跟踪导练（二）

A

During my high school years， the most important thing was what I was wearing to the Friday night dance and who I was taking. Although college was talked about， it was the least of my worries.

When I was graduating eighth grade and starting high school， my older brother was graduating twelfth grade and going on to college. For my graduation， he gave me a card in which he wrote， “Enjoy your four years... They go by fast.” I remember not believing him then， but looking back... He was right. Those four years shaped who I was as a person， pushed me to my limit and encouraged me to become an adult.

However， I was so completely absorbed in my junior and senior years of high school that when someone spoke of college I brushed it off. I wasnt ready to leave my comfort zone of having all of my closest friends together and knowing what every single day was going to be like. Studying was something I did only AFTER I nailed （贏得） my half-time dance performance. I knew my parents wanted me to go to college， so I told them I would go to community college and I didnt worry about my SAT scores.

When my senior years passed and everyone graduated and went off to their own colleges， I started to wish I had done the same. My friends were living away， meeting new people， discovering new places， while I was living at home and driving to and from class every day. It seemed exactly like high school. I hated it！ I thought college was supposed to be different！ Why didnt I take more time to research colleges and do the same？ I ended up loving college and wishing I had four years to enjoy the campus （大学校园） atmosphere instead of two.

My advice to anyone thinking about attending college is to think about it very seriously and look into all of your choices well ahead of time. Now I have graduated and I am working full time and I would do anything to go back to my high school days for a second chance！

1. The authors brother gave him a card to tell him to ___ .

A. go on dancing

B. leave his comfort zone

C. value the following years

D. aim at a college as others

2. Why didnt the author worry about his SAT scores？

A. He was prepared for the exam.

B. He would go to a community college.

C. He believed his brother would help him.

D. He would be admitted for his gift for dance.

3. We can infer from Paragraph 4 that when in high school， the author ___ .

A. lived with the parents

B. buried himself in study all the time

C. lived in the school except on holidays

D. enjoyed talking about future college life

B

One advantage of the Internet is shopping conveniently online for clothes; one disadvantage of the Internet is also shopping conveniently online for clothes.

“Nothing fits，” said Lam Yuk Wong， a senior in electrical and computer engineering at Rice University. “Everyone says this. They order clothes and they dont fit. People get very unhappy.”

Wong and her design partner， Xuaner “Cecilia” Zhang， are Team White Mirror， creators of what they call a “virtual （虛拟） fitting room”. Their goal is simple and consumer-friendly： to let online clothing shoppers have a perfect fit and a perfect look when shopping every time. Both women are from China， Wong from Hong Kong and Zhang from Beijing. They both order most of their clothing online. They got the idea from their own experiences as consumers and from listening to the complaints of friends and relatives. “They say， ‘The color is wrong or ‘I got the right size but it still does not fit. We want to make it like youre in the store trying on the clothes，” Zhang said.

Using a Kinect developed by Microsoft for use with its Xbox 360 video game player， Zhang scans （扫描） Wong and turns her image into， in effect， a virtual model， keeping Wongs dimensions （尺寸）， and even her skin and hair color. “We put the clothes on the shoppers 3-D body models and show how they look when they are dressed，” Wong said. So far， Wong and Zhang have adapted the software to show dresses and shirts， and they are now working on shorts.

Asked if she thought men as well as women might be interested in using their virtual fitting room， Wong said， “I think their wives will care about this， so it will also be important to men.”

4. Where did Wong and Zhang get the idea to design a virtual fitting room？

A. From their shopping experiences.

B. From a program at their university.

C. From some shop-owners complaints.

D. From the Xbox 360 video game player.

5. Which shows the correct steps of buying clothes by using the virtual fitting room？

A. scanning—trying on clothes—getting images

B. trying on clothes—getting models—scanning

C. trying on clothes—getting images—scanning

D. scanning—getting models—trying on clothes

6. What did Wong think of the virtual fitting room？

A. It is perfectly developed.

B. It will have its market share.

C. It is limited to women shoppers.

D. It is like a kind of video game player.

7. What would be the best title of the text？

A. Team White Mirror and Their Virtual Fitting Room

B. An Amazingly Powerful Software

C. Great Women， Great Design！

D. Advantage？ Disadvantage！

C

In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly， believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity; others say that competition is bad， that it sets one person against another and that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them， playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit （追求） of success， the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

However， while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed， others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players， they strongly blame （指責） competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people， I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to look for failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying， they always have an excuse： “I may have lost， but it doesnt matter because I really didnt try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost， that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly， this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that ones self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve （消失） can we discover a new meaning in competition.

8. According to the passage， some people favor competition because ________.

A. it pushes society forward

B. it builds up a sense of duty

C. it improves personal abilities

D. it encourages individual efforts

9. In Paragraph 3， the underlined phrase “the most vocal”  means those who ________.

A. try their best to win

B. value competition most highly

C. rely on others most for success

D. are against competition most strongly

10. Which statement may be the authors suggestion in the passage？

A. Every effort should be paid back.

B. Competition should be encouraged.

C. Winning should be a life-and-death matter.

D. Fear of failure should be removed in competition.

11. What does the text mainly tell us？

A. Competition helps to set up self-respect.

B. Failures are necessary experiences in competition.

C. Opinions about competition are different among people.

D. Competition is harmful to personal quality development.

D

The world is changing so fast that English， perhaps the most widely used language， is struggling to keep up.

Learners in the future are likely to be much younger. Young children are often said to be better at language learning than older learners but they also have special challenges. Young children dont usually have the kind of instrumental motivation and determination for learning English that older learners often have. English lessons must therefore be fun and rewarding.

The reasons why people learn English are also changing. Globalization is bringing together more people than ever who speak different languages and who are turning to English as the means of communication. The English learners of the future may be less worried about sounding exactly like a native speaker and more concerned about how to use English effectively in cross-cultural communication. We may be hearing more non-native speakers in dialogues and a wider range of the “New Englishes” now used around the world.

Technology will allow English to come to you， rather than you having to go to a special place to learn English.

Learning English has always involved both pain and pleasure， private effort and social activity. Traditional learning provided take-it or leave-it mixes of these as well as of content but in future learners will be able to choose a plan which suits their cultural and psychological dispositions （性情）， or their particular needs at that moment. They， rather than their teachers， will decide how， what and when they will learn.

Above all， learning English is about communication and an important benefit of learning English is being able to exchange views and make friends with people all over the world. Despite the growing independence of learners， trusted institutions and brand names will remain important.

12. Compared to older learners， young English learners ______ .

A. are more active in learning

B. have more difficulty in learning

C. are more hard-working in learning

D. have less lasting determination in learning

13. What can we learn about the future English language？

A. British English will be more popular.

B. American English will be more popular.

C. Many different kinds of Englishes will appear.

D. Standard English will be spoken by most people.

14. What can we infer from Paragraph 5 about English learning in the future？

A. It means no pain.

B. Learners will be less independent.

C. More attention will be paid to personal needs.

D. Training schools wont be popular with the youth.

15. What can we learn from the passage？

A. Future English lessons will be more interesting.

B. Old people will have to learn English in the future.

C. People will pay more attention to English pronunciation.

D. Teachers will play a more important role in ones English learning.

Two or three years ago， I was very envious （羨慕） of the “cool” girls in my class. They chose  clothes in grown-up stores while I was still  at Childrens Place. In fact， I was  of wearing jackets and jeans every day. This condition  for quite a while， lowering my self-confidence and making me burn with  whenever I saw a girl who was better dressed than me. With my parents credit card in hand， I  all the clothes I ever dreamed of owning.

On the first day of a new term， I put on my new  and headed out of the door. Not surprisingly， it was the most  day of my life. Everybody was looking at me in a strange way， the new girl，  the style that made me feel like I was nothing more than a（n）  only playing at being me.

Since then， another year has come and gone， bringing many new . Very quickly， I realized it was a mistake to  others and only wear the clothes the “cool” girls were wearing. What was more  was finding a style that fitted my personality. I used the clothes in my closet to  my own style， which didnt make me fear but gave me .

I  that if you are not comfortable with what you are wearing， you will not look  no matter how fashionable your clothes are. Being fashionable comes from within yourself， not from the clothes you wear. The  here is not to be afraid to break out of your shell， but break out for the  reasons， in the right direction. In other words，  the way you want to， not the way others say you should.

1. A. cheap B. popular C. strange D. foreign

2. A. working B. studying C. playing D. shopping

3. A. proud B. fond C. ashamed D. careful

4. A. stood out B. went on C. stayed up D. took place

5. A. anger B. surprise C. pain D. fear

6. A. sold B. designed C. accepted D. ordered

7. A. shoes B. clothes C. flowers D. presents

8. A. tiring B. unreal C. uncomfortable D. pleasant

9. A. showing B. breaking C. forming D. preparing

10. A. manager B. teacher C. actress D. waitress

11. A. chances B. changes C. awards D. conditions

12. A. forget B. fight C. thank D. copy

13. A. convenient B. interesting C. important D. difficult

14. A. create B. follow C. invent D. buy

15. A. opinion B. confidence C. respect D. knowledge

16. A. answer B. hear C. promise D. learn

17. A. honest B. strong C. kind D. nice

18. A. wonder B. reason C. lesson D. note

19. A. proper B. special C. wrong D. perfect

20. A. follow B. develop C. avoid D. miss

How do native speakers truly feel when speaking with non-native English speakers？ It seems that  （break） English annoys them. However， they keep being really nice when speaking with non-native speakers. I wonder how they really feel when doing so.

I think it would depend  the native English speakers. Some people are just  （easy） annoyed.

（person）， I study Spanish. When I hear someone attempting English， I am patient with them because I know  difficult it is to talk in a non-native tongue. I also know English is very difficult  （learn）， and that increases my respect for their efforts. Im a patient person by nature.

The situation matters too. If I  （be） a waiter on a super crowded day and really needed to do about a dozen different things， I might become upset at having to wait for someone to struggle while  （order） his meal.

There also exists the  （possible） that what is considered as annoyance is not truly annoyance. I might frown （皺眉） while listening to a non-native speaker，  that would be because I am concentrating and listening hard to understand him. It wouldnt mean Im at all annoyed.

1.                2.                3.                4.                5.

6.                7.                8.                9.                10.

I used to be a happy little girl and now Im shy and say a few words. When I was eleven， I lost one of the front tooth and it replaced by a false one. Now no one know about it except two of my friends. However， I find it hardly to face them because they know my secret. When I spoke to them， they often stare at my mouth， what makes me feel uneasy. I am afraid of made friends as I think they will laugh at me. Sometimes I even want to hit me indeed. What should I do？

用方框里單词的正确形式填空，使其句意完整。

announce confuse compare simplify queue

refer remark steady settle variety

1. There are several ____ books which can help you make your choice.

2. Its good manners to ____ up at the bus stop for the bus.

3. What he said was very ____ and I couldnt understand.

4. ____ with our first house， this new one has a better view.

5. So far， the application forms ____ several times to make them easier to full in.

6. There are wide ____ of projects to choose from in building this house.

7. Early ____ had an extremely difficult life in opening up and developing the new continent.

8. James ____ upon the subject when I came into the room.

9. The darkness was ____ growing， and the people were becoming more and more worried.

10. ____ of births， marriages and deaths appear in some newspapers.

1﹒玛丽是一个善良的女孩，她和同学们相处融洽。

（get on with）

2﹒汤姆午餐时去售票处，但票已经全部卖完了。（sell out）

3﹒今晚我不打算和你争论，因为我实在太累了。

（argue with）

4﹒天气暖和一点雪就会开始融化。（melt）

5﹒他竭尽全力尝试找人帮忙，但没有人愿意帮助他。

（attempt）