Recently, I learned firsthand why it’s a bad idea to judge people prematurely (過早地).

I’m a nursing supervisor, and my job is to evaluate workers’ performances at the hospital.

Kenny was a new employee. After weeks’ probation (試用), I had to admit that he was clean, punctual and efficient.

But he had this self-assured and energetic presence. He was a large man, both physically and socially — he was independent and strong. I worried that our hospital, which demanded teamwork, was not right for such a personality.

We had a patient named Mary. At 94 years old, Mary was weak. She had outlived her husband and sisters.

Mary had an obsessive (強迫性的) belief that someone had taken her purse. She searched for it all the time. Unless tied to her wheelchair, she would go through the door onto the street mindlessly searching and never giving up. She was often sitting in her wheelchair in the hallway, where she stopped everyone who came near.

“Can you lend me a comb?” she would ask. “I’ve lost mine. It was in my red purse. Where is my purse?”

Every day it was the same. We all knew Mary didn’t have a purse, but we would answer: “Sure, if I see your purse I’ll bring it back.”

One afternoon, I saw Kenny walking down the hall with a grocery bag. He walked toward Mary in her wheelchair. He pulled out a red purse.

Mary’s old hands flew up to her face in a gesture of wonder and joy, and then flew out hungrily like a starved child taking bread. Mary grabbed the red purse. She held it for a moment, and then pressed it to her breast, rocking it like a baby.

Kenny leaned over, unzipped the purse open and showed Mary a comb inside. Tears of joy poured down Mary’s face.

Instead of paying lip service like the rest of us, Kenny had made Mary’s problem his problem. I had been wrong about Kenny.

1.The author was worried that Kenny would not be fit for his job because ________.

A. he had no working experience in medicine

B. he had a strong, confident and independent character

C. his performance during the probation didn’t meet their standards

D. he was too stubborn and wouldn’t listen to others’ opinions

2.We can learn from the article that Mary ________.

A. didn’t get along well with her husband

B. pretended that she had lost her red purse

C. was very happy when given the purse

D. asked for help in order to be taken home

3.At the end of the story, the author felt ________ about her previous evaluation of Kenny.

A. encouraged B. puzzled C. satisfied D. guilty

4.What kind of message does the author intend to convey?

A. Pay attention to what people do instead of what they say.

B. We should treat older people with patience and kindness.

C. Don’t come to a conclusion too quickly when you don’t know all the facts.

D. We can always find a teacher in another, even when we least expect it.

短文改錯

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。每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號（/\），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；

2.只允許修改10處，多者（從第十一處起）不計分。

You may have returned the book late to the library before. It is normal to pay a small fine, but how many would you have to pay if the book was returned 65 years late ?

This is a problem what John R. Rogers High School in Washington, US had to deal with recently. A copy of Gone With the Wind that was 65 years overdue was finally returned back to its library. However, the school said on December 2nd that it would not charge late fees of the book, which would have added up about $475 (2941 yuan).

The long-overdue book is checked out of the library of the high school in 1949, and seemed to disappearing until it was found in Maine, US, by Wayne Hachey. He found the book in his father’s basement and then offered to send it back to the school. “We are delightful to have the book back, but we wonder how it has been,” Lori Wyborney, principal of the school, said.

If you had a strange sound in your ear, what would you do? One man in Wales who thought he had a fly in his ear called 999, the emergency services number in Britain. And so did a woman who was worried about her green potatoes. Could she make chips with them? Were they poisonous? She didn’t hesitate about calling the local ambulance service to ask. According to a recent report, more than 31,000 non-urgent calls were made to the Welsh Ambulance Service in the last year.

Inappropriate calls are a headache for health professionals everywhere. In the US, prank calls to 911 happen on a daily basis. Many callers use apps which hide their identity. But those who try to be funny shouldn’t be surprised if the police have the last laugh. One man from Colorado was arrested for making more than 1,200 prank calls, according to a report on the US television station KOAA—TV.

People who take these calls are trained to stay calm and keep a straight face, no matter how strange the call sounds. “There’s no way for us to know whether the call is real, accidental or a prank call,” said a public safety worker interviewed by the American TV channel.

The Head of Clinical Services at the Welsh Ambulance Service, Richard Lee, has a warning for prank callers. He says:“ When people misuse the service it means our precious time is being taken away from someone who really does need our help.” Indeed, these hotlines are supposed to help the seriously ill or those with a life-threatening injury. You never know, one day, the person who needs assistance could be you or someone in your family.

1.How does the author introduce the topic of the text?

A. By giving examples. B. By telling a story.

C. By listing figures. D. By making a comparison.

2.According to the text, prank calls are usually________.

A. meant to be helpful B. dealt with in time

C. thought highly of D. made to play tricks

3.What does the underlined phrase “have the last laugh” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. win at last. B. never find them.

C. laugh at them. D. know nothing.

4.What does the author intend to suggest in the text?

A. Prank calls are usually easy to identify.

B. Operators feel annoyed by strange callers.

C. Prank calls may cause serious results.

D. Prank callers should be punished by law.

閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個選項（A, B, C和D）中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。

My wife and I moved into our home two years ago. We had a yard with a lot of ________. Very often when we have flowers, Denise or I would plant some between the rocks, just to add some __________ to the area.

Last summer, I found a tiny little ________ in the yard that I could not immediately identify. I knew I didn’t plant it and Denise said she didn’t either. We decided to let it ________ growing until we could find out what it was.

Weeks passed and as I made my way back to the ________ plant, it appeared to be a sunflower. I decided to ________ the weeds around it. As I pulled rocks from the area to get to the weeds, I noticed something ________ . The sunflower had not ________ where I saw it begin. It actually had begun under a big ________ and grown under and around it to reach the ________ .

That’s when I ________ that if a tiny little sunflower didn’t let a big rock stand in its ________ of developing, we too have the ability of doing the same thing. If we ________ ourselves like that little sunflower, we can reach where we ________ to go and get what we need for growth.

We need to believe in ourselves knowing we have the ________ to achieve our goals. Like the ________, it knew it had the ability to get over the rocks because it had ________ in itself that it would succeed. Stand tall like the sunflower and be ________ of who and what we are, then the environment will begin to ________ us. We will find a way to go under or ________ any “rocks” in order to reach our goals.

1.A. flowers B. rocks C. insects D. vegetables

2.A. shape B. water C. fertilizer D. colour

3.A. weed B. seed C. plant D. rock

4.A. continue B. stop C. improve D. escape

5.A. weak B. strange C. lonely D. pretty

6.A. collect B. tend C. watch D. remove

7.A. wonderful B. terrible C. unusual D. valuable

8.A. started B. passed C. left D. died

9.A. tree B. rock C. table D. wall

10.A. air B. sun C. top D. house

11.A. hoped B. doubted C. regretted D. realized

12.A. way B. place C. course D. process

13.A. fill in B. put in C. believe in D. worry about

14.A. forget B. aim C. hate D. wait

15.A. idea B. wish C. plan D. ability

16.A. sunflower B. yard C. home D. summer

17.A. energy B. virtue C. faith D. courage

18.A. aware B. proud C. afraid D. tired

19.A. forgive B. affect C. upset D. support

20.A. around B. into C. through D. From

At least once each winter I manage to get a good flight in the middle of a snowstorm. Last Sunday was that flight. My gliding(滑翔的) partners had looked at the weather reports of showers and decided to stay at home. People say that you shouldn’t fly by yourself, but on that day I felt the urge to go flying and so headed for my favorite gliding site.

I had the mountain ridge to myself. After a smooth lift-off, I floated stably in the breeze, feeling at peace with myself and the world. I looked across the valley to Bedford and a moment later saw the town disappear in a band of snow that was moving towards me.

The breeze remained strong enough for flying and I knew that as long as the visibility was good, it was OK for me to stay in the air. The snow moved in and swirled around me. It was a light dry snow. The day was already very quiet but, somehow, the light snow made it even more silent. I felt like a snowflake.

Two bald eagles joined me. They didn’t pay me any attention and spent a few minutes flying around the ridge before disappearing. I flew through another band of snow. I had been flying for about 45 minutes when I next looked across the valley. I could see there were more bands of snow to come and the breeze was dying too.

It was time to go home, get in a hot bath and warm up. I couldn’t wait to tell my gliding partners that they had missed out on a perfect flight.

1.Why did the author’s gliding partners refuse to fly on that day?

A. They preferred to fly alone

B. The weather did not permit

C. They did not like winter flights

D. The equipment was not adequate

2.Which is closest in meaning to the underlined word “” in Paragraph 3?

A. Weather

B. Skill

C. Possibility

D. View

3.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. The bald eagle can cause damage to the author’s flight

B. The author will land and go home after the snow stops

C. Brand of snow will be a great threat to the author’s flight

D. The author will hesitate to share his experience with his partners

4.What could be the best title for the article?

A. The First Flight Alone

B. A Narrow-Escape Flight

C. One Never-Again Flight

D. An Impressive Winter Flight

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容,從短文后的選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。選項中有兩項為多余選項。

Ways to be Efficient

People these days work hard for a living. 1. But not everybody can accomplish things as efficient as they want. Here are three ways to help you be more efficient with your work.

· Take it down efficiently

2. . With the help of modern technology you can have your calendar, diary and more the palm of your hand. As for me, I am a bit old fashioned. I carry around a notebook and a pen to keep track of things.

· 3.

Follow your list of things to be done. Focus on only one thing each time. Plan and think things through. Always do you best for every task, whether it is big or small. Take pride in your work and you will gain the reputation as an efficient learner.

·Lessons learned

Mistakes and failures can teach you about the things that you should avoid and the thing that you need to improve on. Look back to your past experiences and analyze your development. Take note of the times you failed terribly. 4. . Once you know these, you can work on finding ways to overcome them and improve yourself in the process.

On the other hand, your great moments of success, can make you realize your strengths. These strengths, like talents and gifts, are your tickets to being more efficient. Recognize these strengths. 5.

A. One at a time

B. Pay great attention to your plan

C. It is not necessary to keep track of everything

D. They run from one task to the other just to get things done

E. Making a list of your tasks will help you finish things on time

F. These moments can tell you the habits that make you inefficient

G. They will help you to be excellent in the tasks that you are given

短文改錯

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。作文中共有10處語言錯誤,每句中最多有兩處。每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個漏子符號（∧）并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：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；

2.只允許修改10處,多者（從第11處起）不計分。

Do you often talk with your parents? A recently survey shows that nearly half of the high school students doesn’t like to talk with their parents. 43.3% of them have trouble communicate with their parents. What is bad, 82.8% of them don’t want to share their secrets their parents. Actually, it is important for us to communicate with our parents though they are the dearest people in our life, who cared for us all the time. By letting them know that what we think, we can get practical advice from them, which can help us to deal with many problem in life.

In this way, we can feel more confident about us and live happily.

At the beginning of a speech, it is very important to grab the audience’s attention and make them interested in ______ you have to say.

A. which B. what C. that D. who

Being happy is a skill that can be learned like a foreign language, and one way to ______ ourselves to be happy is to write down the little things that cheer us up each day.

A. convey B. appeal C. train D. attempt

In order to lose weight, the young lady prefers to ______ regularly rather than take expensive weight-losing pills.

A. hang out B. leave out

C. work out D. figure out