Some people would go through anything just to achieve their dream. Kasia Siwosz is proof. For the final year student on the university women’s tennis team, the road to Berkeley, University of California was met with poor advice and misinformation from her home country and two unsuccessful stops along the way that fell short of expectations.

   Born in Poland, Siwosz began playing tennis at seven years old and developed the skills that helped her earn a top-50 ranking among the ITF Junior division (国际网球联会青少年赛).. Siwosz wanted to do more with her life than just play tennis, which led her to seek chances that would also allow her to obtain a top education. While most who grow up in the U.S. are naturally accustomed to the American tradition of collegiate (大学的) sports, such a custom is not as familiar in a country like Poland. “There’s no collegiate sports in Poland and no culture of sports and academic (学术的) study there. You can only do one, not both,” Siwosz said.

    Her desire to have a quality education led her to America to follow her dream. While Siwosz was talented enough to begin her collegiate tennis career, she could only attend community college because she missed the deadline to apply to four-year schools, mainly due to misinformation provided in her home country of Poland.

   When she had earned all her credits and was able to transfer (转学), Siwosz made the decision to attend Baylor in Texas. Her friends from Poland put in a good word for the university, saying that it was a good fit because there were many international players at Baylor. “I thought it would be a good idea, but it really wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Siwosz said. “I wasn’t happy at Baylor. The level of tennis was high, but the academic standards were no match and I just wanted more.”

    After one year at Baylor, Siwosz’s luck finally began to change when she made the decision to transfer to Berkeley, which was due in large part to Lee, a former Berkeley student. Lee, who is a keen tennis player himself, met Siwosz four years ago in Texas. “I knew she was unhappy there,” he said. “I saw the opportunity for her to come here.” Siwosz visited Lee in Berkeley. “I ended up loving this place and this school,” Siwosz said. “I came here a lot over the summer, I gave it a shot and I ended up with a Berkeley education and a spot on one of the best college tennis teams in the country.”

1.What does “two unsuccessful stops” (Paragraph 1) refer to?

A. Poland and the U.S.

B. Baylor and Berkeley.

C. The community college and Baylor.

D. The ITF Junior division and the Berkeley tennis team.

2. Why did Siwosz want to leave her homeland for America?

A. Poland had no culture of sports.

B. Berkeley had always been her dream university.

C. She wanted to play tennis and have a good education.

D. She wanted to improve her tennis skills and get a higher ranking.

3. Why did she leave Baylor?

A. The level of tennis there was not high.

B. It was not suitable for international students.

C. She couldn’t get along with her friends there.

D. She was not satisfied with the education level there.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. How Siwosz left Poland.               

B. How Siwosz realized her dream.

C. How Siwosz became a top tennis player. 

D. How Siwosz transferred from Baylor to Berkeley.

根据对话情景，选择填入恰当的句子。（每空一句，每句1分，共6分）

A: It is my sister's birthday soon. ____________________

B: How about a shirt?

A: No, that's not interesting enough. ___________________

B: Let me see. How about a MP3?

A: Oh, that's too dear. ___________________

B: Oh, it really is a problem. Let me think, I hear that your brother likes listening to pop music. __________________________________

A: _______________ I will buy him a CD with "Tell me why" on it. He likes it very much.

____________________________

B: You're welcome.

A. I want to give him a surprise.

B. That sounds great.

C. What should I get him?

D. Why don't you get him a CD?

E. Shall we go shopping?

F. Thank you very much.

G. I don't want to spend so much money.

Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her seated by her window each afternoon, sewing or reading.

After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window. I would say to myself, “I wonder why that woman doesn't wash her window. It really looks terrible.”

One bright morning I decided to clean my flat, including washing the window on the inside. Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was clearly visible. Her window was clean!

Then it dawned on me. I had been criticizing her dirty window, but all the time I was watching hers through my own dirty window.

That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and criticized others through the dirty window of my heart, through my own shortcomings?

Since then, whenever I wanted to judge someone, I asked myself first, “Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?”

Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world about me more clearly.  

1.The writer couldn't see everything clearly through the window because        .

A．the woman's window was dirty    B．the writer's window was dirty

C．the woman lived nearby          D．the writer was near-sighted

2.Finishing the cleaning, the writer was surprised that        .

A．the woman was sitting by her window     B．the woman's window was clean

C．the woman did cleaning in the afternoon    D．the woman's window was still terrible

3.“…it dawned on me” probably means “       ”.

A．I began to understand it       B．it cheered me up

C．I knew it grew light          D．it began to get dark

4.It’s clear that        .

A．the writer had never met the woman before  B．the writer often washed the window

C．they both worked as cleaners             D．they lived in a small town

5.From the passage, we can learn        .

A．one shouldn't criticize others very often

B．one should often make his windows clean

C．one must judge himself before he judges others

D．one must look at others through his dirty windows

Nobody knows why the boy can tell what's written on the paper in another room without looking at it. It really _______ explanation.

A. prevents               B. challenges               C. interrupts           D. confuses

Doreen Sykora is now a junior at McGill University. She had a difficult time when she first began college. She said, “I was always well prepared for my examinations. But when I go into class to take the exam, I would fall apart. I could just blank out because of nervousness and fear.” Hitoshi Sakamoto, an anthropology(人类学) student at Temple University in Tokyo reports similar experiences.

These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety. Because a student worries and is stressed(加压力于) about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the severe tension and nervousness.

Now there are special university courses to help students. In these courses, advisors and psychologists try to help students by teaching them to manage test anxiety. Such a course helps students learn to live with stress and not fail because of it. First students take a practice test to measure their worry level. If the tests show that their stress level is high, the students can take a short course to manage the fear. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. They get training to become calm in very tense situations. By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work more easily. Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test.

Doreen Sykora saw immediate results after taking such a course. She now has enthusiasm about the relaxation methods. “Mostly, what I do is imagine myself in a very calm place. Then I imagine myself picking up a pencil. I move slowly and carefully. I breathe easily and let all the tension out. With each breath, more worry leaves me. It really works too. My grades have improved greatly! I’m really doing well at McGill now. This relaxation method works not only on examinations, but it has improved the rest of my life as well.”

For Hitoshi in Tokyo, the results were much the same. He is enjoying school a lot more and learning more.

What is the similarity between Doreen Sykora and Hitoshi Sakamoto?

A. They are students from the same university.

B. They failed in all the examinations.

C. They both had experiences of test anxiety.

D. They both had the same poor studying habits.

The phrase “blank out” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_______.”

A. lose interest in the exam           B. refuse to take the exam

C. get an extra paper                  D. be unable to think clearly

What’s the purpose of some special university student-help courses?

A. To help students to reduce test anxiety.   

B. To show a stress level experienced by students.

C. To learn more knowledge about test anxiety.

D. To have a better understanding of test anxiety.