Lots of people love chocolate. Do you know how to make it? What does a chocolate factory look like? My class had a field trip to a chocolate factory in Toronto.
We visited an old building in ten groups. In the beginning, we put on some special clothes to make sure that we couldn’t dirty the workplace. After preparation, we went to the second floor and walked into the chocolate-making place. The floor was filled with different kinds of machines. Each machine has a different job. There are only two people working on the floor, because machines do most of the work.
In the next room, we learned about the history of chocolate making. There was a picture of the factory 100 years ago. They had more than 1,000 people working there. The factory is very different now. How greatly the technology is changing our life!
Later, we saw how machines made chocolate. We got a cocoa bean (可可豆), some powdered (粉末的) chocolate and a final chocolate. I opened the cocoa bean and tasted it. It doesn’t taste sweet at all, and it’s like dark chocolate. The best cocoa beans come from South America and Africa. Farmers dry them in the sun. Next, workers cook the beans at a high temperature. Machines took the shells (果壳) off the beans and made the beans into chocolate liquor which looks like water. Then, they put chocolate liquor and sugar together to make dark chocolate. If adding milk, they made milk chocolate. The machine made them smooth like silk.
Finally, we bought some chocolate at a shop in the factory. It was at a very low price. This field trip taught me how important technology is and I also learned a lot of knowledge (知识) about chocolate.
1. Why did the writer’s class visit the chocolate factory?| A．Because they studied in Toronto. |
| B．Because they could get some chocolate at a low price there. |
| C．Because they wanted to learn something about chocolate. |
| A．The whole floor only has two machines working. |
| B．Machines are doing most of the work in this factory. |
| C．People are making more and more delicious chocolate. |
| A．North America. | B．Australia. | C．Africa. |
①Cook the beans at a high temperature.
②Dry the cocoa beans in the sun.
③Put chocolate liquor and sugar together.
④Take the shells off the beans, and made the beans into chocolate liquor.
| A．②①④③ | B．①②④③ | C．②①③④ |
| A．tiring | B．unforgettable | C．meaningless |
2 . If you go shopping in any toy store, you can see clearly the different games and toys for boys and girls: there are a lot of pink toys on one side of the store for girls and dark colored cars, guns, and soldiers for boys. Some big stores with toys may even have a pink floor for girls and a blue floor for boys. In fact, it is difficult to buy a toy for a girl that is not pink.
Some people think that too much pink is bad for girls. Sue Palmer, writer of Toxic Childhood, is very worried that most girls over the age of three are crazy about the color. According to some scientists, this happens for two reasons. Firstly, most companies offer too many products in pink. Also, many parents think their little daughter looks cute in pink. Sue Palmer says that girls at this age cannot make proper decisions by themselves, but the pink can affect (影响) the choices and the decisions they will make in the future.
Some parents are worried too. For example, Vanessa Holburn, thirty-two, who has two girls under the age of four. Their bedrooms are a sea of pink and Vanessa is not happy. “Pink says that you are soft and gentle. Blue says that you are strong and powerful. I want my daughters to be strong and powerful. I'm worried that pink will not help them with that,” she says.
But not everyone thinks there's something wrong with pink, Grayson Turner is a father of three girls and he isn't worried at all, “People forget that things change all the time,” he says. “My girls used to love pink when they were little but as they get older, they change.” Turner explains that his twelve-year-old daughter never wears pink clothes anymore. “This love of pink is just a fashion and all fashions change,” he adds. “It’s only since the 1940s that people have started dressing girls in pink-before that it was a color for boys.”
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。
1. How many reasons are there for most girls are crazy about pink?
| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four |
| A．①②/③④ | B．①/②/③/④ | C．①/②③/④ |
| A．being soft and gentle |
| B．being strong and powerful |
| C．being gentle but powerful |
| A．parents needn't worry about pink toys |
| B．all little kids love the color pink |
| C．pink has always been a color for girls |
| A．explain why girls are crazy about the color pink |
| B．make parents less worried about the color pink |
| C．show people's different opinions about the color pink. |
3 . The founder of Huawei seldom spoke to the media, while he let his company's fast growth do the talking. That's changing as Huawei finds itself in a dangerous situation in the US. Ren, 74, tells CNN in an interview that the challenges Huawei faces are just so common for him. "There are always difficulties for me. I never had smooth sailing because when I was young, my family background wasn't good. I had to work really hard to get even just a little bit of opportunity to work."
In 1974, Ren joined the PLA (中国人民解放军) as an engineer. During that period, the country was suffering from terrible food and clothing shortages (短缺). "I had been to college, and people like me could play a role." he said. After the PLA, Ren worked for an oil company before founding Huawei in 1987. It was set up in Shenzhen, which was just a fishing village then.
To get market share, Ren suffered serious depression (抑郁) during the darkest days of the company. Ren pushed staff to work long hours and do whatever it took to save business. Unable to compete in the big cities, Huawei worked on China's small towns and villages. All the time, Ren devoted a lot to research and development, pushing Huawei to create its own technology that would make it compete with its competitors.
Ren worked long hours leaving him little time to build strong relationships with his three children. He has said that while in the PLA, he spent just one month a year with his family. After starting Huawei, "I had to spend 16 hours a day in the office," he said. He once asked his kids whether they’d like him to spend more time with the family or work to "build a platform (平台)" on which they could grow. His children chose the latter (后者).
1. What is the meaning of the underlined word "smooth sailing"?| A．自由航行 | B．一帆风顺 | C．风平浪静 |
a. Ren built up Huawei in Shenzhen.
b. America made some trouble to Huawei.
c. Ren joined the army and worked as a soldier.
d. Ren went to college.
e. Ren worked for an oil company.
| A．c-d-e-b-a | B．d-c-e-a-b | C．b-c-d-a-e |
| A．Having its own technology | B．Being more hardworking | C．Finding proper places |
| A．Ren's children preferred to see Ren build a platform for them. |
| B．Ren tried to spend time with his kids although he was very busy. |
| C．Ren felt sorry for his children and regretted working long hours. |
| A．Wise and creative | B．Strong and fearless | C．Depressive and wordless |
4 . Two girls, one older and the other younger, became close friends as a result of the same misfortune they met with--a fire made them lose their homes and their mothers. Both of them were disfigured and had several operations on their faces, yet they said they were fortunate enough to be alive.
Girl A（the older one）, returning from the hospital's ICU to her bed, was scared and almost passed out at the first looking like a ghost, as she saw herself reflected by the stainless steel railings around her bed. She said "I met a ghost on the railing. How horrible! I was really terrified, but I didn't collapse（崩溃）completely. When is it that one feels grateful for his or her survival? It must be now like this. Thank goodness! I am still alive."
The first phone call that Girl A gave to Girl B（the younger one）raised a question: "Do you know why I am so glad?" She gave the answer without waiting for a reply, "Because when I got hold of a loop（吊圈）on a bar in the bus to make myself stand like others, I felt very happy that I had a pair of hands."
Girl B's words were also very moving. She replied, "Hey, you know, don't be surprised by what I'm going to say. It was true. Let me ask you first. Do I look pretty? No, of course not. But before 11 years old I was pretty. I had snow-white skin, big eyes and a round face. I was also a wild kid. I think I'd grow up naughty if I was not properly educated. I would fall in love with other boys and become a bad girl, if I hadn't met the disaster. I disliked going to school. I'd prefer playing all day long. If there were not such a fire, I wouldn't have had chances of meeting so many kind strangers that help me to realize how wonderful life is. If there were not such an accident, I would grow into a beautiful lady. But now I am more considerate, grateful, hard-working and independent of others. Such a person as I am today will always be pretty all my life."
We never know what is waiting for us ahead. Yet, we still have the right to choose a positive attitude to face it.
1. The underlined word "disfigured" in Paragraph 1 means ________?| A．厌恶的 | B．毁容的 | C．残疾的 |
| A．Because she couldn't accept the changes on her face |
| B．Because she was too sad about the death of her mother |
| C．Because her operation was successful and she felt too excited. |
| A．The older girl gave up hope completely in the hospital. |
| B．The two girls didn't give up their belief in life and still felt grateful. |
| C．The younger girl wanted to play all day long after the disaster. |
a. Two girls talked on the telephone
b. A terrible fire happened.
c. The younger girl hated going to school
d. The two girl's mothers died.
e. The older girl had an operation on her face.
| A．b-d-e-c-a | B．b-d-a-c-e | C．c-b-d-e-a |
| A．A terrible Fire | B．Two Terrified Girls | C．Rise from the Fire |
5 . Parents now complain about teenagers' noses always in their phones. But they might want to check out their own screen time habits.
A study was put out recently. It was from the Pew Research Center. The study surveyed 743 U.S. teens and 1,058US parents of teens from March7to April10. It found that (two thirds of the parents worry about the amount of time their teenage children spend in front of screens. But more than a third of the parents also worry about their own screen time.
Over a half of the teens said that parents are often or sometimes distracted(精神不集中的) .
But have a conversation with them. The study also notes that nearly three fourths of the teens check messages as soon as they wake up. Parents do the same, but at a low rate----57%. However, that is still a lot.
Many teens are trying to do something about it. 52 percent have cut back on the time they spend on their phone. 57 percent have done the same with social media.
Experts say parents have a big role in their kids' screen habits. Setting a good example is a big part of it.
"Kids don't always do what we say but they do as we do," said Donald Shifrin. He is a professor at the university of Washington School of Medicine. Parents are at the door that kids will walk through on their way to the world.
1. What do we know from the survey?| A．All parents are worried about their own screen time. |
| B．Some parents don't pay attention to what the kids are going to say. |
| C．almost 75% of parents check the messages when they wake up. |
| A．about704 | B．about 352 | C．about 247 |
| A．The efforts that teens have made to reduce the screen time habits. |
| B．Teens' plan to cut back the screen time habits. |
| C．Teens' resolution to spend less time on the screen |
| A．talking with their kids. | B．cutting back kids' screen time. | C．changing their own habits. |
| A．It's bad to use phones very often. |
| B．Teens and adults' screen time. |
| C．Experts show their worries about teens' screen time habits. |
6 . A lot of toys have come and gone over the past 60 years, but Barbie (芭比娃娃) - short for Barbara - has always had a home on toy store shelves. According to The New York Times, however, “she” is more than just a toy. Barbie is watching the society’s changing attitudes (态度) toward women.
When Barbie was first introduced by Ruth Handler (1916-2002), one of the starters of US toy company Mattel, she had good plans. “Barbie has always shown the fact that a woman has choices,” according to a book, Dream Doll: The Ruth Handler Story.
But the earliest Barbie wasn’t offered too many choices at all. Barbie appeared either in a swimsuit or a housewife’s dress.
A good point is that the following years showed some progress, as Mattel introduced Barbie dolls with different skin colors and clothing for different jobs and hobbies. A new turning point came on International Women’s Day of 2018, when the company started a line of “Inspiring Women”. The dolls came out as famous women from history, including great US pilot Amelia Earhart and UK boxer (拳击手) Nicola Adams, which encouraged all other women.
But even though Mattel seemed to have good purposes, these new dolls weren’t safe from bad words. Unlike the real Nicola Adams, for example, the doll has no muscles (肌肉). Instead, it’s designed with a slim body, just like every other Barbie. According to the reporter Grace Kang, this exactly reflects the world’s present attitude toward women. “We’re allowed to be fit, but we’re not supposed to have too many muscles. We’re allowed to be clever, but smart women are meant to look like models with glasses on. We’re allowed to be creative and artistic, but quickly become ‘crazy’ if we start to look too messy,” she wrote.
No, Barbie isn’t perfect. But she’s slowly changing people’s views. Maybe that’s one thing real women can do.
1. According to Paragraph 1, we know Barbie has always been __________.| A．expensive | B．popular | C．changeable |
| Barbie used to be a housewife. | → | → | Barbie is a boxer who won the gold medal. |
| A．Barbie took care of babies at borne. |
| B．Barbie became a great pilot in history. |
| C．Barbie with dark skin worked as a nurse. |
| A．鼓舞人心的 | B．启发灵感的 | C．多愁善感的 |
| A．Women are supposed to be fit and strong. |
| B．Women should be like a crazy artist |
| C．Women are expected to be perfect. |
| A．To make people change views toward women. |
| B．To help women to be more creative and artistic. |
| C．To encourage women to be perfect like Barbie. |
