Thirteen can be a challenging age. Not only did I have to adapt to my changing body, I also had to deal with my parents’ bitter divorce, a new family and the upsetting move from my country home to a crowed town.
When we moved, my beloved companion (伙伴), a small brown horse, had to be sold. I was heartbroken and terribly lonely. I couldn’t eat or sleep and cried all the time. Finally, realizing how much I missed my horse, my father bought me another horse, Cowboy.
Cowboy was without doubt the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn’t care. I love him beyond all reasons.
I joined a riding club. When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse was judged by the appearance, we were quickly “shown the gate”. I knew nothing could turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the timed speed events. I chose the jumping race.
For the whole next month we practiced running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home, totally exhausted.
All of our hard work didn’t make me feel confident by the time the show came. One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons (丝带). I sat at the gate and sweated all out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the court and finish in first place.
My turn finally came. At the signal, we dashed (猛冲) towards the first fence, jumped over it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him towards the finish line.
No cheers filled the air. The end of our run was met with surprised silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds.
I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the chances would be, I’d always be a winner if I wanted something badly enough and worked for it. I can be the owner of my fate.
1.What does the underlined word probably mean in Para. 1?
A. Exciting. B. Unforgettable.
C. Delightful. D. Frustrating.
2.Why did the author like cowboy so much in spite of its ugliness?
A. Because she loved horses more than anything else.
B. Because Cowboy was a strong and smart young horse.
C. Because Cowboy had a lot in common with her horse.
D. Because she was sad and lonely and needed a companion.
3.The audience fell into silence at the end of the run probably because________?
A. they didn’t expect Cowboy would win the event.
B. they were unhappy that Becky was beaten in the event.
C. they didn’t like Cowboy, for it was too ugly.
D. they never saw a horse running as fast as Cowboy.
4.After the competition, the author came to realize that _______?
A. she ought gather the courage to solve all the problems.
B. it was time to forget her horse and treat Cowboy better.
C. she needed to work harder to win more blue ribbons.
D. she could be the god of her own fate if she tried hard enough.
假如你是李华，是美国某所学校的交换生，你几天前在美国的一个商店买的手机坏了。请你根据以下提示，给该商店客服发一封电子邮件。
(1)写作目的；
(2)具体问题：如手机黑屏，不能重启等；
(3)解决办法：如维修，更换新手机等。
注意：(1)词数在100字左右；
(2)可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
(3)开头语已为你写好。
Dear Sir or Madam,
My name is Li Hua, an exchange student from China.______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
假如英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错词下面划一横线，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仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起) 不计分。
More and more foreigners like to come to China. Last Friday our school was invited a foreign teacher in our city give a class to the students of Senior Grade Two. We found his class interested. I learned a lot from him. The teacher had a free talk to us with easy English. He spoke slow so that we could understand him well. Sometimes he repeated what we don’t understand. My classmates were all active in the class. To his joy, I understood everything the teacher said. And I was able to ask question in English. This class encouraged me very much. I’m sure that until we keep on practicing, it will be easy for us to learn speaking English well.
Americans are obsessed (着迷的) with telling their life stories. This phenomenon isn’t simply the product of the technological world. 1. People are eager to tell stories and are fascinated by those of others. Even at preschool, “sharing time” is a common Monday-morning activity where the teenagers will sit in a circle and take turns telling a story about something they did over the weekend.
2. In many Asian countries, talking about and drawing attention to oneself can be seen as socially inappropriate. People are often unwilling to share their life stories and do not encourage others to do so. But there are also times Asians do share their stories. 3. Asians believe that a person is largely decided by his or her social status and relationships, leaving little reason to broadcast detailed and revealing personal stories to establish a unique self.
Ironically, the more unique Americans strive to be, the greater their need to feel connected with others. In their culture of individuality, relationships are highly mobile and can be easily formed or dissolved(破裂).
Sharing personal stories brings them closer through the exchange of thoughts, feelings and desires. 4. But this motivation is not nearly as strong among Asians, for whom social relations are generally unconditional, obligatory(义不容辞的) and stable, and therefore require little maintenance(维护).
5. American parents encourage children to share their stories and create opportunities to re-experience the past with children. Asian parents, by contrast, engage their children in telling personal stories less frequently. When they do talk about a child’s experiences, they are not particularly concerned with parent-child bonding but tend to focus on disciplining the child.
A. They tend to focus more on outer facts than personal details.
B. It helps them shape their “selves” and makes them who they are.
C. Interestingly, this obsession is not necessarily shared in other cultures.
D. Talking about personal stories is to cheer people on with positive feelings.
E. It connects them like many different points, holding their society together.
F. Sharing personal stories is also an essential part in everyday conversations.
G. Parents in America and Asia differ in how they share memories with children.
The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
—Thomas Macaulay
Some thirty years ago, I was studying in a public school in New York. One day, Mrs. Nanette O'Neill gave an arithmetic ________ to our class. When the papers were marked she discovered that twelve boys had made exactly the ________ mistakes throughout the test.
There is nothing really new about ________ in exams. Perhaps that was why Mrs. O'Neill_________ even say a word about it. She only asked the twelve boys to ________ after class. I was one of the twelve.
Mrs. O'Neill asked ________ questions, and she didn't ________ us either. Instead, she wrote on the blackboard the ________ words by Thomas Macaulay. She then ordered us to ________ these words into our exercise-books one hundred times.
I don't ________ about the other eleven boys. Speaking for ________ I can say: it was the most important single ________ of my life. Thirty years after being introduced to Macaulay's words, they ________ seem to me the best yardstick(准绳), because they give us a ________ to measure ourselves rather than others.
________ of us are asked to make ________ decisions about nations going to war or armies going to battle. But all of us are called upon daily to make a great many personal decisions. ________ the wallet, found in the street, be put into a pocket_________ turned over to the policeman? Should the ________ change received at the store be forgotten or returned? Nobody will know except ________. But you have to live with yourself, and it is always better to live with someone you respect.
1.A. paper B. problem C. test D. lesson
2.A. easy B. funny C. same D. serious
3.A. lying B. cheating C. guessing D. discussing
4.A. didn't B. did C. would D. wouldn't
5.A. come B. leave C. apologize D. remain
6.A. no B. certain C. many D. more
7.A. excuse 
B. reject C. help D. scold
8.A. following B. common C. above D. unusual
9.A. repeat B. copy C. put D. get
10.A. worry B. know C. hear D. talk
11.A. myself B. ourselves C. themselves D. herself
12.A. chance B. incident C. lesson D. memory
13.A. even B. almost C. always D. still
14.A. way B. sentence C. choice D. reason
15.A. All B. Few C. Some D. None
16.A. quick B. wise C. great D. personal
17.A. Would B. Must C. Should D. Need
18.A. and B. or C. then D. but
19.A. extra B. small C. some D. necessary
20.A. me B. us C. you D. them
We already know the fastest, least expensive way to slow climate change: Use less energy. With a little effort, and not much money, most of us could reduce our energy diets by 25 percent or more—doing the Earth a favor while also helping our wallets.
Not long ago, my wife, PJ, and I tried a new diet—not to lose a little weight but to answer an annoying question about climate change. Scientists have reported recently that the world is bending up even faster than predicted only a few years ago, and that the consequences could be severe if we don't keep reducing emissions(排放) of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and other greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in our atmosphere.
We decided to try an experiment. For one month we recorded our personal emissions of CO2. We wanted to see how much we could cut back, so we went on a strict diet. The average US household(家庭) produces about 150 pounds of CO2 a day by doing common-place things like turning on air-conditioning or driving cars. That's more than twice the European average and almost five times the global average, mostly because Americans drive more and have bigger houses. But how much should we try to reduce?
For an answer, I checked with Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth. In his book, he had challenged readers to make deep cuts in personal emissions to keep the world from reaching extremely important tipping points, such as the melting(融化) of the ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. "To stay below that point, we need to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent," he said.
Good advice, I thought. I'd opened our bedroom windows to let in the wind. We'd gotten so used to keeping our air-conditioning going around the clock. I'd almost forgotten the windows even opened. We should not let this happen again. It's time for us to change our habits if necessary.
1.Why did the author and his wife try a new diet?
A. To take special kinds of food.
B. To respond to climate change.
C. To lose weight.
D. To improve their health.
2.The underlined words "tipping points" most probably refer to ________.
A. freezing points B. burning points
C. melting points D. boiling points
3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A. it is necessary to keep the air-conditioning on all the time
B. it seems possible for every household to cut emissions of CO2
C. the average US household produces about 3,000 pounds of CO2 a month
D. the average European household produces about 1,000 pounds of CO2 a month
