【推荐2】Two weeks ago, I had volunteered to raise three newborn American barn owls. When the director of a local wildlife rehabilitation (康复) center first approached me and asked if I would be interested in raising “the babies” I was overjoyed! Twelve years earlier, the center had received a pair of barn owls, and since then more than 100 of them have been bred and released. Thoughts poured through my head of hours happily spent raising these babies and working with them until they were fully grown. Tossing them up into the sky where they would begin their lives anew in the wild would be so incredibly rewarding.

However, I had assumed incorrectly that we were going to release all of them. In fact, two of the owls were to be released, but the third owl was to be used as an educational animal. For the center to keep one owl when his two siblings were going to be freed seemed cruel, and this angered me. Sensing my anger, our director suggested that before I denounced the plan for this owl, I should at least go out and help with the educational assignment, to see what is accomplished. While still ready to regard this plan as a horrible use of an owl, I reluctantly agreed to go.

Then, things took a 180-degree turn. I found that I had been naive in my assumption that most people knew as much about wildlife as I did, and that they shared my respect for animals. The children at the school where I spoke had never seen the owls or the opossum that I showed them, though both were common inhabitants of our area. Many of them had never even heard of an ocelot. They were full of questions and eager to know more. At that moment, it occurred to me that in front of me were rooms full of 6-and 7-year-olds who, with the “help” of the owls, were learning to view nature in a whole new light.

That afternoon, I returned from the educational assignment with a new-found sense of purpose and happily commenced that task at hand — feeding little pieces of mice to Athena, our newest educational ambassador.

1. How did the author react to the director’s request?

A．He agreed readily.	B．He turned it down.
C．He reluctantly said yes.	D．He questioned his intention.

2. What does the underlined word denounced in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Finished.

B．Evaluated.

C．Changed.

D．Condemned.

3. What did the author find about the school children?

A．They explored the outdoors often.

B．They were keen on raising an animal.

C．They were almost ignorant of the surrounding wildlife.

D．They had volunteered to join the animal education program.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A kept owl is safeguarding the owl’s future.	B．Saving the world begins with saving an owl.
C．The earth’s future is in the hands of children.	D．Releasing animals to the wild is not the end.

【推荐1】Mystery of Mosquito Flight

The mosquito is a troublesome and dangerous insect. Their bites itch and can carry dangerous diseases, like malaria, Zika virus and yellow fever. Recently, researchers from Britain and Japan discovered how mosquitoes fly.     1    

Mosquito wings are small and have an uncommon shape.    2     So, how is their flight possible? The team of scientists from Britain and Japan solved the mystery. They used high-speed cameras and computer images to understand the mechanics of how the insect moves its wings to stay in the air.

    3     They set up eight super-high speed cameras that take 10,000 images each second. Simon Walker, a researcher at the University of Oxford, explains that normally at least two cameras are needed to record an insect, so they’ve got enough views of an insect. With two camera views they can then take any point on an insect and calculate its 3-D coordinates (三维坐标).

Mosquitoes can spread diseases. The insect has two antennae, or tall, thin organs on its head that it uses to feel things. But its antennae and six legs make it difficult to take clear images of the wing movements.     4     The extra cameras let the researchers see that the mosquito’s wings move eight hundred times each second. That is four times faster than many insects of a similar size.

Mosquitoes fly by moving their wings in several different directions. The thin top edges of their wings move forward first and then they change direction and move down. The movement looks as if the wings are drawing the number eight.     5     Walker says that existing unmanned flying devices do not work very well outside because wind can affect their flight.

“Insects, on the other hand, deal really well with even quite windy conditions. So understanding how they can do this is going to be advantageous to us.” These researchers say that understanding how mosquitoes fly might help find ways to stop them from spreading diseases.

A．Because of this, it is hard to believe that they are able to fly.

B．Mosquitoes evolved from other insects about 226 million years ago.

C．So, the team needed to use eight cameras to view the wings from many directions.

D．Researchers at the University of Oxford took images of mosquito wing movements.

E．Many measures have been tried for mosquito control, for example, getting rid of breeding places.

F．This knowledge, they say, help find ways to stop mosquitoes from spreading diseases in the future.

G．The research team believes the mosquitoes’ wing movements could help inventors design new flying devices.

【推荐2】第三部分：书面表达
第一节：阅读表达（共5 小题；
阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。

Researchers found that women are overcome by a burning desire to share gossip (流言蜚语) as soon as they hear it. They will typically tell the secret to at least one other person in 47 hours. Depending on who the gossip is about, their boyfriend, husband, best friend or mother is most likely to be the recipients of the information.

       The study of 3000 women aged between 18 and 65 also found that out of ten admitted they were unable to keep a secret—no matter how personal or secret the news was. It was also found that alcohol usually gives us a helping hand to let out secrets—with more than half admitting a glass or two of wine could get them to dish the dirt.

Michael Cox, UK Director of Wines of Chile, said, “It’s official women who can’t keep secrets. We are really eager to find out with this survey how many secrets people are told. What we don’t count on is how quickly these are passed on by those we trust. No matter how precious the piece of information is, it often comes out within 48 hours.”

Three quarters say they are able to keep quiet about a secret, and 83 percent consider themselves 100 percent reliable within each group of friends. Yet, four in ten admit gossiping to a close friend from another friendship group. Nearly half (45 percent) disclose secrets just for the weight to be lifted from their shoulders. More than four in ten think it is acceptable to share a friend’s secret with someone who doesn’t know him or her.

Private issues, true cost of purchases and affairs emerged top of the secret-keeping list, with girls most likely to share a secret chatting face-to-face, on the phone or via a text message. Fortunately, over a quarter (27 percent) said they forgot what they were told the following day.

1. Please explain the underlined words “dish the dirt” in English. (No more than 5 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
2. What makes women more likely pass on gossip? (No more than 3 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
3. What kinds of secrets are women most interested in? (No more than 10 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
4. Why do about half women tell secrets to others? (No more than 10 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________
5. Should women tell secrets to others or keep secrets? Please give your reasons. (No more than 30 words.)
___________________________________________________________________________

【推荐3】Most of us learn how to ride ai bike during childhood. As we grow older, we put those once beloved bikes in storerooms. Years later, when we discover these relics and jump on, it’s as if we never stopped biking.

This is surprising because our memories let us down in so many other situations. For example, we always fail to remember the name of a person we once knew or where we put our keys. So why can we ride a bicycle when we haven’t done so in years?

As it turns out, humans have different kinds of memories. Our long-term memory is divided into two types: declarative memory (陈述性记忆) and procedural memory.

There are two types of declarative memory. The first type is our memory of an event that happened. It can be the day we started school or a pleasant outing. Factual knowledge, on the other hand, such as the capital of France, belongs to the second type. These two types have one thing in common-you are aware of the knowledge and can communicate the memories to others.

Skills such as playing an instrument or riding a bicycle are, however, fixed in a separate system, called procedural memory. As its name shows, this type of memory is responsible for performance.

So is procedural knowledge more enduring than declarative knowledge? Yes, studies show the former is less likely to be lost. Even with serious brain injury, the procedural memory system is hardly ever damaged. That’s because structures responsible for processing it are relatively protected in the brain’s center.

However, it’s not clear, beyond brain damage, why procedural memory contents are not as easily forgotten as declarative ones are. According to one idea, in the regions where movement patterns are made, fewer new nerve cells (神经细胞) may be formed in adults. Without big changes. It’s less likely for memories in these regions to get erased.

So, one thing we know for sure is simple patterns of movements we get, even far in the past, are typically kept for a lifetime. Or as the saying goes, it’s “just like riding a bicycle”

1. Which of the following are declarative knowledge?
①A poem. ② Swimming. ③ A meeting. ④Running.

A．①②	B．②④
C．①③	D．②③

2. What does “enduring” underlined in Para. 6 mean?

A．Continuing for a very long time.

B．Having a very great influence.

C．Helping people in some way.

D．Being difficult to keep.

3. Why are movement patterns less likely to disappear according to Para. 7?

A．They are kept in a region without great changes.

B．They are kept in a region that can’t be damaged.

C．They are easier than other knowledge.

D．They are practiced more often.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Skills of an outstanding rider

B．Different types of human memory

C．Why don’t we forget how to ride a bike?

D．How can we make memories last longer?

【推荐2】One thing you probably always wondered about is why Americans drive on a different side of the road than their British cousins. It might seem strange that the UK drivers stay on the left, but they are not alone. Around 35% of the world population does the same, including people in Ireland, Japan, and some Caribbean islands.

It is said that originally almost everybody traveled on the left side of the road. However their mode of transport was quite different from today: Think four legs instead of four wheels. For medieval（中世纪的）swordsmen on horseback, it made sense to keep to the left to have their right arms closer to enemies. Mounting and dismounting was also easier from the left side of the horse, and safer done by the side of the road than in the center.

Things changed in the late 1700s when large wagons pulled by several pairs of horses were used to transport farm products in France and the US. In the absence of a driver's seat inside the wagon, the driver sat on the left, with his right arm free to use his whip（鞭子）to keep the horses moving. Since he was sitting on the left, and wanted other wagons to pass on his left, so he kept to the right side of the road.

The British Government refused to give up their left-hand driving ways and made laws to encourage driving on the left. Meanwhile post-revolution France, under their left-handed ruler Napoleon, accepted the right side of the road. During all this driving confusion, the British and the French were giving up their power across the globe, and as part of their rapid colonization（殖民化）they insisted that the countries they occupied drive on the same side of the road. This explains why former British colonies such as Australia, New Zealand, and India drive on the left, while former French colonies like Algeria, Ivory Coast, and Senegal drive on the right.

1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To make a question about two driving patterns.

B．To make a comparison about two driving patterns.

C．To give background of the text.

D．To support the following paragraphs.

2. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A．People in ancient times were accustomed to walking on the right of the road.

B．People in ancient times usually afforded to hang out by carriage.

C．Swordsmen rode warhorses to make them fight better.

D．Swordsmen usually rested their warhorses on the left side.

3. Which of the following statements is not true according to the text?

A．The British Government carried out appropriate policies to change the left-hand driving situation.

B．The colonies are impacted by their former empires.

C．The colonial countries which insist on their traditions is a symbol of colonization.

D．The left-hand driving situation changed due to the need for delivering farm products.

4. What’s the text mainly talking about?

A．The history of the left-hand rules in colonial corners.

B．The evolution process of the left-hand rules.

C．The medieval history of the left-hand rules.

D．The progress of the left-hand rules in colonies.

【推荐3】Generally, the blues are often associated with unhappy things. For example, if you lose your job, you might want to listen to the blues. Although the blues often deal with unhappy personal things, the music itself goes far beyond self­pity. The blues is also about overcoming hard luck, saying what you feel, ridding yourself of sadness, making you relaxed, and simply having fun.

The blues has deep roots in American history, particularly African­American history. The blues began in Southern plantations(大农场) in the 19th century. Its inventors were slaves, ex­slaves and the children of slaves—African­American sharecroppers(佃农) who sang as they worked in the cotton and vegetable fields．

The blues grew up in the Mississippi Delta just upriver from New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. Blues and jazz have always influenced each other, and they still influence each other in many ways today. Unlike jazz, the blues didn’t spread out quickly from the South to the Midwest until the 1930s and 1940s. When the Delta blues made their way up the Mississippi to urban areas, the music developed into electrified Chicago blues, other regional blues styles, and various jazz­blues hybrids. About ten years later, the blues gave birth to rhythms(节奏) ‘n’ blues and rock ‘n’ roll．

No single person invented the blues, but many people said they had discovered different styles of the blues. For example, a bandleader, W.C. Handy insisted that the blues was first shown to him in 1903 by a street guitarist at a train station in Tutwiler, Mississippi.

During the middle to late 1800s, the Deep South was home to hundreds of important bluesmen who helped to shape the music. Unfortunately, much of this original music followed these sharecroppers to their graves. But the music of these earliest blues pioneers can still be heard in the recordings of 1920s and 1930s from Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia and other Southern states.

1. What can we know about the blues?

A．It can be very loud music.

B．It often tells sad personal stories.

C．It can bring sad feelings to people.

D．It is mainly about overcoming hard luck.

2. What’s the relationship between the blues and jazz?

A．The blues gave birth to jazz.

B．They have influenced each other.

C．They usually have the same rhythm.

D．Jazz made the blues popular in the Mississippi Delta.

3. What happened to the Delta blues after entering urban areas?

A．It became less popular then.

B．It developed into different styles.

C．It created many different rhythms.

D．It was replaced by other regional musical styles.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The history of the blues.

B．The changes of the blues.

C．The pioneers of the blues.

D．The invention of the blues.

【推荐1】Camp Fire USA

Camp Fire USA is a youth agency serving children from Pre-K through 12th grade. Camp Fire provides opportunities for youth to learn life skills, build their self-esteem, serve their communities, experience the outdoors, make friends, and have fun. Camp Fire programs are available to all people without regard to race, gender, creed, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, economic status or mental or physical disabilities.

Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteers are needed to help with local events, child care for children with various needs, summer day camps, our Youth Volunteer Corps program, answering phones, clerical work, group activities, and program delivery.

Minimum Age: 11, depending upon task

Minimum Commitment: Varies; range is from 2 hours/month to 1 day/week

Contact: Program Manager

Address: 1635 NE 87th St, Ste B8 Redmond, WA 98052

Phone: 425-885-0477

FAX: 425-885-0201

Email: info@campfire-usa.org

Web: www.campfire-usa.org

Business Hours: By appointment or Friday 9 am-3 pm

Seattle Aquarium

The Seattle Aquarium's mission is to inspire conservation of our marine environment. Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteers are needed as interpreters to speak to guests about our exhibits, lead guided tours, lead activities for children, and assist with special events during the school year and summer

Minimum Age: 16

Minimum Commitment: School Year 一 Two weekend days per month (9:30 am - 5:15 pm); Summer 一 Two half day shifts per week (9:30 am - 1:45 pm or 1 pm - 5:15 pm).

Contact: High School Volunteer Supervisor

Address: 1483 Alaskan Way Seattle, WA 98101

Phone: 206-386-4351

FAX: 206-386-4328

Office Hours: Sun-Thurs, 8:30 am 一 5:30 pm

Aquarium Hours: Fall/Winter, Daily 10 am-5 pm; Spring, Daily 9:30 am - 5 pm Summer. Daily 8:30 am ~ 7 pm

Homeward Pet

Homeward Pet animal shelter provides food, shelter, medical attention, and love to homeless adoptable cats and dogs until permanent homes are found.

Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteers are needed to help take care of homeless dogs and cats by cleaning cages, feeding, petting, exercising, and playing with the animals.

Minimum Age: 16

Minimum Commitment: 3 months

Contact: Volunteer Coordinator

Site Address: 18800 Woodinville-Snohomish Rd., Woodinville, WA 98072

Mailing Address: PO Box 2293, Woodinville, WA 98072

Phone: 425-488-4444 ex 407

FAX: 425-481-6867

Business Hours: Wed - Fri, 3 pm - 7 pm; Sat - Sun, 1 pm ~ 6 pm

KidsQuest Children's Museum

KidsQuest Children's Museum provides interactive exhibits and programs integrating art, science, technology, and daily experiences to inspire life-long learning in children and families.

Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteers are needed to assist with community events, leading hands-on activities with children and their families, birthday parties, workshops, and programs.

Minimum Age: 14

Minimum Commitment: None

Contact: Community Connections Manager

Site Address: 4091 Factoria Blvd SE Bellevue, WA 98006

Phone:425-637-8100

FAX: 425-747-7178

Business Hours:

Tues一Thurs, 10 am-5 pm; Fri, 10 am - 8pm; Sat, 10 am-5pm

1. Cat lovers will probably be willing to volunteer at________.

A．KidsQuest Children's Museum	B．Homeward Pet
C．Camp Fire USA	D．Seattle Aquarium

2. If you volunteer to work at Camp Fire USA, you'll have to work at least________.

A．two weekend days per month	B．three months
C．two hours per month	D．one school year

3. If you are disabled and interested in volunteering, the first choice among those posted here is to call __________.

A．425-637-8100	B．425-488-4444
C．425-885-0477	D．206-386-4351

【推荐2】You never see them, but they’re with you every time you fly. Their ability to endure almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They’re known as the black box.

The black box can record where you are going, how fast you’re traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. When planes fall from the sky, for instance, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the Indian ocean June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine detected the device’s homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed．

In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first model for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to stand crashes, however, so in 1965 the device was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane from its original position in the landing wells. The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.

Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots’ conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft’s final moments.

Placed in an insulated case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to send out signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1, 2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they’re still likely to turn up.

In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane’s black boxes were never recovered.

1. What does the author say about the black box?

A．It is a necessary device on an airplane.

B．Its ability to prevent disasters is incredible.

C．It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane.

D．The idea for its design comes from a comic book.

2. Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?

A．New materials became available by that time.

B．The early models often got damaged in the crash.

C．Too much space was needed to fix the equipment in position.

D．The early models didn’t provide the needed data.

3. Why were the black boxes required to be painted orange or yellow?

A．To meet the international standard.	B．To caution people to handle them with care.
C．To make it easier for people to find them.	D．To distinguish them from the colour of the plane.

4. What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?

A．They have stopped sending homing signals.

B．They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil.

C．There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed.

D．There is still a good chance of their being recovered.

【推荐3】On Hoxton Street in East London there is a very special children’s writing and mentoring(辅导) center called the Ministry of Stories, which is fronted by its shop , Hoxton Street Monster(怪兽) Supplies, where you can expect to find monster food. The store raises funds for this very special program that fires children’s imagination.

The youth aged 8 to 18 enter the Ministry, through a secret door that is designed to open a world of opportunity by encouraging a love for writing. The organization believes that, “Writing increases self-respect, improves communication and can change lives.” That’s because writing allows children’s voices to be heard.

This year, the workshop is celebrating 10 years of helping children discover a love for writing through creative programs. Founded by Lucy Macnab, Ben Payne and best-selling author Nick Hornby, the organization works with around 1,000 children per year participating in schools, and community programs across Hackney, Islington, and Tower Hamlets. It now has over 400 volunteers and runs its program free of charge for the youth of the areas.

“Through a range of creative writing programs, and one-to-one mentoring, we aim to help young people find their own qualities that can be developed,” Macnab told The Telegraph. “We build confidence, self-respect, and communication skills in both workshops for schools and out of school writing clubs.”

One 10-year participant, Nmeso, said that the weekly after-school club he attends at the Ministry has helped him grow his imagination and improve his academic performance. In fact, he was able to move up a grade in school. What’s even more remarkable is that Nmeso has had a story he wrote published ── along with other writers in the program ──titled Andre Has a Hard Time .This is Nmeso’s success story.

1. What is the function of Hoxton Street Monster Supplies?

A．Advertising the mentoring center.

B．Supporting the Ministry of Stories.

C．Attracting young children to come.

D．Arousing children's interest in food.

2. Why are some figures used in the paragraph 3?

A．To prove the program is popular.

B．To suggest writing is vital for children.

C．To attract readers’ attention to the center.

D．To show the value of running the program.

3. What is the program intended to do?

A．To give the children a better future.

B．To help discover the children’s potential.

C．To help the children express opinions.

D．To develop the children’s writing skills.

4. What does the author say about Nmeso?

A．He is ten years old this year.

B．He’s got his own book published.

C．He has benefitted a lot from the program.

D．He becomes very famous as a young writer.