1 . SHANGHAI---Within 48 hours, 61 artists from 13 countries sent their videos supporting China’s ongoing campaign to fight the novel coronavirus (新型冠状病毒) via their Chinese partner---ASK, a Shanghai-based international theater presenter committed to introducing partner theater productions for young audiences to China.
Most of the artists showed in their videos the slogan:”stay strong! We are with you, China !”
ASK planned to introduce top-class performances to a special venue at the Tianjin Grand Theater since this February, but this had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the epidemic(传染病)。
The artists have shown strong confidence in China as well as Tianjin in their efforts to combat(对抗) the virus.
Within the video, Yvette Hardie, president of Assitej, the International Association of Theater for Children and Young People affiliated(隶属的) to UNESCO, took the initiative in responding to the campaign, joined by a large group of artists from leading theater organizations around the world, including the Edinburgh Children’s Festival and Australian Windmill Theater, to name a few.
Shona Reppe, who starred in The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean, a top children’s drama from Britain, said she expects the outbreak of the epidemic will soon be overcome and she is keen to come to China.
Ian Cameron, 73, who started White, also an internationally acclaimed classical piece from Britain, said: My heart is with you, China.”
Helene Ducharme, director of Elisapee and the Northern Lights from the Canadian troupe Motus, led a group of local friends to shoot the video while she was doing a co-production in Africa, using different languages to encourage China’s efforts to combat the virus.
Tony Mack, chairman of Slingsby, an Australian performance troupe(剧团) which is famous for its Emil and the Detectives, said:“The medical workers: You are heroes. Thank you so much for standing on the front line, and you are not only keeping China safe but also the whole world safe!”
The ASK team said it will remain positive and active in connecting with audiences and followers by spreading online content to enhance energy, courage and creativity.
1. How did Helene Ducharme inspire China’s efforts to fight against the virus?| A．By using various languages. | B．By raising some money for China. |
| C．By showing in their videos a slogan. | D．By donating some medical equipment. |
| A．Ian Cameron | B．Shona Reppe |
| C．Yvette Hardie | D．Tony Mac |
| A．Very clear and detailed. |
| B．Praised enthusiastically. |
| C．Existing in thoughts or as an idea. |
| D．Extremely important in a particular situation. |
| A．China’s ongoing campaign to fight novel coronavirus |
| B．Top-class performances to be postponed due to epidemic |
| C．Outbreak of the epidemic in China will soon be overcome |
| D．International kids’ theater artists make videos to support fight against virus |
2 . How to get rid of back-to-school stress
Get organized by visiting the school and meeting the teachers.
It’s great because you get an idea of what the school year will be like and for the rest of the term, whenever your child talks to you about school you can place a face with the name.
Get the teacher’s e-mail address.
This is how most of the schools communicate in today’s society. In addition, ask for a contact number. It will be very useful in case you have a question about anything at all.
Know bus stop routes and bus stop rules.
If your child is riding the bus, don’t forget to walk with them to the bus stop and describe what type of behavior the school expects of your child at the bus stop and on the bus. If your child is not at least in the fourth grade, you may want to stay there until the bus comes. After the age of 10, he is not going to want you there. Never leave your child at the bus stop alone. Make sure other children are there.
Make plans for a tutor right away.
If you know your child will need a tutor, ask the teacher if she is available for tutoring. If she does not offer tutoring, ask for recommendations. Don’t wait until your child is falling behind others. Private tutors are still the best in my book. They are not at all as expensive as most of the learning centers, especially if it is a retired teacher.
1. What’s the most common way to communicate with the teacher？| A．Going to school in person. | B．Talking on the telephone. |
| C．Sending a message on the Internet. | D．Passing on messages by your child. |
| A．the bus doesn’t arrive | B．no other pupils are there |
| C．your child asks you to | D．your child is under 10 |
| A．Don’t wait until the last minute to find a tutor for your children. |
| B．Children are sure to be safe after the age of 10. |
| C．The teachers are organized for you to meet. |
| D．Your call to the teacher will not be answered. |
3 . Salvador Dali wasn’t exactly modest. And he’ll tell you so, too, face to face at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Here, the Spanish surrealist is alive and well, ready to talk to you in person about his art.
Well, sort of. This Dali is brought to life through the magic of artificial intelligence. It’s a newly opened exhibition called “Dali lives”, and it is more than 2,000 Dali works in about 20,000 square feet of exhibit space. Three video boards showing a life-size Dali, standing 5’8’’tall, form the exhibit — one at the museum gate, one on the third floor by the main exhibits (including Dali’s paintings and photographs, two technologically treated paintings allowing visitors to put themselves inside the paintings, and a special experience of “walking” through Dali’s 1934 painting “Archaeological Reminiscence of Millet’s Angelus”) and one in the gift shop on the way out. Each one offers a different experience when you push a doorbell on the board to get Dali’s attention.
The most surprising thing about “Dali Lives” is that you’re dealing with a version of the artist himself. It looks like Dali, it sounds like Dali, it is Dali. The museum worked together with the San Francisco advertising agency Goodby Silvrstein＆Partners to achieve this, feeding hundreds of new interviews and words from his written works into an artificial intelligence system to recreate the artist. The result was a living, moving version of Dali ready to converse with anyone there, answering their questions.
“Dali himself was at the forefront of technology and was always experimenting with and trying new things,” says Beth Bell, marketing director at the Dali Museum. “we think he would have loved these types of things. It’s in the spirit of Dali himself.
1. What can we know about Dali from the text?| A．He was a modest surrealist. |
| B．He once lived in St. Petersburg. |
| C．He produced a lot of works of art. |
| D．He came up with the idea of “Dali Lives”. |
| A．Learn painting skills. |
| B．Get a surprising gift from Dali. |
| C．Watch lots of interviews with Dali. |
| D．Enjoy the magic of modern technology. |
| A．Live. | B．Talk. | C．Play. | D．Work. |
| A．Dali — A Famous Painter | B．Dali — A Spanish Surrealist |
| C．A Different Exhibition | D．Meet With Dali |
4 . The Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt, is one of civilization’s greatest mysteries. No one knows for sure exactly when, why or how it was built. It is an enormous sculpture, believed to be the biggest ever created. It measures about 241 feet(73.5 meters) long and 66 feet(20 meters) high. Due to its unknown origin, this massive creation has puzzled locals, tourists, historians, and archaeologists for centuries.
The Sphinx has the body of a lion and the head of a man, which gives it the appearance of a mythical(神话里的)creature. It remains mostly intact today, with the exception of its nose. Many legends surround the missing nose, but a widely accepted explanation is that a former ruler had the nose carved off at some point after its creation.
Most archaeologists believe that the Sphinx was built about 4,600 years ago by a pharaoh(法老), or ruler, named Khafre. His pyramid, the giant tomb that holds Khafre’s body, is located directly behind the Sphinx. Stone blocks cut out in order to carve the Sphinx’s face were used to build the Khafre Valley Temple at about the same time. Some historians also believe the Sphinx’s face was modeled after the face of Khafre.
For most of its existence, the Sphinx was buried in sand. One story claims that around 1400 BC, the pharaoh Thutmose IV dreamed that the Sphinx ordered him to clear away the sand in return for the crown of Egypt. The sand soon buried the Sphinx again, however. In the 1850s, the sand was partially cleared, and in the 1930s, the Sphinx was completely exposed. Now, however, wind, humidity(湿热）,and smog are causing the Sphinx to crumble. Archaeologists must act quickly to preserve this mysterious symbol of Egypt.
1. Why is the Sphinx considered to be mysterious?| A．It is the biggest sculpture ever made. |
| B．Wind and smog didn’t break it down. |
| C．People know little about it. |
| D．It was buried in the sand for centuries. |
| A．complete | B．magical |
| C．mysterious | D．confusing |
| A．The history of Khafre’s famous tomb. |
| B．Khafre’s great achievement in building the Sphinx. |
| C．Documents recording Khafre’s ruling of Egypt. |
| D．Evidences supporting Khafre’s building of the Sphinx. |
| A．Dig out the Sphinx completely. |
| B．Take action to protect the Sphinx. |
| C．Make the Sphinx the symbol of Egypt. |
| D．Beautify the Sphinx to attract more archaeologists. |
5 . Many people think that hippos (河马) are cute and funny-looking. They are really fat and they have short, thick legs. They also have little round ears that wiggle (摆动) sometimes.
Hippos look funny, but you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Hippos are extremely violent and dangerous. In fact, they kill more people than any other animal in Africa. Think of how many dangerous animals that Africa has. It has got crocodiles, snakes, lions, elephants and many more. Hippos are more dangerous than all of them.
Hippos are naturally very dangerous animals, but there are some situations that make them even more dangerous than normal. They are very territorial. That means that they stay in one area which they consider to be their private area. If a person or animal enter a hippo’s area, the hippo will attack. Hippos also often attack when they are returning to the water. Hippos eat on land and return to water at dusk. If a hippo sees an animal when it’s returning to the water, it will become violent.
Hippos are so strong that they often kill crocodiles. There are two reasons that explain why hippos and crocodiles often fight. First of all, hippos and crocodiles live in the same areas. Since hippos are territorial, they don’t like having crocodiles nearby. Also, crocodiles often eat young hippos. For that reason, adult hippos frequently kill crocodiles.
Mother and daughter hippos have close relationships. However, hippos don’t have any other close relationship with each other. Hippos often live together in large groups, but scientists don’t know why. It’s hard to study the behaviour of male and female hippos, because males and females look the same.
Hippos are violent, but they are herbivores. A herbivore is an animal that eat only plants. An adult hippo eats about 50 kilograms of plants every day. Hippos are much more comfortable in the water, but they can run fast on land. Their top speed is about 19 kilometers per hour. That’s much faster than humans can run.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．The fight between hippos and crocodiles. |
| B．How to tell male hippos and female ones. |
| C．Africa’s most dangerous animal — hippos. |
| D．Why hippos get violent. |
| A．It is afraid of other animals. |
| B．It stays within a limited area. |
| C．It does not like to live in large groups. |
| D．It does not want other animals to enter its area. |
| A．Hippos swim faster than crocodiles. |
| B．It is hard to explain why hippos live in groups. |
| C．Male and female hippos look different. |
| D．Violent animals usually eat plants. |
| A．To inform. | B．To entertain. |
| C．To instruct. | D．To persuade. |
6 . When we see well, we do not think about our eyes very often. It is only when we cannot see perfectly that we realize how important our eyes are.
People who are near-sighted can only see things that are very close to their eyes. Everything else seems blurry. Many people who do a lot of work, such as writing, reading and sewing become near—sighted. Then People who are far-sighted suffer from just the opposite problem. They can see things that are far away, but they have difficulty in reading a book unless they hold it at arm’s length. If they want to do much reading , they must get glasses, too.
Other people do not see clearly because their eyes are not exactly the right shape. They have what is called astigmatism. This, too, can be corrected by glasses. Some people’s eyes become cloudy because of cataracts. Long ago these people often became blind. Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them.
Having two good eyes is important for judging distances. Each eye sees things from a slightly different angle. To prove this to yourself, look at an object out of one eye; then look at the same object out of your other eye. You will find the object’s relation to the background and other things around it has changed. The difference between these two different eye views helps us to judge how far away an object is. People who have only one eye cannot judge distance as people with two eyes.
1. What problem might a person have when things far away seem unclear?| A．Near-sighted. | B．Far-sighted. | C．Astigmatic. | D．Suffering from cataracts. |
| A．only when we can see well. | B．only when we cannot see perfectly. |
| C．even if we can see well. | D．only when we realize how important our eyes are. |
| A．seeing at night | B．seeing objects far away |
| C．looking over a wide area | D．judging distances |
| A．One eye bigger than the other. |
| B．Eyes that are not exactly the right shape. |
| C．A difficulty that can be corrected by an operation. |
| D．An eye difficulty that cannot be corrected by glasses. |
7 . Randy Kraus was disabled. His left side was useless. He'd been a police officer before, and he was strong and able. Now, he felt he could do nothing.
His trouble started with Parkinson's disease, but it didn't end there. In July, 2002, the 60-year-old Kraus went into the hospital for an operation on his brain to control the shaking. But during the operation，he had a stroke. He was paralyzed. The doctor said, “You may never walk again and you might not even be able to talk.”
Kraus found that he couldn't lift a fork or take a drink by himself. Physical treatment was so painful and slow. What did he have to live for? So Kraus held the gun against his head. Feeling the cold metal on his skin, he began to consider the pain he would cause for his wife, daughters and grandchildren. He didn't pull the trigger (扳机)．
Andrew Garud, his exercise physiologist, told him, “You are where you are. The pace would be slow；the pain would be real. But as long as you are alive, you will have the ability to get better.”
After three months of working with Garud, Kraus wanted to see if he could stand.
He could. Then he took three steps, sat down and cried like a baby.
One step, as they say, led to another. Next he managed a short walk along the edge of a boxing ring (拳击台) in the health club. It was the hardest fight of Kraus's life. People at the gym cheered him on. Garud kept saying he could do more. Now, Kraus can brush his teeth，shave himself and get around the house with a walker. Only the disabled can fully understand little success.
1. According to the passage，we can learn that ________.| A．the stroke during the operation on his brain led to Kraus' disability |
| B．Kraus' operation in 2002 was performed by Andrew Garud |
| C．doing exercise can help cure Parkinson's disease |
| D．Kraus will lead a normal life as a healthy person in the future |
| A．Everyone in the world has the right to be alive. |
| B．It's necessary for people to do exercise to keep healthy. |
| C．One should try to lead a better life. |
| D．As long as a person is alive, he will have a chance to be better. |
| A．Optimism. | B．Strong mindedness. |
| C．Sympathy. | D．Generosity. |
8 . When Dean Arnold got his first job, he was miserable , Each time he went to work, he coughed and he couldn’t breathe. Working in a bakery when you are allergic to flour can be painful.
But Arnold stayed with the National Biscuit Company for ten years. He was a businessman and he helped them improve production. At last his health problems became too serious. He left and formed his own company.
With his wife and mother, he founded Arnold Bakery. They tried new recipes . changing the kind and amount of flour used. This enabled Arnold to work there without too much pain. The bread, made with unbleached flour (标准粉), was baked in a brick oven .
They began by baking two dozen loaves. The bread was sold door to door for fifteen cents a loaf. Winning customers to his unusual, old-fashioned bread took time. But Arnold, struggling against his allergy, built his bakery into one of the largest in the United States.
1. During his stay in the National Biscuit Company, what did Arnold do?| A．He founded Arnold Bakery. |
| B．He tried a new method of baking. |
| C．He helped the company improve their production. |
| D．He became successful in his business. |
| A．He suffered from allergy to flour | B．He didn’t like the job |
| C．He wanted to make more money | D．He wanted to form his own company |
| A．determined | B．brave | C．unusual | D．unhealthy |
| A．Arnold’s bread was baked in a brick oven. |
| B．Arnold’s bread was made with unbleached flour. |
| C．Arnold’s bread was sold at a low price. |
| D．Arnold’s bread was of poor quality. |
| A．A Sick Baker | B．A Brick-oven Bread Baker |
| C．An Old-fashioned Baker | D．How to Overcome Allergy |
9 . When I married my wife Martha, it was the most beautiful day of my life. Halfway through the reception, my
“Sure,” I said, smiling, when some guests pulled me off in their direction. An hour later my mother
Then my wife and I were off on our honeymoon. A nagging (烦人的)
And I didn't think they were tears of
“Well, this old woman, who was wearing blue, watched you dance with your beautiful new bride, and I
Both of our tears covered her sofa that day. And after the talk, I asked Mom for a dance. Unlike me, she didn't
| A．wife | B．mother | C．guest | D．photographer |
| A．dance | B．chat | C．walk | D．drink |
| A．stopped | B．followed | C．tried | D．failed |
| A．checked | B．escaped | C．agreed | D．left |
| A．hand | B．arm | C．foot | D．finger |
| A．curiosity | B．puzzle | C．mistake | D．concern |
| A．headed for | B．returned to | C．bought | D．decorated |
| A．disappearing | B．showing | C．hanging | D．waiting |
| A．unclear | B．short | C．fond | D．old |
| A．talking to | B．focusing on | C．looking for | D．worrying about |
| A．spotted | B．appreciated | C．enjoyed | D．glanced |
| A．complaining | B．waving | C．weeping | D．dreaming |
| A．joy | B．success | C．luck | D．regret |
| A．doubt | B．understand | C．imagine | D．forget |
| A．friend | B．son | C．husband | D．host |
| A．pride | B．bravery | C．excitement | D．relaxation |
| A．meeting | B．party | C．wedding | D．honeymoon |
| A．remembered | B．knew | C．pretended | D．promised |
| A．though | B．if | C．because | D．unless |
| A．forgive | B．blame | C．obey | D．refuse |
10 . Magic is a form of entertainment that is based on pretending to do things that are impossible. The magician is a specially trained actor. He tries to make the audience believe that he has the power to do things which are against the laws of nature.
Magic shows are entertaining as long as the audience does not discover how the tricks are done. The magician usually depends on his skill with his hands, on his knowledge of psychology, and, sometimes, on mechanical devices(机械装置). Since magic performance is meant to trick people, the use of psychology is important. The magician must keep people from noticing all the movements of his hands and from thinking about the secret parts of his equipment. He must also lead the audience to draw false conclusions. The magician's success depends on the fact that many things seen by the eye are not the things that matter.
Two basic magic tricks are making objects seem to appear and making objects seem to disappear. A combination of these two tricks makes for some interesting effects. For example, the magician puts a small ball under one of several cups. The ball then seems to jump from one cup to another or to change colour. What actually happens is that the magician, employing quick hand movements or a mechanical device, hides one ball. While doing this he talks to the audience and waves a brightly coloured cloth with one hand. The audience is too busy watching the cloth and listening to the magician's words to notice that his other hand is hiding the ball.
Another favourite trick is to cut or burn something, and then make it appear whole again. What actually happens is that the magician makes the cut or burned object disappear by quickly hiding it while the audience watches something else. Then he “magically” makes it appear whole again by displaying(展示)another object that has not been cut or burned.
1. What is the author's main purpose in writing the text?| A．To promote a magic show. | B．To teach people to be magicians. |
| C．To explain the art of magic. | D．To praise the talents of magicians. |
| A．Moving stage equipment. | B．Directing the audience's attention. |
| C．Applying high technology. | D．Keeping the performance in secret. |
| A．Providing examples. | B．Making a summary. |
| C．Drawing comparisons. | D．Explaining a concept. |
| A．Mechanical devices are expensive. | B．Most magicians employ assistants. |
| C．It takes practice to perform magic. | D．Small objects are magicians' favourite. |
