The Bristol International Balloon Festival is a world-class hot air ballooning festival and is recognized as one of the UK’s top five outdoor events. Founded in 1978, the Festival has become a symbol for Bristol, the same as Brunel’s famous Suspension Bridge.

Held in the rolling hills of Ashton Court on the edge of Bristol, the Festival is hugely popular and completely free, attracting around half a million people from across the country and beyond. This year, for the first time, visitors will get to see how a hot air balloon is made. To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the world’s largest hot air balloon producer, Cameron Balloons, will take on the challenge of constructing a passenger-carrying balloon, on site, in about four days.

Other events to look forward to at the Bristol International Balloon Festival include daredevil stunts(冒险特技表演) from the Red Arrows, over 250 trade stalls, local and international food stalls, and a funfair(露天游艺集市). Here’s what’s on in detail:

Thursday 11th August:

12 pm Gates Open and Trade Village open

6 pm Special Shapes Ascent — a number of hot air balloons will take to the sky

9:30 pm Nightglow and Firework Finale — 30 or more balloons will glow in time to music

10:30 pm Gates Close

Friday 12th August:

6 am Hot Air Balloon Mass Ascent

9 am Trade and Entertainment Village open

12 pm Arena(竞技) Entertainment and Tethered Balloons

6 pm Hot Air Balloon Mass Ascent

8:30 pm Gates Close

Saturday 13th August:

6 am Hot Air Balloon Mass Ascent

9 am Trade and Entertainment Village open

12 pm Arena Entertainment and Tethered Balloons

6 pm Hot Air Balloon Mass Ascent

9:30 pm Nightglow and Firework Finale

10:30 pm Gates Close

Sunday 14th August:

6 am Hot Air Balloon Mass Ascent

9 am Trade and Entertainment Village open

12 pm Arena Entertainment and Tethered Balloons

6 pm Hot Air Balloon Mass Ascent

Few of us haven’t read Cinderella, the story of a young woman living in poverty who meets the prince of her dreams. Some might not want to admit it, but there is a hidden Cinderella in everyone’s heart—we all wish we could achieve recognition or success after a period of obscurity or neglect.

Mary Santiago has that secret dream, too. Her story is featured in Another Cinderella Story, a film set in a US high school.

Mary is shy but loves to dance. Compared with other girls, she is invisible. However, her world changes completely when a famous teenager pop singer, Joey Parker, appears.

Joey is everything that the rest of the boys in her class are not — kind, handsome and desirable. Mary and Joey’s paths cross at a ball. They meet and fall in love with each other. But when Mary has to rush back home, she leaves behind her MP3 player, which becomes the only clue Joey has to find the girl of his dreams. Of course, there is a wicked(邪恶的) stepmother, who turns out to be Dominique Blatt and she takes in Mary after her dancer mother dies. Dominique treats Mary like a maid and does everything she can to make sure Mary doesn’t get into the top dance school. Her two daughters are equally determined to stop Joey falling for Mary, even if that means embarrassing her.

The story, though it mostly follows Cinderella, does add a few modern day twists to the classic fairy tale. Refreshingly, the film, unlike many high school films, does not focus on looks, although the actors are all beautiful. There is also a lot less materialism in Another Cinderella Story than in many similar movies.

“The movie takes the Cinderella fairytale as its jumping off point,” writes the movie critic Amber Wilkinson. “The focus is firmly on following your dream.”

For hours after their boat sank, Ken Henderson and Coen trod(踏) water in the Gulf of Mexico, talking about life and death while struggling to survive. For more than 30 hours, it worked.

Then Henderson was forced to make a decision. “I’m going to go for help or you’re not going to make it,” Henderson told Coen, just before cutting the strap(带子) that connected them in the deep, cold waters. “I understand,”Coen responded, giving Henderson a last set of instructions, “Kiss my babies for me.”

Days after the fishing trip ended in tragedy, Henderson told the story for The Associated Press.

They had been fishing for a few hours when suddenly Coen noticed the boat was filling with water. Henderson got both motors roaring, only to have the saltwater that had leaked in break them straight away…Coen jumped to the right, his sunglasses and cap flying off. The two grabbed extra life jackets and other floating items, including a half full bottle of Diet Coke.

“The water was so cold and it took your breath away,” Henderson said. They immediately began to tremble.

The pair prepared for a long wait. And they talked.

“We discussed things and discussed life. We discussed families. We just tried to keep occupied,” Henderson said.

Eventually Coen started hallucinating(有幻觉). Henderson tried to keep Coen’s arms and legs moving. But as morning came, Coen’s situation worsened. And so Henderson decided to cut the strap.

He swam for two hours, tired, frustrated and depressed. Then he saw an oil rig(钻探平台) in the distance. He swam, seeing ice and crystal trees in the water. He reminded himself constantly there were no trees.

His legs was so weak that he could barely lift them. Henderson slowly pulled himself up the rig’s ladder.

It was over 50 miles from where they had gone in the water.

All he could think of was Coen. Convinced his friend would survive, he told the coast guard where they had parted.

Two hours later, a fisherman found a body in a life jacket.

Later, in the hospital, Henderson saw his friend. He apologized and asked for forgiveness. He promised to realize his wishes and look after his girls.

“I felt like a part of me had died out there,” Henderson said.

Long before they can actually speak, babies pay special attention to the speech they hear around them. Within the first month of their lives, babies’ responses to the sound of the human voice will be different from their responses to other sorts of hearing stimulation. They will stop crying when they hear a person talking, but not if they hear a bell or the sound of a rattle. At first, the sounds that a baby notices might be only those words that receive the heaviest emphasis and that often occur at the ends of utterances(讲话，说话). By the time they are six or seven weeks old, babies can detect the difference between syllables pronounced with rising and falling tones. Very soon, these differences in adult stress and intonation can influence babies’ emotional states and behavior. Long before they develop actual language comprehension, babies can sense when an adult is happy or angry, attempting to begin or end new behavior, and so on, merely on the basis of clues such as the rate, volume, and melody of adult speech.

Adults make it as easy as they can for babies to pick up a language by exaggerating(夸张) such clues. One researcher observed babies and their mothers in six diverse cultures and found that, in all six languages, the mothers used simplified utterances and nonsense sounds, and transformed certain sounds into baby talk. Other researchers have noted that when mothers talk to babies who are only a few months old, they exaggerate the pitch, loudness, and intensity of their words. They also exaggerate their facial expressions, hold vowels(元音) longer, and emphasize certain words.

More significant for language development than their response to general intonation is observation that tiny babies can make relatively fine distinctions between speech sounds. In other words, babies enter the world with the ability to make those precisely perceptual（知觉的，感性的） recognition that are necessary if they are to acquire listening language.

Babies obviously obtain pleasure from sound input, too: even as young as nine months they will listen to songs or stories, although the words themselves are beyond their understanding. For babies, language is a sensory-motor delight rather than the route to boring meaning that it often is for adults.

Teachers love to put students into teams.     33     Why? Because they know the responsible team members will come through for a good grade.

If you are teamed up with a student who is lazy, the worst thing you can do is let it get you down.     34     and it might create a positive change in your partner!

Try these tips for working with a slacker(懒虫).

●Be excited and provide a good example. Your slacker may be a good person who has developed bad work habits. You may be able to teach your partner some valuable skills for a successful future.

●Think rewards!     35     For instance, you could promise to make cupcakes for the next work meeting and encourage your partner to bring a good snack.

●Make some time to sit with your partner and establish a set of work rules and deadlines. Don’t quarrel, though. Make it clear that you would like to establish rules to keep you both on track.     36     Keep a record of your rules, your initial meetings, and your work. When it becomes obvious in the records that you’re doing all the work, talk with the slacker.     37    

A group of children would gather frequently at each other’s homes. They___________what was happening in their lives. Their friendship was beautiful to see, and surprising thoughts flowed from these___________minds.

The mother of one of the children would occasionally join their_________and tell them stories. When she spoke of her “jewel box”, her most___________possession, she sent their___________soaring.

She emphasized that the jewel box was so___________that its contents could never be stolen! Of course, the children’s minds were ___________with dazzling pictures of diamonds, jewels, pearls, and other priceless items. They daydreamed of her being an heiress(继承人) of a___________family, even though her simple life did not___________vast material wealth.

One day the children asked her what was in the jewel box. Looking at the children’s ____________, upturned faces, she____________at each child, and then____________them to gather around her and sit on the grass. “Let me tell you a wonderful____________,” she whispered, “The jewel box is not a ____________ box!”

The children’s eyes were big with____________. The mother continued, “In reality, it is a ____________box of your heart. And everyone has one! Its____________are the feelings of love, joy, peace, gratitude, and faith. It is an inner experience, and the treasure of knowing which____________with you forever.”

The children asked many questions that day. Most of them never____________the story of the jewel box, and appreciated it more as they____________adulthood.

Have you ever been to London? Which famous sites did you visit? Or, if it is the first time that you     58    (be) there, which one will you check out?

Some world famous     59    (culture) sites may already be on your list: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the London Tower. However, a tour of London would be incomplete     60     checking out the London art scene. As a guidebook London’s Secrets: Museums & Galleries put it, London’s art is a lot like     61     city itself — “diverse, vast, and in a constant state of changes. From old masters to street art and everything in between, London has it all.”

In fact, according to The Telegraph, museums and galleries were the most     62    (visit) attractions in Britain last year. The British Museum,     63     celebrated its 225th anniversary this year, had the most visitors, at 6,701,036.

According to The Art Newspaper, the British Museum’s increased     64    (popular) is down to its exhibitions, particularly its Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum show ( March-September 2017 ).

There are more than 7 million artifacts(文物) in the British Museum. Not all of them are on display, but much of the collection     65    (constant) rotates(轮换), so you’ll see something new with each visit. So,    66     you’re an art lover or just looking for a fun time, you’re sure     67    (find) inspiration in London.

68. 假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）, 并在其下写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线, 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2.只允许修改10处, 多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Jack lives in a smaller town in England. He usually stayed in his own country during the holidays. Last year, he decided to go to Russia and stayed there for a few day. One day, he went out for walk. In England, people drive on the left side of the road. And in Russia, they drive on the right, which Jack forgot. When crossed a busy street, she was almost knocked down by a car. Jack stood here for a moment, full of fear. Shortly after he recovered from himself, he said: “Where am I?” An old man which sold maps nearby ran to Jack at once and said: “Maps of the city, sir?”

69. 假设你是李华，你的美国朋友Tom近日写信给你，想了解中国高中生的体育锻炼情况。请给Tom写一封回信，内容包括：

1．中国高中生参加体育运动的现状，如每周一节体育课等；

2．分析该现状产生的原因；

3．你自己的感想。

注意：

1．词数100左右；

2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3．开头语和结束语已为你写好，不计入总词数。

Dear Tom，

Glad to receive your letter. And I'm writing to tell you something about Chinese high school students’ physical exercise.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours，

Hua