Steve Jobs on life and death

When I was 17, I read a quote （引述） that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an   1  on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every   2  and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”  And whenever the    3  has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to   4  something.

Remembering that I’ll be   5  soon is the most important tool I’ve ever used to help me make the big   6  in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all   7  of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is   8  important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to   9 . You are already naked. There is no reason not to   10  your heart.

Your time is limited, so don’t   11  it living someone else’s life. Don’t be   12  by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the   13  to follow your beliefs and goals. They somehow already know what you really want to   14 . Everything else is   15 .

1.                A．expectation     B．impression      C．imagination    D．examination

2.                A．minute         B．night           C．day  D．week

3.                A．answer         B．solution         C．result    D．chance

4.                A．accept         B．hide           C．change   D．avoid

5.                A．famous         B．dead           C．old  D．forgotten

6.                A．decisions       B．contributions    C．differences    D．mistakes

7.                A．understanding   B．certainty        C．fear D．knowledge

8.                A．mostly         B．hardly          C．nearly    D．truly

9.                A．take           B．lose            C．give D．win

10.               A．break          B．catch          C．warm D．follow

11.               A．waste          B．imagine        C．spend D．risk

12.               A．confused       B．trapped        C．discouraged    D．hurt

13.               A．wisdom        B．idea           C．desire D．courage

14.               A．see            B．show          C．become   D．forget

15.               A．necessary       B．natural         C．secondary D．possible

George, when your big brother and your little dog and I walked you up to schools today, you had no idea how I was feeling.
You were so excited. You had packed and unpacked your pencils and safety scissors in your backpack a dozen times. I am really going to miss those lazy mornings when we waved your brother and sister off to school.
Because you are my youngest, I had learned a few things by the time you came along. I found out that the seemingly endless days of babyhood are gone like lightning. I blinked(眨眼), and your older siblings were setting off for school as eagerly as you did this morning, I was one of the lucky ones; I could choose whether to work or not. By the time it was your turn, the shining prizes of career advancement and a double income had lost their brightness. A splash(溅水) in the pool with you in your bright red boots or "just one more" rereading of your favorite book, Frog and Toad Are Friends, meant more. You didn’t go to preschool and I hope that doesn’t hold you back. You learned numbers by helping me count the soda cans we returned to the store.
I have to admit that in my mind’s eye, an image of myself while you’re in school has developed, I see myself updating all the photo albums and starting that novel I always wanted to write. As the summer wound down and more frequent quarrels erupted between you and your siblings, I was looking forward to today. And then this morning, I walked you up the steep hill to your classroom. You found the coat hook with your name above it right away, and you gave me one of your characteristically fierce, too-tight hugs. This time you were ready to let go before I was.
Maybe someday you will deliver a kindergartner to the first day of school. When you turn at the door to wave good-bye, he or she will be too deep in conversation with a new friend to notice. Even as you smile, you’ll feel something warm on your cheek.
And then, you’ll know…
【小题1】What does the author mean by the underlined sentence?

As a young boy, I sometimes traveled the country roads with my dad. He was a rural mill carrier, and on Saturdays he would ask me to go with him. Driving through the countryside was always an adventure: There were animals to see, people to visit, and chocolate cookies if you knew where to stop, and Dad did.
In the spring, Dad delivered boxes full of baby chickens, and when 1 was a boy it was such a fun to stick your finger 'through one of the holes of the boxes and let the baby birds peck on your fingers.
On Dad' s final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailbox to thank him for his friendship and his years of service. "Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route." he used to say, "and a story at every one. " One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.
Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read. "Nat, take these eggs to Marian; she's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs. " Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the groom:. bat the mail was always delivered On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate. A young wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few button on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank. Once, the amount came to 8 32,000.
A dozen years ago, when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad’s death,  the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't the case.
As I drove home, I noticed two lamp poles, one on each side of the street. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground. One box was painted green and the other was red, and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.
I made a turn at the comer and drove past the post office and across the railroad tracks to our house. Mom and I were sitting at the kitchen table when I heard footsteps. There, at the door, stood Frank Townsend, Dad's postmaster and great friend for many years. So we all sat down at the table and began to tell stories.
At one point Frank looked at me with tears in his eyes. " What are we going to do about the letters this Christmas?" he asked.
"The letters?"
'I guess you never knew. "
"Knew what?"
" Remember, when you were a kid and you used to put your letters to Santa in those green and red boxes on Main Street? It was your dad who answered all those letters every year. "
I just sat there with tears in my eyes. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine Dad sitting at the old table in our basement reading those letters and answering each one. I have since spoken with several of the people who received Christmas letters during their childhood, and they told me how amazed they were that Santa had known so much about their homes and families.
For me, just knowing that story about my father was the gift of a lifetime.
【小题1】It can be inferred from the passage that the writer regarded his travels with Dad us_____.

“Good morning!” said a woman as she walked up to an old man sitting on the ground. The man slowly looked up. He was Jack, who had been begging around here for a couple of years.
“See that cafeteria（自助餐厅）over there?” she asked. “I’m going to get you something to eat and get you out of the cold for a while.”
She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently. “Jack, do you remember me?” Old Jack thought hard and said, “I think so--I mean you do look familiar.”
“I was thin and hungry,” she said. “Maybe I’ve filled out now more than when you worked here. That was when I was just out of college. I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn’t find anything. Finally I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment. I walked in the streets for days, cold and hungry. I saw this place and walked in hoping that I could satisfy my hunger.”
Jack lit up with a smile. “Now I remember,” he said. “I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said it was against company’s policy.”
The woman continued, “Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich, gave me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble. Then, I saw you put the price of my food in the cash register.”
“So you started your own business?” old Jack said. “I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually I started my own business that, with the help of God, prospered.” She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. “When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons, the personnel director of my company. He’ll find something for you to do around the office.” She smiled, “If you ever need anything, my door is always open to you.”
There were tears in the old man’s eyes, “How can I ever thank you?” he said. “Don’t thank me;” the woman answered, “thank yourself. It was your kindness that let me know you.”
【小题1】Why did the woman invite the beggar to dinner?

George, when your big brother and your little dog and I walked you up to schools today, you had no idea how I was feeling.

You were so excited. You had packed and unpacked your pencils and safety scissors in your backpack a dozen times. I am really going to miss those lazy mornings when we waved your brother and sister off to school.

Because you are my youngest, I had learned a few things by the time you came along. I found out that the seemingly endless days of babyhood are gone like lightning. I blinked(眨眼), and your older siblings were setting off for school as eagerly as you did this morning, I was one of the lucky ones; I could choose whether to work or not. By the time it was your turn, the shining prizes of career advancement and a double income had lost their brightness. A splash(溅水) in the pool with you in your bright red boots or "just one more" rereading of your favorite book, Frog and Toad Are Friends, meant more. You didn't go to preschool and I hope that doesn't hold you back. You learned numbers by helping me count the soda cans we returned to the store.

I have to admit that in my mind's eye, an image of myself while you're in school has developed, I see myself updating all the photo albums and starting that novel I always wanted to write. As the summer wound down and more frequent quarrels erupted between you and your siblings, I was looking forward to today. And then this morning, I walked you up the steep hill to your classroom. You found the coat hook with your name above it right away, and you gave me one of your characteristically fierce, too-tight hugs. This time you were ready to let go before I was.

Maybe someday you will deliver a kindergartner to the first day of school. When you turn at the door to wave good-bye, he or she will be too deep in conversation with a new friend to notice. Even as you smile, you'll feel something warm on your cheek.

  And then, you’ll know…

1.What does the author mean by the underlined sentence?

A．She gave up the job with a big salary and prizes.

B．She could only recall her good job at home now.

C．Many good jobs with better pay attracted her but she didn’t take them.

D．Compared with bringing up the baby, work seemed to fade to her.

2.Which statement is NOT TRUE about George’s family according to the letter?

A．George’s parents gave birth to three children

B．The Georges is a double income family.

C．The children had more arguments during the summer.

D．They recyled soda cans.

3.The passage tries to show us          .

A．how excited a child will be on his first day to school

B．how deeply a mother loves her child

C．how many efforts a mother has made to raise a child

D．how a mother plans her future life after her children go to school