1 . “If you could have any three things, what would you want?”
Eleven-year-old Ruby Kate Chitsey loves asking that question, but it’s not a game she plays at recess（课间）. She asks it at nursing homes in the Harrison, Arkansas, where she lives. Even more amazing, she then sets out to make the residents’ wishes come true.
Ruby Kate often tags along with her mother, Amanda, who works at nursing home in the summer. “I’ve never found them scary at all, so I’m able to just go up to them and ask if they need anything,” she says.
Last May, Ruby K ate noticed a resident named Pearl staring out a window. She seemed sad. “What are you looking at?” Ruby Kate asked. Pearl said she was watching her dog being led away by his new owner after a visit. Pearl didn’t know when she would see her dog again. Pearl was a medicaid recipient, who got only $40 a month to spend on personal items. Ruby Kate and Amanda asked around and discovered that many residents are unable to afford even the smallest luxuries. So Ruby Kate decided to do something about it.
She started by asking residents what three things they wanted most. “That’s a lot simpler than going, ‘Hey, what do you want?’” she explains. “They can understand you better.” Amanda worried that people would ask for things an 11-year-old wouldn’t be able to provide. Instead, they asked for chocolate bars, McDonald’s fries, and even just a prayer.
“It broke me as a human,” Amanda says. “We left the nursing home that day and went straight to a store and bought as many items as we could.”
Using their own money, the Chitseys granted the wishes of about 100 people in three months. Then they started asking for donations. The good people of Harrison responded enthusiastically, and they raised $20,000 in 24 hours and more than $250,000 in five months.
1. Why does Ruby often ask the same question?| A．She likes hearing everyone’s stories. |
| B．It makes her famous in the community. |
| C．She finds it amusing to repeat the question. |
| D．She wants to help residents in nursing homes. |
| A．Pearl was in good health. | B．Pearl couldn’t afford to keep her dog. |
| C．Pearl was too old to raise a dog. | D．Pearl sold her dog for small luxuries. |
| A．The residents’ gratitude for Amanda’s assistance. |
| B．The popularity Ruby achieved for her good deeds. |
| C．The simplicity and sincerity of the residents’ requests. |
| D．The residents’ enthusiasm and optimism in difficult times. |
| A．Action speak louder than words. | B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Kindness is the language of the heart. | D．Nothing is difficult to a willing heart. |
2 . In 2004, Pen Hadow became the first person to trek (跋涉) to the North Pole alone, without being resupplied on the way. That meant swimming through cold waters, and risking meeting polar bears. Just eight months later, he made a similar trip to the South Pole. Now he is back in the Arctic again, preparing for a more ambitious expedition (远征). This time, however, more significance is attached. Pen and two colleagues will set out on a three-month, 1000-kilometre trek to the North Pole, taking detailed measurements of the thickness and density of the ice. Nobody has ever done this before, and he knows the results will be of vital significance to the scientific community. This will be the truest picture so far of what global warming is doing to the ice that covers the polar region.
Pen and his wife, Mary, live in the country with their two children. “It’s much harder to be away from them this time,” he admits. They were one and five when I last went, and I made a mistake in the way I said goodbye. I thought it would be a good idea to say to my son, “You’re the man of the house now, look after your mum and your sister.” He absolutely took it to heart, asking his mum how she was all the time, but the stress eventually became too much. While it was well intentioned, it was an unfair thing to do.
He is spending these last days before departure preparing his things. With him will be Ann Daniels, one of the world’s leading polar explorers, and the photographer, Martin Hartley. They will be supported by a crew of six, flying in supplies. Being part of a team is actually more stressful to someone like him. Besides, something else is on his mind too. “I’m going to be 47 on Thursday. I’ve done far less training.” Why? “Organizational things always seem more urgent. So I’m almost fearful of what I’m going to ask of myself.”
Pen believes his mission reconnects exploration with the search for knowledge that drove previous generations into the unknown. “Making it to the North Pole was a personal ambition and of limited value to anyone beyond the polar adventuring community. This time, scientists will profit from the data, and we’re creating a platform to expose as many people as possible to what’s happening in the Arctic Ocean. This is important work, and nobody can do it but us,” he says. “Our skills, which are otherwise not that necessary, have become really relevant. Suddenly, we’re socially useful again.”
1. What can we learn about Pen Hadow’s opinion of the new expedition in paragraph 1?| A．He is aware of its huge importance. |
| B．He feels certain that it will be stressful. |
| C．He thinks it similar to his previous journeys. |
| D．He is confident with the help of a regional picture. |
| A．He started to feel unwell. |
| B．He memorized his father’s words. |
| C．He was afraid of the responsibility. |
| D．He carried out his father’s words carefully. |
| A．Whether he will be mentally prepared. |
| B．Whether supplies will be enough in time. |
| C．Whether he will still be fit enough to take part. |
| D．Whether the arrangements will turn out well. |
| A．uncertain if it will collect information |
| B．doubtful about its long-term usefulness |
| C．proud that they can contribute to scientific research |
| D．relieved that the general public will be more supportive |
3 . Along with a rising number of space missions by government agencies and private industries, comes a fresh set of problems for Earth: potentially dangerous space junk (太空垃圾).
A recent study published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy concluded “that current space practices have a 10 percent chance of one or more deaths over a decade”. In other words, according to researchers from the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, there’s roughly a one-in-ten chance that the next decade will witness falling space junk kill someone.
The space junk orbiting the earth is an unfortunate by-product of our desire to explore and document space. According to 2021 figures from NASA and the Department of Defense’s Space Surveillance Data, the agencies were actively tracking more than 27,000 pieces of space junk, most of which are larger than a softball and that casually orbit the planet. The floating space junk is certainly a problem, but not all the objects must come down, and, in fact, a number of pieces simply burn up in the atmosphere. Sometimes those objects, particularly large ones like used rocket attachments, give in to gravity and fall back down to Earth to be dealt with once again by their human makers. But typically, people don’t die or even get injured by this phenomenon — because many of the falling pieces crash into the ocean.
They also have to deal with the unsettling feeling of knowing that large rocket pieces can just fall from the sky and that it might affect people in certain parts of the world more than others.
This poses an obvious safety risk to people on the ground. “When some large parts of space junk return to Earth, the parts of their mass survive the heat of atmosphere. Many of the surviving pieces are potentially dangerous, giving serious risks on land, at sea, and to people in airplanes,” the study explains.
1. What is the conclusion of the study published in Nature Astronomy?| A．People will see space junk easily in the future. |
| B．Some people may be hit to death by objects from the space. |
| C．Government agencies and private industries will develop fast. |
| D．There will be a 10 percent chance for human to die in 10 years. |
| A．Normally we should not worry about space junk. |
| B．All the space junk will get burnt in the sky. |
| C．The large space junk will destroy the ocean. |
| D．The floating space junk will come down finally. |
| A．How to find space junk. | B．How to deal with space junk. |
| C．How to check the space junk. | D．How to inform people of the danger. |
| A．Space Junk Causes Pollution |
| B．How to Take Back Space Junk |
| C．Space Junk Puts People at Risk |
| D．Exploring Space Takes in Unfortunate Results |
4 . Here’s an idyllic scene: a small village where the sun always shines crops always grow and your friends drop by to sweep your yard to the sound of guitar music. Animals do what they are told there is no disease and lending folks a helping hand makes you richer and wiser. Welcome to Farm Ville --- current population 69m and rising fast.
“It reminds me of my childhood,” says one player, Lia Curran, 37, a chemist from London. “Right now I’m growing wheat and poinsettia, I’ve got a small orchard and I’m keeping some chickens and some cows. I like having the animals. It’s comfortable.”
Curran’s young animals, however, are nothing more than a collection of computer-controlled cartoons. Farm Ville is an online computer game built into the social networking site Facebook and is described by its players as “addictive”. Launched last June by Zynga Game Network, Farm Ville now has more players than Twiter’s entire user base --- or more than the population of the UK. The players are largely women over the age of 35.
Jenny Glyn, 33, a London housewife, started playing in September. “I had a look at a friend’s farm and was hooked” she says. “My first motivation was to overtake her, but I did that pretty quickly. Now there’s something satisfying about growing crops.”
Farm Ville intellectually unites the worlds of social networking and gaming. Players are given a patch of ground with six fields, “cash”, a few seeds and a plough and have to build up wealth, skills and neighbors to create bigger, better, richer farms.
Inviting your online friends to play means you earn more and get free gifts; you rise rapidly through the first levels but once hooked have to work harder and harder with no final level or goal in sight. “It’s very moreish,” says Curran. She hasn’t yet paid real-world money to advance in the game, but her friends do. One buys extra virtual currency at the exchange rate of $240 (￡145) in Farm Ville for $40 (￡24) in the real world.
“I’d expanded on Farm Ville as much as I could, but I just wanted a pond and some bushes and trees around it,” says the woman, who is too embarrassed to be named. “I didn’t tell my husband I’d paid real money because he’d think I’m mad. But then he did keep me waiting in the car outside our house while he harvested his raspberries.”
Brian Dudley, chief executive at Broadway Lodge, an addiction treatment centre, warns that this sort of obsessive play can lead to an addiction as severe as gambling.
1. What does Curran do in the passage?| A．She is a player. | B．She is a farmer who grows wheat and poinsettia. |
| C．She is a chemist. | D．She is a housewife who raises chickens and cows. |
| A．an addictive farm on which live 69 million farmers |
| B．a London housewife’s farm |
| C．an online computer game built into the social networking site |
| D．a farm on which people grow real crops and play as well |
| A．because he was angry at his wife’s being mad about the farm |
| B．because he himself was busy with his farm |
| C．in order to punish his wife for her having paid real money |
| D．so that his wife would wake up from her addiction to the farm |
| A．The population of the UK is less than 69 million. |
| B．This sort of obsessive play can cause very severe addiction. |
| C．Once hooked one has to make greater efforts to reach a higher level. |
| D．Up till now nobody has yet paid real-world money to advance in the play. |
5 . Why do we talk the way we do? It might date back to when our ancestors left the jungle for the open plain. Between 5.3 million and 16 million years ago, Africa’s landscapes changed from thick, leafy forests to wide-open grasslands. This environmental change pushed our ancestors out of the trees and onto the ground. Along with all of the physical and behavioral changes this may have caused, researchers also believe it may have changed the way we speak.
“Open landscapes provide us with fewer objects to affect signal communication, meaning our voices can travel further compared with that in thick forests,” Charlotte Gannon, a researcher who studies language development, told Newsweek. “The move to these open spaces may have increased the effectiveness of our communication.”
By comparing the vocal calls of the orangutan (大猩猩) , Gannon and her team were able to establish how different calls could travel across different landscapes. In their study, the team played 487 calls from orangutans and measured their audibility (可听度) at set length over an overall distance of over 1,300 feet in the South African plain.
“Our results were surprising,” Gannon said, “The rule of sound spread suggests that lower-frequency (低频率) sounds (the grumphs) would have traveled further than higher-frequency sounds (the kiss squeaks). Our results actually found the opposite to this.” In these environmental settings, consonant (辅音)-like calls traveled a lot further than vowel (元音) -like calls. Actually, around 80 percent of consonant-based calls were audible at 1,300 feet, compared to only 20 percent of vowel-based calls.
Gannon said these results highlight the importance of studying living orangutan to learn about our species’ history. “We can view them as time machines that allow us to recreate key moments of our history so we can learn more about the development of our language,” Gannon said. “Despite their popularity in modern languages, consonants have often been forgotten when discussing speech development. Our research highlights not only their presence in ancient times but their importance to the development of language.”
1. What led to the speech development?| A．Behavioral change. | B．Time development. |
| C．Physical development. | D．Environmental change. |
| A．Less block. | B．Better tools. | C．Louder voice. | D．Larger vocabulary. |
| A．The results of the study. |
| B．The process of the research. |
| C．The purpose of the program. |
| D．The participants of the project. |
| A．The living orangutan can recreate our language. |
| B．Consonants are significant in language development. |
| C．The sound of grumphs travels further than that of kiss squeaks. |
| D．Consonant-like calls travel four times further than vowel-like calls. |
6 . I almost died when I fell into the boiling (沸腾的) water at the age of three. The
In my teens, I realized that I was
I was a competitive (有竞争力的) swimmer for many years and then was
This year I swam from Asia to Europe alongside the talented physical sports expert Professor Greg. I swam close to Greg asking for his
I was doing this for all those people who had
| A．opportunity | B．failure | C．trouble | D．accident |
| A．operations (手术) | B．missions (使命) | C．experiments | D．experiences |
| A．close | B．different | C．same | D．faithful |
| A．Obviously | B．Immediately | C．Luckily | D．Suddenly |
| A．prove | B．believe | C．ensure | D．accept |
| A．persuade | B．educate | C．save | D．remember |
| A．trained (培训) | B．forced (强迫) | C．requested (要求) | D．refused (拒绝) |
| A．researching | B．exercising | C．struggling | D．surviving |
| A．cooler | B．easier | C．happier | D．commoner |
| A．opinion | B．permission | C．forgiveness | D．support |
| A．feelings | B．ideas | C．words | D．dreams |
| A．gathered | B．failed | C．returned | D．finished |
| A．stay up | B．watch out | C．give up | D．show off |
| A．suffered | B．forgotten | C．learnt | D．sought |
| A．Talented | B．Graceful | C．Energetic | D．Strong |
7 . About six years ago I started having panic attacks (恐慌症). I began my journey to
Frustratingly, about a year after that, I started to develop
I loved to sing when I was young. My childhood had been
I have now been a
Now, I am feeling a lot better. When I am
| A．ignore | B．solve | C．interpret | D．stress |
| A．Casually | B．Ridiculously | C．Controversially | D．Thankfully |
| A．passion | B．depression | C．adaptation | D．relation |
| A．tutors | B．conditions | C．values | D．tools |
| A．though | B．until | C．since | D．after |
| A．charged | B．burdened | C．mixed | D．filled |
| A．open | B．absent | C．creative | D．narrow |
| A．painting | B．acting | C．reading | D．singing |
| A．turn | B．pressure | C．courage | D．privilege |
| A．set off | B．get through | C．shrink from | D．figure out |
| A．sponsor | B．director | C．trainer | D．member |
| A．suspects | B．reminds | C．cures | D．warns |
| A．education | B．competition | C．career | D．existence |
| A．absorbed | B．thrilled | C．ambitious | D．anxious |
| A．last | B．help | C．exist | D．fade |
8 . The design theory behind a pair of tiny robots may one day find its way into environmental monitoring, as well as search and-rescue tasks. Modeled after a water strider (水黾), an insect, the two robots each weigh in at 8 and 55 milligrams, and may mark the smallest, lightest, and fastest fully functional micro-robots in the world, according to Washington State University (WSU).
Developed by a team of WSU researchers, the robots’ tininess largely relies on a material known as a shape memory alloy (合金). Although shape memory alloys change form when heated, they can “remember” their original shapes and return to them after cooling. Because of this, the two micro-robots do not require standard motors, and they use light and small ones instead of bulky moving parts.
Both the robots’ motors are each made up of two shape memory alloys, allowing them to move their fins as fast as 40 times a second while also lifting over 150 times their weight. “They’re very technologically sound. The development of the very lightweight robots opens up new possibilities in micro-robotics,” said Conor Trygstad, a material engineering PhD student and study lead author. “Although the robots are impressive when compared to other robots, the pair still fall behind their biological relatives’,” Trygstad said. They can currently move at a speed of about six millimeters a second; a water strider, by comparison, speeds along at about a meter per second. For now, the robots also require wired (连线的) power sources, thus seriously preventing any real-world applications for the moment.
Going forward, however, the team plans to copy other small insect species while also creating a new water strider robot which can move at a higher speed. Depending on using small batteries could also greatly increase the robots’ areas of use, If the breakthrough designs continue improving, similar micro-robots could one day be employed to monitor hard-to-reachor dangerous environments.
1. What is the inspiration for the two robots?| A．A special monitor. | B．The lightest micro robot. |
| C．An insect species. | D．A search-and rescue task |
| A．Cheap. | B．Huge. | C．Cool | D．Fast. |
| A．Both robots can identify sound. | B．Both robots need wireless power sources. |
| C．Both robots work better than water striders. | D．Both robots have weaknesses besides strengths. |
| A．Robots Are Saving Environment | B．Shape Memory Alloys Are The Key |
| C．Human Beings Learn From Animals | D．Two Micro robots Can Play A Big Part |
9 . ANCIENT CHINESE ART ON SHOW
The Richfield Museum of Fine Art is proud to present our new exhibition, “From Shang to Qing: Chinese Art Through the Ages.” Join us as we explore more than 3,000 years of wonderful art from the Middle Kingdom. From bronze bowls to ceramic vases, and jade sculptures to ink wash paintings, our goal is to display the Chinese artistic genius from ancient times.
The highlight of this exhibition is the painting Clearing After Snow on a Mountain Pass, one of the great works of Tang Yin(1470－1524). Born during the Ming Dynasty, Tang sought and failed to gain entry into the civil service, so he turned to painting instead. In time, he gained recognition as one of the greatest artists China has ever known. This painting, showing high mountains, trees, and houses covered in snow, was made with extraordinary skill. Though it is over 500 years old, it looks as fresh and full of life as the day it was created.
Also of primary note is a collection of nearly 100 bronze objects from the Shang Dynasty(1600 BCE－1046 BCE). While the artists who made these great works are not known, they showed great skill in creating these beautiful pieces. Some of the items on display are thought to have come from the collection of Emperor Qianlong(1711－1799), a great admirer of Shang Dynasty bronze.
Finally, we have many fine examples of Tang Dynasty (618－907) sculptures. Most of these are of Buddhist origin. Even though Buddhism entered China much earlier, it did not really begin to show expansion until the seventh century.
During this same period, trade along the Silk Road also boomed. Chinese sculpture thus found itself highly influenced by Buddhist art brought from India and Central Asia through the Silk Road. These works were intended to spread Buddhism and they are of exceptional beauty and quality. Looking at the faces of the figures in these sculptures, one sees the faces of the past. History is brought to life.
This is just a small taste of what is in store for you in this exhibition. We guarantee that “From Shang to Qing: Chinese Art Through the Ages” will transport you to another time with its amazing collection of works.
“From Shang to Qing: Chinese Art Through the Ages” will run until November 25.
Opening hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., from Tuesday to Sunday (the museum is closed on Mondays). No one will be admitted into the exhibition after 4:30 p.m.
Admission: $10 for adults: $8 for students; $5 for children under 12; free for children under 5.
No photos or food and drink are allowed in the museum.
1. Which of the following is NOT true about the exhibition?| A．It covers a history of more than 3,000 years. |
| B．It only exhibits bronze bowls, ceramic vases and jade sculptures. |
| C．It displays the Chinese artistic genius from ancient times. |
| D．Its theme is “From Shang to Qing: Chinese Art Through the Ages”. |
| A．He gained entry into the civil service. |
| B．He was born in the Qing Dynasty. |
| C．He was recognized as one of the greatest artists. |
| D．His painting Clearing After Snow on a Mountain Pass was painted 400 years ago. |
| A．are imported from the West |
| B．were intended to spread Daoism |
| C．are of exceptional beauty and quality |
| D．are rarely shown in the public |
| A．go to the museum on November 26 |
| B．visit it on Monday |
| C．have lunch in the museum |
| D．visit it from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday |
10 . It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible (负责的) for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.
If you give your children the impression (印象) that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally (完全地) independent.
My daughter Mary’s fifthgrade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a perfect test score, she would point out what they had mastered (掌握) and declared (宣称) firmly they could learn what they had missed.
You can use the same technique when you evaluate (评价) your child’s work at home. Don’t always scold (责骂) them and you should give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn’t done. If your child completes a difficult task, promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
Learning is a process of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.
1. The whole passage deals with ______.| A．social education | B．family education |
| C．school education | D．preschool education |
| A．there is no way to get children to help at home |
| B．children can be forced to help with housework |
| C．it is very difficult to make children responsible for housework |
| D．the more encouragement and praise you give, the more responsible and helpful children will become |
| A．give him a punishment | B．promise him a trip |
| C．praise his success | D．promise him a ball game |
| A．do as what Mary’s teacher did in educating children |
| B．take pride in Mary’s fifthgrade teacher |
| C．learn from himself, for he has a good way of teaching |
| D．follow Mary’s example because she never fails in the test |
