1 . In America, there are chores for children of different ages. American people think it’s important to tell children their duty (责任) in the family. They think that a 2-year-old child is never too young to do chores. If you have no ideas, use this list (列表) of age chores for your children.

Ages 2—3 Help make the bed. Pick up (收拾) toys and books. Take the dirty clothes to the laundry (洗衣) room. Help feed pets.	Ages 4—5 Clear and set the table. Help cook dinner.
Ages 6—8 Look after pets. Take out the rubbish.	Ages 9—12 Help wash the car. Learn to wash the dishes. Clean the bathroom.

1. What can Bob, a 5-year-old boy do?

A．Look after pets.

B．Help cook dinner.

C．Take out the rubbish.

D．Help wash the car.

2. Susan’s mother always asks her to help clean the bathroom. How old may Susan be?

A．2 years old.

B．4 years old.

C．7 years old.

D．10 years old.

3. Why do American people think children should do chores in the family?

A．Because children have too much free time.	B．Because children should develop good habits.
C．Because it’s important to tell children their duty.	D．Because parents want their children to be good.

2 . Do you often ask questions? Children are known for wanting answers to many questions, because curiosity (好奇心) is part of human nature. Books and TV shows often depend on curiosity. People keep reading or watching because they want to find out what happens.

As we know, curiosity provides many advantages. Many of history’s greatest discoveries were made by curious people. People wondered how things worked and how work could be done more quickly. Thanks to their curiosity, people now know far more about the world and have useful technology to help them. Even if you don’t plan to be an inventor or researcher, curiosity can still help you in the classroom. If you develop the curiosity of learning, classes will become more interesting. You will be good at them because you enjoy the process of learning. Even if you’re no longer a student, curiosity will make you an able worker.

What will you do if you’re not already curious? Luckily, curiosity is a skill that can be improved. Often, the more you learn about a topic, the more interesting it becomes. To improve your curiosity, get information from as many sources (来源) as possible when you learn about a topic. At the same time, read all kinds of books, watch or listen to speeches and ask questions. Don’t always get information in the same way. Instead, learn to understand the facts that different people know.

Don’t assume you already know everything. Instead, search for other possibilities and opinions. Remember, everyone knows something that you don’t know. Find out what it is, and ask about it. This lets you learn something and makes the other people happy by letting them show off their knowledge. Let’s try to become people who are full of curiosity.

1. Children like to ask questions because they ________.

A．they don’t know human nature	B．they are born with natural curiosity
C．they like reading and watching	D．they don’t want to find the answers

2. What can curiosity help you in the classroom?

A．It can make you cleverer than before.	B．It can make the classes easier for you.
C．It can help you feel relaxed.	D．It can help you enjoy the process of learning.

3. Which can be helpful to improve your curiosity?

A．Reading only one kind of book.	B．Getting information from many sources.
C．Showing others your knowledge.	D．Getting the information in the same way.

4. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Try to Be Curious	B．Make Others Happy
C．Learn to Ask Questions	D．Discoveries Made by Curious People

3 . Happy Rain on a Spring Night

DuFu

Good rain knows its time right;

It will fall when comes spring.

With wind it steals in night;

Mute, it moistens (使湿润) each thing.

O’er wild lanes (小路) dark cloud spreads;

In boat a lantern looms.

Dawn sees saturated reds;

The town’s heavy with blooms.

Translated By Xu Yuanchong

This famous poem, with four couplets (对句), was written by Du Fu (712-770, Tang Dynasty) when he was living and farming in Chengdu. This farming experience taught him to be thankful to nature.

The very first word, “good”, shows the poet’s joy and love for the spring rain. The rain is good because it “knows” the proper time to come. Here the poet uses personification (拟人), as if the rain was smart enough to come in time for the farmers’ busy season.

When the rain comes, it appears during the night without making any noise. Unlike the summer storms, the spring rain finishes its task without being known.

In the third couplet, the poet describes peaceful scene to us. In the night sky, the clouds look dark and heavy. It’s a sign that there will be enough rain during the night. The light from the riverboat makes the dark scene a bit bright.

Lastly, the poet starts to imagine. Tomorrow morning, he thinks, the city of Chengdu will become beautiful when all of the flowers bloom (盛开) after the rain.

1. What’s the Chinese title of the poem Happy Rain on a Spring Night?

A．《春望》

B．《春夜喜雨》

C．《夜雨寄北》

D．《旅夜书怀》

2. Why does Du Fu say “Good rain knows its time right”?

A．Because it comes quietly without any noise.

B．Because it’s just right for this busy farming season.

C．Because it appears during the night.

D．Because it has enough energy to make the whole city dark.

3. Which word can be used to describe the rain in this poem?

A．Busy.

B．Dark.

C．Quiet.

D．Heavy.

4. Which of the following uses personification (拟人)?

A．With wind it steals in night.

B．In boat a lantern looms.

C．The town’s heavy with blooms (blooming flowers).

D．O’er wild lanes dark cloud spreads.

5. Which question could best help us find out the writer’s purpose?

A．Did the writer show his thanks to nature?

B．Did the writer love and enjoy farming?

C．Did the writer expect the flowers to bloom?

D．Did the writer miss his hometown?

4 . 5G networks have been considered as one big thing for this century. They allow people to get faster services. Downloading information takes only seconds, instead of minutes.

But no true 5G phones are able to be used now. It won’t work with 5G until such services are built.

Users will need an adapter to bring in 5G signals. There’s completely no need for users to worry about the safety of 5G signals.

Where will we probably see 5G first? The answer is in our living rooms. The speeds, about 20 times faster than the standard home Internet connection, are very likely to do wonders in our living rooms. Many users are tired of spending $100 or more monthly in booking cable (有线的) TV. They no more choose cable TV and begin to use streaming (在线播放) services connected to their broadband (宽带) service instead.

Besides faster access, connectivity might get a little cheaper in future for users only if a complete 5G network is set up. However, the cost of programs and apps will go up. Meanwhile, users are in great need of ordering more monthly services. Comparatively speaking, users are likely to pay more for 5G services. So far now, it’s mainly used at home.

1. People can feel 5G’s advantage directly by its ________.

A．surprising speed	B．comparatively low cost
C．powerful function	D．convenient Internet connection

2. Why are 5G phones not widely used today?

A．Because services are limited.

B．Because special equipment isn’t built yet.

C．Because 5G signals are not strong enough.

D．Because the safety of 5G signals is not for sure.

3. Where does this passage probably come from ________.

A．A story book	B．A science fiction
C．A popular science book	D．A research report

5 . Some people don’t like storms, but I think they are very exciting.

There are often storms at the end of a hot summer day. The clouds are small and white at first.

However, they get bigger and bigger until they make one large black cloud. The sky gets dark and it starts to rain hard. And then the streets are like swimming pools. There is a flash of bright light in the sky and then, after a few seconds, you can hear the loud “bang” of thunder.

Light travels very fast, so we always see the lightning (闪电) before we hear the thunder. If the clouds are one kilometer away, you can count to three, between the lightning and the thunder.

Lightning is very beautiful but it can also be dangerous. Lightning is electricity (电流) “jumping” to the ground from a cloud. It usually hits tall things, so if you are outside when there is thunder and lightning, don’t stand under a tree or tall building. You’d better stay in a car.

1. The streets are like swimming pools because ________.

A．the cloud is large and dark	B．the sky gets dark
C．it rains hard	D．it’s a hot summer day

2. If the clouds are three kilometers away, you can count to ________ between the lightning and the thunder.

A．three

B．six

C．nine

D．twelve

3. What should you do when there is thunder and lightning?

A．Climb up a tree.	B．Stand under a tree.
C．Stand under tall things.	D．Stay in a car.

6 . Sometimes you might feel it impossible to get on with your parents. But in fact, it isn’t as difficult as you think. Follow these ways, and then you’ll improve your relationship with them.

Spend more time with your parents. Your parents won’t always be around, so try to spend more time with them. This doesn’t mean just sitting in front of the TV together. Instead, you should do more activities with your parents together. By doing them, all of you will feel happy and relaxed.

Talk with your parents more often. In order to understand them better, you should talk with them more often. Try to learn more about their own childhood. In this way, you will understand them better.

Always listen to your parents. This may seem simple, but it’s often hard er than you think. Look at your parents when they are talking. Don’t interrupt them, and then speak clearly when replying to them.

Share your feelings with your parents. Sometimes your parents also want to learn more about you. Just do your best to open your heart to them. When possible, talk to them about something at school or what you really want to be in the future.

Make your parents feel proud (自豪的). There are always some ways to make your parents feel good about you. By work hard, you can do well at school or win prizes in games. They will think how lucky they are to have you and be more willing to talk about you in front of others.

1. Who is the passage written for?

A．Parents.

B．Children.

C．Old people.

D．Teachers.

2. How can you get on with your parents according to the second paragraph?

A．By watching TV with them all the time.	B．By helping them to do chores.
C．By making up stories about them.	D．By spending more time with them.

3. What might the underlined word “interrupt” mean in Chinese?

A．注视

B．关心

C．打断

D．失去

4. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Here are five different ways to help you get on with your parents.

B．It’s important to learn to share your feelings with your parents.

C．Your good grades or prizes usually make your parents feel proud.

D．To improve the relationship with your parents, you should do everything for them.

5. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．When to talk to your parents.

B．How to get on with your parents.

C．Why should we study hard at school.

D．How to make your parents feel proud.

7 . About 130 million books come out in the human history. A reader will read at most 6,000 books in his life. Most of them won’t be so much fun or very unforgettable. Books are like people. We meet many but fall in love with a small part of them.

Maybe we will only remember about thirty books. They will be different for each of us, but they affect (影响) us in similar ways.

_______________ When we see a bird flying in the sky, we have a great feeling, but we may find it hard for us to use words to show our feelings and finally we just say, “That’s so nice.” However, a good writer can describe it wonderfully.

Great writers build bridges for us so that we can talk with each other. They depict the similar experiences of us, and show us how we can share the same thing with each other in a different way.

Great writers also help us to feel. By reading a book, we meet someone. Probably she is very beautiful, young, smart but dying, and we feel sad about her pain (疼痛) and the unfairness (不公平) of the world. Or maybe she is poor but hard-working, and we find the spirit to face the difficulties in life through her story.

1. What do the first two paragraphs tell us?

A．A person should read as many books as possible.

B．A person should read at least 30 books in his life.

C．A person can read many books and remember all of them.

D．A person may read many books, but he only remembers some of them.

2. What sentence can we put back into the blank (空白) in the third paragraph?

A．Books make us become great writers.

B．Books make us show our feelings better.

C．Books make us become smarter than others.

D．Books make us want to learn about lots of things.

3. What does the underlined word “depict” mean?

A．control

B．describe

C．share

D．imagine

4. Which question does the passage answer?

A．Why should we read books?	B．How can we choose good books?
C．How many books should we read?	D．Whose books are the best in the world?

8 . Many social media posts (社交媒体帖子) may let you believe that everyone is happy all the time, but being happy all the time is not possible.

As a teenager, you probably expected to get good grades in an exam or to win the most important basketball game, but it didn’t happen. Good results make you happy and bad results make you sad. But sadness can drive you to improve yourself next time.

However, when people get into sadness for a long time and it starts to affect (影响) their lives, it’s called depression (抑郁). You don’t want to get out of bed. You don’t feel like studying or going out with your friends. I remember the same feeling when my dog Rebel died in an accident. I remember that he followed me to school. Now he was gone, and I lost all interests to do anything.

My parents told me dogs don’t live forever. What was more, Rebel had a good life. If I had a good life, Rebel must be happy, too.

Depression is not a person’s mistake. It’s normal to feel sad sometimes. Many great people, like the comedy actor Jim Carrey, once get depressed. But you should know what to do to stop depression or make yourself less depressed.

When you feel down, you must not keep yourself away from the world. Try to share your feelings with a family member or a good friend. Staying at home by yourself will make you more lonely. You should stand up, open the window, and throw away (抛弃) the sadness.

1. What happened to the writer after his dog died?

A．He still had a good life.	B．He lost interests in anything.
C．He lost an important game.	D．He went to school with his parents.

2. What does Jim Carrey’s example tell us?

A．It’s normal to feel sad sometimes.	B．It’s hard to get out of sadness.
C．It’s useful to watch comedies.	D．It’s easy to stop depression.

3. Which is the writer’s advice on depression?

A．Staying at home alone.	B．Keeping yourself away from the world.
C．Getting out of bed early.	D．Sharing your feelings with others.

4. In which part of a magazine can you probably read the text?

A．Story.

B．Culture.

C．News.

D．Health.

5. Why does the writer write the text?

A．To tell us that everyone is happy all the time.

B．To talk about people’s worry about depression.

C．To make us understand depression better.

D．To tell us depressed people sometimes make mistakes.

9 . Do you know a large number of young people are influenced by all kinds of choices today? This can be a good thing or a bad thing, but it leads some young people to experience “mental internal friction (精神内耗)”.

Experts regard “mental internal friction” as the confusion (困惑) that happens when people have to change their thoughts in order to move from “old ideas” to “new ideas”. They have to ask themselves such questions as “Are the new ideas good?” “Do they fit me?” or “Will they make me feel happy?” It is certainly not easy to discover the answers to these questions, especially when you are still too young to have enough life experience to make proper decisions. So there are some suggestions to help you reduce your “mental internal friction”.

Be consistent with yourself. Always act and behave in a way that is true to your values and beliefs. To this end, you will always need to check yourself. As an old saying goes, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom (智慧).” You have to honestly think about your own personal habits, and even fears and worries.

Develop new interests. A friend of mine decided to learn about the Beijing Opera. This may sound strange, but he said that learning about “old things” made it easier for him to deal with the “new things” of modern life and all of those changes.

Spend time with nature. Society and technology may change, but nature remains the same. Being with nature takes some time, but it will help you know yourself and forget the stress of “mental internal friction”.

All in all, we can do something to deal with “mental internal friction”. Hope everything can make you find your inner peace (内心的平静).

1. What may lead to “mental internal friction” for young people?

A．Staying up late to work.	B．Having bad relationships.
C．Giving up hopes.	D．Making too many decisions.

2. What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us?

A．Most people are used to changing thoughts.

B．Young people have less experience in making proper decisions.

C．It’s easy for young people to make decisions properly.

D．Mental internal friction is caused by old ideas.

3. Which sentence is close to the underlined sentence?

A．Change your habits.	B．Improve your wisdom.
C．Always be true to yourself.	D．Face your fears bravely.

4. What can nature help us with the “mental internal friction”?

A．Let go of our stress.	B．Accept ourselves.
C．Deal with new things easier.	D．Develop new interests.

5. Which can be a proper title for the text?

A．Influence of Getting Too Much Stress	B．Advice on Making Proper Choices
C．Meanings of Having Inner Peace	D．Tips on Dealing with Mental Internal Friction