3 . An early morning winter storm had brought several inches of snow to my small town in the mountains. Schools were canceled, roads were dangerous and all I wanted to do was to stay in bed. Still, I knew I had to get the day started so I put on warm clothes and walked outside. The snow got all over my shoes. The cold wind dried my lips and my eyes. My 47-year-old back ached in anticipation (预想) of the shoveling (铲雪) I would have to do if the snow didn't stop soon.

Yet, when I looked out on the white blanket that covered the ground, I couldn't help but smile a bit. It was so beautiful. It softened the bare trees and hid the dead grass. In the distance I could hear the sound of the snowplow on the road, the barking of a happy dog and the laughter of children playing outside, enjoying their day off from school.

The sweet music of that laughter brought back a hundred memories of winters past. I remembered catching snowflakes (雪花) on my tongue, building snowmen, making snow angels, running down hills and always losing snowball fights with first my brothers and then my own children. Standing there in that warm coat of memories made the wind a little less cold and my back a little less sore. I turned up my head, stuck out my tongue and for the first time in years caught a snowflake on it. It tasted so fresh and clean. It tasted like youth, like joy and like love.

May you always feel young in spirit, no matter how old or achy your body may be. May you always delight in the simple joys of life. May you always share your happiness with the hearts of children. And may you always give your love, your light, your laughter and your warmth to others even on the coldest days.

1. What was the author's first reaction when he knew it snowed heavily？

A．He felt worried.	B．He was upset.
C．He was indifferent.	D．He felt in danger.

2. From the underlined sentence in Paragraph l, we can know that the author________ .

A．felt too cold because the snow didn’t stop

B．didn't want to start his day on such a snowy day

C．ached in his back because of the cold weather

D．would make greater efforts to clear up the snow

3. From which senses did the author describe the joy of having snow？

A．Taste and smell.	B．Sight and smell.
C．Sight, hearing and taste.	D．Smell, hearing and taste.

4. What does the author mainly want to tell us with this article？

A．We should always stay young at heart.

B．Snow brings both fun and trouble to humans.

C．Memories can change our opinion in all aspects.

D．Appreciate every moment spent with your family.

5 . When you want to go somewhere, you can easily find your way by using a map app on your smartphone- Your smartphone "knows" where you are and can tell you where to go.

This is possible with the help of satellite navigation （卫星导航）systems. On June 23, with the last satellite of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System launched into space, the global network of 59 satellites has been completed. On July 31, Beidou started providing full-scale global services. More than 120 countries and regions are now using Beidou services. The BDS is entirely built by Chinese engineers, which is one of four global navigation systems, along with US' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo,

It's difficult to imagine the great impact those satellite orbiting （围绕…运转）the Earth have on our daily lives- When you unlock one of Hellobike's bicycles, you are using the BDS. The popular bike-sharing company came out with two new bike models this year that are equipped with the positioning （定位）service. "The intelligent lock on each bike receives Beidou satellite signals and sends positioning information to the data center, which will help collect big data on the bikes and estimate users* riding demands in advance according to the data/ Chu Yiqun, a manager of Hellobike told Xinhua News Agency. Users can also find shared bikes more accurately thanks to Beidou's global positioning accuracy （精确）of 2.34 meters.       ,

Beidou adopts a unique two-way communication system, including its ability to receive messages sent by people from areas with poor communication signals. It allows people to send text messages up to 1,200 Chinese characters in length when mobile phone services are interrupted (中断）by natural disasters.       

Beidou can be used in areas that include fanning, public services and business. It has a positioning accuracy of under 10 meters. This summer; people along the Yangtze River used Beidou-based device to monitor （监测）floodwaters in real-time with an accuracy of just a few centimeters.

1. What can we learn about the BDS from the article?

A．Its last satellite was launched on July 31.

B．It works better when the weather is good.

C．It's able to provide global coverage for navigation

D．It was co-developed by Chinese and American engineers.

2. Beidou is the ________ global navigation system.

A．first

B．second

C．third

D．fourth

3. Why does the author mention Hellobike in paragraph 3?

A．To explain how the BDS works.

B．To present the benefits and limitations of the BDS..

C．To show how the BDS makes peopled daily lives easier.

D．To emphasize the high positioning accuracy of the BDS.

4. What is the function of Beidou's two-way communication system?

A．To collect ideas from users.

B．To make communication more fun.

C．To allow users to chat online more freely.

D．To help people when communication signals are poor.

6 . For people who are interested in sound, the field of sound technology is definitely making noise. In the past, sound engineers worked in the back rooms of recording studios, but many of today’s sound professionals are sharing their knowledge and experience with professionals in other fields to create new products based on the phenomenon we call sound.

Sound can be used as a weapon. Imagine that a police officer is chasing a thief. The thief tries to escape. And the officer can’t let him get away. he pulls out a special device points it at the suspect, and switches it on. The thief drops to the ground. This new weapon is called a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD, 远程定向声波发射器). It produces a deafening sound so painful that it temporarily disables a person. The noise from the LRAD is directed like a ray of light and travels only into the ears of that person, but it is not deadly.

For those who hunger for some peace and quiet, sound can now create silence. Let’s say you are at the airport, and the little boy on the seat next to you is humming（哼唱）a short commercial song. He hums it over and over again, and you are about to go crazy. Thanks to the Silence Machine a British invention, you can get rid of the sound without upsetting the boy or his parents. One may wonder how the Silence Machine works. Well, it functions by analyzing the waves of the incoming sound and creating a second set of outgoing waves. The two sets of waves cancel each other out. Simply turn the machine on, point it at the target, and your peace and quiet comes back.

Directed sound is a new technology that allows companies to use sound in much the same way spotlights（聚光灯） are used in the theater. A spotlight lights up only one section of a stage; similarly, a “spotsound” creates a circle of sound in one targeted area. This can be useful for businesses such as restaurants and stores because it offers a new way to attract customers. Restaurants can offer a choice of music along with the various food choices on the menu, allowing customers more control over the atmosphere in which they are dining. Directed sound is also beginning to appear in shopping centers and even at homes.

1. What could be inferred from Paragraph 2 about the effect of the LRAD?

A．It causes temporary hearing loss	B．It slows down a running man
C．It makes it easy to identify a suspect	D．It keeps the suspect from hurting others

2. The Silence Machine is a device specially designed to ________.

A．silence the people around you	B．remove the sound of commercials
C．block the incoming sound waves	D．stop unwanted sound from affecting you

3. What feature do spotsounds and spotlights share?

A．They travel in circles	B．They clear the atmosphere.
C．They can be transformed into energy	D．They can be directed onto a specific area

4. Directed sound can be used for ________.

A．creative designs of restaurant menus	B．ideal sound effects on the theater stage
C．different choices of music for businesses	D．strict control over any suspicious customer

7 . Once upon a time, there was a man who worked very hard just to keep food on the table for his family. A few days before Christmas, he _________ his five year-old daughter after _________ that she had used up the family’s only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper.

As money was tight, he became even angrier when on Christmas Eve he saw that she had used all of the gold paper to _________ one shoebox. He was also concerned about where she had gotten _________ to buy what was in the shoebox.

The next morning the little girl, _________ excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, “This is for you, Daddy!” Holding the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier behavior, _________ what he had done to her.

But when he _________ the shoebox, he found there was nothing. “Don’t you know, young lady,” he said _________, “when you give someone a _________, there’s supposed to be something inside the package!”

The little girl __________ him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered, “Daddy, it’s not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was __________.” He fell on his knees and put his arms around the girl and begged her to __________ him for his unnecessary anger.

An accident took the girl’s life only a short time later. It is said that the father __________ this little gold box by his bed for all his life. Whenever he was __________ or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and __________ his daughter’s love.

1.

A．praised

B．encouraged

C．thanked

D．punished

2.

A．promising

B．learning

C．admitting

D．agreeing

3.

A．decorate

B．draw

C．buy

D．measure

4.

A．time

B．advice

C．space

D．money

5.

A．filled with

B．ready for

C．different from

D．related to

6.

A．thinking

B．forgetting

C．ensuring

D．regretting

7.

A．closed

B．opened

C．accepted

D．found

8.

A．happily

B．anxiously

C．angrily

D．shyly

9.

A．hand

B．lecture

C．solution

D．present

10.

A．looked up at

B．caught up with

C．lived up to

D．made up for

11.

A．empty

B．broken

C．full

D．colorful

12.

A．love

B．hate

C．forgive

D．defend

13.

A．kept

B．observed

C．used

D．searched

14.

A．interested

B．discouraged

C．surprised

D．terrified

15.

A．share

B．refuse

C．remember

D．remove

9 . There are many wetlands（湿地） in China and some of them have become the world’s important wetlands. The Chinese Yellow Sea Wetlands are among them. They are in Yancheng，Jiangsu Province. They are home for many different kinds of birds and animals. The world’s largest Milu Deer Nature Reserve（自然保护区) is in them. More than 700 milu deer live freely there. There are not many red-crowned cranes in the world, but every winter you can see some in the Red-crowned Cranes Nature Reserve in the Yellow Sea Wetlands.

The temperature in the wetlands is usually neither too high nor too low. There is a lot of rain and sunshine，too. They are really good places for wildlife（野生生物）. Offering food and home for some special kinds of animals and birds is not the only reason why we need to protect wetlands. Wetlands are important because they also prevent flood. But some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings. This means there will be less and less space for wildlife.

Luckily, more and more people are beginning to realize the important of wetlands and wildlife. Every year，on February 2nd，many activities are held to tell people more about wetlands.

1. Usually the weather in the wetlands is ________.

A．hot

B．pleasant

C．cold

D．dry

2. The World Wetlands Day is on ________.

A．April 22

B．June 25

C．February 2

D．March 22

3. We must protect wetlands because ________.

A．they are home for wildlife	B．they can prevent flood
C．they can offer food to the animals and birds	D．all of the above

4. The best title for the passage is ________.

A．China’s Wetlands Have All Entered the World’s List

B．Wetlands—Home for Wildlife and Human Beings

C．Special Animals in the Chinese Yellow Sea Wetlands

D．Wetlands—Valuable Recourses（珍贵资源）of Land on the Earth

10 . Astronauts traveling in space meet forms of radiation(辐射)that are uncommon on Earth. Some of this radiation has been shown to be harmful to human health. It is linked to cancers and heart problems. Yet a new American study suggests the radiation does not shorten astronauts' lives.

Researchers studied nearly 60 years of health records and other data about male astronauts from the United States. They then compared this data with information about a group of men who are in good health, richer than most Americans and receive good health care-professional athletes. The study found that neither group has higher rates of dying at a young age. In fact, both groups generally live longer than other Americans.

Astronauts are usually well-educated, earn more money and are in better physical conditions than the average Americans Some earlier research has linked being an astronaut to a lower risk of early death, the researchers noted. The findings were reported in the medical journal Occupational&Environmental Medicine.

Much of the existing research on mortality rates(死亡率) in astronauts has not yet explored the mental and physical demands of this job. There also has not been a lot of research on whether astronauts show what is known as the "healthy worker effect". This effect leads people with employment of any kind to have fewer medical problems than people who are unable to work, said Robert Reynolds.

Reynolds said, "The challenge has always been to understand if astronauts are as healthy as they would be had they been otherwise comparably employed but had never gone to space at all. To do this, we need to find a group that is comparable on several important factors."

1. How did researchers carry out their study?

A．By doing interviews.	B．By analyzing some factors.
C．By comparing different data.	D．By doing experiments in the lab.

2. What can we team from the text?

A．All radiation is harmful to human health.

B．Athletes tend to be poorer than most Americans.

C．Healthy worker effect makes working people healthier.

D．Research has explored the mental and physical demands of being astronauts.

3. What can be inferred from Reynolds' words?

A．They are determined to face the challenge.

B．The research is almost impossible to conduct.

C．Several important factors hold back the research.

D．Astronauts are healthier than they haven’t been astronauts.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Astronauts--Healthy or Otherwise

B．Astronauts Are as Healthy as Athletes

C．Radiation Affects Astronauts' Health

D．Astronauts--- Well-Educated and Well-Paid