Dear Michelle:
My Dad hates my Mom. He tells me that she is a liar and that I should not trust her. Of course, they are divorced but they have “joint custody(共同监护)”. What a joke! I am 15, my brother is nine, and we have a life of hell, frankly.
We live one week on and one week off. This was the brilliant idea of both of my parents, which was fair to them but ruining my life. I can’t get away from his voice and his putting my mom down. Sometimes I think about running away.
A Hopeless Ant
Dear Hopeless Ant:
First, thank you for trusting me with your problem. If all you said is correct, then there are several
things that you can and should do to help yourself, your brother, and your parents.
● You need a family counselor(顾问). Such a person could listen to each family member alone and
then meet together to talk about the situation.
If refused, you need to talk to a counselor in your school. You need to be heard, and you need an
adult who will listen. A school counselor can organize a meeting with your parents.
● Perhaps you need to write to her. Writing things down allows people to go over it more than one
time.
I cannot imagine that she will stand passively by and do nothing at all to help once she reads how
you feel. Your father needs a letter as well. He may not realize the destructive effect that it has on his
children.
● Lastly, have a plan in mind when all else fails that is not self-destructive. Life passes very quickly, and you will grow up and have your own life.
Above all, you need to keep yourself safe. Never doubt that it will get better. Write back and let me know how everything is going.
The Hopeless Ant wrote the letter to _______.
A. complain about the problems
B. ask for advice
C. make his father punished
D. just play a joke
【小题1】.
The Hopeless Ant hated his father because __________.

You can’t imagine that a well –behaved gentleman ______ be so rude to a lady.

A. might         B. need           C. should        D. would

Most people believe they don’t have much imagination. They are    11   . Everyone has imagination, but most of us, once we become adults, forget how to   12  it. Creativity isn’t always  13 with great works of art or ideas. People at work and in their free time   14   think of creative ways to solve problems. Maybe you have a goal to achieve, a tricky question to answer or you just want to expand your mind! Here are three techniques to help you.

　　Making connections. This technique involves taking   15  ideas and trying to find links between them. First, think about the problem you have to solve or the job you need to do. Then find an image, word, idea or object, for example, a candle. Write down all the ideas/words  16  with candles: light, fire, matches, wax, night, silence, etc. Think of as many as you can. The next stage is to relate the   17 to the job you have to do. So imagine you want to buy a friend an original   18  ; you could buy him tickets to match or take him out for the night.

　　NO limits! Imagine that normal limitations don’t   19  . You have as much time /space / money, etc. as you want. Think about your goal and the new  20  . If your goal is to learn to ski,    21  , you can now practise skiing every day of your life (because you have the time and the money). Now   22   this to reality. Maybe you can practise skiing every day in December, or every Monday in January.

Be someone else! Look at the situation from a    23  point of view. Good businessmen use this technique in trade, and so do writers. Fiction writers often imagine they are the  24   in their books. They ask questions: What does this character want? Why can’t she get it? What changes must she make to get what she wants? If your goal involves other people, put yourself in their    25 . The best fishermen think like fish!

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1. 5分，满分30分）

　　阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

When Dunstan Cass left the cottage, Silas Marner was only a hundred meters away. He was

walking home from the village, where he had   36   to buy what he needed   37    his next day’s work. His legs were tired, but he felt almost happy. He was looking forward to  38  , when he would bring out his gold．Tonight he had an extra reason to hurry home. He was going to eat hot meat, which was   39   for him. And it would   40   him nothing, because someone had given him a piece of meat as a present. He left it   41   over the fire. The door key was needed to hold it safe in place, but Cass was not at all   42  about leaving his gold in the cottage with the door

  43  . He could not imagine that a thief would   44    his way through the mist, rain and darkness to the little cottage by the quarry ( 采石场 ).

   When he reached his cottage and opened the door, he did not notice   45     anything was different. He   46   is wet coat, and pushed the meat   47    he fire.   48   he was warm again, he began to think about his gold . It seemed a long time to wait until after super, when he usually brought out coins to look at.   49     he decided to bring out his gold immediately, while the meat was still cooking.

   But when he   50    he floorboards near the loom, and saw the   51   hole, he did not understand   52  . His heart beat violently as his trembling hands felt all round the hole. There was    53    !he put his hands to his head and tried to think . Had he put his gold in a different place, and forgotten about it? He   54    every corner of this small cottage, until he could not pretend to himself any more. He had to accept the truth----his gold had been  55   !

36．A．arrived          B．been          C．left           D．gone

37．A．to              B．in                  C．for           D．with

38．A．holiday      B．old           C．supper-time    D．meat

39．A．ordinary     B．unusual             C．normal        D．common

40．A．pay                 B．spend               C．take           D．cost

41．A．boiling              B．cooking             C．smoking       D．making

42．A．interesting           B．worried             C．interested       D．worrying

43．A．unlocked      B．uncovered           C．discovered     D．locked

44．A．go          B．lead               C．find           D．lose

45．A．whether        B．that                C．because      D．as

46．A．turned off          B．threw into          C．threw off            D．got off

47．A．away from          B．farther on           C．on to        D．closer to

48．A．As soon as          B．As well as          C．No sooner     D．As long as

49．A．But                B．As                 C．So                 D．For

50．A．took down          B．took after      C．took over            D．took up

51．A．dark               B．empty       C．small        D．deep

52．A．at last              B．at once          C．at most              D．at least

53．A．everything           B．something           C．nothing      D．anything

54．A．search              B．search for            C．looked into   D．found

55．A．gone                B．missed              C．lost           D．stolen