Some years ago, writing in my diary used to be a usual activity. I would return from school and spend the expected half hour recording the day’s events, feelings, and impressions in my little blue diary. I did not really need to express my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certain satisfaction from seeing my experiences forever recorded on paper. After all, isn’t accumulating memories a way of preserving the past?

　　When I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey on foot in a great valley, well-equipped with pens, a diary, and a camera. During the trip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across. I felt proud to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for future generations a detailed description of my travels. On my last night there, I wandered out of my tent, diary in hand. The sky was clear and lit by the glare of the moon, and the walls of the valley looked threatening behind their screen of shadows. I automatically took out my pen….

　　At that point, I understood that nothing I wrote could ever match or replace the few seconds I allowed myself to experience the dramatic beauty of the valley. All I remembered of the previous few days were the dull characterizations I had set down in my diary.

　　Now, I only write in my diary when I need to write down a special thought or feeling. I still love to record ideas and quotations that strike me in books, or observations that are particularly meaningful. I take pictures, but not very often—only of objects I find really beautiful. I’m no longer blindly satisfied with having something to remember when I grow old. I realize that life will simply pass me by if I stay behind the camera, busy preserving the present so as to live it in the future.

　　I don’t want to wake up one day and have nothing but a pile of pictures and notes. Maybe I won’t have as many exact representations of people and places; maybe I’ll forget certain facts, but at least the experiences will always remain inside me. I don’t live to make memories—I just live, and the memories form themselves.

　　51. Before the age of thirteen, the author regarded keeping a diary as a way of ______.

　　A. observing her school routine

　　B. expressing her satisfaction

　　C. impressing her classmates

　　D. preserving her history

　　52. What caused a change in the author’s understanding of keeping a diary?

　　A. A dull night on the journey.

　　B. The beauty of the great valley.

　　C. A striking quotation from a book.

　　D. Her concerns for future generations.

　　53. What does the author put in her diary now?

　　A. Notes and beautiful pictures.

　　B. Special thoughts and feelings.

　　C. Detailed accounts of daily activities.

　　D. Descriptions of unforgettable events.

　　54. The author comes to realize that to live a meaningful life is ______.

　　A. to experience it

　　B. to live the present in the future

　　C. to make memories

　　D. to give accurate representations of it

Tess was eight years old. Her little brother Andrew was very sick and their parents were completely out of money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother, “Only a miracle can save him now.”
Tess took her money and made her way six blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store.
“And what do you want?” the chemist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen for ages.”
“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really sick. He has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”
“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the chemist said, softening a little.
“Listen, I can help you.” The chemist’s brother was a well-dressed man. He asked Tess, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”
“I don’t know,” Tess replied. “Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.”
“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago. “One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more, if I need to.”
“Well，what a coincidence (巧合),” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents － the exact price of a miracle for your little brother. Take me to where you live. Let’s see if 1 have the kind of miracle you need.”
That man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon in neurosurgery (神经外科). The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Andrew was home again and doing well．
Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost… one dollar and eleven  cents… plus the faith of a little child.
【小题1】What can we learn from the first paragraph?

William James, the great psychologist (心理学家), said that most men are “old fogies (守旧者) at twenty-five”. He was right. Most men at twenty-five are satisfied with their jobs. They have closed their minds to all new ideas; they have stopped to grow.

The minute a man stops to grow –no matter what his years –that minute he begins to be old. On the other hand, the really great man never grows old. Goethe passed away at eighty-three, and finished his Faust only a few years earlier; Gladstone took up a new language when he was seventy. Laplace, the astronomer, was still at work when death caught up with him at seventy-eight. He died crying, “What we know is nothing; what we do not know is immense (extremely large).”

And there you have the real answer to the question, “When is a man old?”

Laplace at seventy-eight died young. He was still unsatisfied, still sure that he had a lot to learn.

As long as a man can keep himself in that attitude of mind, as long as he can look back on every year and say, “I grew”, he is still young.

The minute he ceases (stops) to grow, the minute he says to himself, “I know all that I need to know,” –that day youth stops. He may be twenty-five or seventy-five; it makes no difference. On that day he begins to be old.

According to William James, _______.

A. most people are not open to new ideas before 25.

B. few people continue to improve themselves after 25.

C. some people still try to make progress after 25.

D. all the people stop to make progress after 25.

The author mentions Goethe, Gladstone and Laplace to show that _____.

A. the great man stops to grow that minute he begins to be old.

B. the really great man never grows old.

C. the great man usually dies young.

D. the really great man never dies.

What do we know about Laplace?

A. He was a great writer.

B. He was not pleased with what he had learned.

C. He thought he was one of the greatest man.

D. He thought he was old when he was 25.

The author probably agrees with _______.

A. people should be pleased with what they have.

B. people should try to make a great difference.

C. people should cease to grow when they are 25.

D. people should not be satisfied with what they know.

When Alice started to cycle home from Jenny’s house, she wasn’t nervous. She was certainly not afraid of the dark.   31  , it was only a 15-minute ride home. But halfway there, she began to wish that she hadn’t been so   32  .

       As she rounded a sharp bend, it suddenly   33   cold — very cold. Alice’s breath became puffs of white cloud and her legs were so cold that it became hard to ride.

      With her heart beating fast, she struggled so hard to move   34   that she didn’t hear the car which suddenly appeared beside her. She stopped by the road. The big black car also   35  . Slowly, the passenger-window began to slide down. Alice held her breath. In the soft light inside the car, something   36  . Then, the light brightened and Alice was staring at a sweet, grey-haired old lady. “Hello, dear,” said the old lady. “I need   37  . I’m afraid I’m lost. I need to find the nearest airport. I must be there in the next five minutes.”

       “Airport? You   38   are lost,” Alice said. “You need to go back five kilometers   39   you reach the T-junction. Turn left and   40   for about another 10 kilometers to the main highway. From there, just follow the   41   to the airport. But I’m afraid there’s no   42   you’ll get there in five minutes!”

       “Thank you very much, dear,” replied the old lady. “Don’t worry — I’ll   43   in time.”

       The   44   moved up and the car started off. A little way ahead, it   45   and with headlights flashing, it drove past Alice. But then, something   46   happened. The car began changing. First, its color   47   from black to silvery-grey. Then, the wheels began disappearing, but the car continued to move forward,   48   just above the ground. As the car   49   into the dark sky, the big red tail-lights grew larger and larger and glowed more and more brightly. With a faint whistling   50  , the car was gone in seconds, leaving Alice shaking her head in disbelief…

1. A. Therefore   B. Besides       C. However   D. Otherwise

2. A. curious     B. excited       C. brave      D. stubborn

3. A. proved       B. seemed       C. fell         D. grew

4. A. forward        B. around           C. aside       D. backward

5. A. stayed        B. stopped      C. arrived           D. started

6. A. gathered     B. moved           C. dropped     D. existed

7. A. help         B. water            C. rest        D. gas

8. A. necessarily  B. certainly     C. basically     D. normally

9. A. if            B. as          C. unless        D. until

10.A. drive         B. march       C. follow     D. walk

11.A. guidance    B. signs       C. notices           D. address

12.A. way          B. room      C. time        D. doubt

13.A. finish it       B. get it       C. make it      D. have it

14.A. wheel       B. window      C. headlight    D. door

15.A. continued   B. rushed     C. turned     D. passed

16.A. sensitive      B. strange       C. imaginable D. horrible

17.A. appeared    B. developed  C. spread     D. faded

18.A. floating       B. rolling           C. drawing     D. flashing

19.A. returned       B. pointed      C. broke      D. rose

20.A. voice        B. tune        C. sound      D. tone

For about a decade, I knew that I needed to improve my handwriting, but I always put it off. “My typing skills are good, my communication skills are good, and all my other abilities are adequate for the job I do and the life I live. Why would I need to improve my handwriting in such a modern world?” I thought.

    I was sort of hit by the fact that my handwriting needed improving quite suddenly in the form of a note from my boss. Obviously one of the notes I had posted on the office message board had been misunderstood because of my handwriting. My boss demanded that I learn to write in a neat way, something I couldn’t ignore any longer.

   I tried a lot of different methods to improve my handwriting. Nowadays, there are more resources than before. You don’t even have to go to the store and can buy handwriting training materials online. I tried out a lot of these, and my handwriting did improve somewhat. Now I make sure I form every letter correctly. This is inconvenient and time-consuming, but it is better than having my comments misread.

   People come up to me and tell me how nice my handwriting is. I have never thought of that, but this is exactly what has happened. It really is a pleasure, but it isn’t enough. In the long run, I actually have to go to a handwriting coach to improve my handwriting. It seems like I have years and years of bad habits that I have to break, and this isn’t something I could handle on my own. I need someone to teach me how to write clearly from the ground up.

1.The underlined word “adequate” in the first paragraph probably means “     ”.

Aclear enough       B. common enough    C. good enough  D. special enough

2.The writer made the decision to improve his handwriting because        .

A.he had planned for that for a long time

B.he was shocked by his boss’ good handwriting

C.he was often misunderstood because of his handwriting

D.his boss asked him to work on his handwriting

3.How did the writer try to improve his handwriting?

A.He practiced writing mainly on his own.

B.He practiced writing and typing at the same time.

C.He joined a handwriting training class.

D.He employed a coach to teach him online.

4.What does the writer think of his handwriting at present?

A.Unacceptable.     B. Perfect.     C. Worse.           D. Better.