I am my mother’s third child. When I was born, the doctor gently explained to my mother that my left arm was     36   , below the elbow (肘). Then he gave her some     37   , “Don’t treat her any     38    from the other girls. Demand more.” And she     39   !

My mother had to work to     40    my family. There were five girls in our family and we all had to     41   . Once when I was about seven, I came out of the     42   , “Mom, I can’t peel (削……皮) potatoes. I only have one hand.”

“You get back to peel those potatoes, and don’t ever use that as a(n)     43    for anything again!”

Of course I could peel potatoes — with my good hand, while holding them down with my __44    arm. There was always a     45   , and Mom knew it. “If you try hard    46   ,” she said, “you can do anything.”

Once in the second grade, our teacher had each of us race across the monkey bars (攀爬架). When it was my turn, I     47    my head. Some kids     48   . I went home crying.

After work the next afternoon, Mom     49    me back to the school playground.

“Now,     50    up with your right arm,” she advised. She stood by     51    I practiced, and she     52    me when I made progress.

I’ll never forget the     53    time I was crossing the bars. The kids were standing there with their mouths open.

It was the way with everything. When I    54    I can’t handle (处理) things, I see Mom’s smile again. She had the heart to     55    anything. And she taught me I could, too.

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，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Another person’s enthusiasm was what set me moving toward the success I have achieved. That person was my stepmother.

I was nine years old when she entered our home in rural Virginia. My father  21  me to her with these words: “I would like you to meet the fellow who is  22  for being the worst boy in this county and will probably start throwing rocks at you no  23  than tomorrow morning.”

My stepmother walked over to me, raised my head slightly  24  , and looked me right in the eye. Then she looked at my father and  25  , “You are wrong. This is not the worst boy at all,  26  the smartest one who hasn’t yet found an outlet（释放的途径）for his enthusiasm.”

That statement began a(n)   27  between us. No one had ever called me smart. My family and neighbors had built me up in my  28  as a bad boy. My stepmother changed all that.

She changed many things. She   29   my father to go to a dental school, from which he graduated with honors. She moved our family into the county seat, where my father’s career could be more  30  and my brothers and I could be better educated.

When I turned fourteen, she bought me a secondhand  31  and told me that she believed that I could become a writer. I knew her enthusiasm, I  32  it, and I saw how it had already improved our lives. I accepted her  33  and began to write for local newspapers. I was doing the same kind of  34  that great day I went to interview Andrew Carnegie and received the task which became my life’s work later. I wasn’t the  35  beneficiary (受益者). My father became the  36  man in town. My brothers and stepbrothers became a physician, a dentist, a lawyer, and a college president.

   What power  37  has! When that power is released to support the certainty of one’s purpose and is  38  strengthened by faith, it becomes an irresistible（不可抗拒的）force which poverty and temporary defeat can never  39  .

   You can communicate that power to  40  who needs it. This is probably the greatest work you can do with your enthusiasm.

1..

. A. rushed         B. sent         C. carried          D. introduced

2..

A. distinguished    B. favored      C. mistaken         D. rewarded

3..

. A. sooner         B. later            C. longer           D. earlier

4..

 A. backward        B. forward      C. upward       D. downward

5..

. A. talked         B. replied        C. cried         D. answered

6..

. A. but                B. so            C. and             D. or

7..

. A. agreement      B. friendship       C. gap          D. relationship

8..

 A. opinion         B. image        C. expectation      D. mind

9..

A. begged         B. persuaded     C. ordered      D. invited

10..

. A. successful     B. meaningful       C. helpful          D. useful

11..

. A. camera         B. radio            C. bicycle        D. typewriter

12..

 A. considered      B. suspected        C. ignored      D. appreciated

13..

. A. belief         B. request      C. criticism        D. description

14..

. A. teaching       B. writing          C. studying     D. reading

15..

. A. next           B. same         C. only         D. real

16..

. A. cleverest      B. wealthiest       C. strongest        D. healthiest

17..

. A. enthusiasm     B. sympathy     C. fortune        D. confidence

18..

. A. deliberately       B. happily      C. traditionally    D. constantly

19..

. A. win            B. match            C. reach            D. doubt

20..

. A. everyone       B. someone       C. anyone        D. nobody

Have you ever noticed what happens to an idea once you express it? Just talking about it or writing it down causes you to make it clear in your own mind. How can you use this to increase your brain power? Start writing.

By putting thoughts into words, you are telling yourself the logic (逻辑) behind what you think, feel, or only partly understand. Often, explaining a thought is the process of understanding. In other words, you increase your brain power by exercising your “explain power.”

Try this experiment. Explain how you’ll increase your brain power, even if you have no idea how right now. Just start with anything, and create an explanation. For example, start with “I’ll learn chess,” or “I’ll read an article on the mind every week.” Explain how that will help. You’ll be surprised how often this becomes a workable plan, and if you actually do this, you’ll have a better understanding of your brain twenty minutes from now.

Another benefit of writing is that it helps you remember. Many, if not most, highly productive people are always taking notes. You can try keeping it all in your head, but if you keep a journal of your ideas the next time you’re working on a big project, you’ll probably have more success.

Want to understand a topic? Write a book about it. That’s an extreme example, but if you are learning something new, write a letter to a friend about it, and you will understand it better. Want to invent something? Write an explanation of the problem, why you want to solve it, and why it is worth solving, and you’re half-way there.

Writers don’t always write because they clearly understand something beforehand. Often, they write about something because they want to understand it. You can do the same. Writing will help bring you to an understanding. Give it a try.

1. What would be the best title for the text?

    A. A Way on How to Write             

B. Increase Your Brain Power through Writing

    C. Brain Power Helps Improve Your Writing

D. How to Start Your Writing

2. According to the text, writing can help you a lot in the following ways EXCEPT ______.

    A. the increase of your brain power           B. the ability to remember

    C. the development of your interest in study  D. the better understanding of a topic

3.The underlined sentence “you’re half-way there” in the fifth paragraph implies that ______.

    A. you are already successful             B. you still need to work hard

    C. writing can help you walk half way     D. writing is important to solve problems

4.What’s the main purpose of the writer writing the text?

    A. To advise readers to start their writing.

    B. To explain the importance of writing.

    C. To persuade readers to become writers.

    D. To increase readers’ brain power.

What is freedom? It seems like such a simple question. Freedom is being able to do what you want to do. Allow me to explain it.

I’m tired of working for a living. I’d rather collect taxes. So that’s what I’m going to do: collect a kind of tax. You are ordered to estimate your income from the past 12 months, and write me a check for 1%. I have provided a mailing address for this purpose on my contact page …

What? You have a problem with my plan? Oh, I see. If you have to send me a check for the tax, then I have hurt your freedom to spend that money as you see fit. We have a conflict! And our basic problem is: we cannot enjoy freedom at the same time; we must settle for a limit. But what limit?

Libertarians (自由论者) believe freedom should be based on self-control. They describe freedom as being able to do what you want to do as long as it doesn’t influence the equal right of others to do what they want to do. That is, freedom is being able to do what you like as long as you do not harm another person’s life, liberty or property.

You can build a set of legal and ethical (道德的) rules on the principle of self-control, and libertarians do. Their request for self-control often becomes more important than common sense, or even freedom itself.

The definition rules out the freedom to steal, murder, and so on. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want. There is no problem until you realize that taxation is theft, that war is murder, and that national service is a form of slavery. Since only the government has a legal right to use force, libertarians focus on making the government smaller, or even going without it. The libertarians’ definition of freedom is thus freedom from the government. Isn’t it ridiculous?

According to the first three paragraphs, the author’s idea of collecting taxes is _________.

A. reasonable   B. responsible   C. unacceptable   D. understandable

The author takes tax-collecting as an example in the passage to prove that freedom is _________.

A. unreal     B. unbelievable   C. achievable    D. limited

In the opinion of libertarians, freedom is realized mainly by _________.

A. the law    B. self-control   C. ethical rules    D. common sense

Which of the following statements is supported by libertarians according to the passage?

A. National service should be canceled.

B. People can do whatever they want.

C. The government should have more power.

D. They should be governed by the government.

1.How many Science Advisers are there working for this website?

    A. Only one.     B. At least two.     C. About three.       D. Over five.

2.According to Donna, she and the teenage students need ___________.

    A. experiments in the lab                 B. statistical analysis

    C. chemistry experiments                 D. charts and evidence

3.Who is this text for?

    A. Teenagers.     B. Teachers.               C. Parents.        D. Experts.

4. According to Gloria, Donna and the teenage students should __________.

    A. turn to others for help                B. do cancer researches

    C. look through a website                 D. tell who will be helped