Once my mother told me a story that in Africa, when an antelope (羚羊) wakes up every morning, the first thing it thinks about is, “I must be 36 to run faster than the fastest lion, or I will be killed.” 37 , a lion wakes from his dream. The first thing the lion thinks about is, “I must be able to catch the 38 antelope, or I will starve to 39 .” So almost simultaneously(同时地), the antelope and the lion get up and start running toward the 40 sun.

This is 41 : full of chances and challenges. Whether you are an antelope or a lion, you must go 42 when the sun rises. For students, it is just the same. If we don’t study hard, sooner or later, we will 43 the other students. At first I didn’t know what the word “exam” 44 . Later, I knew an exam was a kind of 45 . In competitions, there are always winners and 46 . As I grew up, I got to know competition well. In one’s life, there must be competitions, so people can 47 .

Each time I saw children playing games and heard their 48 , I wished I were that age again.  49 , I remembered my parents’ words: You must work very hard for a good future. So I 50 my pen and began to study hard again.

I was still not sure what competition 51 meant. One day, I was 52_in an English-speaking competition. When I went to the stage, I saw other students looking at me kindly. Suddenly I 53 what competition was. It is not as cruel as my teacher and parents told me. In fact, competition is the 54 : it is kind and necessary.

I learned a lot from realizing this 55 . Now I understand better about the world. Competition is important for us all.

1.                A．able           B．willing          C．ready    D．eager

2.                A．On the contrary  B．At the same time  C．In other words D．In the first place

3.                A．fastest         B．weakest        C．slowest   D．strongest

4.                A．death          B．survival         C．disease   D．suffering

5.                A．sinking         B．setting          C．shining   D．rising

6.                A．rule           B．life            C．study D．exam

7.                A．over           B．through         C．ahead    D．beyond

8.                A．fall behind      B．pass by         C．catch up  D．hold back

9.                A．felt            B．meant          C．referred  D．doubted

10.               A．victory         B．defeat         C．process   D．competition

11.               A．competitor      B．players         C．losers D．failures

12.               A．improve        B．conclude       C．acquire   D．handle

13.               A．crying          B．laughter        C．whisper   D．delight

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

15.               A．put up         B．brought up      C．made up   D．picked up

16.               A．commonly      B．simply          C．obviously  D．really

17.               A．succeeding      B．participating     C．taking D．getting

18.               A．doubted        B．acknowledged   C．knew D．admitted

19.               A．tough          B．important       C．content   D．opposite

20.               A．experience     B．knowledge      C．fact  D．consequence

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II.

????????????? During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was starting Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like.

When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting —7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen.

????????????? I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened: A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I stared at her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, attractive smile curved her lips. “Going my way , sailor?” she murmured.

????????????? Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own.

????????????? And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.

????????????? This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment.　　"I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?"
　　The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"
? ????????????? It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "And I will tell you who you are． "

1.How did John Blanchard get to know Miss Hollis Maynell?

A. They lived in the same city．????????????????

B. They were both interested in literature．

C. John knew Hollis's name from a library book．??

D. John came across Hollis in a Florida library．

2.Hollis refused to send Blanchard a photo because ?????????? .

A. she was only a middle - aged woman??????????

B. she wasn't confident about her appearance

C. she thought true love is beyond appearance?????

D. she had never taken any photo before they knew

3.How could Blanchard recognize Hollis?

A. She would be wearing a rose on her coat．?????

B. She would be holding a book in her hand．

C. She would be standing behind a young girl．???

D. She would be wearing a scarf around her neck．

4.What was the real Miss Hollis Maynell like?

A. She was a plump woman with graying hair．???

B. She was a slightly fat girl, with blonde hair．

C. She was a middle - aged woman in her forties．??

D. She was a young, pretty girl wearing a green suit．

5.When Blanchard went over to greet the woman, he was????????? ．

A. satisfied and confident

B. disappointed but well - behaved

C. annoyed and bad - mannered

D. shocked but inspired

6.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. A Test of Love??? ????????????? ????????????? B. The Symbol of Rose

C. Love is blind??? ????????????? ????????????? D. Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出一个可以填入空白处的最佳选项）。

Children find meanings in their old family tales．

When Stephen Guyer’s three children were growing up, he told them stories about how his grandfather, a banker,   1  all in the 1930s, but did not lose sight of what he valued most. In one of the darkest times   2  his strong-minded grandfather was nearly  3  , he loaded his family into the car and   4   them to see family members in Canada with a   5  , “there are more important things in life than money”.

The   6  took on a new meaning recently when Mr. Guyer downsized to  7   house from a more expensive and comfortable one. He was  8     that his children, a daughter, 15, and twins, 22, would be upset．To his surprise, they weren’t.  9     , their reaction echoed (共鸣) their great-grandfather’s．What they 10   was how warm the people were in the house and how  11    of their heart was accessible.

Many parents are finding that family stories have surprising power to help children

  12   hard times. Storytelling experts say the phenomenon reflects a growing   13    in telling tales, evidenced by a rise in storytelling events and festivals.

A university   14   of 65 families with children aged from 14 to 16 found kids’ ability to 15  parents’ stories was linked to a lower rate of anger and anxiety.

The  16  is telling the stories in a way children can 17   . We’re not talking here about the kind of story that  18  , “ When I was a kid, I walked to school every day uphill both ways, barefoot in the snow.” Instead, we should choose a story suited to the child’s 19 , and make eye contact (接触) to create “a personal experience”. We don’t have to tell children 20   they should take from the story and what the moral is.