I still remember the days when I was a youthful student in an engineering school. I lived a casual life, without caring about the future. I smoked, drank with friends and made girl friends. Little did I realize that casualness would certainly lead to loss.

     Two years had passed and I was staring down a report card that highlighted FAIL in more than half the subjects. I didn’t care, at least not till my dad found out about it. You see, I studied in India and unlike the United States where the students are expected to finance their own education, my dad financed me.

     Then came the day when my dad found out my habit of smoking. He lost his temper but he just told me, “Son, your allowance is cut in half from this moment on”. It hit me like a roundhouse kick (回旋踢) from Bruce Lee. I was jolted (震摇) out of my bones! I couldn’t comprehend how to pay off the debts that I had accumulated in college. I owed everybody money: the grocery store, the bars, the restaurants, my friends, etc. I was living a life filled with credit.

     When I went back to college, I knew that if I don’t change the way I live my life I won’t be able to pay everybody off. So I decided to make some changes, drastic changes. I quit smoking, cut off from my friends who led me down the wrong road, starting hanging out in libraries and reading my engineering books.

     One year later, I went from a miserable failure to a magna cum laude (优等成绩). Life was never the same again. This incident made me know that anything is possible if you take action and do something about it, however small or large. Even today it still motivates me when I feel that I’m about to lose or give up. It reminds me that I can do it!

The author wrote this text with the purpose of ________.

  A. introducing his university life to the teenage readers

  B. encouraging those lazy students to study hard at school

  C. showing you can overcome any difficulty if you take action

  D. calling on the readers not to develop bad habits in college

The author didn’t care about his study until _______.

  A. he entered the engineering school   B. he was in heavy debt he couldn’t bear

  C. he decided to give up smoking     D. his allowance was cut in half

The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means that the author ________.

  A. paid off his debt and life wasn’t hard for him any more

  B. removed his bad habits and didn’t lead a casual life

  C. never hung out with his friends but studied all day

  D. began to live a happy life due to his good grades

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

  A. Students tended to earn money for college expenses in America.

  B. The author did well in making good friends in the school.

  C. The author made great progress with the help of his friends.

  D. Students were encouraged to do part-time jobs in Indian schools.

  I still remember the days when l was a youthful student in an engineering school．I lived a casual life，without caring about the future．I smoked，drank with friends and made girl friends．Little did I realize that casualness would certainly lead to loss．

    Two years had passed and l was staring down a report card that highlighted FAII in more than half the subjects．I didn’t care，at least not till my dad found out about it．You see．I studied in India and unlike the United States where the students are expected to finance their own education，my dad financed me．

    Then came the day when my dad found out my habit of smoking．He lost his temper but he just told me，“Son，your allowance is cut in half from this moment on”．It hit me like a roundhouse kick（回旋踢） from Bruce Lee．I was jolted（震摇）out of my bones！I couldn’t comprehend how to pay off the debts that I had accumulated in college．I owed everybody money：the grocery store，the bars．the restaurants，my friends，etc．I was living a life filled with credit．

    When I went back to college，I knew that if I don’t change the way I live my life I won’t be able to pay everybody off．So I decided to make some changes．drastic changes．I quit smoking，cut off from my friends who led me down the wrong road，starting hanging out in libraries and reading my engineering books．

    One year later，I went from a miserable failure to a magna curn laude（优等成绩）．Life was never the same again．This incident made me know that anything is possible if you take action and do something about it，however small or large．Even today it still motivates me when I feel that l’m about to lose or give up．It reminds me that I can do it！

The author wrote this text with the purpose of       ．

    A．introducing his university life to the teenage readers

    B．showing you can overcome any difficulty if you take action

    C．calling on the readers not to develop bad habits in college

    D．introducing his university life to the teenage readers

The author didn’t care about his study until      ．

    A．he was in heavy debt he couldn’t bear  B．he decided to give up smoking

    C．his allowance was cut in half   D．he entered the engineering school

The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means that the author      ．

    A．removed his bad habits and didn’t lead a casual life

    B．never hung out with his friends but studied all day

    C．began to live a happy life due to his good grades

    D．paid off his debt and life wasn’t hard for him any more

Which of the following statements is TRUE？

    A．The author did well in making good friends in the school．

    B．The author made great progress with the help of his friends．

    C．Students were encouraged to do part-time jobs in Indian schools．

    D．Students tended to earn money for college expenses in America．

When we think of leadership, we often think of strength and power. But what are these really, and how do they operate?

Leadership today is not about forcing others to do things. If this is even possible, it is short-term, and tends to backfire. If you order someone to do something against their will, they may do it because they feel they must, but the anger they feel will do more harm in the long-term. They will also experience fear.

Fear causes the thinking brain to shut down, making the person unable to function at his or her best. If they associate you with this emotion of fear, they will become less functional around you, and you will have succeeded in not only shooting yourself in the foot, but possibly making a very good employee or partner unable to perform effectively. Fear has no place in leadership.

    The way we influence people in a lasting way is by our own character, and our understanding and use of emotion. We can order someone to do something, which may be part of the work day; or we can employ them at the emotional level, so they became fully devoted to the projects and provide some of their own motivation(积极性). Today’s work place is all about relationships. Anyone works harder in a positive environment in which they’re recognized and valued as a human being as well as a worker. Everyone produces just a bit more for someone they like. Leaders understand the way things work. They know the pay check is not the single most motivating factor (因素) in the work life of most people.

The true strength of leadership is an inner strength that comes from the confidence of emotional intelligence---knowing your own emotions, and how to handle them, and those of others. Developing your emotional intelligence is the single best thing you can do if you want to develop your relationships with people around you, which is the key to the leadership skills.

1. The underlined phrase “shooting oneself in the foot” means _____ in this passage.

A. throw or walk in a specific direction or towards a specific objective

B. to injure or harm one's own interests 

C. to move or pass suddenly or swiftly 

D. to grow forth(向前) from the ground

2. An employee may have a feeling of fear in the work place when___.

A. he is forced to do things        B. he cannot work at his best

C. he feels his brain shut down     D. he thinks of his work as too heavy

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. People tend to associate leadership with fear.

B. Working conditions affect people’s physical health.

C. Good relationship is the key to business success.

D. Smart people are more functional in the work place.

4. To positively influence employees, a leader should first of all ____.

A. provide better suggestions        B. develop his own personality

C. give his employees a pay raise     D. hide his own emotion of fear

5. Good leadership is mainly seen in a leader’s ability to_____.

A. provide a variety of project for employees

B. help raise employees’ living standards

C. give employees’ specific instructions（指导）     

D. deal wisely with employees’ emotions

第二部分阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分，满分40分）
A
President Barack Obama has apologized for a gaffe (失言) in which he described his bowling skills as akin to participants in the Special Olympics, a sports program for people with intellectual disabilities.
Obama made the mistake during an interview on Thursday night on “The Tonight Show” with host Jay Leno, the first time a sitting U.S. president had been on the show.
Talking about living in the White House, Obama said he had been practicing his bowling in the home’s bowling alley and had scored a 129 out of a possible 300.
It was an improvement on the embarrassing 37 he had rolled during a stop on the presidential campaign trail a year ago. “It’s like—it was like Special Olympics or something,” Obama said.
The Special Olympics is a global nonprofit organization serving some 200 million people with intellectual disabilities, with a presence in nearly 200 countries worldwide.
Soon after the Jay Leno interview, Obama telephoned Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.
Shriver told ABC’s “Good Morning America” television show that Obama had apologized “in a way that I think was very moving” and that he said “he did not intend to humiliate (羞辱) the population, didn’t want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or kind of suffering.”
Shriver said people should gain a lesson from the incident.
“I think it’s important to see that words hurt. Words do matter. And these words in some respect, can be seen as humiliating or a put-down to people with special needs, do cause pain. And they do result in stereotypes,” Shriver said.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said Obama “made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to look down upon the Special Olympics.”
“He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world,” Burton said.
56. What does the underlined word “akin” in Paragraph 1 mean?
A. skillful                B. similar          C. appealing              D. superior
57. Which of the following statements is true?
A. Obama loves sports and is especially gifted at bowling.
B. Obama apologized for his remarks via ABC’s TV show.
C. The Special Olympics are for various disabled people.
D. The Special Olympics don’t intend to make any money.
58. What does Shriver mean by saying people should gain a lesson from the incident?
A. Disabled people cannot be humiliated.            B. One should be careful with his words.
C. An apology for wrong words is wanted.         D. Words matter even more than actions.
59. The passage is mainly about ________.
A. Obama receiving a TV interview                         B. Obama looking down on the disabled
C. Obama apologizing for his gaffe                 D. Obama being attacked for his words

I still remember the days when I was a youthful student in an engineering school. I lived a casual life, without caring about the future. I smoked, drank with friends and made girl friends. Little did I realize that casualness would certainly lead to loss.

Two years had passed and I was staring down a report card that highlighted FALL in more than half the subjects. I didn’t care, at least not until my dad found about it. You see, I studied In India and unlike the United States where the students are expected to finance their own education, my dad financed me.

Then came the day when my dad found out my habit of smoking. He lost his temper but he just told me, “Son, your allowance is cut in half from this moment on”. It hit me like a roundhouse kick.(回旋踢) from Bruce Lee. I was shocked out of my bones. I couldn’t comprehend how to pay off the debts that I had accumulated in college. I owed everybody money: the grocery store, the bars, the restaurants, my friends, etc. I was living a life filled with credit.

When I went back to college, I knew that if I don’t change the way I live my life I won’t be able to pay everybody off. So I decided to make some changes. I quit smoking, cut off from my friends who led me down the wrong the road, starting hanging out in libraries and reading my engineering books.

One year later, I went from a miserable failure to a magna cum laude(优等成绩). Life was never the same again. This incident made me know that anything is possible if you take action and do something about it, however small or large. Even today it still motivates me when I feel that I’m about to lose or give up. It reminds me that I can do it.

1. What kind of life did the author live in the engineering school? (No more than 12 words)                                                      

_____________________________________________________________________

2. When did the author begin to care about the serious situation? (No more than 14 words)

_______________________________________________________________________

3.How did his father deal with his son’s problem? (No more than 8 words)

_______________________________________________________________________

4. What did the author learn from this incident? (No more than 12 words)

_______________________________________________________________________