1 . When I think of my childhood, I remember cycling with my friends and buying orange candies, but most of all, going home to see my grandma waiting at the doorstep and asking, “How was your day, bunny?”
Nana (I call my grandma Nana) saw me
Nana was born during the Second World War with a very different lifestyle and childhood from me. She didn’t get
She taught me to be
As years went by, Alzheimer’s disease (老年痴呆症) ate her from the
One day, the glimmer
Nana took a piece of my childhood with her when she
A.grow up | B.look out | C.look up | D.work out |
A.works | B.designs | C.truths | D.memories |
A.forgot | B.celebrated | C.survived | D.calculated |
A.care | B.education | C.assistance | D.fame |
A.invitation | B.law | C.burden | D.opportunity |
A.complained | B.cried | C.struggled | D.argued |
A.eager for | B.upset about | C.grateful for | D.curious about |
A.pretended | B.failed | C.wished | D.managed |
A.me | B.her | C.it | D.them |
A.trained | B.got | C.needed | D.became |
A.outside | B.inside | C.top | D.bottom |
A.woman | B.master | C.neighbour | D.colleague |
A.address | B.job | C.hobby | D.name |
A.ambition | B.separation | C.recognition | D.permission |
A.occupied | B.expected | C.represented | D.seized |
A.hardly | B.usually | C.completely | D.slightly |
A.sight | B.style | C.service | D.sleep |
A.loudly | B.beautifully | C.weakly | D.fluently |
A.voice | B.story | C.laughter | D.praise |
A.sank | B.dreamed | C.left | D.whispered |
2 . The story of a 92-year-old book lover in a village of Chongqing has touched many recently. Sun Shiquan has collected more than 7,000 books over the decades and has offered a free local library for residents for years.
He was born in Pipa village in Xiuqi township of Chongqing’s Chengkou county. Being a bookworm as a child, he read all kinds of ancient books including the Four Books and the Five Classics. In the 1950s, he became one of only a handful of local college graduates and later served as a primary and middle school teacher in the county.
Sun said he started to collect books in 1983 and gradually built a diverse collection over more than 40 years. Among his holdings is a precious set known as the Complete Works of Chinese Classics, published during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is one of only seven copies in the country.
Wearing glasses and using a magnifying glass, Sun reads for more than three hours every day. Now he has finished reading most of his collection.
Speaking of her father, Sun Ziyu said, “My father has a habit of making notes on each book. He makes a mark whenever he stops reading so that he can carry on reading from where he left off.” Village official Liu Jiao said, “Many children in the village love to visit Sun and listen to his stories.” She said the elderly man has earned respect from the whole village. People call him “Teacher Sun” and children call him “great-grandfather”.
Sun Ziyu said her father also writes poems and prose in his spare time and enjoys reading his works to the family. She said under her father’s influence, family members take the time to read together and exchange views. That’s their favorite part. “My father has loved reading for a lifetime,” Sun Ziyu said. “Reading is his meat and drink.”
1. What do we know about Sun Shiquan?A.He was once a college teacher in Chongqing. |
B.Reading wasn’t his preference when he was a child. |
C.The Complete Works of Chinese Classics is his treasure. |
D.He has just bought the Four Books and the Five Classics. |
A.Costing less money than usual. |
B.Shaped like a circle or a ball. |
C.Greater in size than usual or average. |
D.Making sth. look bigger than it really is. |
A.He likes to take notes. |
B.He loves to read quite quickly. |
C.He is only fond of reading novels. |
D.He doesn’t like to discuss them with others. |
A.Sun Shiquan collects more than 7,000 books |
B.Chongqing man, 92, gives gift of literature |
C.Elderly man earns respect from whole village |
D.Elderly man’s stories attract children in village |
3 . Here are some pet-friendly universities in the UK and US.
University of Illinois
Students are allowed up to two pets in each apartment, as well as a fish tank of no more than 50 gallons.
To keep a pet, you will need to get approval from the Family & Graduate housing department at the University of Illinois. You will have to provide proof that your pet is up to date with its vaccinations(疫苗), and pay a monthly US$30 pet fee, which is non-refundable(不可退款的).
Your pet can’t be left for extended periods of time, and if there’s evidence that you’ve left it alone due to vacation or illness, the university may remove it.
Harvard University
With as many as 12 pet-friendly apartments, Harvard is a very pet-friendly university. It allows students to have fish in a tank of no more than 50 gallons, except for Harvard’s Cronkhite Graduate Center.
In Harvard’s pet-friendly apartments, you’re allowed: one cat or one dog, which can’t be over 40 pounds when fully grown. At most, two pet birds.
University of British Columbia Students can take advantage of the university’s B. A. R. K program, which uses the calming power of therapy dogs to help them.
B. A. R. K started at the University of British Columbia, after an assistant professor called Dr. John-Tyler Binfet noticed that he couldn’t walk across campus without students running over to play with his dog, Frances. The students told him they were homesick and missed their pets, which encouraged Binfet to establish B. A. R. K as a way of fighting their loneliness.
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is famous for its resident pets, who happily wander around college grounds. Many Oxford colleges have their own tortoise and take part in the annual Corpus Christi tortoise race.
Although you are not allowed to keep your own pet as a student, several Oxford colleges hold dog petting and walking therapy sessions.
1. What is one of the rules for keeping pets at the University of Illinois?A.Pet keepers should pay a monthly US$ 30 pet fee which will be returned. |
B.Pets can’t be left alone in the apartments due to vacation or illness. |
C.Students have to keep fish in a fish tank of no more than 20 gallons. |
D.The cat or dog can’t be over 40 pounds when fully grown. |
A.To help students to fight against homesickness. |
B.To do research on dogs and train them to be pets. |
C.To help more professors to do exercise on campus. |
D.To give assistance to the pet dogs by offering them foods. |
A.Harvard University. |
B.University of Oxford. |
C.University of Illinois. |
D.University of British Columbia. |
4 . Born in New York in 1918, scientist Gertrude B. Elion had an impressive career, during which she developed medicines to cure many major diseases. Elion spent her early youth in Manhattan. She attended senior high school and had, in her words, an unbelievable thirst for knowledge.
Influenced by the death of her grandfather, who died of cancer, Elion entered Hunter College at the age of 15 and graduated in chemistry at the age of 19. She had difficulty finding employment after graduation because many laboratories refused to hire women chemists. She found a part-time job as a lab assistant and went back to school at New York University. Elion worked as a high school teacher for a few years after finishing work on her master’s degree.
The start of World War II created more opportunities for women. At the age of 26, Elion was able to get a job at Burroughs Welcome, where she began a 40-year partnership with Dr. George H. Hitchings. Her thirst for knowledge impressed Dr. Hitchings, and he permitted her to take on more responsibility.
Elion and Hitchings set out on a course of creating medicines by studying the chemical composition of diseased cells. Rather than relying on old trial-and-error methods, they used the differences in biochemistry between normal human cells and pathogens(病原体)to design medicines. In all, Elion obtained 45 patents on medicine and was awarded 23 honorary degrees.
In 1988, Elion received the Nobel Prize for Medicine, together with George H. Hlitchings and Sir James Black. She received other awards for her work, including the National Medal of Science in 1991, and that same year, she became the first woman to be absorbed into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1997, she was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award.
1. What can we say about Elion as a high school student?A.She had a satisfying part-time job. |
B.She had a strong desire for learning. |
C.She had a gift for chemistry at high school. |
D.She made great achievements in chemistry. |
A.To meet her grandfather’s wish. |
B.To find a good job after graduation. |
C.To create medicines to cure diseases. |
D.To be a chemistry teacher in the future. |
A.In 1944. | B.In 1937. | C.In 1933. | D.In 1984. |
A.Her later life. | B.Her contributions. |
C.Her interest in chemistry. | D.Her honors. |
5 . I know what courage looks like. I saw it on a flight I took six years ago, and only now can I speak of it without tears filling my eyes at the memory.
Our flight left the Orlando Airport one Friday morning. But immediately upon the take-off, it was clear that something was wrong. The aircraft was bumping (颠簸) up and down. All the experienced travellers, including me, looked around with knowing (会意的) smiles. If you fly much, you see these things and learn to act calmly about them. However, we did not remain calm for long.
Minutes after we were in the air, our plane began falling quickly. The pilot soon made a serious announcement. “We are having some difficulties,” he said. “Our indicators show that the control system has failed. We will be returning to the Orlando Airport. The flight attendants will prepare you for a bumpy landing. Also, if you look out of the windows, you will see that we are dumping (倾倒) fuel from the airplane. We want to have as little on board as possible in the event of a rough touchdown.” In other words, we were about to crash. Many travellers looked visibly frightened now. No one faces death without fear, I thought.
Then a couple of rows to my left, I heard a still calm voice, a woman’s voice, speaking in an absolutely normal conversational tone. I had to find the source of this voice. All around, people cried. Many screamed. Finally, I saw her. In this state of complete confusion and lack of order, a mother was talking to her child. The woman, in her mid-30s, was staring full into the face of her daughter, who looked to be four years old. The child listened closely, sensing the importance of her mother’s words. The mother’s eye held the child so fixed that she seemed untouched by the sounds of grief and fear around her.
Finally, I leaned over and could hear this soft sure voice with the tone of comfort. Over and over again, the mother said, “I love you so much. Remember, no matter what happens, I love you always.” Fortunately, our landing gear (起落架) held at last and our touchdown was not a tragedy.
However, the voice I heard that day never faded. That mom showed me what a real hero looks like.
1. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?A.The crew was getting ready for a take-off. |
B.The travellers were taken good care of on the plane. |
C.The aircraft was not in normal condition when flying. |
D.The passengers were enjoying themselves on the aircraft. |
A.To prepare for a landing. | B.To have the airplane not bump. |
C.To make the airplane to fly faster. | D.To make sure the control system worked well. |
A.She looked quite angry. | B.She didn’t appear so worried. |
C.She felt extremely nervous. | D.She sounded rather hopeless. |
A.She paid attention to her mother’s words. |
B.She screamed and cried with other passengers. |
C.She comforted her mother after hearing the emergency. |
D.She didn’t seem to be interested in what her mother said. |
6 . Different weather makes people feel different. It influences health, intelligence and feelings.
In August, it is very hot and wet in the southern part of the United States. People there have heart trouble and other kinds of health problems during this month. In the Northeast and the Middle West, it is very hot at some times and very cold at other times. People in these states have more heart trouble after the weather changes in February or March.
The weather can also influence intelligence. For example, in a 2018 report by scientists, IQs of a group of students were very high when a very strong wind came; but after the strong wind, their IQs were 10% below. The wind can help people have more intelligence. Very hot weather, on the other hand, can make it lower. Students in many schools of the United States often get worse on exams in the hot months of the year (July and August).
Weather also has a strong influence on people’s feelings. Winter may be a bad time for thin people. They usually feel cold during these months. They might feel unhappy during cold weather. But fat people may have a hard time in hot summer. At about 18℃, people become stronger.
Low air pressure (气压) may make people forgetful. People leave more bags on buses and in shops on low — pressure days. There is “good weather” for work and health. People feel best at a temperature of about 18℃.
Are you feeling sad, tired, forgetful, or unhappy today? It may be the problem of weather.
1. When do people in the Northeast in America have more heart trouble?A.In February. | B.In July. | C.In August. | D.In November. |
A.People’s health. | B.People’s appearance. |
C.People’s intelligence. | D.People’s feelings. |
A.More hesitant. | B.More friendly. |
C.More energetic. | D.More generous. |
A.People can feel best when air pressure is high. |
B.People may be forgetful when air pressure is high. |
C.People may buy more things when air pressure is low. |
D.People can’t remember things so well when air pressure is low. |
7 . A friend of mine called me at 2 am. I usually worked through the
I was
I felt happy. I know that sometimes what
I've ever been in situations where I've had to
I have had
I really hope that I was able to give my friend support. Even though we did not
A.day | B.night | C.year | D.dusk |
A.going through | B.backing up | C.lining in with | D.making up for |
A.equipped | B.contrasted | C.provided | D.overloaded |
A.Given | B.Including | C.Besides | D.Without |
A.regretted | B.decided | C.hesitated | D.dedicated |
A.on hold | B.out of control | C.at hand | D.within reach |
A.program | B.situation | C.life | D.fortune |
A.takes | B.determines | C.understands | D.matters |
A.clear | B.fancy | C.severe. | D.equal |
A.additional | B.fortunate | C.tough | D.great |
A.gets | B.leaves | C.lets | D.cares |
A.criticism | B.profit | C.presentation | D.encouragement |
A.stress | B.complain | C.remove | D.remember |
A.see | B.put | C.struggle | D.depart |
A.independent | B.discouraging | C.admirable | D.reliable |
A.result | B.advocate | C.ignorance | D.support |
A.privately | B.unexpectedly | C.roughly | D.unfairly |
A.proposal | B.similarity | C.difference | D.acknowledgement |
A.solve | B.benefit | C.rule | D.keep |
A.inform | B.relieve | C.convince | D.remind |
8 . One of the three astronauts who made up the historic Apollo 11 crew, NASA veteran Michael Collins passed away today, April 28, 2021, at the age of 90.
Collins was born on Oet. 31, 1930, in Rome, Italy. His father, a career officer in the US, Amy who’d go on to retire as a major general, was stationed there at the time. After his family returned stateside, Collins earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the US. Military Academy at West Point, graduating with the class of 1952. He then became an Air Force test pilot, which opened some interesting doors. In 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn’s achievement was an inspiration for Collins. “I certainly had no childhood dream of flying to the moon or anywhere else, but the idea was extremely appealing.” Collins wrote in his autobiography Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys. He was selected to join NASA’s third class of astronauts the following year. His first extraterrestrial (地球外的) adventure came in 1966, when Collins set about on a three-day spaceflight with fellow astronaut John Young. Known as Gemini X, their mission was one for the record books; the two men reached the then-unprecedented (前所未有的) altitude of 475 miles (764kilometers ).
Of course, Michael Collins is best remembered for his role in Apollo 11. On July 16, 1969, at 8:32 AM ( Eastern Standard Time ), Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were launched out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They were the three explorers NASA had chosen for the first mission that would ever put a man on the moon. Four days into their adventure, on July 20, Collins parted ways with his crewmates. Seated in the Eagle landing craft, Armstrong and Aldrin made their landing onto the lunar surface. An American flag was planted; photos were taken; Armstrong said the immortal words, “ One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. ”
Meanwhile, Collins stayed behind in the crew’s command module (舱), orbiting the moon as his colleagues explored it.
1. What motivated Collins to dream of flying to the moon?A.His father’s encouragement. | B.John Glenn’s achievement. |
C.His childhood experiences. | D.His favorite book. |
A.He became the first American to orbit Earth. |
B.He dreamed of flying to the moon in his childhood. |
C.His first space exploration was accomplished by himself. |
D.He once wrote an autobiography. |
A.He was praised by Armstrong. | B.He became an Air Force test pilot. |
C.He participated in the work of Apollo 11. | D.He reached the then-unprecedented altitude of 475 miles. |
A.Ambitious. | B.Lucky. | C.Warmhearted. | D.Humorous. |
9 . For centuries people have wondered who was the model for Leonard do da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and what was the reason for her smile. But the Mona Lisa is just one of the many mysteries in the art world. Here are some other notable unsolved art mysteries that might be a little less familiar.
Mystery 1: Who Is the girl in Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring?
Around 1665, Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer painted a charming portrait of a young girl. People around the globe have long wondered who this fetching young lady was. Many say she must have been Vermeer’s daughter or girlfriend. Others think she wasn’t a real person, but rather an intentionally mysterious, timeless figure. The painting, referred to as the “ Mona Lisa of the North ” , has been part of The Hague’s permanent collection since 1903. But it draws record-breaking crowds whenever and wherever it tours around the world.
Mystery 2: Where Is Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man?
Portrait of a Young Man is considered one of the most important pieces of art to go missing during World War II. The painting was created around 1513 by Raphael, a famous Italian Renaissance artist, and stolen from Poland’s Princes Czartoryski Museum in 1939.
The portrait had traveled to Germany and Austria before it was gone in 1945.
Mystery 3: Was Van Gogh Murdered?
One of the main things people know about Vincent van Gogh is that he cut off his ear. That was likely because the Dutch post-impressionist painter suffered from mental illness, probably severe depression. The official cause is suicide from a gun shot at close range.
That certainly seems plausible (貌似有理的), given his poor mental health. However, no gun was found near his body, and locals reported two teenage boys bullying him shortly before his death.
1. What do Portrait of a Young Man and Girl with a Pearl Earring have in common?A.They are both gone. | B.They are both portraits. |
C.They were created at the same period. | D.They are both related to World War II. |
A.Leonardo da Vinci. | B.Johannes Vermeer. | C.Vincent van Gogh. | D.Raphael. |
A.Art lovers. | B.Book reviewers. | C.Tour guides. | D.Music composers. |
10 . The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and University of Central Lanca-shire (UCLan) share findings of a project to improve student engagement with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
It’s long been acknowledged that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. Now, research conducted by UCLan and funded by STFC shows the causes of this problem and points to innovative solutions. The Blackpool Physics; Inspire, Engage, Research (PIER) project found that primary school children from low socio-economic areas are just as interested in science but lack knowledge about possible science careers.
The PIER project is following a group of pupils as they progress from Grade 6 to Grade 9, using surveys, interviews and other assessments to measure interest in science. These initial findings suggest that attempts to increase science participation among young people should not simply promote the subject as “fun” or “interesting”. Instead, greater impact could be achieved by demonstrating clearly how science can open possible future career opportunities.
Many of the pupils taking part in the study understood that studying science could be useful but few could explain why, suggesting a need for greater education about STEM careers. As well as broadening our understanding of the issue, the PIER project is solving the problem head on. The team has carried out a variety of activities each year for the participants, including “meet the scientists” events, trips to UCLan’s Alston Observatory as well as family science events at school.
Lead Researcher and STFC Fellow in Public Engagement, Professor Robert Walsh, said, “Much government policy towards boosting science in higher education focuses on an assumed lack of interest and desire in low-socioeconomic groups.” However, the enthusiasm is already there and this “hidden science identity” needs to be revealed and translated into real-life prospects for these young people. We’re recommending that programs instead allow young people to explore their science identity more fully and provide innovative ways to discover the jobs that studying science may lead to.
1. What do people generally believe about poor students?A.They have no interest in STEM careers. |
B.They are not engaged enough in science. |
C.They are more representative of science. |
D.They have many character disadvantages. |
A.Assessing pupils’ performance. |
B.Increasing the surveys of pupils. |
C.Demonstrating the potential value of science. |
D.Promoting the subject as “fun” or “interesting”. |
A.To boost science development. |
B.To meet the pupils’ needs for school events. |
C.To promote teaching related careers’ development. |
D.To improve students’ understanding of STEM careers. |
A.What Is the Definition of PIER? |
B.Increase Pupils’ Learning Awareness |
C.How Does the PIER Project Come into Being? |
D.The PIER Project Helps Poor Pupils Engage in Science |