Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, was born in Kingfish, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. He was raised in Missouri where he worked in his father’s store while attending school. This was his first retailing (零售業(yè)) experience and he really enjoyed it. After graduation, he began his own career as a retail merchant.

He soon opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Wal-Mart specialized in name brands at low prices and Sam Walton was surprised at the success. Soon a chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America.

Walton's management style was popular with employees and he founded some of the basic concepts of management that are still in use today.

After taking the company public in 1970, Walton introduced his “profit sharing plan”. The profit sharing plan was a plan for Wal-Mart employees to improve their income dependent on the profits of the store. Sam Walton believed that “individuals don't win, teams do”. Employees at Wal-Mart stores were offered stock options (認股權(quán)) and store discounts. These benefits are commonplace today, but Walton was among the first to implement (實現(xiàn)) them. Walton believed that a happy employee meant happy customers and more sales. He also believed that by giving employees a part of the company and making their success dependent on the company’s success, they would care about the company.

By the 1980s, Wal-Mart had sales of over one billion dollars and over three hundred stores across North America. Wal-Mart’s unique decentralized (分散的) distribution system, also Walton’s idea, created the edge needed to further encourage growth in the 1980s during growing complaints that the “superstore” was stopping smaller and traditional stores from developing. By 1991, Wal-Mart was the largest US retailer with 1,700 stores. Walton remained active in managing the company, as president and CEO until 1988 and chairman until his death. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom shortly before his death.

1.Sam Walton first made a hit in retailing when __________.

A. he worked in his father’s store

B. he created Walton's management style

C. a chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America

D. he specialized in name brands at low prices

2.What is the purpose of Walton’s carrying out “profit sharing plan”?

A. To make sure all the employees had their own shares.

B. To encourage the employees to work hard and make joint efforts.

C. To select excellent employees for his stores.

D. To make more profit for himself.

3.Which of the statements is TRUE?

A. With Walton’s management style, employees treated the stores as their own.

B. Walton wasn’t one of the merchants who first implemented stock options.

C. The smaller and traditional stores were well affected by Walton’s stores.

D. In his old age, Walton gave all the management to his men.

4.What does the underlined word “edge” in the last paragraph mean here?

A. Danger. B. Disadvantage.

C. Advantage. D. System.

Most children now chat daily either online or through their mobile phones. They are connecting to a huge number of other children all over the world. Some are shy “in real life” but are confident to communicate with others online; others find support from people of their own age on relationship issues, or problems at home.

Sometimes the online world, just like the real world, can introduce problems, such as arguments. Going online is great fun, but there are also a few people who use the Internet for offensive (冒犯性的) or illegal aims. Children must be made aware of both the good things and the dangers.

To keep children safe your management must cover the family computer. Just as you decide which TV programs are suitable, you need to do the same for the websites and chat rooms your children visit. Remind your children that online friends are still strangers. Reminding them of the risks will keep them alert (警惕).

Computer studies are part of schoolwork now, so it’s likely that your children may know more than you do. We get left behind when it comes to the latest gadgets and the interactive areas of websites, like chat rooms and message boards, which are especially strange. The language of chat is strange to many parents, too. Chatters love to use abbreviations (縮寫) such as: atb — all the best, bbfn — bye bye for now, cul8er — see you later, gr8 — great, Idk — I don’t know, imbl — it must be love, kit — keep in touch, paw — parents are watching, lol — laugh out loud, xlnt — excellent!

1.The passage is meant for ______.

A. children B. parents

C. teachers D. net bar owners

2.Which of the following will the author probably agree with?

A. The Internet is no good for children.

B. The chat language is strange to adults.

C. Children shouldn’t chat so much online.

D. The Internet is a good place for children.

3.In order to keep children safe online, you’d better ______.

A. choose suitable websites and chat rooms for them

B. teach them to use correct net words

C. surf the Internet together with them

D. forbid them to use the Internet

4.If you stand beside him when your son is chatting about something secret online, he may use ______.

A. bbfn B. lol C. paw D. cul8er

You must think positively no matter how big a challenge is. If you think positively you will feel better and will be able to overcome challenges in life. Furthermore, meet an optimistic person and you will notice how motivated he is towards life. 1. on the other hand, negative thinking will only cause more depression in your life.

2. Don’t be jealous of those who are successful around you. Instead, take inspiration from their success stories. This will make you motivated to get what you want. Moreover, you can also read books that are written by inspirational and successful personalities.

There is a famous quote that reads, “A healthy body leads to a healthy mind.” If your mind is healthy you will think positively. 3. Whether you are working out in the gym or going for a long walk, make sure that you incorporate an exercise plan in your daily routine.

4. Hence, it is important to break your routine and do something different. Either you go on a vacation or learn a new skill, it is important to break the monotony in your daily life.

Human beings are extraordinary individuals who are able to complete the hardest tasks and achieve the impossible. It is important to get out of your comfort zone and try something different. 5. .

A.Therefore, it is important to exercise.

B.Keeping yourself motivated is not a difficult task.

C.You might lose motivation by doing the same things over and over again.

D.One of the best ways to motivate oneself is to get inspired by other’s success.

E.Remember, positive thinking gives you motivation to achieve what you want.

F.By doing so you will get motivated and your attitudes towards life will be positive.

G.Do things that make you happy and find inspiration in possibly everything you see.

I was only six years old when a stroke(中風)struck my father. To my mother, a peasant with eight children, the _______ seemed to have ended that day. ________ as I was and seventh born in a family of eight children, I ________ my mind on being different. After several years of study, my sisters and brothers ______ school and I was the first child to go to high school.

When I ______ high school, I wrote to the Minister of Education and Sports to ______ me for a degree. Frequently visiting his ______ for over three months, at last I was to meet the minister. I _______ that morning and told myself, “You will see the minister today!” I went to his office and the secretary told me to _____ next time. I asked, “When?” She said, “Afternoon.” At exactly 12:01 pm I was at the door, knocked and entered.

The minister had _____ a note, which was used to introduce me to the president. The following day, I went to the president’s office with a smile on my face. I ____ myself with the minister’s note and was welcomed. I _____ got the financial assistance.

My ______ to young people is simple. Be _______ to achieve your goals. I set my goal to attain a degree no matter how long it would take. If you know what you ______, you will somehow get it.

When life gets tougher, we should ____ harder and be more confident about ourselves. Always be ______ that it’s only you who know the best of yourself. Remember that it’s you who live with the _____ of the decisions you make. When you lose a _____, don’t feel depressed. You may lose some battles but finally win the war! Be the _____ to write your own story and create your own future.

1.A. goal B. world C. desire D. direction

2.A. Little B. Simple C. Naughty D. Weak

3.A. kept B. lost C. set D. changed

4.A. looked out of B. looked forward to C. got away from D. dropped out of

5.A. abandoned B. delayed. C. completed D. expected

6.A. reward B. encourage C. consider D. sponsor

7.A. house B. office C. section D. wife

8.A. stayed up B. calmed down C. woke up D. slowed down

9.A. come back B. set out C. hold on D. hurry up

10.A. borrowed B. written C. connected D. appealed

11.A. introduced B. expressed C. showed D. praised

12.A. generally B. actually C. accidentally D. finally

13.A. message B. faith C. decision D. request

14.A. easy B. brave C. practical D. popular

15.A. use B. prove C. want D. do

16.A. live B. try C. think D. guess

17.A. careful B. proud C. helpful D. aware

18.A. reasons B. results C. experiences D. concepts

19.A. friend B. game C. battle D. dream

20.A. reader B. actor C. speaker D. author

One day, Nick invited his friends to supper. He was cooking some delicious food in the kitchen. Suddenly, he ___1.___ (find) that he had run out of salt. So Nick called to his son, “Go to the village and buy some salt, but pay a fair price for it: neither too much ___2.___ too little.”

His son looked surprised. “I can understand why I shouldn’t pay too much, Father, but if I can pay less, __ _3.____ not save a bit of money?”

“That would be a very ___4.___ (reason) thing to do in a big city, but it could destroy a small village like ours,” Nick said.

Nick’s guests, __5.__ had heard their conversation, asked why they should not buy salt more __6._____ (cheap) if they could. Nick replied, “The only reason a man would sell salt at a lower price would be because he was desperate for money. And anyone who took advantage of that situation would be showing a lack of respect ___7.____ the sweat and struggle of the man who worked very hard to produce it.”

“But such a small thing couldn’t __8.__(possible) destroy a village.”

“In the beginning, there was only ___9.___ very small amount of unfairness in the world, but everyone added a little, always __10.(think) that it was only small and not very important, and look where we have ended up today.”

短文改錯 (共10小題;每小題1分,滿分10分)

假定英語課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語言錯誤，每句中最多有兩處。錯誤涉及一個單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個漏詞符號（/\），并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（\）劃掉。

修改：在錯的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：1、每處錯誤及其修改均僅限一詞；不按要求方式改的不給分！

2、只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計分。

After a heat discussion, our class has decided to recommend Li Hua as the Touching Figure On the Campus. We have several reason to believe he is qualified for the honor. First, Li Hua is always willing to offering us help whenever necessary. Besides, his great devotion to work as a monitor make our class a best place to study. However, it has impressed us most is his unconditional love to poor children. Last summer vacation, he volunteered to teach English in a small village, which has been inspired many other students to join in and thus helped open up a new world to those children as well.

All in all, his selfless love touches our heart and his action suggests that even small efforts should make difference to those in need. Therefore, we strong support Li Hua as the Touching Figure Campus.

假如你校英語周近期將舉行“自拍DV大賽”。請根據(jù)下面的提示，寫一篇通知，刊登到你校校報英語專欄上。

活動主題：用DV記錄生活中的精彩。

作品要求：1. 作品反映校園生活、家庭生活以及家鄉(xiāng)的變化等。

2. 參賽作品的時長不超過15分鐘。

參賽方式：參賽者將作品傳至學校網(wǎng)站。

截止日期：2014年12月20日。

注意： 1. 詞數(shù)100詞左右。

2. 可適當增加細節(jié)，以使行文連貫。

ohn Cruitt, 62, spent decades tracking down his third- grade teacher.

He wanted to talk with Cecile Doyle about 1958--- the year his mother, who was seriously ill, passed away.

Her death came just days before Christmas. Cruitt had been expecting to go home from school and decorate the Christmas tree.

“When I found out she died, I could certainly relate to that, because when I was 11, my own father died,” Doyle tells Cruitt at StoryCorps in Monroe, N.Y. “And you just don’t know how you’re going to go on without that person.”

When Cruitt returned to school, Doyle waited until all of the other children left the room at the end of the day, and told him that she was there if he needed her.

“Then you kissed me on the head,” Cruitt says. “And I felt that things really would be OK.”

“Well, Cruitt, I’m so glad that I could be there with you for that time,” says Doyle, 82.

Decades after his mother’s death, Cruitt began to think more and more of Doyle. He finally wrote a letter:

Dear Mrs. Doyle,

If you are not the Cecile Doyle who taught English at Emerson School in Kearny, N.J., then I’m embarrassed, and you can disregard the letter.

My name is John Cruitt, and I was in your third- grade class during the 1958-1959 school year. Two days before Christmas, my mother passed away, and you told me that you were there if I needed you. I hope life has been as kind to you as you were to me.

God bless you.

John Cruitt

Doyle says his letter, which arrived in February, could not have come at a better time. Her husband, who passed away this August, was struggling with Parkinson’s disease.

“And I had just come home from the hospital, and I read this beautiful letter, and I just was overwhelmed,” she says.

“Well the funny thing is, when I finally wrote to you again after 54 years, I typed the letter--- I was afraid my penmanship wasn’t going to meet your standards,” Cruitt says as Doyle laughs.

“John, what can I say--- I’m just glad that we made a difference in each other’s life.”

1.After Cruitt’s mother’s death, ________.

A. Cruitt totally relied on his father

B. Doyle’s words brought him comfort

C. Cruitt didn’t go to school regularly

D. Doyle asked his classmates to help him

2.Before Cruitt wrote the letter, he______.

A. knew Doyle’s husband had passed away

B. believed Doyle was leading a happy life

C. considered it embarrassing to write to Doyle

D. was unsure whether Doyle could receive the letter

3.Doyle believed the letter_____.

A. was a belated gift

B. came at just the right time

C. lifted her confidence greatly

D. served as a reminder of her husband

4.Why did Cruitt type the letter?

A. Doyle had taught him typing.

B. He was better at typing than writing.

C. Doyle would be able to read it without difficulty.

D. He was afraid Doyle would be dissatisfied with his writing.

ith its 775 rooms, Buckingham Palace makes regular houses look tiny. Now home to Queen Elizabeth II, it’s been the British Monarchy’s official London digs since 1837. National Geographic Kids slipped behind the guarded gates to find the palace’s coolest features.

1. FANCY FEAST

For special dinners, a team of 21 chefs whips up dishes that are served on solid gold plates. Even Her Majesty’s pet dogs receive meals of lamb and cabbage in silver bowls. Good thing the kitchen is well stocked--- the Queen welcomes about 50,000 dining guests every year.

2. CLASSY COACH

The Queen’s most attractive ride may be the Gold State Coach, parked in the palace’s Royal Mews building and used in the crowning of a king or queen, since 1821. Covered with heavy gold, it’s pulled by eight horses.

3. MOVIE NIGHT

The royal family hosts private screenings of movie in their very own cinema, sometimes seeing new films before they hit theaters.

4. WHAT’S UP, DOC?

Forget a medicine cabinet (藥品柜). Buckingham Palace houses a doctor’s office run by the Queen’s physician. And surgeons have performed operations in other parts of the palace. In 1902, for instance, doctors operated on King Edward VII in a room facing the garden.

5. BEDROOMS

The palace has 52 bedrooms. Rooms such as those inside the Belgian Suite contain chandeliers(枝行吊燈),gold-gilded mirrors, fireplaces, canopy beds, and more.

6. TOP- SECRET TUNNELS

Rumor has it that secret underground tunnels connect the royal residence to other buildings in London. The paths were reportedly built during World War II when enemy bombs regularly pounded the city. Weaving deep under London’s busy streets, the tunnels would have provided the royals safe passage during an attack. But even now officials won’t reveal much about these under- the- radar routes.

1.The underlined part “whips up” probably means_______.

A. enjoys B. selects C. cleans D. cooks

2.According to the text, in Buckingham Palace________.

A. there are eight horses altogether

B. stocks of food in the kitchen hardly run low

C. the Queen’s pet dogs are fed with simple meals

D. there’s no suitable place to perform operations

3.What do we know about the tunnels in Buckingham Palace?

A. They are not well- protected.

B. They were heavily bombed.

C. They are not open to the public.

D. They are linked with other cities in Britain.

Mosquitoes(蚊子) ruin countless American picnics every year, but around the world, this bloodsucking beast isn’t just annoying— it causes a health problem. More than a million people die from the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and yellow fever each year. Attempts to control populations via insecticides like DDT have had ruinous side effects for nature and human health. Neurobiologist Leslie B. Vosshall has a different solution for stopping the insects and the spread of disease. “I believe the key to controlling mosquito behavior is to understand better how they sense us,” she says.

At their Rockefeller University lab, Vosshall and her colleagues are studying the chemical sensory processes by which mosquitoes choose hosts. How do they sense heat, humidity, carbon dioxide, and body odor(氣味)? What makes some people more attractive to a mosquito than others? It takes blood and sweat to find out. To study how mosquitoes assess body odor, Vosshall and her teammates might wear stockings on their arms and keep from showering for 24 hours to create sample smells, Then comes the hard part. They insert their arms into the insects’ hidden home to study how mosquitoes land, bite, and feed and then they document how this changes. This can mean getting anywhere from one bite to 400, depending on the experiment. Studying male mosquitoes is more pleasant. Since they don’t feed on blood, the lab tests their sense of smell using honey.

Vosshall and her team have also begun to study how genetics contribute to mosquitoes’ choice of a host. She’s even created a breed that is unable to sense carbon dioxide, an important trigger for the insects. “By using genetics to make mutant(變異的) mosquitoes, we can document exactly how and why mosquitoes hunt humans,” Vosshall says.

Once Vosshall figures out what makes mosquitoes flock to us, she can get to work on making them leave us alone. Many of her lab’s proposed solutions sound simple enough, including bracelets(手鐲) that carry long-lasting repellants(驅(qū)蟲劑) or traps that can reduce populations, but the breakthroughs, when they come, may save millions of lives in the developing world—and a lot of itching everywhere else.

1.Vosshall and her colleagues are mainly studying mosquitoes’ ______

A. appearance B. size

C. behavior D. change

2.By saying the underlined part “Then comes the hard part”, the author probably means that______.

A. the insects smell terrible

B. the experiment will last long

C. The researchers will probably suffer

D. the researchers have to study lots of documents.

3.Why is it less challenging to study male mosquitoes?

A. They are not bloodsuckers.

B. They are afraid of stockings.

C. They have a poor sense of smell.

D. They are protective of their hosts.

4.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that Vosshall’s research______.

A. looks very promising

B. has saved millions of lives

C. is facing great difficulties

D. is quite simple to carry out.