Why is reading so important? Joseph Addison once said, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is the body.” I am sure you
have heard this quote. Reading is a great hobby,
makes you discover yourself. Reading good stories can help you solve some problems in your own life. Besides, reading
sets a good example to younger generations.
Sadly, people nowadays seem to have totally lost interest in this activity. Children are busy with computer games, adults use their cell phones or computers to search for information.
seems that people have forgotten
importance of reading. Anybody can use the Internet to look for information, but the sources are
as reliable as a book.
To open a book is always beneficial! Don’t spend all your spare time on the computer screen or cell phones.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
One day, an old monk named Wisdom, followed by two young monks, was walking from one town to another____ they caught sight of a lake. Tired and thirsty, they stopped to have a rest. __
__old monk, pointing to the lake, asked the __
__ (young) one to get him some water.
When the little monk reached the lake, a cart____ (draw) by an ox started crossing the lake, ___
___made the water very muddy. The little monk thought, “How can I give this muddy water to my master to drink!” So he came back__
___ any water, saying, “The water is very muddy. I don’t think__
__is suitable to drink.”
After a while, the same monk _____(ask)to get water again. When he went back to the lake, he found that the mud _
(settle) down already, so he collected back a pot of water. Wisdom looked at the water happily and then up at the monk, “To make the water clean, __
__you need to do is just to let it be and the mud would settle down on its own.”
It is also the same with your mind. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time and it will settle down itself.
语法填空。请仔细阅读下面的短文，短文中有10个空格。请按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中的词语的正确形式填空。（共10小题；每小题1.5分，满分15分）。
Where will you choose to live, in the city ____ the countryside? People have different ideas
___ the question. Some of my friends would like to live in the city. They can enjoy TV films, entertainment and delicious food. Everything
____ (be) convenient in the city.
____ people are thirsty, they can have boiled or bottled water at once. When a child is ill, he
____ (send) to hospital in just a few minutes.
_____, people have to suffer heavy traffic and air pollution anyway.
On the ____ hand, others will choose the countryside. The reasons are simple. Nothing is better
____ to live in fresh air, drink clean water, and enjoy free natural beauty. Of course the most important is a longer and a
_____ (happy) life. Which will be your
____ (choose), my friend?
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
This is a most incredible tale. In the summer of 1903, an American businessman named Henry had some bad luck. He was carried out to sea by ____strong wind and was __
____ (spot) by a ship before giving up. Then he landed in Britain _
____ chance. He earned his passage by working as an unpaid hand,
___ accounted for his
___ (appear). He was lost in London and had no money on him. _
__ knows who he was.
Then ____ (expect) he was invited to a large and beautiful house by two rich brothers, Roderick and Oliver. Henry told his experience to them. He asked if they _
____ (can) offer him some kind of work there. To his surprise, they gave him a letter with money in it. He couldn’t open it until two o’clock. Henry thought this was silly. In fact, Henry didn’t want charity but an honest job. He was _
___ (puzzle) at what he did and _
___ (promise) to open it until two o’clock.
A group of robbers dug their way into to basement of a bank in Paris and emptied almost 200 private safes. They entered the Credit Lyonnais branch using building ____ (equip) to dig holes and destroy walls __
__ Saturday night. They tied up a security guard and spent the next nine hours__
__ (rob) the bank.
One investigator described the robbery___ a “professional job”. The robbers came in at about 22:00 on Saturday and _
__ (leave) at 7:00 on Sunday. They entered through the basements of the neighboring building, digging through a series of tunnels and making a hole into a wall of 80cm thick to get into the bank, __
__ was having building works at the time.
When they left, the robbers set the place on fire to remove any trace of evidence, ____ (switch) on the anti-fire system and flooding the building. __
__ (fortune), the guard escaped unharmed. __
_ is difficult to estimate the total value of what __
_ (steal) as only the bank’s clients know the content of their private safes.
Old age may not sound_______ (excite).But recent findings provide good news for older people and for people
_______ (worry) about getting older.
The findings came from ______ survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned
______ by telephone in 2008.At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, ________(sad) and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress. The research team found that levels of stress were
________ (high) among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. Stress levels dropped
_______ (sharp) after people reached their fifties.
Happiness_______ highest among the youngest adults and those
_______ their early seventies. The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older.
______ , woman at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.