1 . Long ago, poems were recited loud instead of being written down. Back when the Greeks first started the Olympics, they held poetry
Now, poetry competitions have been revived. This year 120,000 high school students competed in the first Poetry Out Loud national recitation competition,
The first competitions were held in classrooms. The winners went on to school wide contests, and then they competed in city and state competitions.
It’s not just a matter of saying the words in the right order. It’s the tone of
Not only do the people hearing poems have a(n)
| A．connections | B．contests | C．contacts | D．compositions |
| A．performing | B．hearing | C．admiring | D．comprehending |
| A．However | B．Besides | C．Finally | D．Therefore |
| A．poet | B．performer | C．student | D．champion |
| A．against | B．for | C．in | D．at |
| A．finals | B．competitions | C．activities | D．ceremonies |
| A．awarded | B．won | C．rewarded | D．achieved |
| A．set off | B．set up | C．put off | D．put out |
| A．acquiring | B．finding | C．hearing | D．reading |
| A．drama | B．rhyme | C．voice | D．poetry |
| A．literature | B．history | C．art | D．words |
| A．fresh | B．innocent | C．amusing | D．confusing |
| A．wonderful | B．pleasant | C．unforgettable | D．new |
| A．learning | B．writing | C．memorizing | D．selecting |
| A．feature | B．benefit | C．satisfaction | D．option |
2 . If you walk through the doors of one of the Smithsonian Institution’s museums in Washington, D.C., you may be greeted by an unusual guide. A Japanese tech company recently sent 25 humanoid robots to the Smithsonian. All of them are named Pepper.
Each Pepper stands 4 feet tall and has a computer screen attached to its body. Built by SoftBank Robotics, the robots are programmed to share information about the museum in which they are based.
“Pepper is basically an experiment,” Goslins, director of the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Museum, said. “The idea is to explore and see how a robot performs in this kind of environment.”
Museum visitors communicating with Pepper. The robot can tell stories and answer basic questions. People even take pictures and dance with it.
“The robot draws big crowds,” said Allison Peck, director of marketing at the Hirshhorn. “People just love Pepper.”
According to the Smithsonian Institution’s website: “Pepper gives our museum workers a new way to reach and serve visitors.” For example, Pepper teaches Swahili words to visitors of the “World on the Horizon” exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.
Pepper also has the special ability to draw guests to less-visited areas of the Smithsonian’s museum. When Pepper is placed in a spot, crowds are attracted to that place.
When not educating museum visitors, Pepper stays in the Smithsonian offices, getting charged and programmed. After being charged, Pepper can run for about 8 hours at a time.
Pepper plays an important role, but the robot“ is not meant to take away human jobs at the museum, ” Goslins explained. “It is meant to give our visitors a more enjoyable experience while they are here with us.”
1. What do you know about Pepper?| A．It measures 4 feet in width. | B．It serves as a guide. |
| C．It is named after a robot. | D．It is made in the US. |
| A．Draw pictures. | B．Take pictures. |
| C．Ask questions. | D．Tell stories. |
| A．Reasonable cost. | B．Pepper’s appearance. |
| C．Workers’service. | D．Attractive scenery. |
| A．To please visitors. | B．To replace humans. |
| C．To perform programs. | D．To educate visitors |
Venice is in the northeast of Italy. It was built on small islands in saltwater lakes more than 1,500 years ago. It is a city with no cars and people travel by boat. There are 117 waterways and more than 400 bridges that can guide you to any place you want to go.
Los Angeles
It was founded in 1781. It is now the second largest city in the United States. It is famous for Hollywood, which is the oldest film industry of the world. It is also the home of Disneyland.
Budapest
The population of Budapest is about 1.7 million and the city is a very popular place for tourists. Visitors like to take boat rides along the Danube (多瑙河). Budapest is known for its exciting nightlife. The best time to visit Budapest is summer.
Singapore City
It is the capital of Singapore. For many tourists, the city is a wonderful place in Southeast Asia. It has a night zoo called “Night Safari”. People can watch lions, tigers and foxes there.
1. How do people travel around in Venice?| A．By boat. | B．By car. | C．By train. | D．By bus. |
| A．Spring. | B．Summer. | C．Autumn. | D．Winter. |
| A．A storybook. | B．A dictionary. |
| C．A travel guidebook. | D．A book review. |
4 . Jon Pedley is making a big change. He is giving up his life as a businessman for a life of helping others. He is trading his beautiful farmhouse in England for life in a mud hut (小屋) in Uganda, East Africa.
Pedley admitted that he had not always led a very positive life. At times he drank too much and got in trouble with the law. “I had always put the pursuit (追求) of money in front of everything else. As long as I was all right, I didn’t care who I was hurting,” says Pedley.
But a visit to Uganda in 2007 gave Pedley a new outlook on life. He was amazed at what he saw and how much the people there appreciated the work he was doing. “I worked there for a few days and these people who have nothing were thanking me by giving me bags of potatoes, which are a fortune for them,” he said. Now Pedley is selling his business, his $1.5 million farmhouse, and his expensive car—and moving into a hut made of mud and boards in a small Ugandan village. There he will help run an organisation that hopes to improve the quality of life for people in the village of Kigazi. He will help to build schoolrooms for children and tanks to hold clean water for villagers. Today, people in Kigazi must walk two miles to a hospital, so Pedley will help to build doctors’ offices, too.
Pedley’s organisation will also work with English teenagers who are in trouble. The teens will be sent to a “camp” in Uganda that Pedley will run. The teens will live in mud huts and help to build water, health, and education facilities (设施) for kids in Kigazi, many of whom have lost their parents to poverty or disease. Pedley hopes the teens will see a side of life that might help them turn around their own lives and set them on a new and more positive path.
1. Which of the following best describes Pedley in the past?| A．Negative. | B．Creative. | C．Positive. | D．Selfish. |
| A．Do business with the local people. |
| B．Help farmers increase potato output. |
| C．Help villagers with building work. |
| D．Introduce tools to improve English teaching. |
| A．To encourage them to make friends with locals. |
| B．To inspire them to live a more positive life. |
| C．To train them to become doctors in the future. |
| D．To make them learn about different cultures. |
| A．From a millionaire to living in a mud hut. | B．A life-changing adventure. |
| C．A rich man becoming homeless. | D．More money, more worries. |
5 . Little New Year usually falls a week before the lunar New Year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity(神) who oversees the moral character of each household. Here are five things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.
1.Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God
One of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, who will report on the family’s conduct over the past year. The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig’s head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy. Most of the offerings are sweets of various varieties. It is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God’s mouth and encourage him to only say good things about the family when he ascends to heaven to make his report.
2.House cleaning
According to Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities’ timely departure people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their houses, down to every last drawer and cupboard.
3.Paste paper-cuts to windows
In the Little New Year, old couplets and paper-cuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down, and new window decorations, New Year’s posters, and auspicious(吉利的) decorations are pasted up.
4.Bath and hair-cut
As the old Chinese saying goes, whether they’re rich or poor, people often have a haircut before the Spring Festival. The activity of taking bath and haircut is often taken on the Little New Year.
5.Preparations for the Spring Festival
People start to stock up necessary provisions for the Spring Festival since the Little New Year. Everything needed to make offerings to the ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be purchased in advance.
1. What is the Kitchen God’s duty in the man’s world?| A．Collecting the information of the man’s world. |
| B．Protecting the character of each home. |
| C．Gathering sacrifices for other Gods in heaven. |
| D．Watching out for the moral people in the world. |
| A．Because the Kitchen God loves sweet foods. |
| B．As it is the traditional customs. |
| C．As people hope the God says good for them. |
| D．Because sweets are the best sacrifices. |
| A．Little New Year always falls in February. |
| B．House cleaning is to welcome the New Year. |
| C．In the Little New Year only paper-cuts are pasted up. |
| D．People will make full preparations for the coming New Year. |
| A．Offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God. |
| B．Burning paper image of the Kitchen God. |
| C．Preparing the necessity for the New Year. |
| D．Cleaning house and people themselves. |
