After my husband died suddenly from a heart attack, my world crashed around me. My six children were all under 10, and I was burdened with the responsibilities of earning a living, and caring for the children. I was fortunate to find a wonderful housekeeper to care for the children during the week, but from Friday nights to Monday mornings, the children and I were alone.

One Friday evening I came home from work to find a big pretty German Shepherd（牧羊犬） on our doorstep. This dog seemed to intend to enter the house. The children liked “German” immediately and begged me to let him in. I agreed to let him sleep in the basement. That night I slept peacefully for the first time in many weeks.

The following morning we made phone calls and checked lost-and-found ads for German’s owner, but with no results.

On Sunday I had planned to take the children on a picnic. Since I thought it best to leave German behind in case his owner came by, we drove off without him. When we stopped to get gas, we were amazed to see German racing to the gas station after us. No way was he going to be left behind.

Monday morning I let him out for a run. He didn’t come back and we were all disappointed. We were convinced that we would never see him again. We were wrong. The next Friday evening, German was back on our doorstep. Again he stayed until Monday morning, when our housekeeper arrived.

This pattern repeated itself every weekend for almost 10 months. We grew more and more fond of German. We took comfort in his strong, warm presence, and we felt safe with him near us. As German became part of the family, he considered it his duty to check every bedroom to be sure each child was cozy in bed.

Each week, between German’s visits, I grew a little stronger, a little braver and more able to handle; every weekend we were no longer alone and enjoyed his company. Then one Monday morning we patted him on the head and let him out for what turned out to be the last time. We never saw German again.

65. The dog first came to the family when________.

A. it was needed most                                       B. the writer became strong enough

C. the writer was away on a business trip          D. the writer was busy on the weekday

66. The family planned to go on a picnic without the German Shepherd because_______.

A. it was too wild to control                              B. it was too young to walk so far

C. the owner might come by to pick it up           D. it might spoil the trip

67. The writer was ________ the German Shepherd.

A. afraid of                  B. grateful to                C. cruel to                   D. annoyed with

68. Which of the following can’t be used to describe the dog?

A. Loyal                      B. Beautiful.                 C. Lovely.                    D. Wild.

You need to change in order to grow. Changing your life is a continuous process. It never ends. The moment you stop changing, you stop growing. Here are some tips that may help to change your life:

To change your life, you need time to think and reflect. If you are always busy, you won’t have the time to think about your life, let alone taking action to change it. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast ― you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.

It’s your life; nobody can change it but you. If you aren’t willing to change, then nothing in this world can make you do so. To build the willingness to change, first you should realize that your life can be better than it is now. No matter how good your life is, it can always be improved. On the other hand, don’t feel hopeless if your life doesn’t seem good right now. You can always change your life for the better.

Don’t blame other people for the bad things that happen in your life. Don’t blame your family, friends, boss, or the economy. Whether your life goes up or down depends on you and you alone. Stephen Covey once said, “We immediately become more effective when we decide to change ourselves rather than asking things to change for us.”

Deep down in your heart, there are some principles that you know is true. Take the time to find them. What do you think is the most valuable thing in life? What principles do you think you must follow to live a fulfilling life? These are the values that you need to align yourself with. Find them and remind yourself constantly about them.

Not only can this person give you advice on what to do in certain situations, he can also warn you about possible pitfalls in your path. Without a mentor, most likely you will have to learn many lessons the hard way. Having a mentor will save you serious amount of time.

From now on，never spend your time thinking of reasons for your failures and shortcomings．Instead，realize that the seeds of success were planted within you when you were born．Only you have the power to make those seeds grow．

The seeds，and the power to grow them，are contained in the most wonderful machine ever made：the human mind．Success is a choice and not a chance．You were born a winner．You were born rich．You can be a success if only you make the right choice．

You cannot be successful without first developing your self-esteem (自尊) ．Your level of self-esteem is always based on the degree of control that you are able to exercise over yourself , and thus over your life．People with low self-esteem are people who do not believe that they have any power，or responsibility for their lives．They are the lasting victims (受害者) ．They are leaves moved from side to side by the winds of chance blown about with any sudden change in the weather．

You can exercise control over your life only to the degree that you believe that you are responsible (负责) for everything that happens in your life．Failures think that everything happens by accident and chance．Successful people realize that they are responsible．

Everything happens as a result of something．If we can find out the cause，we can control the effect．We are responsible for what we choose to think and believe．One generally rises to the level that one expects．We are responsible for setting our expectations．Our success is dependent upon our level of confidence (自信)．

If you get along with positive-thinking people , you are definitely going to achieve success．On the contrary，the opposite happens．We are responsible for finding，planting，and taking care of the seeds that contain future victory, born from setbacks (挫折)．

In short，in all areas of your life，whether they are financial，physical，emotional，or spiritual，you are responsible．Once you recognize this，accept it，and firmly believe it，you are on the road to success．

57．People with low self-esteem are compared to leaves because they __________ ．

A．are ready to change their minds  

B．are easily changed by windy weather

C．don’t have the power to face their future

D．can’t exercise control over themselves

58．Losers would think that __________ ．  

A．success is the result of hard work   

B．working hard will lead to success

C．their failure is only because of bad luck

D．they don’t make efforts to succeed   

59．It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that __________ ．

A．whether we will succeed depends on our attitudes  

B．developing confidence is the key to future success

C．thoughts and beliefs are the result of active mind

D．setting our expectations is extremely important before taking action

60．The last paragraph serves as __________ ．

A．the information of the author’s points  

B．the result of the argument

C．an introduction to another topic       

D．a comparison between two views

    A teacher honored her students by telling them how they each had made a difference to her and the class. She also presented each of them with a blue ribbon(绸带), which read, “Who I Am Makes a Difference.”

    Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what recognition will do to people in general. She gave each student three more ribbons and instructed them to do the same to more people.

One of the boys went to a junior executive(经理) in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. Later that day the junior executive told his boss he deeply admired him for being a creative genius and asked if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon. The surprised boss accepted the gift delightedly.

That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and told him about his day. “One of the junior executives gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody to honor,” he said. “I thought about you. My days are busy and when I come home I don’t pay much attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just-wanted to sit here and well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. You’re a great kid and I love you!”

The startled boy couldn’t help crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, “I was planning on killing myself tomorrow, Dad, because I didn’t think you loved me. Now I don’t need to.”

53. The word “recognition” in the 2^nd paragraph refers to ________.

   A. openly rewarding people for their good deeds

   B. warmly inviting people to join in your project

   C. presenting people with gifts on special occasions

   D. picking out people you knew before from a crowd

54. It can be inferred from this story that ________.

   A. a small ribbon can mean a lot to teenagers

   B. parents should spend more time with their children

   C. a simple encouragement can sometimes change one’s life

   D. a small action sometimes can lead to unexpected result

55. The underlined word “startled” in the last paragraph mostly probably means ________.

   A. excited           B. surprised         C. puzzled         D. frightened

Recently, a professor of philosophy in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our day-to-day life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week. From the way they spend their money, they can see what they really value in life.

He says our relation with others often become clearly defined when money enters the picture. You might have wonderful friendship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends.

But you will know him only when you ask him to lend you some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before. Or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn't. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.

Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it to be very important. The author interviewed some millionaires in researching for his book.

Question: What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self-made man?

Answer: The most surprising thing is how people give me so much respect. I am nothing. I don't know much. All I am is rich.

 People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.

48. According to the first paragraph, people have not realized        .

A. how important money is in their day-to-day life

B. how one spends money shows what is important to him

C. that money is more important than any other life values

D. that their understanding of life is more important than money

49. The author seems to believe that asking your friend to lend you some money ___.

A. is a good way to test your friendship             

B. will do harm to your friendship

C. will strengthen your friendship 

D. is a good way to break off your friendship

50. What can we learn about the millionaire from his answer in the interview?

A. He does not feel that he is well educated.

B. He does not think that he is a very important person.

C. He does not think that being rich deserves so much attention.

D. He does not consider himself to be very successful.

51. What does the American professor of philosophy want to explain in his book?

A. Money is an end.                                 B. Money is a means.

C. Money is everything.                             D. Money is unimportant

52. Which of the following might the author disagree?

A. Money is important in modern society.

B. The meaning of life does not completely lie in money.

C. Wealth will surely bring the owner happiness

D. Happiness is not necessarily the result of wealth.