1 . For the first 19 months of her life, Helen Keller was like other pretty happy babies in every way. Then in 1882, a sudden illness destroyed her sight and hearing. Because she could not hear what other people were saying, the child could not learn to speak. For the following 5 years, she lived in a world of darkness, without sounds or words and her parents could do nothing but let her be.
The person who changed Helen’s world was her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who entered her life. Miss Sullivan had accepted a job, which seemed impossible. She had agreed to teach a blind child who had never learned to act like a human being, because no one had ever been able to guide her in any way. No one could control Helen. She acted like a young animal, rushing wildly around, throwing things, and hitting anyone whom she could reach. Who could believe that such a child could be taught?
But Anne Sullivan was a very special kind of teacher. She had been blind during part of her own childhood and had learned to read Braille, a system of writing that uses raised dots which can be felt by the finger of a blind person. She had learned to see again after several operations, but she had never forgotten the experience of being blind.
Miss Sullivan understood Helen. She loved her and believed she could teach her.
Anne Sullivan could not teach Helen Keller to speak until some other important things had been learned. The little girl had to learn to control her actions and feelings. She had to learn that she could not always do what she wished to do. She had always been able to get what she wished by using force. The teacher had to change such habits without breaking the child’s spirit.
Miss Sullivan’s battle began. Sometimes, there was real fighting between the wild child and the strong young teacher. At last, however, the battle was won by Miss Sullivan, who had succeeded in showing Helen that she loved her and wanted to help her. The child and her teacher became friends. They continued to be friends until the teacher’s death, 50 years later.
The day on which Helen finally accepted Miss Sullivan as her friend and teacher was a great day in Helen’s life. After that the teacher could begin to teach the child language.
1. Helen became blind and deaf after ________.| A．an unexpected accident | B．a football match |
| C．a sudden disease | D．fighting with her teacher |
| A．1917 | B．1932 | C．1937 | D．1939 |
| A．to pronounce a few words | B．to control herself properly |
| C．to copy some letters | D．to make different sounds |
| A．Sullivan learned the Braille when she was blind as a child. |
| B．Blind as Sullivan was, he accepted the challenge to teach Helen. |
| C．At first Sullivan and Helen often fought each other. |
| D．Sullivan died when she was fifty years old. |
2 . John Von Neumann was the oldest of 3 children of a banker, and his speed of learning new ideas and of solving problems stood out early. At 17, his father tried to persuade him not to become a mathematician because he may lead a poor life being a mathematician, and 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 (纯粹的) mathematician. During and after the war, he became one of the best mathematicians who put mathematics 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 in 1957 of cancer.
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 (传奇) in his own time, and there are a number of stories about him. His driving ability is a part of this 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 couldn’t earn a lot of money |
| B．a mathematician needed a good memory |
| C．Von Neumann had the ability to learn two subjects at the same time |
| D．Von Neumann had a gift for solving problems at a high speed |
| A．23 | B．26 | C．29 | D．32 |
| A．He realized the importance of engineering. |
| B．He began to research how to put mathematics into practice. |
| C．He left college and served at the government department. |
| D．He lost interest in chemistry. |
| A．calm | B．brave | C．intelligent | D．humorous |
3 . Thomas Edison was one often said to be the greatest genius of his age. There are only a few men in all of the history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be happy only because someone said he was a genius.“ There is no such thing as genius,” Edison said. He said that what people called genius was mostly hard work.
But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. Nature, he often said, is full of secrets. He tried to understand them; then, he tried to learn what could usefully be done with them.
Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people will do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking can give men enjoyment and pleasure.
Edison could not understand how anyone could be uninterested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what ideas he had about life. “Work,” he answered. “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.
1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?| A．Edison invented the electric light. | B．Many other people have changed Edison’s life. |
| C．Edison has changed the life of many other people. | D．Few men in history can change other people’s life. |
| A．very much interested in nature |
| B．interested in discovering the secrets of nature |
| C．interested in changing people’s ideas |
| D．uninterested in making people happier by discovering the secrets of nature |
| A．he could be happy if he was a genius | B．genius plays the most important part in one’s success |
| C．hard work could do better than genius | D．genius could do better than hard work |
| A．life is too short for Edison to invent more for human beings |
| B．Edison made 100 inventions in his life |
| C．Edison was able to live and work for 100 years |
| D．People of his time were ready to give Edison another 100 years’ work |
1. What are the speakers doing now?
| A．Having an English class． |
| B．Having an English party． |
| C．Performing an English drama． |
| A．In 1654． | B．In 1564． | C．In 1456． |
John Snow is a famous doctor in London—so expert was he
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. |
7 . After learning about these famous women, you’ll know you can do a lot for society no matter what. You don’t need to be in a specific field, time or environment to make a difference to the world in your lifetime.
Amelia Earhart (1897－1937)
Amelia Earhart was the first woman who ever flew alone across the Atlantic in 1932. She became the first woman pilot in 1935 after flying from Hawaii to California. She began her lifelong dream of flying across the world in 1937. However, her flight went missing on that trip and she was never seen again.
Helena Rubinstein (1870－1965)
Helena Rubinstein moved to Australia in 1902 without the ability to speak English. Later, she founded one of the world’s first cosmetic (化妆品) companies after mixing lanolin, which is an oil that comes from sheep’s wool, with flowers. Because of that, she became the world’s richest woman at the time.
Katharine Hepburn (1907－2003)
Katharine Hepburn was known for playing strongwilled women in her films. She won four Academy Awards for Best Actress, the most an actress has ever won. Her new dress style made wearing trousers acceptable to women, which wasn’t allowed at that time.
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858－1928)
Emmeline was an influential woman activist, who helped British women get the right to vote. She fought along with her husband for the rights of women all the time in the late 19th century and early 20th century. After she lost her husband, she teamed up with her three daughters and formed The Women Social and Political Union, which was best known as the suffragettes (women’s right to vote).
1. What was the problem for Helena at first when she moved to Australia?| A．She didn’t know how to make up. | B．She didn’t have money. |
| C．She didn’t have work experience. | D．She couldn’t speak English. |
| A．Patient. | B．Friendly. | C．Honest. | D．Determined. |
| A．A pioneering spirit. | B．A creative mind. | C．A good education. | D．A warm heart. |
8 . What are scientists?They are often described as gray-haired white-coated dull scholars.
But the world has changed.Young scientists are making their voices heard and releasing their powers on the world stage.
This is also true in China.Rising stars include new materials expert Gong Yongji,university professor Liu Mingzhen,and biologist Wan Ruixue.At the age of 28 in 2018,Wan Ruixue received the 2018 Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists.This is a global prize to reward outstanding scientists at an early stage of their careers.
She focuses mainly on biomedicine (生物医学) and artificial intelligence.“Both are cutting-edge (前沿) technologies at an early stage of development,” she said.
“So,I think they have great potential to be developed.I think in the study of cutting-edge technologies,China and other leading countries in the world are standing on the same starting line.And in the study of structural biology,China is likely to become the leader.”
She felt it was her fate to become a biologist.“I grew interested in the natural world,when I was very young,” she said.In 2009,she entered Sun Yat-sen University.
In her third year at the university,she realized that she wanted to do something related to biomedicine.So she emailed China’s top biologist Shi Yigong,hoping to join his lab at Tsinghua University.
Shi recognised her talent and welcomed her.Years of efforts at the lab have paid off.Her research on the high-definition 3D structure of spliceosome led to a scientific breakthrough.
Unlike many of other young scientists who choose to pursue further study abroad,Wan currently has no plan to go overseas.
“The whole ecosystem for scientific research is continually improving in China,” she said,adding that the country has great science facilities.
1. What does the underlined word “releasing” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Giving out. | B．Getting over. |
| C．Finding out. | D．Taking over. |
| A．Anxious. | B．Confident. |
| C．Disappointed. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．Her teacher led her into the field. |
| B．She finds it’s easier than she thought. |
| C．Her contribution has been recognised. |
| D．She thinks it’s boring but worth trying. |
| A．China’s Breakthrough in Science |
| B．Rising Young Scientists in China |
| C．Wan Ruixue:A Successful Young Scientist |
| D．New Image of Chinese Scientists |
Yu Rong, a Chinese artist, thinks of a new way to introduce
Hua Mulan,
To better tell the story, Yu Rong takes inspiration from her several
In 1271, Marco Polo left Italy,
After he served in the court for 17 years, Marco
