Hey, Tahlia! How's the model?"
I had just taken a bite of my hot dog __26_ I heard a familiar voice yelling at me from across the crowded school yard. I saw a group of popular girls who were all __27__.
"What kind of __28__ are you going to do? An ad for a Frankenstein movie?" More laughter. My stomach twisted into a tight knot. How could they humiliate (羞辱) me like this, __29__ the entire school? As I walked into the cafeteria, I _30_ the dark scars on my right hand.
At 9 months old, I knocked over a tea pot and dumped boiling water all over my hands and stomach. My parents __31__ me to the hospital, but I had to have skin graft (移植) operation. I was in so much pain! But what __32__ me most were the cruel things people said about how I looked, __33__ that day at lunch.
The girls were being supermean to me because they'd heard I was considering doing some modeling. A close friend had suggested that I shouldn't let my scars limit me and that I might __34__ a good model.
But after that __35__ at school, I was sure I'd made a huge mistake. Upon arriving home, I covered the mirror with a blanket, fell on my bed and sobbed.
The next day, I __36__ myself to go to school. At lunch my best friend Jesse tried to encourage me: "You can't _37__ forever, Tahlia. So what if you have a few scars? Just go outside and show them that you're just as good as they are." Although I knew he was right, I couldn’t _38__ standing up for myself like that.
However, that night as I sat on the bed, my friend's words replayed in my mind. I'm _39_ hiding from myself, I thought. How stupid! Slowly, I stood up, walked over to the __40__, and tossed the blanket aside. There, in the mirror I saw a slim, dark-haired, blue-eyed girl, looking just fine, _41__ with a few scars.
The next day I wore a comfortable T-shirt to school. What's more, I had lunch outside the cafeteria, _42__ beside those mean girls. They were shocked that I should dare to walk into their territory. I felt _43__ too—free and happy.
Sometimes people still look at me strangely. They _44__ and stare, but I don't let it get to me. I have applied to several modeling companies, and at least one company is considering me for jobs. Maybe I'll never __45__ posing on the runway, but I do know one thing: I'm done.
A．as B．when C．while D．before
A．applauding B．cheering C．laughing D．quarreling
A．modeling B．writing C．drilling D．acting
A．in spite of B．in view of C．in terms of D．in front of
A．looked into B．searched for C．wondered about D．glanced at
A．presented B．sent C．rushed D．handed
A．hurt B．beat C．disappointed D．puzzled
A．for B．like C．on D．after
A．impress B．make C．consult D．defeat
A．effect B．phenomenon C．challenge D．scene
A．forced B．expected C．reminded D．preferred
A．apologize B．beg C．hide D．complain
A．consider B．imagine C．appreciate D．resist
A．hardly B．ever C．even D．gradually
A．blanket B．bed C．chair D．mirror
A．while B．though C．but D．because
A．right B．still C．therefore D．anyhow
A．sensitive B．uncomfortable C．different D．tense
A．compare B．associate C．wave D．whisper
A．give up B．end up C．put up D．set up
Since finishing my studies at Harvard and Oxford. I’ve watched one friend after another land high-ranking, high-paying Wall Street jobs. As executives(高级管理人员) with banks, consulting firms, established law firms, and major corporations, many are now on their way to impressive careers. By society’s , they seem to have it made.
On the surface, these people seem to be very lucky in life. As they left student life behind, many had a drink at their cheap but friendly local bar, shook hands with Longtime roommates, and out of small apartments into high buildings. They made reservations at restaurants where the cost of a bottle of wine a college year’s monthly rent. They replaced their beloved old car with expensive new sports cars.
The thing is, a number of them have that despite their success, they aren’t happy. Some of unfriendly coworkers and feel sad for eight-hour workweeks devoted to tasks they . Some do not respect the companies they work for and talk of feeling tired and __ . However, instead of devoting themselves to their work, they find themselves working to support the __ to which they have so quickly become ____ .
People often speak of trying a more satisfying path, and the end the idea of leaving, their jobs to work for something they or finding a position that would give them more time with their families almost always leads them to the same conclusion; it’ s . They have loans, bills, a mortgage（抵押贷款）to , retirement to save for. They recognize there’s something ___ in their lives, but it’s __ to step off the track.
In a society that tends to __ everything in terms of dollars and cents, we learn form a young age to consider the costs of our __ in financial terms. But what about the personal and social costs __ in pursuing money over meaning? These are exactly the kinds of us tend to ignore — and the very ones we need to consider most.
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I was required to read one of Bernie Siegel’s books in college and was hooked on his positivity from that moment on. The stories of his unconventional _____ and the exceptional patients he wrote about were so _____to me and had such a big _____ on how I saw life from then on. Who knew that so many years later I would look to Dr. Bernie and his CDs again to _____ my own cancer experience?
I’m an ambitious _____, and when I started going through chemo (化疗) , even though I’m a very _____ person, I lost my drive to write. I was just too tired and not in the _____ . One day, while waiting to go in for ____, I had one of Dr. Bernie’s books in my hand. Another patient _____what I was reading and struck up a conversation with me ____ he had one of his books with him as well. It ____that among other things, he was an eighty-year-old writer. He was____ a published author, and he was currently ____ on a new book.
We would see each other at various times and ____ friends. Sometimes he wore a duck hat, and I would tell myself, he was definitely a(n) ____of Dr. Bernie. He really put a ___on my face. He unfortunately ____ last year due to his cancer, ___he left a deep impression on me and gave me the ___to pick up my pen again. I ___ to myself, “If he can do it, then so can I.”
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完形填空(共20小题;每小题1分，满分20分)
War started in our house in late July with a month to go before my first day of college. It was a battle of wills over what college I was to attend. Mom wanted me to attend a famous school, and I wanted to go to a small writing college. Every night for two weeks, we argued, shouted and gave treatments until both sides went to bed with regrets.
It was mostly my . Since my junior year of high school, I had at being a nurse. I took all the science courses, and even worked as a in my town’s local hospital. My was to help the sick and be superwoman to the world.
Yet, graduation and college neared, it all changed. Treating the sick was , but not what I was meant to do for the of my life. I could picture myself in hospitals, making rounds, and taking , but I couldn’t picture myself happy. It wasn’t the I wanted.
Then, I realized I had been creating and writing stories for as long as I could . I loved it, and writing was what I had been doing as a . It was going to be my career. And it had to be.
On August 1st, Mom and I sat down at the dinner table and I told her that she had every to choose where to spend her money, just like I had every right to decide where I wanted to go to school. If it was her choice not to any of my college education, then I would take a year off to work and earn money so I could go to the college I wanted.
Standing by my decision to be a writer had my firm belief to my mom. Finally we were at , and she decided to support me, which the world to me.
Before that time, I had never stood up my parents on any major decision. Choosing which college to attend me to become a separate and complete adult. I am now finished with my first semester as a Professional Writing major and I cannot wait to see what comes next.
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Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving Day, is a busy shopping day in the United States. Many people have a day off work on that day. Some use this to make trips; others use it to start for the Christmas season.
Many stores have special offers and their prices on some goods. Some their opening hours. There can also be traffic jams on roads to shopping destinations.
There are common theories as to why it is called Black Friday. One is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day left many black markings on the road surface, the term Black Friday. The other is from an old way of recording business accounts. were recorded in red ink and profits in black. Many businesses, small businesses, started making profits before Christmas, so they started to mark in black ink on the day after Thanksgiving.
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My grandma is good at gardening. She could make anything bloom(开花). ____ me. In my eyes, she was inspiring and ____. For most of her life, she lived on a farm, where she brought up four children, and buried my grandpa.
I visited her on weekends. After the gardening work, I was ____ to climb the mountain, singing songs and gathering flowers. Sometimes the plants scratched me. She would say, "Beauty has a ____. I hope it was worth it."
"Yes, ma' ma," I'd say. "____ was."
I loved gathering flowers on my own. But what I loved best was gathering them with her. Even then, as a child, I knew what I wanted most from my grandma was not her flowers, but her ____. She's been gone for years, but sometimes, when I ____down to pick a flower or pull a weed, I see her ____, not mine.
I thought I'd grow up to be a gardener too. I told myself, someday my children had children, I'd be a gardening grandma. Then the grandbabies started showing up, and I discovered 1'd much rather run after them ____ go digging. Actually I'm no gardener. I'm a ____, not a planter. I differ from my grandma in lots of ways, but this: I will always carry ____ me a heart she made from her own.
I needn’t plant a garden. My children are my flowers. They delight and complete me with a beauty that is worth any price. All I need to do is ____ them with time, water them with love, and hope that someday, when they hold their first grandchild, they might see my hand.
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