In the United States, friends can be close, constant and real. But if they move live far away from each other, little by little, they will not be as close as before. But neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while, then no more. If two people meet again by chance, even years later, they will be delighted and pick up the friendship again.
In America, you can feel free to visit people's homes, share their holidays and enjoy their delicious food. If you are invited to a party, just accept their hospitality(款待) for various reasons, such as crowded space, language difficulties or family customs. It is often considered more friendly to invite a person to one's home than to go to a public place. So, if your host or hostess brings you home, do not feel that you aren’t treated well. You know, strangers are not invited into the home.
Don't feel neglected if you do not find flowers awaiting you in your hotel room either. Flowers are very expensive there, hotel delivery is not certain, and arrival times are often delayed, so flowers are not often sent as a welcoming touch. Please do not feel unwanted! In fact, signs outside change in different lands, but the welcome in the heart is real and valuable.
【小题1】You will find friendships _______ in America if they are not near each other.

Like most English children, I learned foreign languages at 36. When I made my first visit 37 the Unites States, I was 38 I could have a nice easy holiday without any 39 problem. But how 40 I was!

At the American airport, I was looking for a public telephone to 41 my friend Jenny I had 41 . A worker asked if he could 43 me. “Yes,” I said. “I want to give my friend a ring.” “Well, that’s nice. Are you getting married?” he asked. “No,” I answered. “I just want to tell her 44 the phone I have arrived.” “Oh,” he said, “there is a 45 downstairs on the first floor.” “But we’re on the first floor now,” I said. “Well, I don’t know what you are 46 about. Maybe you aren’t feeling too well after your 47,” he said. “You just go and wash up, and you will feel a lot better.” And he went 48 , 49 me wondering where on earth I was: at home we wash up after a 50 to get the cups and plates clean. How can I wash up at an airport?

At last we did 51. She 52 the misunderstanding(误会): American say “to give someone a 53 ”, but we English say “ to give someone a ring”. When we say “to wash your hands”, they say “to wash 54”. And Englishmen start numbering from the floor, so the 55 floor is the second for Americans.

Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t love others until you love yourself. Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t expect someone else to love you until you love yourself. Either way, you’ve got to love yourself first and this can be tricky. Sure we all know that we’re the apple of our parent’s eyes, and that our Grandmas think we’re great talents and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics. But sometimes it’s a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves. If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge. It is time you build a positive self-image and learn to love yourself.

   Self-image is your own mind’s picture of yourself. This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.

   The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your successes. That is , make a list of you need to, but write down all of the great things you do every day. Don’t allow doubts to occur in it.

   It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can’t move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well , roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. If you think you’re silly because you aren’t good at math, find a tutor. If you think you’re weak because you can’t run a mile, get to the track and practice. If you think you’re dull because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true.

   The best way to get rid of a negative self-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image. When you can pat(拍) yourself on the back, you’ll know you’re well on your way. Good luck!

1. You need to build a positive self-image when you________.

   A. dare to challenge yourself           B. feel it hard to change yourself

   C. are unconfident about yourself       D. have a high opinion of yourself.

2.How should you change your self-image according to the passage?

   A. To keep a different image of others.     B. To make your life successful.

   C. To understand your own world.         D. To change the way you think.

3.What is the passage mainly about?

   A. How to prepare for your success.       B. How to face challenges in your life

   C. How to build a positive self-image.   D. How to develop your good qualities.

4.Who are the intended readers of the passage?

   A. Parents      B. Young people      C Educators    D. People in general.

In our life, we face situations where we are either asked to choose between trust and disbelief. Many of us would say we have to choose trust over disbelief. Actually we are given intellectual(智力的) power to choose what we want, and what we choose certainly need not be the one that sounds pleasing. That is, we can choose both trust and disbelief, but we have to know when to choose between these two

We should all realize that we are living in a world which is unfortunately mixed with people of various types. We have been given the power of judging who we are working with and who we are partnering with. We cannot give an excuse for believing a scheming(诡计多端的)person, just because he looked or sounded nice, unless we consider ourselves mentally unskillful.

    This world was there before us and it does not owe us a single thing. We are asked to take care of ourselves and our belongings. Trust, too, has to be saved for the deserving(值得的) people. When we give trust universally to all, we end up troubled by the undeserving common cheat. People say trust is life. True! But only wisely exercised trust is life.

    When we start a conversation with someone, the first things that we usually notice would be their dress, behavior, style and their language. What sometimes we all forget to look at is the person’s intention. Now how to look at a person’s intention is a lesson everybody has to learn for themselves in their own way -- there is no single standard for it. But it is certainly possible to discover the purpose if we seek a little bit more.

    Certainly a false offer of friendship or guidance cannot stand undiscovered for long; we are therefore called to exercise disbelief over trust at least momentarily till we find out that we certainly are in agreement with a mutual(相互的)good-willed person.    

The world teaches you lots of lessons and if we are willing, we can learn all that we want.

1. In the first paragraph, the author ________.

A. concentrates on the reason why we make different choices

B. focuses on how to choose between trust and disbelief

C. suggests that trust should be wisely exercised

D. implies that people are forced to make the choice

2. The underlined sentence means __________

A. trust and disbelief go hand in hand with each other.

B. disbelief is necessary if you aren’t wise

C. trust is established if two people know each other

D. doubt may serve as the precondition for trust

3. We can infer from the passage that _________.

A. people who we are working with are in fact those who we are partnering with

B. the first thing we notice tends to mislead our judgment

C. the mentally healthy people will not judge a person by his looks 

D. the standards of looking at a person’s intention are various

4. Which of the following can serve as the best title for the passage? 

A. Trust or Disbelief?           B. Trust Is Life.

C. Trust over Disbelief?         D.When to Choose between Trust and Disbelief?

完形填空（每小题1.5分，共20小题）

You are near the front line of a battle. Around you shells are exploding; people are shooting from a house behind you. What are you doing there? You aren’t a soldier. You aren’t  1  carrying a gun. You’re standing in front of a  2 and you’re telling the TV 3  what is happening.

It’s all in a day’s work for a war reporter, and it can be very 4  . In the first two years of the  5  in former Yugoslavia（前南斯拉夫), 28 reporters and photographers were killed. Hundreds more were 6  .

What kind of people put themselves in danger to  7  pictures to our TV screens and  48  to our newspapers? Why do they do it ?

“I think it’s every young journalist’s 9  to be a foreign reporter,” says Michael Nicholson, “that’s  10  you find the excitement. So when the first opportunity comes, you take it  11  it is a war.”

But there are moments of  12 . Jeremy Bowen says, “Yes, when you’re lying on the ground and bullets（子弹）are flying  13  your ears, you think: ‘What am I doing here? I’m not going to do this again.’ But that feeling  14 after a while and when the next war starts, you’ll be  15  .”

“None of us believes that we’re going to  16  ” adds Michael. But he always 17 a lucky charm（护身符）with him. It was given to him by his wife for his first war. It’s a card which says “Take care of yourself.” Does he ever think about dying? “Oh, 18  , and every time it happens you look to the sky and say to God, ‘If you get me out of this, I  19  I’ll never do it again.’ You can almost hear God  20  , because you know he doesn’t believe you .”

1.                A．really          B．simply          C．even D．merely

2.                A．battlefield       B．camera         C．crowd    D．house

3.                A．directors        B．producers       C．viewers   D．actors

4.                A．depressing      B．disappointing    C．dangerous D．endangered

5.                A．life            B．stay            C．fight D．war

6.                A．buried         B．defeated        C．wounded D．beaten

7.                A．take           B．make           C．bring D．show

8.                A．stories         B．scenes         C．passages  D．contents

9.                A．faith           B．nightmare       C．dream    D．duty

10.               A．how           B．where         C．why  D．because

11.               A．as if           B．even if         C．even so   D．ever since

12.               A．surprise        B．fear           C．sadness   D．shame

13.               A．past           B．into           C．through   D．around

14.               A．occurs         B．returns         C．goes  D．continues

15.               A．away          B．out            C．there D．home

16.               A．die            B．leave          C．remain    D．escape

17.               A．wears          B．carries         C．hangs D．holds

18.               A．seldom         B．never          C．many times D．some time

19.               A．promise        B．consider        C．guess D．accept

20.               A．laughing        B．screaming       C．crying D．whispering