I met him first in 1936. I rushed into his ugly little shop to have the heels of my shoes repaired. I waited when he did it. He greeted me with a cheerful smile. “You’re new in this neighborbood, aren’t you?”

    I said I was. I had moved into a house at the end of the street only a week before.

    “This is a fine neighborhood,” he said. “You’ll be happy here.” He looked at the leather covering the heel sadly. It was worn through because I had failed to have the repair done a month before. I grew impatient, for I was rushing to meet a friend. “Please hurry,” I begged.

    He looked at me over his spectacles. “Now, lady, we won’t be long. I want to do a good job. You see, I have a tradition to live up to.”

    A tradition? In this ugly little shop that was no different from so many other shoe repair shops on the side streets of New York?

    He must have felt my surprise, for he smiled as he went on. “Yes, lady, I inherited a tradition. My father and my grandfather were shoemakers in Italy, and they were the best. My father always told me, ‘Son, do the best job on every shoe that comes into the shop, and be proud of your fine work. Do that always, and you’ll have both happiness and money enough to live on.’”

    As he handed me the finished shoes, he said: “These will last a long time. I’ve used good leather.”

    I left in a hurry. But I had a warm and grateful feeling. On my way home I passed the little shop again. There he was, still working. He saw me, and to my surprise he waved and smiled. This was the beginning of our friendship. It was a friendship that came to mean more and more to me as time passed.

    Every day I passed his shop, we waved to each other in friendly greeting. At first I went in only when I had repair work to be done. Then I found myself going in every few days just to talk with him.

    He was the happiest man I’ve ever known. Often, as he stood in his shopwindow, working at a pair of shoes, he sang in a high, clear Italian voice. The Italians in our neighborhood called him la luce alla finestra—“the light in the window”.

    One day I was disappointed and angry because of poor jobs some painters had done for me. I went into his shop for comfort. He let me go on talking angrily about the poor work and carelessness of present-day workmen. “They had no pride in their work,” I said. “They just wanted to collect their money for doing nothing.”

    He agreed. “There’s a lot of that kind around, but maybe we should not blame them. Maybe their fathers had no pride in their work. That’s hard on a boy. It keeps him from learning something important.” He waited a minute and said “Every man or woman who hasn’t inherited a prideful tradition must start building one.”

    “In this country, our freedom lets each of us make his own contribution. We must make it a good contribution. No matter what sort of work a man does, if he gives it his best each day, he’s starting a tradition for his children to live up to. And he is making lots of happiness for himself.”

    I went to Europe for a few months. When I returned, there was no “light in the window”. The door was closed. There was a little sign: “Call for shoes at shop next door.” I learned the old man had suddenly got sick and died two weeks before

    I went away with a heavy heart. I would miss him. But he had left me something—an important piece of wisdom I shall always remember: “If you inherited a prideful tradition, you must carry it on; if you haven’t, start building one now.”                                            

1.The shoemaker looked sadly at the shoes because __________

A. they were of poor quality.

B. he didn’t have the right kind of leather

C. he thought they were too worn to be repaired

D. the author hadn’t taken good care of them.

2.The author was surprised when she heard that the shop had a tradition because the shop ________.

A. looked no different from other shoe repair shops        

B. had a light in the window

C. was at the end of a street

D. was quite an ugly and dirty one

3.What does the underlined word “inherit” mean in paragraph 6 mean?

A. develop                             B. receive                           C. learn                                  D. appreciate

4.The author later frequently went into the little shop __________.

A. to repair her worn shoes

B. only to chat with the shoemaker

C. to look at the new shoes there

D. only to get comfort from the shoemaker

5.Why was the shoemaker called “the light in the window” by his neighbors?

A. Because he always worked late at night.

B. Because he always put a light in the window.

C. Because he was always guiding the others.

D. Because he was always happy and cheerful.

6.What’s the best title of this passage?

A. A Proud Shoemaker                                                     B. A Prideful Tradition

C. The Light in the Window                                             D. Treasure Your Shoes

I got tired of living the life that everybody told me I “should” be living , so one day I decided to start living life on my own terms. Frustrated（挫败）with my job, I came home, put on my shoes, and just started running. It felt so good to be free. That first day I ended up running 30 miles without stopping. Yes, I had rediscovered my old passion ( 酷爱的事物) — and it felt so good I set a goal to support myself and my family from my running alone.

I trained hard every day. Since I wanted to be the best I could be, I knew I would have to set some clear goals for myself. A couple of my goals were: run a 135-mile ultra-marathon(超级马拉松) across Death Valley, win the Badwater Ultra-Marathon, and run a marathon to the South Pole.

I had no idea how I was going to achieve these goals, but they certainly encouraged me to work hard. Today, I am really grateful to say that I have achieved all of them. Shortly after completing these goals, I set another goal: to run fifty marathons, in fifty states, in fifty days. Nobody had done anything like this before. To be honest, I was not quite sure if I could. But there was only one way to find out…so I just started training and preparing to give it my best try.

I completed that goal one year ago, and it felt great! But for me, life is not all about achieving goals. Sure, it feels good to succeed, but the greatest reward for me was learning more about myself and what I was able to do.

Only by stepping out into the unknown and stretching(使倾注全力) ourselves can we really discover what our true potential(潜能) is。

1.Why did the author decide to become a runner?

A．He was out of work.

B．He wanted to treat his illness.

C．He wanted to live his dreams.

D．He suddenly found running interesting.

2.Which played an important role in the author’s success?

A．Setting goals                           B．Learning from others.

C．Being honest                           D．Keeping on reading .

3.According to Paragraph 3, before achieving the goals the author felt _____________

A．very grateful                           B．not quite confident

C．quite afraid                            D．not very satisfied

4.What does the underlined part “that goal” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Win the Badwater Ultra-Marathon.

B．Run a marathon to the South Pole.

C．Run fifty marathons, in fifty states, in fifty days.

D．Run a 135-mile ultra-marathon across Death Valley.

5.The author probably agrees that____________.

A．life means achieving goals

B．success is the greatest reward

C．sports help develop our potential

D．everyone may have great potential.

When I was eight years old, I had a big accident. I get scared even now when I think about that time. There were many people skating near my house, and seeing them skate so wonderfully, I couldn’t wait to have a try, just a piece of cake, I thought .

I went with a friend who was very skillful. He spent a long time teaching me how to skate , but I still didn’t learn much , which made him very angry. Finally , he left me and skated all around. I skated alone and soon got bored because I kept falling down so I took off my skates and just walked around on the ice in my shoes. It was cold and my feet were frozen.

Suddenly, I stepped on something that was not hard. What was it ? It was a weak place in the ice . When I stepped there, I sank under the ice. I thought that I was going to die, but I did my best to grab something to get out from under the ice. I would have climbed out myself by grabbing the edge of the ice, but at that time I was only a child of eight . I cried out.

Fortunately, someone helped me. He grabbed my arms and pulled me up. Those several minutes seemed a year to me. I thanked him. At that time, my friend came back. I was annoyed at him because he was supposed to take care of me, but he didn’t. He was embarrassed. When I took a taxi home, the taxi driver was surprised and asked what had happened. I didn’t want to say anything because I was tired and scared. Since then, I have never touched skating.

1.At first the writer thought that skating _________________.

A．was hard to learn

B．was only suitable to watch

C．was easy to learn

D．can only be done with support

2. Why did the writer’s friend leave and skate alone? ___________

A．He wanted to show off his skating skill before the writer.

B．He was disappointed at the writer’s performance.

C．He was too tired to go on teaching the writer.

D．He found he had no gift for teaching others to skate.

3. According to the writer, if an adult sank under the ice, he would _____________.

A．grab the edge of the ice and get out.

B．have courage to call for help

C．wait until people came to help

D．not like to accept others’ help

4.What effect did the accident have on the writer?

A．He broke away from his irresponsible friend.

B．He didn’t dare to skate any longer

C．He fell ill because of staying under ice too longer.

D．He lost interest in all kinds of sports.

语言知识及运用（共两节，满分35分）
完形填空（共10小题，每小题2分，满分20分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21—30各题所给的A , B , C , 和 D中，选出最佳选项。
When I first came to the  USA , I made friends with a neighbor who used to live only two blocks away from my street. We used to visit each other and go out together sometimes . This friend taught me a lot about  American  21   , but in some cases I had to learn the  22  way, because we didn’t have enough time together for me to learn all about American culture from him.
One day this same friend invited me to a party. It wasn’t a (n) 23   party, only some kind of informal get-together. Since it was summer time, we had a cookout, where most of his American friends and relatives were known to me, but there were others I had never met before.
It was the most  24   party for me when I noticed that everybody was wearing jeans and simple T-shirts for the day, 25    I arrived in proper dress with my shoes and my hair all fixed for a fancy party. It was hard to explain my embarrassment（窘迫）to the other  26  . When one of them turned around and said, “What nice clothes! What’s the occasion?” I felt my face burning hot, I didn’t answer at all. If she knew how bad I already felt, she wouldn’t have said that to me.
Maybe she didn’t  27   to make me feel uncomfortable, but my reaction had to do with the way I already felt.
Many times I thought of going home and changing but I knew they would  28 . It would be even worse for me because I knew they would quickly think that I felt out of   29  . So I wanted to pretend that I was OK…
I have already realized their customs are different from mine. They care less about formality （形式）30   it is a special occasion , like a wedding or a very formal invitation.
21. A. art                  B. culture                  C. history                               D. people
22. A. easy                       B. simple                  C. hard                                 D. different
23. A. real                 B. pleasant                 C. usual                         D. evening
24. A exciting               B. surprising                C. embarrassing                 D. enjoyable
25. A. as                  B. while                   C. when                         D. and
26. A. guests              B. friends                  C. neighbors                      D. Americans
27. A. mean               B. expect                  C. wish                          D. prepare
28. A. mind               B. notice                  C. watch                         D. care
29. A. order               B. breath                 C. place                         D. mind
30. A. unless              B. if                      C. as long as                     D. since

While firing off pictures of a curious five-month-old fox, photographer Simon Czapp soon realized his subject had quite an interest in photography herself. The clever fox was so curious about the camera equipment that she climbed right on top of it. And while she was supposed to be the subject of the shoot, the fox stood on the shutter release button (快门按钮) and took her own frames.
Mr Czapp visited the New Forest Wildlife Park to capture images of new arrival Jessie. She has been at the animal park in Ashurst, Hampshire — home to wolves, deer and other animals in 25 acres of ancient woodland — after being abandoned by her mother.
Mr Czapp said, “Jessie was very playful and curious and not at all camera shy. Soon after I arrived she was chewing my shoes and everything seemed to be a game to her. Then she started exploring the camera I had set up on a tripod (三脚架). She balanced her front paws on it and at one point knocked it over.”
He put the camera back on the tripod and Jessie soon jumped back up. At one point she had all four paws on the camera and was keeping her balance. Mr Czapp added, “She jumped up there several times and I realized it could make a good picture. As I was leaving with the public’s viewing window behind me, I thought I heard the camera go off but didn’t think much of it. But when I checked the memory card afterwards, I was amazed to see Jessie had actually taken two pictures of me photographing her. I couldn’t believe a fox had gained an advantage over me! Jessie is a lovely little fox. There were some lovely photos of her but she obviously thought the photographer was worthy of a picture too!”
【小题1】The underlined word “frames” in Paragraph 1 probably means “_________”.