It takes less than six seconds to leave a first impression. It is said that we ought not judge a book by its cover, but come on, isn’t it the color, the design, the layout, and the title that draw us to pick up a book we’ve never heard of before? Notice what your assumptions are about a person when you are first introduced to her or him.
Something that most of us don’t take notice of is how we stand or walk. Let’s say you are going for a job interview. Within seconds you have already said a lot about yourself by the way you walk. The majority of us walk around everyday without paying any attention to what we are saying even though we are not uttering a word. There is a lot that can be said about body language from the clothes you wear to the gestures you make.
I took notice of this topic recently as I recalled something about changing my posture to improve my level of confidence. I was about to venture on a new project, which would take me out of my comfort zone. My gremlins (小精灵) were having a field day with me uttering all kinds of reasons why I couldn’t do a good job with this new opportunity. I tucked in my tummy (收缩肚子) , put my shoulders back , held my head high , and took a walk. Soon thereafter, I felt so much better. I approached the project with new possibility. Wow, what a difference ! Try it !
The ability to capture your audience when you walk into a room is sure to start you off on the right foot when going on an interview. Non-verbal signals have five times the impact of verbal (言语的)signals. So you can count on losing your audience when you walk in with head down dragging your feet regardless how much you try to change it.
【小题1】In the first paragraph the author intends to tell us         .

Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia was delivered to my house. No card came with it. Calls to the flower-shop were not helpful at all. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender’s name and just delighted in the beautiful white flower in soft pink paper.

But I never stopped imagining who the giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about the sender. My mother encouraged these imaginings. She’d ask me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness. Perhaps it was the old man across the street whose mail I’d delivered during the winter. As a girl, though, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy I had run into.

One month before my graduation, my father died. I felt so sad that I became completely uninterested in my upcoming graduation dance, and I didn’t care if I had a new dress or not. But my mother, in her own sadness, would not let me miss any of those things. She wanted her children to feel loved and lovable. In truth, my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia－lovely, strong and perfect with perhaps a bit of mystery (神秘).

1.My mother died ten days after I was married. I was 22. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.

Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. A Childhood Dream               B. A Mother’s Love

C. A Graduation Party               D. A Special Birthday

2.The mother insisted that her daughter go to the graduation dance because ________.

A. she could take care of things herself

B. she hoped she would find a boyfriend

C. she wanted her to be happy and strong

D. she thought education was the most important

3.Who was the sender of the flower?

A. A boy the writer had run into.     B. One of the writer’s neighbors.

C. One of the writer’s classmates. D. The writer’s mother.

In high school I joined the girl athletic club. At our first track meet, I entered for the long jump, but was made an alternate（替补）for the 50 yard dash. I didn’t like it, since I was better at long distance, but they assured me I would never have to run; they just ran out of alternate.

As I walked up to the start line, I saw my Dad on the sidelines. He was watching. Position, ready, set and off went the starting gun. Believe it or not, I closed my eyes and ran like I’d never run before.

I knew I didn’t have a chance of winning. But I started to hear cheering and thought for a minute, was it possible? I opened my eyes and to my disappointment, everyone else was crossing the finish line, inches away from each other and I was only half the distance.

That moment felt like days. I felt so stupid. I just wanted to melt into the ground and disappeared. Worse than that, my Dad was watching and then I felt ashamed. I kept running hard as I could, crying all the way towards the finish line. It seemed no one noticed me as I crossed the finish line. I saw my Dad standing there looking at me. I was ashamed to look at him. He walked over to me and said, “I’m so proud of you.” I was surprised, “For what? Everyone else finished before I even got halfway. I looked like a fool.” “Because you didn’t give up, not even when you realized what had happened. You gave it your all and finished.” I laughed and cried at the same time.

I find I can face what seems impossible, even alone and afraid, and, that winning does not always come in as you expect. I give my best effort to all I do, win or lose. I don’t give up in the middle of anything.

1.The author meant to compete in        .

A. the 50 yard dash           B. the long jump    C. the long-distance run      D. the high jump

2.When the author heard cheering, she thought        .

A. she had the chance to win the game               

B. she left others inches away halfway

C. other competitors were encouraging her         

D. somebody had won the game                                

3.What happened after the author crossed the finish line?

A. She cried at the sight of her father.               

B. Everyone cheered her for her success.

C. Her farther came up and comforted her.         

D. She felt ashamed to meet her classmates.

4.What lesson can we learn form the author’s experience?

A. What seems impossible always becomes possible.

B. Don’t lose heart halfway whatever you do.

C. Success will come as long as you expect it.

D. Try to do everything until you win in the end.

Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had “seven fathers,” because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated(躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.

In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because her thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university’s Writers’ Workshop, however, she felt lonely----a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her “Creative voice.”

“It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That’s when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn’t write about.”

Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children’s book, and a short-story collection.

36. Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?

A. She had seven brothers.

   B. She felt herself a nobody.

C. She was too shy to go to school.

D. She did not have any good teachers.

37. The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to _____.

   A. work for a school magazine

   B. run away from her family

   C. make a lot of friends

   D. develop her writing style

38. According to Cisneros, what played the decisive role in her success?

   A. Her early years in college.

   B. Her training in the Workshop.

   C. Her feeling of being different.

   D. Her childhood experience.

39. What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?

   A. It is quite popular among students.

   B. It is the only book ever written by Cisneros.

   C. It wasn’t success as it was written in Spanish.

   D. It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine.

When people hear that I’m the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, they all have the same question: How did a 22-year old woman row a 19-foot boat for 70 days through high winds and crashing waves? Well, the biggest difficulty for me wasn’t physical. By the time I decided to do the ocean row, I had already biked 3,300 miles cross-country, run across the Mojave Desert, and swum the 325-mile length of the Allegheny River. No, the tough part would be mental: How would I handle the loneliness, the boredom of the vast sea?

I set off on January 3, 2010. I set my sights on getting past the quarter-way mark, which would take about 20 days.

Day 20, January 22, was gray and cloudy. I could have done something to celebrate, such as treating myself to a chocolate bar. But I didn’t.

I was suffering from terrible loneliness. I hadn’t seen landing over two weeks. Every day was beginning to feel the same. Eating, rowing, sleeping, watch the sky, watch the ocean.

Then, around sunset, I saw something move on the horizon. They were dolphins! They circled my boat. Suddenly I felt so grateful. They had come to help me celebrate, just when I needed them. I rowed at full strength for the next 20 minutes with the dolphins around. By the time we went our separate ways, I was no longer lonely. Better yet, I knew I would be okay.

I did make it, all 2,817 miles. I hit the coast of Guyana, South America, on March 14, after 70 days and five hours at sea. My ocean row raised $70,000 for the Blue Planet Run Foundation, which funds drinking water programs around the world. I know some athletes spend the entire journey imagining the end, and that helps them get through. But for me, the secret is to focus on the moment, where you experience the personal growth — those moments of awareness of being connected to the sun, the weather, and the waves. And, on the best day of my life, those dolphins, which freed myself from terrible loneliness.

1.Which is the step taken as part of preparation for the tough row?

A．swimming the 325-mile length of the river

B．answering the same question raised by people

C．running 3,300 miles cross-country

D．biking across the Mojave Desert

2.What does the underlined part mean?

A．I didn’t have any chocolate bar for energy.

B．I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate my first goal.

C．It’s a pity not to celebrate my passing the quarter of the way

D．It’s a pity not to treat myself to a chocolate bar on Day 20.

3.What can be implied from the last two paragraphs?

A．Imagination was an effective way to help me get through.

B．The Blue Planet Run Foundation helped me a lot.

C．The dolphins accompanied me to reach my destination

D．The unexpected dolphins swept away my loneliness

4.Which can be the best title of the passage?

A．The day I stopped being lonely

B．The only challenge for a 22-year old

C．How to overcome loneliness at sea.

D．How to row alone across the Atlantic