Tattoos（纹身） and body piercing（穿洞） have moved up on the trend list in recent years. Around Western schools lots of teens are sporting new holes and flesh ink. Like all other subjects, we’ll surely be faced with such situation. To get a better view of what has happened in the West, let’s sit down and hear what they say.

Kerstin Otto from Washington:

The hotter it gets and the more layers of clothing disappear, the more tattoos and piercing appear on various places of the human body, I wouldn’t be caught dead with a snake tattooed on my ankle or with a piece of metal stuck in my belly button.

Erin from Indiana:

I think body piercing is cool. In most situations, you don’t really have to worry about it getting torn out. I go to Noblesville High School. I am a sophomore （that is the l0th grade）. Body piercing can be cool, only if it is not taken to too much of an extent. I would not want to get my nose pierced, just because I think I’ll look bad. But that is my personal opinion. I guess that type of thing is a cultural difference.

Tiara from Indiana:

I personally think body piercing is sickening. If there were supposed to be holes in your body, you would have been born with them. I do, however, think that ear piercing, is not wrong.  There is a difference between ear piercing and belly button piercing. Ear piercing is not nearly as dangerous. I would be sick if someone stuck a needle in my belly button.

Lee from Illinois:

Hi! I live in Illinois. I am 23．I have 12 tattoos and three piercing. I love my tattoos and consider myself an art collector. You would be surprised at who has given me the thumbs-up on my art work. People on the street stop me to look at that on my leg. Most of them don’t know what it is. They just think the work itself is great.

Subotai from California:

I’m not prohibitive（禁止）of self-expression, but when I see high school students getting these piercings, I really wonder. In some cases, the drive is deeper and darker than mere fashion. A friend of mine tried piercing her own tongue with a safety pin. It got infected and she had a tongue the size of a cow’s.

Nagib from Washington:

I wanted an earring. My friends had them and it looked like a cool thing. I wanted to get a nose ring, but my mum wouldn’t let me. Now I’m glad I didn’t get it. I just wanted a little stud, but I wouldn’t have looked good with it.

Jackson from Ohio:

I don’t think it’s wrong, but when people do it all over the place like their face and everything —I think that’s ridiculous. People who get the big dragons that cover your whole body—I don’t think that’s necessary. When I see naked chicks on guys, I think. “You have no respect for women.”

Brittany from New York:

You don’t want to do stuff to your body. You don t need to do that because you were made perfect. You don’t need to add piercing. If it will make you feel beautiful and you really feel like you need to do it for yourself, then okay. If it really makes a big difference impacting your self-esteem and how you are towards others, then do it. But otherwise, don’t mess with what you got. Maybe you should try something more substantial（充实的） to find beauty in yourself.

1．Who is wholeheartedly lost in tattoos and piercing?

       A．Tiara                   B．Erin                    C．Nagib.                 D．Lee.

2．Who doesn’t think tattoos and piercing are beautiful?

       A．Jackson.             B．Brittany.              C．Tiara.                 D．Nagy.

3．We can conclude that ________.

       A．tattoos and piercing are a new kind of elegant art

       B．all the teachers in the West are in favor of tattoos and piercing

       C．everything is changeable with time going on

       D．it is necessary to live with all different views of beauty

4．The best title for this passage is probably _________.

       A．Body Art or Damage

       B．Damage to the Youth’s Body

      C．Young People’s Different Curiosities

       D．A Great Anxiety About Young People

This is a part from US President Barack Obama’s speech on May 14 at Bamard College in New York.

… My last piece of advice – this is simple, but perhaps most important: 36. Nothing worthwhile is easy. No one of achievement has avoided failure – sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from mistakes. They don’t 37.

When I first arrived on this 38, I was with little money, fewer options. But it was here that I tried to find my place in this world. I knew I wanted to make a difference, but it was 39 how in fact I’d go about it. But I wanted to do my part to 40 a better world.

So even as I worked after graduation in a few 41 jobs here in New York, even as I went from motley (鱼龙混杂的)apartment to motley apartment, I 42.

… And I wish I could say that this perseverance came from some innate (天生的)toughness in me. But the truth is, it was 43. I got it from 44 the people who raised me. I grew up as the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through 45 and make ends meet. She had a marriage that fell apart; 46 went on food stamps at one point to help us 47. But she didn’t quit. And she earned her degree, and made sure that 48 scholarships and hard work, my sister and I earned 49.

And 50, I met a woman who was assigned to advise me on my first summer job at a law firm. And she gave me such good advice that I married her. And Michelle and I gave everything we had to balance our careers and a 51 family. We made that marriage work.

… So 52 it’s starting a business, or running for office, or 53 an amazing family, remember that making your 54  on the world is hard. It takes patience. It takes commitment. It comes with plenty of 55 and it comes with plenty of failures.

1.                A．compete        B．persevere       C．struggle  D．preservation

 

2.                A．rest           B．decline         C．quit  D．regret

 

3.                A．campus         B．downtown       C．farm D．country

 

4.                A．confident       B．uncertain       C．ambitious D．proud

 

5.                A．shape          B．instruct         C．organize  D．lead

 

6.                A．amazing        B．disturbing       C．meaningful    D．unsatisfactory

 

7.                A．reached out     B．put out         C．gave out  D．made out

 

8.                A．presented      B．structured       C．learned   D．created

 

9.                A．copying        B．detecting       C．persuading    D．watching

 

10.               A．life            B．work           C．school D．business

 

11.               A．yet            B．even           C．still   D．also

 

12.               A．get by          B．come by        C．get along  D．come along

 

13.               A．during         B．through        C．across D．over

 

14.               A．mine          B．us             C．ours  D．hers

 

15.               A．for the time being B．long before     C．up to now  D．later on

 

16.               A．young          B．poor           C．weak D．strong

 

17.               A．as if           B．if             C．whether   D．unless

 

18.               A．rising          B．raising         C．arousing   D．arising

 

19.               A．view           B．stay           C．remark    D．mark

 

20.               A．goals          B．advantages      C．shortcomings   D．setbacks

 

 

This is a part from US President Barack Obama’s speech on May 14 at Bamard College in New York.

… My last piece of advice – this is simple, but perhaps most important: 36. Nothing worthwhile is easy. No one of achievement has avoided failure – sometimes catastrophic failures. But they keep at it. They learn from mistakes. They don’t 37.

When I first arrived on this 38, I was with little money, fewer options. But it was here that I tried to find my place in this world. I knew I wanted to make a difference, but it was 39 how in fact I’d go about it. But I wanted to do my part to 40 a better world.

So even as I worked after graduation in a few 41 jobs here in New York, even as I went from motley (鱼龙混杂的)apartment to motley apartment, I 42.

… And I wish I could say that this perseverance came from some innate (天生的)toughness in me. But the truth is, it was 43. I got it from 44 the people who raised me. I grew up as the son of a single mom who struggled to put herself through 45 and make ends meet. She had a marriage that fell apart; 46 went on food stamps at one point to help us 47. But she didn’t quit. And she earned her degree, and made sure that 48 scholarships and hard work, my sister and I earned 49.

And 50, I met a woman who was assigned to advise me on my first summer job at a law firm. And she gave me such good advice that I married her. And Michelle and I gave everything we had to balance our careers and a 51 family. We made that marriage work.

… So 52 it’s starting a business, or running for office, or 53 an amazing family, remember that making your 54  on the world is hard. It takes patience. It takes commitment. It comes with plenty of 55 and it comes with plenty of failures.

1.                A．compete        B．persevere       C．struggle  D．preservation

 

2.                A．rest           B．decline         C．quit  D．regret

 

3.                A．campus         B．downtown       C．farm D．country

 

4.                A．confident       B．uncertain       C．ambitious D．proud

 

5.                A．shape          B．instruct         C．organize  D．lead

 

6.                A．amazing        B．disturbing       C．meaningful    D．unsatisfactory

 

7.                A．reached out     B．put out         C．gave out  D．made out

 

8.                A．presented      B．structured       C．learned   D．created

 

9.                A．copying        B．detecting       C．persuading    D．watching

 

10.               A．life            B．work           C．school D．business

 

11.               A．yet            B．even           C．still   D．also

 

12.               A．get by          B．come by        C．get along  D．come along

 

13.               A．during         B．through        C．across D．over

 

14.               A．mine          B．us             C．ours  D．hers

 

15.               A．for the time being B．long before     C．up to now  D．later on

 

16.               A．young          B．poor           C．weak D．strong

 

17.               A．as if           B．if             C．whether   D．unless

 

18.               A．rising          B．raising         C．arousing   D．arising

 

19.               A．view           B．stay           C．remark    D．mark

 

20.               A．goals          B．advantages      C．shortcomings   D．setbacks