Steve Nash enjoys team success far more than personal success, and always wants to share the glory and the joy with teammates.

?? He is a self-effacing (不爱出风头的) Canadian, who grew up in hockey country. Today Steve Nash has to stand alone even if he doesn’t enjoy it. The Phoenix Sun’s point guard has to take ownership of a set of skills that sets him apart from every bigger, faster basketball player. He is considered the best basketball player in the game.

?? 31-year old Nash was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the NBA on May 8, 2005. “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s been a long road for me and I really enjoy playing as a team, just trying to be a good teammate. That is the only way for me to highlight what I do as a basketball player.”

?? It is the first time a Canadian has won any individual NBA honor. Of the 50 winners of the MVP award, only six have been guards: Steve Nash, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and Bob Cousy. “I’m happy for him getting the MVP, which makes us feel like we all got the MVP,” said Phoenix forward Shawn Marion.

?? He may be the only one who truly believes he can reach this level. “I always try to set goals for myself and have my own time frame to accomplish them and I never give up on anything,” he said. It is not as if Nash arrived at this point without countless hours of hard work.

?? His interests go far beyond sports and the NBA. His social conscience is such that he wore a T-shirt bearing an anti-war slogan at the NBA all-star weekend festivities in Philadelphia in 2002.

?? “A lot of great moments are when you win games with your teammates. There’s nothing like sharing something with someone else,” he said. “There is a pinnacle (顶点) of a player’s career individually. In many ways, the pinnacle of a player’s career really is defined by team wins.”

1.What does Steve Nash mean by saying the last two sentences?

A. A player’s success is decided by his / her individual efforts.

B. A player won’t succeed without a team’s support.

C. A player will succeed sooner or later.

D. A team always decides a player’s success.

2.Steve Nash feels happiest _______.

A. when he is named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA

B. when he is 30 years old

C. when he plays at the NBA all-star weekend festivities

D. when his team wins a game

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Nash is an American basketball player.

B. Nash is better at basketball than Magic Johnson.

C. Nash is the first Canadian winner of the MVP award.

D. Michael Jordan is the best of the six guards.

4. Which of the following is the main message that the passage wants to express?

A. Nash prefers team honor to personal honor.

B. Hard work will lead to the honor of the MVP of the NBA.

C. A Canadian can be an MVP of the NBA.

D. Setting goals is of importance to success.

I got your letter and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again in Tennessee, promising to do better for me than anybody else can.

Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here in Ohio. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with food and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy, the folks call her Mrs. Anderson; and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. We are kindly treated.

Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again. We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct（扣除）what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it should come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young Masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

1.According to the passage, the letter was written by Jourdon to his former _______.

A．friend            B．master            C．neighbor          D．relative

2.Which of the following is RIGHT according to the passage?

A．The family name of this letter writer is Anderson.

B．The writer is paid the same as he was in Tennessee.

C．The writer will certainly get at least 11,680 dollars.

D．Safety rather than education weighs a lot to the writer.

3.The writer’s description of his present situation implies that _______.

A．he shows his intention of going back in Tennessee

B．he is somewhat richer and does not need to go back

C．his life is relatively good but still needs improvement

D．he is not a little satisfied with his present life in Ohio

4.The purpose of the writer’s asking for his pay back is _______.

A．to show he needs that amount of money urgently

B．to show he is determined to get what he deserved

C．to test whether the letter receiver is worthy of trust

D．to tell the letter receiver he still has faith in him

5.From the passage, we can see the writer is very _______.

A．wise             B．stupid            C．greedy           D．generous

单词拼写（满分5分）
【小题1】It is hard to p     him to stop smoking.
【小题2】Everyone who often exercises can b     from it.
【小题3】Do you feel h     when you’re often in difficulty.
【小题4】If you’re not satisfied with this book, I can r       you another one.
【小题5】I will never f     you for the rude words you said to me last night.
【小题6】He was a good worker who was       (尽心尽力) to his family as well as his work.
【小题7】What’s your       (态度) towards this practice.
【小题8】Do you feel       (内疚的) when you have done sth that you shouldn’t do.
【小题9】Mike realized his mistake, and       (道歉) at once.
【小题10】He would rather die than       (背叛) his country.

I'd gone from a tiny village school with a total of 60 students, to a huge school, with thousands of pupils．I was a little fish in a very big ????? . I lived too much of my first year ?????? doing anything wrong．I just decided to be the wallflower when it discussion and answering questions．I was always the one that ??????? Class???? ?? didn't look the teacher in the eye??? ? ? they asked me to answer．I listened well, and ?? ? ??? everything in, but I always liked to be a spectator（旁观者）．It's hard not t0???? ?????? what others may think of you when you are speaking in front of many ????? ? ???? ．It did take long for me to feel teachers and make friends with classmates．Some people???? ? with straight into a new learning environment．?

Some people ????? straight into a new learning environment. ????? , most are nervous and feel they don't fit in．It's completely???? ?? , so it should not be a worry to you．Be ??? ? ??? and you will adapt to the new school．School life is ??? ???? you make obit．Some ????? it; some Iike it．-But it's only when you leave that you can really appreciate how school ????? you into the person you become．

It's so important to ? ??? yourself out of your comfort zone．If you're shy, tell yourself you’ I raise your _ ? ?? at least once every lesson; if you're quick-minded, try to give other people a （n）?? ?? In time, you will ___it will do you benefit from it .

1.A．class?????? B．school ????????????? C．lake ????????????? D．house

2.A．in fear of?? B．in favor of ????????????? C．in honor of ????????????? D．in danger of

3.A．got to???? B．referred to ????????????? C．turned to ????????????? D．came to

4.A．sharply??? ????????????? B．purposely ????????????? C．hopelessly ????????????? D．searchingly

5.A．in case??? B．so that ????????????? C．the moment ????????????? D．soon after

6.A．wrote???? ????????????? B．brought ????????????? C．took ????????????? D．got

7.A．doubt????? B．apply ????????????? C．check ????????????? D．care

8.A．teachers?? B．classmates ????????????? C．adults ????????????? D．friends

9.A．angry????? B．popular ????????????? C．disappointed ????????????? D．comfortable

10.A．slide???? B．fit ????????????? C．change ????????????? D．turn

11.A．Therefore B．Instead ????????????? C．However ????????????? D．Meanwhile

12.A．normal??? B．strange ????????????? C．awkward ????????????? D．interesting

13.A．proud???? B．practical ????????????? C．private ????????????? D．positive

14.A．what????? B．how ????????????? C．which ????????????? D．when

15.A．like??? ????????????? B．ignore ????????????? C．accept ????????????? D．hate

16.A．forces???? B．develops ????????????? C．places ????????????? D．teaches

17.A．push????? B．take ????????????? C．kick ????????????? D．remove

18.A．voice???? ????????????? B．question ????????????? C．hand ????????????? D．head

19.A．answer ????????????? B．chance ????????????? C．hug ????????????? D．smile

20.A．forget??? B．forgive ????????????? C．realize ????????????? D．remember

I must have been about fourteen then, and I put away the incident from my mind with the easy carelessness of youth. But the words, Carl Walter spoke that day, came back to me years later, and ever since have been of great value to me.

Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.

“Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?”

“I try to.”

“Well, don’t, ” he said loudly. “When you grow up, time won’t come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life.”

When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but class periods, theme-reading, and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment, at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript(手稿) ready for revision. Later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal （零碎的）method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were moments which could be caught and put to use.

There is an important trick in this time-using principle: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing, you can’t afford to waste it in chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.

I admit I have never learnt how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a significant influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I throw myself into it without delay.

1.The meaning of “stretch” in the underlined part is the same as that in the sentence “_______”

A. The dog woke up, had a good stretch and wandered off.

B. Bob worked as a government official for a stretch of over twenty years.

C. My family wasn’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

D. This material has a lot of stretch in it.

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. The author didn’t take the teacher’s words to heart at first.

B. Rapid concentration is more difficult than people imagine.

C. The author thanked his teacher for teaching him to work in long stretches.

D. Carl Walter has influenced the writer greatly since he was a student.

3.We can infer that the author______.

A. had new books published each year however busy his teaching is

B. is tired of interruptions in life because he always has much work

C. has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels

D. makes mental preparations beforehand so as to focus on work quickly

4.What is probably the best title for this text?

A. Concentrate on Your Work            B. A Little at a Time

C. How I Became a Writer                            D. Good Advice