1 . Bamboo is a wonderful plant for many people around the world. There are over 1,000 uses for it. People make tables, clothes, medicine, and musical instruments with it. Pandas may eat bamboo every day, and people can also eat it.
The fastest growing plant in the world is bamboo. Some bamboo grows so quickly that people say they can watch it grow. The speed of growth depends on the type of bamboo, the earth and the season. Normal bamboo grows 3—10 cm a day. It usually grows in tropical (热带的) areas. It can also be found in other parts of the world. Bamboo plants are found in Asia, Australia, parts of Africa, and South America.
One of the world’s oldest building materials is bamboo. Like today, people use it because it’s very strong. They use it to build houses, boats, and bridges. The Chinese made a bamboo bridge over the Min River in Sichuan, China almost 1,000 years ago. You can still visit it today. Also, bamboo is still used to build houses today, especially in China and Philippines.
As a part of history, bamboo is very important. The great scientist Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb (灯泡), but he made it perfect. He wanted the material inside to burn for a long period of time. He tried over 1,000 different types of materials. However, none worked very well. One day, he tried to use a piece of bamboo and the light bulb lit up for over a thousand hours. This invention helped other scientists to make the modern light bulb we use today.
根据短文内容，请用完整句子回答下列问题。
1. How many uses are there for bamboo?
2. Which plant is the fastest growing plant in the world?
3. What does the speed of growth depend on?
4. Why do people use bamboo today?
5. How long did the light bulb light up when Edison used a piece of bamboo to burn?
Reading books is a good hobby for all kinds of reasons. First, reading books is fun. You can always keep pleased if you like reading. It is a relaxing (放松) hobby too. You can really become lost in a book.
Next, you can read a book anywhere: in a car, in a waiting-room, on a plane, in bed—even in the bath.
All you need is a book! Reading is an easy hobby because you can stop and then start again.
Another good reason for reading books is that it is useful. If you read as a hobby you will get better and better at it. This means that you will read faster and will become better at understanding what you read. As your reading becomes better, you will probably find your schoolwork becomes much easier.
Some people say that reading is out of date. This is not true. You have to be able to read on the Internet.
The better you read, the better your computer skills will be.
Good readers are most likely to be good writers, too. They are usually good at spelling as well, and have more things to write about. Reading books is a wonderful hobby. What else could be more enjoyable!
Reading is good
| Fun | Because reading can make you feel |
| Easy | Because you can read at any |
| Because if you read better, you will do better in understanding. Reading can help you do the homework | |
| Reading on the Internet can make our computer skills become better. | |
| Reading is good for |
What will the house of the future look like? Could it have gardens on its walls, or a pool with fish for dinner? Architects believe that they are all possibilities. The only thing for sure is that the houses will be as green as possible.
The tree house
Many architects in the world would like to build a “tree house”. Like a leaf, the surface of the house collects sunlight during the day. The energy can be used to heat water, produce electricity, and even create fresh air for the home. The “root” of the house is deep under the ground. It uses the soil (土壤) to control the home’s temperature.
The Lizard house
Like a lizard (蜥蜴), changing colour with the weather is the most important design of a lizard house. When it’s in the bright sun, the cover of the house will turn dark to protect it from strong heat. During dark days, it turns white and takes in as much light and heat as possible to produce energy.
Meals at home
The future of food production (生产) will be one part of the house design. Gardens may appear on the outside walls of the house. People can plant tomatoes, carrots and green tea on them. So every day in the morning, you just need to walk outside and collect your meals.
Learning from the past
Looking to the future isn’t the only way to be green. Sometimes, ancient techniques can also help cut down energy use. For example, a chimney (烟囱) in the future house can be a useful air-conditioner because it is easier for hot air to go out at the chimney.
1. How many kinds of future houses are mentioned in the passage?2. What can we use the energy to do for the tree house?
3. What is the colour of the lizard house on sunny days?
4. Where can people plant tomatoes, carrots or green tea in the future house according to the passage?
5. According to the last paragraph, how can we make future houses green?
4 . Since early 2020, the use of mask (口罩) has increased greatly. Sadly, lots of used masks ended up in our ocean.
Single-used masks are mainly made of plastic. When they enter the ocean as litter, they will take as long as 450 years to break down. Straps (带子) of masks pose an entanglement (缠绕) risk for wildlife. In addition, masks can easily be mistaken for food and eaten by wildlife.
What can be done to help? Since most masks are made of several materials, it’s difficult to recycle them. Therefore, many people are calling for masks made of a single material. Degradable (可降解的) or reusable masks are also good choices. More importantly, the straps of masks should be cut off to prevent entanglement risks for wildlife.
Government policy is also important. Creating an effective disposal (处理) system is as important as letting the public know the importance of proper disposal of used masks. What’s more, it would be helpful to encourage technological development in producing reusable or degradable masks.
1. How long will it take for a single-used mask to break down in the ocean?2. Why might some animals eat masks?
3. What should we do with mask straps?
4. How many suggestions for the government are mentioned?
5. What does the passage mainly talk about?
5 . Count your blessings（祝福）, we’re told, but it’s just not in our nature. We’d rather count our problems. We’re so used to focusing on bad news that we tend to pay no attention to what’s going well. As soon as we solve one problem, we take the progress for granted and find a new cause for alarm. Every now and again it doesn’t hurt to think how good we have it. Start counting:
Free time
As much as we complain about being busy, the typical American has more free time than ever—more than five hours per day. If you feel too busy, it’s probably only because you’re doing so many other things than work. Experts say there’ll be even more free time in the future.
Peace
Wars and terrorist attacks will always make headlines, but it’s remarkable how many of the world’s 6.7 billion people now live in peace. In recent decades, though the population has been growing, the number of wars around the world has declined. In some earlier generations, a quarter of the male population died violent deaths. Over the past century, even counting the world wars, a person’s chance of dying from war was less than 2 percent.
American dream
While some people are struggling to keep their homes, the vast majority of Americans still have plenty to be thankful for when they walk through the front door. In 1950 the typical new American house had one floor with 1,000 square feet, two bedrooms, and one bathroom—and even that bungalow was beyond many people’s means. Today, more than two thirds of Americans own their homes, and the typical new house has two floors, at least three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and more than 2,200 square feet of space for the family.
The reader’s revolution
In 1970 barely half the people in the world were literate, and many of them could afford only a few books. Today, more than 80 percent of the world’s people can read, and 22 percent have access to the greatest library in history. The Web provides classic books and reference works free of charge.
More wilderness
Once you travel beyond the cities, you’ll find plenty of open space and peaceful forests. Many of the woodlands cleared by settlers have returned now that the land is no longer needed for agriculture.
The modern cars
Cars give off greenhouse gases and create maddening traffic jams, but consider what else they do. Compared with the models on the road in 1970, today’s cars burn less gasoline per mile and emit 98 percent fewer pollutants. That’s why, despite the doubling of the number of cars, there’s much less smog in the air. The basic car today offers more comforts and safety than the luxury（豪华）cars of old.
阅读短文，填表格，每空一词。
| Title | Six reasons to be thankful |
| Problems | We tend to focus on our problems and ignore what’s going well. Even with problems solved immediately, we still |
| The blessings we should count | Today Americans have more free time than ever. |
| The number of people dying of wars has declined despite the | |
| Owing a two-floor house with at least 3 bedrooms has been within the | |
| More reading materials are available to readers and more than 80% can read. | |
| More land for agriculture has made | |
| The basic cars are much |
6 . DNA is the whole “map” of the human body. It is something that all humans have, and it tells the body what to do. DNA is the reason that we look like our parents, because we get some of their DNA to make our own.
People have been trying to understand the human body for a long time. In 1860, Mr. Mendel discovered why we look similar to other people in our family. It is because of small things called “genes” in our body. In 1953, two scientists, Watson and Crick, found out that those small parts are real messages. They are written in the DNA with a special language.
In 1961, another two scientists found the first “word” that they could understand in that language. It shows how DNA tells the cell （细胞） to build its parts. So far, scientists have found all the words in the DNA map, but we do not understand what they all do. By understanding what just one “word” means, we can help to save people from several illnesses. So the more we understand, the more doctors will be able to do.
Most people hope that this will help to make better medicine to help sick people. Other people worry that when we learn more “words” and find out more information, we will use it in the wrong way, just to make people more attractive, or stop sick people getting jobs.
根据短文内容，请用完整句子回答下列问题。
1. Why do we look like our parents?
2. What did the two scientists find in 1961?
3. How can we help sick people if we understand more “words” in the DNA map?
4. What does the underlined word “They” refer to?
5. What can we know from the last paragraph?
7 . Nexi is one of a new generation of robots. It moves on wheels and can pick up objects. But robots like Nexi are more than just entertaining toys.
Nexi, a social robot created by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT), can express human emotions. Roboticists at MIT call Nexi a “social robot”. A social robot is a robot that can communicate like a human. Nexi can look sad, mad, and even bored. Some social robots can also “read” our facial expressions. Roboticists believe that it won’t be long before we have social robots in our homes, helping us live better lives.
Autom is another social robot developed at MIT. Autom is a robot health coach. It has a screen where you enter information about what food you eat that day or how much you exercised. Autom has a face with eyes that move. It speaks with a synthesized（合成的）voice. Autom gives you advice about your diet and exercise and drives you to do better.
In a test, Autom helped people lose weight better than other ways of recording diet information. Roboticists think this is because Autom used facial expressions and words of encouragement. In other words, Autom communicated like a real person. In fact, many people who used Autom gave the robot a new name and talked to it. When robots use human expressions and body languages, people reply to them a lot like they reply to people.
In the future, humans may communicate with social robots just like they do with other people. Let’s wait and see what will happen in the future!
1. What can Nexi do according to the passage?2. What does the underlined word “emotions”mean in Chinese?
3. Is it possible or impossible that Autom can communicate with us?
4. Why did Autom help people lose weight better than other ways?
5. What will our life be like if we have a social robot at home?
In classes, your teachers will talk about the topics that you are studying. The information they provide will be important for you to know when you take tests. So you must be able to take good written notes from what your teachers say.
Here are three stages (阶段）of taking notes and what you should do during each stage.
Before class
Review your notes you have taken before you come to class. This will be good for remembering what was covered. Get you ready to understand new information your teacher will provide.
During class
Keep your attention on what your teacher is saying and “the signal words” that tell you what your teacher is going to say and it is important to write in your notes. Examples of signal words are “The most important point.”and “Remember that...” Be sure to include in your notes information that your teacher repeats or writes on the blackboard. Write quickly so that you can include all the important information in your notes. Do this by writing abbreviations such as med for medicine, using symbols such as % for percent, and writing short sentences.
After class
Rewrite your notes to make them more complete and accurate（准确的）by changing abbreviations into whole words, symbols into words, and shortened sentences into longer sentences. Use them to answer your questions. If necessary, ask your teacher for help.
Taking notes | ||
| The information that is | ||
| Stages | Before class | »Review the notes you have taken to remember what was covered » |
| During class | »Listen to your teacher carefully. »Be sure to include the important points. »Write them down | |
| After class | »Make you notes more complete and accurate to »Ask for your teacher’s help. | |
9 . Two new studies showed that some modern running shoes were not good for runners. There were some healthy younger women and men in one study. They ran at least 24 kilometers a week. The runners sometimes wore running shoes; Sometimes they ran without shoes. This study showed that running shoes could make knees (膝盖), hips (臀) and ankle joints (踝关节) hurt.
In the other study, there were three groups of runners. One group ran without shoes. Another group ran with shoes. And the third group changed to shoeless (无鞋的) running. Runners running with shoes usually come down heels (脚后跟) first. That is not good for the back of the foot. And the study found that runners running without shoes landed on the front or middle of their feet. It is good for their heels.
But the two studies don’t mean that runners should start running without shoes at once. They say the runners should take some training.
One study | The other study |
| ✱There were some ✱These runners ran at least 24km a ✱They study showed running shoes were bad for runners’ health. | ✱There were ✱One group ran without shoes. Another group ran with shoes, and the third group |
| Conclusion (结论): Runners shouldn’t start running | |
10 . Xiamen becomes world-famous because of the Brics(金砖国度) in 2017. It was held in this “garden city on the sea” in September. There are five members in Brics. They are China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. The leaders(首脑) of the five countries get together in Xiamen to discuss the economy(经济), art, education, culture and so on.
All the eyes from every part of the world stared at Xiamen, China at that time. Xiamen is a beautiful seashore city, in the southeast of Fujian. It’s not only famous for the beaches, but also for Gulangyu. Gulangyu is called “the piano island”. You can enjoy the sweet piano sound and delicious seafood on the island as well. If you come to Xiamen, be sure not to miss Zengcuoan and Zhongshan Street. They are ancient(古老的) and beautiful, full of tourists from all over the world every year. If you are a bicycle lover, you need to come to Xiamen right now. The city has the longest bicycle path(道路) in the world. And it is the first bicycle path in China. It is more than 7 kilometers long. You can enjoy cycling on the special path safely.
Are you ready to have a trip to Xiamen? You are welcome to Xiamen!
根据短文内容回答问题。
1. Which countries are the members of the Brics in 2017?
2. What did the leaders discuss?
3. Which place in Xiamen can you enjoy the sweet piano sound?
4. How long is the special bicycle path in Xiamen?
5. How many places in Xiamen are mentioned in Paragraph 2?
