We thought we had it all---a beautiful house, three healthy children and one more on the way, two cars, a couple of four-wheelers for entertainment---and we loved it. Then, the market turned and my husband’s job at a construction company was gone. The company was closing down for good.We both started looking for jobs right away, but there weren’t any to be found. With each passing day we were getting increasingly worried and we continued to work together in order to pull our family through. The more we pulled together, the closer we got. I felt feelings of admiration for my husband that I hadn’t felt in years.

That’s why it was so hard for me to watch him blame himself for our present situation. I continually asked him to stop, but he seemed to want to punish himself for not having a job.

Finally, one afternoon I pulled him aside and said, “We have four healthy children and each other. That’s what’s important. That makes you a rich man.”

“ But what if we lose the house? They’ll hate me—you’ll hate me,” he replied.

I smiled at him and put my hands on both sides of his face to make him look me in the eye. “No matter where we live I will be happy –as long as I have you.” I smiled again. In all the struggling together I had found that deep love for him that I had on the day we said “I do”.

  I could see his shoulders and neck relaxed. He held me close and we were able to talk and plan and dream together in a way that we hadn’t for quite some time. It was a turning point for us as a couple and a family.

We are still struggling for out better life, but I consider us well-off because we have something that money can’t buy and no one can take away from us.

The underlined sentence in the second paragraph means that________.

       A．they became closer as they struggled together    

B．they hoped to find jobs in the same company

       C．neither of them had the courage to ace difficulty

       D．they were trying to make their relationship closer

We can learn from the passage that________.

       A．they both found good jobs at last.

       B．both of them were worried about joblessness.

       C．her husband was to blame for the unemployment

       D．they didn’t love each other when they got married

Which of the following can best describe their present life?

       A．Bitter but easy.         B．Comfortable and happy.

       C．Hard but warm.          D．Well-off and relaxing.

The best title of the passage might be________         .

       A．We Have It All            B．We Find It Again

       C．A Perfect Couple            D．A Hard Time

Babies are born yogis. Once we were all able to pull our toes up by our ears and laugh about it. Then we aged, got injured, and began carrying stress in our shoulders and back. In short, we lost our balance.
Yoga（瑜伽） is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar facilities in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it.
Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. “Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. “Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism (新陳代謝), it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells.” I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses.
Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension.
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life. Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group. Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others. As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness. Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga.
【小題1】What would be the best title for this passage?

A．What’s Yoga?	B．How I Do Yoga Poses
C．The Benefits of Yoga	D．The Varieties of Yoga

【小題2】According to the third paragraph, yoga can help people __________.

A．grow taller	B．lose weight
C．become flexible in thinking	D．make more friends

【小題3】People feel tired after yoga because __________.

A．they consume energy in practicing yoga

B．they respond well to yoga poses

C．they spend too much time on yoga

D．they force themselves into yoga poses

【小題4】If this passage continues, what will the writer most probably write about in the next paragraph?

A．Yoga as a means to keep fit.	B．Who may like yoga
C．Popularity of yoga all over the world.	D．Encouraging people to do yoga.

閱讀下面短文，從短文后所給各題的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)（A、B、C、D）中，選出可以填入空白處的最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑。

My ears are recently full of joyous remarks from my friends such as, “Oh, Beckham is so handsome, so cool, that I can’t help falling in love with him!” or “What perfect skills he has!” Yeah, I  26  to some degree, though I sometimes do want to  27  them how much they know about Beckham, apart from his      28  and how much they know about football apart from  29  goals. It seems funny that we are  30  for things, with which we are unfamiliar or about which we are  31 , but we all, my friends as well as I, consider this one of life’s     32  .

We need these pleasures to brighten up our lives. But that doesn't amount to craziness or nonsense. As an old saying goes: “Don't judge a book by its cover.” We  33  not judge anything from its appearance. We should all know, it is one’s good  34  and great contribution that make one a star and unforgettable. Therefore we’d better say  35  about Beckham’s good looks.

If we close our eyes, falling in deep thought, we can find that the things that move us to be really happy or sad have a  36  meaning. If we don't go deeper and are just satisfied with  37  things, sooner or later we will find that we have not really gained anything because our first  38  has blinded and misled us, and we’ll remain ignorant  39  we realize that and make some changes.

It is believed that thinking and going deeper than before is a sign of great progress. If one day we are willing to go deeper into everything, no matter how much it pains us, we will finally prove how much we have  40  up, how much more sensible, mature, and intelligent we have become.

1.A. like                     B. agree                                 C. hope                      D. think

2.A. ask                     B. tell                                  C. teach               D. doubt

3.A. skills                      B. fame                       C. team                     D. appearance

4.A. kicking               B. hitting                       C. scoring                 D. controlling

5.A. thankful            B. crazy                                C. curious                 D. anxious

6.A. uncertain                   B. unhappy                        C. displeased     D. careful

7.A. aims                            B. qualities                        C. pleasures             D. truths

8.A. dared                    B. would                             C. could                    D. should

9.A. thinking            B. character                 C. looks                     D. ability

10.A. more                        B. something               C. less                        D. no

11.A. clear                         B. puzzling                         C. moving                 D. valuable

12.A. material                  B. deep                          C. surface                 D. pleasant

13.A. conclusion            B. experience                        C. lesson                   D. impression

14.A. since                         B. although                        C. unless                   D. before

15.A. given                   B. sent                                C. built                       D. grown

 

Unlike many surfers who sought the perfect wave, my interests always lay beneath the sea' s surface in a world I could only imagine and dream of．When I was twelve, I made my first adventures in the deep．Later I would learn how to dive, expanding my world of exploration many times over．

Perhaps the greatest turning point in my life came when I was in high school and I wrote a letter to the famous Scripps Oceanographic Institution, asking how I might learn more about the sea．A kind scientist answered my letter and told me how to apply to Scripps for a summer scholarship, which I received．During one of their courses that summer, I met Dr．Robert Norris, a marine geologist．He loved the sea almost as much as I did．Soon he suggested I consider his school, the University of California, for my study．One year later I became a member of the freshman class．

Now my love affair with the sea became a serious endeavor（艱苦的努力）．If I wanted to be an undersea explorer, I needed to learn as much as I could about the laws of the physical world that controlled the environment I wanted to enter．The undersea world is not our natural world．It is unforgiving to those who make mistakes．At its greatest depths the water temperature is near freezing, the pressure is eight tons per square inch, and it is totally dark．It is easy to get lost in such a world．I needed to learn a lot about geography, navigation, geology, biology, and many other things．

I decided another important thing for me to do was to join the U．S．Navy．If I was going to be an undersea explorer, I would have to lead men and women on dangerous adventures where they might get hurt, and I didn't want that to happen．

In the Navy I learned discipline, organization, and how to motivate and lead people on adventures so that we could explore the wonders of the deep．

Finally, the time came to put all that I had learned to use, to go forth with a team of men and women and explore an adventure I am still on and hope to be on for many years to come．

1.What happened to the author at the age of twelve?

A．He dreamed about undersea exploration．

B．He began to swim under the deep water．

C．He surfed on big waves for the first time．

D．He learned to dive off the cliffs．

2.In college, the author took many different types of courses because he

A．was told it was easy to get lost in exploration

B．was advised to take them by Dr．Robert Norris

C．thought they were needed to fully understand the ocean

D．believed it would help him succeed in the Navy

3.The author joined the Navy to ______．

A．develop his leadership skills

B．get along with people under stress

C．learn about the dangers of the ocean

D．gather specific information about ocean life

4.Which word can best describe the author?

A．Imaginative．      B．Optimistic．       C．Independent．     D．Ambitious．

 

 

完形填空:

My ears are recently full of joyous remarks from my friends such as, “Oh, Beckham is so handsome, so cool, that I can’t help falling in love with him!” Or “What perfect skills he has!” Yeah, I agree   36   some degree, though I sometimes do want to ask them how much they  37     Beckham, apart from his appearance and how much they know about football   38   scoring goals. It seems funny that we are crazy for things, with which we are unfamiliar or   39    which we are uncertain, but we all, my friends   40   I, consider this one of life’s 41  .

We need these pleasures to brighten up our lives. But that doesn’t amount to craziness  42   nonsense（胡鬧）. As an old saying   43    : “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” We should not   44  anything from its appearance. We should all know, it is one’s good character and great contribution that   45   one a star and unforgettable. Therefore we’d better say   46   about Beckham’s good looks.

If we close our eyes,   47  in deep thought, we can find that the things that   48   us to be in truth happy, sad or touched   49   a clear meaning. If we don’t go deeper and just satisfied with superficial（表面的）things,  50   we will find that we have not really gained anything  51  our first impression has blinded and misled us, and we’ll remain ignorant(無知)  52   we realize that and make some changes.

It is believed that thinking and going deeper than before is a sign of great   53  . If one day we are willing to go deeper into everything, no matter how much it   54   us, we will finally prove how much we have grown up, how much more sensible（理智的）, mature（成熟的）, and intelligent we have   55  .

36．A．to          B．on         C．in           D．a(chǎn)t

37．A．learn from         B．learn C．know          D．know about

38．A．rather than       B．except for          C．except       D．a(chǎn)part from

39．A．with          B．in         C．a(chǎn)bout        D．for

40．A．not            B．a(chǎn)s well as C．rather than        D．but

41．A．pleasures          B．taste     C．sorrow       D．regrets

42．A．nor          B．a(chǎn)nd       C．or          D．or else

43．A．speaks      B．talks          C．tells     D．goes

44．A．take          B．judge         C．a(chǎn)ccept       D．conclude

45．A．makes       B．causes      C．builds        D．create

46．A．better       B．more     C．worse         D．less

47．A．taking         B．leaving       C．falling        D．getting

48．A．move         B．change   C．doubt              D．follow

49．A．lack       B．have          C．include      D．cover

50．A．in fact        B．indeed       C．in a while D．sooner or later

51．A．so          B．even though     C．because    D．a(chǎn)lthough

52．A．even if       B．a(chǎn)lthough   C．unless       D．if

53．A．joy         B．progress   C．effort         D．work

54．A．cares        B．pains         C．delights    D．minds

55．A．come         B．made         C．had           D．become