“Mama, when I grow up, I’m going to be one of those!” I said this after seeing the Capital Dancing Company perform when I was three. It was the first time that my ____________ took on a vivid form and acted as something important to start my training. As I grew older and was ____________ to more, my interests in the world of dance ___________ varied but that little girl’s dream of someday becoming a __________ in the company never left me. In the summer of 2005 when I was 18, I received the phone call which made that dream a ____________; I became a member of the company ___________ back to 1925.
As I look back on that day now, it surely ___________ any sense of reality. I believe I stayed in a state of pleasant disbelief ___________ I was halfway through rehearsals (排练) on my first day. I never actually ___________ to get the job. After being offered the position, I was completely ___________. I remember shaking with excitement.
Though I was absolutely thrilled with the change, it did not come without its fair share of __________. Through the strict rehearsal period of dancing six days a week, I found it vital to ___________ up the material fast with every last bit of concentration. It is that extreme ___________ to detail (细节) and stress on practice that set us ___________ To then follow those high-energy rehearsals _____________ a busy show schedule of up to five performances a day, I discovered a new __________ of the words “hard work.” What I thought were my physical ___________ were pushed much further than I thought ___________. I learned to make each performance better than the last.
Today, when I look at the unbelievable company that I have the great ____________ of being a part of, not only as a member, but as a dance captain, I see a __________that has inspired not only generations of little girls but a splendid company that continues to develop and grow-and inspires people every day to follow their dreams.
1.A. hobby B. plan C. dream D. word
2.A connected B. expanded C. exposed D. extended
3.A. rarely B. certainly C. probably D. consistently
4.A. director B. trainer C. leader D. dancer
5.A. symbol B. memory C. truth D. reality
6.A. bouncing B. dating C. turning D. tracking
7.A. lacks B. adds C. makes D. brings
8.A. while B. since C. until D. when
9.A. Cared B. Expected C. Asked D. Decided
10.A. motivated B. relaxed C. convinced D. astonished
11.A. challenges B. profits C. advantages D. adventures
12.A. put B. mix C. build D. pick
13.A. Attention B. association C. attraction D. adaptation
14.A. apart B. aside C. off D. back
15.A. over B. by C. with D. beyond
16.A. function B. meaning C. expression D. usage
17.A. boundaries B. problems C. barriers D. efforts
18.A. necessary B. perfect C. proper D. possible
19.A. talent B. honor C. potential D. responsibility
20.A. victory B. trend C. tradition D. Desire
完形填空
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项 (A、B、C和D) 中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Around twenty years ago I was living in York．_________I had a lot of experience and a Master's degree, I could not find_________ work..
I was_________ a school bus to make ends meet and _________ with a friend of mine, for I had lost my flat．I had _________five interviews with a company and one day between bus runs they called to say I did not _________ the job．“Why has my life become so _________ ?” I thought painfully.
As I pulled the bus over to _________ a little girl, she handed me an earring _________ I should keep it _________ somebody claimed (认领) it．The earring was painted black and said “BE HAPPY”.
At first I got angry．Then it _________ me – I had been giving all of my_________ to what was going wrong with my _________ rather than what was right! I decided then and there to make a _________ of fifty things I was happy with．Later, I decided to _________ more things to the list．That night there was a phone call for _________ from a lady who was a director at a larger _________．She asked me if I would_________ a one-day lecture on stress management to 200 medical workers．I said yes. My _________there went very well, and before long I got a well-paid job．To this day I know that it was because I changed my way of _________ that I completely changed my life.
1.A．As B．Though C．If D．When
2.A．successful B．extra C．satisfying D．convenient
3.A．driving B．repairing C．taking D．designing
4.A．working B．travelling C．discussing D．living
5.A．prepared for B．attended C．asked for D．held
6.A．lose B．like C．find D．get
7.A．hard B．busy C．serious D．short
8.A．wave at B．drop off C．call on D．look for
9.A．ordering B．promising C．saying D．showing
10.A．in case B．or else C．as if D．now that
11.A．hurt B．hit C．caught D．moved
12.A．feelings B．attention C．strength D．interests
13.A．opinions B．education C．experiences D．life
14.A．list B．book C．check D．copy
15.A．connect B．turn C．keep D．add
16.A．her B．a passenger C．me D．my friend
17.A．hospital B．factory C．restaurant D．hotel
18.A．listen to B．review C．give D．talk about
19.A．plan B．choice C．day D．tour
20.A．operation B．speaking C．employment D．thinking
任务型阅读
根据对话情景和内容，从对话后的选项中选出能入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Clara Barton，founder of the American Red Cross，gained worldwide honor for her dedication to easing human suffering and earned the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield.”
Barton was born into a liberal (开明的) freethinking family in 1821. Her elder brothers and sisters happily tutored her in math and reading, so when she entered school at three years old, she could read and spell three-syllable words. ___1.___
Concerned about Barton's difficulty in making friends, her parents sent her to a boarding school, hoping it would make her more comfortable with her peers. ___2.___ Barton lost her appetite and cried constantly. After only one term, she had to be brought home. Then, Barton stayed out of school to nurse her older brother through a serious injury and also volunteered to care for poor families during a smallpox (天花）outbreak.
In 1861，the Civil War broke out. The sight of wounded soldiers touched Barton deeply. She began to collect and distribute food, bandages, medicines, and other supplies for the Union army.
___3.___ There, with little concern for her own safety, she cooked meals, assisted surgeons, and comforted wounded soldiers.
Eventually，because of working too hard，Barton collapsed，ill with typhoid fever (伤寒症). ___4.____ It was there that she learned of an organization based in Switzerland --- called the International Red Cross, whose work mirrored her own.
Shortly after Barton arrived back home in 1873，her sister died. ___5.____ When recuperating (休养）at a health facility in New York，she began planning for the establishment of an American wing of the International Red Cross. Although at first the government resisted，her efforts finally paid off. The American Red Cross was officially organized on May 21, 1881. Her influence lives on today in the work of the organization she founded.
A. Barton fell into a deep depression.
B. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.
C. Many people felt sorry for the loss of her sister and her own health.
D. Barton risked her life to transport wagonloads（货车装载量）of supplies to the front lines.
E. When she recovered, her doctors prescribed (指示) a long, restful trip to Europe.
F. Barton spent the following several months learning basics about Swiss Cross.
G. She easily kept up with the older children academically but did not fit in socially.
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Edmund Halley was an English scientist who lived over 200 years ago. He studied the observations of comets (彗星) which other scientists had made. The orbit（轨道）of one particular comet was a very difficult mathematical problem. He could not figure it out. Neither could other scientists who dealt with such problems.
However, Halley had a friend named Isaac Newton, who was a brilliant mathematician. Newton thought he had already worked out that problem, but he could not find the papers on which he had done it. He told Halley that the orbit of a comet had the shape of an ellipse(椭圆形).
Now Halley set to work. He figured out(解决，计算出)the orbits of some of the comets that had been observed by scientists. He made a surprising discovery. The comets that had appeared in the years 1531, 1607, and 1682 all had the same orbit. Yet their appearance had been 75 to 76 years apart.
This seemed very strange to Halley. Three different comets followed the same orbit. The more Halley thought about it, the more he thought that there had not been three different comets as people thought. He decided that they had simply seen the same comet three times. The comet had gone away and had come back again.
It was an astonishing idea! Halley felt certain to make a prediction(预言)of what would happen in the future. He decided that this would appear in the year 1758. There were 53 years to go before Halley’s prediction could be tested. In 1758 the comet appeared in the sky. Halley did not see it, for he had died some years before. Ever since then that comet had been called Halley’s comet, in his honor.
1.Edmund Halley figured out the orbit of ____.
A. some different comets appearing several times
B. the same comet appearing at different times
C. three different comets appearing at the same time
D. several comets appearing at the same time
2.Halley made his discovery ____.
A. by doing experiments
B. by means of his own careful observation
C. by using the working of other scientists
D. by chance
3.Halley made a surprising, but correct prediction in the year____.
A. 1704 B. 1705 C. 1706 D. 1707
4.This passage in general is about ____.
A. Halley and other scientists B. the orbit of a comet
C. Newton and Halley D. Halley and his discovery
CANYOUIMAGINEHOWHARDITWOULDBETOREADSENTENCESLIKETHIS? Every one of us gets so used to punctuation marks that not many of us give them a second thought. Actually, the ancient Greeks wrote this way. The lack of punctuation marks probably didn’t bother good readers, though. As they read, they just put pauses where they fit best. Also at this time, sentences switched directions. A sentence read from left to right. The next one read right to left, and then left to right again, etc. The ancient Romans sometimes punctuated like this: They • put • something • that • can • separate • words • in • a • sentence. The word punctuation actually comes from this idea and the Latin word punctum, which means a dot.
When the 5th century arrived, there were just two punctuation marks: spaces and points. The spaces separated words while the points showed pauses in reading. Then in the 13th century, a printer named Aldus Manutius tried to standardize punctuation. He always used a period for a complete stop at the end of a sentence. He used a slash (/) to indicate a short pause. Over time, that slash was shortened and curled, and it became the modern comma (逗号).
Since that time, other marks have enlarged the punctuation family. The exclamation mark (感叹号) comes from the Latin word io. It means “exclamation of joy.” The question mark originally started out as the Latin word questio, meaning question. Eventually, scholars put it at the end of a sentence to show a question.
Punctuation even keeps changing nowadays. New marks are coming into existence, and old punctuation marks are used in new ways. Take for example the “interrobang”. This 1962 invention combines the question mark and exclamation mark for times when writers want both. For example, “She did what?” or “How much did you pay for that dress?” Obviously, the interrobang is not widely used or recognized yet, but its invention shows that English is not yet finished with its punctuation.
1.From the first paragraph, we can know that _______.
A. good readers had trouble reading without punctuation marks
B. a sentence always read from left to right in ancient Greece
C. ancient Greeks switched the direction of punctuation marks
D. the use of punctuation marks can date back to ancient times
2.The passage is developed _______.
A. by time B. by space
C. by comparison D. by importance
3.We can learn from the passage that _______.
A. ancient Romans didn’t use any punctuation marks
B. exclamation and question marks came from Latin
C. spaces and slashes were already used before the 5th century
D. Aldus Manutius first started to use commas
4.What can be concluded from the last paragraph?
A. The combination of two marks will not work.
B. It takes time for people to accept new punctuation marks.
C. Old punctuation marks need to be standardized.
D. Punctuation marks are still changing today.
