1 . Once there were many thousands of Gourma Desert (沙漠) elephants in Mali, a country in West Africa. Now, there are fewer than four hundred.
Why did the number of the elephants drop so quickly? On the one hand, the elephants’ main lake, their only water source (来源), dried up. On the other hand, the land which the elephants lived on was overused by humans.
To protect the elephants’ living environment, the Mali Elephant Project (MEP) was started in 2007. MEP met with local people and helped them make rules of using land and water. As a result, the situation became better and there was more food, forest and grassland.
However, from 2012 to 2016, poaching (偷猎) and illegal trade in the elephants increased rapidly. Eighty-three elephants were lost in 2015 alone, and another fifty-one elephant were killed in 2016. “If this situation goes on, all the Gourma elephants will be killed by 2020,” said a member of MEP.
Luckily, the voice of MEP was heard. More organizations (组织) have joined together to educate the local people that trading elephants is against the law. Elephant poaching has dropped to a very low level. The local people have learned to live peacefully with the elephants, one of the wildlife treasures in the world.
1. MEP was started to ________.| A．raise more elephants in Mali | B．stop the main lake from drying up |
| C．discover water source for elephants | D．protect the elephants’ living environment |
| A．公平的 | B．亏损的 | C．非法的 | D．合理的 |
| A．in 2012 | B．in 2015 | C．in 2016 | D．in 2020 |
| A．the number of organizations has dropped | B．there is much less elephant poaching now |
| C．the local people keep the elephants at home | D．the whole world live peacefully with elephants |
| A．the rules of using land and water | B．the education of the local people |
| C．the work of Mali Elephant Project | D．the situation of Gourma Desert elephants |
2 . If life can be compared to a meal, I think the mistakes are like salt and the success is a candy.
“Hey,” said the boy whose name I couldn’t remember, sitting next to me. “Don’t worry. Take your time.” And so I did. But I still couldn’t pronounce my Chinese name that was given by the teacher. I was so embarrassed on my first day of learning Chinese.
I took Chinese classes during my summer vacation. Every morning I walked for 25 minutes to the class while having a Chinese pancake from one of the breakfast carts(推车) on the way. Learning Spanish in school was a cushy job for me, because I could speak French and Italian which helped me with it. However, learning Chinese was difficult at first. As a boy who was born in America and grew up in America, I knew nothing about the language and had no experience of learning the language. I chose it mainly because my goal was to teach and work internationally.
As the classes went on, I slowly found that I was making connections. My 10 years of playing the piano has allowed me to perform for others. My several years of writing has led me to become a school reporter. I knew that my Chinese classes would allow me to speak Chinese well. As the teachers helped me build up the confidence, I soon began tasting the sweetness.
So what did my summer really taste like? It tasted like the Chinese food that, for the first time, I did not order in English, my mother language.
1. Why did the writer feel embarrassed in his first Chinese class?| A．Because he had no Chinese name. | B．Because he forgot his Chinese name. |
| C．Because he had bad Chinese pronunciation. | D．Because he couldn’t write his Chinese name. |
| A．common | B．easy | C．popular | D．interesting |
| A．French | B．English | C．Italian | D．Spanish |
| A．He is good at playing the piano. | B．He doesn’t like Chinese food at all. |
| C．He is interested in writing and painting. | D．He wants to be a Chinese teacher in the future. |
| A．An unpleasant day at school. | B．How to get on with Chinese teachers. |
| C．How to develop an interest in Chinese. | D．A sweet experience of learning Chinese. |
3 . “Amy! Milk!” Mama called.
Milk. It was Amy’s turn to get it. Amy sighed and shut her first-aid(急救) book.
Amy tied the cow close to a tree. Somewhere down the mountain, some volunteer doctors were teaching medical skills to village nurses. Amy heard Betty dive off hours ago. “She should have taken me with her. She thinks I’m too young.” Amy thought. “But she’s wrong. I am already 15!”
Amy carried the milk back to Mama, then wandered up the road. Roy, a village boy, was trying to stand on a horse’s back. “No wonder they don’t trust kids with anything important,” Amy thought.
She had just turned away when she heard a heavy fall and a few cries. Roy was on the ground. “Roy!” The kids nearby ran towards him. “Get Betty,” one said. Amy shook her head. “Betty’s gone to the city.”
The kids didn’t know what to do. Amy ran to Roy and saw one of his legs out of shape. A broken leg! She remembered what the first-aid book said about it.
“Victor!” Amy called to one of the boys. “Go get Roy’s mama, and find someone with a truck,” She turned to the others. “Give me your shirts. We need something to tie his leg with.”
Amy then found a strong, straight stick. She carefully wrapped the shirts around Roy’s leg and the stick. Roy cried out in pain. “I know it hurts,” Amy said softly. “But this will hold it still until you get to the hospital.”
When Amy was done, she looked up and saw Roy’s mama and a man watching beside a truck. “Thank you, Amy,” Roy’s mama said. Amy helped them lift Roy into the truck, then they drove down the hillside towards the hospital.
The next day, Betty came to Amy’s home. “I heard what you did,” Betty said. “You kept your head in an emergency. That’s an important skill.”
Amy’s face turned red. “I was afraid ...”
Betty shook her head. “It’s OK for a nurse to be afraid, as long as she has a clear head. The volunteer doctors are coming tomorrow with vaccines. We need some more hands. Can you help?”
“I’d love to.” Amy replied at once.
“Come early, then. There is a lot to learn.”
Amy smiled. “I’ll bring my first-aid book.”
1. Why didn’t Betty take Amy with her to the medical training?| A．Amy was busy reading. | B．Amy had to milk the cow. |
| C．Betty left too early in the morning. | D．Betty thought Amy wasn’t old enough. |
| A．He fell off the horseback. | B．He was kicked by the horse. |
| C．He successfully stood on the horseback. | D．He was pulled off the horseback by the kids. |
a. She found a proper stick. b. She helped lift Roy into the truck.
c. She asked the boys for some shirts. d. She tied the shirts around the broken leg.
e. She sent someone to get Roy’s mum and a truck.
| A．c-e-a-b-d | B．a-c-e-d-b | C．e-c-a-d-b | D．e-c-a-b-d |
| A．Amy had similar experiences before. |
| B．Amy was cool-headed when giving first-aid. |
| C．Betty regretted not taking Amy to the training. |
| D．Betty realized that Amy had become a good doctor. |
| A．Only trained doctors and nurses can provide first-aid. |
| B．Knowledge from books can help solve real-life problems. |
| C．Children need enough practice before they can be helpful. |
| D．Helping with housework is important to children’s health. |
4 . American people like to say “Thank you” when others help them or say something kind to them. People in many countries do so, too. It is a very good habit.
You should say “Thank you” when someone passes you the salt on the table, when someone walking ahead of you keeps the door open for you, when someone says you have done your work well, or you have bought a nice thing, or your city is very beautiful. “Thank you” is used not only between friends, but also between parents and children, brothers and sisters.
“Excuse me” is another short sentence they use. When you hear someone say so behind you, you know that someone wants to walk past you without touching you. It's not polite to break others when they are talking. If you want to speak to one of them, say “Excuse me” first, and then begin talking. You should also do so when you begin to cough or make any noise before others.
Let's learn to say “Thank you” and “Excuse me”.
1. You should say “Thank you” when ________ .| A．you say something kind to others | B．you help others |
| C．someone helps you | D．you want others to help you |
| A．used in the world | B．used more often than “Excuse me” |
| C．used only by Americans | D．used only between friends |
| A．cough | B．make some noise | C．go first | D．all of the above |
| A．Thank you | B．That's very kind of you | C．Excuse me | D．I'm sorry |
| A．to be happy | B．to be polite | C．to help others | D．to learn from Americans |
In 2007, when she took part in film shooting in that area. she was shocked by the poverty（贫穷）there. Children had to walk along mountain roads to attend classes at a neighbouring village school. So she came up with the idea of doing something for these children.
Besides giving classes, Jiang also plays games with children and sings songs for them. And she cares much for their daily life. Moreover, she donated billion yuan to set up a fund（基金） for students there.
“Like the grass in stone clefts（裂缝）， they have to try their best to find sunshine on their own rather than waiting for others to do it for them. "Jiang said.
When asked how she persisted in her volunteer to services for such a long time, Jiang said,"I’m not persisting but enjoying.
“It's not that I gave these kids love. I am actually learning about love. "Jiang added.
To enjoy and share love is seen as the most important thing in her life.
At the same time, children in the big mountains have also influenced Jiang.
Whenever I meet with something difficult to do, I'll think of these kids. Born in the kind of environment,they have to learn to face a lot of difficult things from birth. So, why can't I?"Said Jiang.
1. Jiang Yiyan spends as a teacher in mountain villages in Guangxi.
| A．a day a week | B．a day a month | C．a week a month | D．a month a year |
| A．In1987 | B．In1997 | C．In2007 | D．In2017 |
| A．放弃 B坚持 C．拒绝 D．宽容 |
| A．To set up a fund. |
| B．To enjoy and share love |
| C．To take part in film shooting. |
| D．To learn to face a lot of difficult things from birth. |
| A．The Children's Poverty |
| B．The Mountain Roads |
| C．The Grass in Stone Cleft |
| D．A kind and helpful Actress |
Imagine this. There’s an apple and a piece of cake on a table. Which one would you like? The delicious cake or the healthy apple? A bestseller, Willpower Rediscovering Our Greater Strength, suggests that willpower (意志力) is the ability to make decisions that are better for us in the long term, rather than in the short term.
Here is a famous experiment in the book: the marshmallow (棉花糖) test. In 1972, Professor Walter Mischel tested the willpower of 600 four-year-olds to six-year-olds. In the experiment, each child was left alone in a room for fifteen minutes with a marshmallow on a table in front of them. They were given two choices: they could either eat it or, if they waited fifteen minutes, they’d be given a second one and then they could eat both.
So, what did the kids do? Well, as you can imagine, 70% ate the first marshmallow within the fifteen minutes. But the other 30% showed willpower they controlled themselves and waited for the second marshmallow. But then Mischel discovered something really interesting. Twenty years later, he got in touch with the children, who, by then, were in their early twenties. And he found that those who’d shown strong willpower were getting better marks at university and were more popular.
Willpower is like a muscle (肌肉), and the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. So, if you do daily “self-control exercises”, such as making your bed or brushing your teeth, you’ll improve your overall willpower. And daily willpower exercises will help you with those bigger goals, such as studying for an exam or training for a marathon.
Be careful though. Just like any muscle, your “willpower muscle” can get tired. If you’ve had to do lots of things that require willpower, take a break or give yourself a treat. That way, you’ll build up your willpower again.
And one last thing, the writer mentions people who learn foreign languages usually have a lot of willpower. So, congratulations!
1. From the marshmallow test, we can learn that ______.| A．the kids felt difficult to make choices | B．most of the kids showed weak willpower |
| C．marshmallows could help improve willpower | D．the kids could eat one marshmallow every fifteen minutes |
| A．willpower should be kept practicing without any stop |
| B．willpower can be built up by dealing with difficulties |
| C．strong willpower can help people achieve their goals |
| D．strong willpower can help people make right decisions |
| A．The finding of the experiment. | B．The process of the experiment. |
| C．The purpose of the experiment. | D．The background of the experiment. |
We’ve all felt confused before. The feeling of not knowing what the answers or solutions are can make us feel useless, stupid, and cause us to worry.
People are often likely to think the person who has all of the answers is smarter than the one who asks a lot of questions. As a result, people often try to hide their confusion in different ways. People sometimes act as if they have the answers. At other times, people make guesses or create an answer even if they know it isn’t right.
But confusion might actually be a good thing. When we jump to an answer, we don’t have time to explore (探索) the thing we’re confused about. Instead of paying no attention to your confusion, accepting it and taking the opportunity to think about what’s confusing can benefit our learning. In fact, scientific studies show that confusion actually leads to deeper understanding. A 2004 study explored six moods that people feel while learning, including upset, bored, and confused. They found that students who spent more of the lesson confused learned the most. In another study, scientists tried to confuse students by giving them contradicting (矛盾的) information. Students who expressed confusion during the lesson did better on the final test. Not knowing the answer to a problem gives us space to look at different ways to solve it. The feeling of confusion also encourages us to look more deeply into the problem. In the end, this helps us understand the topic on a deeper level.
Confusion is also important for learning your identity (身份). People find out their identity in two steps. The first step is exploration, where you try out different groups and values and see what fits. The next step is commitment, when you decide firmly (坚定地) about some parts of your identity. You make up your mind that you will act in a way that fits your identity. Exploring your identity can feel very confusing. But a study found, that people who do the most exploring about who they are have better outcomes such as higher self- confidence and self-esteem (自尊) later in life.
So, instead of trying to hide your confusion, try a new method, ask for help, or research different ways to deal with the problem to work through your confusion.
1. Why does a person try to hide his confusion?| A．Because he wants others to make good judgement on him. |
| B．Because he has good ability to guess and create an answer. |
| C．Because hiding his confusion helps him work out a solution. |
| D．Because telling others his confusion will make them confused. |
| A．Good understanding leads to less confusion. |
| B．Confusion can have helpful effect on learning. |
| C．Digging deeply into a problem may cause confusion. |
| D．Confusion prevents the development of self-confidence. |
| A．promise | B．imagination | C．challenge | D．argument |
| A．To call on readers to study confusion on a deeper level. |
| B．To tell readers about the research results on confusion. |
| C．To explain to readers it’s normal to feel confused. |
| D．To encourage readers to clear up their confusion. |
8 . Healthy eating doesn't just mean what you eat, but how you eat. Here is some advice on healthy eating.
Eat with others. It can help you to see others' healthy eating habits. If you usually eat with your parents, you will find that the food you eat is more delicious.
Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry. Have a glass of water to see if you are thirsty--sometimes you are just thirsty, and you need no food. Stop eating before you feel full.
Eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Because you don't eat for the past ten hours, your body needs food to get you going. You will be smarter after eating breakfast
Eat healthy snacks like fruits, yogurt(酸奶) or cheese. We all need snacks sometimes. In fact, it's a good idea to eat two healthy snacks between your three meals. This doesn't mean that you can eat a bag of chips instead of a meal.
Don't eat dinner late. In our busy life, we always put off eating dinner until the last minute. Try to eat dinner at least 3 hours before you go to bed. This will give your body a chance to digest most of the food before you rest for the next 8-10 hours.
1. The writer gives us _________ pieces of advice on healthy eating.| A．4 | B．5 | C．6 | D．7 |
| A．Fruits. | B．Yogurt. | C．Chips. | D．Ice cream. |
| A．Snacks are bad for our health. |
| B．We should keep eating until we are full. |
| C．Dinner is the most important meal of the day. |
| D．We should have dinner at least 3 hours before going to bed. |
| A．消化 | B．享用 | C．储存 | D．循环 |
| A．where to eat | B．how to eat | C．why to eat | D．when to eat |
9 . The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral（巴黎圣母院）in Paris has raised questions about the condition of thousands of other historic buildings across Europe.
Some people say the fire last month was a wake-up call, not just for Europe, but the whole world. Large fires have long robbed humanity of knowledge, art and treasures. One example is the fire at the famous library of Alexandria in northern Egypt about 1700 years ago.
In 2015, the German engineering company Siemens found that Scotland had about 10 serious fires a year, while England lost at least twelve listed buildings a year. In Germany, 70 historic buildings have been destroyed since 2000.
And all too often, fires happen while old buildings are being repaired. Experts say that what is needed is continuous attention and maintenance(维护). These steps, if taken, could help avoid the need for major repairing work.
But regular attention and maintenance costs money.
Part of the problem comes from the shortage of money provided by governments after the 2008 financial crisis (金融危机). As a result, governments are increasingly looking for rich companies to keep up these historic buildings.
“We do need more money, but this is a shared duty for governments, businesses and citizens across Europe,” said an officer from the European Union.
Some say world-famous monuments like Notre Dame are the driving force behind tourism and should get more respect. People have noticed the importance of such respect.
“Historic buildings are a gold mine(矿). You cannot explore it and then just leave the mine and go to another one. It is something you really have to value,” the officer said.
1. After the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, more attention is paid to ________ .A．European governments  | B．famous libraries |
| C．engineering companies | D．the old buildings |
| A．robbers | B．fires | C．money | D．tourists |
| A．attention and maintenance | B．careful repairing work |
| C．enough respect from people | D．serious financial crisis |
| A．citizens around the world | B．the European governments |
| C．rich European businesses | D．the whole European society |
| A．value historic buildings | B．donate plenty of money |
| C．pay attention to big fires | D．avoid exploring mines |
10 . October 16 is World Food Day. The UN started the day in 1979. It is used to remind people not to waste food and to ask people to fight hunger（饥饿）.
A big member of people in the world still don't have enough to eat. Food shortage（匮乏） is a big problem in the world. Right now, there are more than 1000 million hungry people in the world according to the UN, Many children go to sleep, hungry and 15 million of them die of hunger each year.
There are several reasons why there are food shortages. First, there have been more droughts （干旱） and floods recently. Also, a growing population makes feeding everyone more difficult.
Another several reasons is food waste . Most people don't realize how much food they throw away every day. On avenge（平均）, person throws away 50 kilos of food every year. According to the UN, more than 1/3 of all food produced in the word goes to waste each year. The amount （数量） of food wasted in Europe can feed 200 million people and the food wasted in Lain America can feed 300 million a year.
So think twice next time you want to throw away food. If you try to avoid wasting food, you could save some food and help hungry children. Only order as much food as you can eat at a restaurant. If you can't eat all you order, take the rest home. Don't be too picky about food so that you don't leave any on your plate. Keep eye on what food you have at home. Don't buy or cook too much.
1. What does the underlined word "It" in Paragraph 1 refer to（指代）?| A．Food shortage. | B．The UN. |
| C．The year 1979. | D．World Food Day. |
| A．10 million. | B．15 million. |
| C．20 million. | D．30 million. |
| A．Food waste is serious in the world. |
| B．The population is growing fast in the world. |
| C．There are more hungry people in Lain America. |
| D．Half of all food produced in the world is wasted. |
| A．Buy too much food at a time. | B．Order a lot of food at the restaurant. |
| C．Throw away the food you don't like. | D．Cook proper amount of food for each meal. |
| A．Let's save food to fight hunger | B．Give out food to hungry people |
| C．Fight against droughts and floods. | D．Prevent children from getting hungry |
