完形填空（共20题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
My fiance (未婚夫) and I were excited about shopping for our first home. But our funds were , and none of the houses in our price range seemed satisfactory.
One agent a house in particular. Although her description sounded wonderful, the price was our range, so we declined. But she kept urging us to have a look .
We finally did and it was at first sight. It was Our Home, small and charming, overlooking a quiet lake. Walking through the rooms and talking with the owners, a nice elderly couple, we felt the warmth and of the marriage within that home. As perfect as it was, the price remained too high for us. But every day, we would sit by the lake, looking at the house and dreaming of it would be like to live there.
Days later, we made a(n) —far below the asking price. Surprisingly, they didn’t us. They renewed their offer . It was also much more than we could afford, but far than the original asking price.
The next day, we got a message that another buyer had offered a much higher price. Even so, we decided to talk with the directly. We made our final offer, which was thousands of dollars less than the other buyer’s bid. We knew it, we had to try.
“Sold!” said the owner. Then he : He’d seen us sitting by the lake all those times; he knew how much we loved the place and that we’d the years of work they had put into their home; he realized he would take a by selling it to us, but it was worthwhile; we were the people they wanted to live there. He told us to consider the in the price “an early wedding present.”
That’s how we found our home and how I learned that when people are they are not strangers, only friends we haven’t yet met.
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阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和D）中，选出最佳选项。
The Parking-Lot Sweeper
Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in E1 Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to a housing project in East Los Angeles.
Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They us with the ideas of family, faith and love.
I got my first job when I was ten. My dad injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He space in a little shopping center and gave his shop the flowery name of Mr. Ben’s Coiffure. The owner of the shopping center my Dad’s payment for cleaning the parking lot three a week, which getting up at 3 a.m. Mom and I helped dustbin and pick up rubbish by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I sleep in the car on the way home.I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have a lifetime. I obtained discipline（自律）and the importance of work, and learned at a(n) age the importance of balancing life’s competing interests——in my , school, homework and a job. This helped during my school years, when I worked 40 hours at a fast-food restaurant while taking a full of college preparation courses.
The hard work off. I attended the U.S. Military Academy and went on to graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard. , I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California state assembly（州议会）. In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done, I have forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is value in all work and that if people are working to for themselves and their families, that is we should honor.
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阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Once a wise man was walking from one town to another with a few of his students. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They ____ there and the wise man told one of his students, “ I am _____. Get me some water from the lake there.”
The student _____ up to the lake. When he reached it, he ______ that some people were ______ clothes in the water, and, right at that moment, a cart (四轮车) started ______ the lake. As a result, the water became very ______. The student thought, “ How can I give this muddy water to my teacher to drink!” So he ______ and told the wise man, “ The water there is very muddy. I don’t think it is ______ to drink.”
After about half an hour, again the wise man asked the _____ student to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The student obediently (顺从的) went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely ______ water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to drink. So he ______ some water in a pot and took it to his teacher.
The wise man looked at the water, and then he looked up at the student and said, “ See _____ you did to make the water clean. You let it be … and the mud ______ on its own --- and you got clear water… Your mind is also like that. When it is ______, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to ______ any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”
What did the wise man _______ here? He said, “ It is effortless.” ______ peace of mind is effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that ______ permeates (蔓延) to the outside. It ______ around you and in the environment, so that people around start feeling that peace and grace.
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阅读下面的短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
“They’re going to kick me out of my own home,” said Karl Berger, 86 years old. Karl is a widower with no living children. When Karl’s wife died a couple of years ago, he told the Social Security Administration to stop monthly checks to his wife. But the agency to send the checks. Karl called again; a clerk said not to . He told Karl to mail a follow-up that included his wife's of death. But the checks continued to come. Karl needed the money, he cashed his wife’s checks.
When SSA realized its mistake, it sent Karl a letter saying that he SSA $5,900 plus interest. Karl receives only $12,000 a year, which is slightly poverty level. The only that he ever had--$5,000--was on his wife’s funeral. He fought on Iwo Jima, site of one of the most furious battles of World War II. The battle left him in one ear and almost blind in one eye.
His small house used to be in a good neighborhood. He takes the bus once a week to visit his wife's . The rest of his time is spent at home, where he carves military figures that he donates to a local charity. The charity the carvings and uses the money to help feed the homeless.
SSA gave Karl six months to pay the debt in . Otherwise, the SSA letter said, the agency would seize his home. Karl wrote back, asking if it would be okay to $30 a month. That was all he could .
“That’s insufficient,” said William Shatner, an SSA agent. “We know that he is a war veteran, but that doesn’t entitle him to the debt . He knew that his wife was dead, yet he cashed her monthly . That is fraud, pure and simple.”
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Times were tough in our household. My husband was out of work and there was no sign of anything for him. In addition to going to nursing school full-time, I was working three part-time jobs to put food on the table for our family of five.
After a rather meal one night, I answered the ringing phone. With no , a voice asked,“Do you need food? Come to my place and I can help you.” Directions followed and he hung up the phone. No in-depth conversation or queries as to our situation. It was up to us to decide whether we a voice on the telephone.
I was desperate. With food in the cabinet and no prospect of a job for my husband, I had to take a , swallow my pride, and accept the strange offer. Was there a ? When I uneasily got to a ranch home as ,I found there was no car in the garage. , lined up in orderly rows were tables filled with varieties of food. A craggy（轮廓分明有皱纹的）gentleman me, not much different than our phone conversation! “Look around. If you see what you want, yourself.”He handed me paper bags and turned to another new arrival, passing along the same .This couldn’t be real!
I guiltily filled the paper sacks with what needed and gratefully thanked the elderly man. “Be here next week. You’ll of the food by then” was his reply.
Then I learned the thing. Widowed and retired, he wanted to do something in his golden years to fill his time. Daily, he drove his pickup truck and begged for items and canned goods from local grocery stores and folks like us who had fallen on hard times.
I never knew what our weekly menus would be I had “shopped” in the garage, but I knew, with our bellies full, we could focus on paying necessary bills.
A．worrying B．boring C．confusing D．promising
A．just B．even C．ever D．also
A．delicious B．necessary C．simple D．ordinary
A．information B．communication C．introduction D．instruction
A．physical B．financial C．educational D．social
A．trusted B．accepted C．recognized D．satisfied
A．certainly B．originally C．actually D．barely
A．chance B．step C．decision D．measure
A．future B．possibility C．trap D．kindness
A．appointed B．directed C．guided D．requested
A．Therefore B．Besides C．Instead D．However
A．discovered B．greeted C．reminded D．examined
A．help B．enjoy C．behave D．seat
A．welcome B．supply C．assistance D．message
A．mostly B．eventually C．absolutely D．accidentally
A．leave out B．drop out C．run out D．get out
A．interesting B．worthwhile C．mysterious D．astonishing
A．usable B．additional C．acceptable D．valuable
A．recalled B．sought C．identified D．inspected
A．although B．since C．before D．Until
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I used to bury myself in despair（绝望）. Last year my mother from stroke（中风）and had an operation on her brain. I felt my whole world turn upside down and I had no what I could do to help her to relieve her . Tears welled up in my eyes whenever I was alone.
Last month I a precious watch, which was an 18-year-old birthday gift from my father. I could not fall asleep for a couple of nights because I felt about the loss.
There have been many like these in my life. I could never figure out how to deal with such tough things I read “If You Have a Lemon, Make a Lemonade（柠檬汁）" by American writer Dale Carnegie.
“When the wise man is handed a lemon, he says, ‘What can I get from this? How can I my situation? How can I turn this lemon into a lemonade’” he wrote.
I suddenly that life is full of ups and downs, so I need to stay all the time. Now when I think of my past, I wish I could have handled things . When my mother was fighting for , I should have held h hands in mine, telling her things would get better instead of and crying.
Several weeks ago, I took part in a campus singing competition. I didn't a prize. If I had not this article, I would definitely have felt again. But instead, I smiled after the competition. I was happy that at least I had got some stage .
Life is not just a bed of roses. There are thorns（刺）as well, but these thorns help us become and strong. When life us a lemon, let's try to make a lemonade.
A．resulted B．suffered C．survived D．escaped
A．hope B．wonder C．idea D．doubt
A．pain B．anxiety C．fear D．pressure
A．received B．sold C．fixed D．lost
A．unbelievable B．enthusiastic C．angry D．terrible
A．diseases B．memories C．incidents D．difficulties
A．when B．until C．though D．since
A．lesson B．lemonade C．decision D．challenge
A．control B．accept C．improve D．avoid
A．realized B．thought C．discovered D．predicted
A．healthy B．independent C．serious D．positive
A．exactly B．differently C．easily D．practically
A．recovery B．dream C．freedom D．happiness
A．shouting B．hiding C．quarreling D．challenging
A．expect B．miss C．win D．refuse
A．figured out B．written down C．put forward D．come across
A．embarrassed B．discouraged C．excited D．concerned
A．performance B．experience C．progress D．effect
A．brave B．calm C．famous D．clever
A．shows B．makes C．gives D．sends