Emma Morano was an Italian who was the world’s oldest Italian person ever and the second-oldest European person ever behind Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment. On April 15, 2017, she passed away at the age of 117 years. Morano is believed to be the last person born in the 1800s.
Emma Morano was born in Civiasco, Italy on November 29, 1899. Her father worked in a metal casting factory and her mother made slippers for a living. As a teenager, her family moved to Verbania, Italy, and settled nearby Lake Maggiore, where Morano has lived for the rest of her life.
She married in 1926, and her only child was born in 1937. Unfortunately, the child died, just six months old, and Morano and her husband separated the following year. She has been living a simple life ever since, independently living in her apartment and on a diet of three eggs a day. She worked at a rope factory until she retired at age 75.
While Emma Morano lived for over a hundred years, the world around her changed greatly. The first half of the 20th century saw two major conflicts that affected nearly every country—World War I and World War II. The United Nations was created to maintain peace and prevent further conflict. On the social front, women earned their right to vote. and now work alongside men in all professions. We have seen huge leaps in technology during Emma's lifetime from electric bulbs that lit up homes, to telephones that connected people and the age of flight that shrunk travel time. Television and radio became popular entertainment. In 1958, the microchip was invented; in 1969, the first Internet was introduced; and in 1975, the first personal computer was sold.
The 20th century has also seen fundamental discoveries in physical and biological sciences that have helped us make sense of the largest of galaxies, and the smallest of atoms and human cells. Isn't it amazing how much can change in one person's lifetime?
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．Emma was awarded for living over 100 years. |
| B．Emma was the last person born in the 18th century. |
| C．Emma lived through three different centuries. |
| D．Emma set many records as the oldest living person. |
| A．She moved to Verbania after marriage. | B．She made a living by making slippers. |
| C．She has been on a diet all her life. | D．She lived on her own most of her life. |
| A．People have already learned about human cells better. |
| B．Equal rights for all people has been achieved. |
| C．European colonies have become an independent country. |
| D．Human beings have lived on the Moon. |
| A．how humans can live much longer | B．how the world changed greatly |
| C．how a person deals with social changes | D．how women contribute to society |
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【推荐1】When I came to China, my supply of Chinese friends who were willing to hear me talk about school(one of the few topics I could hold more than a two-minute conversation about) was fairly limited. So how did I practise my spoken Chinese?
In my effort to be a good student, I decided to talk to every single taxi driver in Beijing. Taxi drivers were easy targets. They couldn’t tell me to shut up and they had nowhere to hide from my horrible grammar.
To my surprise, taxi drivers became my favorite Chinese teachers because most of the time they were happy to talk to me about anything. Also, their most loved topics of conversation tended to fall into three simple categories (种类): food, their hometown, and the foreigners’ countries. My ability to reach this level of conversational skill has been made possible by one question—“Are you a Beijinger?” and taxi drivers loved talking about their hometown.
I found that 15 minutes with a Beijing taxi driver was worth one hour with my Chinese tutor because they couldn’t speak English so there’s no second language to fall back on when things got too tough. It’s just me and my Chinese skills that would help. I was constantly surprised by how much I understood in comparison to my Chinese language level. And even if they kept talking for the whole trip, at least I was honing my listening skills. Over time, I found I could understand more and more, and was able to respond surprisingly quickly.
Another trick: If I wanted to impress, I would add an extra “r” to end my words. It always seemed to cheer them up, and usually I would get an encouraging “Your Beijing dialect is so good!”
1. What was an advantage for the author to talk to taxi drivers in Beijing?| A．They were very knowledgeable. |
| B．They were cheaper than teachers. |
| C．They had to put up with his grammar. |
| D．They were more willing to help. |
| A．Improving. | B．Showing. | C．Missing. | D．Exchanging. |
| A．He hoped to practise his Beijing dialect. |
| B．He wanted to make fun of the drivers’ accent. |
| C．He mainly aimed to cover up his poor Chinese. |
| D．He wanted to make a good impression on the drivers. |
| A．The challenges of learning Chinese. |
| B．The talkative taxi drivers in Beijing. |
| C．The difficulty of living in a foreign country. |
| D．The experience of practising spoken Chinese. |
【推荐2】When we think of 10-year-old girls, the first things that come to mind may be ballet, kitchen science experiments and crazy photo faces. There’s a special bond between young girls and their moms before life fills up with more demanding schoolwork, career choices and the stress of being a grown-up.
For Joyce Phillips, taking on adult emotions came sooner than expected. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when Joyce was 10 years old. The thought of losing her mother at such a young age must have been troubling Joyce. But instead of waiting out the process on the sidelines, Joyce decided to join the fight against cancer so that other kids wouldn’t have to experience the pain she was going through.
Joyce loves to sew. She wanted to make something to sell and also advertise her need for help. While trying to piece together a solution, she hit upon the ubiquitous coffee cup. People everywhere seem to be on the go in the morning with their cup of take-out coffee. So Joyce designed a coffee cup sleeve and created her nonprofit Cozys for the Cure. It was a hit. Today, Joyce has raised over $120,000 to help fund breast cancer research. It all started with a desire to help. She lets us know each of us has the ability to make a difference, no matter how old or how young.
Joyce’s mother won her fight with cancer, but unfortunately, many more women and mothers will be affected. With kids like Joyce in their corner, perhaps the next best treatment will come a little sooner, save a few more lives, and means mothers and daughters will have a little more time to have fun together.
1. How does the author find the childhood of normal girls?| A．Carefree. | B．Stressful. | C．Demanding. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Rare. | B．Visible everywhere. | C．Special. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．Her mother’s breast cancer. | B．More women and mothers. |
| C．Doctors who suffer with cancer. | D．The research of breast cancer. |
| A．Turning Waste into Wealth | B．True Love Is Unconquerable |
| C．Turning Tough News into Hope | D．Time and Tide Wait for No Man |
【推荐3】Richard Rudd was so forgetful that he sometimes forgot what he was talking about in the middle of a sentence. His wife had to always remind him about his about his appointments, his classes—even his meals ! Since Rudd was a professor at a well-known university, his forgetfulness often caused him a lot of trouble. It wasn’t that he was unintelligent. He was just very, very absent-minded.
One hot summer day, Professor Rudd decided to take his children to the beach. The seaside town he planned to visit was about a three-hour train ride away. To make the trip more interesting for his young children, he kept the name of the town a secret. Unfortunately, by the time Rudd had arrived at the train station , the poor forgetful man had forgotten the name of the town. Luckily, a friend of his happened to be in the station. He offered to take care of the children while Rudd went back home to find out where he was going.
The professor’s wife was surprised to see him again so soon ,but she was amused when she heard what was the matter. She distrusted his memory, so she wrote the name of the town on a piece of paper. Satisfied that she had solved the problem, she sent her husband off again. Ten minutes later she was astonished to see him outside the house again. What was the matter now? The professor had forgotten where he had left his children.
1. He kept the name of the town a secret because .| A．he wanted to give the children a surprise |
| B．he didn’t know the name of the town |
| C．he thought to keep a secret was interesting |
| D．he wanted to add more fun to the trip |
| A．He didn’t know where to go at all. |
| B．It took them three hours to get to that seaside town by train |
| C．Before he got on the train Richard had forgotten the name of the town. |
| D．None of his children knew which town they would go to. |
| A．he lost his children |
| B．he was unfit to be a professor |
| C．though some people are clever they are often absent-minded |
| D．one’s forgetfulness will bring about a lot of troubles to others |
| A．did believe in | B．didn’t believe |
| C．didn’t believe in | D．had no belief in |
【推荐1】“This has gone as well as I could have dreamed, and I can fly in the near future!” Yes, Alyssa Carson, a now-18-year-old astronaut from Baton Rouge, Louisiana is capable. For her, riding the most aggressive roller coaster in the park is not a big deal. If all goes according to her plans, NASA will send her to Mars in 2033, making her the first human to step foot on the planet. She will spend two to three years living there, growing food, performing science experiments and searching for signs of life. “The Martian is actually very accurate,” she said. “A lot of things that happened in the movie are similar to what is going to happen.” She has devoted her entire life to preparing for her journey.
Her love for space started when she watched a cartoon called The Backyardigans at the age of 3. Five animal pals on imaginary adventures in their backyard, including one part-a mission to Mars. “I thought ‘This red planet is so cool!’” she said. “I started watching videos of rovers’ landing on Mars. I had a large map of Mars in my room which I would look at every day. I started getting telescopes so I could look at space.
At 7, her father took her to space camp in Huntsville, Alabama. “That was the weekend of my life.” she said. I got to learn everything I had been wanting to know and I got to see a life-size rocket.” She cherished the rocket so much that she returned 18 times. At 12, she became the first person in history to attend all three NASA space camps in Huntsville, Alabama; Quebec, Canada and Izmir, Turkey.
At first she mastered the basics of space and how humans have explored it throughout time. As she got older she simulated (模拟) missions, trying to reach a destination in gravity-free, weightless zones.
When she was 9, she met NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus. The experienced explorer told her she was her age when she decided to go to space. At that moment Alyssa knew her love of space was not a hobby. “I did the same thing as other kids, like switching my mind about careers, wanting to be a teacher or the president one day,” she said. “But the way I always thought about it was I would become an astronaut, go to Mars, come back, and then be a teacher or the president.”
1. Which of the following about Alyssa Carson is right?| A．She has created model missions to Mars. |
| B．She is the youngest one who has completed astronaut training. |
| C．She is likely to be the first human to perform different tasks on Mars. |
| D．She has visited the space camp in Huntsville,Alabama for nearly 30 times. |
| A．The power of space dreams. |
| B．The popularity of space travel. |
| C．The importance of career choices |
| D．The excitement of her space experiences. |
| A．The Backyardigans is a cartoon for kids. |
| B．Alyssa will have many tasks to complete if she lands on Mars successfully. |
| C．Alyssa was forced to learn the basics of space science by her father. |
| D．Alyssa enjoys riding roller coasters like many other young people. |
| A．To introduce American space industry. |
| B．To promote the values of American teens. |
| C．To encourage tours to Mars. |
| D．To present a rising American space star. |
【推荐2】The end of any life is a time to look back and reflect on the historic events it has witnessed—and rarely can that be so more than in the case of Queen Elizabeth II, whose life witnessed several significant changes of the world stage.
The 96-year-old, whose death in Scotland was announced by Buckingham Palace shortly after 6 p.m. on Thursday Sep 8th, 2022, was born before the birth of talking pictures, and lived to see the era of virtual reality. She arrived in a world where her grandfather King George V was the Emperor of India, and left it with Britain still finding its feet on the world stage. Her life also saw the conquer of space and the fight with COVID-19 pandemic.
Born in 1926, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was the first child of Albert, Duke of York. The young Elizabeth had a comfortable, happy childhood, but all her life was switched in 1936. The Queen’s uncle, King Edward VIII, abandoned the throne (帝位) before he was even crowned, and instantly her shy father, as well as his wife and two daughters was into the spotlight as the country’s next king, a position he had never expected to take up. In 1952, when the young Princess Elizabeth was on a trip to Kenya, the news came through of the death of her father. At the age of 25, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, and a new era began.
Her death marks the end of a bond which ties modern Britain to the wartime era which continues to cast a giant shadow across the modern British political landscape. Her passing is also the end of an era for the world, as of all the world’s major political leaders, only US President Joe Biden, born in 1942, shares any connection to World War II.
She is now the past, and her successor, King Charles III, is the future. Where Britain goes from here, in what state of mind, and how it handles the challenge of keeping a balance between dealing with its past, working out its present challenges, and embracing its future, remains to be seen.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The significant advance of technology. |
| B．The rise and fall of Britain. |
| C．The great changes the Queen saw. |
| D．The difficulties the world went through. |
| A．Demanding. | B．Successful. | C．Normal. | D．Unexpected. |
| A．To show the Queen’s crucial historical meaning. |
| B．To compare the world’s major political leaders. |
| C．To stress the cruelty and sufferings of World War II. |
| D．To boost the relationship between Britain and the United States. |
| A．Keeping a positive state of mind. |
| B．Being committed to the superb past. |
| C．Maintaining the balanced present. |
| D．Dealing with the unknown challenges. |
【推荐3】You’ve probably visited the Tian’anmen Gatetower—the landmark building of Beijing，but you may not have heard of Kuai Xiang．Along with him，the following remarkable architects all took the center stage at their times．
Kuai Xiang(1399—1481)
Tian’anmen Gatetower is universally considered the brainchild of Kuai Xiang．By following in the footsteps of ancient homebuilders，he successfully presented the Emperor Judy with a grand wooden structure which has stood the test of time for almost 600 years．Visitors are also hooked on its delicate paintings.
Ieob Ming Pei (1917-present)
His motto is：Traditions should be sealed in glass boxes at museums．He is always struggling with innovation．Although under grilling from French conservative critics，he still planted a glass pyramid into the courtyard of the Louvre．His other works include John F．Kennedy Library，Beijing Fragrant Hill Hotel and Suzhou Museum．
Zaha Hadid(1950-2016)
In 2004，she became the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize，the Nobel Prize for architecture．She used tricks to maximize available space．Her fluid-style works pioneer the concept of micro-living. The curves(曲线)of Guangzhou Opera House perfectly match the rise and fall of its surrounding buildings，forming a unique view．
Meng Fanchao (1959-present)
Many people dismissed the building of a mega bridge as a pipe dream，but Meng Fanchao turned this into reality by building Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge．This longest cross-sea bridge，when viewed afar，looks like a dynamic dragon braving the rolling waves of Lingding Sea．
1. What can we infer about Kuai Xiang?| A．He never follows traditions． | B．He lacks financial support． |
| C．He is a successful architect． | D．He likes delicate hooks． |
| A．Positive． | B．Uncaring． |
| C．Subjective． | D．Disapproving． |
| A．They emphasize the use of space． | B．They set a remarkable record． |
| C．They like following others’opinions． | D．their works meet with a boycott． |
