4 .

Located in the middle of the Egyptian desert is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Great Pyramid of Giza. Apart from being an unbelievable achievement, it also serves as the final resting place for the great Pharaoh Khufu. It has been standing for centuries and attracted travelers from all over the world. A survey shows one third people from America, one quarter people from Europe and two sevenths people from Asia hope to take a vacation to the great wonder. Yet, one question which has puzzled all of us is how this amazing wonder was built.

Many people don’t believe that humans were technologically advanced enough in ancient Africa to build such a large and highly advanced building. This brought about many crazy theories that the pyramids were built by a race of giants or even aliens from outer space. Another popular theory suggested that the pyramids were built by an army of poor slaves.

Modern technology and some recent findings have helped make it clear. An explorer accidentally found a tomb containing some written information about the builders. The records show that the workers were paid and well-fed, and came from poor families in Egypt. Further analysis made it clear that people considered it an honor to work on the pyramids, and the builders were treated with great respect. In fact, anyone who died while working on the pyramids was given the honor of being buried in the tomb near where the pharaohs lay.

To avoid exhaustion, the builders worked for about three months and then were allowed to stay at home to have a rest. A recent researcher shows that fifteen thousand people could have completed the building in about ten years. An analysis of the bones of the builders shows their work was extremely hard, as most of them were hurt badly. But thanks to their unbelievable effort, the human has an amazing wonder that should stand the test of time.

1. According to the survey, people from ________ most like to visit the Great Pyramid of Giza.

A．Asia

B．Africa

C．America

D．Europe

2. Why did ancient Egyptians build the great wonder?

A．To show how wise the people of that time.	B．To attract people to visit the ancient country.
C．To be the tomb for the Great Pharaoh Khufu.	D．To remember the people who built the wonder.

3. What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?

A．Some new findings about the modern technology.

B．New information about the builders of the Pyramids.

C．How ancient people built the unbelievable wonder.

D．The builders of the Pyramids had a better life than we thought.

4. Which of the following is TRUE about the Great Pyramid of Giza?

A．It lies in the center of Egyptian desert.

B．About 1,500 people built it for 10 years.

C．We still don’t know who built the great wonder.

D．It was one of the Seven Wonders of ancient Egypt.

5 . Most people have a favourite colour. I think green is the best colour. Here are some reasons.

So many things in nature are green! Grass is green. Leaves on trees are green. Animals like frogs, snakes, and turtles are green. That’s why I think green is the color of nature. When I see the colour green, I think of the beautiful nature and feel really relaxed.

The word “green” isn’t just about colour. It can also describe (描述) things that help the environment. We use old plastic (塑料) bottles to make new “green” bottles. This way is called “recycle”. In this way, we can use plastic bottles for many times. And these green things are safe to throw in the trash, because they won’t harm the Earth.

Also, the colour green is fun to make. All you have to do is mix yellow and blue together. Yellow and blue make green! You see, yellow and blue are primary colours. You can mix primary colours to make new colours. These are called secondary colours. Art makes my life colorful. Even though green is a secondary colour, it’s still number one to me!

1. 根据文章大意，从文章中选择合适的单词，将下面的语篇结构补充完整，每空一词。

	Green: The colour of __________	Many plants and __________ are green.
My __________colour	Green: Good for the environment	We __________ plastic bottles to use them again and again.
	Green: Fun to make	__________ colours can be mixed to make secondary colours.

2. 理解文中划线单词或短语的意思，然后选择正确的单词或短语填空（请填写序号，有一个多余选项）。

A. that’s why       B. harm       C. relaxed       D. even though       E. mix

I feel ________ when I have a good time with friends.
I love English, ________ I study English hard at school.
Let’s ________ the eggs with the milk first and make a cake together!
________ it is raining, we still want to go for a walk in the park.
3. 模仿以下句子结构，谈论你喜欢的颜色。
When I see the colour green, I think of the beautiful nature and feel really relaxed.
(When I see the colour..., I...)
_______________________________________________________________________

7 .

①Memory is the ability (能力) to remember things. A good memory can help us do better in school, such as language-learning. A few people are born with amazing memories, but most people need to improve their memories by practising. Here are some secrets (秘密) about memories.

②We can still remember things happened in our childhood (童年) but not those last week. In fact, if the things have strong connections with our feelings in our mind, we can remember them longer. When things happen for the first time, children often have strong feelings. Also, parents tell us the interesting or funny stories from our childhood again and again. As a result, we remember them much better.

③It’s natural for common people to forget the new words which they learnt yesterday. Hermann Ebbinghaus wrote a book called Memory and showed a famous forgetting carve. According to him, the quickest loss (失去) of memory happens during the first two days after learning. That means going over what we’ve learned during this time can help us very well to remember the information.

④A 15-year-old sometimes forgets things, but that doesn’t mean his or her memory is getting worse. Our memory gets the top at the age of 25. At that point, we can remember over 12,000 pieces of information in a minute. But after this age, the brain (大脑) starts to get smaller. By middle age, our memory is much worse than when we were young.

1. Why is it easier to remember things in our childhood?
a. Because they were special.       b. Because we got strong feelings from them.
c. Because they were helpful.       d. Because we heard them many times.

A．ad

B．bd

C．ac

D．bc

2. Which is the right picture for Hermann Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve?

A．	B．
C．	D．

3. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．A person has his or her best memory at the age of 25.

B．A fifteen-year-old’s memory is worse than a middle-aged man’s.

C．A person’s memory gets worse only because the brain gets smaller.

D．A child usually remembers over 12,000 pieces of information in a minute.

4. How is the passage organized?

A．

B．

C．

D．

8 .

The history of chocolate begins with Theobroma cacao. People make chocolate from the seeds on the tree. Chocolate means “food of the gods”. For many years, people enjoy the chocolate very much.

It is said that Mayan people of Central America first learned to plant cacao trees around 2,000 years ago. The Maya took the cacao trees from the rainforest and grew them around their homes. They cooked the cacao seeds, then made them into a soft paste. They put water and spices in the paste to make not sweet chocolate drink. But not all people could drink it because it was so expensive. Farmers grow cacao trees in many countries in Africa, Central and South America. The trees are difficult to grow.

Cacao and chocolate are an important part of Maya culture. Some people think the word for chocolate come from the Aztec word “xocolatl”, which means “not sweet water” in the Nahuatl language. Others think the word “chocolate” is from Mayan and Nahuatl words.

Chocolate making is a big business. Each year, the market of the cacao crop around the world can provide more than five billion dollars. People in the United States like chocolate very much. Everyone in America eats more than five kilograms of chocolate every year.

1. According to the passage, we know that Theobroma cacao is a kind of ________.

A．food

B．drink

C．plant

D．vegetable

2. The underlined word “it” means ________ in the passage.

A．water

B．spices

C．cacao seeds

D．chocolate drink

3. What’s the best title for this passage?

A．The history of chocolate.	B．The people of Mayan.
C．The way of growing cacao.	D．The business of chocolate.

9 .

Without the Internet or phones, communicating long distance is limited. Yet throughout history, cultures have developed ways to produce messages that travel miles. Morse Code is a system of communication. It uses patterns of signals to send and receive messages, often with a machine called a telegraph.

A telegraph is a machine that creates different signals from different messages. These signals are then changed into electrical current. They are sent across a wire. They can travel long distances, such as across the country or ocean. Another telegraph receives these signals. The machine changes the signals back into the original message.

In Morse Code, there are three types of signals. They are dots, dashes, and pauses. Dots (•) are the short noises or flashes of light. Dashes (━) are longer noises or flashes of light. Spaces (____) are the pauses. Patterns of these signals represent letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. In Morse Code, letter A is one dot and one dash, letter E is one dot, letter I is two dots. As for consonants, letter C is one dash, one dot, one dash and one dot, letter D is one dash and two dots, Letter T is one dash.

Morse Code was invented in the United States by Samuel Morse during the 1830s. People soon realized that the code could not transmit all messages in other languages. To fix this problem, a newer version called the International Morse Code was developed. International Morse Code is simpler and more exact. For example, the original Morse Code could only represent a few of the letters. The International Morse Code, on the other hand, is for all letters.

1. According to Paragraph 2, how does the telegraph work?
①The signals are sent across a wire.
②The signals are changed back to letters.
③Another telegraph receives these signals.
④The telegraph changes signals to electricity.

A．①④②③

B．①④③②

C．④①②③

D．④①③②

2. Look at the signals: •━   ━•━•   ━, which of the following do they mean?

A．Cat.

B．Act.

C．Eat.

D．Ted.

3. What happened after Morse Code couldn’t work in other languages?

A．It became very popular.	B．People stopped using it.
C．The telephone was invented.	D．A newer version was created.

4. What is the writing purpose of this passage?

A．To explain a secret message.	B．To introduce a type of phone.
C．To show a way to communicate.	D．To tell stories of an old machine.

10 .

	The year 2023 is filled with unusual holidays. Share them with your parents, teachers and friends.
	Fry An Egg On The Sidewalk Day (July 4) Have you heard the expression “It’s so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk”? It has been around for a long time, perhaps since a newspaper on June 11, 1899, according to the Library of Congress. No one knows who asked people to try this on July 4 (it is often very hot on that day). But Oatman, Arizona, takes it seriously. Each July Fourth, the Solar Egg Frying Competition in Oatman, Arizona, offers a prize for the best sun-cooked egg.
	Wonderful Weirdos Day (September 9) Austin, Texas, takes pride in being weird — doing things differently. A group of local people suggested an unofficial holiday encouraging everyone to do the same. To celebrate, be a little weird. Wear strange clothes or try an unusual hairstyle. And do it, as Austinites do, with pride.
	National Cocoa Day (December 13) People in South America started making chocolate from cocoa thousands of years ago. The drink they made was not very sweet, though. Spanish explorers later added sugar to it and brought it back to Europe. On December 13, have a cup of cocoa, and don’t forget the marshmallows.

1. Where is the Solar Egg Frying Competition held?

A．Texas.

B．Austin.

C．Arizona.

D．South America.

2. When is the day about a drink from South America?

A．June 4.

B．June 11.

C．September 9.

D．December 13.

3. What can we learn from the three titles?

A．Dates of some surprising holidays.	B．Important holidays in the US.
C．Places for celebrating different holidays.	D．Reasons to celebrate a few holidays.