One dark, windy night, a drunk (醉鬼) was making his way home after the bar was closed. He got dead drunk and walked through a graveyard (墓地) instead of his usual way home.

The wind was strong and he thought he could hear a voice calling his name. Suddenly, the ground opened up in front of him, and he fell down, down into an open grave! He could hear the voice more clearly now, calling him. He thought it was the devil (魔鬼) coming for him.

The hole was very deep and the inside was black. His eyes became used to the darkness after a moment, and he saw something sitting in the darkness with him. It called his name, and he moved quickly in fear, trying to climb out of the hole. Then it spoke, “You can’t get out!”

The drunk gave a shout of terrible fear and jumped up more than six feet. He managed to catch the edge of the hole with his hands, climbed out, and ran for home as fast as he could.

Inside the open grave, his neighbor Charlie felt very sad. He had fallen into the hole a few minutes before his neighbor. He had thought that they might be able to help each other climb out. Now he was going to have to wait until the next morning and ask someone to bring him a ladder.

21. Why didn’t the man go the usual way home?  

A. It was dark and windy.            B. He was drunk.

C. The bar closed late.              D. He was looking for Charlie.

22. The drunken man gave a shout of terrible fear because _______.

A. he thought he saw the devil       B. he was afraid of darkness

C. the person in the grave hit him       D. he thought he would never get out

23. What can we infer from the passage?

A. Charlie pulled the man into the hole. B. The drunken man ran home for ladders.

C. Charlie also got drunk.D. The drunken man didn’t recognize his neighbor.

China’s local pension funds（养老金） will launch a first wave of making profits in the national stock market（股市） by the end of this year before an ageing population becomes a difficulty in economy. The government has announced an ambitious plan that could help local governments overcome record-low interest rates and reduce the Chinese stock market’s volatility（波动）.

The human resources ministry said that a number of local governments had moved money to the National Social Security Fund, where managers have good reasons to make money in riskier programs, including up to 40 per cent in stocks and stock funds. This first wave will release between Rmb200bn-Rmb400bn ($30bn-$60bn), according to analysts.

The government started drawing up plans for such moves to the NSSF in June last year and  the expansion of the NSSF, which held Rmb1.9tn in 2015, will increase its power in the national stock market, reducing the influence of individual investors and probably creating a more stable flow of money into stock markets. If all provinces join the program, that would mean up to Rmb2tn more could flow into stocks. “In theory, it’s a good thing to do and should increase profits,” said Stuart Leckie, Stirling Finance chairman, who has advised the government on pension reform. “But it was mostly done to support the stock market. They’re doing something good for the wrong reasons.”

The Rmb5tn state pension funds managed by local governments are limited to making profits in safe programs such as bank deposits and government bonds. But these have had such low profits that local governments’ pension funds became less over the past decade, at a time when more and more are nearing retirement.

The NSSF was founded in 2000 to help some provinces in the north-east but it has seemingly achieved an average profit of nearly 9 per cent per year over the past 15 years, which matches the performance of the more experienced Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. But some economists believe the reforms are not enough to ensure the life quality of the old. “I no longer think the Chinese system can be reformed,” said Peter Diamond, a Nobel Prize winner in economics who co-authored a book on Chinese pension reform. “It must be taken apart and built back from the beginning.”

24.What’s the purpose of the great governmental plan mentioned at the beginning?

A. To help the stock market go smoothly.

B. To make more profits for the central government.

C. To strength people’s confidence in pension funds

D. To increase the local bank interest rates.

25. What does “wrong reasons” in paragraph 3 actually mean?

A. The governments intended to increase the quantity of pension funds.

B. The governments originally wanted to help the old live longer.

C. The move of pension funds was to improve the stock market.

D. Pension funds may obtain much benefit from money moves.

26. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

 A. The present reforms are of much practical use in bettering the life quality of the old.

B. China’s system in pension funds is too perfect to reform compared with that of Canada.

C. The system deserves deep consideration and even needs establishing once again.

D. The reforms are of much urgency to the system being carried out in China.

27. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Pension funds are certain to bring more benefit to the aged.

B. The life of Chinese old people will be improved someday.

C. Pension funds can help people to make profits in China.

D. China’s local pension funds will move to the stock market.

It seems that people are gradually losing their smartness as smart phones become increasingly important assistants in their lives. As we rely too much on technology instead of our brains, many people have lost three basic abilities.

The first skill many people have lost is remembering phone numbers. Because phone numbers are stored in smart phone contacts, there's now no need to dial a number or look at it again. This is fine until you need to call someone for help only to find your phone is not around.

And some people may also have lost their sense of direction because some apps can guide

People anywhere they want. People get so dependent on them that when they can't use their smart

phones, they get lost and anxious.

But the worst lost skills may be social ones, meaning that some people are becoming socially

disabled. People often bury themselves in their smart phones. As we're too absent- minded by what's happening in the virtual some of us have lost conversational skills and sometimes can't even tell whether a person is happy or not.

Last August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 51 students aged 11 and 12 who had over five hours' screen time ever)r day. Their task was to tell the emotions of 48 pictures of faces that were happy, sad, angry or scared.

The children made an average of 14.02 mistakes at the beginning. But after a five-day camp

without electronic (电子的) products, they made only 9.41 mistakes on average.

Luckily, people still have a chance to get these abilities back. You should try to keep your

parents' numbers in mind for emergencies. You should also pay more attention to street signs and

stores, which will help you to draw a mind map and stop you from getting lost. And the easiest

solution to social skill loss is to take a break from electronic products.

28. The underlined sentence in the second paragraph implies that．

A. you are able to turn to others for help

B. others are able to call you anytime and anywhere

C. others are unable to get in touch with you by smart phone

D. you are unable to contact others without your smart phone

29. The experiment shows that without electronic products, one could ．

A. recognize more facial expressions correctly

B. lose the sense of direction frequently

C. tell different emotions immediately

D. tell more pictures  of faces easily

30. Overusing smart phones, people will probably ．

A. have no sense of numbers      B. lose face-to-face communication skills

C. fail to find their destination     D. weaken their senses of hearing and sight

31. What's the writer's attitude towards electronic products?

A. objective    B. critical     C. supportive    D. Optimistic

Yoga(瑜伽) is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. After a long time of practice yoga, you no longer just practice it—you love it.

    Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned(有弹性的), and more flexible as you move from one pose to another. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. "Rather than building muscles(肌肉), yoga builds muscle tone," says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of KISS Guide to Yoga. "Because yoga helps keep a balanced metabolism(新陈代谢), and it also helps to control weight. Additionally, yoga stretches(拉伸) muscles lengthwise, causing fat around the cells disappear, thus losing weight."

    I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need an increase in energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling tired at the end of the day, I do restorative(恢复体力的) 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(使消除) stress and anxiety(焦虑). I use yogic breathing on the tennis court, in the dentist's chair, and when I'm stuck in traffic.

    You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, but 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”(屈服) to the poses by letting go of (释放) the tension(紧张).

32. According to the second paragraph, yoga can help people                 .

   A. grow tall    B. make friends    C. be flexible in thinking       D. lose weight

33. Why does a person feel tired after yoga?

   A. Because when practicing yoga, people will consume a lot of energy.

   B. Because he or she surrenders to the poses by letting go of the tension.

   C. Because yoga doesn't benefit all the people.

   D. Because he or she doesn't do yoga poses naturally.

34. What would be the best title for this passage?

   A. What's Yoga?               B. How do I do Yoga Poses? 

   C. The Benefits of Yoga         D. The Varieties of Yoga

35. What will be talked about if this passage continues?

   A. Yoga is becoming part of your spiritual life.       B. The disadvantages of yoga.

C. Yoga is becoming popular all over the world.      D. Encouraging people to do yoga.

How strong are you?

That is a difficult question to answer, whether you are a man or a woman. But, really, I want to ask …how do you define(定义) your strength? How do you know your limits? When pushed, we often discover that we are much stronger than we think.

  36 

Strength is not always just about physical strength. Rather, it’s about willpower（意志力）, discipline(纪律) and drive.  37   I know some people who are intelligent, but they get little done in their jobs. And I know others who find work very difficult, but are able to move mountains by their hard work. They have inner（内在的）strength.

Limiting yourself

What I have observed is that most people limit themselves. They limit their output according to how limited they imagine their abilities and strengths to be. Sometimes these limits are based on past experiences. Sometimes they are based on what they think their abilities are.  38

Pushing it …

Many people are working out, but nowhere near as much as they could. 

  39  Pushing yourself is what it takes to go beyond your limits. In the gym, bodybuilders discovered this long ago. But this is also true when it comes to inner strength.

Want to test your limits? Push yourself. Test your limits to see if they are simply what you imagine them to be. Make sure your goals are slightly beyond what you think can be achieved.

Your are stronger than you think

Most people underestimate(低估) their strength. As you go through your day, test your limits. Push yourself to find your true limits and define your strength.  40 

A. Physical ability

B. What is strength?

C. The same applies to daily life.

D. It’s about the ability to get things done.

E. Sometimes these limits are based on nothing.

F. If you want to be stronger, you have to push yourself.

G. When you discover how much you’ve really got, you may surprise yourself.