After my brother died in an accident, my mother was in deep sadness. I was only a four-year-old girl at the time, but I still understood the sudden shift in my mom’s attitude towards safety. Suddenly everything around us was potentially dangerous. Overnight, the world had gone from a playground to a dangerous zone. I grew up with a lot of limits and rules. I couldn’t walk home from school by myself, even though everyone I knew already did. I couldn’t go to summer camp because what if something happened to me?
As I got older, the list of things of fear got longer. My whole life was divided into “things you should avoid”, and “things you needed to do in order to have a good, long life.” I became a natural worrier. I worry about things like getting cancer, losing my wallet, car accidents, earthquakes, and losing my job — disasters big and small, real and imagined.
The funny part is that you’d never know it by looking at my life. In fact, I’ve developed a rule for myself: If it scares me, then I have to do it at least once. I’ve done lots of things that my mom would have worried about: I’ve ridden a motorcycle; I’ve traveled —a lot. I’ve performed stand-up comedy, and I’m planning my second wedding.
There’s something else I don’t usually talk about, but it’s a cornerstone in my belief: When I was 14, my mother died suddenly in a car accident. At my mom’s funeral I remember making a choice. I could either live out the rest of my life trying to be “safe” or I could be brave enough to live out a fulfilling, exciting and, yes, sometimes dangerous life.
I worry that I may have betrayed(背叛) my mother by writing her in this light, but she has been a driving force in my life and, in the end I think she would have been proud of me. Courage isn’t a natural character of human beings. I believe that using courage is like developing a muscle. The more often I do things that scare me or that make me uncomfortable, the more I realize that I can do a lot more than I originally thought I could do.
Even though I inherited (继承) my mother’s cautious nature. I’ve also come to believe that fear can be a good thing, if we face it. Believing that has made my world a less scary place.
【小题1】In the writer’s childhood, the limits and rules were used to ______.

My teenage son Karl became withdrawn after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him, but the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card （成绩报告单）arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six failing grades for the year. At this rate he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.

One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and pleaded for help. “Please God, I can’t do anything more for my son. I’m at the end of my rope. I'm giving the whole thing up to you.” Just then, I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster, “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences.” Before he could say another word, all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. “I love my son but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands.” For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, “Thank you for your time” and hung up.

Karl’s next report card showed a great improvement in his grades. Finally, he even made the honor roll（光荣榜）. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-­teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home，he said, “Mum，remember that call from the headmaster last year?” I nodded. “That was me. I thought I’d play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”

1.By saying “Karl became withdrawn” the author means that the boy changed entirely and ________.

A．he preferred to stay at school

B．he stayed at home all day

C．he refused to talk to his mother

D．he began to like his life

2.There was silence on the other end of the line because ________.

A．the speaker was too moved to say anything to his mother

B．the speaker waited for the mother to finish speaking

C．the speaker didn't want the mother to recognize his voice

D．the speaker didn’t want to interrupt the mother

3.What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Children in single-­parent families often have mental problems.

B．Mother’s love plays an important role in teenagers’ life.

C．Being understood by parents is not necessary to teenagers.

D．School education is a failure.

4. Which is not true according to the article?

A．Karl changed a lot after his father died.

B．What Karl did at school showed that he didn’t love his mother.

C．Karl’s mother tried many ways to help him.

D．Karl’s teachers were surprised at his change.

阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。(满分２５分)                       

After my brother died in an accident , my mother was inconsolable(痛苦的，极其伤心的). I was only 4 years old at that time, but I still understood the seismic shift（地震的改变） in my mom’s attitude towards safety. Suddenly, everything around us was potentially dangerous.

I grew up with a lot of restrictions（限制）that were meant to protect me. I couldn’t walk home from school by myself even though everyone I knew already did. I couldn’t attend parties, or go to summer camp, because what if something happened to me. My life was divided into “things you should avoid” and “things you needed to do in order to have a good , long life”.

I became a natural worrier. I worried about things like getting cancert, losing my wallet, car accidents, and earthquakes-disasters big and small, real and imagined.

When I was 14, my mother died suddenly in a car accident. That loss, on top of my brother’s unnatural death, could have paralyzed(瘫痪) me. But at my mom’s funeral, I made a choice. I could either live out the rest of my life trying to be “safe”　or I could be brave enough to live out a fulfilling, exciting and, yes, sometimes dangerous life.

I began constantly forcing myself to do the things that frighten or worry me. In fact, I’ve developed a rule for myself: If it scares（使….害怕） me, I have to do it at least once. I’ve done lots of things that my mom would have worried about: I’ve ridden a motorcycle, I’ve dived, I’ve tried rock-climbing, I’ve traveled a lot.

Courage（勇气，勇敢） isn’t a natural attribute (性格) of human beings. I believe that we have to practice being courageous; using courage is like developing a muscle. The more often I do things that scare me, the more I realize that I can do a lot more than I originally thought I could. I’ve also come to believe that fear can be good thing if we face it.

写作内容

1. 以约３０词概括以上短文的主要内容；

2. 然后以约１２０词写一篇短文谈谈你对培养勇气的看法，并包括如下要点：

1).勇气是否需要后天的培养；

2).以你自己成长的经历（真实的或虚拟的）举例说明。

写作要求:

可参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文句子。

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
My teenage son Karl became withdrawn after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. At this rate he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked.
One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and pleaded for help. “Please God, I can’t do anything more for my son.  I’m at the end of my rope. I’m giving the whole thing up to you.”
I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences.” Before he could say another word, I choked up and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. “I love my son but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands. “For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, “Thank you for your time”, and hung up.
Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he even made the honor roll. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, “Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?” I nodded. “That was me. I thought I’d play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”
56. By saying “Karl became withdrawn”, the author means that the boy changed entirely and ________.
A. preferred to stay alone at home             B. lost interest in his studies
C. refused to talk to others                        D. began to dislike his mother
57. There was silence on the other end of the line because ________ .
A. the speaker was too moved to say anything to the mother
B. the speaker waited for the mother to finish speaking
C. the speaker didn’t want the mother to recognize his voice
D. the speaker was unable to interrupt the mother
58. The underlined sentence “…he even made the honor roll” means that “________ ”.
A. he was even on the list to be praised at the parent-teacher meeting
B. he was even on the list of students who made progress in grades
C. he was even on the list of students who had turned themselves around
D. he was even on the list of the best students at school
59. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. Children in single-parent families often have mental problems.
B. Mother’s love plays an important role in teenagers’ life.
C. Being understood by parents is very important to teenagers.
D. School education doesn’t work without full support from parents.

Years ago, a cigarette commercial asked if you were smoking more, but enjoying it less. That describes the way many of us live today. We are doing more, but enjoying it less. And when that doesn’t work, we compound the problem. In our frantic search for satisfaction, we try stuffing still more into our days, never realizing that we are taking the wrong approach.

The truth is simple; so simple it is hard to believe. Satisfaction lies with less, not with more. Yet, we pursue the myth that this thing, or that activity, will somehow provide the satisfaction we so desperately seek.

Arthur Lindman, in his devastating book, “The Harried Leisure Class,” described the futility of pursuing more. His research focused on what people did with their leisure time. He found that as income rose, people bought more things to occupy their leisure time. But, ironically, the more things they bought, the less they valued any one of them. Carried to an extreme, he predicted massive boredom in the midst of tremendous variety. That was more than twenty years ago, and his prediction seems more accurate every year.

Lindman, of course, is not the first to discover this. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed the same thought thousands of years ago. It is better, he wrote, to have less, but enjoy it more.

If you would like to enjoy life more, I challenge you to experiment with me. How could you simplify your life? What could you drop? What could you do without? What could you stop pursuing? What few things could you concentrate on?

The more I learn, the more I realize that fullness of life does not depend on things. The more I give up, the more I seem to gain. But words will never convince you. You must try it for yourself.

Arthur Lindman predicted twenty years ago that ______.

A. more things brought more value   B. the more people had, the less they valued them

C. people didn’t like to pursue more   D. massive boredom came from less variety

What does the article suggest to make our life happier?

A. To enjoy more things.             B. To buy more things.

C. To sell things we do not need.       D. To get rid of useless things.

The passage is probably written to ___________.

A. introduce Arthur Lindman and his book       B. tell the readers what is satisfaction

C. introduce how to simplify people’s life         D. persuade people to simplify their life