My name is Ben Mansury. I’m fifteen years old and study in a middle school. In school, I never join in any group discussion or stage (舞台) program. So, I never knew what stage nervousness was.
Our community (社区) has a weekly “Students Ideas” program. About two years ago, I received a(n)   1   from the chairman of our community. He invited me to the “Students Ideas” talk the next morning to speak to the group.
The time between his call to the next morning was like several weeks for me. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many   2   were coming. One of them was to call the chairman, with regret, and tell him that I could not come. But finally, I thought, if I missed this   3  , the community would never invite me again to any of their programs. So, I decided to go.
I reached the hall in time. When my turn came and I started, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to   4   the words on the paper properly. I had no idea where I was standing and what I was talking. That was the day when I   5   my biggest weakness: public speaking.
After I finished, I met with the chairman and   6   what happened to me. He said that this happens to everyone. It is very   7  . He suggested that I should come again the next week.
I   8   a talk carefully. This time when I gave the talk, I was somewhat comfortable but not confident (自信的). Afterwards, I met with the chairman again and told him about the improvement I   9   I had made. He was kind enough to invite me again.
For around one month, I practiced a lot for my talk. This time I was feeling comfortable and both the chairman and my neighbors thought I did a good job.    
I learned that everything is   10   if we take the first step, as the saying goes: A journey of thousand miles begins with first step.

Dear Mrs. Smith,

I was a student of yours in Grade Six, and I hope you still remember me. I’m writing this letter because I want to let you know that the school year with you was important and special to me. It made a great contribution(贡献) to my life.

I know I was very quiet in your class, and you never said much to me. But you did something that made a big difference in my life. You see, all through my first years in schools. I hated to read. Books were just words that had very little to do with me, and I was bored by them. I’ll never forget the first day of Grade Six when you took out a thick book and began to read the story to our class. Your voice seemed to change with the people in the story, and you drew pictures in my mind as you read aloud. Since that day, I couldn’t wait until after lunch when you would read to the class. You read us all kinds of wonderful books.

During the summer after my year in your class, I missed hearing the stories you would read. So one day I picked up a book and read it all on my own. I found out that I could make the words interesting, too. Now, I love to read! Thank you for opening the world of books for me.

Yours,

Linda

1.This letter is about a girl saying “      ” to a teacher.

A. Happy Teachers’ Day                                 B. Thank you

C. Goodbye                             D. Sorry

2.Linda was not sure if Mrs. Smith could remember her because     at school

A. she wasn’t a good student.                B. she wasn’t good at all her lessons

C. she had few words             D. she liked reading

3.Mrs. Smith got Linda        .

A. to enjoy reading     B. to enjoy drawing pictures

C. to write books       D. to read aloud

4.Which is not true in the story?

A. The teacher often said much to Linda.

B. The teacher did something important in Linda’s life.

C. The teacher opened the world of books for Linda.

D. The teacher read them all kinds of wonderful books.

My Year Abroad                                                           

This month in Travelers Corner there are three teenagers’ experiences in year-abroad programmes.

Mariko Okada – Tokyo

My year abroad in the United States was a fantastic experience. I’m not a shy person, and I was very comfortable speaking to everyone. So I got lots of speaking practice. I also learned lots of interesting things about American culture. When I got home, my friends all said that I had improved so much! I hope to go back again in the future.

Carla Fonseca – Rio de Janeiro

I spent last year studying English in London. I’m from a small town, and London is a very big city. Sometimes I felt it was too big. There were so many people to talk to, but I always felt bad about my English. I missed my family, and I really missed my two cats. My roommate was always using our telephone, so I hardly had the chance for a nice long talk with my parents. I think it was a good experience for me, but I’m glad to be home!

Alvin Chen – Hong Kong

Studying in New Zealand was a fun experience for me, but it was also lots of hard work! I had English classes six hours a day, five days a week——with lots of homework. I also kept a diary of my experience. I like to write, and I wrote two or three pages in my diary every day. On Saturdays, my homestay family took me to lots of interesting places and showed me so many wonderful things about the culture. I’m really glad I went!

1.All the three teenagers went abroad           .

A．to study English                         B．to visit friends

C．to have a holiday                        D．to find a job

2.Who didn’t really enjoy the stay in a foreign country very much?

A．Mariko.           B．Carla.             C．Alvin.             D．None of them.

3.Travelers Corner is most probably         .

A．a sports club newsletter                  B．a science documentary

C．a travel magazine                       D．a news website

句型转换　（本题共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分) 
【小题1】What do you think of this film？（同义句）
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ this film？
【小题2】Scientists are working  _________________________________(实现梦想)
【小题3】Is she going to visit the museum ? I wondered (用宾语从句改写)
I wondered_________________________________
【小题4】My computer can_________________________________（自我修复）
【小题5】The robot _________________________________(对….产生巨大影响) my everyday life
in the past.
【小题6】I will study hard so that I can pass the exam（同义句）
I will study hard _______________________________ pass the exam
【小题7】Who will washes the clothes at home? （同义句）
Who will______________________________
【小题8】Lucy no longer talked in class . （同义句）
Lucy ____________ ____________ in class____________ ____________
【小题9】I was late because of the heavy rain（同义句）
It rained heavily. ____________, I was late.
【小题10】 Although I missed the early bus,I got to my office on time. （同义句）
I missed the early bus, ____________ I got to my office on time.

动词填空 用括号内所给动词的适当形式填空。（本大 题共10分，每小题1分）

1.The life in the countryside we were used to _________ (change) greatly since five years ago.

2.It is said that this kind of fashionable bags ___________ (carry) easily.

3.These days the girl is worried all the time because she _________ (suffer) from the loss of money.

4.All the books must __________ (put) away within five minutes, or you will be punished.

5.The police searched the building carefully but _________ (find) nothing.

6.The Kings ______ just _______ (leave) for the train when I saw them, so we had few words.

7.Would you please ________ (not disturb) him when he is giving a report.

8.I missed the beginning of the volleyball match .when I turned on the TV, it ________ (begin).

9.---Could you tell me when the meeting __________ (end)?   --- In ten minutes.

10.Quite a lot of people are against _______ (do) scientific experiments on animals.