Towards the end of the eleventh grade, I was asked to write a restaurant review. When I went to a restaurant, I saw the waiter talking to the chefs (厨师) and thought they were judging me. I felt nervous but I couldn't leave because I had to write the review. Minutes later, the waiter stopped talking and took my order. He was happy to serve me. I started asking him questions about his restaurant and I guessed that he liked that because he gave me a free dish. After I left the restaurant, I thought, "That's wasn't bad at all." Not all people think of me as a failure.

Now, I am running for the school president in my senior year. I am not sure if I can win, but I tell myself that if I want to be successful, I have to stop despising (鄙视) myself. I want to prove that Latinos can be successful. I do belong to the United States. An American is a person who overcomes struggles to become successful and that is what I'm doing.

In Paragraph 2, what the kid said to the author made him doubt whether ______.

A. he should laugh at the kid

B. the kid was a real Mexican

C. he should sell food in the street

D. the color of one's skin really mattered

The author's experience of finishing his restaurant review helped him realize that

.

A. he could succeed easily if he tried his best

B. the waiters in America were all very friendly

C. not everyone in American looked down on Mexicans

D. he was actually popular with people around him

What is the main idea of the text?

A. Where one was born matters a lot.

B. Being a Mexican is hard in America.

C. Other people's opinions are very important.

D. It is what he does that makes him an American.

B

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4. Many Americans fail to lose weight probably because _______ .

A. they lack confidence B. they do exercise alone

C. they are under great pressure D. they don't get enough exercise

5. From the text, we can learn that if you join the gym, _______ .

A. you'll lose weight safely but slowly

B. you'll struggle with workout routines

C. you'll be advised to pay attention to nutrition

D. you'll be advised to do nothing in between workouts

6. How much do a couple have to pay if they join the gym today?

A. $500. B. $800. C. $900. D. $1,000.

7. This text is most probably taken from a ________ .

A. newspaper B. magazine C. website D. textbook

C

If you hear the sound of a mobile phone beeping in a bag or pocket, you could think that someone has received a text message. Text messaging, or texting, is the art of sending a short, electronic message between two mobile phones. The users should pay a certain amount to send messages via SMS--- short message service. But in the last few years, with the development of smart phones, messaging in this way has been at a low ebb.

The rise of smart phones has seen an increase in the use of instant messaging apps. The apps offer a cheap alternative to traditional texts. Using wireless internet connections, people can send a number of messages to their friends at a very low cost. Unlike traditional mobile texts, the users usually only have to pay to download the app once, after which each message they send is free.

Instant messaging apps have become popular all over the world. Hundreds of millions of people use the apps to chat with their friends. These apps allow people to send pictures messages for free---something which previously was quite costly. Many of these apps also allow users to have access to a huge range of colourful emotions, which can help people express their emotions.

The research company Informa said that almost 19 billion messages were sent per day using chat apps last year, compared with 17.6 billion SMS texts. And it expects the chat app market to grow to 50 billion per day by 2015. So does this really mean the end of communicating by texting?

Pamela Clark-Dickson from Informa doesn’t think so. She says that there are a large number of people who use normal mobile phones, particularly in developing countries and prefer the SMS messaging tool. For the moment, these users still find that SMS is the best messaging experience for them.

8. The underlined phrase “at a low ebb” can be replaced by “______”

A. on the increase B. on the decrease

C. in the end D. at the moment

9. What can we learn about instant messaging apps?

A. Normal mobile phones can be used to download the apps.

B. The apps enjoy high popularity in developing countries.

C. Only part of the messages sent by the apps are free of charge.

D. It will cost the users some money for downloading the apps.

10. Instant messaging apps won’t take the place of the SMS messaging tool soon in that_____________________________________

A. there are a large number of people who enjoy using normal mobile phones.

B. many people in developing countries can’t afford to buy smart phones.

C. many people in developing countries don’t like instant messaging apps

D. instant messaging apps are only known to people in developed countries.

11. In which section of an English newspaper will this text probably be found?

A. Science & Technology B. Culture

C. Entertainment D. Health & care

D

Encouragement and praise can come in many forms, and some ways are better for child development than others. Researchers at the University of Chicago who studied mother-child interactions (互相作用) found that the type of praise children receive affects their attitudes towards challenges later in life.

Specifically, praise that focused on their behavior and the choices that kids made helped them deal with difficult experiences better five years later, compared with praise that focused more on the child himself, like “You’re a good boy.” The study, which appears in the journal Child Development, is the first major study of praise and child development done outside of a lab setting.

“It’s exciting to see it play out in the real world,” said Elizabeth Gunderson who led the study. “Praising the efforts, actions and work of kids is going to be more beneficial in their long-term persistence and desire to be challenged and work hard in the future.”

Such “process praise” includes comments such as “You worked really hard”, which emphasize a child’s actions. “Person praise” includes comments like “You’re so smart”, which focus on a child’s personal qualities. These distinctions (差别) aren’t new in the field of psychology, but exactly how they affect children’s development over the years hasn’t always been clear.

As part of the study, the researchers visited the homes of more than 50 kids between the ages of 1 and 3, and filmed their daily interactions with their parents during 90-minute sessions. Five years later, the researchers followed up with the families, measuring the children’s attitudes towards challenges and problem solving. The children who grew up with more process praise were more open to challenges. Though person praise didn’t seem to have any negative effect on the children, the study suggests that process praise teaches children that their talents and abilities can be developed and improved, while person praise sends the message that their abilities are fixed and therefore not easily changed.

12. What can we learn from the first Paragraph?

A. Researchers encourage more mother-child interactions.

B. Different kinds of praise have different effects on children.

C. Encouragement and praise have the same effects on children.

D. Researchers have different attitudes to children’s development.

13. The underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refers to _______ .

A. the journal Child Development

B. the study of praise and child development

C. the relationship between parents and their children

D. the relationship between progress praise and person praise

14. Which of the following belongs to "progress praise"?

A. You did a good job! B. What an adorable boy!

C. You're a real gentleman! D. We are so proud of you!

15. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A. Praise is good for children's development.

B. Praise is more beneficial than punishment.

C. Person praise is better than process praise.

D. Process praise is more beneficial in the long run.

第二节（共5小题，每小题2分，满分10分）

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

Cooking is fun. 16 This means knowing when to get the help