1 . Gone are the days when you and your best friend shared everything about your life. Whether you’re at fault or she is, mending a broken friendship is far from easy. If the relationship means a lot and you aren’t willing to simply throw it away, fixing it is possible. That’s what I have learned in the past months.
When I first moved to Florida, I felt so out of place. I had come from a small town and was so unsure of myself. Luckily, my husband and I moved into a friendly neighbourhood, and things became better.
For many years, my neighbour across the street and I shared happy times. But then a misunderstanding occurred, and she quit speaking to me. I tried many times to speak to her about the issue and tell her how sorry I was that I had let her down. But she refused to take my phone calls and avoided me when I was outside.
During our conflict, my husband and I put our house up for sale. We weren’t leaving the neighbourhood because of a feeling of hurt; we were having twins and needed more room for our growing family.
Months later, I moved away without talking to her and putting an end to our misunderstanding. It always made me sad when I thought of how poorly it had ended. For many times I wished we had renewed our friendship. I just hated the feelings left from our unsolved conflict. It was like a scab (痂) that kept reopening and worsening with pain and upset.
About eight months after we moved, I decided to take a drive back into the old neighbourhood. As I drove down my street, I saw my former neighbour washing her car in her front yard. I knew that I needed to stop and greet her. I opened the car door and got out. To my surprise, she came up and gave me a big hug. We both apologized for our actions, and I felt that I finally achieved closure. I was able to say I was sorry and have it accepted.
1. What does the underlined phrase “out of place” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Excited. | B．Uncomfortable. | C．Amazed. | D．Unforgettable. |
| A．She had a violent quarrel with her neighbour. |
| B．The whole neighbourhood hurt her family badly. |
| C．Her husband insisted that they should move away. |
| D．The house didn’t have enough space for their family. |
| A．She found peace whenever she recalled the memory. |
| B．She didn’t know how to get along with her neighbour. |
| C．She felt mad at her neighbour when she moved away. |
| D．She regretted not resolving the misunderstanding before moving. |
| A．Mending a Friendship | B．Saying Goodbye to a Friend |
| C．Argument with a Beloved Neighbour | D．A Friendship with an Unexpected Ending |
2 . To see the world is one thing. To have someone to share it with is another. Indeed travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner. A travel partner can be a close friend, a family member, a pal you’ve met online, or a business friend.
You can have someone to talk to and turn to
Traveling alone is fun, but wouldn’t you feel lonely? Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness. It will be very convenient if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you’re traveling to. You don’t have to ask any information from the locals, and you can save your time.
You can have someone to share the costs with
One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved. You can’t simply ignore the rising prices of hotels or plane tickets. You should also think about your daily needs, such as your food. Of course, you can’t simply go back without bringing any souvenirs (纪念品) for your friends and family. All these can overspend your budget (预算). However, when you have a travel friend, you can have someone to share the expenses with.
You can meet a new friend
Having a travel mate is a good way of meeting a new friend or even a lifelong partner. You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other’s heart while traveling together in another country.
You can have someone to watch out for you
When you’re in a foreign land, you’ll never be really safe. You don’t know the rules as well as the culture of the people. A travel mate will be able to remind you of your manners in the country and to look after your luggage just in case your belongings get lost. So why don’t you find a travel companion now? Let’s find out how...
1. Which of the following statements agrees with the author’s opinion?| A．Traveling alone is not fun. | B．Buying souvenirs isn’t necessary. |
| C．Many people meet new friends when traveling. | D．It’s better to choose a stranger as a travel partner. |
| A．Giving an introduction of a travel company. |
| B．Explaining how to be a perfect travel partner. |
| C．Telling an interesting experience with a travel partner. |
| D．Showing lots of benefits of having a travel partner. |
| A．How to find a travel partner. | B．How travel can benefit people. |
| C．How to be a good travel partner. | D．How to get along with a travel partner. |
3 . My high school life has been filled with many ups and downs, whether it was social or academic. Even though my current high school was not my first choice, I never regretted attending Southside High School. “Since you have chosen it, then it is the best for you,” said my parents.
Up until the junior year I did not realize my capabilities (能力) as a student. Being in the IB Program, I was told that my junior year would be the toughest in all the years of high school. With this “little” piece of information, I walked into my junior year, scared of my grades. As weeks went by, I started to believe that the junior year was not as hard as everyone had said, but I was wrong. My grades were rapidly declining (下降) and by the end of the first term I had had five Cs in seven of my classes!I could not believe it — I did not want to believe it. I tried my best to get my grades up myself without any help from anyone, but my pride just made my grades worse. And I had to miss out on one of the most important speech and debate competitions all year: States. I was heartbroken. I realized that I could not survive my junior year on my own, so I had to get help fast.
Once I got a tutor, my grades went from Cs, Ds, and even some Fs, to nothing but As and Bs. I slowly started to gain my confidence back in all of my classes and even myself. By the time the third and fourth quarter came around, I had been on the honor roll twice, and I had received awards from speeches and debates, tennis and school.
Southside has taught me to always keep my head up and never give up on myself no matter what life throws at me. I am proud to be a Southside Tiger.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．The writer always thought Southside High School was the best. |
| B．The writer’s parents persuaded her into attending Southside High School. |
| C．The writer has met many challenges since she attended high school. |
| D．Life has become easier since the writer came to Southside High School. |
| A．Excited. | B．Worried. |
| C．Curious. | D．Uninterested. |
| A．She didn’t work hard enough. |
| B．She didn’t ask others for help because of her pride. |
| C．She missed many important speeches. |
| D．No one would like to help her. |
| A．Students should face challenges bravely. |
| B．Students should be careful in choosing school. |
| C．Students should be proud of their school. |
| D．Students should better learn about life. |
4 . It’s great fun to explore new places, and it may be like an adventure, even when you know you’re not the first to have been there. But to make sure not to get lost or waste time going round in circles, the following tips may be helpful.
•Do the map reading if you’re being driven somewhere. It’ll be easier if you keep the map following the direction you’re traveling in. Keep looking ahead so that you can give the driver lots of warning before having to make a turn or you’ll have to move to the back seat.
•Get a group of friends together and go exploring. You’ll need a good map, a compass, a raincoat, a cell phone to call for help in case you get lost, and a bit of cash for emergencies. Tell someone where you’re going before you set out and let him know what time you expect to be back. The purpose of the activity is in not getting lost, not in seeing how fast you can go, so always stick together, waiting for slower friends to catch up.
•See if your school or a club organizes orienteering (越野识途比赛), in which you need a map and a compass to find your way. This can be done as a sport, with teams trying to find the way from A to B (and B to C, etc.) in the fastest time, or simply as a spare-time activity. It enables you to be familiar with the use of maps and compasses and gain some practical skills. In some way, it’s not only good fun, but also a great way to keep fit.
No matter which way you choose, it’s not only good fun, but a great way to keep fit.
1. What should you do when sitting beside the driver?| A．Direct the driver when necessary. |
| B．Look ahead to see where there’s a gas station. |
| C．Move to the back seat if feeling uncomfortable. |
| D．Keep looking at the map to find another place to go to. |
| A．To show them how fast you can go. |
| B．To avoid yourself or your friends getting lost. |
| C．To share the fun with your friends in exploration. |
| D．To tell them what’s going on with the group members. |
| A．It can make people work fast. |
| B．It can help people stay healthy. |
| C．It can help people organize other activities. |
| D．It can make people get prepared for sports. |
| A．The fun of exploration. |
| B．What to bring for exploration. |
| C．The way to use a map in exploration. |
| D．How to prevent people getting lost in exploration. |
5 . As we all know, a friend in need is a friend indeed. I really didn’t know the meaning of this proverb until one day something
That morning, I got up late and
It was on that day that I learned and believed the proverb “a friend in need is a friend indeed” to be
| A．amusing | B．rewarding | C．familiar | D．unexpected |
| A．walked | B．returned | C．drove | D．hurried |
| A．kicked | B．beat | C．hit | D．touched |
| A．pain | B．loss | C．fun | D．trouble |
| A．campus | B．playground | C．library | D．lab |
| A．Although | B．Since | C．Until | D．Once |
| A．used | B．offered | C．managed | D．tried |
| A．imagine | B．bear | C．control | D．forget |
| A．gazing | B．laughing | C．pointing | D．shouting |
| A．Standing | B．Sitting | C．Falling | D．Lying |
| A．jumped | B．looked | C．ran | D．jogged |
| A．methods | B．scenes | C．locations | D．atmosphere |
| A．fortune | B．goods | C．place | D．position |
| A．put | B．picked | C．dropped | D．left |
| A．ordinary | B．true | C．positive | D．unique |
6 . Is It Worth Buying Organic Food?
Organic food, grown without artificial chemicals, is increasingly popular nowadays. Consumers have been willing to pay up to twice as much for goods with organic labels (标签). However, if you think paying a little more for organic food gets you a more nutritious (有营养的) and safer product, you might want to save your money. A study led by researchers at Stanford University says that organic products aren’t necessarily more nutritious, and they’re no less likely to suffer from disease-causing bacteria, either.
The latest results, published in the Annuals of Internal Medicine, suggest that buyers may be wasting their money. “We did not find strong evidence that organic food is more nutritious or healthier,” says Dr. Crystal Smith-Spangler from Stanford. “So consumers shouldn’t assume that one type of food has a lower risk or is safer.”
For their new study, Smith-Spangler and her colleagues conducted a review of two categories of research, including 17 studies that compared health outcomes between consumers of organic against traditional food products, and 223 studies that analyzed the nutritional content of the foods, including key vitamins, minerals and fats.
While the researchers found little difference in nutritional content, they did find that organic fruit and vegetables were 20% less likely to have chemicals remaining on the surfaces. Neither organic nor traditional foods showed levels of chemicals high enough to go beyond food safety standards. And both organic and traditional meats, such as chicken and pork, were equally likely to be harmed by bacteria at very low rates. The researchers did find that organic milk and chicken contained higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, a healthy fat also found in fish that can reduce the risk of heart disease. However, these nutritional differences were too small, and the researchers were unwilling to make much of them until further studies confirm the trends.
Organic food is produced with fewer chemicals and more natural-growing practices, but that doesn’t always translate into a more nutritious or healthier product. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that “Whether you buy organic or not, finding the freshest foods available may have the biggest effect on taste.” Fresh food is at least as good as anything marketed as organic.
1. The new research questions whether organic food ________.| A．should replace traditional food |
| B．has been overpriced by farmers |
| C．is grown with less harmful chemicals |
| D．is really more nutritious and healthier |
| A．organic food could reduce the risk of heart disease |
| B．traditional food was grown with more natural methods |
| C．both organic and traditional food they examined were safe |
| D．there was not a presence of any forms of bacteria in organic food |
| A．Organic chicken and pork. |
| B．Organic milk and chicken. |
| C．Traditional chicken and pork. |
| D．Traditional fruit and vegetables. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Approving. |
7 . I have been a professional skateboarder for 24 years. For much of that time, the activity that paid my rent and gave me my greatest joy was marked with many labels, most of which were ugly.
When I was about 17, three years after I turned pro-skater, my high school “careers” teacher scolded me and told me that I would never make it in the workplace if I didn’t follow directions clearly. He said I’d never make a living as a skateboarder, so it seemed to him that my future was bleak.
Even during those dark years, I never stopped progressing as a skater. There have been many times when I’ve been frustrated because I can’t join in some formal training. I’ve come to realize that the only way to master something is to keep it -- despite the bloody knees, twisted ankles, or mocking crowds.
So here I am, 38 years old, a husband and father of three, with a lengthy list of responsibilities and obligations. And although I have many job titles -- CEO, Executive Producer, Senior Consultant, Foundation Chairman, Bad Actor -- the one I am most proud of is “Professional Skateboarder”. My youngest son’s pre-school class was recently asked what their dads do for work. My son said, “I’ve never seen my dad do work.”
It’s true. Skateboarding doesn’t seem like real work, but I’m proud of what I do. My parents never once questioned the practicality behind my passion. I hope to pass on the same lesson to my children someday. So, find the thing you love. My 13-year-old son is really gifted skater, but there’s a lot of pressure on him. He used to skate for recognition, but now he brushes all that stuff aside. He just skates for fun and that’s good enough for me.
1. What does the underlined word “bleak” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Uncertain. | B．Special. | C．Glorious. | D．Impressive. |
| A．Keeping to his promise. | B．Adapting to school life. |
| C．Moving to better places. | D．Sticking to his own choice. |
| A．To show his son’s cleverness |
| B．To suggest his son’s dislike of his work. |
| C．To stress the features of his job in his son’s eyes. |
| D．To indicate his son’s care for his work and life. |
| A．Neglect what others think. | B．Do the things you love. |
| C．Set a good example for parents. | D．Be what your parents want you to be. |
1. If you happen to be the 200th customer to buy Cholesterol blockTM, what will you do?
| A．Be able to buy it at a low price. |
| B．Be the luckiest one online. |
| C．Try it free of charge. |
| D．Change your diet. |
| A．They are diseases. |
| B．They are side effects. |
| C．They are medicines. |
| D．They are cholesterol. |
| A．In a travel guide book. |
| B．On a university bulletin board (布告牌). |
| C．In a health magazine. |
| D．In a doctor’s prescription. |
9 . April Fool’s Day
April Fool’s Day is a western festival. No one
Then in 1562, Pope (教皇) Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people,
Today Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April. One
In Britain today, on the first of April, even
| A．understands | B．knows | C．believes | D．remembers |
| A．when | B．why | C．how | D．where |
| A．goes | B．tells | C．happens | D．writes |
| A．like | B．as | C．so | D．for |
| A．however | B．but | C．therefore | D．instead |
| A．fact | B．news | C．change | D．information |
| A．remained | B．continued | C．considered | D．went |
| A．real | B．true | C．right | D．correct |
| A．hands | B．faces | C．backs | D．heads |
| A．discovers | B．sees | C．searches | D．notices |
| A．ordinary | B．common | C．funny | D．silly |
| A．Whenever | B．Whoever | C．Whatever | D．Wherever |
| A．serious | B．famous | C．interesting | D．important |
| A．letter | B．speech | C．writing | D．report |
| A．lying | B．walking | C．flying | D．landing |
Words flow through Chinese poetry
A Russian student expresses her passion for China through poetry. It seems that Anastasia Podareva, born in Ryazan, Russia, the hometown of Russian poet Sergei Yesenin (谢尔盖·叶赛宁), was destined (注定的) to follow a similar career.
Podareva, 28, loved poetry in her youth as her father would introduce her to works by great Russian poets. Growing up, he wrote many poems in both Russian and English. But when she came to China to study in 2013, the world of Chinese poetry opened up before her.
“One thing that strikes me in reading and writing Chinese poetry is the power of the language — it’s melodious (动听的) and rhythmic (有节奏的),” said Podareva.
Podareva has had colorful experiences in China over the past decade. Her most unforgettable memory is of one of her poems being turned into a song.
The poem, titled If, was written in early 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I wanted to create something positive to help boost (振奋) people’s spirits in times of difficulty,” she said. As the poem goes, “I have come to love this land, growing up with its valiant (勇敢的) people … And with the profound (深深的) love of a maiden (女子) of the north, I’d let China take my burning heart,” Podareva wrote, showing her support for her adopted (寄宿的) home.
And her message was heard. The poem was published online and picked up by a music lover named Zhu Hai in Zhejiang province, who later put it to music.
“I believe that singing is the ultimate (最好的) way of expressing Chinese poetry, because Chinese is really a language that rises, falls and flows like music,” said Podareva.
1. What can we learn about Podareva from the text?| A．She sees Yeseni as her idol. |
| B．She can write poems in three languages. |
| C．Her father is a famous poet. |
| D．Most of her poems have been put to music. |
| A．Impresses. | B．Challenges. | C．Discourages. | D．Confuses. |
| A．Her love for both music and poetry. |
| B．Her admiration for Chinese people. |
| C．Her personal experiences of living in China. |
| D．Her desire to spread positivity during the pandemic. |
