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It’s always challenging to face fear. Here are some ways to help you overcome（克服）it.

Breathing

As we know, breathing can help us relax. If you purposely breathe out longer than you breathe in, your body will calm down. If you start to feel fearful, try this. Take a breath in (to a count of 7 in your mind), and then slowly breathe out (to a count of 11 in your mind). To your surprise, if you do this for a minute or so, you’ll calm down quickly. We call this "7/11 breathing".

Using a different part of your brain

When we feel fearful, it’s harder to think clearly. But if we force ourselves to use the part of thinking brain, this will help to calm us down. The easiest way to do this is with numbers. You can set your own fear from l to 10, 10 being the worst state and 1 being the most relaxed state. When you’re feeling fearful, ask yourself; “Okay, what grade do I get right now? 7 or 5?” Just doing this will reduce fear because it starts the thinking brain. Once I gave a speech to three hundred people and I felt fearful. So I graded myself at 6, and waited for myself to go down to 3 before starting. I took control.

Getting control of your imagination

Imagine seeing yourself in the situation you were scared, but see yourself being calm and things going well. Doing this starts to recondition your mind to more calmly face the coming events which were causing fear.

It seems that overcoming fear is always the first step to finish all you need to do and it will help you devote yourself to what you really want to be and to do. It takes efforts, but it’s worth your try.

Run for Class President

Two months ago, when our class election(选举) started, I decided to run for class president. I enjoyed speaking in public and got along well with people, so I felt it easy to win. But I was     13   that people would feel bad for me if I lost.

I was busy preparing in the following week. My plan wasn’t to make promises to do things I couldn’t    14    but to show my class why I wanted to be president. I put up my posters in hallways and in the classroom. I also spent three hours writing my speech, saying that I was the one they could turn to whenever they had a problem. Since I was     15   prepared, I felt that my chances of winning were strong.

However, when I gave my speech on Election Day, the response (反应) wasn’t what I had    16   . Few people actually listened. When it was my opponent’s (对手的)turn, everyone was screaming his name. His speech was short, but all to the point. By then, I realized I should have made mine shorter and clearer.

It was obvious who would     17   . For the rest of the day, I felt like it was over. I wanted to just go home and cry, but I made it through.

My    18    was right: I didn’t win.

The next day, people were still talking about the election. I just pretended (假装) not to hear. But later, things got better. People     19   about the election and talked to me just as they did before.

I don’t regret putting time and energy into the election because I’ve learned that things aren’t always going the way I expect. And moments of failure like this build    20    —since then I’ve learned to face disappointment and grown stronger.

13．A．bored              B．afraid                     C．excited                   D．hopeful

14．A．compare          B．remember               C．manage                  D．repeat

15．A．fully               B．quickly                   C．freshly                   D．physically

16．A．feared             B．faced                      C．mentioned              D．pictured

17．A．insist              B．return                     C．wait                       D．win

18．A．suggestion       B．prediction               C．direction                D．introduction

19．A．forgot             B．wrote                     C．cared                     D．discussed

20．A．trust               B．pride                      C．character                D．support

Blue Lightning

Sally loved cars more than anything else. This spring she thought of building a go-kart to enter for the Go-Go Race. So she asked her dad for help.

“Well,” he said. “How about this: you do some research first and then come back to me with a design.”

A week later, Sally brought her notes and drawings to Dad. She named her go-kart “Blue Lightning”. Dad looked over her work, thinking. “Well, that’s interesting,” he said. “Have a try. Just build Blue Lightning as you’ve designed.”

Over three weekends of hard work, Sally turned her design into a real, working go-kart and painted it light blue. Dad asked her to take it for a test drive. Sally agreed.

After she did that, Sally drove back to Dad. “Well,” she said. “Now I know why you wanted me to have a test drive.”

“Oh, do you?” he said. “Please share.”

“When I drove fast, there was a lot of pushback,” she said. “I think it’s because of the lightning bolt (闪电) shape.”

“Very good!” Dad said. 

“So, why didn’t you tell me about that problem in the first place?” Sally asked.

Dad laughed. “Where’s the fun in that? If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.”

Sally said, “I see. Anyway, designing is half the fun !”

Dad smiled. “Good. Sometimes, learning happens during the process. We learn how to do something right by doing it a few times first and making mistakes along the way.”

That encouraged Sally and she worked even harder. When she showed Dad her new go-kart, he nodded with pride.

Finally came the race. Sally wasn’t worried about whether she would win—in her mind, she had already won, by building something better than ever before.

24．Sally thought of building a go-kart to     .

A．practice driving                                         B．enter for a race

C．play with friends                                        D．do some research

25．What did Sally’s dad ask her to do after she built the go-kart?

A．To have a test drive.                                   B．To take a good rest.

C．To give it a cool name.                               D．To paint it light blue.

26．Sally’s story mainly tells us that     .

A．winning a race is important

B．fishing brings us a lot of fun

C．driving experience is necessary

D．learning happens during the process

    Sometimes it seems that time is flying. Perhaps it doesn’t need to feel this way. Our experience of time can be possibly changed. By understanding the psychological (心理学的) processes behind our different experiences of time, we might be able to slow down time a little.

One basic law of psychological time is that time seems to slow down when we’re exposed(接触) to new environments and experiences. The law is caused by the relationship between our experience of time and the amount of information our minds process. The more information our minds take in, the slower time seems to pass.

It follows, then, that we have different experiences of time in different situations. In some situations, our life is full of new experiences. Our minds process a lot of information and time seems to slow down. In other situations, we have fewer new experiences and the world around us becomes more and more familiar(熟悉的). We become insensitive to our experience, which means we process less information, and time seems to speed up.

How can we slow down time? Here are two suggestions.

Firstly, since we know that familiarity makes time pass faster, we can expose ourselves to as many new experiences as possible. We can give ourselves new challenges, meet new people, and expose our minds to new information, hobbies and skills. This will increase the amount of information our minds process and expand (增加) our experience of time.

Secondly, and perhaps most effectively, we can give our whole attention to an experience-to what we are seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling or hearing. This means living through our senses rather than through our thoughts. For example, on the way home, focus your attention outside of yourself, instead of thinking about the problems you have to deal with. Look at the sky, or at the buildings you pass, traveling among them. This open attitude to your experiences helps take in more information and also has a time-expanding effect.

To a certain degree, we can understand and control our experience of time passing. It’s possible for us to slow down time by expanding our experience of time.

27．According to the writer, we can expand our experience of time by     .

A．going to bed on time                                  B．traveling to new places

C．having dinner as usual                                D．printing the same materials

28．What can we learn from the passage?

A．Being familiar with the world around helps us get more information.

B．Understanding psychological time makes life pass more quickly.

C．We can take in more information by living through our senses.

D．We should build a stronger relationship between time and us.

29．Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Slow Down Time                                      B．Only Time Will Tell

C．Race Against Time                                     D．Time Will Not Come Twice

   A group of boys stood around a tree. “What a tall tree!” they said to each other, “It would be    16    to climb to the top!”

The group of boys then decided to play a game to    17    who could climb to the top of the tree first. Their mothers were sitting not far away, looking on at their    18    as they played.

One of the climbers was an 8-year-old boy named David. He was the shortest child in the group.    19    thought he would win.

Then the game started. All of the boys tried their best to climb as high as they could. Although the other boys climbed faster than David in the beginning, he    20    the top of the tree fastest in the end.

His mother was    21   . She asked him, “David, how did you reach the top of the tree so    22   ?”

“It was easy,” David said, “The other children    23    looking down as they climbed. When they realized how high they were, they were afraid of    24   . I, however, looked only up. When I saw how close I was, I kept going higher and higher,    25    I reached the top.”

It is true in life that if we just keep going forward without looking back, we are more likely to reach our goals.

16．A．boring                        B．exciting                             C．dangerous

17．A．believe                       B．think                                 C．see

18．A．students                      B．children                             C．teachers

19．A．Nobody                      B．Somebody                         C．Everybody

20．A．got up                        B．got on                               C．got to

21．A．proud                         B．worried                             C．frightened

22．A．carefully                     B．quickly                              C．quietly

23．A．kept                           B．avoided                             C．practiced

24．A．taking down                B．falling down                      C．calming down

25．A．if                               B．after                                  C．until