One day an old woman was traveling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining in the stream. When she came close, she found it was a precious stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.
The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, “The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?”
“Sure. Why not?” the woman said, and handed the stone to him.
The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within your bag.”
The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, “I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious — the joy of giving!”
The young man felt ashamed and left silently.
【小題1】How did the young man find the precious stone?

A．He found it in his food.	B．He dug it out in a valley.
C．He saw it in the woman’s bag.	D．He noticed it shining in the stream.

【小題2】What does the underlined word “security” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Money.

B．Worry.

C．Health.

D．Trouble.

【小題3】The man returned the stone to the woman because ______.

A．he found the stone was not precious

B．he understood the real meaning of joy

C．he felt embarrassed at taking away the stone

D．he wanted to get something even more precious

【小題4】Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

A．A special stone	B．The joy of giving
C．A woman and a young man	D．An experience in the mountains

You wake up in the morning, the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then the telephone rings, you say hello, and the drama starts. The person on the other end has a depressing tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to. You are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!
Communicating with negative people can wash out your happiness. It may not change what you think, but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.
Life brings ups and downs, but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer. They only feel glad when they make others feel bad. No wonder they can hardly win others’ pity or respect.
When you communicate with positive people, your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted. When the dagger (匕首) of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that all in all, brings you down.
Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people. This could be a co-worker，or a relative. In this case, say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to the negative person, but all this does is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that.
Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized. The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to (附著) you throughout the rest of your day, which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness. Life is too short to feel negative. Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible.
【小題1】The purpose of the first paragraph is to ______.

A．make a comparison	B．offer an evidence
C．introduce a topic	D．describe a daily scene

【小題2】How can negative people have effect on us?

A．By influencing our emotion.

B．By telling us the nature of life.

C．By changing our ways of thinking.

D．By comparing their attitudes to life with ours.

【小題3】Some negative people base their happiness on _______.

A．other people’s pity for them	B．making other people unhappy
C．building up a positive attitude	D．other people’s respect for them

【小題4】According to the passage, to reduce negative people’s influence on us, we are advised to ______.

A．change negative people’s attitudes to life

B．show our dissatisfaction to negative people

C．make negative people feel ashamed of themselves

D．communicate with negative people as little as possible

【小題5】 What is the author’s attitude towards negative people?

A．Favorable.

B．Critical.

C．Indifferent.

D．Supportive.

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity,” said the American talk show host Oprah Winfrey. I’ve never watched her show, but when a self-made billionaire gives life advice it’s probably worth listening to.
Her point is that blind luck is very rare. You may have to be lucky to find a good job these days but that does not mean you should sit at home waiting for the opportunity to come to you. If you’re a Chinese, you may already be familiar with the tale of a farmer waiting by a tree stump(樹樁) for a rabbit to run out and break its neck.
A book by the UK psychologist Richard Wiseman, called The Luck Factor, argues we can all make ourselves luckier. It’s not about going to a temple to burn some incense(香) hopes that the gods will give you good fortune; it’s practical advice you can follow each day.
Wiseman conducted an experiment as part of his studies. First he divided volunteers into two groups; those who said they were lucky in life and those who said they were not. He gave everyone a newspaper and asked them to look through it to count how many photographs it had inside. On average, the unlucky people took about two minutes to count the photographs while the lucky people took just seconds. Why? On the second page of the newspaper, a command, “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper,” was written in big letters. The unlucky people mostly did not spot the message.
It’s easy to compare this situation to a young person looking for jobs in a local paper. They might search so hard for one type of position that they miss an even better opportunity. People who are “l(fā)ucky”, in fact, keep an open mind and don’t go through the same routine every day.
I first came to China in 2002 when it was considered a rather strange thing to do. Like many foreigners, my plan was to teach English for one year. Seven years later, and still here, I’ve had many great opportunities such as writing for newspapers and magazines. I did not dream these would have been possible. I’ve also never been sick, had an accident, got into a fight or had problems with the police. Coincidence? After reading about Professor Wiseman’s studies I think not.
As Wiseman advises, I usually trust my own judgment. Your friends and parents may give you advice based on rational thinking, but it’s important to consider how you feel about each choice you make. Your feeling acts as a warning for a potential problem.
Finally, try to turn bad luck into good. Even if you do fall down and break a leg, the time spent at home can be used wisely to study English.
【小題1】Which of the following proverbs most agrees with the writer’s point?

A．Make the best of a bad job.

B．Rome was not built in a day.

C．All is not gold that glitters.

D．A good heart conquers ill fortune.

【小題2】What do you know about Oprah Winfrey?

A．She became famous through her family background.

B．She is a British talk show host.

C．She became successful by her own effort.

D．She was very lucky and seldom suffered setbacks in her life.

【小題3】The writer quoted the Chinese tale of a farmer in order to show __________.

A．man can conquer nature

B．luck is in your own hand

C．bad luck can turn into good

D．you should not sit at home waiting for the opportunity to come to you

Last year．I took a sightseeing trip to Washington, DC．I heard a voice say, “Can you help me?” When I turned around, I saw an elderly blind woman with her hand extended．Immediately, I pulled out all of my change and placed it on her hand without even looking at her．But the blind woman smiled and said, “I don’t want your money．I just need help finding the post office．”
In an instant, I realized what I had done．I acted with prejudice―I judged another person simply for what I assumed she had to be．I hated what I saw in myself．
The thing I had forgotten about myself is that I am an immigrant．I left Honduras and arrived in the US at the age of 15．I started my new life with two suitcases, my brother and sister．Through the years, I have been a doorkeeper, cashier and pizza delivery driver among many other humble(卑微的)jobs, and eventually I became a network engineer．
In my own life, I have experienced prejudice．I remember a time―at the age of 17―when I was a busboy, I heard a father tell his little boy that if he did not do well in school, he would end up like me．
But now, living in my American middle-class lifestyle, it is too easy to forget my past, to forget who I am, where I have been ,and to lose sight of where I want to be going．That blind woman on the streets cured me of my blindness．She reminded me of my belief in humility(謙虛)．By the way, I helped that lady to the post office．I hope to thank her for the priceless lesson．
【小題1】How did the writer give the blind woman money?

A．In a modest way	B．In a polite way
C．In an impatient way．	D．In a painful way

【小題2】According to the text, the writer__________．
A．still lives a poor life    
B．was busy with his work
C．was born in Honduras  
D．was a native of Washington D．C．
【小題3】According to the text, the author most probably agrees that one should__________．

A．be nice to the elderly and the disabled

B．try to experience different kinds of culture

C．treat others equally with love and respect

D．think about one’s past as often as possible

【小題4】What would be the best title of the text?

A．A priceless lesson	B．An act of prejudice
C．A sightseeing trip	D．A humble moment

Bobby Moresco grew up in New York's Hell's Kitchen, a tough working-class neighborhood on Manhattan's West Side. But Hell's Kitchen lies right next door to Broadway, and the bright lights attracted Bobby from the time he was a teen. Being stage-struck was hardly what a street kid could admit to his partners. Fearing their ridicule, he told no one, not even his girlfriend, when he started taking acting lessons at age 17. If you were a kid from the neighborhood, you became a cop, construction worker, longshoreman or criminal. Not an actor.
Moresco struggled to make that long walk a few blocks east. He studied acting, turned out for all the cattle calls -- and during the decade of the 1970s made a total of $2,000. "I wasn't a good actor, but I had a driving need to do something different with my life," he says.
He moved to Hollywood, where he drove a cab and worked as a bartender. "My father said, 'Stop this craziness and get a job; you have a wife and daughter.' “But Moresco kept working at his chosen craft.
Then in 1983 his younger brother Thomas was murdered in a mob-linked killing. Moresco moved back to his old neighborhood and started writing as a way to explore the pain and the patrimony of Hell's Kitchen. Half-Deserted Streets, based on his brother's killing, opened at a small Off-Broadway theater in 1988. A Hollywood producer saw it and asked him to work on a screenplay.
His reputation grew, and he got enough assignments to move back to Hollywood. By 2003, he was again out of work and out of cash when he got a call from Paul Haggis, a director who had befriended him. Haggis wanted help writing a film about the country after September 11. The two worked on the writing, but every studio in town turned it down. They kept pitching it. Studio executives, however, thought no one wanted to see a severe, honest vision of race and fear and lives in collision in modern America.
Moresco believed so strongly in the script that he borrowed money, sold his house. He and Haggis kept pushing. At last the writers found an independent film producer who would take a chance, but the upfront money was too little, Moresco delayed his salary.
Crash slipped into the theaters in May 2005, and quietly became both a hit and a critical success. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and won three -- Best Picture, Best Film Editing and Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Paul Haggis and the kid from Hell's Kitchen.
At age 54, Bobby Moresco became an overnight success. "If you have something you want to do in life, don't think about the problems," he says, "think about other ways to get it done."
【小題1】 Rearrange the following statements in terms of time order:
a. His work Half-Deserted Streets drew attention as it opened at a small Off-Broadway theater
b. Unexpectedly Crash became both a hit and a huge success.
c. He moved to Hollywood to be a taxi driver and a waiter.
d. He started learn acting in spite of hardness with the belief of doing something diiferent.
e. His younger brother Thomas was killed in conflict among bullies.

A．d; c; e; a; b

B．d; e; c; b; a

C．c; d; e; a; b

D．c; e; d; b; a

【小題2】Why Bobby Moresco did not tell anyone that he started taking lessons at age 17?

A．He wnted to give his girlfriend a surprise.

B．His girlfriend did not allow him to do this.

C．He was afraid of being laughed at.

D．He had no talent for acting.

【小題3】Which of the following sentences is NOT true?

A．His father did not support his work as a bartender.

B．Before he became an overnight success, his life experienced ups and downs.

C．His brother’s death inspired his writing Half-Deserted Streets.

D．Moresco grew up in New York's Hell's Kitchen which is a few blocks east of Broadway.

【小題4】The Studio executives turned the script Crash down because ______________.

A．they thought the script would not be popular.

B．the script was not well written.

C．they had no money to make the film based on the script.

D．they thought Moresco was not famous.

【小題5】What’s the best title of the article?

A．The Road to Success	B．Try It a Different Way
C．A Talented man—Moresco	D．Moresco’s Perseverance

【小題6】Which of the following can best describe Bobby Moresco?

A．initiative (主動(dòng)) and persistent	B．shy but hardworking
C．caring and brave	D．a(chǎn)ggressive and modest

You wake up in the morning，the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then the telephone rings，you say hello, and the drama starts．The person on the other end has a depressing tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to．You are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!
Communicating with negative people can wash out your happiness．It may not change what you think，but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time．
Life brings ups and downs，but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer．They only feel glad when they make others feel bad．No wonder they can hardly win others’ pity or respect．
When you communicate with positive people，your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted．When the dagger(匕首) of a negative person is put in you，you feel the heavy feeling that all in all，brings you down．
Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people．This could be a co-worker，or a relative．In this case，say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to the negative person，but all this does is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that．
Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized．The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to(附著) you throughout the rest of your day，which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness．Life is too short to feel negative．Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible．
【小題1】 The purpose of the first paragraph is to ______.

A．make a comparison	B．offer an evidence
C．introduce a topic	D．describe a daily scene

【小題2】 How can negative people have effect on us?

A．By influencing our emotion．	B．By telling us the nature of life．
C．By changing our ways of thinking．	D．By comparing their attitudes to life with ours．

【小題3】 Some negative people base their happiness on _______.

A．other people’s pity for them	B．making other people unhappy
C．building up a positive attitude	D．other people’s respect for them

【小題4】 According to the passage, to reduce negative people’s influence on us，we are advised to ____.

A．change negative people’s attitudes to life

B．show our dissatisfaction to negative people

C．make negative people feel ashamed of themselves

D．communicate with negative people as little as possible

【小題5】What is the author’s attitude towards negative people?

A．Favorable．

B．Critical.

C．Indifferent.

D．Supportiv

The day my fiancé fell to his death, it started to snow, just like the bottom hadn’t fallen out of my world when he fell off the roof. His body, when I found it, was lightly covered with snow. It snowed almost every day for the next four months, while I sat on the couch and watched it pile up.
One morning, I shuffled(拖著腳步走) downstairs and was surprised to see a snowplow(掃雪機(jī)) clearing my driveway and the bent back of a woman shoveling my walk. I dropped to my knees, crawled through the living room, and back upstairs so those good Samaritans would not see me. I was mortified. My first thought was, how would I ever repay them? I didn’t have the strength to brush my hair, let alone shovel someone’s walk.
Before Jon’s death, I took pride in the fact that I rarely asked for help or favors. I defined myself by my competence and independence. How could I respect myself if all I did was sit on the couch everyday and watch the snow fall?
Learning how to receive the love and support that came my way wasn’t easy. Friends cooked for me and I cried because I couldn’t even help them set the table. “I’m not usually this lazy,” I swept. Finally, my friend Kathy sat down with me and said, “Mary, cooking for you is not a burden. It makes me feel good to be able to do something for you.”
Over and over, I heard similar words of comfort from the people who supported me during those dark days. One very wise man told me, “You are not doing nothing. Being fully open to your grief may be the hardest work you will ever do.”
In many ways I have changed for the better. I have been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom that comes from facing one’s worst fear and walking away whole.
【小題1】What made the author feel sad?

A．Her fiancé’s sudden death.	B．Constant heavy snow.
C．Her fiancé abandoning her.	D．Her job being refused again.

【小題2】What’s the meaning of the underlined word “mortified” in Paragraph 1?

A．Surprised.

B．Angry.

C．Ashamed.

D．Moved.

【小題3】It is _______ that helped the author out of darkness.

A．herself

B．her friends

C．her fiancé

D．a(chǎn) snowplow

【小題4】Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．The author was a capable and independent woman.

B．The author was so lazy that she wouldn’t shovel the walk.

C．Finally the author got through hardest work bravely.

D．When facing the worst fear, you will get strength.

【小題5】What’s the author’s purpose in the passage?

A．To talk about her hardest work in her life.

B．To talk about her real love between her and her fiancé.

C．To tell us to walk out of hardest work confidently and bravely.

D．To tell us the importance of friendship.

A programmer and an engineer are sitting next to each other on a long flight from Los Angeles to New York. The programmer leans over to the engineer and asks if he would like to play a fun game. The engineer just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.
The programmer persists and explains that the game is really easy and has a lot of fun. He explains, “I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $5.” Again, the engineer politely refuses and tries to get to sleep.
The programmer, now somewhat agitated, says, “OK, if you don’t know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $50!” This catches the engineer’s attention, and he sees no end to this torment(折磨) unless he plays, so he agrees to the game.
The programmer asks the first question. “What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?” The engineer doesn’t say a word, but reaches into his wallet, pulls out a five dollar bill and hands it to the programmer. Now, it’s the engineer’s turn. He asks the programmer, “What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down on four?” The programmer looks up at him with a puzzled look. He takes out his laptop computer and searches all of his references. After about an hour, he wakes the engineer and hands him $50. The engineer politely takes the $50 and turns away to try to get back to sleep. The programmer, more than a little miffed, shakes the engineer and asks, “Well, so what’s the answer?” Without a word, the engineer reaches into his wallet, hands the programmer $5, and turns away and goes back to sleep.
【小題1】What’s the best title for the passage?

A．A Boring Conversation	B．A Fun Game
C．A Trick During The Flight	D．A Question Without Answer

【小題2】What’s the meaning of the underlined work “agitated”?

A．Angry.

B．Excited.

C．Surprised.

D．Curious.

【小題3】What kind of person is the programmer according to what he said?

A．Confident.

B．Selfish.

C．Greedy.

D．Generous.

【小題4】What can we infer according to the last sentence?

A．The engineer has little money with him.

B．Actually the engineer doesn’t know the answer, either.

C．The engineer is bored with programmer.

D．The engineer beats the programmer at last.

【小題5】Which is NOT true according to the passage?

A．In the beginning the engineer is not interested in the game.

B．The engineer is too sleepy to want to play the game.

C．At last the engineer gains $45 from the programmer.

D．Nobody knows the answer to the engineer’s question.

I moved into a new house in July. Since then I have met a few of my neighbors who are very nice people. For Christmas, I thought I would do something nice for each of the neighbors I know. There were nine neighbors whom I knew by name or spoke with often when I was out in my yard. I knew which houses they lived in.
I decided to add one more to my list. This lady I decided to add lives down the street from me. I meet her every morning walking to work as I drive down the street. She always smiles to me. But I had no idea who she was and which house she lived in.
I planned to make small fruit baskets and leave them on my neighbor's front porches (門廊) on Christmas Eve. I signed the cards: “Happy Holidays from 5104 Northumberland Road.”
I saved the last for the friendly lady. I finally decided on a house where I met her each morning and guessed that it was hers.
My neighbors really appreciated the baskets and would tell me as they saw me in the yard or they would call, and a couple even came by to thank me.
This morning I found a small note in the mailbox. It was addressed simply: Resident, 5104 Northumberland Road.
The Thank You card really caught me by surprise. I opened it and read the message, “Thank you for the lovely fruit basket you left on our porch. It was very thoughtful. Richard Kelly passed away last week. He talked a lot about how nice it was that someone remembered him in his time of illness. He really appreciated it.”
I had no idea who Richard Kelly was and that he had been seriously ill. I had left that nice lady’s basket on his porch by mistake. I wanted to say sorry, but that would be wrong. I believe that Mr. Kelly was meant to have that basket because he was dying. I hate that the nice lady did not get to receive a fruit basket on Christmas, but I believe if she knew what had happened, she would be happy. I feel pleased to have helped Richard Kelly's last days be more cheerful.
【小題1】How many Christmas gifts did the author intend to send?

A．9.

B．8

C．10

D．11

【小題2】Where did the friendly lady live?

A．She lived at the end of Northumberland Road.

B．Her address was 5104 Northumberland Road.

C．She was thought to share a house with Mr. Kelly.

D．The author was not sure about her address at all.

【小題3】How did the author’s neighbors respond to his gifts?

A．They liked the gifts very much and were thankful.

B．They were thankful that they wanted to be friends.

C．They all made phone calls to say “Thank You”.

D．They all visited him by person to show gratitude.

【小題4】What does the author mean in the last paragraph?

A．He was regretful that the nice lady didn’t receive his gift.

B．He was glad to have made Mr. Kelly's life more pleasant.

C．He thought Richard Kelly deserved to receive that basket.

D．The old lady was happy to sacrifice to make Kelly happy.

Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia, I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path．I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn't covered by water or mud．As I reached the pool, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack．It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected．I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five times．I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me．Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing．And I was laughing．After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped, laughing, I took a step forward．My attacker rushed me again．He charged towards me at full speed, attempting to hurt me but in vain．For a second time, I took a step backwards while my attacker paused．I wasn't sure what to do．After all, it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly．I stepped back to look the situation over．My attacker moved back to land on the ground．That's when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier．He had a mate and she was dying．
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her．I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate．He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mate's sake （緣故）, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large．He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have been careless enough to step on her．His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate's safety seemed admirable．I couldn't do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the pool．He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed．    
Since then, I've always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge barriers facing me.
【小題1】Why did the writer change his direction while walking down a path?

A．To get close to a butterfly.	B．To look over the bad situation.
C．To escape a sudden attack.	D．To avoid getting his shoes dirty.

【小題2】What made the man feel funny?

A．Making the attacker pause.	B．Being attacked by a butterfly.
C．Being stepped on by his mate.	D．Discovering the energetic butterfly.

【小題3】From this experience the man learned       .

A．what he should do when faced with trouble	B．people should show sympathy to the weak
C．how he should deal with attacks	D．people should protect butterflies

【小題4】Which of the following words can best describe the butterfly?

A．Careless．

B．Amusing．

C．Courageous．

D．Aggressive.