Are you an optimist? Do you look at your glass and see it as half full? Do you believe that every cloud has a silver lining and that things generally turn out for the best? Do you believe that if something is meant to be, it will be? If you reply “yes” to all of these questions, then you are an optimist. You probably are enthusiastic, cheerful and outgoing. You may be successful at work and in love.

But you may be misguided because things don't turn out for the best. You may believe that when on door closes another one opens(for example, you may fail to obtain a new job; another chance will come around soon). Wrong. When one door closes, another door slams(砰然關上)in your face. That's bitter reality.

Now a book has been published which confirms what pessimists(悲觀者)have suspected all along. it's called The Positive Power of Defensive Pessimism. Its author argues that defensive pessimism can lead to positive results. Defensive pessimism is a strategy used to manage fear, anxiety and worry. Defensive pessimists prepare for the tings by setting low outcomes for themselves. They carefully consider everything that may go wrong and plan for ways to handle these problems. And this gives them a sense of control. Lawrence Sanno, a psychology professor, says, “What's interesting about defensive pessimists is that they tend to be very successful people, so their low opinion of the situation's outcomes is not realistic. They use it to motivate themselves to perform better.”

So far，so good. This is not rocket science. Defensive pessimists prepare carefully and consider what might go wrong, whether at work, on date or even in a sports game. It makes sense to have a back-up plan. There are many sayings in English urging caution. For example, “Don't put all your eggs in one basket.”

And “Don't count your chickens until they hatch.” To have a confident and optimistic approach to life's problems is good. But listen to what Woody Alien, the American comedian says ,”Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem.”

There are pros and cons to being an optimist and a pessimist. Don't feel bad if you see the glass half empty. You are a realist But lighten up and hook up with someone who sees the same glass half full.

1.What's the passage mainly about?

A. A book that has recently been published.

B. How to become successful in life

C. The dangers of being too optimistic.

D. The benefits of defensive pessimism.

2.The underlined sentence “This is not rocket science”(Para.4)means ______.

A. it's not a dangerous thing to do

B. it is quite simple to understand

C. the cost is not so high

D. there is no real proof

3.Which of the following English expressions would a defensive pessimist believe?

A. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

B. The glass is half full not half empty.

C. Whatever will be, will be.

D. Every cloud has a silver lining.

4.The writer would probably describe himself as ______.

A. an optimist B. a defeatist

C. a realist D. a scientist

For the rest of March, a disease will sweep across the US. It will keep kids home from school. _1.__ Employees will suddenly lose their ability to concentrate.

The disease, known as “March Madness”, refers to the yearly 65-team US men’s college basketball tournament(錦標賽). _2.__ Teams compete against each other in a single-elimination(單局淘汰) tournament that eventually crowns a national champion.

_3.__ The fun comes partly from guessing the winners for every game. Friends compete against friends. Husbands against wives. Colleagues against bosses.

Big-name schools are usually favored to advance into the tournament. But each year there are dark horses from little-known universities. This adds to the madness. Watching a team from a school with 3,000 students beat a team from a school with 30,000, for many Americans, is an exciting experience. Two years ago, the little-known George Mason University was one of the final teams. __4.__

College basketball players are not paid, so the game is more about making a name for their university and themselves. _5._ About $4 billion will be spent gambling on the event. According to Media Life magazine, the event will bring in $500 million in advertising income this year, topping the post-season income of every US professional league, including that of the NBA.

A. Nearly 20 million Americans will find themselves prisoners of basketball festival Madness.

B. The players will go all out for the games.

C. But that doesn’t mean money isn’t involved.

D. College students will ignore piles of homework.

E. People are willing to spend more money on watching it.

F. It begins on March 15 and lasts through the beginning of April.

G. Many people had never even heard of the university before the tournament.

假如你是北京陽光中學的李濤，今年暑假你打算到紐約自助游，你在沙發(fā)網(wǎng)上找到了一位愿意免費為你提供住宿的美國人Peter，請根據(jù)下表提供的信息，給Peter 寫一封信，介紹你的情況以及你的需求。

注意：1. 詞數(shù)不少于50；

2. 可適當增加細節(jié)，以使行文連貫；

3. 開頭和結尾已給出，不計入總詞數(shù)。

Dear Peter,

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Tao

假設你是紅星中學高二（1）班的學生李華。下面四幅圖描述了上周五你在放學路上，撞倒一位騎車老人并實施救助的過程。請根據(jù)圖片的先后順序，寫一篇英文周記。

注意： 1．文章的開頭已為你寫好；2．詞數(shù)不少于60。

Last Friday _____________________________________________________________

Driving to a friend’s house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just above my friend’s rooftop. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it is that most city people --- myself included --- usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.

My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.

I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.

Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fiber-glass. We have television, cell phones, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.

Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought, “Before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains. And perhaps write, but not in anger. I may become an old man there, and wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touched the moon.”

1.The best title for the passage would be _________.

A. Break away from Modern life

B. Touched by the Moon

C. A Bottomless well of Silence

D. The Pleasures of Modern Life

2.The writer felt sorry for himself because __________.

A. there was too much pollution.

B. there were too many accidents on the road.

C. he failed to see the fullest moon.

D. he didn’t adapt to modern inventions

3.Modern things are mentioned mainly to ___________.

A. show that the writer likes city life very much.

B. explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature.

C. tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life.

D. show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them.

4.The author wrote the passage to __________.

A. show the love for the moonlight.

B. want to communicate longing for modern life.

C. advise modern people to learn to live.

D. express the feeling of returning to nature.

Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.

My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome successful man devoted to his work and family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone was my father’s critical (挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our time together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.

1. What does the author think of her father before her visit to Tucson?

A. He was silent most of the time.

B. He was too proud of himself.

C. He expected too much of her.

D. He did not love his children.

2. When the author went out with her father on weekends, she would feel ____ .

A. tired B. nervous C. sorry D. Strict and hare-working.

3. What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?

A. Gentle and friendly. B. More talkative.

C. More critical. D. Strict and hard-working.

4.The underlined words “my new friend” in the last paragraph refer to _____ .

A. the author’s son

B. the café owner

C. the friend of the author’s father

D. the author’s father

THEATRE

City Varieties

The Headrow, Leeds. Tel. 430808

Oct 10—11 only A Night at the Varieties. All the fun of an old music hall with Barry Cryer,Duggle Brown, 6 dancers, Mystina, Jon Barker, Anne Dural and the Tony Harrison Trio; Laugh again at the old jokes and listen to your favorite songs.

Performances: 8 pm nightly.

Admission: ?5; under 16 or over 60: ?4.

York Theatre Royal

St Leonard's Place, York. Tel. 223568

Sept. 23--Oct 17 Groping for Words - a comedy by Sue Townsend. Best known for her Adrian Mole Diaries, Townsend now writes about an evening class, which two men and a woman attend. A gentle comedy.

Admission: First night, Mon: ?2; Tues—Fri: ?3.25 - 5.50; Sat: ?3.50 - 5.75.

Halifax Playhouse

King's Cross Street, Halifax. Tel. 365998

Oct 10—17 On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson. This is a magical comedy about real people. A beautifully produced, well-acted play for everyone. Don't miss it.

Performances: 7:30 pm.

Admission: ?2. Mon: 2 seats for the price of one

Grand Theatre

Oxford Street, Leeds. Tel. 502116

Restaurant and Caf?

Oct —17 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13. Sue Townsend’s musical play, based on her best-selling book.

Performances: Evenings 7:45. October 10—17,at 2:30 pm. No Monday performances.

Admission: Tues—Thurs: ?2—5; Fri & Sat: ?2—6.

1. Which theatre offers the cheapest seat?

A. City Varieties B. Halifax Playhouse

C. Grand Theatre D. York Theatre Royal

2.If you want to see a play with old jokes and songs, which phone number will you ring to book a seat?

A. 430808 B. 223568 C. 365998 D. 502116

3. We may learn from the text that Sue Townsend is________.

A. a musician B. an actress

C. a writer D. a director

Have you ever wondered?

1. Why do airplanes take longer to fly west than east?

It can take five hours to go west-east from New York (NY) to London but seven hours to travel east-west from London to NY. The reason for the difference is an atmospheric phenomenon known as the jet(噴射) stream. The jet stream is a very high altitude wind which always blows from the west to the east across the Atlantic. The planes moving at a constant air speed thus go faster in the west-east direction when they are moving with the wind than in the opposite direction.

2. What would happen if the gravity on Earth was suddenly turned off?

Supposing we could magically turn off gravity. Would buildings and other structures float away? What happened would depend on how strongly the things were attached to the Earth. The Earth is moving at quite a speed, moving at over a thousand miles per hour. If you turn something round your head on a string, it goes around in a circle until you let go of the string. Things not attached to the Earth would fly off in a straight line. People in buildings would suddenly shoot upwards at a great speed until they hit the ceiling. Most things would fly off into space.

1. What information can we get from the first passage?

A. The jet stream always blows from the east to the west across the Atlantic.

B. Planes go slower when they are moving with the wind.

C. It takes more time to fly from NY to London than from London to NY.

D. It is the jet stream that affects how fast airplanes fly.

2. The word “shoot” underlined in the 2nd passage probably means“ ______”.

A. send for B. come out

C. move quickly D. grow quickly

3. It can be inferred that without gravity _________.

A. trees and buildings would not so easily fly off

B. buildings and other structures would float away

C. something around your head would not float away

D. everything outside buildings would fly off into space

4. Where can we most probably read this text?

A. In a student’s book B. In a short story

C. In a travel magazine D. In a research paper

根據(jù)短文內容，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。

Are your children liked by their teachers? All parents want their children to impress their teachers and succeed in school．You can get your children to impress their teachers by following these easy steps．

1.

Teachers are impressed by children coming to school prepared to learn. Make sure they have everything they need：pencils，textbooks，erasers and so on．

2.

Teach them to ask teachers questions when they don’t understand something. Some children think teachers are bothered by questions，but most teachers are impressed when children take the initiative（主動）to ask．They should take part in class discussions，giving their opinions politely．

Keep your children healthy．

If your children are tired and hungry，they won’t be ready to learn．Children need at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night． 3. Provide them with fruit and other healthy foods—apples or bananas are better for them than cookies．

Make sure that your children do their homework．

If they really don’t understand it，discuss it with them patiently． 4. Teachers can always tell who is doing the work．

Teach your children good manners and habits．

Children need to arrive at school on time，and be polite to their teachers and classmates． 5. Nothing is sweeter than children who say “please” and “thank you” and these are children their teachers are certain to love．

A．Require them to be active in class．

B．Don’t do their homework for them．

C．Parents need to teach these skills at home.

D．Tell your children to behave themselves as often as possible．

E．Make sure your children can become taller.

F．Feed your children a solid breakfast and prepare a healthy lunch．

G．Make sure they’re prepared．

完形填空閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給四個選項（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。

It was pouring outside. We all stood there ________ , some patiently, others annoyed ________ nature messed up (弄糟) their hurried day. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens __ ________ away the dirt and dust of the world.

“Mom , let’s run through the rain,” a girl’s voice ________ me.

“No, honey. We’ll wait until it ________ down a bit,” Mom replied.

The young girl waited about another minute and ________, “Mom, let’s run through the rain.”

“We’ll get wet if we do,” Mom said.

“No, we won’t, Mom. That’s not what you said this morning,” the young girl said as she________ her Mom’s arm.

“This morning? ________ did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?”

“Don’t you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ‘ If God can get us through this, he can get us through ________ .’ ”

The entire crowd turned ________ . Mom paused and thought for a moment about ________ she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being ________ But then we heard, “Honey, you are________ . Let’s run through the rain. If we get wet, maybe we just need washing,” Mom said. Then ________ they ran.

We all stood ________, smiling and laughing as they ran past the cars. Yes, they got wet. But they were ________ by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the ________ to their cars. Circumstances (境況) or people can take away your material possessions, and they can even take away your ________ . But no one can ever take away your precious ________ . So, don’t forget to make time and take the ________ to make memories every day! I hope you still take the time to run through the rain.

1.A．waiting B．talking C．complaining D．expecting

2.A．a(chǎn)s if B．even if C．when D．because

3.A．taking B．washing C．driving D．putting

4.A．broke B．caught C．impressed D．called

5.A．pushes B．comes C．slows D．calms

6.A．a(chǎn)sked B．required C．repeated D．a(chǎn)dded

7.A．felt B．touched C．waved D．pulled

8.A．Why B．When C．How D．Where

9.A．the rain B．the disease C．something D．a(chǎn)nything

10.A．silent B．still C．serious D．a(chǎn)ngry

11.A．whether B．how C．what D．if

12.A．dishonest B．forgetful C．daring D．silly

13.A．stupid B．right C．clever D．wrong

14.A．on B．a(chǎn)long C．off D．over

15.A．sighing B．joking C．discussing D．watching

16.A．guided B．followed C．respected D．praised

17.A．way B．time C．same D．best

18.A．health B．money C．house D．time

19.A．children B．courage C．memories D．experience

20.A．Opportunities B．challenge C．risk D．possibilities