When Lin Qiaozhi was only five, her mother died suddenly,
At 26, Lin graduated from Peking Union Medical College with the highest prize given to graduates. She immediately became the first woman ever
In 1941, Dr Lin became the first Chinese woman ever to be appointed director of the OBGYN department of the PUMC Hospital. However, because of the war, the department was closed. Dr Lin started a private clinic and continued to treat patients. When the new People’s Republic of China
Although Dr Lin never married, she was known
2 . Wang Yaping’s dream of becoming an astronaut was inspired by Yang Liwei’s 2003 space flight, which was China’s first manned space mission.
Born in a small village in Yantai, Shandong Province in 1980, Wang had been an enthusiastic long-distance runner since primary school, and competed in local sports meetings.
In 1997, Wang, a high school student, was encouraged to register for the pilot recruitment program by her classmates because she was good at sports and didn’t wear glasses. The 17-year-old had been considering applying to a teaching college, as her parents suggested.
Given her strong build and ability to stay calm under pressure, Wang passed all tests as well as physical examinations and became a female pilot in China. After four years of systemic education and tough training, Wang eventually learned to fly four different types of aircraft before graduation.
During her service as a military pilot, she accumulated 1,567 hours of flight time and was involved in major tasks such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
In May 2010, Wang became a member of China’s first batch of female astronauts. The joy of being selected did not last long as the hard training quickly sank in.
In the first year, Wang could not get the top level in the high-G training, during which she had to endure eight times the force of gravity in a spinning centrifuge. The training imitates the environment when the spacecraft takes off, enters orbit and returns. Wang improved her performance by doing extra core-strength exercises every day to strengthen her back and abdominal muscles. She got the top level at the end of 2011. Wang realized her space dream in 2013 as part of the Shenzhou-10 mission.
Over the past two years, Wang has logged in over 6,000 hours of strict training. The most tiring exercise was the seven-hour underwater training session during which she had to wear a special suit that weighed over 100 kilograms to simulate extravehicular activities in a weightless environment.
Wang has become the first female taikonaut to work in China’s Tiangong space station as well as the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.
1. Why did Wang want to become an astronaut?| A．Because she was able to stay calm under pressure. |
| B．Because she was good at sports and didn’t wear glasses. |
| C．Because she was advised to register for the pilot program by her parents. |
| D．Because she was influenced by China’s first manned space flight. |
| A．Wang was the first Chinese female to take a spacewalk |
| B．Wang won a long-distance runner championship in college. |
| C．Wang went to a teaching college encouraged by her classmates. |
| D．Wang thought the seven-hour underwater training session was easy. |
| A．She learned to fly four different types of aircraft. |
| B．She received four years of systemic education in university. |
| C．She participated in the Shenzhou-10 mission of China. |
| D．She got involved in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort. |
| A．Calm and friendly. | B．Hardworking and determined. |
| C．Modest and honest. | D．Warm-hearted and creative. |
3 . Four famous classic Italian writers
When speaking of Italian literature, many people come up with Dante. But there are many other famous Italian authors. Below are four recommended writers and their masterpieces.
Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533)
Ariosto is best known for his epic (史诗般的) poem Orlando Furioso, which was published in 1977. As a poet always with new ideas, Ariosto invented the way of “singing the poem to the audience”. The poem presents a rich variety of characters, which has been an encouragement for many paintings and musical works.
Italo Calvino (1923-1985)
Calvino was the author of If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler published in 1979. The novel differs from others for its unique description of a frame story - a unifying story within which several tales are related. It has encouraged musicians like Sting to create their works. At the time of his death in 1985, Calvino was one of the world’s most translated Italian writers.
Umberto Eco (1932-2016)
Eco wrote The Name of the Rose, a historical murder mystery (神秘) novel published in 1980. In the story, he skilfully applied the use of signs and symbols to it. A number of his books deal with the meaning and understanding of communication.
Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873)
Manzoni is most famous for his novel The Betrothed published in 1827. The novel was regarded to be connected with Risorgimento, the Italian unification movement(统一运动) in the 19th century. Probably we can say, without this great novelist and this masterpiece of world literature, Italy wouldn’t be Italy.
1. What do Orlando Furioso and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler have in common?| A．They have both influenced musical works. |
| B．They both have related characters and stories. |
| C．They were both published in the same year. |
| D．They are both translated into many languages. |
| A．A unique describing style. | B．A mix of new ideas. |
| C．The use of signs and symbols. | D．The history of a movement. |
| A．Ludovico Ariosto. | B．Italo Calvino. | C．Umberto Eco. | D．Alessandro Manzoni. |
Perhaps no other scientist has had a greater impact
Gan De was an ancient Chinese astronomer born in the State of Qi. Along with Shi Shen, he is believed to be the first
Gan De may have been the first to describe one of the
Gan was one of the earliest practitioners of Chinese astronomy. As the earliest attempt
6 . You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community (社区) by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
If it weren’t for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world’s lakes and oceans.
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-present)
When Sandra Day O’Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator (参议员) and, in 1981, the first woman to join the Supreme Court of the United States. O’Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 25 years on the top court.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott (抵制). It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil rights movement. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks.
1. What is Jane Addams noted for in history?| A．Her social work. | B．Her teaching skills. |
| C．Her efforts to win a prize. | D．Her community background. |
| A．Her lack of proper training in law. |
| B．Her little work experience in court. |
| C．The discrimination against women. |
| D．The poor financial conditions. |
| A．They are highly educated. | B．They are truly creative. |
| C．They are pioneers. | D．They are peace-lovers. |
1.人物简介；
2.敬佩的原因。
注意：1.写作词数应为 100 个左右；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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8 . Many visual artists have a signature style, as unique and identifiable as a fingerprint. For Amoako Boafo, who often paints with his fingers, this seems doubly true. His distinctive paint strokes (笔画) combine the complex skin tones of his chosen subjects, many of whom are, like himself, Africans with global life experiences.
Boafo, whose first solo museum exhibition runs at the Seattle Art Museum, was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, and moved to Vienna, Austria, in 2014, where he ran into difficulties, with gallerists unwilling to show his works due to his focus on Black figures. He continued making an effort to create self-portraits (自画像) and people he knew or admired-African people and Black people who have African ancestry, painting a community of sorts during a time of hardship. He also developed his standout approach to figurative painting, which combines areas of bright and noticeable color with his soft and deep fingerpainting.
He began posting his art online and caught the attention of artists like Kehinde Wiley, the celebrated American artist. The word started to spread.
Boafo is now a global art star, with numerous shows at galleries and art fairs, working with fashion house Dior, and several paintings selling for over a million dollars. In 2021, with three of his paintings being launched into space by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ Kent-based spaceflight company, you might even say Boafo has rocketed to success.
And yet a recent phone conversation with the artist from his studio in Accra, which is once again his home base, revealed a well-mannered person who appreciated his success while pointing out all of the luck and preparation that led to it. Seeing so many of his paintings -created from 2016 to 2022-gathered together in an exhibition has helped him remember that “I did not ‘just happen. ‘I did not expect this success but I was hopeful and ready for it.”
1. What makes Boafo’s paintings different from other artists’ works?| A．His finger strokes. | B．His home country. ss-ess |
| C．His life experiences. | D．His traditional style. |
| A．By turning to celebrated artists for help. | B．By developing a unique painting style. |
| C．By running his art exhibition at home. | D．By working with local art galleries. |
| A．To indicate the price of space travel. | B．To show the value of Boafo’s works. |
| C．To introduce an international brand. | D．To tell us the advances in technology. |
| A．He is talkative. | B．He is patient. | C．He is determined. | D．He is humorous. |
9 . John von Neumann was the oldest of 3 children of a banker, and his speed of learning new ideas and loving problems stood out early. At 17, his father tried to persuade him not to become a mathematician because he might lead a poor life being a mathematician, so von Neumann agreed to study chemistry as well. In 1926, at 23, he received a degree in chemical engineering and a Ph. D. in mathematics. From then on, mathematics provided well enough for him, and he never had to turn to chemistry.
In 1930, von Neumann visited Princeton University for a year and then became a professor there. His first book was published in 1932. In 1933, the Institute for Advanced Study was formed, and he became one of the 6 full-time people in the School of Mathematics (Einstein was one of the others).
World War Ⅱ hugely changed von Neumann’s areas of interest. Until 1940 he had been a great pure mathematician. During and after the war, he became one of the best mathematicians who put mathematical theories into practice. During the last part of the war, he became interested in computing machines and made several fundamental contributions. After the war, von Neumann continued his work with computers, and was generally very active in government service. He received many awards, was president of the American Mathematical Society and was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. He died of cancer in 1957.
Von Neumann made several great contributions and any one of them would have been enough to earn him a firm place in history. He will be remembered as one of the greatest minds of the 20th century.
Von Neumann really was a legend in his own time, and there are a number of stories about him. His driving abilities is a part of his legend. He reported one accident this way: “I was driving down the road. The trees on the right were passing me in an orderly fashion at 60 miles per hour. Suddenly one of them stepped in my path.”
1. According to the text, von Neumann’s father believed that _________.| A．a mathematician needed a good memory |
| B．von Neumann had the ability to learn two subjects at the same time |
| C．von Neumann had the gift for solving problems at a high speed |
| D．a mathematician couldn’t earn a lot of money |
| A．25. | B．26. | C．29. | D．32. |
| A．He lost interest in chemistry. |
| B．He began to research how to put mathematics into practice |
| C．He realized the importance of engineering. |
| D．He left college and served at the government department. |
| A．humorous | B．intelligent | C．brave | D．calm |
10 . Famous People Who Begin With Difficulties
Oprah Winfrey
Probably having one of the most famous success stories, Oprah was born into a poor family in Mississippi, raised by a single mother living on welfare. She was physically, and mentally abused during her childhood. Despite her initial struggles as a young girl, she turned herself into one of the most successful talk show hosts of our time.
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey has been the star of some of the most successful movies of all time. But Carrey grew up extremely poor in Canada. When he was a teenager, his family took security jobs in a factory to help pay the bills. And during his first stand-up comedy performance, he was booed off （喝倒彩） the stage. Not shortly after, he made it big on In Living Color and then went on to star in Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura in the same year!
James Dyson
If you thought Thomas Edison’s failures were bad, let me introduce you to James Dyson, the famous inventor of the Dyson vacuums （真空吸尘器） you see all over the television. Dyson developed over 5,000 failed prototypes （原型） before finding the bagless vacuum brand. Not only that, he put his entire savings account into his prototypes over fifteen years! Luckily, the bagless vacuum worked.
Stephen King
Before Stephen King became known as a great living writer—having written over 60 novels, many of which have been adapted for film and television—King was rejected over and over again. In his memoir, On Writing, King describes how he used to post his rejection letters on the wall for inspiration. His first novel, Carrie, was rejected 30 times.
1. What do Oprah and Jim have in common?| A．They were abused by parents. | B．They grew up in poor families. |
| C．They were hired as comedians. | D．They found jobs in a factory. |
| A．He repaired the failed prototypes. | B．He developed over 5,000 brands. |
| C．He put all efforts into marketing. | D．He invented the bagless vacuum. |
| A．Oprah Winfrey. | B．Stephen King. | C．James Dyson. | D．Jim Carrey. |
