Have you ever been sad because you failed in something? If so, please remember, for often, achieving what you expect is not the most important thing. Here is a story to tell you why.
One day a little boy decided to dig a hole behind his house after watching a science program. As he was working, a couple of boys stopped by to watch.  "What are you doing?" asked one of the visitors. "I want to dig a deep hole all the way through the earth!" the boy answered excitedly.  The older boys began to laugh, telling him that it was impossible to do it. Then they left.
The little boy kept on digging and digging. Suddenly, a few small colorful stones caught his eyes. He collected them and put them into a glass jar patiently.  Humming a song, he went on digging. The jar was full soon. Then he talked to himself calmly and proudly, "Maybe I can't finish digging all the way through the earth, but look at what I have found in the process of digging !"
The boy's goal was too difficult, but it did cause him to go on, in other words, to cause us to keep working!
Not every goal will be achieved.  Not every job will end up with a success.  Not every dream will come true.  But when you can't achieve your goal, maybe you can say, "yes, but look what I've found along the way! There are so many wonderful things that have come into my life because I tried to do something!" It is in the digging that life is lived. It is the unexpected joy on the journey that really has a meaning.
【小題1】What did the boy do after watching a program?

A．He bought a glass jar.

B．He started to dig a hole.

C．He played with some visitors.

D．He went on watching the program.

【小題2】What did the older boys think of the little boy?

A．He was silly.	B．He was strict.
C．he was strong-minded.	D．He was energetic.

【小題3】When did the boy find the stones?

A．Before he met the older boys.

B．When he wanted to give up digging.

C．After the older boys laughed at him.

D．As soon as he began to dig the hole.

【小題4】What does the underlined sentence "It is in the digging that life is lived." mean according to the article?

A．Life is to make a big success.

B．Life is to find the colorful stones.

C．Life is difficult but colorful.

D．Life is on the way to achieve the goal.

【小題5】Which is the best title for this article?

A．Enjoying the process

B．How to achieve goals

C．A journey through the earth

D．Dig a deep hole all the way through the earth.

One day I happened to meet an Englishman in the street and soon we began to talk. As I  was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be very surprised, gently shaking his head and saying “You don’t say!” I was puzzled, and I thought , “Perhaps this is not a right thing to talk about.” So I said to him,“Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? Have you ever been there?”
“Certainly! Everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave here without seeing it. The Great Wall is wonderful!”“Yes, it is one of the wonders in the world. And people of many countries have come to visit it.” As I went on telling him more about it, he stopped me again, “You don’t say!”
I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it? ”
“Well, I didn’t ask you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised.
“Did you say ‘You don’t say!’?” I asked again.
Hearing this, the foreigner laughed loudly. He began to explain, “‘You don’t say!’ means ‘Really’. Perhaps you know little about English idioms(慣用語).”
Wow! How foolish I was! Since then I have been careful with English idioms.
【小題1】The writer was puzzled because                  .

A．the foreigner has some difficulty in understanding him.

B．the writer himself didn’t understand the meaning of “You don’t say!”

C．the foreigner was not polite.

D．the writer was very clever

【小題2】What made the foreigner laugh?

A．The English idioms	B．The writer’s talking about the Great Wall
C．The writer’s explanation	D．The writer’s question

【小題3】The story probably happened in                  .

A．China

B．America

C．England

D．Canada

【小題4】The writer was puzzled                  in the passage.

A．once

B．twice

C．three times

D．four times

【小題5】The English idiom “You don’t say!” means “               ”

A．Thank you

B．OK

C．Really

D． Sorry

根據(jù)對(duì)話內(nèi)容從對(duì)話后方框內(nèi)的七個(gè)選項(xiàng)中選擇五個(gè)適當(dāng)?shù)倪x項(xiàng)補(bǔ)全對(duì)話，并將其字母代號(hào)填入答題卡中相應(yīng)題號(hào)的橫線上。（本大題共5小題, 每小題1分，共5分）

A. How is the weather there? B. Have you ever been there before? C. where did you go? D. How did you get there? E. Where would you like to go? F. How do you like Sydney? G. Did you have a good time?

A:  Hello, Zhang Li! Nice to meet you.
B:  Me, too! How are you?
A:  Fine, thanks.      1    ? I haven’t seen you for a long time.
B:  Oh, I went to Sydney with my parents. Sydney is the biggest city in Australia.
A:  Really?      2    ?
B:  No, I haven’t. It’s the first time for me to go there. 
A:  That’s great.      3    ? Is it too hot?
B:  No, Sydney is cool. Because it’s winter now.
A:       4    ?
B:  First by plane, then we went to Sydney by car.
A:       5    ?
B: Yes, we had a good time. By the way, I took many photos. Would you like to see them?
A:  That’s wonderful! Let’s go!

A year ago，I paid no attention to English idioms (習(xí)語), though my teacher told us the importance again and again. But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience.

One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be surprised. Gently shaking his head，shrugging his shoulders, he said，“You don’t say!” “You don’t say!” I was puzzled. I thought , perhaps this is not a right topic. “Well, I’d better change the topic.” So I said to him. “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? By the way, have you ever been there?” “Certainly, everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it. It was wonderful.” He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide. “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. We are very proud of it.” Soon I was interrupted (打斷) again by his words: “You don’t say!” I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t ask you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised. I said, “Didn’t you say ‘you don’t say’？” Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to explain, “ ‘You don’t say’ actually means ‘really!’ It is an expression of surprise. Perhaps you don’t pay attention to English idioms.” I realized I had made a fool of myself. Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions. Remember: what the English teachers said is always right to us students.

1.A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms because       .

A．I had no interest in them

B．English idioms were very difficult

C．I did not realize the importance of them

D．my teacher didn’t tell us the importance of them

2.At first, on hearing “You don’t say,” I thought the foreigner meant       .

A．I had talked too much

B．I had to stop talking

C．he was not interested in the topic

D．he was only interested in the Great Wall

3.“… was shown in an amusing experience.” The word “amusing” probably means       .

A．interesting        B．important         C．terrible           D．unlucky

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The Englishman wanted me to act as his guide.

B．The Englishman left China without seeing the Great Wall.

C．The Englishman wanted to see the Great Wall after I talked about it.

D．The Englishman visited the Great Wall and thought it worth visiting.

5.After the Englishman explained the idiom, ___________.

A．I felt very silly

B．the Englishman became a real fool

C．I became more carefully in everything

D．I thought the Englishman had made me a fool

 

Have you ever been in a meeting while someone was making a speech and realized suddenly that your mind was a million miles away? You probably felt sorry and decided to pay attention and never have daydreaming again. Most of us have been told from earliest school days that daydreaming is a waste of time.
L. Giambra, a psychologist（心理學(xué)家）, says,” On the contrary , daydreaming is quite necessary. Without it, the mind couldn’t do all the thinking that it has to do during a normal day. You can’t possibly do all your thinking with a conscious （神志清醒的）mind. Instead, your unconscious mind is working out problems all the time. Daydreaming may be one way that the unconscious and conscious states （狀態(tài)）of mind have silent conversations .”
Early psychologists paid no attention to the importance of daydreams or even thought they were harmful. At one time people thought that some psychological illness caused day dreaming. They did not have a better understanding of daydreams until the late 1980s. Eric Klinges, a professor, is the writer of the book Daydreaming. Klinges says, “We know now that daydreaming is one of the main ways that we organize our lives, learn from our experiences, and plan for our futures. Daydreams really are a window on the things that we fear and the things we long for (渴望) in life.”
Daydreams are usually very simple and direct（直接）, quite unlike sleep dreams. Sleep dreams may be hard to understand. It’s easier to get a deep understanding of your life by paying close attention to your daydreams than by trying to examine (分析)your sleep dreams carefully. Daydreams help you know the difficult situations（情況）in your life and found out a possible way of dealing with them.
Daydreams cannot be predicted（預(yù)言）: they move off in unexpected directions which may be creative and full of useful ideas. For many famous artists and scientists, daydreams were and are a main source of creative energy.
【小題1】The passage is mainly about _______ .

A．winter sleeps

B．sleep dreams

C．daydreaming

D．predictions

【小題2】The underlined phrase On the contrary  means _________ .

A．總之

B．相反

C．畢竟

D．因此

【小題3】The writer of this passage thinks daydreams are__________.

A．hard to understand	B．important and helpful
C．harmful and unimportant	D．the same as sleep dreams

【小題4】Psychologists now believe that ________.

A．daydreams are usually very simple and can be predicted

B．daydreams are usually difficult to understand

C．daydreams cause some psychological illness

D．daydreams may be creative and full of useful ideas

【小題5】The writer quoted  (引用 )L. Giambra  and Eric Klinges  to ________.

A．list out two different ideas

B．point out the wrong ideas of early experts

C．support his own ideas

D．report the latest research on daydreams