2 . Five years ago, Chinese skater Wu Dajing introduced himself to the skating world by winning a silver medal at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games. At Pyeong Chang Olympics, Wu not only returned, but also made history.

On Feb 22th, 2018, Wu won the gold medal in the men’s short-track 500-metre race. He set a new world record with a time of 39.584 seconds. He also became the first Chinese man to take home an Olympic short-track gold medal. BBC said Wu’s win was “flawless”, because he was much faster than all of the other skaters.

“I didn’t give them a chance and I kept my speed from the start,” he told the media after the match.

But China’s short-track teams didn’t do well in general at the Games. Chinese skaters in the women’s 500 metres, 3000-metre relay and men’s 1500 metres all failed to take home the gold. Wu was China’s biggest hope, which put a lot of pressure on him. But he proved himself with his great performance.

Wu is now known as a highly talented skater. But things were not always that way. When Wu joined the national team in 2010, he was seen as almost “nothing” compared to gifted skaters like Zhou Yang and Fan Kexin, as his coaches said at the time. Their comments made him quite upset. But as the saying goes. “Winners never quit (放弃) and quitters never win”. Wu didn’t want to give up and worked as hard as he could. He practiced skating all year round. He even didn’t return to his hometown for the holidays for 10 years. “I believe in myself.” he told the media after his match at the Olympics.

1. People began to know Wu Dajing by the time he .

A．won the second place at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games

B．won a gold medal at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games

C．won a gold medal at Pycong Chang Olympic Winter Games

D．entered the Pycong Chang Olympic Winter Games

2. What does the underlined word “flawless” mean?

A．common

B．valuable

C．perfect

D．difficult

3. According to the passage, which of the following is RIGHT?

A．Wu won a gold medal at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games four years ago.

B．Wu broke the world record with a time of 39.584 seconds and made history.

C．Wu’s coaches placed great hope on him when he joined the national team.

D．Chinese skaters in women’s 500 metres, 3000-metre relay took home the gold.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly tell us?

A．The national team and coaches thought Wu as a talented skater all the way.

B．Wu kept on practicing skating all year round even in the holidays for 10 years.

C．Zhou Yang and Fan Kexin were more hard-working on skating than Wu Dajing.

D．It is the hardwork, confidence and strong will that have made Wu a winner.

5 . The best friendship to be described in Chinese literature probably the one between Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi.

Yu was a famous master(大师) music who played the qin well.

Once, he took a boat trip to the state of Chu. Inspired by the beautiful view along the way, Yu took out his qin and began to play. After a while, he noticed a woodsman(樵夫) enjoy his music quietly. The man was Zhong Ziqi. When Yu played music that described high mountains, Zhong said: “How wonderful it is! I seem to see Taishan Mountain.” And when he played music that described flowing water, Zhong said: “How wonderful it is! I seem to see the rushing river.” Yu was surprised by the woodsman’s words because the man could really understand his music. When Zhong died the following year, Yu was so upset that he took out his qin to play the music of the “high mountains and flowing water’’ one last time for Zhong. When he was done, he broke his qin on purpose so he could never play it again.　

Now, the phrase “high mountains and flowing water” is used to stand for the true friendship.

1. Yu Boya was a famous .

A．singer and he sang well.

B．musician and he played the qin well.

C．woodsman and he liked fishing.

D．painter and he was be good at high mountains and flowing water.

2. When Zhong died the following year, Yu was .

A．Yu was so upset

B．Yu played the music of the “high mountains and flowing water’’ one last time for Zhong.

C．Yu broke his qin on purpose so he could never play it again.

D．A, B and C.

3. Now, the phrase “high mountains and flowing water” is used to .

A．stand for the true friendship.	B．stand for Chinese literature
C．high mountains and flowing water.	D．like to do harm to people

4. We can infer that Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi are .

A．Teacher and student	B．Classmates
C．Good friends	D．Family

6 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Jane Goodall has studied chimps for many years and     1    (help) people understand how much they behave like humans. Nobody before Jane fully understood their behaviour. Since her childhood she had wanted     2    (work) with animals in their own environment. However, this was not easy. When she first arrived in Gombe in 1960, it was     3    (usual) for a woman to live in the forest. Only after her mother came to help her for     4     first few months was she allowed to begin her project. She spent many years     5    (observe) and recording their daily activities, and watching them wake up was her first activity every day. She also discovered how chimps communicate     6     each other. She has argued that they should be left in the wild     7     not used for entertainment or advertisements. She has helped to set up special places where they can live     8    (safe). She has achieved everything she wanted to do, and she is respected by many people     9    the world. And she inspires those who want to cheer the     10    (achieve) of women.

7 . Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. He had little school education. In spite of this, he became the most famous writer of his time. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but he is better known all over the world as Mark Twain, his pen name.

Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not expected to live through the first winter. But with his mother’s tender care, he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble for his parents. He used to play jokes on all of his friends and neighbours. He didn’t like to go to school, and he constantly ran away from home. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi River. He was nearly drowned nine times.

After his father’s death in 1847, Mark Twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as a printer, a river-boat pilot and later joined the army. But shortly after that he became a miner. During this period, he started to write short stories. Afterwards he became a full-time writer.

In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him famous, and brought him a great fortune.

Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts in bad investments (投资) and he had to write large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died, and then three of their children passed away.

At the age of 70, his hair was completely white. He bought many white suits and neckties. He wore nothing but white from head to foot until his death on April 21, 1910.

1. Mark Twain left school at 12 to________.

A．work as a miner

B．write stories

C．join the army

D．make a living

2. Which of the following about Mark Twain is NOT true?

A．He was not a healthy boy.	B．He caused much trouble for his parents.
C．He gained lots of money by writing.	D．He had a happy childhood but a sad later life.

3. ________brought him fame and lots of money.

A．His works	B．His investments
C．His printing	D．His family

4. The best title of this passage is________.

A．Mark Twain’s Works	B．Mark Twain’s Life
C．Mark Twain’s Fame	D．Mark Twain’s Success

8 . Samuel Osmond is a 19-year-old law student from Cornwall, England. He never studied the piano. However, he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music by listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes in his head. Two years ago, he played his first piece Moonlight Sonata（奏鸣曲）by Beethoven. He surprised everyone around him.

Amazed that he remembered this long and difficult piece of music and played it perfectly, his teachers say Samuel is unbelievable .They say his ability is very rare, but Samuel doesn’t even realize that what he can do is special. Samuel wanted to become a lawyer as it was the wish of his parents, but music teachers told him he should study music instead. Now, he studies law and music.

Samuel can’t understand why everyone is so surprised. “I grew up with music. My mother played the piano and my father played the guitar. About two years ago, I suddenly decided to start playing the piano, without being able to read music and without having any lessons. It comes easily to me ---I hear the notes and can bear them in mind---each and every note,” says Samuel.

Recently, Samuel performed a piece during a special event at his college. The piece had more than a thousand notes. The audience was impressed by his amazing performance. He is now learning a piece that is so difficult that many professional pianists can’t play it. Samuel says confidently,” It’s all about super memory---I guess I have that gift.”

However, Samuel’s ability to remember things doesn’t stop with music. His family says that even when he was a young boy, Samuel heard someone read a story, and then he could retell the story word for word.

Samuel is still only a teenager. He doesn’t know what he wants to do in the future. For now, he is just happy to play beautiful music and continue his studies.

1. What is special about Samuel Osmond?

A．He has a gift for writing music.

B．He can write down the note he hears.

C．He is a top student at the law school.

D．He can play the musical piece he hears.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?

A．Samuel chose law against the wish of his parents.

B．Samuel planned to be a lawyer rather than a musician.

C．Samuel thinks of himself as a man of great musical ability.

D．Samuel studies law and music on the advice of his teachers.

3. Everyone around Samuel was surprised because he _________.

A．received a good early education in music

B．played the guitar and the piano perfectly

C．could play the piano without reading music

D．could play the guitar better than his father

4. What can we infer about Samuel in Paragraph 4?

A．He became famous during a special event at his college.

B．He is proud of his ability to remember things accurately.

C．He plays the piano better than many professional pianists.

D．He impressed the audience by playing all the musical pieces.

5. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A．The Qualities of a Musician

B．The Story of a Musical Talent

C．The Importance of Early Education

D．The Relationship between Memory and Music.

9 . Incredible Women You Didn't Learn About in History Class

Here are the stories of women you may not know about, but definitely should

◆Maria Sibylla Merian

Born in Germany in 1647, Merian was fascinated by insects, and she began collecting, studying, and drawing them when she was as young as 13. She was one of the few naturalists of her time to actually study live insects. It was through her study of caterpillars(毛毛虫) that she discovered the truth about their life cycles. Her work provided major contributions to the field of entomology（昆虫学）。

◆ Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese woman, was widely considered to be the world’s first novelist. She was a noble woman living in Japan around the year 1000 AD. She wrote a two-part novel called The Tale of Genji, which tells a riches-to-rags story about the son of a Japanese emperor forced to live as a common man. The Tale of Genji is widely considered to be a masterpiece of Japanese literature.

◆ Ada Lovelace

Ada was working to design early computing machines that she hoped would be able to quickly solve math problems. In addition to designing this early computer program, she also was first to suggest that these computers might be able to do more than, well, calculate. She imagined them doing everything, from producing images to composing music.

◆ Lucy Stone

Born in 1818, Stone married a fellow activist and changed her name, but decided to change it back a year later. She held the belief that "a wife should no more take her husband's name than hers." She became the first American married woman to keep her maiden name for her entire life. Stone was also one of the founding members of the American Equal Rights Association and fought for the ending of slavery.

1. What can readers learn about from The Tale of Genji?

A．Ancient Japanese culture.

B．Development of computer.

C．Research on living things.

D．Modern life of Japanese women.

2. What do Maria Sibylla Merian and Ada Lovelace have in common?

A．They were pioneers in computer.

B．They devoted themselves to science.

C．They created masterpieces of literature.

D．They made progress in studying Insects

3. Which of the following women fought for human rights?

A．Lucy Stone	B．Ada Lovelace
C．Murasaki Shikibu	D．Maria Sibylla Merlan