1 . The rescue of an Austrian skier who was found alive after being buried by an avalanche is being called a “miracle”. Police in Upper Styria — the mountainous and forested region in southern Austria — said they were alerted on Christmas Day that a 26-year-old skier had not returned from the slopes. The man who alerted police said he had managed to get through to the skier’s mobile phone but heard only “cracking noises” on the line, the BBC reported.
A rescue team was able to trace the skier beneath more than 3 feet of snow using an electric avalanche victim’s transceiver (无线电收发两用机), which skiers are required to wear in avalanche-prone areas. They found the man was on a slope of Mount Pleschnitzzinken, in the northwestern area of Upper Styria. “You can’t move under a blanket of snow like this,” Stefan Schrock of the Styria mountain rescue service told Austrian public broadcaster ORF. “The man was extremely lucky that he had a big enough air pocket under the blanket of snow, so he had oxygen too and was able to breathe.”
The man was found about two hours after authorities were first alerted. However, the avalanche hit the region three hours before that when the man was buried in the snow. A rescue team and local police dogs dug the man out of the snow and he was taken down the valley suffering from hypothermia (体温过低). He was otherwise unharmed.
An avalanche also swept across a marked ski trail near the Swiss town of Andermatt on Thursday, injuring two people. Four others were either rescued themselves from the snow unhurt. Police and rescuers searched the snowslide after witnesses said more people might be buried, but the operation ended with police saying there were no more victims. The avalanche occurred mid-morning while many holiday skiers enjoyed mountain sunshine the day after Christmas.
1. Why did the man alert the police?| A．He found two people injured. |
| B．A 26-year-old skier got lost. |
| C．He heard only terrible noises. |
| D．Many people got lost on the slope. |
| A．Only the dog helped him. |
| B．He had an electronic transceiver. |
| C．A blanket of snow helped him. |
| D．He had a big enough air pocket. |
| A．For two hours. |
| B．For three hours. |
| C．For five hours. |
| D．For a week. |
| A．A terrible avalanche. |
| B．A Christmas miracle. |
| C．An exciting rescue. |
| D．A Christmas ski. |
2 . Simple steps to inner peace
If you wake up feeling tired and lazy, these moves can give you a lift. Our yoga warm-ups will help to loosen and stretch your muscles and joints, and deep breathing also helps you to focus your thoughts, so you feel refreshed.
Upper-body lift
Slowly lower your body to the floor, look up forward the ceiling and breathe in. Hold for a minute. Release (放松).
Toe touch
Bringing your hands to the floor, breathe out while putting your head between your knees (if you’re a beginner, keep knees slightly bent). Holding the position, breathe in as you stretch your head and chest upward. Hold for one minute. Release.
Spine stretch
Standing straight, feet together, breathe in and raise your arms straight overhead, hands touching. Look up, stretching your body for one minute. Release. Repeat moves as often as needed.
1. The purpose of the above exercises is to ________.| A．help you bring back your strength |
| B．get rid of pain from your back |
| C．get you warm enough to do further exercise |
| D．loosen and stretch your muscles to help you feel refreshed |
| A．raising your body higher | B．making you release |
| C．helping you get energetic | D．getting your body straight |
| A．upperbody lift; toe touch | B．toe touch; upperbody lift |
| C．spine stretch; toe touch | D．toe touch; spine stretch |
3 . James Charles is the manager of Kiplin Automotive Group. For about two months, he has been
Charles was first
Then Charles
Since more and more people have
| A．demanding | B．hiring | C．training | D．encouraging |
| A．inspired | B．persuaded | C．taught | D．allowed |
| A．travelling | B．hiding | C．living | D．working |
| A．sick | B．lonely | C．tired | D．homeless |
| A．excited | B．frightened | C．shocked | D．ashamed |
| A．Although | B．Unless | C．If | D．But |
| A．experiment | B．advice | C．message | D．difficulty |
| A．immediately | B．suddenly | C．gradually | D．casually. |
| A．correct | B．spread | C．remember | D．improve |
| A．humor | B．performance | C．fortune | D．purpose |
| A．peaceful | B．boring | C．tough | D．busy |
| A．rent | B．provide | C．protect | D．build |
| A．at least | B．by chance | C．in return | D．on earth |
| A．explained | B．proven | C．ignored | D．shared |
| A．comments | B．investments | C．donations | D．competitions |
4 . After years of teachers asking for the right answers, students aren’t used to someone asking for the wrong ones. Students’ failure tends to create mental burden that negatively affects learning. Lifting the burden requires us to face failure bravely and encourage students to accept it as a natural part of getting educated. While educators have to make sure that students have the right content and support to avoid long-term failure, it is just as important to accept mistakes as a normal part of education.
Sadly, our culture is so focused on success or perfection that students generally aren’t taught about failure. To fill the gap, I share with students a Samuel Beckett quote “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”. It suggests one becomes better after each failure. I also play a video on game designed by Extra Credits, which shows people can quickly declare their ways as a failure if they don’t work out and then learn from them to move on. Both the quote and the video can help students get a more positive attitude towards failure.
Teachers can help students accept failure better. In her piece “5-Minute Film Festival: Freedom to Fail Forward”, Edutopia author Amy Erin Borovoy had a set of videos and articles on the subject of failure. Borovoy reminds readers that “a true thinker learns as much from failure as from success.” Taking these short videos as monthly or weekly reminders can be a great way to start “how have we failed and what have we learned” discussions with students.
Teachers can actually use a technique called “Effective Failure” to teach about failure at any time. In my writing class, I often have students volunteer to pick out the worst writing of their own. This lets writers deepen their understanding of why a sentence, word choice, or paragraph construction has failed, and it inspires a sincere interest in better writing. This makes failure work well in class.
Also, remember that students are not the only ones who can learn from their mistakes. As those who teach students, we should do that too.
1. What matters in education according to Paragraph 1?| A．Helping students face failure calmly. |
| B．Making sure every student gets educated. |
| C．Allowing students to show their true selves. |
| D．Training students to get used to long-term failure. |
| A．show the benefits of failure |
| B．help students develop more interests |
| C．provide some ways to reduce failure |
| D．teach students to get relaxed properly |
| A．He tried to advertise for those videos. |
| B．He considered Borovoy a role model to students. |
| C．He thought the videos useful in teaching about failure. |
| D．He found video teaching an easy way to attract students. |
| A．They enjoy communicating with others. |
| B．They are brave to admit their disadvantages. |
| C．They can find more interesting writing topics. |
| D．They improve by learning from their weak points. |
5 . Scientists have discovered a bit of hand-made string (线绳) that’s around 50,000 years old in Neanderthal remains. The first Neanderthal remains were found in the Neander Valley in Germany, which is where the name comes from. Neanderthals may have lived mainly in caves and made stone tools, but recent discoveries have given hints that Neanderthals developed some advanced skills that people used to think impossible. For example, Neanderthals knew how to make glue from the bark (树皮) of a tree.
Now, scientists report they’ve found a piece of string on a stone tool made by Neanderthals. Before this, the oldest known piece of string was one made by humans about 19,000 years ago. The string is about a quarter of an inch long. Almost all things made from plants during that time have broken down and disappeared, so it’s very special to find this bit of string.
The scientists don’t know whether the string was attached to the tool. But that doesn’t interest them as much as the fact that Neanderthals knew how to make string. Bruce Hardy, the lead scientist on the project, says that knowing how to make string was meaningful for humans. “We wouldn’t really be here today without that technology,” he says.
Making string is a very arduous process. This string was made from the inside bark of an evergreen tree. To make string that is strong enough, the string must be made of several smaller fibers twisted (缠绕) together in a special way. For the Neanderthal string, several fibers needed to be twisted together into something like yarn. Then three pieces of yam needed to be twisted together in the opposite direction to make the final string.
The scientists Aren’t sure what the string was used for, but they say that string like. the bit that was found could be used to make bags, baskets, traps, or other things. The researchers also suggest that because Neanderthals needed to make pairs and count fibers to make the string, the bit of string may also tell us something about the kinds of math that Neanderthals could do.
1. What can we know about Neanderthals?| A．They were named after a nation. |
| B．They didn’t know how to make tools. |
| C．They were not as smart as scientists thought. |
| D．They may master more skills than people realized. |
| A．It is surprisingly long. |
| B．It was made from wood. |
| C．It survives a long history. |
| D．It was attached to a stone tool. |
| A．Neanderthals strengthened stone tools with the string. |
| B．The scientists think the string is part of the stone tool. |
| C．The string-making skill is of great importance to humans. |
| D．Neanderthals had great difficulty in inventing the string. |
| A．Difficult. | B．Normal. |
| C．Creative. | D．Boring. |
6 . Inventor James West was born in 1931 in Virginia. As a child, he spent lots of time studying how things worked and enjoyed taking apart small machines. “If I had some tools, any small machines that could be opened were in danger,” West said. “I had a strong desire to know what was inside.”
After an accident with a radio, West paid special attention to electricity. But his parents were concerned about the future job for an African-American scientist. They preferred him to become a doctor. However, West headed to Temple University in 1953 to study physics. Because of his school performance in physics, he managed to get training during the summer at Nokia Bell Labs, a world-known American industrial research and scientific development company. He received a college degree in physics in 1957, and upon graduation, he became a worker at Nokia Bell Labs.
In 1960, while at Bell, West teamed up with scientist Sessler to develop a less expensive, more powerful and smaller microphone (麦克风), In 1962, they finished the development on the product. Their invention became the industry standard. And even today, 90 percent of microphones -- for example, found in telephones, tape recorders, baby monitors and hearing aids -- are based on their technology.
West was chosen as Inventor of the Year by the state of New Jersey and president of the Acoustical Society of America. And both West and Sessler were chosen into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
West left Bell in 2001. After some interviews with several universities, he chose the Johns Hopkins University and became a research professor at its Whiting School of Engineering. “I discovered that Johns Hopkins was a lot like Bell Labs, where the doors were always open and we were free to work with researchers in other areas,” he said. “I like the fact that I won’t be locked into one small closed room here.”
1. Being a child, James West often liked ___________.| A．collecting various tools |
| B．working hard at schoolwork |
| C．helping repair household machines |
| D．studying the operation and structures of machines |
| A．His university was famous for its physics teaching. |
| B．His good performance made him get a promising job. |
| C．He gave up the chance to turn his interest into his major. |
| D．He hardly got his parents’ support for his further education. |
| A．went through plenty of difficulties |
| B．was unpopular in the market at first |
| C．was inspired by some electronic products |
| D．prepared useful technology for many modern machines |
| A．It held lots of outdoor activities. |
| B．It had a close connection with Bell Labs. |
| C．It had good working atmosphere for teamwork. |
| D．It was rich in teaching resources and advanced technology. |
7 . A donation letter is what you write to a person you expect, who will give away some of his money to support your good cause. Good as the cause may be, it is hard to make a person part with his hard-earned money. It takes some really great writing skills to write such a letter.
The donation letter for charity isn’t exactly a formal letter for business communication. You need to take a casual tone. Make sure that you know the name of the recipient (收信人) to sound more like a friendly gesture. The language too should not be extremely serious and should be slightly informal, which can make your recipient willing to believe you.
Make sure that you include all the details regarding your program, your funds required, and your plan in the letter. The most important thing is to mention how someone stands to benefit because of the recipient’s contribution. Talk about how many lives your charity fund has been able to change and how many more you wish to change further. This may touch the reader and talk him into making a donation towards your cause. Include the amount which you expect the recipient to donate, within your letter.
A typical donation letter is often divided into four paragraphs. The first paragraph will be an introduction to your organization, like what you do, how long you have been running, and your achievements. The second paragraph will give more details regarding your current goals that you’re trying to reach. In the third paragraph you use a more direct method here, asking politely for any help. Keep it short and clear. The final paragraph is your conclusion, where you tell exactly how the help received would be put into good use. Add a “thank you” for any and all help received.
1. How should the language used in a donation letter be?| A．Relaxing and persuasive. |
| B．Happy and friendly. |
| C．Official and honest. |
| D．Short and clear. |
| A．Asking about the recipient’s plan. |
| B．Including all the details of people in need. |
| C．Telling directly the amount of money you expect. |
| D．Showing the value and importance of one’s donation. |
| A．The skills used for writing business letters. |
| B．The general content of a donation letter. |
| C．The common problems in a donation. |
| D．The tips on making a donation. |
8 . After I entered high school, I attended advanced classes and I had a teacher who made me think I was stupid.
In my freshman year, I had trouble writing essays for that teacher. She was strict. She made fun of me, sometimes in front of the class. It didn’t help that my friend was a genius (天才) who would text me the night before our essay was due (到期) and ask, “ What is the essay about again?” She would receive a 97 and I would receive an 80 even though I had revised (修正) and edited that piece for two weeks. Once I got a 97 on a project that took me two and a half weeks to complete, and I was asked how much help my mom had given to me. In the second grade, I had trouble with my essay writing once again. Besides, I had problems in Maths even though I understood the concepts.
Now I am in a new school and taking many subjects and I am doing well. Actually in the beginning, I was nervous. I thought I would fail all of my classes because my previous teachers had failed me and made me ashamed to try. I thought I was just going to get another 80 on an essay. It is hard indeed. They are fast-paced courses and it isn’t easy to keep up with all the readings and when my next lab will be. But with so much adjustment (调整) to the stress, I have become confident. Now I know how much time I need to perfect that essay, and when to set aside time to meet with my tutor (老师) before my next biology exam.
I am writing this blog to the kids that have gotten lost in the mix---any adjusting freshmen, any lost kids in advanced classes, and the hidden genius in everyone. I went through two years in high school, thinking I was a little slower than the other kids in advanced classes. But in this new environment, with the experience I have received and my new-found confidence, I can say, “I’m Anne Hilker and I am smart!” We are all smart.
1. What did the author want to show by mentioning her friend?| A．She faced a lot of competition. |
| B．Her friend was a great help to her. |
| C．Her friend made her feel even worse. |
| D．Her teachers loved students like her friend. |
| A．She felt very happy for the author. |
| B．She praised the author in front of the class. |
| C．She wasn’t pleased with the author’s mother. |
| D．She didn’t believe it was finished by the author alone. |
| A．Hard work doesn’t pay off. |
| B．She isn’t as stupid as she feared. |
| C．Fast-paced courses don’t benefit her. |
| D．Advanced classes aren’t suitable for her. |
| A．To show students should study very hard. |
| B．To tell teachers to believe in their students. |
| C．To show teachers should be kind to their students. |
| D．To tell students to learn to face stress and have confidence. |
| A．Inspired | B．Disappointed | C．Moved | D．Anxious |
9 . Many people like traveling. Travel in Canada has become exciting as a number of lakes make it attractive. In fact, Canada has more lakes than any other country which contains fresh water. In addition to lakes, Canada has a number of beaches as it has a long coastline on its north, east, and west. Travelers from around the world come in large numbers to enjoy the sunbath on various beaches.
Niagara Falls lies on the border between Canada and the US. It is now popular for its beauty and is a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Niagara Falls is most attractive during the summer season when the weather condition is charming and attractive. At the Canadian side, floodlights illuminate both sides of the falls for several hours after dark and the whole scene becomes magnificent.
When traveling in Canada, travelers can enjoy doing the shopping in Toronto which is considered a leading city. It symbolizes the spirit of independence. Migrants from Europe, Latin America and Asia inhabit the place and make it a plural society. Ottawa, on the other hand, is the capital of Canada and center of political activities.
Vancouver is an enlightening city in Canada which was named after British Captain George Vancouver, who explored the area in the 1790s. The city is a leading industrial place in Canada. Another tourist attraction in Canada is the capital city of British Columbia, Victoria. The city is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.
Travel in Canada is being made easy because of a higher standard of transportation facilities. Besides, very few people know that Canada is a country with high wages per hour. In addition to a popular tourist destination, Canada is an economic powerhouse of North America, particularly in agricultural products. The Canadian dairy industry exports milk products around the world.
1. What attracts travelers most in Canada according to the first paragraph?| A．Coastlines and sunbaths. | B．Lakes and beaches. |
| C．Animals and plants. | D．Mountains and water. |
| A．Canada and the US. | B．The beauty of Niagara Falls. |
| C．The importance of the falls. | D．The hydroelectric power. |
| A．It is the political center of Canada. | B．It displays the Canadian bravery. |
| C．Its people come from different countries. | D．Travelers can buy something cheap there. |
| A．To tell us a history story. | B．To compare Vancouver and Victoria. |
| C．To remind us to keep him in mind. | D．To introduce the city of Vancouver. |
10 . Discover Nature Schools Programs
Becoming Bears(Kindergarten－2 grade)
By becoming baby bears, children learn from their “parent” to survive the seasons. Kids will find safety in the spring and learn kinds of food bears eat during the summer, and then create a cave for winter hibernation(冬眠)．After learning the skills needed to survive, students will go out of the cave as an independent black bear able to care for themselves.(1.5－2 hours)
Whose Clues?(3－5 grade)
Kids will discover how plants and animals use their special structures to survive. Through outdoor study of plants and animals, kids will recognize their special structures and learn how they enable species to eat, avoid their enemies and survive. Using what they have learned, kids will choose one species and tell how they survive in their living places.(3－4 hours)
Winged Wonders(3－5 grade)
Birds add color and sound to our world and play an important ecological role. Students will learn the basics of birds, understand the role birds play in food chains and go birdwatching using field guides and telescopes. Students will do handson activities. Students will use tools to build bird feeders, allowing them to attract birds at home.(3－4 hours)
Exploring Your Watershed(6－8 grade)
We all depend on clean water. Examining how our actions shape the waterways around us. Go on a hike to see firsthand some of the challenging water quality problems in a city. Students will test the water quality to determine the health of an ecosystem.
·Each program is taught for a class with at least 10 students.
·All programs include plenty of time outdoors. So please prepare proper clothing, sunscreen and insect killers for children.
·To take part in a program, please email dcprogramsmdc.mo.gov.
1. What can kids do at Becoming Bears?| A．Watch bears' performances. | B．Take care of bears. |
| C．Learn how to survive a bear attack. | D．Pretend to be baby bears to learn about bears. |
| A．Whose Clues? | B．Exploring Your Watershed |
| C．Becoming Bears | D．Winged Wonders |
| A．have the same teaching hours | B．have outdoor activities |
| C．are offered during summer holidays | D．are designed for primary school students |
