What’s your idea about success? Some people say that beginners have all the luck, while others believe that success    1 only with practice. In fact, I feel both of these statements (陈述) are not true all the time. Each is true in some ways    2   not in others.

For example, I went to a drawing competition many years ago and   3   surprisingly. As a prize, I got a film ticket to see “Titanic”. I was really   4  because it was the first time I had taken part in any competition, Thinking that I might be lucky again, I  5  joining in other art competitions, But the result was that I   6  won again. I accepted the fact that the other people had a  7  artistic ability than I did. Art was not something I was especially interested in and I had never practiced the different art skills. So, the  8 I produced were not of a very high standard(水平).

These experiences taught me a lot. Though I might have been lucky  9 , I also need to put in hard work. As we know,  10 makes perfect. So I believe success builds on less luck and chance.

1.                A．moves         B．comes          C．returns   D．leaves

 

2.                A．or             B．so             C．and  D．but

 

3.                A．won           B．began          C．failed D．ended

 

4.                A．sorry          B．active          C．lucky D．nervous

 

5.                A．tried           B．forgot          C．stopped  D．remembered

 

6.                A．often          B．ever           C．seldom   D．never

 

7.                A．greater         B．more natural     C．lower    D．more common

 

8.                A．results         B．films           C．prizes    D．drawings

 

9.                A．at last          B．at most         C．at first    D．at least

 

10.               A．chance         B．practice        C．difference D．experience

 

 

Sheila bought a new lunch bag for school.

On the way to school, she looked inside. She hoped that a new lunch bag meant something new for lunch,   16   she found the same lunch as always---a sandwich.

When the lunch bell rang. Sheila found her bag and carried it to the dining hall. She opened it and   17   two pieces of fried chicken, several strawberries, and an egg.

“Wow!” Sheila said, “That’s what I call   18   !”

The next morning, Sheila opened her lunch bag and looked inside. Sure enough, she found another   19   . But when she opened the bag at lunchtime in the dining hall, she discovered a piece of pizza, an orange, and a cake.

“My lunch bag  20   be magic,” Sheila said.

“There’s no such thing as magic,” her friend Douglas  21   .

“There is,” Sheila said. “My mother   22   packs me a sandwich. But ever since I got this new lunch bag, the sandwich has changed into something I like.”

“Maybe your mother’s packing   23   things for a change.”

“No,” Sheila said. “I checked in the morning. The sandwich changes   24   .”

“You are not the   25   one with a magic lunch bag,” Beatrice said, turning around from the table behind her. “I have one, too. See? This is my magic bag.”

“Hey,” Sheila said. “My lunch bag really looks like yours.”

“Mine is magic,” said Beatrice. “Every day my dad  26   leftovers(剩饭), but at lunchtime I find a sandwich---my favorite!”

Sheila started   27   .

“What’s so funny?” Beatrice asked.

“That’s the sandwich my mother packs,” Sheila said. “We’ve been getting our lunch bags   28   up.”

Sheila and  29   shared their lunches every day after that. Sheila loved making new discoveries each time she opened her lunch bag. But her best discovery was magically finding a new   30   .

1.A. and             B. so                C. but              D. or

2.A. showed          B. discovered         C. wanted           D. offered

3.A. lunch bag         B. dining hall         C. breakfast         D. lunch

4.A. sandwich         B. chicken            C. egg             D. orange

5.A. can              B. must              C. may            D. need

6.A. disturbed         B. discovered          C. disappeared      D. disagreed

7.A. never            B. seldom             C. often           D. ever

8.A. different          B. same              C. easy            D. delicious

9.A. at home          B. during school         C. on the way       D. after lunchtime

10.A. last              B. next                C. extra            D. only

11.A. packs            B. cooks               C. leaves           D. checks

12.A. shouting          B. nodding             C. laughing         D. finding

13.A. fixed             B. used                C. broken          D. mixed

14.A. Douglas          B. Beatrice              C. Sheila’s mother   D. Beatrice’s father

15.A. friend            B. classroom            C. classmate        D. school

 

缺词填空（根据短文内容及首字母提示，填入所缺单词）（共10空，每空1分，满分10分）

Many books have been written about “the art of giving”. But what about the art of r  1  ? Sometimes, receiving a gift can be difficult, especially when someone buys you a gift you don’t want!

“I remember when I was about twelve years old, my parents b  2  me a purple purse,” laughs Guo Xiaojing. “It really made me feel embarrassed(尴尬), because I thought the purse was really ugly！Still, I pretended (假装)that I liked it b  3  I knew it would make my parents happy!”

Han Ling agrees. “That sounds like my grandparents！A few years ago, my grandparents gave me an orange sweater f  4  my birthday. I used to wear it every time I visited them, but when I left their house, I took it off! Of course, this made me feel g  5  . It was a very nice thought, but my grandparents have different taste from me! I think it’s hard to buy clothes or other personal things for people.”

To make things easier, some people would rather just give money. In some cultures, h  6   , receiving money can make people uncomfortable. “When someone gives me money, it j   7    makes me think they’re being lazy,” says John Wilson. “In England, we have a saying: It’s the thought that counts. When s   8   gives me money, I feel they don’t think at all. I prefer to receive a gift that has some thought behind it. I don’t mind if it’s something I don’t need. If someone has thought about a g   9   for me, it always makes me happy.”

Different people have very different thoughts on this subject! So maybe the art of receiving is e 10   more difficult than the art of giving! What do you think?

 

One summer vacation in my college, my roommate Ted asked to me to work on his father’s farm in Argentina. The idea was exciting. Then I had second thoughts. I had never been far from New England, and I had been homesick my first few weeks at college. What about the language? The more I thought about it, the more the idea worried me.
Finally, I turned down the invitation. Then I realized I had turned down something I wanted to do because I was scared and felt depressed(沮丧). That experience taught me a valuable lesson and I developed a rule for myself: do what makes you anxious(焦虑); don’t do what makes you depressed.
In my senior year, I wanted to be a writer. But my professor wanted me to teach. I hesitated. The idea of writing was much scarier than spending a summer in Argentina. Back and forth I went, making my decision, unmaking it. Suddenly I realized that every time I gave up the idea of writing, that downhearted feeling went through me.
Giving up writing really depressed me. Then I learned another lesson. To avoid the depression meant having to bear much worry and concern.
When I first began writing articles, I often interviewed big names. Before each interview I would get butterflies in the stomach. One of them was the great composer Duke Ellington. On the stage and on television, he seemed very confident. Then I learned Ellington still got stage fright（害怕）. If Ellington still had anxiety attacks, how could I avoid them? I went on doing those frightening interviews. Little by little, I was even looking forward to the interviews. Where were those butterflies?
In truth, they were still there, but fewer of them. I had learned from a process psychologists（心理学家） call “extinction”. If you put an individual in an anxious situation often, finally there isn’t anything to be worried about, which brings me to a conclusion: you’ll never get rid of anxiety by avoiding the things that caused it.
The point is that the new, the different, is definitely scary. But each time you try something, you learn, and as the learning piles up, the world opens to you.
【小题1】We can infer from the passage that the author________. 

A．finds it difficult to make decision

B．has found out what causes anxiety

C．was encouraged by Duke Ellington’s stage fright

D．no longer feels anxious about new experiences

【小题2】What does the word “extinction” in Paragraph 6 means?

A．a person’s loss of confidence little by little

B．the natural development of a child’s abilities

C．the inborn ability to avoid anxious situations

D．the process of losing fear by keeping facing anxiety

【小题3】Which of the following opinions does the writer probably accept?

A．Anxiety can be a positive drive

B．Hesitation leads to depression.

C．Avoiding anxiety reduces depression.

D．Depression is a signal that one is growing up.

【小题4】What's the best title for the passage?

A．Confidence: Key to Success

B．Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name

C．Depression: A Psychological Appearance

D．Success: A Trip Through Anxiety and Depression

 --Did you do _____ interesting yesterday?   --Yes, ______.

A. anything, I did    B. anything, I was    C. something, I did    D. something, I was