When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor, Dr. Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never invited us to play in his yard, but he was a very kind person. When Dr. Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He owned a large field and wanted to make it a forest. The good doctor had some interesting ideas about planting trees. He never watered his new trees. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled(毁坏) them, and that if you watered them, each baby tree would grow weaker and weaker, so you had to make things difficult for them and pick out the weaker trees early on.
He talked about how watering trees made for shallow(浅的) roots(根), and how trees that weren't watered had to grow deep roots in search of water under the earth by themselves. Deep roots were very important. So he never watered his trees. He'd planted an oak(橡树)and instead of watering it every morning, he'd beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.
Dr. Gibbs died several years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I watched him plant about twenty-five years ago. They're very big and strong now. I planted some trees a few years back and carried water to them for a whole summer. After two years of caring too much, whenever a cold wind blows in, they shake a lot.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. Mostly I pray (祈祷) that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to face difficulties. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere, so what we need to do is to pray for roots that reach deep into the brave heart, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we could face it strongly and won't be beaten down.
【小题1】We know from the passage, the doctor______.

The teacher stood before his class and was going to hand out the final exam papers. “I know how ___________ (41) you have all worked to prepare for this test,” he said. “And because I know you can do it well, I am willing to offer a B to anyone who would ___________ (42) not to take the test.

Many students jumped up to ___________ (43) the teacher and left the classroom. The teacher looked at the ___________ (44) students and said, “Does anyone else want to get a B? This is your last ___________ (45).” Two more students decided to go.

Seven students remained. The teacher then handed out the ___________ (46). There were only three sentences typed on the paper: Congratulations! You have just ___________ (47) an A in this class. Keep believing in yourself.

I never had a teacher like that, but I think it is a test ___________ (48) any teacher could and should give. Students who are not ___________(49) in what they have learned are B students at best(充其量).

The same is ___________ (50) in real life. The A students are those who believe in what they are doing because they have ___________ (51) both successes and failures. They have learned life’s lessons, either from normal education ___________ (52) from events in their lives, and have become ___________ (53) people.

Scientists say that by the age of eight, 80% of what we believe about ourselves has already been formed. You are a big kid now, and you ___________(54) that you have some limits (限制). However, there is ___________ (55) you can’t do or learn or be. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest said, “It’s not the mountain we conquer(克服) but ourselves.

1. A. luckily       B. terribly     C. quietly          D. hard

2. A. dislike       B. help         C. prefer           D. start

3. A. thank     B. praise           C. fight            D. criticize

4. A. following B. relaxing     C. worrying     D. remaining

5. A. chance        B. trouble          C. test         D. idea

6. A. results       B. presents     C. papers           D. essays

7. A. given     B. sent         C. discovered       D. received

8. A. where     B. that         C. what         D. when

9. A. confident B. necessary        C. mysterious       D. convenient

10. A. unusual      B. impossible       C. true         D. special

11. A. broken off   B. dreamed of       C. learned from D. cared about

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

13.A. ruder     B. cuter            C. worse            D. better

14.A. decide        B. forget           C. realize          D. imagine

15. A. something    B.anything      C. everything       D. nothing

Singles’ Day (光棍节)falls on every November 11th, and as the name suggests, this holiday is one specially for people who are still living the single life. It’s surprising that China is the only country in the world that has set up a special day for singles to celebrate(庆祝) their lives. To find out more about this celebration, read on.
An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong（麻将）.
One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the 'Sitiao' card. And that day happened to be November 11th. In order to remember the day, they called it Singles’ Day.
For breakfast on Singles’ Day, singles often eat four youtiao, which means the four "ones" in "11.11". Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. So they take part in 'blind date' parties , trying to find someone they love and many people choose to marry on this day. Besides the meaning 'single', the four 'ones' of the date can also mean 'only one' as in 'the only one for me.' Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only 'one' in their heart.
【小题1】__________ first called November 11^th Singles’ Day.

完形填空 先通读下面的短文，掌握其大意，然后在每小题所给的四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Mexican people have a tradition of greeting each other with handshakes and kisses on the cheek（脸颊. But recently, government officials asked people to   15  this. They have also closed schools and museums, and advised people to stay at home.
This is to stop people from  16  an infectious disease (传染病), swine flu (猪流感). The disease has spread over the country. It has killed 159 people and caused 4,000 to become sick  17 .
What is swine flu? Swine flu is a disease that causes respiratory (呼吸的) illness in pigs. It spreads to people in two ways. People catch the virus after being with infected(被感染的)pigs, or they get it from an infected   18  . The disease spreads in the same way   19  human flu, through coughs and sneezes and then touching the nose or mouth. However, it   20  be spread by eating pork.
People who have caught swine flu will have a fever, a cough, a sore throat and body aches. In most cases, the infection makes people unwell but their lives will not be   21 .
A few governments around the world have advised their citizens not to visit   22 . Some countries have begun checking air travelers for the disease and have set up quarantines (隔离) for people who might be infected. Russia, China and other countries have banned (禁止) buying pork from Mexico,  23  the flu cannot be caught by eating the meat.
Health experts advise people to wash their hands frequently(频繁地), to cover coughs and sneezes and to stay at home if they feel   24 .