1 . When the phone finally stopped ringing and the house lay still with grief, I filled my home with the sweet smell of peach pie to mask the scent of worry that still lingered.
The weekend after Dad’s diagnosis (诊断), Mom had sent the same text to each concerned relative and friend: Jay was diagnosed with Pick’s disease. We are going back to the doctor for more information. Then Mom put down the phone, rubbed her forehead, and suggested that we go for a drive. On the interstate, we passed a board with clear red letters: “Fredericksburg peaches, the best fruit you can find in Central Texas.” Mom went to negotiate with the stand owner.
Now in our kitchen, the sweet smell of peach juice drifted into the living room and pulled Dad away from the football game on TV.
“Oh! You got peaches?” He eyed the fruit with childish glee (欢快).
“Here,” I handed him a knife. “We’re making peach pie.”
I showed him how to peel the skin off. As I made pie dough, he asked questions: How long does it take to bake? Are you adding sugar? How many peaches? What should I do with the seeds? Showing him how to slice and measure and mix in a calm, firm voice, I suddenly felt grown up.
The summer had reversed our roles; now, I was the adult. I stayed home all summer and cooked his dinner, washed his T-shirts and helped him make phone calls. I stayed up late thinking about him and monitored him like an anxious caretaker.
The same day, before the afternoon drive and peach pie, I had held my tears as I read the diagnosis for Pick’s disease: four to ten years, depending on how fast the damaged proteins overpower Dad’s brain. I decided then that I would be grateful for just four more years with Dad, enough for him to see me become an adult for real.
1. Why did Mom propose a ride?| A．To purchase fruits. | B．To enjoy a trip. |
| C．To release sorrow. | D．To consult the doctor. |
| A．It takes years for Dad to recover. |
| B．The author enjoys the time with Dad. |
| C．Dad shows little interest in football games. |
| D．The author gets annoyed by Dad’s questions. |
| A．Tough and confusing. | B．Boring but rewarding. |
| C．Annoying and struggling. | D．Painstaking but meaningful. |
| A．Peach Pie | B．Diagnosis for Dad |
| C．Father And Daughter | D．A Plain Summer Day |
2 . Chinese New Year has been welcomed in Britain with its biggest ever program of events and celebrations.
From London's Trafalgar Square to major cities across Britain,tens of thousands of British people have joined Chinese communities to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. In Manchester there was a Dragon Parade(舞龙表演）,led by a very impressive 54-meter long dragon,ending in Chinatown where there was traditional Chinese entertainment, more than 6, 000 lanterns,street food villages and a fireworks show. Celebrations also took place in Liverpool, Birmingham, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle.
Academic Dr Wu Kegang said that the Chinese New Year event in Britain “is now bigger than ever and it is growing every year”. When Wu arrived in Britain 26 years ago from Guangdong,the first thing he noticed was that Chinese New Year was celebrated mainly in towns and cities with big Chinese communities. “You would go to London Chinatown and join your countrymen to celebrate, or to Chinatowns in places like Liverpool and Manchester for events almost only held for Chinese people, ”Wu recalled.
“Now it is so different, and we are seeing local communities all over the country taking part alongside their own Chinese populations, ” he said. “It is clear to me that the celebrations will continue to grow in Britain. Chinese New Year has earned its place in the calendar of events in Britain,and is here to stay. ”
1. Where did the Dragon Parade take place?| A．In London. | B．In Liverpool. |
| C．In Manchester. | D．In Birmingham. |
| A．celebrated mainly by Chinese communities |
| B．celebrated by local communities all over the country |
| C．only celebrated in London, Liverpool and Manchester |
| D．celebrated by tens of thousands of British people with Chinese people |
| A．It will lose its attraction. |
| B．It will become a British official holiday. |
| C．More and more British people will join in the celebrations. |
| D．It will become the most important one in the calendar of events in Britain. |
| A．How Chinese New Year is celebrated in Britain. |
| B．Where Chinese New Year is celebrated in Britain. |
| C．Chinese culture is more attractive than British culture. |
| D．Chinese New Year has become more and more popular in Britain. |
3 . On an ordinary day, Debbie’s doorbell rang out of the blue. Sixteen-year-old Amy from next door was there -“Help, my brother Dylan is
Debbie and her sister Ellen
Amy had been
Debbie had recently taken a first aid
Just as the ambulance pulled up, Dylan’s mum came back home. She was deeply
After a few weeks, Dylan
| A．collapsing | B．screaming | C．dying | D．bleeding |
| A．wandered | B．rushed | C．slipped | D．jumped |
| A．leg | B．arm | C．face | D．hand |
| A．calling on | B．bringing up | C．looking after | D．knocking over |
| A．accidentally | B．strangely | C．cautiously | D．gently |
| A．plan | B．try | C．course | D．kit |
| A．apply | B．reduce | C．escape | D．increase |
| A．removed | B．grabbed | C．discovered | D．prepared |
| A．wound | B．pain | C．hurt | D．blood |
| A．though | B．unless | C．since | D．once |
| A．impressed | B．relieved | C．shocked | D．disappointed |
| A．hiked | B．drove | C．jogged | D．travelled |
| A．suffered | B．survived | C．restored | D．recovered |
| A．pleased | B．stressed | C．satisfied | D．amazed |
| A．lessons | B．skills | C．instruments | D．certificates |
4 . Liu Yongtan was born in 1931 in Sichuan Province, China. He studied at Southwest Jiaotong University and earned his bachelor’s
In 1984, Liu Yongtan
Despite these challenges, Liu Yongtan and his team
One of Liu Yongtan’s most
| A．title | B．fame | C．degree | D．grade |
| A．graduation | B．application | C．reservation | D．investigation |
| A．reflected | B．gained | C．observed | D．performed |
| A．named | B．joined | C．founded | D．monitored |
| A．exhibition | B．subject | C．industry | D．project |
| A．slightly | B．currently | C．relatively | D．merely |
| A．impossible | B．available | C．unbearable | D．flexible |
| A．got cold feet | B．bit the bullet | C．spilled the beans | D．beat around the bush |
| A．ordinary | B．common | C．limited | D．novel |
| A．significant | B．secure | C．reliable | D．economical |
| A．boosting | B．doubling | C．preventing | D．reducing |
| A．Apart from | B．Thanks to | C．Accounting for | D．Compared with |
| A．rapidly | B．eventually | C．absolutely | D．gradually |
| A．convinced | B．selected | C．occupied | D．benefited |
| A．ancestor | B．director | C．pioneer | D．engineer |
5 . While telling others your zodiac sign (星座), you are being evaluated (评估). Evaluations are being made about your luck, your personality, future development and how you will do in a given year. So what is the Chinese zodiac, exactly? It’s a 12-year cycle labeled (标记) with animals, starting with a Rat and ending with a Pig. For example, if you were born in 2004, you are a Monkey.
The Chinese believe some animals are luckier than the others, such as the Dragon. Unlike in Western tradition, the Chinese Dragon stands for power, strength and wealth. It’s everyone’s dream to have a Dragon baby. Ma Yun’s parents must have been very proud. And they are not the only ones. In 2012, the Year of the Dragon, the birthrate in China increased by about 5%. That means another one million more babies. With a traditional preference for baby boys, the boy-girl ratio that year was 120 to 100. When those Dragon boys grow up, they will face much more serious competition in love and job markets.
According to the BBC and Chinese government reports, January 2015 saw a peak of cesarean sections (剖腹产术高峰). Why? That was the last month for the Year of the Horse. It’s not because they like horses so much, it’s because they try to avoid having unlucky Goat babies.
Tiger is another unwelcome animal, because of its dangerous and unstable (不稳定的) personality. Many Chinese places saw a considerable decline of birthrate during those years.
Perhaps one should consider zodiac in a different way, as those Tiger and Goat babies will face much less competition. Maybe they are the lucky ones. I went through the Forbes top 300 richest people in the world, and it’s interesting to see the most unwelcome two animals, the Goat and Tiger, are at the top of the list, even higher than the Dragon. So maybe we should consider that it’s much better to have less competition.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?| A．Dragon boys are much more competitive when growing up. |
| B．There were about one million dragon babies in 2012. |
| C．There were 20% more boys than girls born in 2012. |
| D．Ma Yun is proud that he is a Dragon. |
| A．People wanted to have Horse babies very much. |
| B．People considered Goat babies to be unlucky. |
| C．It’s the first month of the year. |
| D．People tried to avoid dangers. |
| A．Drop. | B．Need. |
| C．Increase. | D．Change. |
| A．They have fewer competitors. |
| B．They are difficult to get along with. |
| C．They will be more popular in job markets. |
| D．They will become richer than Dragon babies. |
California condors are North America’s largest birds, with wind-length of up to 3 meters. In the 1980s, electrical lines and lead poisoning(铅中毒) nearly drove them to dying out. Now, electric shock training and medical treatment are helping to rescue these big birds.
In the late 1980s, the last few condors were taken from the wild to be bred(繁殖). Since 1992, there have been multiple reintroductions to the wild, and there are now more than 150 flying over California and nearby Arizona, Utah and Baja in Mexico.
Electrical lines have been killing them off. “As they go in to rest for the night, they just don’t see the power lines,” says Bruce Rideout of San Diego Zoo. Their wings can bridge the gap between lines, resulting in electrocution(电死) if they touch two lines at once.
So scientists have come up with a shocking idea. Tall poles, placed in large training areas, teach the birds to stay clear of electrical lines by giving them a painful but undeadly electric shock. Before the training was introduced, 66% of set-freed birds died of electrocution. This has now dropped to 18%.
Lead poisonous has proved more difficult to deal with. When condors eat dead bodies of other animals containing lead, they absorb large quantities of lead. This affects their nervous systems and ability to produce baby birds, and can lead to kidney(肾) failures and death. So condors with high levels of lead are sent to Los Angeles Zoo, where they are treated with calcium EDTA, a chemical that removes lead from the blood over several days. This work is starting to pay off. The annual death rate for adult condors has dropped from 38% in 2000 to 5.4% in 2011.
Rideout’s team thinks that the California condors’ average survival time in the wild is now just under eight years. “Although these measures are not effective forever, they are vital for now,” he says. “They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them. ”
1. California condors attract researchers’ interest because they _________.
| A．are active at night |
| B．had to be bred in the wild |
| C．are found only in California |
| D．almost died out in the 1980s |
| A．blocking condors’ journey home |
| B．big killers of California condors |
| C．rest places for condors at night |
| D．used to keep condors away |
| A．makes condors too nervous to fly |
| B．has little effect on condors’ kidneys |
| C．can hardly be gotten rid of from condors’ blood |
| D．makes it difficult for condors to produce baby birds |
| A．the average survival time of condors is satisfactory |
| B．Rideout’s research interest lies in electric engineering |
| C．the efforts to protect condors have brought good results |
| D．researchers have found the final answers to the problem |
7 . Famous tennis coach Nick Bollettieri considered tennis star Roger Federer the greatest player of all time, saying he is “in a class of his own”. The Swiss maestro (大师) won his record eighth Wimbledon title this month, defeating Croatian Marin Cilic in the final, and going to the entire tournament without dropping a single set.
The 36-year-old now has 19 Grand Slam titles, the most in history for a male tennis player. Bollettieri, who has coached some of the most successful tennis players ever including Andre Agassi and Jim Corurier, believes Federer stands out from the rest due to all the efforts he makes on and off the court. “When you get to know the greatest player of all time, I believe you will join with many commentators in saying Roger is standing in a class of his own,” Bollettien told Saturday Sport. “He is magnificent in expecting what to do. He has improved his backhand and also he is hitting the ball much earlier, and he is one of, if not the best placement server (发球员) in the game.”
His management team headed by Tony Godsick takes care of his mind and body, time with his family, time with his foundation and time with rest. He also respects the game and his opponents (对手). Despite his impressive record, Federer has struggled against the other top players of this generation, including Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Along with Andy Murray, they are known as tennis “big four”, and Federer has a combined 50-57 record against the other three during his career.
However, Bollettieri doesn’t think that will have any impact on Federer’s greatness if he keeps on playing the way he is at his age. Bollettieri said, “Age is only a number. It is how you feel inside you. I believe a lot of people today can do a lot better if their mindset is to say I will get better every day and never use the word “retirement”. When you worry about losing, it is more difficult to win.”
1. What does Bollettieri mean by saying he is “in a class of his own”?| A．Roger is a tennis player second to none. | B．Roger is a particular favorite of his. |
| C．Roger is proud and prefers being alone. | D．Roger has difficulty getting along with others. |
| A．He is in full charge of his life and career. |
| B．Hard work is a major factor in his success. |
| C．Deep respect develops between him and Tony. |
| D．His greatest achievement is made in his thirties. |
| A．Roger’s increased age. | B．Roger’s positive attitude. |
| C．Roger’s impressive record. | D．Roger’s losing to other famous players. |
| A．Failure is nothing to fear. | B．Everyone needs to look forward. |
| C．Being positive is very important. | D．One is never too old to learn. |
8 . Do you remember how you felt the first time you rode bike? What about your first heartbreak?
Neuroscientists usually define a singular memory as an engram---a physical change in brain tissue
In their current work, Ramirez and his colleagues are investigating whether
If it’s one day possible to alter human memory, who should be allowed to receive that treatment? And would the
As neuroscientists progress with their research, they say these
| A．Forgettable | B．Memorable | C．Sustainable | D．Believable |
| A．fruit | B．difference | C．pain | D．movement |
| A．associated with | B．exchanged for | C．sentenced to | D．deprived of |
| A．put off | B．pick up | C．turn on | D．make up |
| A．reacted | B．hurried | C．stunned | D．resolved |
| A．short-term | B．negative | C．enjoyable | D．reliable |
| A．deleting | B．decreasing | C．activating | D．pausing |
| A．recreate | B．eliminate | C．liberate | D．memorize |
| A．Therefore | B．Besides | C．Indeed | D．However |
| A．Since | B．Unless | C．Until | D．While |
| A．removed | B．strengthened | C．altered | D．stimulated |
| A．emotional | B．physical | C．controversial | D．mechanical |
| A．immune | B．justice | C．medical | D．commerce |
| A．mental | B．ethical | C．criminal | D．equality |
| A．killing | B．multiplying | C．controlling | D．justifying |
9 . How to Make Good Conversation
“Conversation is the most sociable of all human activities.” I totally agree with this point. Conversation is the main part of everyone’s daily life.
To start good conversation, we'd better prepare some questions.
We always said eyes are the windows to the soul. Appropriate eye contact is like a great element of the main dish which makes it more delicious.
| A．Good questions make people feel comfortable. |
| B．Without conversation, life would be as cold as a rock. |
| C．The most important part of conversation is to listen. |
| D．Enjoy good conversation and be friends with them. |
| E．Do not interrupt others when they share their views excitedly. |
| F．They have some ideas that they want us to know and even convince us. |
| G．During conversation, we should look the speakers in the eye friendly. |
10 . Electronics woven (编织) into fabrics promise to open up all kinds of interesting possibilities, from clothing that monitors muscle activity and tracks breathing, to garments that can talk to one another. Developing pliable power sources to go with them is an equally important field of research, so scientists at the University of British Columbia have put forward a particularly impressive solution that they say could be the first ever battery that is both stretchable and washable.
To develop a battery with such capabilities, the scientists reimagined the way these devices are put together. Rather than forming a lithium-ion battery packed with hardened materials inside a rigid exterior, the team turned to an alternative chemistry in zinc-manganese (锌锰) dioxide, which is appealing for its low cost and safety. These materials were ground down into tiny pieces and inset in a polymer (聚合物) to form very thin and stretchable layers.
“We went with zinc-manganese because for devices worn next to the skin, it’s a safer chemistry than lithium-ion batteries, which can produce deadly compounds when they break,” says Nguyen.
The resulting battery is flexible and can be stretched to twice its normal length, has a specific capacity of 160 mAh g-1 and keeps 75 percent of its capacity over 500 charge and discharge cycles. Impressively, the team found the battery to withstand 39 wash cycles so far.
The team is now working to improve the power output and lifetime of the battery, and says the creation has already attracted commercial interest, with the cost expected to be similar to a standard rechargeable battery. They imagine it being put to use in watches and patches that measure vital signs, and in smart clothing that does much the same thing.
1. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “pliable” in paragraph 1?| A．Strong. | B．Multiple. |
| C．Reliable. | D．Flexible. |
| A．Safety. | B．Hardness. |
| C．Comfortableness. | D．Convenience. |
| A．Its stretch length. | B．Its washability. |
| C．Its massive capacity. | D．Its charge speed. |
| A．Electronic clothing is well received. |
| B．Clothing fitted with new battery is on the way. |
| C．Flexible and washable power sources woven into clothing will be available. |
| D．Electronics woven into fabrics open up possibilities. |
