It was Saturday again. Lily and Lucy disliked Saturdays. That was another thing the twins had in common. They shared the same clothes and tied their hair in the same manner. In fact, it was hard for their classmates and teachers to tell them apart sometimes.
Unlike their classmates, they had to get up early at seven every Saturday to prepare for their lessons. Lily had to attend the art lesson and Lucy had to attend her ballet lesson. “How I wish I could do something different today,” said the twins with one voice. All at once, an idea came to Lily and Lucy at the same time. “Do you have the same idea as me?” they asked each other and laughed. It seemed like a wonderful plan to them. After giving each other a description of their own friends, Lily put on Lucy’s ballet dress while Lucy put Lily’s brushes and paints into her bag. Then they left for their classes.
When the art lesson started, Lucy couldn’t understand the art teacher. Unlike Lily, Lucy was poor at drawing. When the art lesson finally ended, Lucy didn’t dare to hand in her work.
Meanwhile, Lily was struggling in the ballet class as well. As she had no idea about the dance steps, she had to follow her classmates blindly. As a result, she kept knocking into them . Their ballet teacher became impatient with her, “Lucy, you should remember the basic steps. You can’t depend on copying what others are doing.”
When Lily and Lucy arrived home, they were tired out. They decided that they would never try to be someone else that they were not.
1 ． What was the twins’ plan?
A ． To have a day off. B ． To be each other for a day.
C ． To wear the same clothes. D ． To have a normal day like their classmates.
2 ． How did Lucy feel at the beginning of the art lesson?
A ． Lost. B ． Excited. C ． Mad. D ． Sleepy.
3 ． What does the underlined word them refer to?
A ． The teachers. B ． The classmates. C ． The dance steps. D ． The ballet dresses.
4 ． The ballet teacher became impatient because ________.
A ． she wasn’t herself that day B ． “Lucy” wasn’t patient that day
C ． “Lucy” did very badly that day D ． she had discovered the twins’ plan
5 ． What did the twins learn from the experience?
A ． Don’t try to run before you can walk.
B ． A good beginning makes a good ending.
C ． Saying is one thing and doing is another.
D ． The grass is not always greener on the other side.
1 ． B
2 ． A
3 ． B
4 ． C
5 ． D
【分析】
本文主要讲述了一对双胞胎姐妹想做一些不同的事情，于是她们就假扮成对方的样子，去参加彼此的兴趣班，经历过后发现还是做回自己最好。
1 ．
细节理解题。根据 “After giving each other a description of their own friends, Lily put on Lucy’s ballet dress while Lucy put Lily’s brushes and paints into her bag” 可知，她们的主意就是扮成彼此一天，故选 B 。
2 ．
细节理解题。根据 “When the art lesson started, Lucy couldn’t understand the art teacher” 可知，美术课开始时， Lucy 很迷茫，听不懂老师说的话，故选 A 。
3 ．
词义猜测题。根据 “ she had to follow her classmates blindly. As a result, she kept knocking into them” 可知，她不断地撞到同学们，所以 them 指代 “The classmates” ，故选 B 。
4 ．
细节理解题。根据 “As she had no idea about the dance steps, she had to follow her classmates blindly. As a result, she kept knocking into them” 可知，她在舞蹈课上表现得很差劲，所以老师失去了耐心，故选 C 。
5 ．
推理判断题。根据 “They decided that they would never try to be someone else that they were not” 可知，从这段经历中让她们明白了不要总觉得对方的东西是好的，还是做自己最好， D 选项 “ 不要这山望着那山高 ” 符合文意。故选 D 。
阅读短文，根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
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.
| 59． to overcome fear | |||
| Introduction | It’s challenging to face fear in your life. | ||
| Ways | Breathing | To calm down, you can breathe out 60． than you breathe in. You’ll be 61． that you’ve calmed down very quickly if you take 7/11 breathing. | |
| Using a different part of your brain | You can set ten 62． for your own fear with numbers. Grading your state of mind helps 63． the thinking brain and make you 64． fearful. | ||
| Getting control of your imagination | Imagine you’re in a bad 65． but you feel calm and things go well. It can help you feel 66． to face the coming events. | ||
| Conclusion | To finish all you need to do, you must overcome fear 67． It’s worth 68． though it takes efforts. | ||
