A morning rarely began so perfect. I took in the fresh air and felt my heart run into an enthusiastic rhythm. Though cool, the sun warmed my back as it rose over the horse from not far from my house. The slightest wind danced on my skin. Just enough to keep a runner form overheating. My ever-faithful jogging partner, a black dog named Nika pulled my leg with her mouth, mirroring my eagerness to start our run.
We raced forward with determination, ready to leap tall buildings and race against speeding trains. We pushed harder and ran faster, demonstration our skill and impressing passing motorists and neighbors.
We kept on running until we hit the Beast, a name for a very difficult, nearly two-mile long steep climb.
Only a few paces into the Beast, I gasped for air. Far short of superhero status, my enthusiasm and active steps were lost somewhere at the base of the hill. A vision of the newspaper and a cup of coffee waiting in my kitchen appeared, attracting me to turn back toward home.
With a glance I noticed Nika wasn’t doing any better. She continued to faithfully follow me, putting one paw in front of the other, but without her former eagerness. Her tiredness touched me. And in that moment, I felt a sudden spark of renewed determination to press on. I couldn’t allow this mountain to get the better of us. To improve both our spirits, I managed to shout, “Good girl, Nika! Keep going…you can do it!”
“I’m encouraging a dog, for heaven’s sake!’’ I needed to pull myself together. With a few simple words, I changed our course. One moment we were on the edge of quitting. The next, our feet picked up the pace and we continued. Though tired and discouraged myself, with a few kind words I impacted a dog’s ability to go further. I’m sure I could have completed the opposite with ill-chosen comments and an unpleasant tone. Instead, the Beast was defeated and we flew like heroes the rest of the way home.
Life is full of beasts to conquer. For some, it is the seemingly impossible climb of cancer. For others, their beast takes the shape of parenting a child or a teenager. Uphill climbs come in all shapes and sizes, common only in their ability to defeat, discourage and tempt tired travelers to quit. Sometimes all that’s needed is a few spoken, well-timed words of encouragement from a fellow runner – someone who sees the struggle, dares to jogs alongside, and cares enough to say, “Keep going! You can do it! You’re not alone. I believe in you!”
【小题1】 The writer starts the text by describing________.

A Leap（跳跃）to Honor

Leaping on a narrow balance beam（平衡木） is not easy. But Lola Walter, a 13-year-old gymnast, is an expert at it.

To perfect her skills, Lola   36   for four hours a day, five days a week. At the state championships in March, she finished seventh out of 16 girls.

That’s especially impressive,          37    she is legally blind, born with a rare condition that causes her eyes to shift constantly. She often sees double and can’t _38   how far away things are.

When she was little, her mom   39  that even though she couldn’t see         40   , she was fearless. So her mom signed her up for gymnastics when she was three. She loved the    41    right away and gymnastics became her favorite.

Though learning gymnastics has been more    42   for her than for some of her tournaments, she has never quit. She doesn’t let her _43  stop her from doing anything that she wants to.

She likes the determination it takes to do the sport. Her biggest          44_ is the balance beam. Because she has double vision, she often sees two beams. She must use her sense of touch to help her during her routine. Sometimes she even closes her eyes. “You have to          45_ your mind that it’ll take you where you want to go,” says Lola.

To be a top-level gymnast, one must be brave. The beam is probably the most   46  for anyone because it’s four inches wide. At the state competition, Lola didn’t fall      47  the beam. In fact, she got an 8.1 out of 10---- her highest score yet.

Lola doesn’t want to be          48    differently from the other girls on her team. At the competitions, the judges don’t know about her vision _49 _. She doesn’t tell them, because she doesn’t think they need to know. Her mom is amazed by her _50          attitude.

Lola never thinks about   51__. She is presently at level 7 while the highest is level 10 in gymnastics. Her   52         is to reach level 9. She says she wants to be a gymnastics coach to pass down what she’s learned to other kids    53  she grew up.

Lola is   54  of all her hard work and success. She says it’s helped her overcome problems in her life outside gymnastics, too. Her   55        for others is “just believe yourself”.

1.                A．runs           B．teaches         C．trains D．dances

2.                A．since           B．unless          C．after D．though

3.                A．tell            B．guess          C．assume   D．predict

4.                A．suspected       B．remembered    C．imagined D．noticed

5.                A．deeply         B．well            C．ahead    D．closely

6.                A．task           B．sport           C．event    D．show

7.                A．boring         B．enjoyable       C．difficult   D．unsatisfactory

8.                A．talent          B．quality          C．nature   D．condition

9.                A．doubt          B．advantage       C．challenge D．program

10.               A．examine        B．express        C．open D．trust

11.               A．fearful         B．harmful        C．unfair D．inconvenient

12.               A．to             B．on            C．off   D．against

13.               A．greeted        B．treated         C．served    D．paid

14.               A．pains          B．stresses        C．injuries    D．problems

15.               A．positive        B．friendly        C．flexible    D．caution

16.               A．defending      B．quitting         C．winning   D．bargaining

17.               A．standard        B．range          C．view  D．goal

18.               A．until           B．as             C．when D．before

19.               A．proud          B．tired           C．ashamed   D．confident

20.               A．plan           B．advice         C．reward    D．Responsibility

C

One Sunday, my family had gathered at my parents’ house to feast upon Mom’s wonderful cooking. During the normal dinner chatter (闲聊), I noticed that my father was slurring (说话含混) his words. No one mentioned this during dinner, but I felt compelled to discuss it with my mother afterward.

We decided that there was something seriously wrong and that Dad needed to see the doctor.

Mom phoned me two days later. “The doctor found a brain tumor (肿瘤). It’s too large at this point to operate. Maybe they can do something then, but the odds are long.”

Even with the treatment, my father’s condition worsened, and the doctor finally informed us that this condition was terminal (晚期的). During one of his stays in the hospital, we brought our baby daughter Chelsey with us when we visited him. By this time he had great difficulty speaking. I finally figured out that he wanted Chelsey to sit on his stomach so he could make faces at her.

Watching the two of them together, I realized I was living an experience that would stay with me forever. Though grateful for the times they could share, I couldn’t shake the feeling of a clock ticking in the background.?

On the visit to my parents’ home during what we all know was my father’s last days, my mother took Chelsey from my arms and announced, “Your father would like to see you alone for a minute.”

I entered the bedroom where my father lay on a rented hospital bed. He appeared even weaker than the day before.

“How are you feeling, Dad?” I asked. “Can I do anything for you?”

He tried to speak, but he couldn’t make out a word.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you,” I said.

With great difficulty he said, “I love you.”

We don’t learn courage from heroes on the evening news. We learn true courage from watching ordinary people rise above hopeless situations. In many ways my father was a strict, uncommunicative man. He found it difficult to show emotion. The bravest thing I ever saw him do was overcome that barrier to open his heart to his son and family at the end of his life.

1.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．The writer accompanied his father to a medical examination.

B．The writer’s father got worse after the removal of the brain tumor.

C．The writer was quick to notice the strange condition of his father.

D．The writer’s father had known about his illness before the writer discovered it.

2. What does the underlined sentence “the odds are long” mean?

A．There’s little possibility for Father to recover.

B．It takes a long time for Father to recover.

C．Father needs love and care from his family.

D．They need a proper time to operate on Father.

3.The father had never said “I love you” to the writer before because ________.

A．he believed in strictness and punishment

B．he was not so attached to the writer

C．he thought there was no need to tell the writer

D．he was not used to openly showing his emotions

4.What does the writer attempt to tell us?

A．We don’t often value health until we lose it.

B．Don’t wait to see a doctor till it is too late.

C．Life is short, so live your life to the fullest.

D．Bravely express your love for your family.

C

RIDING in school buses in the early morning，then sitting in poorly lit classrooms，are the main reasons students have trouble getting to sleep at night，according to new research．

Teenagers，like everyone else，need bright light in the morning to allow their circadian rhythms(生理节奏)to get into step with nature's cycles of day and night．

If they don't get blue 1ight in the morning，they get to sleep an average of six minutes later at night，until their bodies are completely out of sync(同步) with the school day，researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York said last month．

The finding was made by fitting goggles(护目镜)that block blue light from the sun to a group of students．The researchers discovered that their circadian rhythms were greatly affected．

Parents and teachers have been complaining in recent years that teens stay up too late at night，then fall asleep in class the next morning and do poorly in school．The new findings provide a possible explanation for the problem．

At the root of the research is the circadian rhythm, the body's natural sleep and waking cycle．Even though the Earth makes a full rotation(旋转)in 24 hours，the body's circadian cycle is about 24 hours and six minutes 1ong．The cycle is mediated(调节)by a chemical called melatonin(褪黑激素)．The body starts to produce it about two hours before it is time to sleep and, in the absence of blue 1ight，the body produces about six minutes later each day.

In the study, the researchers studied 11 students at Smith Middle School in New York, which was designed so that a lot of sunlight  reaches classrooms．

On a Friday night，the researchers measured what time the 11 students’ bodies began releasing melatonin．On Monday morning，the students were sent to school with orange goggles that blocked most blue light from their eyes to mimic(模拟) the conditions found in many---if not most--schools．

By the end of the week，the students were releasing melatonin 30 minutes 1ater in the evening---an average of six minutes a day--and going to sleep correspondingly(相应的) later．

“This is our first field study，”said lead author Mariana G．Figueiro．He said they would like to repeat it in larger studies and for longer periods of time。

If the findings are repeated，a variety of solutions are available．Ideally, new schools would be built to allow more natural sunlight into the classrooms．Students could also be exposed to more sunlight outside．

68. According to the findings related in this article, many teenagers stay up late because_______

A. they lack melatonin in their bodies

B. they have to get up so early to catch the school bus

C. their circadian rhythms are in disorder

D. they do not get enough blue light in the morning

69. According to the findings, a student who normally slept at 10:00 pm, but who spent 10 days in a poorly lit classroom, would probably be falling asleep at___________after the period.

A. 12:00pm   B. 11:30pm   C. 11:00pm   D. 10:00pm

70. What does the article tell us?

A. Unlike adults, teenagers tend to feel sleepy during daytime.

B. The sunlight is the only thing that can affect our circadian rhythms.

C. If the findings prove correct, solutions could be found to teen sleeping problems.

D. Most schools have small windows and the classrooms are poorly lit.

71. The main point of the article is to___________

A. warn teenagers not to stay up late or sleep in class

B. report on some new findings related to teenagers' sleeping problems

C. give suggestions on how to build schools

D. advertise goggles which can protect the eyes from the sun

B

Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patient–to

speed recovery or to cover the coming of death? In

medicine as in law, government, and other lines of

work, the requirements of honesty often seem dwarfed

（变矮小）by greater needs: the need to protect from

brutal news or to uphold a promise of secrecy; to advance

the public interest．

What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months? Is it best to tell him the  truth? If he asks, should the doctor reject that he is ill, or minimize fee gravity of the illness? Should they at least hide the truth until after the family vacation?

Doctors face such choices often．At times, they see important reasons to lie for the patient's own sake; in their eyes, such lies differ sharply from self-serving ones．

Studies show that most doctors sincerely believe that the seriously ill patients do not want to know the truth about their condition, and that informing them risks destroying their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate （恶化） faster, perhaps even commit suicide（自杀）．

But other studies show that, contrary to the belief of many physicians; a great majority of patients do want to be told the truth, even about serious illness, and feel cheated when they learn that they have been misled．We are also learning that truthful information, humanly conveyed, helps patients cope with illness: help them tolerate pain better, need less medicine, and even recover faster after operation．

There is urgent need to debate this issue openly．Not only in medicine, but in other professions as well, practitioners may find themselves repeatedly in difficulty where serious consequences seem avoidable only through deception （欺骗）．Yet the public has every reason to know professional deception, for such practices are peculiarly likely to become deeply rooted, to spread, and to trust．Neither in medicine, nor in law, government, or the social sciences can there be comfort in the old saying, "What you don't know can't hurt you．"

60．What is the passage mainly about?

         A．Whether patients really want to know the truth of their condition．

         B．Whether patients should be told the truth of their illness．

         C．Whether different studies should be carried on．

         D．Whether doctors are honesty with their patients．

61．For the case mentioned in paragraph 2, most doctors will ____．

         A．tell the patient the truth as soon as possible

         B．choose to lie to him about his condition at that moment

         C．tell him to shorten the family vacation

         D．advise him to cancel the family vacation

62．Which of the following is TRUE?

         A．Sometimes government tells lies because they need to meet the public interest．

         B．Doctors believe if they lie, those seriously-ill patients will recover more quickly．

         C．Truthful information helps patients deal with their illness in some cases．

         D．Many patients don't want to know the truth, especially about serious illness．

63．From the passage, we can learn that the author's attitude to professional deception is ____．

         A．supportive             B．indifferent C．opposed         D．neutral

63．From the passage, we can learn that the author’s attitude to professional deception is      .

         A．supportive B．indifferent C．opposed     D．neutral