2 . A 63-year-old Chinese man who only started learning ballet (芭蕾) ten years ago has been popular on social media as a living example that you are never too old to follow your dreams.
Growing up in a poor family in a village near Baotou, Liu Ziqing’s main focus was always on helping his family and putting food on the table. For him, dancing was a luxury. He ended up becoming a farmer and worked as a street cleaner. But he never lost his love for ballet, and at age 53, he decided to become a ballet dancer.
Most people in their early 50s think they are lucky if they can lightly run a few times a week with-out any pain, but ballet requires a degree of fitness and flexibility (柔性) that are almost impossible to have at a certain age without a lifetime of training. But Liu Ziqing wasn’t going to let such an unimportant thing stand between him and his dream.
Becoming a ballet dancer at age 53 wasn’t an easy thing in the world, especially since most of his friends just didn’t understand why he did this hard training at his age. But Liu Ziqing got the support from his family.
Not only does ballet make him a happy man, but he is sure that it has done wonders for his health as well. “In the past, I had stomach problems. After dancing regularly over the past decade, the stomach problems have mostly gone away,” the 63-year-old ballet dancer said. “When I am in this class, I feel like those young students, as if I have become young again.”
1. What does the underlined word “luxury” in Paragraph 2 mean in Chinese?| A．奢侈 | B．阻碍 | C．代价 | D．酬劳 |
| A．They didn’t understand him. | B．They supported Liu like his family. |
| C．They thought ballet was good for Liu’s health. | D．They became his fans. |
| A．He got lots of pain. | B．He lost weight successfully. |
| C．He made lots of friends. | D．His stomach problems have mostly gone away. |
| A．Relaxed. | B．Young. | C．Free. | D．Tired. |
| A．Never Too Old to Follow Your Dreams | B．Keep Happy and Live a Good Life |
| C．Too Old to Start Ballet | D．Be Active in Sports |
3 . The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa and Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road covered almost 6500 kilometers. It spread from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.
Traders travelling along the Silk Road carried silk, of course. They also carried and traded spices (香料), cloth, valuable stones and gold.
There is a famous old story along the old road. It is said that Roman soldiers (士兵) travelled through central Asia. They started to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese village of Liqian. Some of these Romans married local Chinese women and the story of blue-eyed villages of China was started.
During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable goods and new ideas. These included people and trading goods from the Mediterranean, Persian, Magyar, Armenian, Bactrian, Indian and Chinese areas. All these people travelled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages, and cultures.
In modern times, the old Silk Road routes are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000 objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and people.
1. How many kilometers did the Silk Road cover?| A．About 3000. | B．Nearly 6500. | C．Almost 2000. | D．Over 35,000. |
| A．Silk | B．Cloth | C．Gold | D．Tea |
| A．方法 | B．经济 | C．贸易 | D．路线 |
| A．Valuable things could not be sold along the Silk Road. |
| B．The Silk Road allowed people from different countries to mix. |
| C．Ancient Chinese along the Silk Road may be able to speak different languages. |
| D．The objects in the museum in Jiuquan in China are from all along the Silk Road. |
| A．History and Geography. | B．Sports World. |
| C．Man and Animals. | D．Popular Science. |
4 . Joe got a bar of chocolate from his father for his cleaning work at home.
Learning about it, his father carried a larger bar of chocolate to Joe’s
We may
| A．If | B．When | C．Though | D．Before |
| A．ate up | B．took away | C．gave out | D．put on |
| A．carefully | B．bravely | C．angrily | D．slowly |
| A．its | B．itself | C．his | D．himself |
| A．room | B．school | C．yard | D．garden |
| A．refused | B．needed | C．tried | D．decided |
| A．hope | B．secret | C．worry | D．news |
| A．imagine | B．waste | C．notice | D．save |
| A．on | B．for | C．to | D．about |
| A．greater | B．cheaper | C．smaller | D．worse |
—Maybe next week. I’m not sure.
| A．how to check out a book | B．when the concert will begin |
| C．that there is a bank near here | D．how long the meeting would last |
| A．were talking | B．had talked | C．talked | D．are studying |
—After all you are too young, safety comes first.
| A．either; or | B．neither; nor | C．both; and | D．not only; but also |
| A．learn | B．learned | C．to learn | D．learning |
—No, you ________. You may be back in the afternoon.
| A．mustn’t | B．can’t | C．don’t have to | D．shouldn’t |
