1 . What Could We Do for Heroes?
From: Li Xinyi Time: 2021.1.11
In January 2021, COVID-19 struck Beijing, Heilongjiang, Jilin and my hometown, Hebei. At the same time, tons of thousands of doctors, nurses, policemen, community workers and volunteers worked together to fight against the disease. As middle school students, what could we do for these heroes?
Wang Xinnuo
I can’t do some big things for them, but I can do something within my ability. My parents are doctors and my elder brother is working as a volunteer in our community. So looking after my grandma is my job. I try my best to do it well. I won’t make troubles for them. It is a great support for their work.
Cao Yuchen
As a middle school student, study is important for me. I still study hard during this special time. Besides, I share some housework, which makes my parents happy. What’s more, I always keep my eyes on the development of COVID-19. I know following the doctor’s orders is the best choice. Give all doctors and nurses my best wishes.
Zhou Yuwei
I am making cards at home with my sister. We plan to send these cards to the volunteers in my community to show thanks to them after COVID-19. I hope they will like my gifts.
1. Where does Li Xinyi come from?| A．Beijing | B．Helongjiang | C．Jilin | D．Hebei |
| A．He works as a volunteer. | B．He studies at home. |
| C．He does housework. | D．He pays attention to COVID-19. |
| A．students should do nothing for the disease |
| B．the volunteers will be happy to receive the cards |
| C．Wang Xinnuo will follow the doctors’ orders |
| D．Zhou Yuwei is making cards for the doctors and nurses |
On October 16, the ministry of education（教育部） said that all high school entrance exams (中考）should include fine arts testing by 2022. And 12 cities in six provinces have started the practice. The scores change from 10 to 40 points.
This news has caused heated discussion. What will it mean for students? We invited two teenagers to share their ideas.
Zhao Xin, 14, Beijing
I’m in junior 2. we have a music class and a drawing class every week. Sometimes, the teachers show us movies about famous painters or musicians, telling their encouraging life stories. Studying music or fine arts is never a stress to me and the tests are only about what we’ve learned in class. What’s more, we have open-book exams in my school. Most of my classmates will get over 90 out of 100 points. I don’t think these subjects will be too difficult if they’re included in the high school entrance exams.
Zhao Hanfang, 15, Yunnan
I study in a village school. Our school doesn’t have separate music and art classroom. Every Friday, students from several classes will have music class in our library hall. With so many students, the teachers can’t check everyone’s singing in each class. It’s really hard for tone-deaf(五音不全） people like me to remember the melodies(旋律). So I need to do extra practice before the test, and I feel worried. So if music is included in the high school entrance exams, I might be under much pressure.
1. According to the ministry of education, what should all high school entrance exams include by 2022 ?| A．P.E. testing. | B．Computer testing. |
| C．Fine arts testing. | D．Spoken English testing. |
| A．Studying music or fine arts is a very big stress to Zhao Xin |
| B．Zhao Xin and his classmates can get good grades in the exams |
| C．Zhao Xin’s teachers show them some movies about famous actors |
| D．The tests about fine arts are not about what they’ve learned in class |
| A．Good. | B．Relaxed. | C．Stressed. | D．Surprised. |
3 . Five years is a rather short time in the long history of China. But for digital (数字的) development, a lot of changes have taken place in many aspects of our life.
Nowadays, it’s normal for people to communicate on WeChat, the most popular mobile social media platform in China. People take less cash (现金) with them because most of the stores and hotels accept WeChat Pay and Alipay.
In China, holding a mobile phone means having the world in your hands. You can shop, travel, communicate, have fun by using a mobile phone, and all of these tasks can be completed with a few finger taps. Without mobile phones, life would seem dull.
By the end of 2016, there were 695 million mobile phone users in China, an increase of 12 percent on year—on—year basis. The average mobile Internet data traffic reached 172 megabytes per month, which was far more than the global average.
At the two sessions (两会), Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that in 2017 the speed of mobile network would be increased and the cost would be reduced greatly. Mobile rates for domestic roaming (国内漫游) and long distance calls would be cancelled (取消).
Meanwhile, the TD-LTE 4G communication technology developed mainly in China has been accepted and widely used across the world.
In 2020, China’s 5G network is in service. It helps China’s mobile telecommunication overtake (反超) the international community’s.
1. People take less cash with them because _________.| A．cash isn’t useful any more | B．it’s easier to use online pay by mobile phone |
| C．many stores refuse cash | D．online pay is used in all stores and hotels |
| A．ordering something to eat | B．chatting with friends |
| C．playing games | D．cooking something delicious |
| A．Interesting. | B．Amazing. | C．Boring. | D．Exciting. |
| A．The cost of using mobile phones is lower |
| B．the speed of mobile network slowed down |
| C．Chinese users will make phone calls for free in the future |
| D．the using of mobile phones was cancelled |
| A．People can’t live without mobile phones. |
| B．The speed of mobile network and the cost would be increased greatly. |
| C．The TD—LTE 4G communication technology is only used in China. |
| D．China’s 5G network has already been in service. |
4 . When you spend three weeks reading a book, and a month later somebody asks you about it and you can’t remember anything you read. What’s your feeling? It makes you wonder why you wasted time on it.
There are some effective (有效的) ways to learn. And when I say “to learn effectively”, what I mean is to not just build up knowledge, but to be able to use that knowledge effectively. So I say, most of the courses people spend money on is not learning. Something is not truly learned until it changes you in some way.
●Memory is based on (基于) connections
One of my favorite online book clubs is Mentor Box. The club will send you books to read and study materials related (联系) to them. The materials can help you put what you’ve learnt into good use and make you remember things quickly.
You can do this on your own. When you read something useful, write down its connections with something in your life—how you can use the idea, how it can help with your problems, etc.
●Read in a right way
People believe they have to read everything, line by line, one after another. This is not true. When you buy a book, you’re not buying the words, you’re buying the useful ideas. The point of a book is the information that is important to you. What matters is the key idea. Once you’ve received that idea, there’s no reason to feel obligated to sit there and read the rest.
●Ask the right questions
Everything you read should be questioned. You can question the writer’s ideas, whether they’re explaining information correctly. When reading something you agree with, you can ask yourself, “Is it possible that this could be wrong?” Asking the right questions will decide the depth of your knowledge and understanding, not the ability to remember a lot of facts and numbers.
1. According to the writer, effective learning ________.| A．is spending a long time reading a book |
| B．helps you get a good feeling after reading |
| C．happens when knowledge changes you in some way |
| D．is the main purpose of the courses people spend money on |
| A．Joining our favorite online book club. | B．Always writing down somethings useful. |
| C．Studying the reading materials carefully. | D．Building connections between books and our life. |
| A．have critical spirit | B．remember the details well |
| C．find the information quickly | D．use the knowledge effectively |
| A．worried | B．forced | C．relaxed | D．surprised |
| A．How to Become A Better Learner | B．How to Remember Things Effectively |
| C．Ways of Building Connections in Your Life | D．The Importance of Asking the Right Questions |
5 . A few days ago, I received a letter from my Aunt Loraine.
It was a handwritten letter thanking me for some Shanghai cookies I had sent her. Aunt Lorraine is ninety-one years old and she has wonderful manners. That is why she sent me the “thank you” letter. She also has wonderful handwriting. Her penmanship (书法) is smooth. It is a pleasure to read.
Aunt Lorraine was educated half a century ago. At that time, penmanship was considered an important skill. Now, it is the age of e-mail and social media. Few people have the time or hope to practice their penmanship or write letters by hand.
This is not good. in my view, good penmanship still counts. This is especially true in school. If you want to get good grades, keeping your writing clean and beautiful will be important. Your writing might be full of good ideas. However, terrible handwriting can turn an A into a B. Awful handwriting can get you a D!
Good penmanship has other advantages, too. Since it's a skill, it trains your brain and develops your learning abilities. It also helps you organize your thoughts. And, believe it or not, that slow process of pushing a pen along paper improves your reading, spelling and even your pronunciation of English.
Apart from all these educational advantages, good penmanship also has personal advantages. A beautifully written letter to a friend is something he or she will treasure forever. A letter that looks as if a chicken bad danced across the paper will be quickly thrown away. I have kept the letter from my Aunt Lorraine. It's a great treasure!
1. Why did Aunt Lorraine write a letter to the author?| A．To express her thanks. | B．To show her wonderful manners. |
| C．To make herself pleased. | D．To set a good example to the author. |
| A．Getting good grades on your writing. | B．Organizing your thoughts. |
| C．Making your writing full of good ideas. | D．Improving your English pronunciation. |
| A．a boring letter | B．a great treasure | C．bad handwriting | D．good penmanship |
| A．To express the importance of clean and beautiful handwriting. |
| B．To share her pleasure of hearing from her aunt. |
| C．TO talk about her experiences of practicing penmanship. |
| D．To encourage people to write litters by hand instead of e-mailing. |
6 . Here is an experiment (实验) to see how ants can organize some clever teamwork.
 |  |
1. First you need some ants. You may have to wait until the summer to find them on paths around your home. | 2. When you have found an ant, put a thin slice of fruit in front of it. It may eat some of it or carry bits away. |
 |  |
3.Check the fruit after an hour. Have other ants been attracted to it? If so, what are they doing? | 4. When there are lots of ants, move the fruit to a new position a little to the side. What do the ants do? |
What’s going on?
You can see one of the best examples of insect teamwork by watching ants. If one ant finds food, it leads others there to eat it too. They follow each other by making long trait. The ants go back and forth collecting food, to take it back to their nest (穴). When you move the fruit, the ants will still find it. But instead of making a new direct route (路线) to the food, they will follow each other through their old trail route.
1. What will happen if one ant finds food?| A．The ant will eat all the food. | B．The ant will watch other ants. |
| C．The ant will lead others to the food. | D．The ant will wait until others come. |
| A．fail to find it | B．give up looking for it |
| C．make a new direct route to it | D．get to it through the old trail route |
a. Move the fruit to a new position.
b. Find an ant.
c. Check the fruit an hour later.
d. Put a thin slice of fruit in front of the ant.
| A．a—b—c—d | B．b—d—c—a | C．d—b—c—a | D．c—a—d—b |
| A．The experiment is done successfully in the lab. |
| B．Ants do the experiment to show their team spirit. |
| C．Careful watching does little help in this experiment. |
| D．We can find out some facts by doing small experiments. |
On a beautiful spring afternoon,
I relax and lie down.
On the soft green grass,
Breathing in the fresh smell that I can feel all around.
My attention is taken up to the clouds.
For up there in the bright blue sky.
Is a fluffy white world of cotton candy animals?
And castles built with marshmallow bricks.
But I must be creative and take the time
To bring this world into focus,
So I take a breath,
And close my eyes just a little bit.
As a tiny, cotton ball mouse
Jumps out from a lion's house.
What a treat to spend my afternoon
With these newly found friends moving by!
1. The poet is watching clouds ________.
| A．in the morning | B．at noon | C．in the afternoon | D．at night |
| A．Busy | B．Tired | C．Peaceful | D．Bored |
| A．show us where to watch clouds |
| B．teach us about cloud shapes |
| C．explain to us how clouds can change |
| D．tell us about his cloud watching |
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9 . You don't have to be a weatherman to tell people about the weather. If you notice the animals, the sky and the world around you, you can predict weather on you own.
Examine the moon or sun, but do not look at the sun directly or it will hurt your eyes seriously. If you see a ring around the sun or moon, then warm weather follows. A golden ring around the moon warns us that a storm is on the way. A yellow sunset is a sign that rain may be near. Feel the direction of the wind. A wind blowing from the east shows that a storm will probably happen. A wind from the west means a sunny day. Monitor(监控) the clouds. There are three things about clouds you should look for: movement, color and change. As a rule, the higher the clouds, the better the weather. And the lower the clouds, the worse the weather will be.
The rainbow has a message, too. If you see the sun in the east and a rainbow in the west, the rain may be coming your way. If the sun is in the west and the rainbow is in the east, the rain will be moving away from you. Look at your shoes as you walk through the grass in the morning. If the grass is wet with dew(露珠), then you can expect dry weather. But if the grass is dry, then it will be wise of you to take your umbrella.
1. The underlined word "predict" probably means ________ in the first passage.| A．观察 | B．研究 | C．预测 | D．改善 |
| A．a rainbow in the west | B．a yellow sunset | C．a wind from the west | D．a ring around the sun or the moon |
| A．a storm | B．a heavy snow | C．wind movement | D．better weather |
| A．to warn us of bad weather like storms | B．to share knowledge about weather |
| C．to tell us about the work of weathermen | D．to show us the importance of weather |
10 . The Internet is a place where we can talk freely. But it is also a place where we pay little attention to whether or not our language ability is becoming poorer.
According to a recent survey by China Youth Daily, more than 76 percent of young people in China said they felt their Chinese language skills have weakened. They don’t use difficult rhetorical technique (修辞手法) as often anymore. It is believed that digital technology and Internet emojis (表情符号) have changed their communication habits.
For example, direct expression is the preferred way to communicate online. When one sees something funny, one will simply type “hahaha” or use the “cry-laugh” emoji, Beijing Youth Daily reported. Also, “copy and paste (粘贴) ” culture is getting popular. People simply pick up expressions from the Internet without much thought. Many begin to use a fixed set of sentence patterns, such as “Whenever you disagree with each other, you ...”
Cai Xiaojia (not her real name), a teacher from Fuzhou, told China Youth Daily that words in general are being used less. For example, people can share photos online with little need for words to describe them.
If this trend (趋势) continues, it could influence our way of thinking, People’s Daily reported. When we use expressions without thinking, it means we have become too lazy to express our real feelings. If teenagers adopt casual (不正式的) methods of expression like emojis, they could lose the ability to use words properly.
To improve our language skills, experts suggest that we should try to think independently and develop our own language logic (逻辑).They also suggest that we should read more works of literature (文学). “Keep using different words to show your own feelings,” said Shen Xiaolong, a professor in the Chinese department at Fudan University.
1. What does the survey by China Youth Daily show?| A．About 76 percent of Chinese people are losing their language skills. |
| B．Over three quarters of young Chinese people think their language skills have weakened. |
| C．Rhetorical technique is becoming less important in the digital era (电子时代). |
| D．Young Chinese people don’t need to use words to describe photos they posted. |
| A．What people’s new communication habits are. |
| B．Which phrases are most popular on the Internet. |
| C．Why young people like using emojis. |
| D．Where young people learn new expressions. |
| A．good at thinking creatively | B．unable to use words properly |
| C．less interested in talking with others | D．satisfied with their laziness |
| A．suggest | B．use | C．need | D．describe |
| A．Think like an adult. |
| B．Stop using emojis. |
| C．Read works of literature |
| D．Use difficult language. |
