Many people believe that all ice cubes are created equal, but they are not. At least that’s what the folks at California’s Glace Luxury Ice Company would like us to believe. The Davisbased company says that the ice cubes they make are healthier and last longer than the ones that we throw into our drinks on a daily basis. What’s more, the company also says that their ice cubes do mot leave behind an aftertaste(余味)in drinks, like regular ones do.

In order to create these unique ice cubes, Glace Luxury begins with water that has been rid of the hazardous impurities(杂质)that the company says can lead to cancer and exist in regular ice. They then freeze it in large blocks. Once ready, the ice is carved into perfect cubes and each cube measures 2.5 inches across. Besides being healthier, these ice cubes apparently also take longer to melt. The company says that each ice cube can last up to 30 minutes.

Of course, those ice cubes do not come cheap. Those that wish to have a taste of this “tasteless” frozen perfection will have to pay $325USD for a bag of 50 ice cubes. That comes to $6.50USD for a single cube of ice!

The unique product is the brainchild of Robert Sequeira, a former business school lecturer who said that he wanted to establish a profitable business that could be easily scaled. Given that he can make as mush Glace Luxury ice as he needs for as little as $0.12USD per cube, he thinks that the idea certainly meets the standard. Now, if he can find that the few people can afford to buy this Glace Luxury ice, life would be great!

1.People at California’s Glace Luxury Ice Company probably want consumers to believe that _____.

A. ice cubes are healthy for people to use

B. their ice cubes add tastes to drinks

C. all ice cubes are created the same

D. their ice cubes are different

2.What does the underlined word “hazardous” in paragraph 2 mean?

A. Active B. Regular C. Dangerous D .Powerful

3.Compared with regular ice cubes, the ice cubes created by Glace Luxury Ice Company_____.

A. taste much bette

B. look much more beautiful

C. have more different shapes

D. are healthier and melt more slowly

4.What does the author think of the ice cubes created by Glace Luxury Ice Company?

A. They will be a big success

B. They are too costly to make.

C. They are just regular ice cubes.

D. They are too expensive for consumers

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卷上相应题号的横线上。

You want to be confident and feel confident, but what if you're starting with little or no confidence? True self-confidence isn't an overnight acquisition. It takes dedication to realize you are a good human being that is worthy of respect and love.

Recognize your insecurities

What does that voice in the back of your mind say? Why do you feel uncomfortable or ashamed of yourself? This could be anything from regrets to friends at school or negative experience. Whatever is making you feel unworthy, or ashamed, identify it, give it a name, and write it down. You can also tear these written pieces to start feeling positive on those points.

Get rid of insecurities gradually

Each day you should weaken it. There's no quick fix. Get to the root of the problem; focus on it and understand that you need to resolve each issue before you can move on. Check if it is an old past emotion and if it is really still relevant or applicable in your life today. And that does not mean you have to get rid of whatever makes you feel bad (many times, you simply can't). You need to learn to accept yourself, your past, your circumstances as they are, without necessarily thinking of them as “bad”.

Identify your successes

Everyone is good at something, so discover the things at which you do extremely well, then focus on your talents. Give yourself permission to be proud of them. Give yourself credit for your successes. Inferiority (自卑) is a state of mind in which you've declared yourself a victim. Do not allow yourself to be victimized.

Be Positive

Avoid self-pity, or the pity and sympathy of others. Never allow others to make you feel inferior—they can only do so if you let them. If you continue to dislike and look down upon yourself, others are going to do and believe likewise. Instead, speak in a positive way about yourself, about your future, and about your progress. Do not be afraid to show your strengths and qualities to others. By doing so, you strengthen those ideas in your mind and encourage your growth in a positive direction.

Apply “facial feedback theory”

Studies surrounding what’s called the "facial feedback theory" suggest that the expressions on your face can actually encourage your brain to express certain emotions. So look in the mirror and smile every day, and you might feel happier with yourself and more confident in the long run.

Help others

When you know you’re of help to the people around you, and are making a positive difference in other people’s lives (even if it's just being kinder to the person who serves you coffee in the morning), you'll know that you are a positive force in the world—which will boost yourself confidence.

Now, dear friends, will you let confidence keep you company? Be confident, and accomplishing your goals will be just around the corner.

Title: The ways to become confident

Why do people feel so rushed? Part of this is a perception (认知) problem. Generally, people in rich countries have more free time than they used to. This is particularly true in Europe, but even in America free time has been inching up. Women's paid work has risen a lot over this period，but their time in unpaid work，like cooking and cleaning, has fallen even more significantly, thanks in part to dishwashers, washing machines and microwaves, and also to the fact that men shift themselves a little more around the house than they used to.

The problem, then, is less how much time people have than how they see it. Ever since a clock was first used at a workplace to record labor hours in the 18th century, time has been understood in relation to money. Once hours are financially quantified (量化), people worry more about wasting, but tend to save or use them more profitably. When economies grow and incomes rise, everyone's time becomes more valuable. And the more valuable something becomes, the rarer it seems.

Once seeing their time in terms of money, people often grow stingy with the former to maximize the latter. Workers who are paid by the hour volunteer less of their time and tend to feel more upset when they are not working.

The relationship between time, money and anxiety is something Gary Becker noticed in America's post-war boom years. "If anything, time is used more carefully today than a century ago," he noted in 1965. He found that when people are paid more to work, they tend to work longer hours, because working becomes a more profitable use of time. So the rising value of work time puts pressure on all time. Leisure time starts to seem more stressful, as people are forced to use it wisely or not at all.

1.Women's time in unpaid work has fallen partly because ______.

A. men's ability to support a family has been improved

B. men's involvement in housework has increased

C. women's leisure time was taken up by heavy housework

D. women become more skilled at household equipment

2.From the second paragraph, we learn that ______.

A. labor hours were recorded with a clock

B. people haven't realized the value of time

C. more work hours bring in more money

D. The rise of incomes makes time less valuable

3.The underlined phrase grow stingy with can probably be replaced by "______".

A. refuses to delay

B. intend to kill

C. try to accumulate

D. hesitate to spend

4.According to Gary Becker, what causes people feel anxious about time?

A. The wrong way of time being spent.

B. People's willingness to work hard.

C. The increasing value of work time.

D. More and more leisure time.

When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，”Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault,” or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault；the car broke down”. It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.

Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your workmate causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. You should accept the fact and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your workmate fails to do his job well.

This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners also have some problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own abilities. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stones for success.

1.According to the passage, winners .

A. deal with problems rather than blame others

B. meet with fewer difficulties in their lives

C. have responsible and able colleagues

D. blame themselves rather than others

2.The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _________.

A. avoid B. refuse C. improve D. consider

3.When your colleague brings about a problem, you should .

A. find a better way to handle the problem

B. blame him for his lack of responsibility

C. tell him to find the cause of the problem

D. ask a more able colleague for help

4.When problems occur, winners take them as

A. excuses for their failures

B. barriers to greater power

C. challenges to their colleagues

D. chances for self-development

5.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. A Winner’s Achievement.

B. A Winner’s Problem.

C. A Winner’s Opportunity.

D. A Winner’s Secret.

假如你是育才中学的一名英国交换生Tom。为了放松心情、结交朋友并了解中国的风土人情，你计划这个假期去云南大理、丽江旅游。请根据以下要点撰写一篇博文寻找中国学生作为旅游伙伴：

1．时间： 2月2 1日-2月26日；

2．对旅伴的要求；

3．联系方式：电话：13012345678; E-mail:tommy1999@163.com.

注意：

1．词数100左右；

2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3．开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

I'm Tom, a British exchange student at Yucai High School.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Jeri Solomon is a morning person but Jim, her husband of 11 years, is not. Early in their life, it caused a problem. “When we were planning our wedding, I wanted to have these big discussions at 8 a. m.，when I had been up for two hours and was fresh, but Jim would just be getting out of bed,” says the 46-year-old designer from Melrose, Mass. “We ended up getting into many arguments because I thought he had no interest, when really he was just still half-asleep.”

The couple learned to work around their differences over the years, but their situation isn’t uncommon, says Katherine Sharkey, professor at BrownUniversity. “More women tend to be larks, while men are like night owls(猫头鹰),” she says.

The question is：Why? The answer lies in each person’s body clock. “The body clock is about 24 hours, thanks to Earth’s 24-hour light-dark cycle,” Sharkey says. “But some people have a longer natural cycle, and some are shorter.” If yours is on the long side, you’re more likely to be a night owl. If it runs short, you’re probably an early riser. But your body clock can change over your lifetime. There’s a developmental piece-school-age children are generally early birds, while teenagers tend to be night owls, and then as they age, adults gradually turn back into morning people,” Sharkey says.

Besides the clear problems with being a night owl if you have fl day job, “night owls tend to be more low-spirited, and have a higher dependence on coffee,” Sharkey says. But the news isn’t all bad. A recent study in Belgium found that night owls can stay more focused as the day goes on, compared with early risers.

Morning people, however, also have advantages. “Larks generally sleep better, have more regular sleep, and have more flexible characters,” Sharkey says. They also tend to be happier and feel healthier than night owls, according to a recent study from the University of Toronto.

1.Jeri Solomon and her husband ______.

A．tried to change each other’s sleeping habits

B．often argued about small things

C．could not understand each other

D．got up at different times

2.The underlined word “larks” in Paragraph 2 refers to birds which ______.

A．are sleepy at noon

B．stay awake all night

C．search for food at night

D．are active in the morning

3.Compared with morning people, night owls ______.

A．work more flexibly

B．feel happy more easily

C．sleep more soundly at night

D．get more and more focused during the day

4.What is the purpose of the text?

A．To explain why we get up early or late.

B．To advise every one of us to get up early.

C．To tell us how to change our body clock.

D．To point out morning people’s advantages.

阅读下面材料，在空白处填人适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Lala accelerated her walk up the path to the caves, fearing that there might be wild beasts 1. (lie) in wait for her. She had no man 2. his spear to protect her. She had almost reached her destination 3. a delicious smell arrested her progress and she stopped. Her senses became 4. (dizzily)with hunger. She could see her mother and the older children 5. (prepare) the deer and pig meat over the fire. Her aunts were making6. (cloth) with animal skins. Abruptly she 7. (sit) down, only to 8. (scoop) by her laughing, shouting sister, Luna. Lala smiled with 9. (relieve). It was good 10.(have) her family around her.

It suddenly occurred to him he had left his keys in the office.

A．whether B．where C．which D．that

Sometimes, ______ a patient a get-well card is better than visiting him.

A. to be sent B. being sent

C. having sent D. sending

Music should be taught routinely in schools because of the benefits _____ can have on the development of the brains of young children.

A. which B. that

C. one D. it