1 . I’d gone snowboarding with excitement in France with my little brother. That day, fresh snow had been falling, and we were in a good _______. We stopped near the top of an off-path section that went through _______. I let my brother disappear into the trees ahead, _______ I would soon catch up.

I began to _______ speed when I was suddenly thrown off balance. Just as I was regaining control, I ran into the trunk (树干) of a large tree. It was like _______ a solid wall. The pain was more than I could stand. I knew immediately that my _______ was broken and quickly realized the situation could get very _______. Nobody would be coming past. There was no phone signal. It was snowing and cold. If I waited, I would _______ be rescued eventually. But the chance of _______ to death before that happened was too high for me.

I tried to stand but fell down and almost ________ out with pain. I managed to get the board off from my feet and moved it under my stomach so I was lying on it. I used the board to slowly drag (拖) and ________ my body down the tree-lined slope (斜坡).

It took about two hours ________ a skier found me and I got help. The mountain rescue team came, with my brother arriving ________ afterwards. I couldn’t feel my hands or my toes from the cold, but I was ________ to know I was safe. I had broken one of my backbones, so I had an operation. The constant pain was huge, but it wasn’t as bad as seeing the pain and worry I put my family ________.

The recovery road was tough, but I was lucky.

1.

A．state

B．shape

C．passion

D．mood

2.

A．fields

B．forests

C．suburbs

D．plants

3.

A．figuring

B．advising

C．wondering

D．screaming

4.

A．take up

B．make up

C．pick up

D．end up

5.

A．hitting

B．encountering

C．surrounding

D．attracting

6.

A．head

B．arm

C．neck

D．back

7.

A．slight

B．mild

C．severe

D．typical

8.

A．permanently

B．precisely

C．possibly

D．exactly

9.

A．starving

B．bleeding

C．choking

D．freezing

10.

A．gave

B．blacked

C．cried

D．blew

11.

A．push

B．slide

C．lift

D．bend

12.

A．after

B．since

C．as

D．before

13.

A．immediately

B．shortly

C．suddenly

D．instantly

14.

A．relieved

B．shocked

C．frightened

D．refreshed

15.

A．off

B．forward

C．through

D．away

2 . During the winter of 1986 I was working at a construction site near Oakland, California. It is not _________ for construction workers’ hands to become very painful. My hands were no _________ that year. They were bleeding at the joints of the fingers and thumbs.

_________ work because of hurting hands is simply not a good choice in the construction industry. You grit your teeth (咬紧牙关), keep working, and finish the job. One morning I left for work at 5 a.m. and arrived at a _________. As I got out of my truck, I saw a newspaper delivery car and the driver struggling with newspapers. I took a second look, _________ that the man had no forearms. I was _________ to see him doing a job that would require a(n) physically gifted person. Still, he was somewhat having _________ with the larger bundles (捆) because his arms weren’t long enough.

On my way to pay for the gas, I stopped and asked him if I could _________ him. He politely _________ my offer. A few minutes later while I was refueling, he said, “Hey buddy, would you mind tying (系) my shoes for me?” As I was tying his shoes, he went on to ____________ that tying his shoes was the only thing he couldn’t do for ____________.

I stopped and looked back at him as he was getting into his car. I looked down at my ____________. Suddenly it hit me: I had been complaining about my hurting hands for weeks. That experience made a difference to my hurting hands. Every ____________ when my hands start cracking and bleeding, I think back to that ____________ in 1986. And just like magic, my hands don’t ____________.

1.

A．easy

B．fair

C．unusual

D．certain

2.

A．exception

B．problem

C．wonder

D．sense

3.

A．Beginning

B．Stopping

C．Getting

D．Finishing

4.

A．factory

B．company

C．gas station

D．police station

5.

A．suggesting

B．ignoring

C．thinking

D．noticing

6.

A．nervous

B．afraid

C．happy

D．amazed

7.

A．difficulty

B．fun

C．words

D．relations

8.

A．disturb

B．approach

C．help

D．teach

9.

A．examined

B．accepted

C．considered

D．declined

10.

A．explain

B．complain

C．expect

D．expose

11.

A．others

B．himself

C．work

D．me

12.

A．legs

B．arms

C．shoes

D．hands

13.

A．week

B．night

C．month

D．winter

14.

A．encounter

B．incident

C．trip

D．party

15.

A．bleed

B．change

C．hurt

D．talk

3 . Chinese scientists have identified a new protein that restricts HIV infection, a discovery that could pave the way for the development of new drugs against the virus. The protein, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1 (PSGL-1), which exists in human cells, can inhibit (抑制) the process by which HIV reproduces, according to research published in the science journal Nature Microbiology this month.

However, the study also showed that PSGL-1 can be negatively affected by Vpu — an accessory (附属) protein of HIV — which can neutralize the ability of PSGL-1 to resist HIV. Further research is under way to develop a drug that can inhibit the HIV protein so that PSGL-1 can restrict HIV, according to Tan Xu, a researcher at Tsinghua University's School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, a leading author of the study.

Several other proteins in human cells that could resist HIV have been discovered over the past 10 years, but the virus can also evade (避开) them. PSGL-1 shows particular promise in that it can inhibit HIV in multiple ways — especially by blocking the infectiousness of virus offspring, Tan said.

“We are starting to research into small molecule (分子) compounds in the hope of finding one that can restore PSGL-1’s anti-HIV function. In this way, we can develop a very effective antiviral drug for people with HIV/AIDS,” he said. Tan said it will require at least three to five years for the research to reach the preclinical stage, and more time after that before a clinical trial is possible. The research was conducted by researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Fudan University in Shanghai and George Mason University in the United States.

Existing treatment methods for people with HIV/AIDS, which mostly rely on a combination of different drugs, can prevent the disease from progressing but cannot cure it, and long-term use of drugs can result in drug resistance.

An estimated 37 million people in the world live with HIV, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. The study provides new leads to developing antiviral drugs, Tsinghua University said in a statement.

1. What can we learn about PSGL-1 from the passage?

A．Both the protein PSGL-1 and the protein Vpu are HIV proteins.

B．PSGL-1 can restrict the function of the protein Vpu.

C．PSGL-1’s molecule compounds have been identified.

D．The protein PSGL-1 functions better than others in resisting HIV.

2. What can we infer from the last three paragraphs?

A．The existing treatment for AIDS are far from perfect.

B．It will be a decade before the antiviral drugs is put on the market.

C．American scientists played a leading role in the research.

D．HIV/AIDS will no longer be a deadly problem owing to the new discovery.

3. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．There is a long way to go before curing AIDS.

B．More people are faced with the threat of HIV.

C．Chinese scientists are leading the way in curing AIDS.

D．A new protein to resist HIV was confirmed by scientists.

4. Where is this text most likely from?

A．A guidebook.

B．A fiction.

C．A magazine.

D．A brochure.

4 . Many people think that the world is about to step into the fourth industrial revolution. This time, machines can do a lot of work in the charge of human beings, even better than human beings. In the future, the world can be more efficient and enjoy cheaper services, but unemployment will become more common.

It raises a troubling question for all of us — when will a machine be able to do my job? Katja Grace, a research associate at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, and her colleagues from the AI Impacts project and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, have surveyed 352 scientists and compiled (汇编) their answers into predictions about how long it may take for machines to outperform humans on various tasks.

The good news is that many of us will probably be safe in our jobs for some time to come. The researchers predict there is a 50% chance that machines will be capable of taking over all human jobs in 120 years.

“One of the biggest surprises was the overall lateness of the predictions,” says Grace. “I expected the amazing progress in machine learning in recent years, plus the fact that we were only talking to machine learning researchers, to make the estimates earlier.”

“I am a bit sceptical of some of the timelines given for tasks that involve physical manipulation (操纵),” says Jeremy Wyatt, professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at the University of Birmingham. “It is one thing doing it in the lab, and quite another having a robot that can do a job reliably in the real world better than a human.”

Manipulating physical objects in the real world — figuring out what to manipulate, and how, in a random, changing environment — is an incredibly complex job for a machine. Tasks that don’t involve physical manipulation are easier to teach.

Perhaps the hardest jobs for machines to perform are those that take years of training for humans to excel at. These often involve intuitive (直觉的) decision making, complex physical environments or abstract thinking — all things that computers struggle with.

1. Why did the researchers conduct the survey on the future role of machines?

A．To make it clear how machines can replace humans.

B．To find why machines can take the place of humans.

C．To explain humans will be substituted by machines.

D．To learn when machines may be superior to humans on jobs.

2. What did Grace think of the time for machines to replace humans on tasks?

A．She thought the time would be totally uncertain despite the survey.

B．She thought the time would be later than predicted.

C．She thought the time would be earlier than predicted.

D．She thought machines would take over all the jobs in 120 years.

3. What can we infer from the opinion of Jeremy Wyatt?

A．A robot can do a job reliably in the real world better than a human.

B．Tasks that don’t involve physical manipulation are quite complicated.

C．It is difficult for robots to finish the jobs related to physical manipulation.

D．He is sure of the timelines given for tasks that involve physical manipulation.

5 . Gurnah, growing up in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.

He is the first Black writer _________ the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993, and some observers saw his _________ as a long delayed corrective (矫正)after years of European and American Nobel laureates (获得者). In his 10 novels, Gurnah has often explored the _________ of exile(流放), identity and belonging. They _________“Memory of Departure” “Pilgrims Way” and “Dottie,” which all deal with the immigrant(移民)experience in Britain.

Gurnah’s first language is Swahili, but he _________ English as his literary language. He drew on the imagery and stories from the Quran, _________ from Arabic and Persian poetry, particularly “The Arabian Nights.” The news of Gumah’s Nobel _________ by fellow novelists and academics who have long argued that his _________ deserve a wider audience.

Gurnah was born in Zanzibar, which is now _________ of Tanzania, in 1948. Then, in 1964, he fled to England. __________ , poor, homesick, he began to write scraps(片段)in his diary, then __________ entries, then stories about other people. In his 20s, he started __________ fiction. Then he finished his first novel, “Memory of Departure,” about a young man who flees a failed uprising, at the same time he was writing his Ph. D. dissertation(论文). __________, he became a professor of English.

Though Gurnah hasn’t lived in Tanzania since he was a __________, his homeland always inspires him of his imagination. __________, he said “my homeland always asserts myself in my imagination, even when I deliberately try to set my stories elsewhere”.

1.

A．to confirm

B．to receive

C．to search

D．to appreciate

2.

A．section

B．selection

C．collection

D．consultation

3.

A．themes

B．opinions

C．passages

D．suggestions

4.

A．explode

B．conclude

C．provide

D．include

5.

A．adopted

B．advised

C．adapted

D．affected

6.

A．as much as

B．as well as

C．as long as

D．as often as

7.

A．was awarded

B．was discussed

C．was celebrated

D．was suspected

8.

A．jobs

B．works

C．labors

D．careers

9.

A．part

B．name

C．home

D．country

10.

A．Admirable

B．Respectable

C．Fashionable

D．Miserable

11.

A．higher

B．stronger

C．heavier

D．longer

12.

A．reading

B．hearing

C．writing

D．watching

13.

A．Frontwards

B．Forwards

C．Backwards

D．Afterwards

14.

A．writer

B．teenager

C．scholar

D．professor

15.

A．As a result

B．At the same time

C．On the other hand

D．In his own word

6 . At school, art class is fun. We can ________ with different techniques and generally get creative. However, a field trip to an art gallery is often ________. Last year my art teacher organized a trip to an art exhibition. The gallery was full of older people, who obviously didn’t want to be with ________ students. We all got quite ________ and couldn’t stop chatting. Our teacher was getting ________ and kept telling us to be quiet.

The next day we complained to our teacher about the ________ of activities for teens at art galleries. She ________ that a visit should be both educational and fun. That was when I decided to go online and look for art galleries that have special ________ for teens. Eventually, I ________ to find a huge range of activities and proposed some to my teacher.

I also used the ________ to learn about more artists. Recently, I found a contemporary artist called Martin Bailey. I’ve ________ seen artists who combine different techniques, but Bailey is totally different. He does unique illustrations with ________ household objects such as umbrellas, headphones and even cookies. His art is simple, but it enables you to see things ________. For example, he notices that a flower is similar to a mop (拖把) and puts this ________ into life by drawing a little man with a real flower mop. It’s really ________! I hope I’ll be able to go to an exhibition of his work in the future.

1.

A．live

B．start

C．struggle

D．experiment

2.

A．exciting

B．disturbing

C．rewarding

D．disappointing

3.

A．noisy

B．humble

C．creative

D．innocent

4.

A．bored

B．annoyed

C．concerned

D．enthusiastic

5.

A．cruel

B．sensitive

C．worn out

D．stressed out

6.

A．lack

B．abuse

C．theme

D．schedule

7.

A．agreed

B．demanded

C．criticised

D．announced

8.

A．prices

B．events

C．entries

D．paintings

9.

A．expected

B．managed

C．resolved

D．happened

10.

A．trip

B．activity

C．Internet

D．exhibition

11.

A．barely

B．merely

C．already

D．apparently

12.

A．delicate

B．ordinary

C．suitable

D．sustainable

13.

A．clearly

B．equally

C．differently

D．precisely

14.

A．tool

B．idea

C．design

D．blossom

15.

A．abstract

B．realistic

C．amusing

D．practical

7 . Writers of science fiction often feel more prescient (预知的) than others. Whether it’s the architectural and social dystopias of J.G. Ballard’s novels, or the world of E.M. Forster’s The Machine Stops, the genre is full of prescient writers dealing with ever more familiar issues.

Out of all such writers, few seem more likely to predict our times than author Philip K. Dick, who died 42 years ago. In a remarkably 30-year period of work, Dick authored 44 novels and countless short stories, adaptations of which redefined science fiction on screen — in particular Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, based on Dick’s story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, which took his 1966 short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale as its source material.

Dick had a astonishing ability to predict what would happen in modern world. Celebrated science-fiction and fantasy author Stan Nicholls suggested Dick’s work was prescient because it explored the future through the then-present. “His stories foresaw the availability of the Internet, virtual reality, facial recognition software, driverless cars and 3D printing,” Nicholls said — while also pointing out that “it’s a misinterpretation that prediction is the primary purpose of science fiction.” The genre’s hit rate is actually not very good in that respect. Like all the best science fiction, his stories weren’t really about the future; they were about the here and now.”

Putting aside Dick’s ability to foresee the future we now take for granted, his most disturbing vision was of the world itself ultimately being a simulation (模拟). Dick’s reality was already a delicate and complex one. In many of his later books, the idea of reality being a façade (假象) grew as a dominant theme. “Dick argued we were existing in a simulation,” Nicholls suggested.

Whether his visions were true, as he believed, a product of small problems in the simulation or his fading mental health, one thing is for certain: the world in which the work of Philip K. Dick is celebrated today feels ever closer to the ones imagined by this most unique and exceptional of writer.

1. How does the author explain the topic in Paragraph 1?

A．By listing examples.	B．By using metaphors.
C．By making a comparison.	D．By introducing an concept.

2. What could be inferred from Paragraph 2?

A．Dick can predict the future precisely.

B．Some directors like to adapt Dick’s novels into movies.

C．Dick’s novels redefined what science fiction was about.

D．No one wrote more science fiction novels of our times than Dick.

3. A universal feature of all the best science fiction stories is that they _______.

A．have a high hit rate	B．are good at predicting
C．focus on the present	D．explore the distant future

4. What does the author want to convey in the last paragraph?

A．Philip K. Dick had a great impact on science.

B．Philip K. Dick had traveled into the future then.

C．People don’t agree to Philip K. Dick’s prediction.

D．The world in Philip K. Dick’s works is similar to today’s world.

8 . Part of the reason American shoppers are so attracted to wholesale shopping is their belief that it not only prevents waste but can save time and money, providing more value for the dollar. However, recent research suggests that the opposite may be true.

Victoria Ligon, an expert on consumer sciences, studied food purchasing habits of consumers and found that people tended to buy too much food and waste more of it than they realized. “The problem is that people are not shopping frequently enough,” Ligon said, “People are very price sensitive at the grocery store, but tend to fail to notice the cost of unused and wasted food at home.”

A common practice is to visit different stores for different items on a grocery list, “But people tend to overbuy at each of the places,” Ligon said. “People are not planning for the next day, but planning for the next week or two.”

“In theory, planning a week or more in advance sounds ideal. But given the reality of many people’s lives, this is challenging to do well,” Ligon said. “All of our food promotions are designed to get people to buy more. We believe it’s cheaper if we buy more now, but we rarely take into account how much we throw out in the end.”

Ligon noted shifts in the grocery industry that appear promising to help customers reduce food waste. Examples include cost-effective delivery services such as Amazon Fresh and Google Express, which allow consumers to purchase food items when they want to consume them, also reducing their need to frequent so many different stores. However, the study resulted in another troubling finding: The majority of people involved in the study had no idea that they were buying too much and wasting so much.

“When you read advice about reducing waste, it usually centers on what people do after the food is purchased,” Ligon said. “But more importantly, shop on a more frequent basis, so that you are only buying what you are going to consume in the short term.”

1. What do people often ignore when buying food in large quantities?

A．How good the food is.	B．How much will be wasted.
C．How much the food costs.	D．How often they should shop.

2. What is the author’s attitude towards meal planning for the next two weeks?

A．It is worth trying.	B．It is not practical.
C．It takes great effort.	D．It is not good for health.

3. What is the advantage of Amazon Fresh and Google Express?

A．Food prices are lowered.	B．Food waste is prevented.
C．Food consumption is reduced.	D．Food purchasing can be done at home.

4. What can be the best title for the passage?

A．Shop More, Buy Less	B．Shop Wisely, Eat Wisely
C．Consume More, Waste Less	D．The More You Shop, the More You Waste

9 . Throughout all the events in my life, one in particular sticks out more than the others. As I reflect on this significant event, a smile spreads across my face. As I think of Shanda, I feel loved and grateful.

It was my twelfth year of dancing, and I thought it would end up like any other year: stuck in emptiness, forgotten and without the belief of any teacher or friend that I really had the potential to achieve greatness.

However, I met Shanda, a talented chorcographer (编舞者). She influenced me to work to the best of my ability, pushed me to keep going when I wanted to quit, encouraged me and showed me the importance of courage. Throughout our hard work, not only did my ability to dance grow, but my friendship with Shanda grew as well.

With the end of the year came our show time. As I walked backstage and saw many other dancers, I hoped for a good performance that would prove my improvement. I waited anxiously for my turn. Finally, after what seemed like days, the loudspeaker announced my name. Butterflies filling my stomach, I took trembling steps onto the big lighted stage. But, with the determination to succeed and eagerness to live up to Shanda’s expectations for me, I began to dance. All my troubles and nerves went away as I danced my whole heart out.

As I walked up to the judge to receive my first place shining, gold trophy (奖杯), I realized that dance is not about becoming the best. It was about loving dance for dance itself, a getaway from all my problems in the world. Shanda showed me that you could let everything go and just do what you feel at that moment. After all the doubts that people had in me, I believed in myself and did not care what others thought. Thanks to Shanda, dance became more than a love of mine, but a passion.

1. What did the author think her dancing would be for the twelfth year?

A．A change for the better.	B．A disappointment as before.
C．A proof of her potential.	D．The pride of her teachers and friends.

2. How did Shanda help the author?

A．By offering her financial help.	B．By entering her in a competition.
C．By coaching her for longer hours.	D．By awakening her passion for dancing.

3. What do the underlined words in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Nervous.

B．Dynamic.

C．Courageous.

D．Enthusiastic.

4. What can we learn from the author’s story?

A．Success lies in courage.	B．Adversity helps one grow up.
C．A good teacher matters.	D．Reputation comes from hard work.

10 . Welcome to art-collecting.com. After the successful maintenance of the website, we want you to know that art-collecting.com will continue to aim to make information about art available to all as we have been doing for the past 24 years. Here are some art galleries.

Art of the World Gallery

The gallery provides a contemporary, complex and rich cultural experience for art enthusiasts and collectors from all around the world. Directly representing some of the most important living artists from Asia, Europe, and Latin America, Art of the World Gallery is one of the most famous galleries in the U.S., located in Houston’s finest hot spot for locals and tourists.

Halvorsen Fine Art Gallery

Established in Houston Historic Art District, at Sawyer Yards, Halvorsen Fine Art Gallery with 2,000 square feet features amazing paintings of landscapes and seascapes by impressionistic artists. In addition to hosting artist exhibitions, it provides art consultation services for collectors, designers and art enthusiasts.

Zatista Contemporary & Fine Art

With over 4,000 works from the most talented emerging and established artists, Zatista provides access to the types of works previously only accessible to seasoned collectors. Buying online with Zatista is easy with their free art consultation, certificates of authenticity (真实性), and a buyer guarantee that allows you to try art in your home with free returns.

John Palmer Fine Art

It’s located in the avenue in the Historic Heights. The combination of a saved 1930’s bungalow (平房) with museum-quality new construction is the perfect atmosphere to showcase the great works of artist John Ross Palmer. John Palmer Fine Art is open by appointment only. You can set an appointment by calling 7138616726. We look forward to showing you the beautiful world of John Palmer Fine Art!

1. What does art-collecting.com aim at?

A．Collecting artworks.	B．Helping talented artists.
C．Offering art information.	D．Founding art organizations.

2. What can visitors do in Halvorsen Fine Art Gallery?

A．Hold personal exhibitions.	B．Experience diverse cultures.
C．Obtain authentic certificates.	D．Admire impressionist paintings.

3. What makes John Palmer Fine Art different from the other three?

A．It is in Houston’s best spot.	B．It offers art consultation services.
C．It displays only one artist’s works.	D．It can be visited without an appointment.