In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.

As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.

A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”

I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.

Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting my daughter’s experience.

While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.

1.What do we learn from the first paragraph?

A．A lot of amusements compete for children’s time nowadays.

B．Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities.

C．Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time.

D．Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.

2.What did the author say about her own writing experience?

A．She was constantly under pressure to write more.

B．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.

C．She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.

D．Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations.

3.Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?

A．She believed she possessed real talent for writing.

B．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.

C．She wanted to share her stories with readers.

D．She had won a prize in the previous contest.

4.The underlined sentence probably means that the author was _______.

A．trying not to let her daughter enjoy her own life

B．trying to get her daughter to do the thing as the author wished

C．making sure that her daughter would win the contest

D．helping her daughter develop real skills for writing

 

Most people nowadays are persistently seeking for opportunities that will assist them in reaching their goals. Marketing yourself is when there is a demand for you and your services that will help you achieve your goals.

Marketing yourself means you are simply “selling” yourself! The common problem in marketing yourself is that most people think that it is nasty to do this.They think that marketing concerns only to a business. Of course, this is absolutely not true. People who want to attain the success they desire must promote themselves.

In every attempt you make, just think that marketing yourself is a very useful tool. The better you market yourself, the more opportunities you will have. Marketing yourself does not really mean telling every person how beautiful and wonderful you are. It simply means telling your prospective employer that you exist, that you have the possibility of generating much greater income than your prospective employer makes. Or maybe you have the chance of doing something better. There are actually several different ways of marketing yourself.But there are only two primary approaches that you implement(实施)．The first is you find ways to reach out to others and the second is to construct ways in order for the people to find you and make connection with you.

In order for you to reach out and touch the lives of others, you have to be a good person and a good employee.In that way your good reputation will follow naturally. Have a brief and concise(简明) message that you can share with others.When you market yourself, you tell people who you are and what you can do for others.Plan well and practice your message.

In constructing ways for the people to notice and make connection with you, you must be open to them. Bear in mind that communication is a great opportunity to make an impact especially when you market yourself. You also communicate by what you are wearing.Know the appropriate dress code and have plenty of time to decide what you will wear. Just remember to make a great first impression!

1．According to the passage, in general people tend to think marketing yourself________.

A．is a very useful tool

B．will make you have more opportunities

C．is nasty and concerns only to a business

D．is natural

2．All of the following are true about the marketing yourself EXCEPT________.

A．if you can marketing yourself better, you will have more opportunities

B．if you want to succeed, you must learn how to market yourself

C．marketing yourself simply means making your boss know you can make more money than him

D．marketing yourself really means telling others you are beautiful and wonderful

3．In order to market yourself well, you can do these things EXCEPT________.

A．praise yourself greatly 　　　

B．wear appropriately

C．have a brief and clear message 　

D．be open to others

4．It can be concluded from the passage that________.

A．there are only two ways of marketing yourself

B．communication plays an important part in marketing yourself

C．you needn’t spent plenty of time to decide what you will wear

D．marketing yourself simply means telling your employer you must earn much greater than him

5．Which is the best title for this passage?

A．Achieving Your Goals　

B．Knowing the Appropriate Dress

C．Ways of Marketing Yourself

 

第二节：阅读第61-65题中5位想要出国留学的人员的情况简介，再根据A、B、C、D、E和F中六所大学的介绍，为他们选出合适的大学，并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。选项中有一项是多余选项。

________ 61. Wang Gang, who majors in the arts, wants to enter a world-famous university with a long history. He wants to find a job in England after graduation. And he hopes the cost of living there is not too high.

________ 62. Chen Fang hates the changeable weather. And she wants to enter a university where there are many kinds of social activities for her to take part in.

________ 63. Hu Die’s dream is to become an excellent teacher. And she wants to choose a university whose proportion (比例) of local students is high.

________ 64. Yang Hai, senior consultant (高级顾问) of a famous company, is intent on going abroad for advanced studies. And he wants to enter a university which can offer him practice chance.

________ 65. Li Ming wants to receive higher education in a famous Britain university with a long history. And he wants to enter a university whose proportion of overseas students is high. What’s more, his girl friend is studying at Oxford Brookes University. He wouldn’t like to be too far away from his girl friend.

A. Cardiff University is one of Britain’s major teaching and research universities. Located in the centre of the capital of Wales, it has an international reputation for the quality of its work which attracts staff and students from around the world.

The cost of living: ￡7,520

Employment rate: 70.1

The proportion of overseas students: 2.1

B. Cambridge University is one of the oldest instruction universities in the world, and one of the largest in the United Kingdom. Located in Cambridge, England, it has a world-wide reputation for outstanding academic achievement and the high quality of research undertaken in a wide range of science and arts subjects.

The cost of living: ￡7,000

Employment rate: 87.9

The proportion of overseas students: 6.5

C. Queen’s Belfast University is founded as Queen’s College Belfast by Queen Victoria in 1845. Located in Northern Ireland, it gained its independence in 1908. It is widely seen as Northern Ireland’s premier university. The university is known for its arts and social life. Clubs, pubs and bars abound, and there are abundant societies to join.

The cost of living: ￡6,000

Employment rate: 73.2

The proportion of overseas students: 4.1

D. Oxford University is the oldest university in Britain and one of the world’s most famous institutions of higher learning. It was established during the 1100’s. It is located in Oxford, England.

The cost of living: ￡9,250

Employment rate: 78.6

The proportion of overseas students: 6.8

E. West of Scotland University has a rich, diverse history inherited from the various institutions that preceded it. It carries out research and consultancy work for industry. Many courses at this university have an emphasis on vocational skills (职业技能) and offer students the option of spending a year working in industry at home or abroad.

The cost of living: ￡6,200

Employment rate: 70.1

The proportion of overseas students: 5.1

F. Oxford Brookes University is based at sites on the outskirts of Oxford. It is one of Britain’s leading new universities in terms of the courses that it offers. The quality of teaching is impressive and employment rates among graduates are high.

The cost of living: ￡8,520

Employment rate: 60.1

The proportion of overseas students: 5.9

 

The name “cowboy” conjures up many different images from movies, songs and TV. These imagined cowboys range from white-hat-wearing heroes to gun-shooting hooligans(流氓).But, cowboys are actually real people from US history.?

When the US Civil War ended, many soldiers had no place to call home. So, they began to drift to the country's rural West. Ranchers(农场主) hired these men to take care of the cattle and work around the ranch. When the ranch owner wanted to sell the cattle, the cowboys would round up the herd from the open prairie(牧场) and drive the cattle miles to the market.?

With the invention of barbed wire(铁丝网),the cowboy era(1865-1890) began to come to an end. But people in the East had always been curious about their lifestyle. Many country/western songs during this time tried to capture the true cowboy spirit. Newspapers published cowboy tales in serial form and adventure novels followed. The bigger the fiction, the better the sales. These novels often portrayed cowboys as cruel and violent men. Cowboys carried the bad reputation for many years afterwards.

When movies began to be popular in the 1920s,the cowboy image changed again. Now, a cowboy became the great white knight(骑士) that loved his horse more than the beautiful ladies he rescued. As the cowboy of the “Old West” spent more time with his horse than the ladies, this era's image was not entirely false.

Then, in the 50s,Hollywood began producing so-called “spaghetti westerns(意大利西部片)”.They earned the nickname because Italian companies financed the films and TV shows. This started the decade's “Cowboy Craze”.While this didn't last long, it made modern country/western music, fashion and dance extremely popular.?

In recent years, with the help of musicians, radio stations and bars, cowboy nostalgia(怀旧情绪) has returned. Even though his image is still changing—somewhere between ballad singing country boy and bar?room fighter—there's one thing for sure, you can't keep the cowboy down.?

During “the cowboy era” mentioned in the story, _______.?

A. the cowboy often came to the rescue of ladies in newspaper tales?

B. the distant Wild West appealed to people in the East?

C. cowboys were shown as cruel and violent men on the silver screen?

D. country music started the cowboy craze which swept the whole country

By saying “you can't keep the cowboy down”,the writer means that _______.

A. cowboys are real people in history   B. cowboys still fascinate people?

C. you can't make cowboys unhappy     D. you can't grasp the cowboy spirit?

Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?

A. The cowboy has been presented in different lights in different eras.?

B. Cowboys are gun-shooting hooligans, without doubt.?

C. Cowboys have always been a passing phenomenon.?

D. Cowboys enjoy Italian foods, for example, spaghetti.

We considered a list of the best American books. Here are five that may help accurately show the national character. Most from a century or so ago, they still entertain, teach, and inspire:

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

First published in 1851, the adventure stories of Captain Ahab and his monomaniacal(偏执的) pursuit of the white whale draw us into a universe full of fascinating characters and stories.

The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

Published in 1918, the book was an autobiography. Born in one of America’s most famous political families, Adams provides insight into his family, including his experience as private secretary to his father, minister to England during the American Civil war.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

When Whitman published Leaves of Grass in 1855, he wanted to accurately describe the American experience and reflect the great changes in the American literary world that had taken place during his lifetime.

Poems by Emily Dickinson

An enthusiastic poet whose works have had considerable influence on modern poetry, Dickson’s frequent use of dashes, occasional capitalization(大写) of nouns, and unconventional metaphors(隐喻) have contributed to her reputation as one of the most inventive poets of the 19^th century American literature. However, most of her poems were not published during her lifetime.

The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

First published in 1855, this is Longfellow’s most popular and most recognized poem, the heroic life and death of a magic American Indian, sent by the Great Spirit to guide the nations in the ways of peace.

1.Walt Whitman wrote Leaves of Grass in order to _______.

A. show his talent and heroic life to us

B. draw us into a fascinating universe

C. provide insight into his family

D. reflect the great changes in the American literary world

2.If you want to read a story about a magic American Indian, you can read _______.

A. Moby-Dick             B. The Song of Hiawatha

C. Poems                 D. Leaves of Grass

3.Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Because the five books are from a century or so ago, they can’t teach and inspire us.

B. Herman Melville was considered as one of the most inventive poets of the 19^th century American literature.

C. The Education of Henry Adams is a non-fiction book.

D. Of the five books, Moby-Dick was published last.

4.Why did the author write the passage?

A. To introduce several best American books to readers.

B. To make an advertisement for a book store.

C. To tell stories of several famous writers.

D. To talk about some knowledge about literature.