which would be the best title for the text?
A.The Invention of the Jazz Music
B.The Father of the Jazz Style
C.The Making of a Musician
D.The Spread of Popular Music
I used to think ants knew what they were doing. The ones marching across my kitchen counter looked so confident; I just figured they had a plan, knew where they were going and what needed to be done. How else could ants organize highways, build elaborate nests, launch impressive attacks, and do all the other things ants do?
Turns out I was wrong. Ants aren’t clever little engineers, architects, or soldiers after all --- at least not as individuals. When it comes to deciding what to do next, most ants don’t have a clue. “If you watch an ant try to accomplish something, you’ll be impressed by how awkward it is,” says Deborah M. Gordon, a biologist at Stanford University.
“Ants aren’t smart,” Gordon says. “Ant colonies are.” A colony can solve problems unthinkable for individual ants, such as finding the shortest path to the best food source, assigning workers to different tasks, or defending a territory from neighbors. As individuals, ants might be tiny dummies, but as colonies they respond quickly and effectively to their environment. They do it with something called collective intelligence.
Where this intelligence comes from raises an essential question in nature: How do the simple actions of individual ants add up to the complex behavior of a group? How do hundreds of honey-bees make a critical decision about their hive (蜂巢)if many of them disagree? The collective abilities of such animals --- one of which grasps the big picture, but each of which contributes to the group’s success --- seem miraculous even to the biologists who know them best. Yet during the past few decades, researchers have come up with fascinating insights.
1.The author’s former false impression about ants is that he thought them to be _______.
A. smart B. awkward C. elaborate D. creative
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Ants will function as a single body once a decision is made by the commander.
B. Ants are the only species which developed collective intelligence.
C. The ant queen plays a role in managing ant workers besides laying eggs.
D. An individual ant can’t comprehend the whole process of a big movement.
3.The paragraph following the passage will most probably deal with _______.
A. where we can observe such fantastic behavior of ants
B. which is the leading ant in charge of the action
C. how the collective intelligence works
D. what inspiration can be drawn from the collective abilities
Just as the stock market rises and falls in response to what people are willing to put their money behind, we have inside ourselves an inner economy that rises and falls in response to our beliefs about what is possible. Sometimes the degree to which we are willing to _____our belief systems determines the success of our inner economy. For example, imagine that your family of origin had a belief that musical talent was not something they _____ As a member of that group, you would likely _____ that same belief about yourself. As a result, even if you had a great desire to create music, you might be _____ to really get behind yourself. Because you might fear that your _____ would not pay off. Even if you had the courage to follow your passion, your inner belief that you are not born_____ would probably stop your trying. And that would be a major _____ to invest your energy in your dream.
On the other hand, belief isn’t anything ____ If you found a way to _____ that negative belief, a great flood of energy would pour forth, greatly increasing the possibility of your success. How much energy we are willing to invest in the various ideas and dreams is like the money people are, or are not, willing to invest in the various products available for trade on the stock market. And in both cases, ______ plays a key role in determining how willing we are to get behind something. One way to open up the possibility for greater success in our inner economies is to understand that belief is not the reliable _______we sometimes think. There are other more reliable things of success that we can put our faith in, such as passion, feeling, and sense. Some of the most successful investors in the stock market are the ones that go against the grain, trusting their sense over the ______opinion held by ordinary people about what will work.
In the same way, we can learn to trust our heart’s desires and our sense to guide us,
questioning any beliefs that stand in the way of our ability to fully invest in ourselves. As we take out energy from limiting ideas about what is possible, we ______ the resources that have the power to make our inner economy prosper.
1.A.simplify B.challenge C.eliminate D.maintain
2.A.possessed B.trusted C.objected D.missed
3.A.reject B.preserve C.deny D.share
4.A.willing B.sorry C.reluctant D.ready
5.A.success B.knowledge C.profession D.investment
6.A.devoted B.talented C.concerned D.interested
7.A.obstacle B.excuse C.chance D.principle
8.A.important B.fixed C.changeable D.stimulating
9.A.enhance B.reserve C.release D.follow
10.A.energy B.hobby C.expense D.belief
11.A.guide B.ability C.goal D.policy
12.A.unacceptable B.strange C.unbelievable D.common
13.A.stick to B.lead to C.free up D.leave out
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
It’s interesting when you think about how Japan is a nation 1. appreciates the virtues of silence and good manners, and yet when it comes to eating noodles, Japanese people can be 2. (loud) in the world.
According to lifestyle website grapee.jp, slurping (发出"哧溜"声) when eating noodles 3. (encourage) in Japanese culture. It’s believed that taking air into your mouth 4. enhance the flavor of the noodles, and that it helps cool down the noodles. It’s also considered to be a way to show appreciation for the dish. Sometimes, just making the noise alone seems to make the noodles more enjoyable.
It wasn’t until a new expression – “noodle harassment(骚扰)”-- came out last year on social media 5. Japanese people started to realize that the slurping noise is making some foreign visitors uncomfortable.
6. a response, Japanese instant noodle maker Nissin introduced a so-called noise-canceling fork last month. The fork, which looks like an electric toothbrush, is connected wirelessly to a smart phone. When the person using the fork starts to slurp, the fork sends a signal to the person’s phone, 7. (make) it play a sound to mask the slurping noise.
But is it really necessary? Dining traditions do vary. 8. is considered to be proper table manners in one country is likely to be seen as rude in another. In India, people eat with their hands 9. they think in this way they build a connection with the food. However, people who are used to eating with forks might find it uncomfortable to get their hands 10. (cover) in oil and bits of food. But this eating method is part of Indian's culture, just like Japan's slurping is part of its own.
“So, if your are eating noodles, whether that’s ramen, uudon, or soba, please slurp,” wrote reporter Brian Ashcraft on blog Kotaku. “If anyone gets annoyed while you are doing that, pay them no mind because they're missing the point entirely.”
