One of the big challenges that students face in applying to universities abroad is writing the application essay．
The essay topics all have something in common．They attempt to get at what type of person you are, what motivates you，and what you feel passion for．In a single 500-word piece of writing，
admissions officers（招生负责人）attempt to gather all about you．So your task is of your personality on the essay and make yourself special．
You can try and guess what the admissions officers like．But that won’t work．The essay will sound empty and become another dull piece of writing，which admissions officers get thousands each year．
It is true that admissions officers aren’t exactly looking for anything．The answer is just as open-ended as the question itself．If they ask for someone who has inspired you, it could be anyone．It could be a grandmother, a teacher, or even a character from a movie．A lot of people will say their dad．But since you really feel it, you’ll have a lot to write about．
There are some important things to remember．These admissions officers want good writers．You don't have to be Ernest Hemingway, but you have to be able to form an interesting story．That means revision（校对）and editing，cutting out stupid grammar mistakes，reading it over several times，leaving it for a few days and looking at it again．Whatever you do, make sure the essay is as good as possible．
Also，you should use exciting language and really make the reader feel the same passion as you do．It also means finding something unique about your point of view, something that other people might not think of．For example，if you want to write about your dad, you can focus on a specific anecdote（趣闻）about him ．Admissions officers love personal stories that ring true．The purpose of the passage is to give advice on how to_________．
A．choose an essay topic B．read the officers’ minds
C．be a good writer D write an effective applicationThe underlined part of paragraph 2 suggests that you__________．
| A．stick enough stamps before posting your application essay |
| B．write something unique in an essay to impress the readers |
| C．take the task of showing off yourself seriously |
| D．pay attention to your personal essay |
When admissions officers ask who has inspired you，they mean to________．
| A．know about your family members | B．understand you better |
| C．find out what your father does | D．discover your personal affairs |
According to the writer, it is wise to produce an essay with__________．
| A．500 beautiful words | B．many funny things | C．truthful specific stories | D．indirect answers |
I was telling my boy Sonny the story of the hare (兔子) and the tortoise (乌龟). At the end I said. “Son, remember: Slow and steady (稳固的) wins the race. Don’t you think there’s something to learn from the tortoise?”
Sonny opened his eyes wide, “Do you mean next time when I’m participating in the 60-metre race I should wish that Billy and Tony and Sandy would all fall asleep halfway?”
I was shocked, “But the tortoise didn’t wish that the hare would fall asleep on the way!”
“He must have wished that,” Sonny said. “Otherwise how could he be so stupid as to race with the hare? He knew very well the hare ran a hundred times faster than he himself did.”
“He didn’t have such a wish,” I insisted, “He won the race by perseverance , by pushing on steadily.”
Sonny thought a while. “That’s a lie,” he said. “He won it because he was lucky. If the hare hadn’t happened to fall asleep, the tortoise would never have won the race. He could be as steady as you like, or a hundred times steadier, but he’d never have won the race. That’s for sure.”
I gave up. Today’s children are not like what we used to be. They’re just hopeless.
61.Sonny believed that the tortoise ________.
won the race by his own effort
B. took a risk by agreeing to race
C. was not given a fair chance in the race
D. in fact did not win the race
62.Billy, Tony and Sandy must be ________.
A. boys who were unknown to Sonny’s father
B. boys Sonny had run races with before
C. boys Sonny had never raced with before
D. boys Sonny did not expect to race with again
63.The writer thinks that his generation (代) ________.
A. were more clever than Sonny’s generation
B. had the same ideas about life as Sonny’s generation
C. were more hopeful than Sonny’s generation
D. had different ideas about life from Sonny’s generation
Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all whether rich or poor, clever or stupid, one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough: we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degrees; they refuse to do what they think “low” work; and in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we would get terrible diseases in our towns.
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we are educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability, and secondly, that we realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that it is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.
52. The writer of this passage thinks that________.
A. free education can solve all of the world’s problems
B. free education for all probably leads to a perfect world
C. free education won’t help to solve social problems
D. all the social problems can’t be solved by free education
53. The writer wants to prove that___________.
A. our society needs all kinds of jobs
B. our society needs free education for all
C. a farmer is more important than a professor
D. people with university degrees earn more money
54. According to the passage, ____________.
A. work with hands is dirty and shameful
B. work with hands is low work
C. work with hands is the most important
D. we can’t regard work with hands as low work
55. The purpose of education is ___________
A. to choose a system of education
B. to let everyone receive education
C. to prepare children for their future life
D. to prepare children for well-paid jobs
I travel a lot in my work, and what I dislike about my job is eating alone. It always makes me feel lonely to see others laughing and talking. So, room service for several nights was a better choice for me.
After having room service three nights at a hotel in Houston, however, I needed to get out of my room. Although the restaurant opened at 6:30, I arrived at 6:25. The waiter at the front desk made a comment(评论) about my “being there really early”. I explained my dislike of eating alone in restaurants. He then seated me at a lovely table and asked me whether I would mind if he sat down with me for a while.
I was glad! He sat and talked with me about his career goals and the difficulty of being at work on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he hadn’t enough time to be with his family. After 15 minutes, he saw some customers at the front desk and excused himself. I noticed that before he went to the front desk, he stopped in the kitchen for a moment.
Then another waiter came out of the kitchen and had a wonderful chat with me. Before I left that night, some other waiters, even the cook, had come out of the kitchen and sat with me!
When I asked for my bill about one hour later, all the people who had sat down with me came over in a big group to my table, and presented me with a red rose. And I cried! What had begun as a lonely night ended as a beautiful experience.
48. The author asked for room service because _______.
A. a lot of money would be saved in this way
B. he didn’t like to eat with other people around
C. he didn’t wanted to be recognized by the waiters
D. seeing people laughing and talking made him feel bad
49. How did the waiter feel when he saw the author come in at 6:25?
A. Dissatisfied.B. Pleased.C. Surprised. D. Angry.
50. From the third paragraph, we can learn that the waiter at the front desk ______.
A. knew how to attract more customers to his restaurant
B. found it hard to balance his work and his family
C. was getting tired of his present job
D.had never had such a chance to talk about his worries
51. The author wants to tell us that ______.
A. people are actually all lonely in their own way
B. restaurants should put the need of customers first
C. the kindness of strangers can make you less lonely
D.restaurants are full of surprises for lonely people
Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.
Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished. For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns(角) had not yet developed. A century later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today—a person who is new in a job.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from early nineteen hundreds. A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died. 
The Green Revolution is the name given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural scientists who had green thumbs.
Green is also the color used to describe the powerful feeling, jealousy(嫉妒). The green-eyed monster is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is an expression used about four hundred years ago by British writer William Shakespeare in his play “Othello”. It describes the unpleasant feeling a person has when someone has something he wants. A young man may suffer from the green-eyed monster if his girlfriend begins going out with someone else. Or, that green-eyed monster may affect your friend if you get a pay rise and he does not.
44. A greenhorn now refers to ____. 
A. a person who is new in a job B. a new solider
C. a young horse D. a cow without horns
45. A person who has a green thumb is a person ____.
A. who is good at growing plants B. whose thumbs are of green color
C. whose garden is greener than others’ D. who is younger than his neighbors
46. The author is actually talking about ____.
A. colors B. language C. politics D. agriculture
47. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. In about the 16th century, a greenhorn meant an experienced soldier.
B. The Green Revolution may have some connection with green thumbs.
C. The green-eyed monster was probably created by William Shakespeare.
D. The green-eyed monster can be used to describe a person who is jealous.
Read the advertisements, and then choose the best answers.
| Driver Wanted Clean driving license(执照) Must be of smart appearance. Aged over 25. Apply to(申请)：Capes Taxis, 17 Palace Road , Boston |
| Air Hostesses(空姐)for International Flight Wanted Applicants(申请者) must be between 20 and 33 years old. Height 1.6m to 1.75m. Education to GCSE standard. Two languages. Must be able to swim. Apply to: Recruitment office, Southern Airlines, Heathrow Airport West HR37KK |
| Teachers Needed For private language school. Teaching experience unnecessary. Apply to: The Director of Studies, Instant Language Ltd, 279 Canal Street |
41. What prevent Jack, an experienced taxi driver, working for Capes Taxis?
A. Fond of beer and wine.
B. Punished for speeding and wrong parking.
C. Unable to speak a foreign language.
D. Not having college education.
42. Ben, aged 22, fond of swimming and driving, has just graduated from a college and can speak two foreign languages. Which job might be given to him?
A. Driving for Capes Taxis.
B. Working for Southern Airlines.
C. Teaching at Instant Language Ltd.
D. None of the three jobs mentioned above.
43. If Mary wants to work for Southern Airlines, she must _____.
A. be over 25 years old
B. have some similar working experience
C. look smart and beautiful
D. speak another language besides her own