I have always heard the saying, “Any guy can be a ‘Dad’, but it takes a real man to be a ‘Father’.” This has become qutie true in my life since the birth of my son, Joshua. Since the birth of my son things have changed a lot in my life, but the changes have been   1 ! My wife and I have been through many   2  moments which have made both of us   3 .

My son was born with some medical prombles that   4   his regular doctors. He was

  5  several different medications, but he did not get any better. He had a bad breathing problem, and he could not keep his food down. My wife and I were both told many times by people that Joshua looked life he was born early; he had not gained much   6   since he was born.

As time progressed his regular doctor sent my wife and I to Louisville to a   7   by the name of Dr. Eld. He was astonished by my son’s condition, too. Many different tests were    8   on Joshua. The time spents there was very   9   for my wife and I. But we did make it through with God’s   10  .

Joshua is one year and one month old now and has gotten much better since then. His

 11  has been amazing and he is up to 27 pounds now. I keep telling my wife, that if he keeps growing like this he might get a football   12   sooner or later. There is saying that has helped me   13  these troublesome times. “Problems will either make you or   14  you.” When you think the darkest hours are upon you, remember the   15  is just in sight.

1.                A．bad            B．good           C．happy    D．sad

2.                A．exciting        B．interesting      C．challenging    D．amusing

3.                A．stronger        B．healthier        C．harder   D．weaker

4.                A．shook          B．trembled        C．shocked  D．quaked

5.                A．taken on        B．put on          C．gone on  D．lived on

6.                A．width          B．height          C．weight    D．sight

7.                A．dentist         B．specialist        C．scientist  D．tourist

8.                A．performed      B．laid            C．devoted  D．directed

9.                A．slow           B．easy           C．hard D．quick

10.               A．luck           B．smile          C．love  D．help

11.               A．score          B．progress        C．efforts    D．fact

12.               A．ticket          B．contact         C．contract   D．player

13.               A．get on         B．get through     C．take on    D．look through

14.               A．create         B．build           C．break D．enjoy

15.               A．future         B．help           C．dawn D．dusk

Trust has been considered as the basis of any relationship, including friendship. No relationship can last long with a lack of trust. Not many of your friends will have real faith in you as you would like to believe.1. Sometimes, it takes years, even a complete lifetime, to trust someone. However, how do we know if our friends have faith in us?

  2.With whom will you share things that you don’t want everyone to know? It would be with a close friend, whom you trust as much as you trust yourself. While a few of your friends may be fiercely protective of their privacy and may not tell their secrets to anyone, those who do, surely find you trustworthy and reliable.

   Whom do you look up to for advice when you need it the most? It has to be either your parents or your friends. 3.This is a shining example of trust. You only seek advice from people you hold in high regard and find dependable. The friends who trust you will never forget to include you in the important decisions of their life.

  Arguments and heated discussions are a part of every relationship, and this is also true for friendship. 4.While some people find it difficult to forgive and forget, your friends will never have problems moving on. It is because they trust you and believe that you will never cause any pain to them on purpose.

There are times in life when you find yourself a lonely soldier. 5.Your friends will never let you down and will strongly stand for you when you need encouragement. You can determine that they trust you and believe in your beliefs, if they side with you when you need them the most.

A. People can be extraordinarily jealous sometimes

B. You know they will never pass on a wrong suggestion

C. In fact, winning trust is, by far, the most challenging aspect of relationships

D. Two people cannot have identical reactions to a situation and different opinions do exist.

E. No matter how close you are to your friends, you cannot take that comfort level for granted.

F. If your friends share their secrets, there’s a good possibility that they have much faith in you.

G. However, people who are fortunate to have been blessed with true friends are never alone in any battle.

A Book Review—The Snake-Stone by Berlie Doherty

The setting: Urban England (the cities), but also rural England (the countryside) including remote English villages．

The theme: The main theme is a teenage research of self-discovery, in this case the search for a mother from whom the hero was separated at an early age．Its other concerns are love, getting on with others, being persistent and courageous and trying to deal with doubts, troubles and worries．As the book moves to a close, James’ swimming coach says to him: “You are not like a kid obeying instructions any more．You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going．”

The characters: James is the hero of the story．He is a championship diver, and has a comfortable life with his foster parents (养父母)．Yet he also has the qualities to take him on a long journey to find his birth mother．The other characters in The Snake-Stone, James’ parents, his diving instructor, best friend, the villagers, people he meets on his journey, are pictured realistically．

The turning point: The turning point in the story comes while James’ foster parents are away in London, and he wonders about the identity of his birth mother．The only clue he has is a fossil, “the snake stone” which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: “Take good care of Sammie．It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there．

The journey: Instead of going to London, James decides to find his birth mother．With help from his geography teacher, James sets out for the remote country village where his mother might be found．James has painful, challenging, but also humorous and happy travels．The mother he finally meets, Anne, has a minor yet powerful voice in the novel．He comes to understand why she left him at a stranger’s door fifteen years before．Although the meeting is not long, it leaves him with a feeling of completeness．As a journey of self-discovery The Snake-Stone also provides its readers with a happy ending．Its hero says, on returning to his foster parents, “I was home．”

1.What is the main theme of the novel?

2. What do the coach’s words in Paragraph 2 suggest?

3. The snake stone in the novel is        ．

4.Which of the following is true about the novel?

5.It can be concluded that James’ journey is _________．

What happens inside the skull of a soccer player who repeatedly heads a soccer ball? That question motivated a challenging new study of the brains of experienced players that has caused discussion and debate among soccer players, and some anxiety among those of us with soccer-playing children.

For the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York selected 34adults, men and women. All of the volunteers had played soccer since childhood and now competed year-round in adult soccer leagues. Each filled out a detailed questionnaire developed especially for this study to determine how many times they had headed a soccer ball in the previous year, as well as whether they had experienced any known concussions (脑震荡) in the past.

Then the players completed computerized tests of their memory and other learning skills and had their brains scanned, using a complicated new M.R.I. technique which can find structural changes in the brain that can't be seen during most scans.

According to the data they presented at a Radiological Society of North America meeting last month, the researchers found that the players who had headed the ball more than about 1,100 times in the previous 12 months showed significant loss of white matter in parts of their brains involved with memory, attention and the processing of visual information, compared with players who had headed the ball fewer times.

This pattern of white matter loss is "similar to those seen in traumatic (外伤的) brain injury", like that after a serious concussion, the researchers reported, even though only one of these players was reported to have ever experienced a concussion.

The players who had headed the ball about 1,100 times or more in the past year were also generally worse at recalling lists of words read to them, forgetting or fumbling the words far more often than players who had headed the ball less.

1.The passage is most probably a______.

A．news report                           B．research report

C．story for soccer players                   D．text for doctors

2.In which way can we find the structural changes in the brain?

A．Computerized test.                      B．Questionnaire..

C．Scanning.                             D．M.R.I. technique.

3.From the passage we can conclude that frequent heading may have_____.

A．significant effect on brain                 B．little effect on one's brain

C．nothing to do with the brain injury          D．one's memory improved

4.What is likely to be the cause of memory loss?

A．Playing soccer frequently.                 B．Tests of their memory.

C．White matter loss.                       D．Information processing.

5.The underlined word "fumbling" is closest in meaning to______.

A．remembering                          B．misunderstanding

C．recalling                              D．missing

When you need a job very much, you may end up taking one for which you are over qualified. Although you were initially grateful just to have the work, you now feel bored and depressed. Is there any way to change that?

Start by changing your opinion, says Caitlin Kelly, the author of Malled, a book based on her experience as a sales clerk after losing her job in journalism. “Don’t focus on what you’re not getting but what you are getting,” she says. “Be patient and work attentively with a wide range of people. It doesn’t matter what the job is –there are always things you can learn and skills you can develop.”

Hilary Pearl, the founder of a coaching firm, says, “Tell yourself the current situation isn’t the end of your career. Don’t overdramatize（过分夸大）the negative aspects but try to view the situation more philosophically: life has a series of stages, and this is one of them. Don’t forget to study even in the worst stage.”

Consider that because you’re overqualified, you may be able to learn or do things on the job that might not have been possible in a more demanding position, says Sarah Hathorn, the chief executive of Illustra Consulting. “You could spend your extra time in learning different aspects of the business and teaching others in the organization,” she says.

Is it possible to make your work more challenging, even if your job responsibilities aren’t likely to change?

Of course, you may seek tasks and responsibilities that force you to learn something new or to work harder. “You may be operating on autopilot（习惯性地）right now, but chances are that people above you are stressed,” Sarah Hathorn says. “Take things off your boss’s plate and let him know which projects or tasks you want to learn more about.”

Always express your request positively, saying that you love new challenges, rather than complaining that you’re bored and underused, says Ethun, the president of the Park Avenue Group. In your down time, educate yourself about the company and its industry. “Read corporate information, analyst reports and related news articles,” she says. “If your boss accepts your suggestions, it will make you a more valuable employee.”

1.According to Caitlin Kelly, ______.

A．one should be willing to do some small things

B．being a salesman is not as important as being a journalist

C．performing your regular duties well is important

D．doing a simple job well will bring you a sense of success

2.What Hilary Pearl intends to express is that ______.

A．work is just a stage of our whole life

B．the present job doesn’t matter to us in a long run

C．one should be satisfied with his present situation

D．one should look forward instead of complaining about the present situation

3.The underlined words “take things off your boss’s plate” mean______.

A．draw your boss’s attention               B．share your boss’s burdens

C．give your boss useful advice               D．ask your boss for a better position

4. What is the common view about careers of the people mentioned in this passage?

A．One should start his career from doing a simple job.

B．One should improve himself and help others as well.

C．One should keep learning new things to improve himself.

D．One should pay much attention to the relationship with the boss.